Wedding Details: DIY Series

As my one year anniversary (October 9) approaches I thought I would detail some of the things my husband and I did to make our wedding 'ours'.  We did a lot of things DIY and were humbled by how many compliments we received afterwards.  I scoured through magazines, websites, blogs and anything I could find wedding related for ideas and then we put on our spin on the ideas we found.  Today I will show some of the pictures from our wedding and then each week I will break down some of the DIY projects.  I hope you enjoy looking through this series as much as we enjoyed planning and implementing our wedding day!

Ceremony location: Chestnut Square Chapel, Mckinney, TX

Reception location: Mckinney Cotton Mill, Mckinney, TX

Photographer: www.jimmages.com

Other details will be noted in future posts!

Missing crafting!

Crafting has taken a back seat.  First of all it has been ridiculously hot this summer, which leaves minimal desire to want to be outside at all.  And spray painting in the garage...yeah right...Anxious for fall to get back to some of the projects we have in store!

Recently there have also been several changes going on around our house.  I have changed jobs, moving to something closer to home.  Long term, this should all work out fantastically however the last few weeks have been a little hectic with the change in schedules.

The other thing that has been occupying our house is this rascal:

Meet Gizmo!

He is a 2 1/2 month old Plott Hound mix.  We adopted him last week and are loving him so far.  However, make no mistake, he is definitely still a puppy and will need ongoing teaching before being groomed into the perfect family pet!

Hoping to get back to crafting soon!  Until then...

Laundry Room Makeover

There is a lot of laundry room makeovers in Blogland and I can understand why.  Ours (as I'm sure most others are) was a boring space. So, we changed it!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We painted stripes on the cabinets, added oil rubbed bronze cabinet handles (from Lowe's), put the liquid detergent in a stylish blue drink dispenser (from Target) and added more storage with blue and brown storage containers (from The Container Store).

First, I worked on the 'L'.  I found scrapbook paper that I liked and traced the L onto the section I wanted and cut it out.  I modge podged the paper to the L.

Then I modge podged twine onto the edges of the L. After that, I covered the entire thing in a layer of modge podge to seal it.

Meanwhile, my husband worked on the cabinets.  He first printed out the 'aundry' in the font we wanted.  He transferred it on to the cabinets by coloring the back of the letters with heavy pencil where he wanted the transfer and then traced the letters from the front.

Then he painted the letters.  Next he taped off where the stripes were going to be.

He painted the small stripe a shade of blue and the larger stripe a shade of brown which he created.

The unfortunate thing was, when he pulled the tape off the brown peeled.  Since he didn't have enough of that same shade, he had to create a new brown and do it again.

After everything dried, we assembled it all.  I transferred the detergent to the dispenser and it has worked really we so far.  We did drill a small hole in the lid of the dispenser to help with the flow of the detergent.  The storage bins gave us more room and cleared up some of the space in the cabinets.  Overall, I'd say we are very happy with the way it turned out.  We would like to replace the old light but haven't done it yet.  Long term, I'd also like to replace the linoleum in the laundry room but that is not high on the priority list right now!

Detail shots:

And again, the AFTER picture:

Easy, Delicious Chicken Dinner

This chicken dish is so easy to make and then chicken stays unbelievably moist.  I made green bean casserole and roasted red potatoes on the side.

I did the potatoes first as they will take the longest.  I cleaned and chopped the red skin potatoes into bite size pieces.  I tossed them with a dash of olive oil, italian seasoning, paprika, garlic salt and pepper.

I placed them on sheet pan and baked them for nearly an hour, flipping occasionally in a 350* oven.

Once that was in, I made the green bean casserole.  I use the recipe on the side of the French's fried onion can however I add slightly different seasoning for added flavor (minced onion, garlic salt and worcestershire sauce).

**Note, I actually prepared the green bean casserole the night before and then stuck in the the fridge.  I like the flavors to all blend together overnight.

I baked according to the package instructions.

Then I made the chicken.

For the chicken you will need:

2 chicken breasts

2-3 oz of dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

3 oz panko bread crumbs

dash of garlic salt

dash of pepper

dash italian seasoning

1-2 oz grated parmesan or shredded cheese

Heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Combine the bottom 5 ingredients to make a bread crumb mixture and place in a shallow dish or plate, set aside.  After cleaning the chicken, brush on the dijon mustard and then coat the chicken with the bread crumb mixture.  Place the coated chicken breasts in the heated oil.  Brown on each side (5 or so minutes each side).

Once each side is browned, cover pan in foil and place in a preheated oven of 350* and bake for 20-25 minutes.

They all came out of the oven around the same time and I plated them up!

Other than a little prepping, this meal is really easy to make and turns out great every time!

Corn Chowder

I came across a corn chowder recipe last year that was so good we ended up making it pretty frequently.  At this point, I'm not even sure where the recipe went and we've modified this to make it our own.  It is so easy and takes minimal time!

Ingredients:
2 cans (14.75 oz) Cream Style Corn
1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
8 oz chicken broth
2 cups milk (I think the original recipe called for heavy cream, but we haven't found that it makes much of a difference)
1 grilled chicken breast chopped (I've also used rotisserie chicken as well)
8 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
1 small onion chopped
2 tablespoons butter
dash of hot sauce (optional)
French's fried onions (optional garnish)

Saute the onions in a stock pot with butter.  Once onions are soft, add the first four ingredients to the stock pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, stir in cheese and chicken.  Let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Garnish with hot sauce and fried onions.

All ingredients in except cheese and chicken.

Everything in.

Yummy!  All dressed up with the fried onions on top!