Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Pinterest Projects I Actually Completed: Simple Vintage Valentine's Decorating

alt="valentines day tablescape"


Vintage typewriters, blue glass Ball jars, daisies and old-fashioned Valentine's Day postcards--just the right ingredients for a simple and sweet vignette.

I've had this pin on my Valentine's Day pinterest board since last year and I decided that I needed to get moving or it was going to be another year before I completed this one!
alt="Beatle's Love Me Do printable"
nobiggie.net

I dug out the old typewriter I bought at a garage sale years ago and cleaned it up.  All three of our kids have loved typing on it and it actually worked at one time.  One of the little darlings got a little ambitious with the White-Out and applied it to the keys as well as their paper.  I still have some scraping to go, but I wanted to put this together to show you.

alt="typewriter heart printable"

Nobiggie.net has this adorable download of the lyrics to "Love, Love Me Do" in the shape of a heart.  It's an easy printable and you just roll it into your typewriter's feed.  I only wish my Royal was that luscious turquoise of her Smith Corona!

I added two vintage blue Ball jars to my metal serving basket and filled them with $5 worth of grocery store daisies.  Roses are pricey this time of year and I loved the contrast of the simple white daisies and the blue glass.
alt="metal basket blue ball jars daisies"

To even out the tablescape, I made a little piece of art.  I found these super cute vintage postcards at our local Barnes and Noble:
alt="vintage valentines day postcards"

I took a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper I had on hand and layered them to create a double-mat effect for the postcard.  I've had this frame forever and I display all kinds of holiday art and printables.

alt="valentines day vintage art"

This is a sweet little picture and may end up getting moved to another part of the house.  I have an idea for a wood block art piece that's not quite as precious, but I haven't worked out the details.  I need to go scavenging in our warehouse for some "stuff" to make it.  There are plenty of unchecked entries on my current to do list, so, this may be all the decorating I do for this particular holiday.  ;-)

This was a fun and easy little tablescape to put together.  Hope you enjoyed it!  I would love to hear how (or if!) you decorate for Valentine's Day!

alt="Valentines Day typewriter printable daisies vintage postcard"



Sunday, January 24, 2016

Sunday Supper: Ree's Spanish Baked Salmon


I am always looking for fast, delicious dinners to serve my family.  Crock pot cooking is my go-to, but this past Saturday I received a revelation.

Sheet pan dinners.  What in the world?  Why had I never heard of this?  I DVR Pioneer Woman's show on the Food Network every Saturday morning and she was doing 5 ingredient (well, not really...) recipes.  They're five ingredient plus every condiment known to man, but whatever.  One of the segments was sheet pan dinners.  Roast some veggies, throw in a protein and BAM!  Dinner's ready.  (I may be mixing my metaphors television food hosts...)

The sheet pan dinner that caught my eye was the Spanish Baked Salmon.  There were other options as well and I think the Sheetpan Sausage Supper (say that one 3 times fast) is another one we'll try, although I'm a little iffy about the parsnips.  I don't think I've ever had parsnips.  I wasn't even sure they were a real thing.  Anyway, back to this deliciousness:


Pioneer Woman's Spanish Baked Salmon

Onions, bell peppers, olives and bread cubes tossed in olive oil and baked.  Then you add salmon fillets and bake a bit more.  The whole thing's ready in 30 minutes and if you line your cookie sheet with foil, clean up's a breeze (and not this).



I added kale to my veggie list because I had some.  And I love kale.  I also used black olives instead of green.  Because I had some.  And I didn't want to go buy green ones.  To go with my rebel veggies, I served buttery orzo, which ratcheted the whole dinner up another level.   

This recipe is going on heavy rotation.  Let me know if you try it and how you like it!

30 Minute Dinner--wait!  That's Rachael, not Ree!



Saturday, January 23, 2016

Be Brave Saturday: Breaking Free


I saw this beautiful iron work today at the college campus in our town.  The gates and bars are wonderfully wrought and bring a certain beauty to a very utilitarian structure.  As I looked at them, I began to think about the gates and bars we keep on our own hearts and minds.  We put them up, piece by piece.  Curl them around our fears and bend them around our shortcomings.  We mold them into a piece of art that with enough time can come to resemble a certain severe beauty.

There is beauty in structure and beauty in order.  But the carefully curated protection we give ourselves can turn out to be just gates and bars.  We fool ourselves into thinking they have always been there, have always been a part of who we are.  Ask any young child if he is a singer and he'll say "Yes!"  and proceed to sing you his favorite song.  Ask any child if she is an artist and she'll show you her latest masterpiece with pride.  When do we stop believing these things about ourselves?  When do we start putting up the barriers to our hearts and living in narrow confines of who we can be and what we can do?

Today, and everyday, think twice when you tell your heart "You can't do that."  Open those beautiful gates and soar.  Today and everyday.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

2016 Word of the Year: Adventure

Words of the year are a new thing for our family.  Although I can look back at certain years and see that there certainly seemed to be a theme for it, we've never officially sat down together as a family and voted on a specific word to apply the upcoming year.  We've done resolutions and goals, but never a theme or word for the new year.

2015 was our "Joy" year, although we didn't call it that.  I drew some chalkboard art on our kitchen wall and each month we wrote down a daily joy.  I photographed them each month and it's been fun to reflect back on those months and days and the things that brought happiness to us--big things and small things.

This New Year's, we found ourselves traveling together on a long road trip from seeing my parents over the holidays.  I wanted to do something different for 2016 with the chalkboard wall.  I didn't know quite what I wanted to do, but I did know I wanted to incorporate a word of the year and see where that took us.  Each family member submitted a word and we voted on them--4 points for our favorite and down to 1 point for our least favorite.  The words we came up with were:  fun, adventure, patience and diligence.  Thankfully, my word, adventure won, because if patience had won, it would have been a hard year for me, indeed!

I drew the little saying on my framed chalkboard, which hangs in our breakfast area.  For the kitchen chalkboard wall, I plan to draw something else "adventure-related" and have everyone write up a short 2016 bucket list of adventures and some big goals we each want to achieve this year.  With those written lists reminding us each day, I hope 2016 is the year we reach out and reach up to make those things happen.

What brave thing will you do TODAY?