Making Happy {at home}: 2016

easy recipes

One thing before I start...

I can't tell you how many times I accidentally typed the word "panty" instead of "pantry". I assure you this is a kitchen organization piece and not an underwear overhaul.

I dream of pantries, specifically I dream of having a gorgeous walk in butler's pantry. A pantry with floor to ceiling shelves lined with beautiful paper where everything is organized into neatly labeled bins. A pantry where I could store my ever growing collection of pretty plates and bowls and cake stands and all of the things that dear husband says make me a bit of a "hoarder". A pantry where I can zip away from company and return with a tray full of artisnal crackers, dried fruits, madelines and bottles of sparkling water...because, you know, everything in my butler's pantry would obviously be VERY fancy! But alas, we live in a little suburban house from 1963 which was apparently a time when people had better things to do than to worry about the size of their pantry {GASP!}. Actually, our home doesn't have a pantry AT ALL and until we updated the kitched a bit it didn't even have the cabinets that we use as our "pantry". So, this is one of those instances of "if the grass looks greener on the other side, go ahead and water your own" where we make due with what we have and turn something messy into something pretty and functional.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should definitely show you what I was working with. So, HERE are the horribly embarrassing "before" photos. Nice right? Totally makes you want to come over for dinner I am sure.

I had definitely reached my breaking point with these cabinets, so I started making a plan by scouring Pinterest for "small pantry solutions" and I've got to say some of these people seem to be playing it a little fast and loose with the definition of "small", haha! But I digress, while searching for ideas I noticed a few things:

Organized pantries have bins or containers.
Organized pantries have labels.
Organized pantries have Pellegrino {seriously, what's UP with all the Pellegrino?}

Here are a few pantries where I gathered inspiration.

In Pantry #1 I loved the IKEA bins, the labels, the pretty wall treatment and {of course} the Pellegrino. Unfortunately the IKEA bins were too large for my cabinet "pantry" so I had to settle for bins from the Dollar Tree, which in the end saved us a ton of money so I guess that's a win! In Pantry #2 I loved the use of mason jars. Mason jars are fairly cheap, very pretty and they are NOT plastic, which is a huge plus in my book. Honestly I just kept coming back to Pantry #3 because I loved the pretty pink and the cute scripted labels, however, I'm trying to move away from storing loose food in plastic containers - even though we already own the ones shown. Pantry #4 isn't even really a pantry at all, but I loved the use of the baskets on top of the cabinets and {again!} the ever popular Pellegrino, haha. We tend to use the tops of our cabinets as a "dumping ground" and it ends up looking horribly messy.

So I after gathering ideas I hit up IKEA, Target, Dollar Tree, Michael's, and The Walmarts and got to work. The first thing I did was take EVERYTHING out of the cabinets...yes...EVERYTHING. I needed to take inventory of what I had and start to group things into categories that made sense. This is what my kitchen looked like...15 minutes before I had to pick the kids up from school...and I wasn't even done pulling things from the shelves! What in the world was I thinking?! I assure you if you choose to do this, it's going to get WAY worse before it gets infinitely better!

After pulling everything from the shelves I lined the back of the cabinets with pretty contact paper. This was a completely unnecessary step, but I thought it would look nice...you can barely see it, sooooo maybe not the best use of my time. I then organized everything into my Dollar Tree containers, cut out some chalkboard labels and labeled everything up REAL nice....REEEEAAAALLLL nice Clark! I also found a nice little lazy Susan from IKEA which I used for all of my oil/ vinegar shown above in the first horribly disgusting photo. Best. Purchase. Ever. So without further ado, HERE is my new and improved "No Pantry "Pantry""!!!!!!!!! I love it! Love!

Does it drive anyone else nuts that the cabinet doors are open?!

Doesn't this look SO much better? And thank goodness I discovered the secret to an organized pantry...Pellegrino...this never would have worked without it! Haha!

breast cancer

Joy Over Fear

April 01, 2016

I was inspired to join the discussion about fear and how we can sometimes let it overtake our lives, cloud our decisions and steal our joy by the lovely Natalie, of Natalie Creates. Natalie writes openly about the fear and anxiety that comes along with putting everything you have into a new business venture, a venture that will surely bring joy, but also the possibility of heartache. She writes about grabbing on to that fear but moving forward anyway. It's hard putting yourself out there whether it be in the business world, as a blogger, as a parent, or just at tackling life in general. My fear is not a fear of failure or of not being successful, but it's still a fear of putting myself out there and losing everything. My fear stems around cancer {of course}. I promise you this isn't going to become "Cancery Blog the Sequel", but in an effort to be open in this space this is an important part of the story.

Before cancer I was bopping along enjoying life, I was writing fun little blog posts about crafting and cooking and life in general. I loved decorating our home, cooking meals for family and friends and sharing DIY tips with any of the three followers I had at the time. I was content and finally felt like I was becoming comfortable in my own skin. I knew who I was and who I wanted to be. I was just, HAPPY.

Mother's Day, two weeks prior to hearing "the words". That dress is in a trash bag in our garage.

Then in May of 2013, I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35. Cue the dark clouds. Suddenly everything I was doing, everything that was making me happy became trivial. I no longer cared about decorating my home, or doing crafts, or spending time looking up new recipes. All of those things felt silly. I couldn't imagine how I ever thought they were important. I woke up every single day with paralyzing fear and the thought "please...PLEASE God let this be a terrible dream". I looked at my boys and was afraid that I wouldn't be around to see them go to kindergarten. I looked at my husband and pictured him living a life without me. I saw my parents and was heartbroken by the thought of them watching their child go through something so terrible. ALL I cared about was staying alive, but in the process I think I became afraid to actually LIVE.

The day after hearing "the words". The lake makes just living life easier.

As time passed, treatments were checked off, and surgeries were completed I slowly fell back into the swing of life. I'm sure to the outside observer it actually looked like we were living life like "normal" through the whole thing - and to some extent we were - but the undercurrent of my thoughts hasn't been the same since the day I heard "the words". I still wake up every day thinking about cancer. I have hope that the stories from others who have "been there" are true and that maybe someday I will wake up and cancer WON'T be the first thing to cross my mind, but for now, the thoughts still come fast and hard and a bit too frequently.

Chickens are a pretty good source of "happy".

Which brings me to today and this space. If I'm being completely honest I was REALLY afraid to re-start this blog and not for the reasons you may think. I'm not afraid that people won't read it, that doesn't bother me - I love making pretty things regardless. I'm not afraid that my writing isn't good enough or that my ideas aren't original enough - there will always be better writers and more inventive crafters. What I AM afraid of is going to sound completely irrational, but it's very real to me so I might as well own it. I'm afraid that if I start focusing on crafting and cooking and chickens and camping and all of the "c's" that are much more pleasant than cancer, if I start giving these parts of my life priority over fear, these things that honestly make me happy and make me ME, then the cancer will come back. I'm afraid that if I get too comfortable with feeling content or joyful again, that cancer will say "Haha! You thought you could be happy? You went right back to thinking those trivial things were important, well guess what? I'LL show you what's REALLY important! BOOM!". I've been wrapping fear around me like a blanket, letting it grab me too tight, to consume me. Maybe writing these words will help. Maybe saying them out loud will help me let go, to unwrap myself, to move on. Or maybe I'll still have to sit with these feelings for a while, try and work with the fear instead of fighting against it. Either way, I am making a conscious effort to put Joy OVER cancer.

ALDI

DIY Grocery Tote

March 28, 2016

As far as I’m concerned the world can be divided into two groups of people: those who love Aldi in an almost cultish way and those who just don’t get it {yet}. I’m a proud practitioner of the “Aldi Way of Life” and I am forever trying to convert people and bring them over to the dark, yet surprisingly healthy and affordable, side {I’m talking to you Nikki!}.

Whether you are a seasoned veteran or an Aldi newbie, you most likely know that you have to bring in your own bags {and a quarter, don’t forget the quarter!}. For some, this seems like a hassle I am sure, but for me this seems like an opportunity to create some fun and reusable totes! Not to mention farmer's market season is here soooo.....

Here’s what you’ll need:

Silhouette Cameo
iron on vinyl
tote bag
hook tool
iron

The first thing I did was create an image in Photoshop {you could use another program, I just happen to like PS}. Here is what the entire image looked like.

I then moved my design over to Silhouette Studio in two steps {because I couldn’t figure out how to un-group a custom image}, here is what the first part of the design looked like when in the Studio view. As you can see in the photo below that I increased the value of the high pass filter so that ALL edges of my design would be cut.

When cutting vinyl don’t forget to mirror your image, I have ruined a few pieces of vinyl by forgetting this step and I cringe every time! I literally JUST figured out today that the simplest way to do this is to right click on your image and select “flip horizontally”. You can also see in the photo below that I have my cut setting set to vinyl, but I turned my ratchet blade to 2 {for me this works better than setting it to 1}.

I then sent the design to my machine for cutting, weeded the vinyl and ironed my design directly onto my tote bag {and then repeated all of the above steps for the word ALDI in my second vinyl color}.

I LOVE how this grocery tote features some of my favorite healthy and fresh foods to buy at Aldi {not shown are all the snack foods I also buy there, haha!}. I am even thinking of making MORE with different text in the middle, I'm thinking maybe "Farm Fresh" or "Eat Real Food". What are some of your favorite foods to purchase at Aldi?

Crafting

DIY Decorated Mixer

March 25, 2016

First, let me say that this was not my idea. I tell you this because what you are about to see is nothing short of amazing and I just can't take the credit for it.

Friends. LOOK at my mixer!!!! Isn't it ADORABLE!?!? I kid you not, an hour ago that thing was functional, but it was boring and white and blah and just not at all something I would want to leave sitting out on my counter, but NOW??? Now, I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick flowers in the mixing bowl and turn it into a centerpiece for our dining room table because this baby BEGS to be on display!

I know right? It's incredible and I found the idea here while sifting through the endless list of "things I can do with my Silhouette Cameo instead of just making T-Shirts". Kayla, of "Kayla Makes", is on the Silhouette Design Team and she gives an amazing step by step tutorial for this project, so I'm not going to do more work than I have to and repeat things here just for the sake of repeating them. However, I am going to make a few suggestions for those of you who don't have an electronic cutting machine like the Silhouette or Cricut because I really think that although those tools make things marginally easier, you can definitely get a similar look without one!

I used printable vinyl for the decals which I picked up off of Amazon for less than I was able to find it at any of my local craft supply stores {this stuff is amazing, more on that later!}.
For the images, just do a google image search for whatever it is you want to use to decorate your mixer. Flowers not your thing? Great! There are literally billions of choices at your fingertips! Keep in mind that if you are going to be cutting the images out with scissors you might not want to choose a super intricate design, the simpler the better!
Arrange the images of your choice in a word document or in Photoshop or a similar program and then simply print using your inkjet printer straight onto the printable vinyl.
Cut out your images, peel off of the backing and decorate to your heart's content. If you don't like how something looks, just peel the decal off and re-position.
Note: the printable vinyl is not waterproof, so I will likely cover my decals with a thin coat of Dishwasher Safe Mod Podge so that I can wipe the mixer off as needed.
Need help? Email me or DM me on Instagram, I'd be happy to help you out!

The possibilities for this project are pretty much endless. If you decide to decorate your mixer, take a photo and tag me @makinghappy on Instagram because I would LOVE to see your work! Enjoy!

backyardchickens

Welcome

March 21, 2016

Easiest Ever Quiche

Making Happy {the List}

The No Pantry "Pantry" Redo

Joy Over Fear

DIY Grocery Tote

DIY Decorated Mixer

Welcome

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