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Healthy Snack:: Yogurt Popsicles

April 30, 2012 By 6 Comments

I’ve been on a health kick lately.

For those of you that know me, your jaw has probably dropped. I have a history of eating pretty unhealthy. In the past I’ve typically eaten dessert after almost every meal and consider broccoli doused in cheese ‘healthy.’ But for many different reasons, I’ve decided it’s time to get healthy. I only have this one body, and 30 years from now, I don’t want to wish that I had taken better care of it.

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So, the first step to being healthier was to cut out my morning diet coke. I don’t drink coffee, but for the past 8 years, I’ve had a diet coke every morning as my ‘coffee’ or caffeine for the day. {Side note, I thought I would have major headaches and feel exhausted if I quit. The first day I didn’t have it I had a slight headache, but other than that, I’ve actually felt better and less tired}.

I’ve also started walking after work in our neighborhood as much as I can and am cutting out sugar as much as possible {of course I’m going to splurge every now and then though}.

So since I’m trying to avoid the Oreos and cookies I’ve typically eaten in the past after dinner, I’ve tried to find some healthier alternatives. I found this recipe for yogurt popsicles and decided to try and make them this weekend. I’m also trying to eat more organic foods, so this recipe is actually organic as well.

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Creamsicle Yogurt Pops

Ingredients::

1 1/4 cups organic yogurt {I used strawberry}

1/2 cup orange juice concentrate

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp. granulated maple sugar (or other sugar) mixed with 2-3 tbsp. warm water

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pour into ice-pop molds and freeze overnight or until frozen.

I made these on Saturday and tried them out yesterday. Overall they were pretty good. I did fail to mix the maple sugar with the water before adding it to the blender, so the maple sugar flavor was pretty strong. I’m planning to make these again {and follow the directions this time} so hopefully the next batch will be better.

Have you made yogurt popsicles before or have any other healthy snack or dessert recipes??

Here’s to seeing if I can stay on the road to being healthier. :)

Happy Monday everyone!

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Filed Under: life, recipes

Felt Flower Lamp Shade Tutorial

April 27, 2012 By 1 Comment

If you remember my post from last Friday, I showed you guys my starting point for my bedroom. One of my purchases was a new lamp for my nightstand.

I really love it, but thought the shade could use a little embellishment. Enter my go to craft supply: felt.

Since my bedspread has a ruffly look to it, I thought it would be fun to mimic the ruffle look on the lampshade with some felt flowers.

If you want to make your own it will seriously take you all of 15 minutes and here’s all you will need::

Felt and straight pins. That’s it!

First, all you need to do is cut out several circles from the felt. Depending on how big you want your flowers to be will determine how big you should cut your circles.

I used the bottom of a cup to trace my circles.

Each flower will need four circles, so I cut out a total of 12 circles to make 3 flowers.

Then, you’ll fold your circles in half twice, and just pin them one at a time to the shade. This is also the same method that I used to make my fall felt wreath and felt Christmas trees.

You’ll do that three more times until you have a complete flower made. Be sure to scrunch them close together. Scrunching them next to each other is what gives it that ruffle look.

Super simple and easy, but I think it definitely jazzes up the shade.

And the great thing is that it’s not permanent. If I decide I don’t like it a few months down the road, I can take them off and add something new.

I have another project involving these felt flowers that I’ll show you guys next week. I promise, after that, no more felt….well maybe :)

Do you guys have any fun weekend plans? Some friends of mine are running in the Music City Half Marathon on Saturday, so we’re going to be cheering them on from the sidelines bright and early Saturday morning! I also have lots of projects to work on and errands to run so hopefully I’ll have lots to show you guys in the next few weeks.

I’m linking this up to::

Thirty Handmade Days

The Shabby Nest

Brassy Apple

How to Nest for Less

Home Stories A to Z

Shabby Creek Cottage

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Filed Under: crafts, decorating, DIY Tagged With: ,

Inspiration:: Teal Love

April 25, 2012 By 2 Comments

I saw this living room reveal from June & Bear last week.

Aren’t all the punches of teal they used so fun? I especially love the teal they used in the back of their bookshelves. Really makes everything on the shelves pop!

Back in college, I went through a serious teal & brown phase. Everything in my college apartment room and bathroom was either teal or brown, literally. Super matchy, matchy {cringe}. After staring at my bright teal bathroom wall for two years, I got a little sick of teal and vowed to not ever use it again.

But, after seeing this room reveal, and talking about our teal wall set at work, teal is slowly working it’s way back onto my favorites list.

Used in the right way and in the right amount, it can really make a statement.

Here are a few rooms that have incorporated teal very well.

1. Row House Nest  // 2. Decor 8 // 3. Tumblr  // 4.  The Decorista  // 5. Dressed to 9

Isn’t that teal filing cabinet gorgeous? And it’s all chippy too. Match made in heaven.

How do you feel about teal? Fan, or not a fan?

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Filed Under: inspiration Tagged With:

Gallery Wall Set Design

April 23, 2012 By 7 Comments

I finished this set a while back at work, but just never got around to posting it here on the blog.

We have a video room at work where artists will come and record video content on occasion. We wanted to create several permanent ‘sets’ to avoid having to continue throwing something together at the last minute. We have a pretty small budget to work with though, so we are having to get creative when it comes to designing them {which is fine by me, I love the challenge ;) }.

We knew we wanted one set to have a very fun ‘pop’ look. So when it came to picking out a paint color for the wall, we went with a bright teal. And we went with a budget friendly wall art option, the classic gallery wall of frames.

Here is the final product. {Sorry these pictures aren’t that great. I took them on my iPhone}.


Pretty simple. We also have some white chairs and a white couch that we can use for this set depending on the type of content we’re looking to get.

Since we had a whole wall to fill, we thought a gallery wall of frames would be a great way to make a statement and  take up a lot of space. And, more importantly, it’s budget friendly. You can find all sorts of frames for next to nothing at Goodwill. Here are some of the frames we scored at Goodwill.

We made sure to get a variety of sizes and shapes to make it interesting.

I spray painted some of them bright white and then some of them off white. The few circle frames we got, I spray painted them a sunny yellow to add a punch of an additional color.

I realize most of you probably know how to figure out a gallery wall, but on the chance that some of you don’t, I’ll explain how I went about this one. For those of you that do, feel free to skip to the bottom to see the finished product again :)

After I had painted them all, I laid them all out in the floor to see how I wanted to display them on the wall.

You’ll notice that there are some additional frames not in the picture above. I realized after I got the first few that we would need more frames to fill the wall so I went back out to Goodwill to get more.

Then, in order to get them up on the wall exactly like I had them on the floor, I taped paper to the wall that was the exact shape and size of each frame.

Here’s the finished product up on the wall.

We recently taped an acoustic performance with Britt Nicole using this set. I posted this link on Twitter, but here it is again, if you didn’t see it before.

I think it really looks great on camera, don’t you? I’ll be sure to post pictures of the other sets as we finish them!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! It got cold here this weekend {and by cold I mean in the 50s/60s}. But still, after being spoiled with the hot weather lately, it felt like winter to me! Here’s to hoping the summer like weather comes back soon! This girl is ready for another pool day :)

Linking this up to::

Brassy Apple

Southern Hospitality

Home Stories A to Z

How To Nest For Less

Not Just a Housewife

Shabby Creek Cottage

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Filed Under: decorating, DIY, set design Tagged With:

New Bedroom:: Starting Point

April 20, 2012 By 6 Comments

Now that I’ve been in our new house for over a month, you’re probably wondering when you’re going to start seeing progress pictures.

I’ve decided to take the decorating process slow. I don’t want to rush it. I have a tendency to rush, when it comes to decorating and in life. But, I’m learning that it’s not always about hurrying and getting to the finish line, sometimes it’s more about the process of getting there. Wouldn’t you agree?

So, I’m taking my time. Taking my time to sit with things and decide whether it’s something I really love. If not, it doesn’t stay.

Today, I’ll show you where I started in my bedroom.

I’ve put my new bedding on my bed and bought a linen rectangular pillow for the front. I was actually on the hunt for a grain sack pillow to use as a decorative pillow instead. I never found one that was the right size or in my price range. {In case you didn’t know, grain sack is expensive!}

And I’m still contemplating whether I need to add any additional decorative pillows. I might eventually, but for now, I’m liking the simplicity of less is more.

I’ve added a new lamp to the night stand.

I bought this ‘Amazing Grace’ wooden sign back in December at Christmas Village. It’s currently sitting above my closet doors.

I’ve also propped up an old antique door on the wall next to my bed. I’ve been dying to use an old door in decorating and absolutely love this little beauty I found.

Since I took these pictures, I’ve worked on a few projects and things are starting to come together. I really do love how it’s coming along. The room really feels like ‘me’ which is exciting!

Once everything is finished, I’ll do the big reveal and do a run down of where everything came from. But in the meantime, I’m going to continue savoring the process.

What about you? What is your decorating process like? Are you fast or do you take your time? Fire away in the comments!

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Filed Under: decorating