DIY Train Invitation

I have been a little overwhelmed lately by trying to plan and get ready for the upcoming birthday party we are having the same weekend that we are moving out of our house. That's right- we are having a party here and then two days later a moving truck will be in the driveway. I'm using the party as an escape from the reality of moving and it's working!

I made these invites using PowerPoint. I started by downloading a free striped background and added it to a blank slide. I then used shape presets to draw the train and smoke billowing. It made things easier to use the 'group' feature to join each shape making up the train together. That way I was able to move it around without moving each individual piece. I added a frame border, some highlighting to the text and formatted the document as a 5x7. I printed them at home on photo paper and was happy with the color quality.

Wish me luck managing the rest of the party decorating while packing our entire house..


Sharing this post with some of my favorite sites. Check them out here:
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The Winthrop Chronicles

Chicken 'Dip' Summer Salad

It isn't actually a dip but when was the last time you made a salad so tasty that people thought it was and wanted to dip chips in it?

This is one of my favorite summer salads because it's perfect for a night that's too hot to cook, when you're looking for a light and fresh dinner, or to bring to a party. I make this salad with a store bought rotisserie chicken and bagged shredded lettuce because it's quick and easy.
It's nice to bring this to a party and offer guests the option to eat something healthier than most cookout food. I've seen guests skip fattening dips and sides in favor of this with and without knowing it's healthy and for that reason like to call it chicken 'dip' salad.

You'll Need:
Rotisserie Chicken- shredded and sprinkled lightly with taco seasoning
Shredded Lettuce- You can buy bagged shredded lettuce
Black beans
Canned Corn
Tomatoes (or fresh salsa)
Cilantro (I use most of the bunch)
2 Avocados
Juice of fresh limes
Sour cream

Shred the chicken with forks or you can use a mixer to save time and sprinkle with taco seasoning to taste.

Slice the avocado, chop the tomatoes and cilantro, and drain the beans and corn.
Cover the shredded lettuce with corn, beans, tomatoes, and cilantro.

I like to add the avocado and chicken last so that it's clear there is meat in the dish. Garnish with cilantro and squeeze fresh lime juice over the top. 

If you're bringing this to a party add the sour cream and a bit more lime juice right before serving or just serve with the sour cream on the side. The tomatoes, corn and beans add a lot of moisture to the salad and it will get soggy if the sour cream sits on it for too long before eating.

Next time you're asked to bring something to a party, offer to bring this 'dip' with the chips and margaritas!

DIY Printed Masterpiece on Canvas

When we lived in Switzerland we took a trip to Paris to celebrate our anniversary. Looking back through photos from the trip is always a treat because the whole city is just a photo waiting to be taken.

Everywhere you turn there is beauty and quite often, too many other people trying to capture it on film. I always think the following photo is hilarious because the man photographing the ceiling is standing smack in the middle of a crowd viewing the painting behind him.

One of the highlights of any trip to Paris is visiting the museums and being able to see breathtaking works of art up close. I took many photos of the beautiful paintings in the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay.
Here is a photo I took in the Louvre of Monet's oil painting, The Bridge at Argenteuil (1874)

And another photo I snapped of Monet's Regate a Argenteuil, (1872) from the Musee d'Orsay

I love both of these paintings and wanted to frame and hang my photographs of them to curate a little fine art collection of my own at home. Rather than print them on regular photo paper, I used canvas photo paper and created mini Monet paintings from my photographs of the originals. I printed these at home on canvas photo paper sheets. (A printing service may hesitate but there is no copyright issue. Because of the age of the Monet paintings, they are considered public domain and no longer protected by any copyright that may have protected them at one time.)

The photos hang on the wall in our blue powder room and bring a nice warmth to it, reminding me of a wonderful trip.
The texture of the canvas photo paper is perfect for capturing more of the sense of seeing the painting up close and through my camera's lens than a store bought or poster print could.

I'll close with one of my favorite photos of  Le Penseur from the Musee Rodin.

Mother's Day Flowers

Flowers for my mother and flowers for my son for making me understand the love she has for me.

Thank you Mom, for giving me the love that I try to give back every day to our boy.

There is no one sweeter, no one kinder. If my own child someday thinks the same of me, it will be because of you.  Happy Mother's Day!

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Day, local parenting resource, SaratogaMama, allowed me to share some of my thoughts about the not so normal lifestyle of a military family. I'm so excited to be featured on SaratogaMama after learning of so many area opportunities for families during our time here through their site. Check out my feature on SaratogaMama here!

To all of my fellow military spouses, I hope that someone did something to make you feel special, loved, and appreciated today!

I'm grateful for how often our life as a military family has included traveling to and experiencing beautiful places and look forward to filling our lives and photo albums with many more great memories.

A-door-able ReStore DIY Headboard From an Old Door

The idea of repurposing something with the history a door could have intrigues me. Who walked through it and what was once behind it? 

Our queen bedroom set was only a few years old when we decided we wanted a king size bed. We went without a headboard for the new bed until I found this beautiful old door at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $50.00.
There are so many adoorable headboard transformations out there burning up the Pinteresphere and I searched for the right door for a while intent on painting and adding a crown rail to the top. I couldn't believe my luck when I found one that matched our set so nicely, I didn't need to touch it. No sanding, no staining, no painting. 

This door needed nothing other than someone strong to turn it on its side!

Well o.k., so it needed some two by fours, bolts, and brackets too.

My husband bolted the door to 2x4 legs and secured with brackets at the top on each side and we had a brand 'new' headboard and look for our bedroom for $50.00!  This door measures 32 X 78.5 and works great as a king sized headboard.

Here is a closer look without all of the pillows.

We would have spent much more for something with this look from a furniture store. The fact that we found this instead, saved it from a landfill, and helped a charity that provides people homes makes it that much more beautiful in ours.

DIY Window Wear

A few readers had questions about how we made the DIY kitchen window treatments shown here in my Oh No-ing to Glowing Kitchen reveal post. Here is a short summary of how we used extra materials from our remodeling projects to make pelmet box style custom window treatments out of leftover wood and fabric.

The materials used for the small window were pieces of beadboard that we had left from the kitchen cabinet trim. The larger window over our sliding door required a more sturdy material to ensure it would be rigid and for that we used MDF. You could use a less sturdy material to construct similar window boxes but for a family that moves as often as we do, they needed to be able to withstand being handled if we wanted to keep them!



If you don't have anything at home that you can use, you will need the following materials:

• (1) eight foot long 1 X 4
• (1) 1/8 inch thick sheet MDF
• Batting (This helps make the edges rounded and will help disguise whatever material you use for the frame)
• Fabric (I had nearly seven yards but for both windows needed about five)
• Brad nailer and Staple gun
• (2) Hanging hardware eyelets

The photos below are of the beadboard but the concept is the same if you are using the MDF.



Step 1 Construct the frame using the 1 x 4 (The width will depend on how far out from each side of window you want to extend)
Step 2 Cut and attach the MDF (Beadboard shown here) with construction adhesive or a brad/finishing nailer
Step 3 Attach the eyelet for hanging onto both ends of the 1 x 4 frame

After constructing the frame, cover completely with batting. We stapled it right to the center board on the back. Then do the same with your fabric, trimming it, pulling it tightly and tucking it under itself as you go. I wrapped the corners like you would with wrapping paper on the sides of a package.

The eyelets will be covered now so use a razor blade to trim the fabric around them and uncover them. You could also try to attach the eyelet after covering the frame but it will be tougher to go through the layers of batting and fabric. 

The fabric I chose has a pattern that is tricky to line up so depending on your fabric choice, be mindful of how the fabric looks on top when you are stapling to the underside!

For the window over our sink the cabinets on either side are close and didn't allow much room so the box is close to the window fame.

For the large window we made the box extend past the window frame two inches on each side and hung it several inches above the window to give the illusion of more height. There is a curtain rod with two white panels hanging behind it.

I purchased seven yards of fabric and covered two window boxes, two barstools, and still have extra so depending on how large your windows are you may be able to get by with much less. Our small window box is 20 X 41 and the large is about 16 X 80.

Happy window styling!

Not So Buried Treasure Hunting in Switzerland

The aspect of military life that I've enjoyed the most has been the opportunity to travel. Besides taking trips all over the world for my husband's job, we spent an amazing two years living in Bern, Switzerland. I'm not kidding when I say that I've been trying to figure out how to move back there ever since we left. Here is a photo from one of our favorite hikes from First to Bachalpsee.

I used to hunt for furniture, art, and other Swiss mementos in nearby brocantes. If you haven't heard of a brocante, it's somewhat the same as a thrift store here in the U.S.

Source: MySwitzerland.com

One of the brocantes I visited often was Interbrocken Haus in Thun. I found beautiful furniture, colorful pitchers, unique baskets, and wooden shoes on my many trips there. When driving up to the store, there were usually paintings and other items for sale on display outside to draw people in. My best 'find' was sitting out in the sun for everyone driving by to spot but somehow it waited patiently for me. The price was written in marker right on the glass and was the equivalent of ten dollars.

I didn't pay attention to the signature but was happy to have found a piece painted in 1924.

This is a photo of the label on the back of the painting:

The title written on the back of the frame on the label reads, "Der Kleine Bernina- See" which I believe translates to The Little Bernina Lake and displays the artist's name, Hans Beat Wieland.

This painting immediately reminded me of the beautiful view pictured at the beginning of this post, from one of our favorite hikes in the Swiss Alps. Because of that I brought it home, completely unaware it was painted by a renowned Swiss artist. We went into the store and passed by this painting as it sat outside on the side of the busy road. On the way to the car to leave, I looked at it again and decided to buy it.  It's amazing to me that photographs I took of alpine scenery, no matter how breathtaking, don't capture the essence of the mountains and the way the sky seems to meet them as the brushstrokes on this canvas do. Here is a closer look:

After we had the painting for a month or so, one of our friends from the embassy in Bern noticed it in our house and asked if he could bring one of his Swiss friends by to see the painting. She was completely taken aback when she saw what I had found at what is essentially a Swiss thrift store. She told me about the artist,  and was a mix of astounded and disappointed to hear what I'd paid for my painting. She told me to take care of it as it was something special and made it clear that she wasn't happy it had been put out on the curb at a brocante! I've never had it appraised but it would be very hard for me to part with regardless of what it may be worth. Since it reminds me of one of the most beautiful views I was lucky enough to lay eyes on and sat in plain sight at the brocante for anyone to notice but went untouched, I feel like it was meant to be mine.

I'm a little embarrassed that I hung the painting in my house and went on my way without thinking to research the name signed on the canvas or displayed on the label on the back of the frame. I like to think I'm a more seasoned thrifter now and that I'm more careful to notice, at the very least, details like the artist's name! Although lucky for me it appears I'm not the only one that wasn't paying attention to that.
What about you? What treasure hunt find means the most to you?