Creative Coasters

In our house, no drink is ever set down unless it's sitting on a coaster or my dad will be all over your case! So this week we decided to make our own sets of coasters. After searching Pinterest and Etsy for ideas, we gathered our supplies: Mod Podge, cork, scrap book paper, tiles, and a table cloth to protect the kitchen table:

I saw coasters on Esty that were made from old book pages and loved them, so I decided to copy them. Using a duplicate copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I chose four chapter title pages to use for my coasters (with input from my roomie since he would have to look at them everyday too). My mom chose the coffee themed paper for hers. We each cut 4 in. by 4 in. squares to fit our coaster bases. 

After cutting out our paper squares, we each decoupaged a layer of Mod Podge onto our bases - I chose rough tile and my mom chose cork - and then pressed the paper down and smoothed it out so there were not any air bubbles.

After waiting about 15 minutes for the paper to dry onto the tile and cork, we then painted 2 to 3 top layers of Mod Podge onto our coasters. 

After letting them dry overnight, we needed to seal them with a clear acrylic paint sealer. My mom found spray sealer, and we sprayed 2 coats onto our coasters.

My mom used the cork base so she didn't need to add any type of backing to her coasters, but since I used rougher tiles I added a layer of foam to the back so they wouldn't scratch my coffee table.

Here are my mom's four coasters drying:

And my four on my coffee table:

The Girls Team really liked this project this week. I'm happy I finally have coasters, and I love that they are made from one of my favorite books. My mom's coffee themed coasters look great in her kitchen. The only time consuming aspect of this project was waiting for everything to dry, so we spread this project out over two evenings. As we were making these decoupaged coasters, we were getting great ideas for gifts for friends and family. I already have a list of people I'd like to make them for. We also thought we could trying sewing coasters next time. 

Another successful craft week for the girls of Make It Happen Monday! 

Nightstand, Revisited

Remember when we decided to give this nightstand a makeover?

 

And we thought tediously scraping the decoupage magazine pieces off was how we were going to do that?

 

Well it wasn't. After scraping away at the table for hours and not really getting very far, we were regretting our decision to redo the nightstand. So it sat untouched in the garage since May. But, this week the Girls Team discovered the power sander and we were back in business!

 

We took turns sanding and went through three pieces of sand paper. We found the courser the sand paper, the quicker and easier the power sander worked.

 

 

The only downside of sanding the table was all of the dust we were breathing in as we worked, but I'd argue it was better than the gross citrus scent of the wall paper remover we were originally using :)

 

After about 45 minutes of sanding, most of the orginial decoupaged magazine clippings were gone. It was magic! There is some staining left behind, and also a few stubborn patches, but overall the nightstand is ready for the next phase of the makeover.
 

 

It is such a relief to have the table stripped down and ready for the next phase of the makeover. Next, we will prime the table and get it ready for it's new life as a Giants themed nightstand for Corey!

Tower of Flowers

When you're renting, sometimes it is hard to make a space feel like it's really "yours" - it seems silly to put a lot of money or effort into a place that you most likely will leave after just one year. But after 3 months, it seemed like we needed something to make it feel a little bit more like home. One of our favorite features about our location is the great view. Our apartment patio backs up to a small nature preserve and a running trail.

View from our patio.

The only thing on our patio is a barbeque, so I thought it was time to liven it up a bit. My Girls Team partner found a really cute idea for stacked potted plants on Pinterest, and we planned to make it happen in my yard. (Sidenote: we made it happen on one of the hottest days of the year. Seriously. It was 102 degrees at 7 p.m. when we started this outdoor project. Yikes!)

My mom came over with her gardening tools and soil.

I purchased the materials over the weekend. Flowers from Green Acres ($13), 60" rebar from Home Depot ($4.20) and 5 - 6" terracotta pots and 1 - 8" terracotta pot from Michael's ($12.50).

First we hammered the rebar one foot into the ground. And by "we" I mean my really strong, muscular roommate who was forced to help :)

The plan was to stack the pots on top of each other, so we began stringing the pots onto the rebar, and filling them with soil, one pot at a time. As we stacked them, we realized I didn't buy enough so we took a quick trip to Michael's and bought two more 6" pots and one more 8" pot.

By the time we got back, it was dark so we just stopped taking pictures because as the one above shows, they weren't turning out very well. Basically, we just kept stacking and tilting the pots until we reached the top of the rebar, starting and ending with the 8" pots. Once all of the pots were filled with soil, we planted the petunias. Night gardening is really creepy when there is a deafening sound of crickets surrounding you! When my mom left, we both liked what we could see of the final product in the dark but were excited to see it in the daylight...

This morning I woke up to this adorable creation and immediately texted a picture to my Girls Team partner.

Up close view :)

Had we not needed to make an emergency Michael's trip, we could have finished this project in about one hour. Once the rebar was in the ground, it was simple gardening. I was a little skeptical before we built this because the Pinterest example had painted the pots blue and it looked cheap. I'm glad we kept this simple and natual looking, and as any Pinterest user knows, it's always nice when your project turns out looking BETTER than the professionally made and photographed sample you copied :)

 

I couldn't be happier with how this turned out! This tower of flowers adds pops of color to our view without obstructing it and makes our patio look like someone actually lives there. The Girls Team loved this project and would rank it in our top 5 for cutest crafts we've tried so far!

Fried Rice Fun

Since my brother goes back to school this coming weekend, the Girls Team decided to invite him into the MIHM club this week and cook something we both were interested in learning to make: fried rice. My Girls Team partner found some fried rice recipes online, but there were so many different options and variations, it was a little overwhelming. We just decided to wing it and throw in what we thought would taste good :)

Skipping ahead a few steps (steaming the rice, cooking the chicken, and chopping the veggies) we had all of our ingredients ready for the wok. Yep, our vintage wok that you'll remember from our Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

Peas, carrots, chicken, green onions, white sticky rice, 2 eggs and soy sauce. Used but not pictured: sesame oil for extra flavor.

Adding the peas and carrots to vegetable oil.

All of the ingredients getting mixed together in the wok. The eggs were cracked and scrambled in with everything else. 

After about 15 minutes in the wok, we plated our fried rice and served it with an asian chopped salad, topped with fresh orange slices.

Aside from steaming the rice, it took about 25 minutes to cook the fried rice from start to finish. If you can chop and stir, you too can make fried rice! I'm not usually one to get all wild and crazy in the kitchen, mostly because I rarely know what I'm doing. That's the reason I like baking so much, you HAVE to follow a recipe. But I enjoyed relaxing a bit with this last night and not following any particular instructions.

We all really liked how our rice turned out. Even my Girls Team partner tried it, and she has a life-long aversion to eggs! The rice was flavorful with a nice texture. Another bonus: we made a ton, so now we can all enjoy leftovers this week! 

Secret Special Dessert

In our family, there is no greater surprise than the Secret Special Dessert. What is this mysterious sweet treat, you ask? Well, Secret Special Dessert can really be any dessert item, as long as it is presented after dinner unbeknownst to anyone else in the family. For a long time, Secret Special Dessert was always pudding made by my dad. After dinner he would say, "Secret Special Dessert time!" and out would come pudding in festive glass bowls. It became a running joke around our house because everyone knew that while the surprise dessert was always special, it was no longer a secret. Over time, we've mixed it up a bit - surprise ice cream sandwiches on a hot night, surprise cookies after dinner, a new dessert treat someone saw at the grocery store and had to bring back to share. It seems silly, but the excitement surrounding Secret Special Dessert never dies!

After the Shoyu Chicken Birthday Dinner we made Secret Special Birthday Dessert for my dad. He loves chocolate mousse, so we decided to attempt homemade chocolate mousse! We found this recipe online. It was simple to follow the step by step rules, but a little tedious at times.

Ingredients, including coffee and rum. YUM!

Melted chocolate mix.

Whipping the cream.

Tedious job #1: Heating cream and gelatin mix over the stove.

Adding the gelatin mix to the chocolate.

After stirring in the gelatin mix, we added the freshly whipped cream to the chocolate.

Tedious job #2: Mixing in the whipped cream with the chocolate without beating it too much and turning it flat. Our dad deserves only the fluffiest mousse!

Cute plating idea from my MIHM Girls Team partner! Hershey's chocolate shaved on top :)

Happy birthday dad! Secret Special Dessert mission complete!

Aside from how much fun this was to make, it was also SUPER delicious. The coffee and rum flavors were subtle but made a big difference, adding an interesting layer of "MMMM" to this mousse. The consistency was perfectly fluffy, and the whole family really enjoyed this. It was very filling, so next time we could probably serve it in smaller portions, but hey, we were celebrating! 

Shoyu Chicken Celebration

Last week was my dad's birthday...Happy Birthday Dad! Unfortunately he had to work on his birthday, but we were able to celebrate on Make It Happen Monday when he returned home by cooking one of his favorite dinners, Shoyu Chicken.

Shoyu Chicken is the Hawaiian version of teriyaki chicken, and this recipe has been passed down from my grandpa who grew up in Hawaii, so it is an authentic family recipe :)

I am very hesitant about cooking meat because I have very litte experience doing so. My meat cooking expertise is basically saved for hot dogs. So, this was a good night for me to overcome my meatless chef issues and dive right in.

First you combine the chicken drumettes, soy sauce, white wine, brown sugar, garlic and ginger in a pot. After mixing the ingredients together, turn on high heat and bring to a boil.

Here is the chicken boiling. YEP, it's actually that easy. Aside from the occaisional stir, you just let the pot stand covered on high heat for one hour.

After an hour has passed, remove the chicken and serve over a bed of hot, sticky rice! Shoyu Chicken would also be great to serve at a party. It makes a pretty large batch of chicken and is easy to serve as finger food.

Shoyu Chicken was the perfect meal for me to introduce myself to cooking meat. There very few steps involved, so it is almost impossible to mess up. My mom coached me through this so I could gain the confidence to make it on my own next time, and that really worked. I am already looking forward to making this at my apartment to keep the Shoyu Chicken recipe alive!

It was fun to make this for my dad in celebration of his birthday because it is a family staple and one of his favorite meals. After we enjoyed the chicken, we made a Secret Special Dessert in honor of my dad's birthday. Check out our next post for some chocolatey goodness :)