what to do with all those broken crayons?

Melt them down and reshape them!

My youngest boy LOVES to color, but whenever one of his crayons break, he thinks it is garbage and doesn't ever color with it again. What a waste, right?! Today as I was helping him sort out all of the broken crayons, I had an idea to melt the unwanted (broken) crayons and make them into "new" crayons that would be fun to color with once again.

Here's what we did it....
First we took all the paper off of the crayons.
Then separated them into two empty soup cans, one for all the oranges, and the other for the black crayons.

I placed the two cans of crayons into a pot of boiling water. The crayons melted surprisingly fast!

After the crayons were melted, I poured them into a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter that I had placed into a disposable aluminum baking pan. I was a little skeptical of using a cookie cutter to shape the crayons, but it worked!

After our new pumpkin crayons had completely cooled down, we wrapped a couple of them up for some of his friends...such a fun little Halloween surprise!

And here is the final product.

I love the design that the crayons picked up for my disposable baking pan.

This is such a fun project that your kids are sure to love! Think of all the possibilities!!!

Thanks for reading!

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a ghostly treat

Meringue Ghosts

These festive meringues are not only tasty but are also quite fun to make. My two little boys and I had a lot of fun trying to pipe out ghostly shapes today after school.

Ingredients
3 large egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
miniature semisweet chocolate chips
~~~

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or butter sheets and dust with flour.
2. In a deep bowl, with a mixer at high speed, whip egg whites and cream of tartar to a thick foam. Continuing to beat, add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, then whip until meringue holds very stiff peaks.

3. Beat in vanilla.

4. Spoon meringue into a pastry bag fitted (or, like I did, spoon into a gallon-size Ziploc bag and cut off 1 corner to make a small opening).

5. Pipe meringue onto baking sheets into ghostly shapes about 1/2 inch thick. Place them about 2 inches apart. To make eyes simply press chocolate chips lightly into meringue.
6. Bake in a 200° oven until meringues begin to turn pale gold and are firm to touch, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours (1 to 1 1/4 hours in a convection oven); switch pan positions halfway through baking. Turn off heat and leave meringues in closed oven for 1 hour.

Thank you for reading!
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Fall Wreath

Every year as the air starts to get cooler and the leaves are begin to change color, I go out and gather beautiful colored leaves, acorns, rose hips, and whatever else I find fitting to make a simple, colorful fall wreath.

This is such an easy little project, and like most all of my projects, it is super cheap! The only things that I bought for this project was some clear glossy lacquer and a grapevine wreath. After gathering leaves and such, I simply glued (using a hot glue gun) the leaves, acorns, etc to the grapevine wreath and then gave it a shiny coat of lacquer to help preserve the leaves and all their beautiful colors.

Thanks for reading!!!

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Clean and Scentsible

How to tile a backsplash

I have had several questions about my back splash, so I thought I would post step-by-step instructions on how to tile, so that you too can tile your back splash.
This project only cost $115 and took less than an afternoon to do. So worth it!!!!

I purchased all my supplies (tile, thin set, grout, and tools) at Lowe's.

Step 1: Measure the surface area that you are going to tile

Multiply the length of your back splash area by the width of your back splash area to find the total square footage.

Step 2: Prepare your wall/ Cut Cement Board

Make sure to clean the wall that you are going to tile with an abrasive cleaner. Then, use your measurements to cut the cement board to size. This material is hard, but not too difficult to cut through. Use a razor knife to score one side, then turn the board over to finish the cut. Use caution when cutting to avoid pulling the mesh off the board.

Because my back splash is such a small area and the tiles are not heavy at all, I did use cement board. If you are planning on doing a bigger area, such as a back splash that goes all the way up to the ceiling, or if you are using heavy tiles then I recommend that you use cement board.

Once all the pieces of cement board are cut, lay them out to make sure it's a tight fit.
Secure the cement board to the floor using a drill with screwdriver attachment. Use special cement-board screws, and place them every 6 to 8 inches.

Step 3: Decide where to start

For my black splash, I thought it was most logical to start in the corner and work my way out.

Step 4: Spread Adhesive

Work in small sections. Spread the adhesive smoothly and evenly with a trowel. You'll want the adhesive to be about as thick as the tiles you're working with.
Lay all of the tiles that don't need to be cut first, and leave space for the tiles that are going to need to be cut. Then you can go back and tackle the tricky cuts toward the end. This really helped the job run quicker and smoother for me.


Step 5: Set Tiles in Place

Set the first tile into place and press it firmly into the adhesive. For the second tile, remember to line up the pattern and check the spacing before setting it into place.

Step 6: Cut Tile

The easiest way to cut individual tiles is with a wet saw. It uses water to keep the blade from getting too hot as it makes the cuts. Set the length wanted and guide the tile through the blade. You can rent a wet saw, or if you have just a few cuts to be made you can take it into Home Depot or Lowe's and they will cut it for you as long as you purchased it there.

Step 7: Grout

When mixing grout make sure it is creamy and easy to spread. Use "sanded"grout for larger spacing, "unsanded" grout for closer laid tiles. I used "unsanded" grout for this project.
Using a grout float, place a glob of grout on the tile and push it around the openings. Let it set for about 20 minutes then wipe the tiles with a damp sponge. Once the grout has hardened, buff the tile with a dry cloth.

Step 8: Seal grout

There are so many types of grout sealers. Some are a liquid that gets sponged on, and some are a spray. I used one that I sponged on. Make sure to seal the grout well to prevent staining.

Good Luck and Thanks for Reading!!!

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The DIY Showoff

look how far my kitchen has come...

My kitchen has been the biggest work in progress for what seems like forever! With two young and very active boys and I seem to have very little time to focus on big projects (such as my kitchen), so I have tackled it by doing one small project at a time, making this kitchen one very long drawn out process. I just finished the island yesterday. It would have been done a few weeks ago, but indecisive me decided to paint it creamy white instead of the green that I originally painted it.

Here is a picture of my kitchen as of today...

And here it is just 1 short year ago...








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The DIY Showoff

Thanks for reading!!!

I won!!!

I am so excited to tell you all that I won the Shaw Area Rug giveaway that Roeshel at The DIY Showoff hosted!

This is officially the first thing that I have ever won and I am sooooo excited!

Now, I need your help to choose the perfect rug for my dining room.

I am trying to decide between...

#1: Patina Rug

#2: Vintage Bloom Rug

-or-

#3: Light Multi Rug

Which rug do you think would look best in my dining room?

Thank you for reading!