Meet Crystal & Co Week 7

 

7 Easy Recipes- Perfect for Busy Moms I am a mom of five. I get it- life is busy. We need easy recipes- especially during the busy school week. But that is not the only time. What about when you're invited to a potluck? What about when you're hosting a crowd and want an easy dessert? The crockpot is a lifesaver in my house. Today I want to share with you some easy recipes that help simplify my life. Did I mention short ingredient lists are important to me when it comes to busy week night dinner ideas? I hope you find something new you can add to your recipe rotation. 

 

1. Crockpot Ravioli- this is the most viewed recipe on my site. Super simple- take frozen ravioli, add your favorite spaghetti sauce and toss this in you crockpot. Cooks in just a few hours.
2. Apple Butter Crescent Rolls- this is a simple dessert that is made of apple butter, crescent rolls and powdered sugar. This would be a yummy dessert for a crowd or to serve with your Thanksgiving dinner.
3. Honey Catalina Chicken- two ingredients and your crockpot. Dinner could not be easier. Did I mention this chicken comes out incredibly tender?
4. Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Casserole- crowd-pleaser indeed. Serve this with a salad and dinner is done.
5. Crockpot Blueberry Cobbler- yes, you can make a cobbler in the crockpot. Who knew? You can easily change out the fruit to one of your choice if blueberries are not your favorite. Next time there is a family gathering, offer to bring the dessert.
6. Crockpot Spinach Artichoke Dip- this stuff is amazing. You can substitute the mayo for cream cheese. Delicious dip that is perfect for a family game night.
7. Easy Pasta Casserole- This is a baked dish that comes together quickly and is perfect for a busy school/work night. The ground Italian sausage gives the casserole a gourmet flavor.

 

Which new recipe are you most excited to try? Crystal is the author of the site Crystal & Co., where she shares her journey of raising five boys. On her site you will find loads of easy recipes, weekly meal planning inspiration, easy craft ideas, as well as mommy solutions and resources. Join her every Wednesday where she invites you to link up and share your mommy solutions and resources!

 

Don’t forget to check out my giveaway for a Shabby Apple dress!!  Contest ends Sunday.

~Sommer

Meet Love Sweet Love Week 6

HeLlO hElLo Designer Garden readers!!! I am Angela, the voice behind Love Sweet Love, and I am super-duper EcStAtIc to be doing a guest post for my new bloggy friend Sommer today!

I use my little corner of the blogging universe to share my creative ideas that involve easy DIY projects for the home, craft ideas for kids, thrift store makeovers like this and this, organization ideas, and holiday decorating (the reason I started blogging!). My life is over-flowing with Sweet Love and I needed a place to share it!!

 

 

Meet A Fabulous Home Week 5

Thanks so much to Sommer for letting me guest post over here today! I've been a huge fan of Sommer's blog for a while now. Her ability to take traditional decorations and make them look new and fresh is always so inspiring to me.

My husband and I just moved into our new-to-us house in early summer. Since then we've been updating the house room-by-room on a very limited budget. I could see the potential in each room, but during that first walk-through, the house just felt GLOOMY. The interior was so dark! The kitchen and family rooms boast two windows… COMBINED! So today, I’m sharing with you the 6 tips I’ve learned about bringing light into otherwise gloomy spaces (without adding natural light).

TIP 1: TAKE OUT UNNECESSARY LIGHT-BLOCKING PIECES.

These cabinets offered good storage, but that was about their only redeeming factor. They were dark and closed off the room, so down they came. Simply freeing up visual space can make a room feel bigger and brighter (even if its still ugly).

TIP 2: LIGHTEN UP MAJOR FOCAL POINTS


Make a point to choose the focal points in the room. It's the first thing you notice when you walk into a room. In this case, it was the cabinets and the fireplace... both of which were DARK and HEAVY.

We painted both (and the trim). I know, I know… it’s practically sacrilegious to encourage people to paint brick and wood in the same sentence. Painting the brick was up for debate, but my decision was made when I dripped white paint down the front of the fireplace while painting the trim.

Turns out, painting those dark surfaces was the biggest change in the space. They were by far the biggest light voids in these rooms. Now, when you walk into the room your eyes are drawn to the lightest and brightest items, not the darkest. This is the same shot as above taken around the same time of day:

TIP 3: PAINT


There are a myriad of “neutral” colors that still hold color… you don’t have to go with white, ivory or yellow. In fact, the kitchen was painted mustard yellow and it didn’t help to bright it at all. It only succeeded in highlighting the darkness of the cabinets and the hideousness of the counter tops.

Yep, that’s the same picture as above, but I was including it so that you don’t have to scroll up and down. Isn’t that just the kind of thoughtfulness that makes you want to visit my blog?

I painted every single surface in both rooms, except for the floors and the counter tops. Since I couldn’t get rid of the counter tops (YET!), I choose a color the complimented the counter tops and helped make them disappear into the background.

TIP 4: DON’T BLOCK THE LIGHT!


It drives me crazy when I see a room that has tons of windows and beautiful natural light and the curtains and blinds are blocking it all.

Use curtains to enhance the windows and draw your eye to them. My curtain rods are hung so that I can push the curtains to either side of the window without blocking any light.

The area in front of the window desperately needed some interest, but I didn’t want to block the window itself. I chose a short chair and a tall floor lamp.
TIP 5: MIRRORS!

If you have a room with few windows, a mirror on the wall opposing the windows can be a huge help. It reflects the natural light back into the room. Please excuse the balled up blanket on the couch. I’m going for the “lived in” look.

TIP 6: LIGHTS, DUH!


I know it sounds painfully obvious, but proper lighting is key. A single large light will brighten a room but in an unflattering-we-live-in-a-sterile-hospital way (no offense if that's what you're going for). Multiple small lights bring warmth to a room without drowning it in harsh light. I don’t have this one complete yet. We added the pendants a softer ceiling light, and two lamps. We also removed the AWFUL florescent light that dominated the kitchen.

We’ve got a ways to go yet, but at least the kitchen and the family room feel like home. As far as feelings go, the house has probably moved from sad and dreary to content. We’re working on the happy home we dreamed of! I hope you’ll join us for the ride!

Meet My Covered Bridge Week 2

Hi!  I'm Kristen from My Covered Bridge.  I'm SO excited to be a guest blogger today at Designer Garden!  Since I'm still pretty new to this blogging world, let me introduce myself.  I'm a happily married stay-at-home mom with four not so little kids.  My husband, Craig, and I are completely remodeling and decorating a home we bought six years ago.  I love diving into these projects - and now I love sharing them with everyone through my blog!

Meet The Vintage Farmhouse Week #1

Hello Designer Garden readers!  I’m Nicki from The Vintage Farmhouse.

These are fun little bags made from vintage book pages and can be customized for any holiday.

I've made mine for Halloween.

Final Giveaway with Ginger Jewels!!

This truly is the best part of my job as a blogger.  I love giving things away!  It’s so much fun, all the hype and then the winner.  It’s like the fireworks at Disneyland =)

Today wraps up the week long birthday bash of giveaways here at Designer Garden.  But I like to think I’ve saved the best for last!  Leslie at Ginger Jewels is not only an amazing jewelry designer but she is also a personal friend of mine.  That may make me a little bit biased but so be it.  This is MY blog after all lol.

Giveaway With Trina Rose Boutique!

Welcome back for day three of the week long birthday bash here at Designer Garden!  The giveaways have been amazing so far and I thank every one of the talented crafters that have offered up their time and talent. 

I would like to introduce you to Alli from Trina Rose Boutique.  She has some out of this world talent when it comes to home decor.  Wait until you check out her shop, your husbands may have to send in search and rescue. 

Make it a Pizza Night!

This post brought to you by FRESCHETTA®. All opinions are 100% mine.

Two things everyone loves right?  Pizza and giveaways.  I have both for you today!  Freschetta contacted me asking me to try their new "Simply Inspired" Pizza.  All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are solely mine.

Since Designer Garden turned 1 year old today what better way to celebrate than to have another giveaway and this one is being sponsored by the wonderful folks at Freschetta.

Birthday Bash Day two & Paper Flowers

Welcome back for Day two of Designer Gardens Birthday Bash!  I have an incredibly talented and fun blogger here today to share a super fun tutorial and offer another giveaway!  Kristina from Always Springtime Flowers has been kind enough to take some away from busy schedule as a teacher to show us all how to make these incredible paper flowers.  I can't wait to get started on mine.  Oh dear poor Mr Garden isn't going to know what hit him! LOL.

The Decorative Paintbrush

Hi everyone!  I am so excited today to introduce our guest Mary at The Decorative Paintbrush.  I came across one of Mary's masterpieces recently at a link party and couldn't take my eyes off her stuff.  She is outrageously talented and not afraid to think outside the box. 

So since you all are so good to me I thought I would give you a little something back by having her here to show you what she does and how she does it! 

This is Mary's first guest appearance on a fellow blog so please stop by and show her some love =)

Hi Everybody! For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Mary, and I own a small business named The Decorative Paintbrush! Well, actually I am co-owner of 2 businesses; The Decorative Paintbrush which is my passion, more than my paycheck, and 2 Women and a Paintbrush the one that is a bit of both! I mention 2 Women and a Paintbrush because without “IT” there would not be the other.
See about 8 years ago my partner and I needed a flexible job that paid the bills, filled our creative spirits and most importantly allow us time with our then, 5 young children. We decided to draft up some flyer's and put them around neighborhoods just to see what we would get. Low and behold our decorating/wallpapering/painting business took off!
As the demand for artistic pieces grew, so did the need to branch off, so last year we launched The Decorative Paintbrush.
We have an Etsy store, thedpb which has been doing wonderfully, especially on our smaller items, like jewelry boxes, hair tie holders and coat racks. We also have a great following on our Face Book Page where we like to keep people up to date on all sorts of creative endeavors and then we have our blogs. We also attend several local craft shows a year where we sell a lot of our larger pieces as well. 
Although, The Decorative Paintbrush is mainly about furniture makeovers and upcycling, we do build some new pieces ourselves and occasionally, we purchase (cue the bad music, danta da da!) a piece of furniture too (if we're doing a custom piece). Really though, 85% of the fun is the hunt! Garage sales, thrift stores, auctions, estate sales and (even to my children’s horror) pick-ups on the side of the road (they call it social suicide; I call it “winning, dugh!”). Those of you who are recyclers, you know exactly what I’m talking about!

I am so grateful that Sommer saw my blog and asked me to guest host today! It is actually my first time, “guesting” anywhere, and I am honored that she even finds me worthy to grace her page! So, I am thrilled to be sharing my latest redo with you here at Designer Garden first, but please if you get a chance, stop on over to The Decorative Paintbrush and check out our other functional pieces of art! I hope it inspires you to get out your brushes and start coloring your world, even if it is just one piece at a time!

This piece was a great find at our local thrift store (the picture isn't the actual piece, I forgot to take a before picture, but the design is exact, it was just stained and in worse condition). The top pieces were loose and not sealed together so I decided to just unscrew them and take them off , but in doing so, I left large holes to patch. I filled them with wood putty, sanded them and primed the entire piece.
Because of the "unevenness" in the top I knew I was going have to do a faux to

camouflage the lumpiness, so I decided to age the top.

I had a gallon of light tan left over from another job, so I took it back to the paint store, had them darken it up to match the brown I was going to use in the faux and base coated the top in a dark sandy brown. Then I laid down a medium brown with a paintbrush then ragged it off with a cotton (old recycled t-shirt) cloth. Then I repeated the process with a darker brown.  Then I went back in with the dark sandy brown again and in the center gently ragged outward forming a soft oblong circle where I wanted my stencil to be. Creating a "glow" that would highlight my stencil.

I traced on the stencil with a pencil. Just a side note: I always draw on my stencil first then go back and paint it in and add to it if I want. I use it more as a guide then as an actual stencil (stippling it with a paintbrush). It isn’t that I can't draw, I actually draw very well, or so I’ve been told, but I’m just impatient, (and sometimes insecure of my drawing abilities, truth be told). So I use, stencils, tracing/transfer paper or even projectors to get pictures on my furniture, but the painting, the painting is all me. Once the stencil is filled in and dried, I coat it with the crackle finish. The thicker it is the bigger the crackle, the thinner the coat the smaller the crackle, so mix it up for an aged affect, and drag your brush in different directions. I also use a large foam brush so that it doesn't leave bristle marks.

Again, that whole impatient thing….it says to let it dry over night or at least for a couple hours but who has time for that! So, I always speed up the process with a blow dryer.

Once the cracks are set I take another, cotton (recycled t-shirt, good thing I have 5 kids, I go through a lot of these) dip it in some stain and gently work it into the cracks. This brings out the cracks and gives it that aged look.

Then we moved down to the bottom shelf. I base coated it in the same dark sandy color, took the Roasted Coffee and dry brushed it on creating a faux fur, then I gently rubbed more down the center simulating the “spine” of a leopard. Again, I drew on my stencil using a black paint pen and filled in the print using black paint.  Then in random spots went further in and made brown spots, simulating leopard print.

To add some extra flare I painted two finials in complimentary colors and patterns and screwed them into the top panel. I kept the legs simple on this piece letting the two shelves command all the attention which worked out really well.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Oh, and just in case you were curious, the table was $2.00 and the paint was near nothing, although the crackle was new @ $1.99 (Hobby Lobby). So, the total cost was under $10 and really it took me about a two days to complete.
 

Happy Painting, Mary

Thank you so much for showing us all your trade secerets Mary!  The table turned out fabulous and I'm excited to know that I'm not the only one who doesn't free hand my designs lol.  Now I'm off to go check out your Etsy page!

~Sommer

Welcome Type A

Today I have Tammy at Type A Decorating.  Her blog name says it all.  She is OCD to the max but I like to break that down to mean Obsessive Compulsive Decorating.  Please welcome her!  And stop by her blog and leave here some nice comments =)



Take it away Tammy...

Hi!  I'm Tammy from Type A, nice to meet you!  It's so exciting to be doing a guest post here at Designer Garden.  It's my first.  I'm actually a little nervous. 

I think my about me from my home page pretty much covers who I am!

Hi, I'm Tammy, first time blogger, long time blog stalker. I have an addiction to caffeine, garage sales, Goodwill and Craigslist. I'm a SAHM to the best kids. Connor(Con) and Lauren(Lo) are my world. They keep me busy and on my toes. My hubby works outside of the country, so I wear all the hats, even the not so pretty ones. I've learned there isn't anything I can't do, but plenty I don't want to! This is my way of sharing my life with you, please join me in the craziness! I'll be waiting. :)

My Hubby, who I refer to as Beefcake, is a contractor in Iraq/Afghanistan.  It's because of him that I became a furniture re-finisher, crafter, home decorating, blogging fool!  I had to fill my time, what little of there is left after taking care of the house, two cars and two KIDS!  lol (and the kids want a dog!)

My blog is called Type A for a reason, I have cleaning and organizing issues.  lol  I find them therapeutic and relaxing and can't do them enough.  My kids wish I would just stop and enjoy the mess, but it's not in my dna.

Here is the most recent project I completed.  This cute stool was painted black and repurposed as a monitor stand.  I had a generic plastic one from the random office store, but this has much more character, and a little bling.  Which is much more ME.

Here are some photos of passed projects.

This is my son's room.  A few of the projects I did it this picture are, the curtains, lamp, bookcases, chalkboard and magnet boards. 

This picture is of my entry way.  The projects I did are, the topiary trees, moss covered letter R, the yellow buffet, the tin door over the buffet, and the welcome sign.

This is one of my favorite rooms in the house, my office.  I stenciled the plates, re-purposed the shutters into a  picture display and painted the milk can.

I also do posts about my kids, exercise and dieting, and other random life happenings.  My day to day is blended in with all my projects.  I also throw a weekly party called 'Anything Goes!', it runs from Tuesday - Thursday, and of course the occasional give away.  As a matter of fact I have a great give away planned for when I hit 350 'Friends'!! 

You can also check out my HOME TOUR to see more of my house.  Thanks again for taking the time and getting to know me, can't wait to get to know you too!

Thanks Sommer for letting me be a guest in your wonderful blog!

 

Like I said... she's pretty awesome huh?  Thanks for stopping by Tammy!  We sure enjoyed seeing all your incredible projects and your home is just beautiful!

~Sommer

Meet Mrs Type A

Hi everyone!  As I continue to procrastinate make lots of progress on the powder bathroom, I thought I would share this awesome blog with you.  Meet Tammy @ Type A Decorating.  She is one funny lady so even when one of her posts don't particularly relate to you, she'll have you in stitches!  Really I think she missed her calling as a stand up comic.

She recently made these adorable Button Flowers.  Aren't they cute?  And you can find the tutorial by clicking on the photo.

She also made this ridiculously cute Moss Letter.  I just started seeing these pop up and they are gaining in popularity fast!  

Go check out her blog if you need some great decorating ideas that are infused with color and off the beaten path.

She also has a great linky party each week called ANYTHING GOES that runs from Tuesday afternoons to Thursday nights.  Go link up!

~Sommer

Recipe Card Holder

I came across this is incredible little design last week and wanted to share with you all.  I've had many great ideas of projects that involve recipe cards and how to hold them so I don't get them all crusty when cooking. 

Staci @ Life's Sweet With Chocolate will show you how it's made.  So head over there for all the deets on how to make your very own =)  And go look around her a blog a little, I think you will like what you see!

Thanks Staci!

~Sommer

Twelve Blogs Of Christmas Day 10

Well I'll be totally honest here, I'm running out of grand introductions lol.  Ten days of beautiful homes, talented bloggers and get you in the mood holiday decor.  This is going to be our final blogger as I am going to take you through my home tomorrow.  Sad I know, and day twelve will be the Festival of Trees.  I started linking up with Wendy over at her fabulous blog  The Shabby Nest a few months back.  She has always been so kind to me and complimentary.  Really made me feel talented even when I wasn't so sure ;P  I am always in aw of her fabulous posts and ideas.  So enough of my sentimental ramblings... here she is!  And don't forget to go leave her a comment if you like what you see =)

Hi! I'm Wendy from The Shabby Nest and I'm so excited to be taking part in the "Twelve Blogs of Christmas"! I just love the Christmas Season. And one of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting to dress up my house for the holidays. I start planning a couple of months in advance. (Not that I get anything actually done that early...but it all starts to come together in my head.) And this year, I decided that I wanted to go with a calm, neutral palette. One that was festive, but that was serene and understated. So I chose to go with a palette of white, silver, taupe, black and green (of course!). I am really happy with the way everything turned out. It's truly become my Holiday Haven. Here a few pics of the decor I have spread throughout the house....hope you enjoy!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

xoxo Wendy