Fabulous Friday

What better way to spend my Friday making some EASY; CUTE; CHEAP decor for my staircase? Ben is away for field training, so I have challenged myself to do a project a day while he's gone. So this is my third project, I have 9 more days left!

Ben got a rustic Auburn sign from his AWESOME wife for Valentine's Day! :) So I hung it up on the stair case in the middle and began brainstorming and this is what I cam up with!

What you'll need: 

4 equal cuts of wood (I used 10x12 (About 1.5 inches thick) from Home Depot 8.94$ a board)

Modge Podge 

Sand Paper 

Pictures (I used 4x6)

Wood Stain (I used MiniWax Dark Walnut)

Foam Brush (I ALWAYS have some of these on hand) 

Step One: Sand the Wood

I gave the wood a rough sand, and a good hard sand around the edges to make them look rounded and more worn.

Step 2: Stain the wood

I painted a layer of water, then stain, then rubbed it off really quickly to make it look older.

Step 3: Let Dry (AT LEAST 3 HOURS)

Technically it recommends 24 hours, but since I put such a thin coat on, in 3 the stain was dry.

Step 4: Place photos on the board with a little MP on the back, then a very thin layer over top of the photos to seal them

Don't freak about the white color, it will dry clear! 

Step 5: Let the MP dry! I waited about 3 more hours, and this was the result! 

See! All clear! Here are all 4 I did! 

Since I live in Military Housing, the fewer nail holes, the better for us. So I opted to use Command Strips, for items that weigh 5 pounds. They worked perfectly! 

Easy fun project!!! 

Enjoy your Friday :)

7 Easy Crockpot Dinners Under 70$

I love my Crockpot! If you don't have one, I highly suggest you invest in one! I also love saving money on groceries. I looked online and through Pinterest, then decided on 7 recipes to try this past week! I was VERY frugal when I went to the grocery store, I stuck to a tight budget of 70$. Most of these recipes were big enough to save leftovers for Ben and I's lunch the next day.

Recipe #1: Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

Ingredients:

Large Bag of Italian Meatballs (Costco) 9.99$ 

**I bought the meatballs in bulk because I wanted to use them for several different recipes in the end I used the meatballs for 5 different meals which comes to about 3.80$ a meal**

16oz Grape Jelly (Kroger) 1.49$

Bottle of Chili Sauce (Walmart) 2.75$

Large 10lb bag of rice (Walmart) 3.89$

**This is enough for 2 batches of Sweet and Spicy Meatballs**

Instructions: 

Fill the bottom of the Crockpot with meatballs, still frozen.

Empty half of the grape jelly and chili sauce on top of the meatballs.

Cook on high for 2.5 to 3 hours (Stirring occasionally)

Serve on a bed of rice.

**Alternative I have used before is using lettuce to make wraps**

Recipe #2: Beer and Hot Sauce Crockpot wings

Ingredients:

Bottle of Hot Sauce (Walmart) 1.09$

**Only used half the bottle**

1/2 cup of butter (Had in fridge)

1 Beer (Had in fridge)

**Can substitute one can of chicken stock which in under 1$ at Walmart**

Chicken Wings 4.92$

**I originally planned to use drum sticks, but I went with what was on sale**

Instructions:

On stove top melt butter in with hot sauce.

Slowly stir in can of beer.

Add chicken wings to Crockpot and pour about 75% of sauce over the wings.

Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.

Remove from Crockpot and place wings on a pan and turn on the broiler on the oven.

Pour remaining sauce on wings and broil for 3 to 4 minutes to crisp them up.

I served this with rice on game day, my husband and his friends loved it!

Recipe #3: Orange Chicken 

Ingredients:

One pack of Chicken (Costco) 24.93$

**Buy meat in BULK! It will save you so much money. I had a 6$ off coupon from the original total of 30.93$ The Costco chicken breast packs come in easy to separate packages, so I freeze what I don't need**

3/4 Cup BBQ Sauce (Costco)  2.50$

**Bought a 2 for 5$ deal at Costco, BBQ is an easy and cheap way to spice up chicken or pork**

3/4 Cup Orange Marmalade (Walmart) 1.99$

2 tbsp Soy Sauce (Had in pantry)

Instructions: 

Cook the chicken in the Crockpot for 2.5 hours on high.

Drain the juice from the Crockpot

Mix the marmalade, BBQ, and soy sauce together and pour over chicken.

Cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.

 Serve with rice and broccoli (bought a HUGE bag from Costco for 4.97$)

Recipe #4: Asian Meatballs 

Ingredients:

1 Cup BBQ Sauce (Previously used)

1/2 Cup Hoison Sauce (Kroger) 2.49$

Meatballs (Previously used)

**This is enough for 2 batches of Asian Meatballs**

Instructions:

Place frozen meatballs to cover bottom of Crockpot.

Pour BBQ and Hoison over meatballs.

Cook for 2.5 to 3 hours on High.

Serve over rice

**Could also serve with lettuce wraps**

Recipe #5: Beef and Broccoli 

**This was my "Splurge Meal"**

Ingredients: 

Beef Chuck Steak (Kroger) 4.92$

Half of a white onion (Kroger) 1.00$

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar (Had in Pantry)

1 tbsp Mirin (Had in Pantry)

3 tbsp of garlic (Had in Pantry)

2 tbsp of Cornstarch (Had in pantry)

1 cup beef broth (I already had chicken broth so I used that instead)

2 cups of broccoli (previously used)

Instructions:

Cup the beef chuck into thin strips and dice half of white onion.

Mix together everything, but the cornstarch in a bowl and pour over beef and onion.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Laddle out 1 cup of broth from the Crockpot and mix in cornstarch.

Add the mixture and broccoli back to Crockpot and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Serve over rice.

Recipe #6: Buffalo Ranch Meatballs 

Ingredients:

1/2 Bottle of Hot Sauce (Left over)

4 tbsp of dry Ranch (Walmart) 2.99$

**Ranch seasoning is a must have**

Meatballs (Previously used)

Instructions:

Cook meatballs in Crockpot for 1.5 hours.

Over the stove combine hot sauce and ranch, whisk together.

Pour hot sauce over meatballs and cook for another 1.5 hours.

Serve with broccoli. 

Recipe #7: Asian BBQ Chicken 

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast Pack (From Costco pack)

1 1/2 cup of BBQ (Leftover)

1/2 Jar of Hoison Sauce (Leftover)

Instructions:

Cook chicken in Crockpot for 2.5 hours on High.

Drain Juices and pour sauce over the chicken.

Cook for another hour on High.

Serve with rice and broccoli

Grocery FINAL total: 69.93$

A weeks worth of dinner with minimal effort and a great budget! 

Trash into Treasure

There's only two pieces of furniture I always buy new; couches and mattresses. I am a firm believer that new furniture is a load of CRAP! The minute you buy something from the shelf it immediately looses value. There is no way you will ever resell your particle board Target dresser for the 400$ you purchased it for. Speaking of....particle board....probably one of the things I hate the most, but it's really hard to avoid. It really irks me that furniture is so expensive, then on top of that it's made of particle board. EVERYONE is guilty of it, Walmart, Target, and YES even Pottery Barn. So, what is the solution may you ask? BUY used! 

Why is buying used better? While it might be time consuming it is SO worth it! Older pieces of furniture have so much more character that you just can't find in brand new furniture. Plus, this is how I have "me" time. It relieves stress and I really enjoy painting! Where to find pieces? I get so many of my pieces from other PCSing Military families and Craigslist. Secondhand shops are just as useful.

Recently I've used 3 different techniques to refurbish 3 different pieces to mimic more expensive furniture. Each technique requires a little work, but I promise the results are amazing!! AND money saving! Which I like! 

Project #1: My dining room table

(Side note: I AM OBSESSED WITH JOSS AND MAIN! GET ON THAT SITE FOR GREAT IDEAS!) 

I wanted my table to look this style

This is a Wakefield dining set that sells for nearly 1,600$

OBVIOUSLY way out of my price range, so I bought this

For 60$ off Craigslist, I got a SOLID oak table with 6 chairs and a leaf. I opted to take the leaf out and only use 4 of my chairs, because my dining space is very small. So far I have only done the 4 chairs, crafting and being a mom is a hard job.

So now the challenge of how to get the look! I searched online for the perfect tutorial and honestly, I couldn't find one, so I kind of made up my only and used several different tutorials to get the look I wanted. Here's two ladies that really helped:

Thrifty and Chic

Cherished Bliss

Materials I used:

80 grit Sandpaper (5$ for sheet pack)

120 grit Sandpaper (5$ for sheet pack)
Steel Wool (4$ for 6 pack)
Cheap White Spray Paint (Use the project kind from Lowe's it's only 2$ a can)
MiniWax woodstain in Dark Walnut (9$ A little goes a long way and will last for multiple projects)

Step one: Use both sandpapers and give the chairs a rough sand.

Step two: Spray paint the chairs white, doesn't have to be covered thoroughly

Step three: It is very important you let the spray painted chairs dry for 24 hours
Step Four: Take the steel wool and rough up the chair, make sure there are spots where the wood base is showing through

Step Five: Clean the chairs off, make sure there is no dust or residue left on the chairs. 

Step six: Take a brush and paint stain over parts of the chair, every 4 or so strokes, take a towel and wipe away the stain. Repeat this process until the chair is completely covered in stain, making sure the completely wipe off all residue. 

Step seven: Let the chairs dry for 48 hours

Here's my outcome. In total the project cost me roughly 85$ and about a week of my time. 

Project #2: Our bedroom dresser

Our bedroom is teal and burlap, I am slightly obsessed with teal. I was shopping online and on Pulaski I found this amazing vintage dark teal dresser! For 420$ 

So I bought a 100$ vintage dresser from a family here on post who was moving down to Georgia. I opted to buy a pint of paint in Sherman Williams Costal Wave because I wanted to keep the paint to do more projects. I spent 15$ on the paint and I already had primer and sand paper on hand. I purchased new handles for about 1.79$ each. This is the end result 

This cost me probably 140$ in total! 

Project #3 My dining room hutch, I am so happy with how this turned out! I will share a seriously CRAZY technique I used! 

Pottery Barn has these beautiful country white "distressed" hutches for about 1,200$. This wasn't in my budget or in my color scheme. I wanted something bright, since all post housing is plain and painting the walls isn't really in my plans. So I decided on a mustardy yellow spray paint I found on clearance in Lowe's. I bought the hutch on Craigslist for 100$. The final product was AMAZING! And yes, this is particle board, but you would never guess that. 

The key to redoing particle board is primer. The spray paint I bought said paint plus primer, but I decided to paint white primer over the hutch anyways and it worked really well. I then did two really good coats of spray paint, I let the first coat dry for 8 hours and the second coat dry for about 24 hours. 

You don't have to distress furniture, but I really enjoy the look and it fits into what I am doing in the dining room, style wise. 

This technique almost makes the hutch look like I used chalk paint, but I didn't! 

Step one: Take sandpaper or a sander and randomly sand spots of the dresser down to the wood or particle board. 

Step two: Wipe all the spots clean of dust and debris

Step three: Dip a q-tip in stain (I used MiniWax Stain in Dark Walnut) and rubbed stain into each of the random spots only where the wood was bare. 

Step four: wipe the stain away and let the stain dry another 24 hours. 

The results are so great and it's so much easier than using chalk paint in my opinion! The whole project cost about 115$ I had most of the materials on hand, but I did buy more antique looking handle for the hutch! 

Feel free to email me with any questions and remember UP-CYCLE!

Blakelee