DIY Wood Porch Planters

I made these Ana White planters with some leftover scrap wood from a project that I'll post about next week. But these planters were SOOO fast and easy. No kreg jig required. Just glue and brad nails. With no distractions you can easily bang these out in a day. Really makes the porch POP! Ana White says if you use picket fence panels you can make this for under $20! Get the plans here. I altered the tops of mine from her plan but it required little effort.

Plus don't you love the hello mat on top of the buffalo check mat? My new favorite front porch detail.

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Window Alcove to Daybed Makeover

Since we moved into our new house I've been promising the girls that I would add daybeds to their matching alcove windows. It's a perfect space for beds. It's only 22 shorter than a twin bed and only 2 inches wider. But others projects came up and it just never happened. Everytime I'd look at the space I'd lament the possibilities. Every so often one of them would say "Weren't you going to make beds here? What ever happened to that?" I'd sigh and say "Yeah. I know. I WANT to." Then this summer we weren't sure if relatives were going to spend the night and I decided once and for all that I was going to make those beds. (The room has matching alcoves so the "before" photo is the right version. The "after" is the left but they're basically the same space.)

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DIY Farmhouse Headboards for only $25

A few months ago I wanted to revamp Eloise and Henri's room. They had these broken toddler beds that were different colors that I intended to paint to match and then never did. Plus they were getting bigger so I decided to rearrange their room and give them some new twin sized beds.

I priced headboards and bed frames at all the cheapest places I could think of Walmart.com, Overstock.com, CRAIGSLIST! But came up with nothing I liked in my price range. So I decided to just try and make them myself. I found this very simple Ana White Brookstone twin headboard plan and got to work. Each bed took only two hours to assemble once all the wood was pre-cut at Lowe's.

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DIY Wingback Tufted Headboard

I bought the materials to make this headboard months ago. So I guess it's only fitting that when I actually put my mind to do it that it only took me a day. 

I did work for about 7 hours with a lunch break in between which seems like a marathon project but part of the reason it took that long was because I took apart our old headboard to recycle the foam.

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Recessed Lights DIY

I am a Do-It-Yourselfer but honestly there are some projects that are too intimidating to me- tearing down a wall for example, repositioning plumbing. I WOULD have included installing recessed lighting on that list but not anymore. With the drop ceiling that I currently had installed in my basement I didn't have to even screw anything in. It was beyond simple and easy. I will admit it was tedious at times but I didn't struggle with the complexity of the project.

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Wild Flower Pinwheel Shorts Free Pattern

I'll probably be making more of these throughout the month in different patterns and alterations. I'm even thinking of maybe doing a mini one in spandex as a cute swim bottom. Get the tutorial and pattern below.

Like I said with the Colbalt Damask version, I love how comfy these are. Though before I used a softer material and it feels more comfy. I used this quilting weight fabric for the Wild Flowers version and it's not as cozy.

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Honeycomb Ombre Hexagon Accent Wall

Last fall I worked on a honeycomb ombre hexagon accent wall with a friend and never got around to posting the pics. We used this tutorial from Thistlewood Farms to do it! Definitely took a little math and planning but anyone can pull it off with a little patience

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Ikea Hack Tarva Drawers and Desk

Henri and Eloise's room is pretty small. Really it's only meant for one person but both of them have to make it work. It's been hard to fit necessary things in like a desk for homework and dresser drawers along with twin sized beds, especially considering I need two of everything. Finally finished this IKEA hack yesterday. I hacked them to match the farmhouse beds I made earlier.

It's basically just the Tarva dresser with some extra moulding embellishments on the front face and new pulls. The desk portion is two pieces of wood laid flat and connected between the two dressers with L brackets screwed into the studs in the wall. I also white-washed it like I did with the headboards. It works for the room because it's not too deep but deep enough for a desk. I plan on buying two orange stools for the set up the next time I pop over to Ikea.

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Keto Teriyaki Chicken

There are lots of recipes out there they are very keto adaptive. Teriyaki chicken is one of those! The taste of this was pretty identical to that of its sucrose substitute. I'm definitely adding it to my keto dinner rotation. I replaced my usual rice side with broccoli and cauliflower and it was quite satisfying.

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Shredded Chicken Keto Burritos with Joseph's Lavash Bread

Yesterday I talked about my favorite low carb sliced bread. Today I'm going to talk about my favorite low carb wrap bread. There are a few out there. And I'll write posts about them later but I just wanted to mention my FAVORITE one today. It's Joseph's Flax Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Lavash Bread. Get it on Amazon here. I'm able to find these easily at most grocery stores even Walmart. It's only 5g net carbs per serving.

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Keto BLTs with Low Carb Sola Sweet Bread

Who says you can't have your bread and eat it too?

Normally on keto or any low carb diet one would have to deprive themselves of those classic sandwich delights. Grilled cheese, BLTs, peanut butter sandwiches, lunch meat sandwiches....the list goes on. In today's modern keto market you now have choices! I made these classic BLTs last night using my favorite low carb bread: Sola Sweet Bread. And it tastes no different than it's high carb version. And believe me, I'm picky about that.

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Keto and Gluten Free Swedish Meatballs

These are my new dinner favorite. Keto Swedish meatballs. The lowest carb meatballs that I can find at the store have 1g net carbs per meatball which can really add up when you're eating meatballs. These meatballs are .68g per meatball.

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Keto Butter Biscuits

Every morning I like to have a real breakfast. Unfortunately for me, I hate eggs and keto relies HEAVILY on eggs. I've tried to like them so many times. It's just not happening and it's a shame I realize because they're so good for energy. On keto, most of my usual breakfast foods are out- cinnamon toast, bagels, cake, brownies;-P (no lie). But I can have as much meat as I want. Bacon is great and I love it but it's a bit messy and time consuming for breakfast. Sausage patties are good because I can just throw them in the pan and they brown easily in 10 minutes. Plus, they're not as expensive as bacon and Charlie likes them so I can make one for him as well. But plain 'ol sausage patties for breakfast are a little threadbare. So I'll make Carbquik biscuits and pair it with my morning sausage and I'm good! You can cut a biscuit in half and have a sausage biscuit! Only 1g net carb per biscuit!

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Keto Chocolate Cocoa Dusted Truffles

Today I made these keto chocolate cocoa dusted truffles. Starting to see a pattern here;-P I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Recipe via Green and Keto. These end up being 1.5g net carbs per ball. I find 1 or 2 balls to be more than enough to satisfy me in one sitting. They're pretty rich.

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Keto Low Carb Peanut Butter Bars

I made this this morning and let it chill while making the some keto soup for lunch. It's SO good. Almond Butter Fudge Bars! I used Maranatha no sugar no salt Peanut Butter instead of almond butter. For the chips I used Lily's. Only $5.66 here. This made a great post-lunch snack treat.

Recipe at Tasteaholics!

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Sugar Free "Keto" Pixie Sticks

I've been doing the keto diet for two months now. There are so MANY things I can discuss about THAT. For now I want to just "sprinkle" this fun goodie. Keto Pixie Sticks! Now, I don't want to get in a debate about using artificial sweeteners for keto purposes. I understand that some people think it totally hinders their progress while others use it in order not to fall into bad sugar habits. I like to think I fall into the latter. I've also heard a lot of people say that eating artificial sweeteners keeps them craving sweets and I DO think that there is something to that.

That being said, I've eaten these and it has not kicked me out of ketosis. Maybe you're different. I've heard so many different things from people who've had totally different experiences than me doing this. At the very least this is a much healthier alternative to processed sugar pixie sticks. I used real freeze dried strawberry powder. You can use any kind of fruit powder though! Mango, lime, lemon, apple, grape, raspberry, blueberry, etc. Though, those will have varying amount of carbs. The strawberry powder has very few net carbs. Only 4 per TABLESPOON! Using the measurements in my recipe below that's only 1.11g of carbs per stick. PS. These DO have a small amount of natural sugar from the strawberry powder but it is free of processed sugar.

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The Perfect Gift for that Girl Who's Hard to Buy For

 Looking for a creative Christmas gift to give? Can't find a gift for that person who has everything? Gwynnie Bee may be your answer. Give two months as a gift and only pay for the second month.

https://goo.gl/R8tC3M

Here are a handful of the dresses I've worn these past few months. I always have something new to wear going out to a party or just going out to lunch.

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Get Free Frocks for at LEAST One Month!

WANT FREE CLOTHES FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH? I haven't spent a lick on clothes this entire summer and yet I always had a cute new outfit to wear when going out or meeting friends for lunch or coffee.

For the summer I decided to give Gwynnie Bee a try. And I have to say I LOVE it. You can try it for FREE too! If you use my link below you can get one free month PLUS $10 off the next month if you decide to continue the service.

https://goo.gl/R8tC3M

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Modern Calligraphy Brush Lettering (Free alphabet worksheets)

This past month I have fallen deeply for modern calligraphy.

There's so much to cover and I'm feeling overwhelmed just thinking about it. But I thought this blog would be a great place to start with just an intro post. If any of you have been contemplating giving it go I want to urge you to try. It's a lot easier than you may think. First let me give you my personal recommendations for beginners. First get yourself a Rhodia notepad at Michaels.

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Scrapwood Christmas Deer Art

This season I took down a few non-Christmasy decorations like the sea grass art next to our bookcase and replaced it with this easy peasy scrapwood deer art. I managed to bang it out before I got Henri on the school bus for afternoon kindergarten.

Here's the multi-page printable template I used for the deer if you'd like to make one of your own. To transfer to the boards I just taped the template together, rubbed chalk on the back, taped to boards and outlined template with pencil so that the chalk on the back transferred to the boards. Then I filled it in with white paint.

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