A crafty frame of mind

It was about a year ago that I purchased a frame that had most likely held a mirror. I had seen some great projects on Pinterest for frames but it took about a year before I actually did something with it! I had even purchased the spray paint last year, but it sat in my room gathering dust.

Jennifer helped me spray paint it with a heirloom white then Kirk helped staple chicken wire to the back. The original Pin had pieces of wire hung across but I thought using chicken wire would provide more room to display pictures. I used wooden clothes pins and paper clips to hold the pictures on.

 
 

I am so pleased with how it turned out!! I love how easy it is to change the pictures around and how great it looks in my room. A successful Pinterest attempt!

Crayon Art

Anyone on Pinterest will recognize the famous 'melting crayon' art and I decided recently that on my day off I would also attempt this wickedly cool craft. 

I am not someone that normally ends up with a successful craft, I have great ambitions but my end results rarely measure up. This time, however, I was so impressed with my craft!! 

All lined up

Starting to melt!

The finished product!

It was such an easy craft and so fun! 

Materials needed: Crayola crayons, a hair dryer, and a canvas.

I emphasis Crayola because we attempted this at camp with different crayons and they didn't melt! It was quite disappointing. 

Now I have to find some place to hang this up. 

Breakfast - overnight oatmeal

Breakfast - a necessary evil. 
Most of the time I can barely get out the door and the added stress of making a breakfast that is delicious and quick is not something I enjoy. 

Thanks to Pinterest, I found this recipe, Overnight Fridge Berry Oatmeal. I don't normally eat oatmeal in the mornings but this looks so delicious and easy that I had to give it a try! 

I had to change parts of the recipe so I will have to let you know how it turned out tomorrow. As you can see from the pictures, it made a lot! Even though I cut down on the proportions, I had better like it because I have enough for a month of Sundays.

Below is the original recipe with my changes in bold.

Overnight Fridge Berry Oatmeal

3 cups Old Fashioned Oats - We didn't have Old Fashioned Oats so I used Quaker Quick Oats, and only 2 cups because 3 seemed like a huge amount! 

2 cups Vanilla Yogurt (I prefer vanilla, but you could use any flavor) - I used 1 cup of vanilla 

1-2 cups frozen mixed berries - We had fresh raspberries in the fridge so I throw some in! I tried a small handful, and then added more until I was happy with the amount. 

1/2 cup apple juice (apple juice is more subtle, but you can use any juice you like) - I didn't have apple juice so I used orange. I did put 1/2 cups of juice in, but from the bit I sampled this might have been too much. 

Optional mix-ins: 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbls. ground flaxseed. - I added some cinnamon, but I only a touch. I used the Korintje Cinnamon from The Pampered Chef, which is really strong so I added a small amount. 

Mix all ingredients in medium sized tupperware container with lid. Keep in the fridge overnight. Top oatmeal with a drizzle of honey, cinnamon, granola, roasted nuts, or coconut. Serve cold.

2 cups instead of 3

Adding the 1 cup of yogurt.

Adding the orange juice. I mixed the yogurt and oatmeal together first, then mixed the orange juice in.

It was a bit runny, so I added a bit more oatmeal. 

Adding the first bunch of raspberries but I added quite a bit more later.

This is practically all of the cinnamon I added. I mixed this in and then added a tiny bit more. 

It filled this entire container, so it had better be delicious!!

I will update this later with the results! Hopefully it turns out better than the rainbow cake, which I still have to write about....

You make me smile

It has been quite awhile since I last blogged but here I am! I am still alive and very much kicking. Midterms at school are now over but now papers are going to be due soon than I want to admit! 


As I am starting to become more and more stressed out, I decided to start thinking about things that make me happy. There are so many things in a very ordinary day that can make your day extraordinary if you let them. As I found on Friday I came across many things that could have made me cranky but as I was focusing on finding things that make me smile, I changed my perspective on things. For example, it was freezing Friday morning! I am talking -4 Celsius freezing! But instead of complaining about how cold I was going to be I decided to smile about the fact that I am going to be wearing my winter coat for the first time this year! And seeing my breath the first time this year was smile-worthy because I chose to make it smile-worthy.  


I had a great day on Friday. The little things didn't make an enormous difference in my day; I wasn't walking with a bounce and I certainly wasn't whistling (mostly because I don't know how to whistle). But I was walking around with a smile on my face for the majority of the day and I felt happier. 


Here is my list of things that made me smile:

• The light changed green right as I walked up
• I could see my breath for the first time this year
• Being able to wear my wonderful winter coat again
• Receiving an average mark on a midterm but being so nervous about my mark that the average mark was turned into a wonderful mark
• Coming home
• Having 4 cats coming running up to me as I come in the door
• Getting mail {yes, it was only a bank statement but who doesn't love getting mail!?}
• Seeing Kirk walk up the drive way with a smile on his face
• Laughing so hard with my mom over some pictures even though Dad was asleep in bed

As you can see these are just ordinary things that happen in most people's lives, everyday. They certainly happen to me often but this was really the first time I took the time to realize how these things make me smile. And this very simple decision turned my day from ordinary to extraordinarily ordinary. 


Trying this out for one day was a success and now my goal is to go an entire week, making a list of all the little things that make me smile during a day. If a day made a difference in my mood, I think this upcoming week is going to be a great one! 


I created a sheet that I will use to write down anything that makes me smile. 

I would love to hear your own Day of Smiles! Print off the sheet or use your own and write down anything and everything that makes you smile! Let me know how your Day of Smiles went and I hope your day is filled with smiles!