Merlot Sign

Hey everyone! So today I went out on limb.... and made another rustic sign! surprise surprise!

This one I have to say is my favorite though! Seriously, who wouldn't want this sign in their house!! I just love it!
And it was so easy to make! I did the exact same thing with this sign as I did with the two previous signs that I made.

http://americashomemaker.blogspot.com/p/diy.html  <---- Other signs can be found here!

This sign is available for sale at .....
https://www.etsy.com/listing/109401421/distressed-merlot-sign

I love the distressed look! <3

Rustic Signs!

Welcome Sign!

Today I was feeling crafty! so I decided to make a sign...... A welcome sign!

I cut up a piece of wood to the size I wanted, and sanded down the harsh edges. Then I picked through Ry's work bench and found a REALLY pretty espresso wood stain. I used a sponge to apply the stain to the wood that I was using!
When staining wood you want to be careful not to get any stain on the surface that you are working on, and not to get any stain on yourself, or your clothes!

After the stain had dried, I printed out the word, WELCOME in size 130 (on word) Then I taped the WELCOME paper to the wood and carefully traced each letter with a pencil.
When tracing letters, you can simply draw over the paper right on top of the wood. When you lift the paper up, there will be a slight indent of each letter you traced, in the wood.

Then I simply painted the letters. After they were dry I sanded down the wood again to create a distressed look!

The sign came out looking like this! ...

I also made a Halloween themed sign the same way!
If you like either of these signs, they are both for sale at.....
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmericanHomemaker?ref=si_shop
Custom orders are welcome as well!

Sweet Potato and Turnip Soup

So last night it was FREEZING! I had my sweater, sweatpants and smartwool socks on! chilly!
And I decided there was no better way of celebrating the upcoming cold weather then a big bowl of winter soup!
And surprisingly the rest of the family loved it as much as I did! (they are not good vegetable people!)
But this soup is so sweet and yummy that it was easy to forget about the abundance of veggies (:

Sweet Potato and Turnip Soup

1 large sweet potato
1 large turnip
1/2 large yellow onion (diced)
1 clove garlic (minced
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup olive oil
2 large carrots
1/2 cup celery
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
salt to taste
pepper to taste

- Add olive oil, onion and garlic to a large skillet on high heat. Cook for 7-8 minutes (or until onions and garlic begin to turn brown.)

- Pour chicken stock into the skillet and cook for about 10 minutes
- Meanwhile, chop sweet potato, turnip, carrots and celery
- Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper

- Add sweet potato, turnip, carrots and celery to the chicken stock mixture, and allow them to cook until they become soft enough to chew easily.
- let soup cool for 10 minutes. (You can either eat it as is, or blend it into a gazpacho type soup.) (I usually blend it.)
- Blend soup in food processor/blender, then add it back into the skillet to re-heat.
- Serve warm. (I generally serve with a piece of sourdough toast on the side.)

YUM YUM! This soup warmed me up right away, perfect dinner for the cold weather!

Family Binder

Last night I decided that Ry and I needed more organization in our lives! So today, I went out and bought more printer ink, a three ring binder, and sheet protectors.

Why? 

WE NEEDED A FAMILY BINDER.  <--- I will agree right now that this IDEA came from Pinterest! but, I put my own spin on it, and created all my own documents. 

And so do you! Today when I finished this binder I felt so proud of myself.... weird. Something as simple as an organized binder gave me so much happiness...? 

Anyways, this binder has EVERYTHING in it! It is going to be such a life saver sometimes, I can already tell. It was one of the easier organization projects that I have ever done, and I am going to make it even easier for you to create your own! Below, I will post files for some of the documents included in the binder. 

You are going to LOVE this when it is done! 

seriously.

Picard Family Binder: 

1. Monthly Calendar (includes holidays, important events, kid's activities, etc.)

         Contacts/Birthdays (Divider)

2. Contact List (Mine is not alphabetized yet, although you could use page dividers to alphabetize.)

3. Birthday List (NEVER miss another birthday again!) 

          Financials (Divider) 

4. Bills (Keep track of all your monthly bills!) 

5. Family Fund Register (Ry and I have a "Family Fund" that we keep for fun/vacation purposes.) 

6. Ry and I both have our own check registers in the binder. (Same format as the Family Fund Register) 

          Grocery (Divider)

7. Grocery List Template (A template including, "week of," budget, total spent, and space for each type of food/supplies. 

8. Baseball card binder inserts for COUPONS! <3 <------ LOVE. 

          Cleaning/Cooking (Divider)

9. Cleaning Schedule (Always keep a clean home!) 

10. Recipe Cards (All of our favorite, yummy recipes are kept in here)

           Fun (Divider) 

11. List of places that we would like to go on vacation

12. Magazine cutouts of craft projects/dream home ideas

Keep in mind that you can always add and subtract things! This format works best for my family. Although I do recommend using sheet protectors! They keep EVERYTHING organized.  

Hope I helped your organize your day!