Wall Decor Ideas - French Country Style

Hang these hand painted wood signs in your kitchen

These custom wood signs have been sold but can be replicted and customized to fit your needs.
Just email me!

Handmade Custom Necklace

Pearls and Ribbons...

When mixed together, they make beautiful but pricey necklaces.

So…
Why pay a small fortune for one when you can make one yourself.
After studying a real pretty one at the store, I decided to gather the supplies at Michaels and get started.

Here is what I came up with

It made a great gift for a close friend.

What do you think?

Sirloin Steak with Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb. thinly sliced sirloin Steak and 1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup Minced Shallot, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 Tsp dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp Thyme, 1 can Beef Broth (I use beef bouillon instead), cooking spray

Directions:

Cut the sirloin steak into very thin slices across the grain. Spray with cooking spray and brown over medium heat. 

Remove from pan and keep warm. Deglaze the pan by adding the wine over medium-low heat. Add shallot and garlic and cook until soft (about 5 minutes). 

Mix some of the broth with the mustard before adding it to the pan so the mustard does not clump. Add the thyme, some salt and pepper and the browned steak. Cover and let simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes.

The sauce will be very light and brothy. 

Enjoy! This is our daughter's favorite dish and if you have the right sirloin cut, the meat will be very tender.

Stimulate strong healthy nail growth

Essential Oils:

synergetic blend:
Grapeseed oil - 2 teaspoons
Jojoba oil - 5 drops
Carrot oil - 3 drops
Lemon - 8 drops
Rosemary - 2 drops

Base oil:
Avocado oil

Directions:

Make up the blend and store in a glass bottle away from light.
When ready to use, add 10 drops of the synergetic blend to 1 teaspoon of avocado oil and massage it well into the fingers and nails. Do this after a manicure but do not put nail polish afterwards.

This recipe was taken from my essential oil bible written by Valerie Ann Worwood.

Available on amazon.com

Custom Birth Sign Gift

I made this custom sign for my new baby neighbor.

Vintage inspired 12x12 Custom Birth Sign

Smaller sizes available

Hand painted 

Distressed

Buffed with a clear and dark wax to give it an antique look

Choose a background color and up to 4 colors for lettering

♥ Welcome to the world Christopher ♥

Send me an email, if you are interested in having one made.

Spring Split Peas Wreath

Materials:

2 packages dried split peas

1 foam wreath (green is best)

Mod Podge

1 foam sponge brush

Aluminum Foil

Large pan

Instructions:

Cover the pan with aluminum. Pour both bags of split peas in the pan. Brush mod podge on a section of the wreath and dip the wreath in the split peas. Continue doing so until you cover the entire wreath with split peas. Let dry. Add more mod podge in the empty areas and let dry.

Bench Tufted Cushion

I want to apologize to everyone who reads this post about my poor documentation!
I took a few photographs at the beginning of this project with the idea of documenting it well but once I got into the sewing part,  I forgot all about blogging and the step by step pictures.

Materials:

Painters Cloth
Sewing machine
Scissors
Thread
Baking twine
Sewing needle
Tapestry needle
Pencil
Poly-Fil

Instructions:

The top of my benches measure 36 L x 12.5 W
I wanted my cushions to be smaller than the top of the bench so I measured the fabric to be 36L x 25W giving it 1/4 inch seem allowance on each side. Keep in mind that once filled with poly-fill, it will shrink tremendously so if you want your cushion to fit your bench top, you might want to add 2 or 3 extra inches of fabric to every side.

1. Measure and cut your fabric to size. I preferred to make one big rectangle and fold in half (I will still sew 4 seems though). Iron.

2. Mark your seems with a pencil and pin the fabric together

3. Sew all edges but one small opening (in the center of one of the sides) that is big enough to fit your hand for stuffing. (sewing picture missing).

4. Turn inside/out and iron making sure the points are completely out. (no pictures here either)

5. With a pencil, mark where you want to tuff your buttons or string. See pattern above
My marks are 6 inches apart (this may look confusing but I don't know how to explain it better without pictures).

6. Stuff with Poly-Fil

7. Sew the opening with invisible stitch (again, no pictures of me sewing but you can search invisible stitching)

front side

Back side

8. Thread your baking twine into a tapestry needle and vertically insert it down the cushion at the mark and pull it through the other side and again up the top. Tie a tight knot and cut string

As you can see my cushion is much smaller than the bench top. I wanted to give it room to slide when sitting on it.

Your are done!
The "Sel de Mer" pillow is an Etsy find. Its is hand crafted by TheNestUK