Well... it's up.

I was talking to my Uncle Mark this weekend... and he agreed to help me burn our name on THE SIGN.
In the meantime, I wanted to get it up in the space.
To see what it looked like.

Hanging it wasn't an easy feat. There are major holes in the wall behind the sign to prove it.
Faulty drywall, me thinks.

I have some patching to do after the sign has been burned and before it's ready to be hung back up.

I am still trying to decide on the wording. It will definitely have our last name.
But, I was thinking of adding mercantile or farmer's market  or something kitchen, food related.

Thoughts?!

A Theme is always necessary in my Book

Whenever someone says let's do this or let's have a party, I automatically follow-up with what theme should we have?

If I had it my way, I'd give each day of the week a theme. They are that much fun. And I am that much obsessed.

This year, I am hosting our family's annual Christmas Eve party. For the first time ever.
Now that we have our own home and it's big enough to hold the entire family (close to 30), I called dibs.

And since it's my home, it's my party.
Well, I did allow the family to have some say.  :)


I knew I wanted it to be more Jingle Bell Rock than Silent Night.
The others agreed.

In the end, this is what we came up with:

Can you guess the theme?

I am so excited! I made the invitation today and emailed it out to all my peeps. On the second part of the invitation I added the list of things that everyone was requested to bring (some based on the movie and some based on what we know they can cook!)

I know, I know.... We still need to tackle Thanksgiving.
Don't worry - I have that theme all figured out.

But more on that later!!

Woodn't you know it?!?! (The Kitchen Sign Trilogy)

I think I've talked about this sign more often than my own kids.
I am just so excited about it.
About my kids?! Not so much.

Just kidding - you know I am always excited about them especially when it's bed time.

After the torture of hanging the sign (which I just realized I've failed to blog about. You're welcome), I came to the conclusion that hanging it up without some additional wording wasn't very smart (okay, maybe it was the feedback from my family). It needed something.

While at the Wal-Mart yesterday, I noticed they had wooden letters... and the font wasn't too bad.  So I picked up the necessary pieces and in the evening, got to work.  I stained them Jacobean... Love the color. But I felt they needed something a little more. So I used FolkArt Extreme Glitter in Turquoise - covered most of each letter in it... I was trying to be a tad random. After that, I used a copper color... Pueblo (from Folkart again) to be exact. I applied sparingly - going for the aged, patina'd look.

I could have "aged" them for forever, but after about 10 minutes I forced myself to stop. I think they look perfect.

I didn't have an apostrophe, so I improvised. I realize that I don't necessarily need one, but I am going for "The Ayala's Kitchen" without saying as much, and because there is ownership involved, I popped open a Corona. And immediately discarded it down the sink. I wanted the bottle cap.  Using the same technique as the letters, I aged the cap and then hot glued it on.

I can't say it's 100% complete. I've concluded that I would really like to find an old whisk or serving spoon, something old and incredible.

So.... here's the way before:

The second before:

Here it is hung without the extra wording:

And the second to last:

Here is the first post. Here is the second.

I am enamored. I love it. I can't wait to make more.
And seriously... the pallet was free, the stain and paint mostly I had on hand, maybe spent $12 total, and then the letters were $12. Not bad, me thinks!!

What do YOU thinks!?!?

Linking to:
Coastal Charm

Today's Creative Blog

Craft-O-Maniac
Blue Cricket Design

Pumpkin Bread / Birthday Cake

For Alex's birthday party this past Saturday, we had a fall-ish theme.
Chili, corn bread, you name it.
So, for his birthday "cake" I wanted to do something a little different.
He's a guy, so he could really care less... so he tells me.
I took him up on it.

I decided to pull out a recipe I tried for the first time last year - and loved. I found the recipe on a fellow blogger's site. Let's just say, it was my first taste of Connie's blog, and I am still reading it - everyday - a year later.

The recipe is for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread.
I decided to make Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins. Little mini ones. Bite-sized, if you will.

Never in my life did I think that chocolate chips and pumpkin would go together.
But, trust me, dear reader, they do.

THINGS OF IMPORTANCE:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice (not in original recipe, but I love it added in)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sugar

THAT’S AN ORDER:

• Gently mix (by hand) all dry ingredients.
• Combine all liquids and slowly add to dry ingredients. Stir the entire time, until smooth.
• Add 1 bag of Toll-House Chocolate Chips. {I guess you could add nuts or raisins in lieu of the chips, but why bother?!}
• Grease pans.  
• Oven should be at 350*.
• Bake for 25-38 minutes (depending on pan, oven, etc).
• Do not over bake. That would be bad.
• Use a toothpick or thin knife to check doneness.

TOP IT WITH LOVE:

The original recipe (and one I use when making the bread) is a crumb topping:

• 1 tbls flour
• 5 tbls brown sugar
• 1 tbls melted butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Add crumb mixture to top of batter and bake per instructions above.

For Alex’s Party Muffin’s, I used the following glaze:

• 1 pound Powdered Sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup of milk (add more later to create appropriate consistency)

Mix, mix, mix, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle.

The recipe can make about 6-8 mini loafs.
I was able to make 48 mini muffins and 6 extra large muffins from my batter on Saturday afternoon.

The only issue is, once you put the plate out - they disappear.
Seriously.

They are that good.

Click here to view the original recipe by the ever-so-clever Connie.

If you try these babies, let me know how you like them!

When a Tornado meets a Volcano...

Remember I told you the kids had some peeps spend the night last Saturday night?!
At least, I *think* I told you...

Well, I forgot about these pictures ...
maybe I was trying to block the memory altogether?!

Look at the aftermath...

Those crazy teenagers.
who have a chore list a mile long, ready to go for tomorrow morning...

Wait. That almost sounds like the mess is still there.
It isn't. I promptly called FEMA.
Okay, I'm lying. I cleaned it myself.
Mostly.

The key is...

A long, long time ago - right after we moved into our house I found a shelf/key holder thingy at Ross.

Proof:

I was so tired of random things making their way onto the shelves.

And really, I am finding I am not so traditional after all...
So I decided to change things up.

Here are our new key holders:

The lighting is bad. Sorry about that.

Any empty picture frame from Goodwill ($1.99 and spray painted ivory)...
A picture of our house, printed on card stock in sepia and then modge-podged to a tin (?) sign (it used to have the letter "A"on it, I took it off).

And then I got these hooks from Hobby Lobby - 50% off.
I wanted them ALL to be different, but I couldn't find a 5th one.

Guess which one is Marcos'?!?

I love it. And Marcos didn't complain.
#winner

Vanity Fair & Loverly Vinyl

Yesterday I shared my feature wall.
Did you happen to notice the vinyl lettering?!

My friend, Cindy {of Cindy's Vinyl Creations}, does vinyl lettering, etc. as her part-time gig. Her full time gig, you ask?! Mom to two rambunctious little boys.

When I found out that my once co-worker offered up vinyl lettering, I was in heaven. Forget about the fact that she moved a million miles away several years ago (it's true. I looked it up. Montana is that far away from Arizona!), I was going to keep her in business.

The first thing I purchased from her was before we even closed on the house. It was for a sign for the front of my house. But then the meanie HOA said I couldn't hang anything on the wall, so I kept it, still snuggled in it's backing paper.

I started to work on something this weekend, and ended up pulling out that vinyl to use.
I bought this sign at Hobby Lobby eons ago...

It wasn't BAD looking. But, I can tell you that it only hung in that spot for a few weeks. It eventually moved up to the top of the cabinets. I brought it down, dusted it off and came up with this:

Recognize something?!
Oh, Vanity Fair strikes again!
I am going to use every.single.page.of.that.book if it kills me!

And now, here it sits...

I have to admit, I was a little skurred using vinyl for the first time. But, Cindy sent along instructions - and when followed, they work like a charm!! Cindy has a ton of examples of her work on her blog. Go check her out!!! Buy some vinyl.


Found this on my camera... a pretty decent shot of my living room {and my $12 Goodwill coffee table, that has yet to be stained and my Wal-Mart clearance pillows that I lurve... $5 each!}.

I wish I could say it ALWAYS looks like this. But, to keep things real... I found ANOTHER picture on my camera (that I did NOT take)... it shows a better example. You can thank Nic...

 

I have a budding photographer in my midst.
Me thinks.

Happy November 1!!