Popcorn Jar {Tutorial}

My friend's birthday was coming up and she has been asking for a popcorn popper forever. I finally decided that I would get her one but knew that I had to find a cute way to store the popcorn kernels. That's where this jar came into play! It was 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby and it was exactly what I was looking for! This simple and precious project took hardly any time to complete and I LOVE how it turned out!!

I used my Silhouette to cut out the vinyl for this project but you could easily use a paint pen to write on the jar! I'm going to show you how I did it with my Silhouette. 

Items needed: 

-Jar

-Vinyl 

-Popcorn kernels for filling 

-Bakers twine (optional)


1- I created my image in Silhouette Studio. I used the font "Mr. and Mrs. Popsicle" and used an image of a popcorn kernel from the Silhouette Online Store. I sort of the maneuvered the popcorn image to make it fit just how I wanted it.

2- I cut out the vinyl using my Silhouette CAMEO.

3- Place it on the jar in the desired area using Transfer Paper.

 4- Pour in the popcorn kernels and add a little bakers twine and you're finished!

I'm loving how it turned out and my friend loved it too! So simple and so cute!

Sarah

{DIY} Kitchen Canisters

Moving into a new apartment means working on new projects! In this case, flour, sugar, tea, and rice canisters.

I saw an idea similar to this on Pinterest a long time ago, and decided to revamp it a little bit and go with a certain vision that I had. I didn't really want plain, clear jars like the normal canister. I will eventually I'm sure, but while I'm in college I want a little bit of color and fun. ;-) 

I knew I wanted square tin canisters to suite my vision, and I searched forever to find them. FINALLY, I was at Hobby Lobby after Christmas and found exactly what I was looking for - for 50% off! Cha-ching! The kicker was that they were Christmas tins and it took a few coats of spray paint to cover them up, but they turned out exactly how I wanted them to!

Step 1: Start coating the tin cans with spray paint. I chose not to use a primer, so the tins required several layers of spray paint.

Step 2: Using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut out the words in vinyl. Use transfer paper to place the vinyl on the canisters. 

Step 3: I cut out the first letter of every word for the top of the canisters.

Ta-Da! All finished!!

Sarah

DIY Burlap Rag Wreath {Tutorial}

Making a cute wreath for my apartment door has been on my to do list for a while, and I finally got around to it!! I saw the inspiration for this wreath at Canton, and instantly knew that's what I wanted my wreath to look like. So I purchased the materials and got started! This project took about 30 minutes. It's so easy to do, and I hope this tutorial helps! 

Materials needed:

- Wreath form with branches

- Burlap 

- Ribbon 

**I had 10 feet of burlap and ribbon but it was not all used. The amount needed depends on how big you want your scraps.

Step 1: Bring all of the branches on the wreath form to the front.

Step 2: Cut your burlap pieces and cut the ribbon the same length.

Step 3: Place ribbon on top of burlap piece and bunch them in the middle. 

Step 4: The branches on the wreath form will be in groups of 2, split 2 of them apart, place the burlap/ribbon bunch in the middle, and twist the branches around it. {No picture of this part-sorry} Continue doing this until each group of branches has a burlap/ribbon bunch twisted to it. The end result should look like this:


The double T I also bought at Canton at one of the metal shops! I painted it with acrylic paint and tied it on with fishing line!

Ta Da! Easy peasy! (-:

Sarah

32 Years of Service

After 32 years of service for the Postal Service, my daddy has finally retired. He was a rural route carrier for 31 years and then he spent his last few months as the Officer in Charge at the Donie Post Office. He was a part of the Rural Letter Carriers Association for years where he served as a Trustee, Secretary and President. We traveled all over the place going to conventions. He has so many friends from so many places and he had a good ride in his years of service. He even had Congressman Pete Sessions ride the route with him one day. My daddy loved his job and loved the people that he served. The route always took him longer than it should have because he would stop and talk to his customers. Everyday there was a new story, and everyday my daddy came home with a smile on his face. 

During the Christmas Holidays, our kitchen was packed full of gifts that he would receive on his mail route. He would always wait to open the wrapped ones until he got home because he knew that I would want to open them. My brother, Christopher, on the other hand just wanted to tear into the homemade fudge. (-; The holiday's just reminded me that people loved and appreciated my daddy as much as I did. He takes care of everyone.

For almost 5 years, my daddy has been the only guy in the house. He has to put up with my mom and I constantly and regularly gets roped into watching Chick Flicks with us. He does so much for my mom and I, and I have no idea what we would do without him. He fixes and takes care of everything. He would never let anyone hurt us. I sometimes wonder if he understands how much he's appreciated and loved. He does way more than I could ever ask for and I am so blessed to have him as my dad. 

When I look at my daddy's timeline on Facebook, I'm always brought to tears. He doesn't post much, but the amount of love that he is shown when he does amazes me. My daddy is the most amazing man that I know, it's good to know that other people feel the same way. He is someone that everyone should meet. He is kind, loving, caring, protective, brave, funny, hard-working, honest, and wise. One of the longest chapters of his life may be coming to a close, but I know that he will continue to serve people and the community. 

I love you daddy, so much, and I will never be able to thank you for all that you do for me! 

Join us Saturday February 16th, 2013 from 3-5 pm and help us celebrate his great career. 

Snippets from the Kitchen #2

Time for another recipe! I've been wanting to try Spaghetti Squash for a while and finally found a recipe that looked easy enough! It turned out so good! Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

Spaghetti Squash

1 onion

1 tomato

1 clove garlic, minced

Feta cheese

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Cut spaghetti squash in half with a large knife and place each side face down on a cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. 

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, saute for 2-3 more minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook only until warm

3. Take squash out of the oven, use a fork to scrape the stringy pulp from the sides. 

4. Place stringy squash into medium bowl and toss with the sauteed vegetables and feta cheese. 

Sarah

End It Movement

I attended Passion 2013 at the beginning of January. It was amazing, life changing, and completely unforgettable. 60,000 college students gathered together to worship the Lord. The four day long Christian conference for college students around the country was everything that I've been needing.

Chris Tomlin, Jesus Culture, David Crowder, Matt Redman, Kari Jobe, and many others led the worship. Sermons by Beth Moore, Francis Chan, Judah Smith, John Piper, Louie Giglio, and others. Each session was moving and everything that I needed to hear. It was like the speakers knew what I had been struggling with in my walk with Christ. The whole conference Louie Giglio kept emphasizing this thing called the End It Movement. Then came the session about it..

A video was shown of a girl who was sold by her uncle to human trafficking. The girl was 14 years old and was told that she would be brought to the US for a better life and an education. Instead, she got sold to be a sex slave. A program called Love146 went there and rescued her. The girl was at Passion that night. Talk about the tears rolling.. The speaker went on to talk about slavery and sex trafficking and my mind just exploded with questions. Slavery? That ended years ago? It doesn't still happen. Especially not in America. That's in other countries. Human trafficking? That's only in Europe. That's not a real thing here. But it is. Both things are real and they are happening all around us right now. Kids working hard labor against their will and being sold at young ages for sex. And it absolutely happens in the United States.

There are 27 million people in 161 countries, including our own, that are living in the shadows of slavery. The End It Movement's goal is to shine a light on slavery. Make people aware of the things going on around them. Together we can End It. We just have to be aware.Take the pledge to end it. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Shine a light on slavery.

Sarah

Snippets from the Kitchen #1

Cooking is like my escape from school work these days. I've never really been into cooking until this year. My mom never really liked to cook very much so I just never really did either. When I got to school, I realized what I had been missing out on. I decided that once a week I will post a little "snippet" from my kitchen and share some of my favorite recipes with you!

When I was little, my mother used to make this awesome side dish that we always referred to as brown rice. Not the typical brown rice that people are used to, but a very different version of brown rice. My brother and I were so excited when we would smell it in the kitchen and devoured the whole pan in minutes. It's really that good. Not to mention, it is SO easy. You mix it, cover it, and leave it alone for an hour! It can be made with pork chops, which I did this time. Here is the recipe and some pictures of what it will look like.

Brown Rice

Items Needed:

1 cup rice

1 can Consomme Soup

1 can French Onion Soup

1/2 stick of butter

How cute is that 1/2 stick of butter?? I had no idea they were sold as 1/2 sticks.

Mix your ingredients together. 

Place Pork Chops on top of mixture, if you are adding them. {You can absolutely make the brown rice by itself.} Now just cover and cook for 1 hour on 350!

Tada! Don't judge it by the looks, it really is delicious. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together and place in pan
**Optional: place boneless pork chops on top of mixture
2. Cover and cook at 350 for one hour

Sarah