How to Hang a Photo Gallery Wall

I love my sister-in-law's gallery wall and finally attempted a little one myself. Some photo walls I like and others I don't, so I'd been trying to figure out how to approach a photo wall without it looking cluttered. My neighbor and I were talking over her photo wall and I was so impressed she was taking on a project I've been meaning to tackle as well. So I finally got all the frames out since it's my "day off" and I'd decided to focus on our home. Here's how it went down: 

I . . . 

looked at a lot of Pinterest photo wall examples, 

laid my frames out on the floor to create a shape I liked, 

took a photo of what I had laid out to reference, 

measured the width and height of my layout, 

measured the wall to center my layout, 

drew lines on the wall with a pencil, 

started hanging photos starting with the center one and working my way out, using pencil marks with each frame to mark the top of the frame and the nail point beneath it, 

tried to stay alive as the boys tried to pull me backwards off my step stool,

and spent time surfing Amazon Prime  wallet-sized photo frames with plans to sprinkle a few little baby frames around the edges for fun. 

One thing I've observed--and this is just my opinion, but I think gallery walls work well when you keep the frames really close together, especially if you have a lot of them. The wider the spaces between the frames, the more cluttered and interrupted it feels. If you keep everything close you can create one big modern blob-shape instead of a speckled wall of individual frames that don't have a strong relationship with each other. It's also easier to keep the frames generally straight; they can't get too crooked without running into their neighbor frames. Symmetry can also be boring; the blob keeps your eyes moving around the pool of pictures. 

Observation 2: Keeping a consistent amount of space between the frames is also more feng shui; when looking at some Pinterest examples I noticed the gallery walls with random spacing between frames (2" here, 5" there, 1" here, etc.) look a little messy. Definitely lay out your photos before hanging to figure out what fits where. 

The Best Buttermilk Biscuits Ever

Alton Brown's Buttermilk Biscuits and my interpretation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Add
2 tbs butter
2 tbs shortening

With your friendly fingers, pinch and crumble the butter and shortening into the flour until . . . crumbly.

Add
1 C buttermilk (half a pint, if you were curious. Suck it up and buy buttermilk; don't use milk.)

Fold and mix batter gently with a rubber spatula until you have a ball of dough. On a floured surface, flatten that ball to 1" thick. Cut with round biscuit cutter or (what I use) a glass. I usually get 8 or so biscuits.

Bake on greased cookie sheet for approximately 15 minutes. I'm not a fan of the brown, bitter taste of an over-baked biscuit. Finicky overly or underly hot ovens should be watched! When the biscuits are or lightly golden and speckled on top they're ready. The bits of butter brown and give it that speckled look--not to be confused as whole wheat speckles because we're not interested in healthy, fibrous foods. Heavens no. 

Cheesy Twist: Add 1/2 cup grated Asiago (or other cheese) and/or 1 tsp garlic powder to the dough. 

Slather with BUTTER  (as this is really just a butter medium recipe) and pull out your homemade jams and honey! Serve piping hot. 

Recipes: White Bean and Bacon with Spinach Soup

This is one of my husband's favorite dinners. He says it tastes like he's eating bacon. Even my super-super-super picky two-year-old eats this up while he'd normally steer clear of spinach and beans presented in any other form. Bacon is magical. A spoonful of bacon makes the medicine go down, apparently! 

Ingredients:

1 lb dry navy beans

2 cans chicken broth 

Bay leaves 

1 large onion

1 clove garlic 

2 carrots (or 1 small sweet potato)

1 package bacon, chopped into 1/2" pieces (or ham/ham bone) 

Spices: pepper, sage, thyme, paprika, creole seasoning, nutmeg, garlic powder (if fresh garlic missing), honey/brown sugar

1 block frozen leaf or chopped spinach OR fresh spinach leaves 

Crusty sourdough bread or buttermilk biscuits with butter

Instructions: 

Soak 1 bag navy beans overnight. Drain and put in crock pot on low if cooking 8+ hours or high if cooking 5-6. Or simmer on stovetop for 3 hrs. 

Add 2 cans chicken broth and water until liquid is maybe 1" above the beans. Add two bay leaves. 

A couple hours before you plan to eat, add the other stuff. Dice one onion, a couple carrots, and cut up a pack of bacon into 1/2" pieces. 

Cook bacon a little and drain grease. Add onions and cook till starting to brown/turn clear. Add carrots. Season sautée with fresh ground pepper, creole seasoning, sage, thyme, paprika, and a couple dashes nutmeg. Add to crock pot. 

Drizzle a little bit of honey (1 tsp or 1 tsp brown sugar)--a good trick for savory soups to tone down any bitterness. It's like adding salt to cookies. A little sweet in the salty. 

Add frozen block of leaf or chopped spinach. 

Before serving salt to taste. Serve with crusty bread or biscuits with BUTTER, the very best part. 

Lampshade Makeover

We picked up a bunch of free lamps and a few furniture items from a hotel that was remodeling and liquidating their old stuff. To keep our home from looking to industrially hotel-ish, I decided to zone in on the lampshades. Here's the first with inspiration from this lampshade from Anthropologie (see below). I did go to Anthro for this little drawer handle for the hotel nightstand in an attempt to make it more homey.

But one great thing about these industrial lamps that I do like is the light switch and outlet at the base. Now I keep my laptop, books, and magazines in the hotel nightstand drawer and I can easily plug in my electronics in my cuddly, now well-lit reading corner.

Valentine's Day: Heart-shaped Meatloaf

Happy Valentine's Day. Here are some Puritan Valentine's Day cards to inspire you until next year.

My husband told me this is the day wives get upset with their husbands. I said I could make it a day of resentment, unfulfilled expectations, and misery for him if that's what he wanted. (Note: We had a good laugh rather than filling our day with those abominable feelings.) 

But this was the first Valentine's Day I approached with pretty much no expectations, and as a result, I had such a wonderful day being with my family and feeling a basic, uncomplicated sense of happiness with my life and the people in it.

I'm discovering that holidays and birthdays are so much better when you approach them without high expectations. This year we didn't do gifts or dinner out; now that we have children we're trending towards the simplicity that this life requires. But since I wasn't expecting anything, I was certainly excited to receive some roses and Trader Joe's chocolate and peanut butter cups. I'll take it!

For dinner we had our second-annual heart-shaped meatloaf, inspired by a sister in my ward who does it every year. Meatloaf seriously gets a bad rap; I think it is one of the most brilliant and delicious foods when made well. A lamb meatloaf would blow my mind.

But for basic meatloaf, I think the trick is adding lots of breadcrumbs (more than any recipe asks for and instead of chunks of bread) and at least a cup of a shredded hard cheese. Lots of spices, just enough salt, eggs, milk, and ketchup (which I forgot for the photo). I don't use measurements or a specific recipe anymore with meatloaf, but the above combination of approximations seems to work every time.

And nothing says love like heart-shaped meat.

How to Make a Fabric Bulletin Board

The finished product.

I took up a recent undertaking to decorate a small room in much need of some life: the nursing lounge at the church. I've spent hours in there in the last two years with my first and second child, and I've long felt that the space could use a little color and excitement. 

The chairs are blue, the walls are now yellow, the carpet is blue, there's a gold-framed landscape painting on one wall. I'm picking up a small oak child's rocking chair tomorrow. But I thought the room needed one more touch to make it more personal: I decided to make a fabric bulletin board for baby pictures of children in the ward. I'm posting a call in our weekly newsletters for photos, and I can't wait to pin up those cute baby faces!

I followed this tutorial by freshvintage as a guide, but since I did a few things differently I thought I'd write my own how-to. Here goes!

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HOW TO MAKE A FABRIC-COVERED BULLETIN BOARD

MATERIALS

• Corkboard
• Fabric of choice
• Iron
• Paint (spray or liquid)
• Drop cloth or newspaper
• Masking tape
• Iron-on double-sided fusible interfacing (available at JoAnn's or any quilting/fabric shop)
• Rotary cutter and mat (or scissors and measuring tape/ruler)
• Glue (I used Elmer's all-purpose, but you could be all fancy and use fabric or hot glue)
• Craft felt, ribbon, or rick-rack (in a color that accents your fabric and frame)
• Blow drier (if you want your paint to dry faster)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Obtain or make a framed cork board. You could make a huge one out of insulation board from Lowes and staple the fabric onto it. You could find a thrift bulletin board to work with. You could use an existing frame and insert a piece of cork cut to size. Or, you could go to Target like me and just buy a nice new inexpensive corkboard. I got this pretty large one for $17.00.

2. Paint the frame. Spread out your drop cloth or newspaper to paint over. Put your kids to bed or lock them away. Use the masking tape to protect the corkboard if you're brushing on paint, or cover it completely with paper and tape if you use spray paint.

I pulled out some gold acrylic paint I've had for years. All in all, I tried to make this project using what I already had--I am all about simplicity (and not going to the store more than I need to). So be creative working with what you've got!

 

This black Target frame took three or four coats of paint, a gold irridescent that I thinned with some Liquitex glazing I have because I was worried I might run out of the gold if I used it straight up. 

The finished paint job doesn't look great up close--you can see my chunky brush lines, but I tell myself that the hand-painted textured look gives it a nice touch--just to make myself feel better.

 

3. Press your fabric with the iron and cut it to size. The rotary cutter, ruler, and mat will give you super straight lines and accurate measurements. But if you don't have these, (like I said earlier), work with what you've got! That's what thrift is all about right?

This fabric is some beautiful yardage from Africa that my sister-in-law got for me during her Peace Corps service in Botswana. I think it's so striking.

 

4. Lay your fabric on the board. Make sure it fits fairly well, but don't worry if the edges aren't perfect because that's what your ribbon/felt/rick-rack trim will hide. My trim is a 1/4" if that gives you an idea of how much room there is for error. 

 

 

5.  Use the fusible interfacing to adhere your fabric to the board. I was working on this last night, feeling so irked that I didn't have any spray-adhesive glue stuff and I couldn't just go out and buy some right then, nor did I want to go out and buy it at all. I stewed over what might work that I have and I remembered I had leftover fusible interfacing from the recent reupholstery project I did.

I love how well it worked. I actually recommend this rather than using a spray glue because it's cheap and not as messy and maybe even more environmental (sans aerosol can). If you have enough interfacing to cover the whole cork board, awesome. I only had a little left, so I cut up what I had and stuck it on like so:

 

Not having the whole cork part completely covered with interfacing worked wonderfully! The fabric is super smooth on there after pressing it down with no bubbling at all. And considering its going to get covered with photos and thumbtacks, it doesn't really matter anyway.

6. Using your rotary cutter and ruler again to cut 1/4" strips of craft felt. Note: the strips do not have to run the length of the board. You won't be able to tell where pieces meet up if they're cut straight and to size. See the photo below. Can you see where the two strips meet? Not really? Neither can I.

 7. Glue your fabric strips around the edges of the frame. I know real crafters use fabric glue, but how often do I actually glue fabric? Pretty much never. I used Elmer's glue for this small little step and (whoa!) it worked just fine.

8. Hang it up and pin things on it! Yay!

Nursing Lounge 2.0

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And now that I finished this one for the church, I totally want one for myself! Looks like I've got more crafting to do. Woe is me.

Mexilasagna: An Enchilada Casserole (gluten-free)

When I stopped eating wheat, I was a little disheartened by the thought of not eating enchiladas, one of my favorites. But the reintroduced the corn tortilla to our household and all is well in the world again. So this can be a gluten-free recipe if you use a gluten-free enchilada sauce--which most probably are unless there's a wheat-based thickening agent.

Since corn tortillas don't roll up well without breaking apart, layering the tortillas with filling like a lasagna works so well. This is my old enchilada recipe simply served in a different form. So good.

________________________________

Ingredients

Filling
1 8-oz box cream cheese or Neufchâtel (1/3 less fat)
3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cooked and cut into small pieces
1 small onion, 2 green onions, and 1 red bell pepper, diced and sautéed in 2 Tbs oil w/ dash S&P
1 small can diced green chilies
(optional) 1 small can green Salsa Mexicana 
1 C shredded Mexican and/or cheddar cheese blend
1 Tbs chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder/garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Layers
White or yellow corn tortillas
1 can enchilada sauce (green or red)
1 4-6oz can red Salsa Mexicana
More cheddar/Mexican cheese to sprinkle between layers and on top
3 green onions, diced (save 1/3 to sprinkle on top as garnish)

Serve with
Sour cream
Your favorite hot sauce
Your favorite green or red salsa
Avocado
etc.

Directions
Cook the chicken thighs (sauteed, Foreman-ed, baked, whatever) and dice them up. Sautee diced peppers and onions with S&P. Set aside to cool as you mix the filling ingredients in a standing mixer or by hand.

In a 9x13 ungreased pan, pour 1/2 C of the enchilada sauce to coat the bottom of the pan. Layer corn tortillas on the bottom, breaking a tortilla into pieces to fill in the gaps.

Spread a layer of filling, then pour a little enchillada sauce on, then a sprinkle of cheese, then another layer of corn tortillas. Spread a second layer of filling, and this time, top with that one small can of Salsa Mexicana. Sprinkle with cheese, add another layer of corn tortillas, etc.

After your last layer of corn tortillas, pour the remaining enchilada sauce on top, then a hearty layer of cheese. Sprinkle with the third of the diced green onions you'd set aside.

Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Serve hot.

Christmas Recipes: Peppermint Bark & Candy Molds

Another belated Christmas project. There was an evening before Christmas when I was completely done in; I'd had it with Christmas and all the demands of the season and the loss of sleep and the similar loss of time to do anything I wanted to do, so right then, even though my husband was sleeping and the baby was crying, all I wanted to do was assemble bags of peppermint bark and candy mold treats to give away and not take care of anything or anyone else because somehow the peppermint bark would take care of me me me me me me me me meeeeee so too bad, family! IF I DON'T DO THIS, CHRISTMAS WON'T EXIST. 

 That's the trouble with traditions.

I admit that eating at least half a cookie sheet's worth of peppermint bark over the course of just a few days did help, but it did not dissolve the unnecessarily sky-high levels of stress that entered our home in preparation for Christmas. In fact, it contributed as I tried to both lengthen our list of family traditions and execute all of them with extravagance.

Merry Christmas. Here's my recipe. Use with caution because I'd actually never done this before and made it up, so you're probably better off looking up a real recipe somewhere else.

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PEPPERMINT BARK RECIPE

woof woof

Ingredients
Vanilla candy melts
Dark or milk chocolate candy melts (or both)
Crushed peppermint candy or candy canes (I bought those huge ones from the dollar store and smashed them with a hammer)

Directions
Melt the chocolate candy melts according to instructions. Pour and spread a thin layer (1/8"?) evenly on a cookie sheet or pan lined with foil or parchment paper.

Before it sets, pour on the layer of vanilla [somehow] evenly over that. (Note: This is where I went wrong; I let the chocolate set before pouring on the vanilla so when it all cooled and I went to break it in pieces, the chocolate layer broke off and separated from the vanilla layer.)

Before the vanilla sets, sprinkle the peppermint over the top with a spoon or your fingers or a sprinkling contraption.

Let cool completely. Setting the chocolate in the fridge or outside in the cold works really well, and really quickly. Then break or cut the bark into pieces with a large, sharp, potentially lethal knife.

Homemade Felt Christmas Ornaments

As if Christmas weren't stressful enough [to the point that I'm just now recovered enough to post something Christmas related], here is evidence of some little felt ornaments I made as party favors for a "Simple Gifts"-themed gift exchange:

They're just rectangles of craft felt blanket-stitched together with two cotton balls inside to make them puffy. I "wrapped" each of them in square tin boxes in a bed of that red and green crinkly paper-straw stuff for the guests.

Too bad I decided that, yes, I really needed to embroider "'Tis a gift to be simple" on each little ornament, like I had time for that sort of thing, which (evidently) I did. Somehow. Crafting obviously falls somewhere on my list of priorities slightly under screaming child (or does it?) and eating handfuls of chocolate-covered raisins.

Homemade Flavored Butter

I was whipping up some cream for a strawberry shortcake party and left the Kitchen Aid running a bit too long. When I came back, the cream had separated into some kind of weird chunky stuff in watery liquid.

Turns out that's how you make butter.

Just for jollies, I strained and kept it, forming it into this little cake an a small ceramic bowl. And guess what? It turned out deliciously! (Of course it did--it's butter.) I had added a little vanilla, a touch of sugar, and lemon zest to what I thought would become whipped cream and ended up with a lemony, sweet butter spread instead.

So I assume that if you want to make some kind of flavored butter, just add what you want to some whipping cream, turn your mixer on high, and forget what you were doing because you'll come back to something fattening and delicious--a winning combination.

Easy Shelving: Apple Crates

I remember hanging a small wooden crate in the bathroom of one of my college apartments to use as a small shelf. I mean, what college student can afford to outfit a rental apartment W.C. with brand-new cabinetry?

So when a friend recently brought dinner over in this little apple crate, I knew exactly what to do with it:

Cute, simple, and useful!

Bean's Baby Blanket

I made this blanket for my first son during my first pregnancy. I'm not huge into baby blues and pastels, maybe because I reject those colors when it comes to my own wardrobe. Earth tones and jewel tones are more friendly to me, and figured my boy would have a similar complexion. I liked the earthiness of these colors--the mustard yellow especially.

I've never used 100% cotton yarn before and I'm happy with it--it's very soft and it washes well, but man, it takes a long time to air dry because it's so absorbent. I washed it on a delicate cycle with the blanket in a mesh bag to keep it from stretching. Laid it flat to dry fearing the dryer would destroy it.

Even though this cotton is pretty washer-friendly, a polyester might be more durable in the long run and keep it's shape better--but it definitely wouldn't be as soft and warm. I'm pleased with the cotton overall. There's something pleasant and warm and natural about cotton.

I was also excited because I wasn't sure if the blanket would be wide enough or too long. But, incredibly, when I ran out of yarn and tied the project off, I was amazed to find that that it's the exact dimensions of a standard crib. Crazy!

So happy knitting season! It's cold out there.

Vogue Baby Mittens

I can say these are Vogue baby mittens because I learned how to make them from my handy dandy Vogue Knitting on the Go! Beginner Basics book.

Two reasons these mittens were a big step for me in my knitting career:

1) This is the smallest yarn I've ever attempted knitting with--Patons Kroy Socks super fine for 3.25mm needles (does that mean anything to anyone?). I guess you can't tell how big the yarn and needles are from the picture, but they're tiny!

2) Even though I've been knitting since I was 8, making blankets and scarves and hats, I've never used a pattern. I like doing my own thing and have rejected patterns most of my life (in more than one way)--maybe that's why piecing quilts is so tedious to me. I didn't even know how to read a knitting pattern until looking it up in this little Vogue knitting book, which is the most clear and helpful knitting book I've ever referenced. Highly recommend.

However, I did adjust all the numbers in this pattern because I used finer yarn and smaller needles to make the mittens 0-3 months size instead of 6 months.

3) My whole life I've just knit knit knit in the garter stitch. I actually used a stockinette stitch for the mittens with ribbing around the cuffs after practicing pearling while making a blanket. Progress! After 16 years of knitting, I have finally learned something new. Revolutionary, isn't it?

Because this yarn is so freakin' small, I thought these would take forever, but then I realized, the mittens themselves are also very small. They didn't take as long as I thought, so I proceeded to make several pairs that were never worn because baby's don't like wearing mittens. Who knew?

Crazy Cake Recipes: The Hamburger Cake

We've made the Hamburger Cake twice for fundraising auctions. Big hit. The following execution is based on Coolest Hamburger Cake 52, which cake looks [okay, fine, yeah, a little] better than ours.

Approaching the Hamburger Cake

Buns: Two 8" "improved" yellow pound cakes (boxed yellow cake mix plus a box of vanilla pudding and an extra egg).

Burger: One thick 8" brownie with edges trimmed off and rounded into a patty-like shape.

Lettuce, Tomato, and Cheese: Colored fondant (I halved this recipe, substituting corn syrup with high-fructose-corn-syrup-based Safeway maple syrup. I figured they were basically the same thing and it worked just fine. Excellent!

Buttercream Frosting: Food Network's recipe is very tasty. Mix butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and whipping cream.

Sesame Seeds: Pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.

Assembly: Pick a decent base to start with because moving this thing around is not easy. Spread some frosting between the layers to stick everything together, including on the vegetable-shaped fondant pieces (which don't go all the way through the middle of the burger; the lettuce, tomato, and cheese are just tucked in around the edges).

Oh so domestic, Duncan Hines and all!

Recipes: Szechuan Noodles in Peanut Sauce

You can't go wrong with peanut sauce. Unless you're allergic.

As one of our family favs, this is a great dish that will feed lots of hungry mouths. Enjoy!

Mistledoes's Szechuan Noodles

*Sauce Ingredients:
4-6 Cloves Garlic
1/2 Cup Veggie Oil
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1 1/4 Cup Warm Water
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Rice (or Red Wine) Vinegar
3 Tbs Sesame Oil
1/2 Cup Honey (corn syrup or brown sugar may be substituted--can use less if peanut butter is sweetened)
1 tsp Cayenne/Crushed Red Pepper (or more for a spicy kick)
1 Tbs Black Pepper

Blend in blender until blended. Sauce keeps well in fridge for, I dunno, a week or so.
*Note: This is great recipe to double and freeze half or all of the peanut sauce for future use. Or take it camping with dry noodles to cook up on site to feed a large group.

Other Ingredients:
2 lb Linguine
2-3 Grilled or Foremanned Chicken Breasts or Boneless Skinless Thighs (cut into strips--can be marinated previously in soy sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar if you have time.)

Veggies (Sauteed briefly in 1-2 tbs oil before tossing with noodles and sauce)
2 or 3 Red Bell Peppers (cut into strips)
1 Bag Bean Sprouts (add last so they're not too soggy, or use fresh as garnish when serving)
1 Bunch Green Onions, cut into large pieces

Cook pasta al dente (in salted water!!!!) according to instructions and drain. Mix some sauce in to keep noodles from sticking if you're still preparing veggies. When veggies are hot and still a little crisp (not soggy), toss them with the noodles and chicken, adding more sauce until at desired sauciness. Serve warm. Mmm.

Balloon Bubble Bath

Birthday Tradition

Ridiculously Rich Almond Flour Fudge Brownies

A friend shared a sugar-free almond flour brownie recipe with me, but let's be honest. I can't make brownies without sugar and chocolate chips. So this is what I came up with. This recipe is gluten-free if you care about that kind of thing.

Mistledoe's Ridiculously Rich Almond Fudge Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8x8 glass or metal pan and set aside.

Mix:
1/3 C brown sugar
1/3 C white sugar
1/2 C butter melted
1 Tbs vanilla
3 eggs

Add:
1/2 C almond flour
1/4 C brown rice flour
1/4 C white rice flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 C Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C chocolate chips

Optional:
Add 1/3 C chopped walnuts
Top with powdered sugar
Drizzle with hot fudge
Eat entire pan

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Sleep peacefully.

Note: Almond Flours 
I used blanched bulk almond flour from Winco which I found was more finely ground and not as gritty as Trader Joe's almond meal and Bob's Red Mill almond meal, so the brownies have a really nice fudgy texture when combined with the even more finely ground rice flours.