Sawyer Leigh Boutique

When someone given you lemons, you have the choice to make lemonade! That’s what I did last holiday season!  My husband was laid off back in October due to a slowdown in his field. I had always wanted a creative outlet but somehow there was never a good time (or most likely just me being too scared to take the plunge) until now! Last holiday season while brainstorming ideas we decided that after talking about it for the past three years I should finally open an Etsy shop. I have been making paper banners for the past three years but somehow I was drawn to painted wood signs. I loved the paint on the wood! The quietness, making the same thing but never coming out the same!

Believe it or not I actually attended a holiday boutique without even having an Esty shop open. Once my oldest daughter, gave the shop a name, there was no going back. Here are some of the wood signs that I sold during the Christmas holiday of 2013.

After the boutique I dove into creating signs! I only created signs that I know I would love to have in my house! I still do this to this day! And of course confetti! Who doesn’t love confetti!

Then in Spring 2014 I participated in my first big boutique, Penelope Lane Boutique in Seal Beach! I wouldn't lie if I say that I wasn’t nervous but I had a blast! I was brainstorming ideas like crazy and adding new stuff until the very last minute!

What I loved the most is creating this for my daughter’s first birthday!

I would love if you can check out my shop here!

A monogrammed plaque

Today I will share with you a craft I created for Abbey from The Cards We Drew a couple of weeks ago. It is an easy tutorial including the awesome laser cut wood plaques from Michaels.

I have been working on re-doing my daughters' bedroom walls and thought that this would be the perfect little personal touch for the room they share.  The best part it's less than an hour project. Perfect for this mom of two.



 

Supplies: 

Wood plaques   (I got mine from Michaels)

Paint of your choice (I picked plum, pink, and white)

Glue

3M Command picture stickies (the best for hanging frames/ decorations without any damage to the walls)

           

1) Gather supplies

2) Paint both wood plaques and letter in the color of your choice. Do not be afraid. I didn't like the initial color for the ornate plaque so I just painted over it.

3) Leave them out to dry. If you are using acrylic paint, it should be dry in less than 30 min

4) Glue them together! I used Elmers Wood Glue and a fine brush to apply the glue.

5) Done! Now it's ready to paint!



 

 



Olaf Valentine

I am guessing you have heard about the movie “Frozen”. Maybe you might have seen it once or twice? Well, my daughter is obsessed with the movie and the characters and the music. For the first time is a very long time I had my act together and was able to spend a little more time with her on her school Valentines so we decided to create Olaf, the cute little snowman.

My daughter was so excited that I forgot to take a better photo of the finished product. Here she is with her Valentines on our way to school. (by the way I am loving our So Cal winter).

 

The printable was easy to create using free digital paper that I downloaded as the background and then using picmokey to create the rest. I love how easy is to create so many custom looking printables on picmonkey.

 

The supply list was: big marshmallows for the body, small marshmallows for the feet, left over Halloween candy for the nose, stick pretzels for the arms and small chocolate chips for the eyes and the buttons.

These Valentines where so popular with her class that most of the kids eat “Olaf” before even getting a chance to make him. Because of the popularity of the movie, my daughter has requested a Frozen party. Hmm! Maybe, just maybe!

Comforting Beef Stew

 

When Danielle first posted a photo of her beef stew on Facebook, right away I knew that I would want to make it. Here is the deal with me and beef stews…if it has too many ingredients or too much herbs in it,  I will not eat it. I am weird like that. Although I hit a little snags a long the way…First, I spilled the broth all over my kitchen (so I had to go buy more), then I got everything ready and forgot to turn on the crock pot….the beef stew turned out pretty good. I really wished I had taken a better photo but this is the best I can do at 10pm. Lesson learned.

 

Comforting Crock Pot Beef Stew

recipe from Cozycakes Cottage

 

• 2 pounds of chuck roast, chopped in 1 to 1.5 inch pieces (Costco’s already cut meat is the best)
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1.5 to 2 cups beef broth
• splash of Worcestershire sauce (about a tablespoon)
• 2 stalks of celery, diced or cut into 1-inch pieces
• 6 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (I used golden potatoes, my favorite)
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces  (I used baby carrots)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (I used 1/2 teaspoon since I am not a big fan of thyme)
• 2 tablespoons Minute tapioca (If you don’t have the tapioca on hand, no worries–I use it to thicken it up to a nice stew consistency, but it’s still good without it!)

 

Dry the meat with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.  Add all meat and brown.  You’re not aiming to cook the meat through, but to get the outside a nice color.  When the meat is browned, place it in the slow cooker.  If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the skillet and cook the onions on medium heat until translucent.  Add the Worcestershire, 1.5 cups broth, and tomato paste to the onions in the skillet.  Mix and cook until it just begins to boil or simmer.  Place the celery, carrots, potatoes, bay leaves, and thyme in the slow cooker.  Pour broth mixture over everything in the slow cooker.  Add Minute tapioca to the slow cooker and mix everything together.   At this point I add a few pinches of salt and freshly ground pepper.  Cover and cook on high for 6 hours.   *At the 5 hour mark, I gently mix the stew and taste test, adding salt, pepper, and more broth as needed ( I usually add at least another half cup of broth at this point).  Continue to cook for one more hour.   Remove bay leaves and enjoy!

 

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My husband and I enjoyed the recipe so much that I know that I will make it at least one more time this winter season. Hope you get to enjoy Danielle’s recipe for the beef stew as much as I did.

A fresh start

At some point everyone needs a fresh start, right? Well, this is how I feel with this blog. Going back to old posts I see the numerous hours of posting, the joy of hitting publish on those posts, but I also notice the numerous, actually about 3/4 of the posts, having photos that do not show anymore.

I can understand how frustrating would be for both the visitor and myself to have the photos not show up on the post. I have been going back and forth trying to figure out what I should do: just erase those posts and start clean or should I spend lots and lots of hours, that I do not currently have, fixing up those posts. Ultimately I would love to get a new blog design, freshen things up. I am trying to figure out a way to get back into the groove of things so until then please excuse the mess, and hopefully all this will be resolved soon.

I am still here so if you need to get a hold of me please feel free to e-mail me at meganvperry@gmail.com