Valentine’s Day Dinner Ideas

We’ve been snowed in for the past couple days and things are getting pretty weird around here. Last night we screamed at each other just to scream. Not fighting, just yelling. My butt hurts from laying in bed for a prolonged period and I’m afraid we’ll run out of wine soon. It’s not the most romantic of Valentine’s Days, for sure. But tonight I’m planning on making dinner and maybe tomorrow we’ll get to venture out into the snowpocolypse for more romantic sustenance. Or at least sustenance that requires changing out of pajamas.

Here’s some ideas for tonight’s meal:

This baked brie with raspberry sauce would be a great way to start your meal.

I don’t think it gets more romantic than bacon. Who’s with me? Check out the recipe for these bacon-wrapped pork chops.

Pizza is my favorite Friday night meal. It’s quick, easy and cheesy. Doesn’t get much better than that. Click here to learn more about my favorite way to serve pizza.

This rice pudding is a great way to end a meal. I affectionately refer to it as love puddin’.

And since we’re snowed in, it’s only appropriate to serve snow cream! Learn more about snow cream here.

Are you cooking at home for Valentine’s Day? Let me know in the comments!

love and happy Valentine’s!
melanie

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts

I, just like every human on earth, am guilty of waiting until the last minute to do things. There’s something about that last minute pressure that really puts the heat on. This year I actually purchased George’s Valentine’s Day present early and had it shipped to the house. And he opened it before I got home! It was an honest mistake, but I was so mad! I can’t ever surprise that dude. Anyway, now I’m rushing to make something small to give him so he actually has something to open tomorrow.

Here’s a couple ideas for those last minute Valentine’s Day gifts:

This Valentine’s Day printable is super-cute. You don’t even have to make the nuts recipe if you don’t have time. You can just attach it to a bag of nuts! Click here for the printable.

If you’ve got a honey that loves to cook, homemade vanilla extract would be a great gift. Maybe they’ll get the hint to make you those cookies you’ve been wanting. Click here for the how to.

Infused liquors are so easy to make and instantly elevate a drink. I’d let the liquor infuse for a few days, but it’s a gift that you both could enjoy this weekend. Click here for the tutorial.

If your darling isn’t a drinker, then a personalized mug filled with coffee or chocolates would make a cute gift. Just make sure you don’t put it in the dishwasher! Click here for the details.

Here’s to homemade Valentine’s gifts! And waiting until the last minute!

love,
melanie

DIY Leather Clutch

I have the worst time trying to keep a purse clean. My purse is generally filled with crumbs, random medications and crumpled papers. And it seems that I never carry exactly what I need. Why is that?! Rules of physics?

After cleaning out my purse and accidentally throwing one of my favorite earrings away, I decided I need to get organized. Not only will this help me in my time of need, but it will help me to save money. I won’t buy 50 bottles of eyedrops because I have it on hand when I need it.

Here’s how I created this cute clutch to store band-aids, eyedrops and alcohol wipes for life’s little ouchies.

Here’s what you’ll need:
A piece of leather or faux leather (mine was 16 inches in length and 7.5 in width)
A threaded sewing machine or a thread and needle
A piece of chalk
Scissors
An alternate color leather
Fabric glue
A leather snap and a hammer

Cut your leather to size. Fold the leather up to create the pouch. I made my pouch 6 inches in length. Sew each side together, leaving the flap on top open on the sides. I then sewed the top edge to make a neater line. Take the chalk and trace an outline for the letters on the alternate color leather. Cut out each letter. Glue the letters to the bag. Let dry. Cut a hole for the snap in the middle of the bag using a pair of scissors or a knife. Hammer the leather snap into the leather on each side of the flap.

Instant purse organization! I feel like Wonder Woman some days.

love,
melanie

Polymer Clay Hair Accessories

For Valentine’s Day I like to add a little something-something to my outfits. This year, I thought a hair accessory would be just the thing.

For this project, you’ll need polymer clay, bobby pins and a tiny bit of cloth. I used leather, but felt will work well too.

I had a little extra polymer clay left over from my For the Makers project. So I thought hey, why not add a little food coloring to it?! This dummie got red food coloring all over her hands and went around with pink hands for two days. Make sure if you decide to color the clay with food coloring, use gloves! Or just buy pink clay. So much easier and so much less embarrassing.

I fashioned the clay into hearts. Then, to bake the clay, I placed the hearts on a cookie sheet. Bake according to the manufacturer’s directions. After the clay cooled, I broke out my trusty hot glue gun, cut a few pieces of leather, secured the bobby pin between the leather and glued it to the clay.

Where’s the easy button? ‘Cuz this project was eeeeeezzzzzz.

love,
melanie

Knitted Baby Blanket

We see too much perfect on the Internet. It’s all about being pinnable and having these amazingly beautiful and totally unrealistic lives. So, I’m going to tell ya’ll the story of how this cape came to be. It’s an ugly story with a pretty cute ending.

I was sitting in my office during my lunch break with the lights off. (It helps me relax.) I was knitting and listening to my Broadway station on Pandora. You know, reveling in my nerdiness. In an effort to change one of the songs (I just cannot bring myself to like Cats), I spilled black cherry tea on a baby blanket I was creating for a friend. It was one of those accidents that happen in slow motion. I let out a long “Noooooooo!!!” and maybe some cussing. I tried to dab out the stain, but there was no saving it. Or so I thought.

Thank God that I was taught as a kid that when you fall, just make it part of the dance. Really though, there are many home videos of me dancing in my childhood living room, falling and making it a killer addition to the dance. My Ninja Turtle slippers also added a touch of elegance, if I do say so myself.

So instead of being bummed about the stain in the baby blanket, I thought hey, let’s make lemons into lemonade. Or tea into tea dye. I don’t think that metaphor worked. But what I’m trying to say is… I tea dyed the blanket!

Then I washed it and all the tea came out. Whomp. Whomp. What can I say, it all comes out in the wash. Regardless, I think it turned out pretty damn cute.

What disaster projects have you turned around? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

Guest Post: Unconventional Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

Picture c/o Anna at And Then We Saved

Hey folks! I did a little guest post over at And Then We Saved on unconventional ways to save money on your wedding. Check it out here!

love,
melanie

The Dermatologist’s Cure for Dry Skin

I regularly call myself a dry, old corn cob. I have naturally dry skin, but I also love to sit directly in front of a heater. It’s one of my vices. What can I say. I’ve tried countless products for dry skin and all of them have failed. After putting up with my alligator skin for way too long, I decided to take a little trip to the dermatologist.

Thankfully I wasn’t diagnosed with Eczema, but I did spend an $80 specialist co-pay, so I was hoping to get some prescription lotion out of the deal. But instead, my dermatologist gave me the best over the counter cure for dry skin. It’s way better than any prescription because I can share it with you all!

Before you shower, brush your body (sounds weird, right?) with a dry brush. Dry brushing will brush that old, dry skin right off. Then, shower with moisturizing soap, like Dove. When you get out of the shower, blot yourself off with a towel and apply baby oil. I like the kind with aloe. Let the baby oil soak in a bit. Brush your teeth or do something to distract yourself for a few minutes. Just don’t rub on anything! Baby oil can stain walls. Again, blot yourself dry. And this is the most important part, apply Cetaphil RestoraDerm moisturizer. The regular brand Cetaphil doesn’t cut it. The RestoraDerm version really locks in the moisture.

This isn’t truly a budget way to cure dry skin, but it’s the only thing that’s worked for me. I usually try to use my drugstore coupons to buy the lotion which is the most expensive part of this cure.

I’m so glad to have kissed my alligator skin goodbye. Now if I could only find a lip balm this moisturizing!

love,
melanie

Gluten-Free Ginger Snap Cookies

I don’t know why I decided to make ginger snaps to celebrate the Super Bowl. A football is brown and these cookies are brown? These cookies are hearty like our football player friends? Regardless of my reasoning, the ginger snaps were a hit and a snap to make. Get it? A snap?! Onward to the cookies!

Gluten-Free Ginger Snap Ingredients (will make approximately 36 cookies)

1 bag Jules Gluten Free™ Graham Cracker/Gingersnap Mix (includes 1 bag of brown sugar & one bag of GF flour ingredients)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze Ingredients

2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of milk
2 dashes of pumpkin pie spice
An orange for zesting (optional)

Beat the sugar and coconut oil together until creamy. Next, mix in the molasses and vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour and the pumpkin pie spice until fully incorporated. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes or until cold.

While the dough is chillin’ (straight chillin’) preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare the glaze. To create the glaze beat together all the glaze ingredients except for the orange zest.

When the dough is cool, roll the cookies into quarter-size balls and smush down on a buttered cookie sheet with a fork. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool snaps on a cookie rack and glaze. Get crazy and zest a little orange on top. You deserve it.

love,
melanie

Custom Drawers in an Airstream

I love the idea of open shelves, but we’re just not that organized. I quickly realized that after living in the Airstream for just a couple of weeks. Half done art projects and crafting junk is just not pretty. But building drawers just wasn’t a project that we had time to complete… until now!

George and I are into recycling and using what we’ve got. It’s thrifty and good for the environment. Wins all around. We salvaged some old barn wood from when the barn was damaged in the tornadoes this fall to use to make the front of the drawers. We also had some leftover wood from building out the shelves and our bed in the Airstream. We used that wood for the sides and the bottom of the drawers.

Here’s what the shelves looked like without the drawers:

Pretty, but not very practical.

George went to work by measuring, cutting and drilling the pieces together.

When we got the drawers into the Airstream, we quickly realized that these babies are going to need some drawer handles. So, we cut up one of George’s old belts and used the rough grain side of the belt to create pulls. Pretty cool huh? We could only find short gold screws to attach the leather to the drawer, so we ended up coloring them with a silver Sharpie. Red neck ingenuity at it’s finest, folks.

Did you finish any projects this weekend? I want to hear about them in the comments!

love,
melanie

Super-Easy Snow Cream

I was told from some old country folk that I couldn’t eat snow cream from the first snow of the season or from yellow snow (ha!), but the second snow was fair game. Yellow snow is never fair game. This week we had the second snow! Since I had never tried it, ya’ll know good and well that I was determined to make some snow cream.

There are a million different variations of snow cream. I stuck with the easiest I found and the one with the ingredients I had on hand. There is no way I’m driving in the snow to the store for extra ingredients.

Here’s how I made super-easy snow cream:

Ingredients:

One gallon of fresh snow
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of milk
3 tablespoons of vanilla (I like mine very vanilla.)

When it begins to snow, set out a gallon bucket. When the bucket is full bring it inside, add the sugar, milk and vanilla. I mixed mine with a stand mixer and it was so much easier to bring the ingredients together. That’s all there is to it!

Note: I want you all to know that yes, I considered the implications of using real snow that fell from the sky. I know all about acid rain and chemicals and in no way am I claiming that this snow cream is organic or good for you or even safe. I’m not feeding this to children or anyone against their will. We all know what’s in snow cream and that’s that. Eat at your own risk.

Have you ever had snow cream? I want to hear about it in the comments!

love and snow!
melanie

A Small Life

Teaching you to live a smaller, more sustainable life

Valentine’s Day Dinner Ideas

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Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts

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DIY Leather Clutch

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Polymer Clay Hair Accessories

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Knitted Baby Blanket

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Guest Post: Unconventional Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

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The Dermatologist’s Cure for Dry Skin

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Gluten-Free Ginger Snap Cookies

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Custom Drawers in an Airstream

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Super-Easy Snow Cream

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