5 FALL CRAFTS & RECIPES

Use some of our past DIYS to get in the moooood for looove (fall)! Click captions for links!

 

1// Grab some mason jars and scrap paper!

 2// Get cozy with some warm honey lavender milk

3// Make this cute and simple ghost!

4// Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

5// Spicy Vegetarian Corn Chowder

-Jerica-

ENGAGED!

Guys I got engaged! Actually since my last post, I graduated and got a job doing research! So crafts have been put on the backburner :(. But this engagement party was an excuse for Amy and our friend Alix and I to get crafty! We kind of just all brought things and brought ideas and it came together so amazingly, better than I ever could have imagined! We did not have any particular theme in mind, other than we wanted diamonds. Here are some pictures of the details.

JASMINE RICE SIDE DISH

 I found some jasmine rice on sale and was looking up some recipes and used this one because I already had anything! The bay leaf adds an amazing cool flavor to this dish.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1/4th cup green peas

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups dry jasmine rice

3 cups water

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour 3 cups water into the saucepan and add the salt. Increase the heat to medium and let the rice come to a quick simmer. Reduce heat to low and let rice simmer lightly and sit uncovered until all of the liquid is absorbed. Cover the rice and remove from heat. 
2.  In a large saucepan over a medium-low heat, warm the oil. Add onion and saute for 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in green peas, bay leaf, and jasmine rice. Stir to coat the rice. 

PASTA CARBONARA

I was wanting to make a pasta carbonara dish and was doing a little research, and realized that the authentic recipes are nothing like a pasta carbonara dish you would order at an American-Italian Restaurant. There's no heavy cream, or wine, or peas in the sauce ( I still added them), but rather the sauce is just uncooked egg! My recipe is still not completely authentic but it was so delicious. And actually pretty healthy when you think about it! My substitutions included using Whole Wheat pasta, Turkey Bacon, and adding Peas. All together it took me about 30 minutes to make!

WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO AND SO SHOULD YOU!

Weekend by Class Actress (Casa Del Mirto Remix)

  -Jerica-

SHELF UPCYCLE WITH MAPS

I love this upcycle so much! I snagged these shelves at a dumpster outside of the dorms at my university. People are unbelievable when it comes to throwing things out! Many of them live out of state and have to fly or drive home so they have no choice but to throw out lots of stuff. My sister once found a down comforter and an Ipod dock in the dumpster at her school!

So anyways I grabbed these and wanted to wait to figure out what to do with them. Since school has ended I've also been trying to clean out my closet and came across a bunch of old maps! So I came up with this idea for these shelves and it fits my bathroom perfectly! Check out another DIY project that amy did with maps!

Here is the before and an after!

 

 

 SUPPLIES:

 Mod Podge, Maps, Exacto-Knife

DIRECTIONS:

1. Peel off any paper existing on the shelves, where you are going to lay the maps. If you want to paint the shelves any other color, do that now as well.

2. Figure out what area of the map you want to use. Cut the map into a smaller section so it is easier to manage, but not as small as your shelf size.

3. Put your map into the shelf and press into the corners to make creases. Run your exacto knife along the edges.

4. Put a very thin layer of Mod Podge on the shelf, then put your map section on. Use a heavy object to try to get any bubbles out. Let dry.

5. Put another layer of Mod Podge over the top of the map to seal it up!

-Jerica-

DIY WELCOME MAT

Here's a quick and easy one! And now you wont have to  greet and say goodbye to people because your rug will do it for you. I've been meaning to make one of these for a long time and was always looking for a plain outdoor rug to do it on, but everywhere I looked they only had rubber ones or ones that had writing on them already. So I decided to just do it on the rug I've had outside for a couple years. Its going to get dirty anyways so I tried it out!

Before starting I washed it as best I could. I really like this woven rug because its a lot easier to paint than some of the bristle ones that I've seen it done with. Some people use stencils for this project by printing out your font and then using an exacto-knife and spray paint, but I figured that would be harder than doing it free hand, and I didn't have any spray paint! So I just printed out my font (Lobster Two) and then made some reference points for the size and started painting with some white fabric paint from Hobby Lobby. Do several layers to make it clear, and use a piece of paper to help with the sharper edges. These also look really cute in Helvetica!

-Jerica-