Hair Bow Holder/Pet Portrait

The first project I completed for our baby girl's room was her bow holder.  Bows are a must for babies in the American South, and I wanted a fun way to display them.  I was inspired by this pet portrait post from A Beautiful Mess.  I knew immediately that I wanted to do a portrait of Ruby (our dog) for the nursery, and then I had the idea to make the portrait a bow holder.

I followed the directions on ABM for the pet portrait.

Here's what to do next to turn it into a bow holder.

1. Use grosgrain ribbon and cut 4 strips that are each 25 inches long.

2. Use a lighter on the ends to keep them from fraying.  Be sure to blow it out quickly!

3. Two of the ribbon strips will stay as they are.  Two strips will be altered to hold headbands.

Take more ribbon, and lay it on top of one of the 25 inch strips.  I didn't cut the ribbon that was laid on top until the end.  With the ribbon that is on top, create loops.

4. Pin down each loop.

5. Each loop should be about 3 inches from the next loop.

6. After you have each loop, go back and glue the looped ribbon to itself.

7. Now glue the top looped ribbon to the bottom ribbon just below each loop.  I used E6000 glue throughout the project.  Each clothespins at each loop to hold the glue as it dries.

8. Glue each ribbon to the back and bottom of your frame.  I used tape to hold them in place as the glue dried.  You can later remove the tape, or leave it like I did.

9. Hang and display your bows and headbands!

Spinach Quiche

This is quick and easy to make and so yummy to eat!  I made it for dinner one night, but it would make a great brunch dish.

Crust:

Recipe from food.com

-1 cup of flour (I used Pamela's gluten free)

-1/2 teaspoon of salt

-1/4 cup of canola oil

-1/4 cup of cold water

Mix all ingredients together and press flat into a pie dish.

Filling:

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

-3 large eggs

-3/4 cup of milk (I used original, unsweetened almond milk)

-3/4 cup of mozzarella

-1 cup of cheddar

-1 can of spinach

-salt and pepper to taste

-garlic powder to taste

Mix all ingredients together and pour on top of the crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the edges are brown and the eggs are cooked but still fluffy.  I just kept checking until the eggs weren't runny.

This even makes for good leftovers!

More Life Changes

In October we'll welcome our little girl into the world.  You have to make a lot of decisions when you're an expectant parent.  You decide on a name, how to decorate the nursery, which car seat and stroller is the best for you, so many things!  Colin and I just made a decision that was one of the biggest decisions of our life.  We are closing the Blue Kite storefront.  We tried to think of every solution of what to do with the store once the baby is here.  We could hire people while I was on maternity leave (not sure business owners really get maternity leave...ha!), keep the baby at the store, on and on.  Nothing seemed right for us.  Sure, we could have gone several directions, and it may have worked, but it just didn't feel right.  When I approached Colin about closing the store, we both had an instant peace.  There was a relief in knowing we wouldn't be stressing about having a newborn and running a store at the same time.  There is so much I'm responsible for at the store-- legally, financially, etc.  I couldn't ask someone to take that on for me.  My personality couldn't handle letting someone else do that either!

Blue Kite isn't going away.  We are in the planning stages of stepping up our online sales and focusing on that.  We'll take a complete break from September to the end of the year.  Once 2015 gets here, we'll open up the online store.  Having the rest of 2014 will allow us time with a newborn and having the holidays with family (with a newborn!).

Thank you to our family, friends, and new friends we've made at Blue Kite for sticking with us these past two years.  Get ready for 2015!

We'll be liquidating our inventory (including fixtures) this month and next month and will close the end of August.  Come see us!  I'll be in my third trimester, so I'm sure I'll be willing to make deals!

Making Room for Baby

My last post was over one year ago.  Life has been busy, and the blog has taken a rest.  I'm back with some BIG news.  Colin and I are expecting our first little bundle this October!  It's a girl, which means Colin is still outnumbered in the house, since our Ruby pup is a girl too.  I don't think he minds being the only guy.  We are very excited, and I can't wait to share with you everything I'm working on for her and for her room!

Stir Fry Veggies with Gnocchi (Dinner in under 10 minutes)

I don't get home from work until around 6:00 most days of the week.  I get home hungry and tired, and sometimes just don't want to cook.  Take-out always sounds good, but that adds up and can drain a budget and widen your waistline!  Colin and I are really trying to eat out only twice in a week.  It's a real motivation to cook, because you want to save up your eating out meals for something really good and for when you're really desperate not to cook!  That also means I have to figure out leftovers to have for lunch through the week!

All that said, I'm always looking for a quick meal.  There are times I like really complex meals that takes several steps, but the majority of the time I just want something fast with minimal clean up!

This is one of the quick, minimal clean up meals.

Grab a box of gnocchi and a bag of frozen stir-gry vegetables.

Start cooking the veggies according to the package.  I stir fried them in a little butter instead of oil to give the veggies a buttery taste :).  If you can't find a stir-fry package, just cook up some veggies like green beans, snap peas, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, etc.

Once the veggies start cooking, boil that gnocchi according to the package directions.  The gnocchi only takes a few minutes to cook.

Once the gnocchi and veggies are cooked, pour the gnocchi in with the veggies.  Top with cheese of choice and stir.  The cheese helps meld it all together.

This is filling and great as leftovers (lunch the next day!).

I'd love to hear if you have any quick and easy recipes!