Spring Decorating

Hello Everyone!

I love the weather we have been having here in Iowa! We have had our windows open day and night, it feels great!

The beautiful weather has been getting me motivated to start spring decorating around our house.....I usually start a month earlier than this but time is flying by.

Here is a few of the spring touches I have put around our home. I am not quite finished but I don't think I am ever finished and before you know it we are on to the next season!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

PS - I am STILL working on my projects I mentioned last week! Too much to do with too little time! I will post as soon as I am done!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jessica

Spring is near!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to give you a sneak peek of all the projects I have been working on around our home! 

Sorry for the bad pictures! I took them with my phone! 

I will hoping be finishing these projects up middle-to-the-end of next week!

The Second Most Wonderful Day of the Year!

 

 

 

 

Hello Everyone!
If you are like me and get pretty bummed after the holidays are over I feel for ya but when I went to get our mail this evening I had the new Pottery Barn, PB Kids and a RH Baby & Child catalog waiting for me! YIPPEE! Is it sad I get so excited over something so simple like home decor & furniture catalogs...I don't think so! You always have to have something to look forward too! :)

What I love about getting new catalogs each season is they always have new pictures, ideas, decor and furniture. I get so inspired by it all and it gives me so many ideas for our home and the homes of our friends and families too. Do you love getting new catalogs in the mail?

I had a couple of people ask me for Watermelon Salsa recipe that I posted the other day. It is pretty easy and you really can't go wrong so I honestly don't measure everything perfectly since I taste it as I go! Here it is:

Fresh Watermelon Salsa

Small seedless watermelon, chopped into small pieces (I usually buy a half of one)

One bunch of cilantro, finely chopped

One small can of water chestnuts, finely chopped

One shallot, finely chopped

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Lightly toss the watermelon, cilantro, water chestnuts and shallot together. Add the balsamic vinegar and toss to coat. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

Hopefully that made some sense! Like I said I kind of just wing it when it comes to that salsa but it always ends up pretty good! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years everyone!

I can't believe it's 2012 already! I have been making a list of home projects I hope to accomplish this year and I will let you in on them over the next week. 

My husband Mr. Inspired and I celebrated New Years last night with a lot of our friends. Like any get together we have, there was so much food to enjoy! I contributed by making my cake pops but this time I added some crushed Oreos to the cake & frosting mix and instead of letting the coating harden while sitting upright in a foam wreath I just placed them in silver cupcake liners. They are not the best ones I have made but they tasted just the same if not better!

My younger sister had made some amazing avocado salsa for our family Christmas and since I love anything with avocado I asked her for the recipe which she kindly supplied to me. :)

I have made two batches since I got the recipe and it is pretty easy so I decided to make some for our friend's New Years party along with a watermelon salsa. - I got that recipe from my younger sister too!

I had two medium size glass jars with lids and decided at the last minute to make some card stock labels from our computer.

Here are the recipes for the avocado salsa:

Avocado Salsa

1 (16 oz) package of frozen corn kernels, thawed

2 (2.25 oz) can sliced ripe black olives, drained

1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 avocados, peeled, pitted and diced

1. In a large bowl, mix corn, olives, red pepper and onion.

2. In a small bowl, mix garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, cider vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour into the corn mixture and toss to coat. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.

3. Stir avocados into the mixture before serving.

Enjoy!!

I hope to inspire everyone this new year!

Thanks for stopping by!
 

Basement Craft Room

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It is hard to believe it is over and if know me you know that I love the whole holiday season but after Christmas when I take down the tree I always feel refreshed for some reason. I mean it is not like the tree has been there for six months and has become an eyesore but is amazing how much bigger the room feels when it is gone, even though I do love me some pretty Christmas decorations!

Now that the new year is only days away I have started to think about what I would like to get done this coming year or at least hope to! Right now I have my craft supplies, sewing machine, Silhouette SD machine and more piled on my desk in our office and well I wish it could stay organized but it doesn't and when you walk through the hallway in our home it is the first room you see. I am not afraid to show you this room and what it looks like right now after a busy season of wrapping a million presents.....okay I am!

Any-who, I am planning on taking over part of our unfinished basement and making it my craft room. Right now our basement is primarily for storage and laundry but I hope to have a corner of it looking like one of these pretty rooms:

Source

 

 Source

Okay so I am hoping Mr. Inspired doesn't read this and think whhaaa?! which I am sure will be the response due to the pure loveliness (and price) of these gorgeous rooms. So I am just dreaming about these craft rooms right and I will only take ideas from these rooms. 

A while back I read about how Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick transformed a space in her unfinished basement into a lovely crafting space. 

Our basements are similar in their unfinishedness (I know it's not a word) including the wood beams & lovely PVC pipe along the wall!

I love this piece from Pottery Barn but I know I can make it myself because my Mother put together something similar 10 years ago with two short bookcases and a large piece of plywood.

Love this room! Too bad we don't have any large windows in our basement but Mr. Inspired is an electrician so I am sure he can figure something out for lots of light!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jessica