DIY: Gold Diamond Wallpaper

Here is another fun, easy, and inexpensive wall accent! This is probably the easiest accent wall I have done. I actually did two adjacent walls this time and it only took a few hours, and about $4!! :)  This idea originated from a tutorial that Mandy from Vintage Revivals did. I loved it! She did triangles and the look was a little more modern than what I was going for. So I simply modified it to be diamonds!

Supplies needed:

• Snap chalk line (like THIS) 
• "Paint" Marker. I found mine at Walmart for $2! I used gold and for both walls I only used 2! Found in their craft section. 
• Yard Stick
• Tape measure

First thing you need to do is mark out your grid. You will need horizontal and vertical lines evenly spaced along your wall. The horizontal lines are wider apart and will determine the height of the diamond. The vertical lines are closer together and will determine the width. 

I went along and just made a small pencil mark every 16in for my vertical lines (mark at the top and bottom of the wall) and every 24in for the horizontal lines. After it is marked off you can snap your chalk line to "draw" a perfectly straight line! Simply line up your marks on the top and bottom of the wall and "snap" the chalk line.  Your wall should look like this when done:

Sorry for the bad lighting in these pictures..I did most of my work after the kiddos went to bed! :) 

I started my measurements, for both walls, from the shared corner and worked my way out. This way, partial diamonds would occur at the end of each wall allowing full diamonds to flow nicely through the shared corner.

Now that you have the grid all marked out, start drawing your diamonds! Use the yard stick for a straight line (you can get one in the paint section at Home Depot for under $1).

In the picture below I tried to highlight where your lines connect: 4 of the rectangles will make ONE diamond. You will draw a diagonal line across each of the small rectangles. The red lines represent my chalk lines that form my grid, the yellow is my paint maker line. 

Just make sure you only do one rectangle at a time! 

Also, when using the paint Markers you will want to shake them regularly to maintain a good flow! I would keep a paper plate with me and whenever the marker seemed to be running low I would press the tip onto the plate to get the paint running again. 

Once the first wall was done I wiped off the chalk with a damp cloth and moved to the next wall. 

Here are some "final" pictures..even though this room is far from being decorated! I love how simple this was! And it added fun character to the room without being overwhelming. 

The Gold is fairly light and hard to capture in a picture, but it is so beautiful in person! 

Sorry for the empty frame.. :) 

If you want something a little more bold, try a black marker! My neighbor did this and it turned out super cute!! 

What do you think??? Is it worth the $4?? :) 

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Homemade Greek Yogurt recipe! It is so good and so easy! All you need is:

1 gallon of milk (we used 2%)
1 small container of yogurt with active cultures--see picture below!
Crock-pot
Cooking thermometer
Cheese cloth (you can find it in the fabric/craft section at Walmart)

Check the back of your yogurt to make sure it has active cultures. We just use vanilla yogurt since its hard to find a plain flavor in a small container, but you wont really taste any flavor.

Lets Begin! 

Dump your gallon of milk into the crock-pot and let it heat up to 180 degrees (to kill the milk bacteria). On high it seems to take around 3 hours, but check it often.

Once it reaches 180 turn off the crock-pot and take off the lid to let it cool down. It needs to get to 115 degrees (to allow the yogurt bacteria to survive); this will usually take 1-2 hours.

Once it has cooled down, whisk in yogurt until well combined.

.

Next, place the lid back on and wrap it in a towel to keep it warm. The cool down process needs to be super slow; hence the lid, towel, and oven.

Place in the oven (turned off!!). Now let it sit and do its thing! It takes 8-12 hours, we recommend the full 12 hours.

After the 12 hours, take it out. It should be thick and look like yogurt! You can leave it just like this or go one step further to get "greek" yogurt. 

To get a Greek yogurt you will need to strain it. We place Cheesecloth into a colander and then set the colander in a bowl to catch the whey strained out..see picture below :) 

We usually need to use two different bowls. Cover with saran wrap, put it in the fridge, and let it sit / drain for at least three hours or even a day! The longer you let it sit the thicker your yogurt will be. When it has finished draining you will be able to see the whey in the bottom bowl:

Now scoop out the yogurt and put it into a Tupperware. We use Freezer Jam containers. 

It will store in the fridge for about 3 weeks (about the life of the milk you used). 

This is a "plain" Greek yogurt. We sweeten it with Homemade Jam or honey and enjoying adding nuts, granola, and fresh fruit! We even use it plain instead of sour cream.

DIY: Large Heart Stencil

I am slowly trying to get Miss Lucy's "Big Girl" room decorated...very slowly as it turns out.. ;) ha! Life with two kids is so different! But we are loving it! Anyways, this was such a simple and fun project. If you know me (or are probably starting to see..) I love accent walls! They are (usually) easy and leave a big impression.
For this project I just cut a large heart out of cardboard, traced it all over the wall, then filled it in with paint. Pretty simple! :)

BEFORE:

If you look closely you will see that I snapped a chalk line directly down the middle of the wall. This helped me line up my hearts--I started in the center and worked my way out. You could draw a line for each row if you want to be really careful. 

Sorry for the blurry picture, its hard to work and take pictures! :) I simply placed the heart on the wall and traced around it, I used a pencil but would actually recommend chalk so that you don't see any lines after painting. 

I used my pencil as a guide for even spacing since I didn't want to pull out a tape measure every time...

The pencil lines are hard to see, but you can see my first row of hearts centered on the chalk line and then I went out from there. 

Once I had stenciled the whole wall I went back and filled in the hearts with paint! 

Ta-da!!

I added a few random gold hearts for an accent color :) 

 Lucy loves it! Hahaha! her fake smile and "cheeeeeeese"  :) 

....and yes, she broke BOTH arms...!!!

Now to refinish a dresser and add some photos to the wall!! It never really ends, right?? :)

Homemade Honey Wheat Bread

Ok, I just have to say that we have been searching and experimenting FOREVER for the perfect bread machine recipe!! There is nothing better than homemade bread fresh from the oven. However, I dont have a lot of time to spend rolling and punching dough...ha! That's why we L.O.V.E having a bread machine! And yes, it can be soft, moist, and oh so delicious! Another quick fact: We have two bread machines (I know...hahaha!) and we purchased both of them at a second hand store--DI. They work perfectly, look like new, and cost less than $10! So there you have it :) Now here is our amazing recipe!

Honey Wheat Bread-Machine Bread:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp shortening
2 cups flour
2 1/4 cups wheat flour
2 Tbsp dry milk
1 3/4 tsp Active dry yeast OR bread machine yeast.

Place ingredients into bread machine in the order they are listed. Start Bread Machine using the "Regular" or "Light" setting.


Yep! That is all you have to do! Most bread machines come with a wheat bread option--WE DO NOT USE IT! I don't know if that is the secret to our soft bread or not, but we just use the Regular setting and it turns out amazing!!

As soon as our bread machine beeps telling us that it is done baking we immediately pull the bread out. Sometimes the top looks a little funky but it is just fine! 

Actually..the top is the best piece and everyone will fight over it! ;) we usually eat it right away! Then we cut the loaf in half (hot dog style) and let it sit and "sweat" for about an hour. Just let it chill on the counter (..or eat it..) and let some of the steam and moisture out. This helps it stay soft and fresh later. 

Pour some honey on and eat it while it is warm!! 

After it has cooled for awhile we slice it all up. We then store it in a zip-lock bag in our pantry for a week (if it last that long..). This is the only bread we eat. We stopped buying bread and I just make a loaf of this every week or as needed!

Enjoy!!!  

...I will need to share our easy Freezer Jam recipe, once you try it you'll never do anything else!! 

Just saying Hi!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of posting! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you saw that we had our baby girl! ..And I totally forgot how much work newborns are!! hahaha! So that's what I've been doing.....  ;)

Just thought I would pop in real quick and let you know I am still alive! Plus, I wanted to share with you my Mothers Day present that my hubby built! I just snapped these pics real quick, did not edit, and also realized that I did not pick up the house first so there is all sorts of clutter in the background! ..I am all about keeping it simple and real right now! ;)

Isn't beautiful!?!?!

I love how he rounded the corners..I feel like it gave the table such an amazing finish!

And of course I had to repaint and reupholster my chairs to go with our new table ;) 

The legs are from Lowes, they are actually cedar fence post!! Just turned upside down!

I love it so much! Maybe I can convince the Hubby to write up a tutorial for you! ;)

And just because every good post should end with a cute baby picture...here is our sweet Olive! She will be 3 months old in just a week and I cant believe how much she has already changed! She is so much fun!