Live or Love: The Master Bedroom

Amazingly enough when we bought the house I was absolutely in love with the master bedroom walls. Other than the walls, everything was bare and boring. Well our king size bedroom suite really filled up the room, and our bedding looked great in there. It was the romantic, relaxing space we needed.

When we bought the furniture a few years ago I had a hard time with bedding, bought one, found another, brought another. Our room back home had one red wall and three ivory walls so this was quite a change of paint.

The duvet cover was my splurge, Wildflower Field by DKNY from Bed Bath and Beyond, however, the curtains were the saving grace being on clearance for $15 a panel (a steal for window treatments). The little accent pillows were also a splurge from Pier 1 at $30 a pillow (a bit much for me to spend). Above the bed is the perfect touch to our master bedroom, a romantic wedding picture. And of course Uppercase Living (you can order UL here: http://tamarabennett.uppercaseliving.net/Home.m)

I replaced the old, small fan, which also only had one light bulb, with a lovely light fixture from Lowe's. Thsi was again a hard decision. I looked at the light in the store, then decided not to get it when I realized I would have to buy the display. The  next time I went into the store the display was marked down more than 1/2 off. What a deal!!!

The rug was also an addition after we moved into this house. I found it Bed Bath and Beyond, surprise-surprise. The best part was it is a $250 rug that for some reason was on their As-Is fixture (still don't know what was "wrong" with it). It was marked down once, and then again to $70! On top of that I was able to use a 20% off coupon! After tax I still paid about $70, but for an 8x6ish rug that's a great deal.

Love: Chicken N Dumplins

I grew up on homemade chicken and dumplins. I'm talking boil your chicken, save the water for your chicken broth, and make your dumplins from scratch- flour and chicken broth. You can imagine that the kitchen is a mess and it is an hour long or more meal.

Through Pinterest (imagine that) I have found several recipes for Chicken n Dumplins that are much easier. I have heard through the years of drop dumplins from biscuits or using tortilla shells. But I finally found a recipe that was worth trying. No of course I could never just do the recipe as it said, I had to start with the way I made my scratch dumplins, and a few different things. I have gotten in the habit of using canned chicken for most things that I used to use boiled chicken for, really for the time.

Ingredients:
16 oz Chicken broth
10.5 oz Cream of Chicken
10.5 oz Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup
13 oz Can Chicken
1/2 cup flour
Grands Flaky Layers (I used a 5 pack this time)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil the chicken broth (I used a dutch oven pot), once broth is boiling add cream of chicken and chicken noodle soup. While waiting to boil open your biscuits and begin separating each biscuit into 3 layers. I realize this is easier said than done, so if you can't get exactly 3 layers just flatten some out. Put your 1/2 cup flour in a bowl and add salt and pepper as you desire. Coat each biscuit layer in the flour mixture. When the broth mixture is boiling again you are ready to start droping in the biscuits, turn the heat down a little to medium. As you are dropping them in tear each layer into smaller pieces. Do not stir the dumplins a lot, just push them down in the pot. When you are finished with the dumplins open your chicken and drain the liquid, I used a knife in the can just to cut it into smaller pieces. Add the chicken. As it cooks it will thicken, and the chicken will get hot.

The best part is my time in the kitchen went from hours to 30 minutes. That's right, I was literally eating in 30 minutes.

Love: Birthday Cards

Two very important men in my life celebrate birthday's this month, my husband and my dad. It has been awile since I sat down to make cards so I immediately searched the internet for some ideas. This is what I found:

http://dawsondesigns.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/have-a-manly-birthday/

Now when I saw this card I knew it was perfect for my husband's card because a while back I bought a piece of wood grain paper and some tool stickers (that's right stickers, but at least they are the 3D ones). Then I realized how good it would be for my dad's too since I brought down some old golf stickers from my high school album. This is what I ended up with:

Yes the cards are similar, but they are still fit to each of their personalities. While making these cards I did a few things I haven't done in awhile:

1. I made a birthday card.

2. I used my Crop-A-Dile to but in brads.

3. I used stickers. I rarely used stickers anymore, but at least these were good 3D stickers that do it justice.

Things to consider: The stickers I used could easily be replaced with stamping as the inspiration card, and also cut outs from the Cricut.

Happy Birthday!