What is done is done... (Featuring Blake's Mac n Cheese Recipe)

I know I know I know. I haven't been writing and it is supposed to be Tasty Thursday. Well I might leave you with a recipe but I have no photos to go with it today!

I'm trying really I am. When I sit down I never know what to write about and tonight I'm making boxed pancakes for dinner!

I have had some things going on in my life that could have been avoided if I'd been more responsible  maybe one day I will get more in detail, but they have been making me crazy. I'm stressed some days, sad others, angry at times and all in all it puts me down in the dumps. Being in the dumps makes me not want to do much of anything. Slowly but surly I am getting there and I feel good tonight because I just jumped one of the heralds and now I hope its slightly smooth sailing from here on out!

One thing I would like to discuss is how awesome Pure Romance is. So I haven't been doing this for long, I haven't even had my first party yet (its this Saturday 3/2), but I already feel like I'm going to do good! I already gave my business card out a few times and I wasn't even trying to I was just doing normal every day things! I love it! I can't wait for my first party I'm so nervous but I'm so excited!

On top of that I got an interview for a company I worked for last year but in a different department, reservations to be exact. So I get to sit all day and book hotel rooms and dinner reservations for people at the Sweetest Place on Earth! I shouldn't have left in the first place but that is either here nor there anymore.

What is done is done and it has to be dealt with accordingly. I highlight that because it is true. We can't control what happens even if its something we could have avoided! One decision can change everything for better or worse and we just have to take it, embrace it and deal with it. If you don't like the decision don't complain about it do something about it! Complaining is not going to get your anywhere doing something on the other hand that will get you where ever you want to go. Another thing is don't blame anyone else for it, you made the decision again you have to get on with it and fix it or improve it.

Moral is despite the things you've done you are the only one who has the ability to change the direction in which your life is going. So challenge yourself this week. Do something you've been putting on whether it be something small like organizing your storage room, which we all know used to be a bedroom haha, or something major like enrolling for school! Just do it! I promise you will feel better about everything and things just have a way of working themselves out. We can thank the man with the plan for that.

Have a great night and seriously no excuses!

Brittni<3

P.S. Remember that recipe I said I might leave you with? Here it is!

Blake's Mac n Cheese (aka my dad's mac and cheese)

1 box of elbow noodles
1lb of extra sharp cheddar cheese
5-10 saltine crackers, crushed (bread crumbs can work)
4 table spoons butter
1/4 cup milk

Boil the noodles according to package. Shred your cheese. Grease a casserole dish with butter.
Once your noodles are cooked and cooled add a layer of noodles, then a layer of cheese, layer of noodles layer of cheese... etc. Your last layer should be cheese then you put the crackers on top and 4 slabs of butter. Pour milk along the sides of the casserole. (Milk is just to insure the mac n cheese won't dry out) Bake uncovered in a 375 degree oven for 45 mins. Serve with sweetened stewed tomatoes for classic PA Dutch FLAVA!

DIY Back Tab Curtains (Way over due!)

Since we bought our house in 2010 I'm always on the hunt for ideas to make the house ours, there were curtains, rugs and other random items left over when we moved in. One thing that has been driving me insane for the last two years is the curtains. They are the original curtains were from when the house was built in 1962 and if anyone has been in a 60s house then you know that all of the curtains are draw string or track curtains, and they are like fourty inches thick! Okay not fourty inches, but like seriously thick! Now the curtains were not an ugly color they were a nice creamy white so they could stay for just a little while.

Soo sixties... gag.

Do you know how expensive curtains are AND how ugly they are?! Neither did I, so a little while ended up being over two years, oh mind you this is only the living room we're talking about here! All the curtains are ugly.

So anyway, thanks to Pinterest and its amazing collection of blogs I found a tutorial for curtains that made sense to someone who only used a sewing machine to sew little pillows when my mom-mom ( means grandmother) had extra fabric and fluff! The blog View Along the Way is where I found the best turorial for the curtains! She did a fabulous job explaining each step with great pictures so if mine isn't doing the job check out her blog! And scroll on down if you'd like to see mine :-)

First things first, lay out your fabric and cut it to your desired length, always cut extra for your hems in this case I cut an extra 8". My desired length was 75" so I cut 83". Width shouldn't matter, if you are doing a large bay window like I did your going to need more than two panels, unless you want to pay out the wazoo for custom curtains. I did a total of four panels.

Lay on a flat large area, hard floors work best!

Once you have your fabric the size you want it then its time to hem the fabric starting with what will be the bottom of your curtain. I hemed my curtains 3 inches at the bottom. So fold your fabric 3 inches, press, fold another 3 inches, press and pin!

**STOP! If you don't have your iron on you better go plug that sucker in, a hem is not a hem unless it is pressed!**

See hardwood floor = no need for an ironing board!

Trusty pumpkin pin cushion!

Ok now you've hopfully sewn a perfectly straight line... just kidding! Mine was far from straight but seriously who is going to inspect the hem? No one.

Onto the lining! For the length: Add 2 1/2 inches to your finished length, ie. If your finished curtain is going to be 76 inches you want to cut your lining to 78.5". For the width: Subtract 6 inces from the width of your curtain fabric. I didn't make any cuts to the fabric for the width so my lining would be 49" most fabric will be 55" wide.

I was folding mine in half to cut the width, it was just easier with the space I had.

 *View Along the Way says it best, I strongly urge you to jump over there and just glance over her diagram on sizes!*

Once your lining is cut you want to hem the bottom of your lining. I hemed my lining at 1.5" Which is half the size of my curtain hem. You want to fold 1.5" and press. Fold another 1.5" and press again. Then again you pin and sew!

Pin you lining good! I used regular lining I did not want black out.

Once your lining is hemmed your next step is sewing the lining to the panel. Which is much easier than you'd think!

Lay your fabric flat with your pattern facing up and lay the lining face down. Line up one of the sides of completely and pin, sew along that line.

Now you've sew one side of your curtain. Lay the curtain back out and line up the other side. Your fabric will look a little bunched up but don't panic it will look good once your turn it inside out!

Lining up the second side.

Once you've sewn both sides of your curtain you can turn the curtain right side out.

Now give yourself a round of applause and a glass of wine or a piece of chocolate for making two pieces of fabric turn into a curtain! YAY!!!

Last step is creating the tabs!

Lay the curtain flat so there is an even amount of patterned fabric on  each side.

Lay your curtain down so that the lining is facing you and flatten the curtain out so you have an even amount of patterned fabric on each side of the curtain. Then fold the top of your curtain down 1" and iron. (Now if you want it to be super pretty you can fold another inch and iron again then pin but I didn't) So instead of folding twice to make the back look pretty I only folded it once then I added the tabs. I used Bias Tape but you can use ribbon too.

Start at the end and work your way down as evenly as possible 

 Pin.

Pin the tabs

Sew a line across the top, this will close the top seam and sew the tabs to the top of the curtain. After the top line is sewn your going to go to each tab and sew the bottom. Sew, reverse, sew for each tab.

Sew the bottom of the tabs. 

Guess what... YOUR DONE!

Pat yourself on the back, go hang those sexy curtains up, grab a cocktail, a snack and lay back and take a look at your handy work! Go you!!

 Snazzy ehh!? I love them and I can't wait until the paneling in this house is GONE!

Well that's all for now, I hope everyone enjoyed this extremely long tutorial and I would love to see your curtains if you tried to make any! Comment if you have any questions :)

Brittni

p.s. I will try to keep up as best I can, I've already slacked :-/

Gibberish and a DIY tutorial!

Good evening everyone! I've been working on my post for my curtains for over an hour and I've realized that I haven't taken all the necessary pictures! Go me. So I just really wanted to give a little check in and let y'all know I'm still alive and I haven't given up!


I do apologize that I don't have more to say about this post but why make something sound difficult when its not! haha
I promise I will have my curtain post up by the end of the week, I've been surprisingly busy for someone who doesn't have a job!

I did tell you all I signed up for Pure Romance Well I finally received my starter kit and I think I am going to really like it. I do have a lot to learn though so any consultants out there with some tips that would be great!

Now onto the tutorial!!

So since my living room curtains are not done yet I thought I'd share my bathroom shade with you!

My bathroom is so out dated it is pink and black with a blue tub and toilet! YAY me! So we've slowly been updating our bathroom starting with small things like the pull down shade and other accessories.

This is a tutorial on how to cover your bathroom shade with fabric!

Pretty shade. Ugly bathroom.

First  you'll need, a Wal-mart shade, fabric, a glue gun and glue sticks.

Open your shade completely and measure the width of the shade so you know how wide to cut your fabric. Make sure you cut about a half inch extra on each side so you have enough to fold over and glue.

Lazy measuring....

Once you have you fabric cut line it up and start gluing. Start with the bottom of the shade so you can make a nice fold on each corner.

That's it! Simple!  It is best to glue small sections at a time that way you aren't racing your glue! This is great to do if you don't feel like buying curtains or don't have the time to make curtains. I also got sheer white curtains to go with this, just so the window doesn't look as naked. Unfortunately those will not be going up until the bathroom is finished!


I hope everyone enjoyed this tutorial, feel free to leave me some feed back or ask any questions :)

Brittni