Cherry Crisp

This is a summer family favorite at my in-laws and I have shared the recipe with my family. I make this recipe for friends who have had babies or when we have people over for a barbecue. It is my go-to dessert because it is easy, yummy, and always a fan favorite!

Ingredients:

Pillsbury yellow cake mix

2 can of cherry pie filling

one stick of butter

Layer the ingedients in a glass dish - cherry pie filling, Pillsbury yellow cake mix, and one GRATED stick of butter on top.

Cook for 60 minutes at 350 degrees and let cool before serving. 

Homemade Oreos

I  double dog dare you to try and resist this homemade goodness. It's impossible. 

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2 Betty Crocker Devil food cake mixes

1 1/2 cup of shortening (yeah, these aren't healthy cookies)

4 eggs

The cookie balls are going to be fairly small. I like to use a mini ice cream scoop. 

Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling

1 Betty Crocker Vanilla Frosting

Try not to devour in one sitting!

DIY Curtians

Like everyone, when we moved into our house I looked on Pinterest for decorating tips. One of the reoccurring tips was to hang your curtains higher to create the sense of bigger windows. Cool, that seemed easy enough. Wrong! I couldn't find curtains long enough and the long curtains I did find were way more than I wanted to spend. So, this was my solution. I made them...Kind of.

I am not fancy enough to make new curtains from scratch. So, I went and bought four grey Threshold curtains from Target and one white Threshold curtain. Same style and fabric, just a different color. 

I measured and cut near the top of the grey curtains. Measured how long I wanted my curtains to be and cut white strips from the white curtains accordingly (accounting for the length that would be used to sew the seam). Then, I sewed the three pieces (two grey, one white) together. Bam, my long curtains were done! It took me a couple of hours and saved me bunch of money. I love the way they turned out.

Tips on Refinishing Furniture

I put my blood, sweat, and tears into finishing this dresser turned tv stand and was sad to part ways with it during our move. I learned a lot while refinishing my first piece of furniture.

A few tips

1. When you are refinishing a large piece of furniture, buy an electric sander. They are far more time efficient and do a better job smoothing out the surfaces, 

2. Don't paint when it is hot outside. The paint dries far too fast and you don't have time to smooth out your brush strokes.

3. A quality paintbrush is key! A cute friend of mine from high school who refinishes furniture recommended this paintbrush,Woodster Shortcut. It is about $6 from Home Depot and it made all the difference in the world. After the learning the hard way with cheap paintbrush bristles getting caught in the paint I will never buy another paintbrush.

4. And this is very important...stock up on Diet Coke, good music, and enjoy the process. It'll take some time. :)