DIY Cooking at Home

Hi friends! How are you today? I've got a confession for you: My house is not very clean. Ok, it looks presentable, and I think a lot of folks would even view me as a "good housekeeper" (I kinda hate that term), but it's not deep clean. I wouldn't want you to look too closely. Please don't look under the couch cushions or run your finger along our bookshelves, and for heaven's sake, don't shake our curtains or you'll be enveloped in a dust storm. I'm really good at keeping our house tidy , though, and employ a few tricks to make it look clean. Here's how you, too, can fake a clean house. Put vacuum tracks in the carpet. Yes, this requires you to run the vaccum which has the added bonus of actually ridding your house of dust and dirt, but it's those lines that fake people out. You don't have to tell people you didn't bother to get behind the couch. Source Make the beds. This is a chore I never skip. I don't e...

Hi guys! This Monday is sponsored by my weekly roundup: hanging planters. There are several stylish ways to make a hanging planter and let me tell you what's not one of them: using the plastic hanger your pot comes with. No bueno. Here are some inspiring hanging planters you can DIY. I Heart Naptime Bigger Than the Three Of Us Vintage Revivals Northstory Ramshackle Glam Country Living Hometalk BuzzFeed DIY Showoff The Salvaged Boutique

You put de lime in de coconut and drink 'em bot' up. Sorry. Had to do it. I've got a treat for you today. These coconut lime cookies I devised are chewy but soft sugar cookies with a twist, and are perfect for your Cinco de Mayo celebration. Plus, I cheated and used a sugar cookie mix, so they come together super-quick, which is what you want since May 5 falls on a weeknight this year, right? No muss, no fuss. You could keep things super-simple by just hosting a happy hour with some guacamole , a pitcher of margaritas and these cookies. Ole! 5-Ingredient Coconut Lime Cookies 1 package sugar cookie mix (I used the store brand) 1 egg 1 stick melted butter zest and juice of 2 limes 1 1/4 c. sweetened coconut Mix all of the ingredients together and drop by rounded tablespoon-full onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Optional: If you want your cookies glazed, mix 1/4 c. powdered sugar with 1-2 T. lime juice, addin...

Hey there, friends! I'm writing about a polarizing topic today. Fake flowers. Do you love 'em? Hate 'em? Have no feelings whatsover? Well, I have a love-hate relationship with them, I have to admit. The really bad ones...like the ones that are completely huge (and could in no way be real because no one would spend that much on fresh flowers), or the ones that are really dusty, or the ones that just look, well, fake ? I despise those. Like, they anger me. On the other hand, smaller vases of faux stems--the high-quality ones--can be gorgeous and because I don't exactly have a green thumb (may the many houseplants I've tried RIP), I use them a lot. Joss & Main has some very high-quality faux flowers by Creative Displays, Inc. that even faked out my very discerning friend the other day. With Mother's Day right around the corner, why not choose a bouquet for Mom that will bring her lasting enjoyment? Check out some great options from Joss & M...

Hey there, Happy Monday! Here we are in the last full week of April, can you believe it? Wasn't it just Christmas? So, today I'm talking about Cinco de Mayo. Who doesn't love an excuse to get together on a random Tuesday to drink a margarita and eat tacos? While we aren't necessarily in the habit of inviting people over in the middle of the week (ya know...after school activities and homework and bedtimes kinda get in the way of that once you have kids), these simple ideas make me think it wouldn't be so hard to throw an impromptu Cinco de Mayo party. And lately I've been thinking we need to inject a little more fun into our everyday. These easy ideas for hosting a Cinco de Mayo happy hour, or just a regular Taco Tuesday get-together, don't require a lot of effort or time or money. So what are you waiting for? Let's Fiesta! Bright Flowers --Buy 3 or 4 bunches of grocery store bouquets in the brightest colors you can find and mix them together...

Hey there, party people! How are ya? Today I want to show off my latest project: how to make napkin rings out of shrinky dink plastic! I used to love Shrinky Dinks when I was little, so when I saw blank sheets of this stuff at Jo-Ann's the other day, I got really excited. Like, I'm-kinda-a-freak-excited. Now, the stuff they had in the store was not ink-jet friendly, and I knew I wanted to print out images, so I went online and found exactly what I needed. (Check out "Stuff You Need" below for the link!) The full instructions and some helpful tips are detailed over on my About.com article but basically, I downloaded the butterfly clip art from The Graphics Fairy , and the ikat paper from Etsy, printed it onto my inkjet-friendly shrink plastic, cut out the shapes, and baked them! Here are some pretty pictures of how they turned out. (I made two different kinds: butterfly napkin rings and cuff napkin rings.) Make sure to get all the details here because there...