Moving

Hi there! Today, I wanted to tell you about my next big adventure! Devin and I are moving a couple of States away to Bellevue, WA  for his new job. We're excited and nervous at the same time.

I just wanted to let you all know that I won't be posting for awhile. I need to focus on packing, moving, getting settled, unpacking, and everything else that goes with moving. I'll see you again once we get settled (and internet), thanks for stopping by!

P.S. Any of you from the Seattle area? Any tips, suggestions, places we must go, things we must do?

Doll House Makeover

While Devin and I were visiting his parents, we helped his Mom repaint a bathroom upstairs. We had some extra paint and I knew just what to do with it. Repaint the doll house. The doll house is very old, but now the granddaughters are playing with it, so I thought it could use a facelift! Plus, with all those little hands, it was really dirty.

Before

After

I painted the roof and floors brown (the color of the bathroom) and the insides and outsides red. We left all the old wallpaper for sentimental reasons.

Yep, I even gave barbie a contemporary red kitchen! It was a fun project and hopefully the kids will enjoy it!

It's already Friday?

Can you believe it is Friday? This week went by so fast for me! Once again, there were some awesome projects out there in the blog world.

Boerman Ramblings made this wallet from scratch! No pattern or anything. I'm pretty impressed!

I loved the theme for this Birthday party! Corner House did an awesome job at creating a Tangled themed birthday party! I just love the movie tangled!! Would it be weird for someone in their 20's to have a Tangled themed birthday party? Just wondering...

By the way, if you're curious about the real story of Rapunzel, you can go and read it here. Just like Little Mermaid, I like the Disney version better.

I couldn't pass up posting these Oreo, cheesecake, brownies. Yes, I did just say all three, in one delicious bar. thank you Sweet Peas Kitchen for sharing this delicious treat!

Hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Preparation time: 10min
Total time: 70min
Serves 6

Lasagna

This yummy, cheesy lasagna is sure to please a crowd

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 12 oz tomato paste
• 1 oz. spaghetti sauce mix
• 24 oz. cottage cheese
• 1 tbs. dried parsley
• 1 lb. grated cheese
• 1 box lasagna noodles

Directions
1. Brown hamburger, drain any excessive oil.
2. Stir in tomato paste, water, and sauce mix. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally. NOTE: when I first started making this meal, I thought this step was unnecessary and I skipped it. I was wrong. I ended up with soupy lasagna.
3. Mix the parsely into the cottage cheese
4. Lightly grease a large baking dish, 9x13. Spoon enough meat sauce on bottom of pan to cover
5. Top with strips of lasagna (do not cook lasagna noodles)
6. Spread half of cottage cheese and then cheese on top.
7. Repeat layers. END WITH MEAT SAUCE. Sprinkle with parmesan cheses
8. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cover with tinfoil!

Just out of the oven.

 

Serve with garlic or french bread and a salad or green beans.

Willow Spring Decor - FREE!

Devin and I went to Wyoming last week to visit our family. On the drive out there, we passed some beautiful red willow branches on the road. Naturally, I made Devin pull over so we could go out and clip some.

This particular willow grows in the Western States. They are the most red in the spring. You can also purchase them at most craft stores.

Materials:
Clippers
Willow bushes (frequently found by river beds)

Directions:
Go out and find some red willow bushes. When you are cutting your branches,  you want to cut the new growth, that is where it is the most vibrant red. Look for long, singular branches when possible.

Bring home and arrange in a vase or create a spiral hand tied arrangement like mine and set on your mantel or vignette. I decided to try making a video to explain how to make a spiral hand tied arrangement:







 

If you did your spiral right, it should look like this and will be free standing:

Good luck making your own spring arrangement!

Check out other great crafts at:

Revamp your blog!

Today I am going to teach you how to use Blogger to give your blogspot blog a face lift. No costs and NO html!! We will be using blogger's template designer. This tutorial is for personal blogs and professional blogs.


To start, go to the Setting section on your blogspot dashboard, scroll down towards the bottom and make sure updated editor is selected.

After you have done that, go to the design tab and click Template Designer

This is where the fun starts! The first step inside Template Designer is to choose your template. There are 6 different templates to choose from and they all have variations. Play around and see what you like best.

Once you have chosen your template, move down to background. Use one of bloggers many backgrounds or upload your own! Blogger will even suggest color schemes that match the background. You need to click the arrow next to the picture to see the possible backgrounds.

Next, skip the adjust widths tab and go down to the layout. Choose how many columns you want, which side to have them on, and what you want your footer to look like. NOTE: the widths readjust themselves after you choose a layout, this is why we are choosing a layout first.

Now, you can go back and adjust the widths. If you want to be able to post the extra large photos, increase your entire blog to 1000 pixels.

The last step is the funnest! Go to advance and choose which fonts and colors you want for each element. Blogger has recently added more fonts. Just make sure to choose one that is readable.

There you have it! A new blog design without coding and without spending money! Have fun revamping your blogspot blog!

Have you added your own favicon yet? (the little icon next to the url in your browser) Read this tutorial on how: Favicon

Cashew Chicken

I got this recipe from a friend of mine when I got married. She gave me a starter kit of ingredients and recipes. Since I didn't buy most of the sauce ingredients, there aren't any prices this time. It's delicious though!

Cashew Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Oil
2-4 Garlic cloves
1 lb boneless chicken breast thinly sliced
½ c cashews
1 red pepper , sliced in stir-fry chunks or strips
1 scallion, thinly sliced for garnishing (optional)

Sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1tsp cornstarch in water
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/8 tsp white pepper (can substitute regular pepper)


Directions:
1. Mix fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and white pepper; set aside.
2. Heat skillet; add oil, garlic (cook garlic in oil for about 30 seconds) then add chicken and the sauce. Stir as chicken cooks.
3. Turn heat to high and reduce the sauce until glaze forms.
4. Stir in red bell pepper (let cook for about 2 minute). If the sauce is not reduced and is thin, add enough corn starch to thicken..
5. Mix in roasted cashews and then put on a serving dish. Garnish with scallion and red bell pepper.
6. Serve best with jasmine rice; delicious with pasta as well.

Omelets

I love breakfast on the weekends. Mmm... When I was growing up, my Dad would frequently make breakfast on the weekends. His specialty: Omelets. I'm pretty sure he's the best Omelet maker ever. I would be laying in bed and hear the fork beating the eggs inside a cup and I knew: Dad's was making omelets! One of us kids would sit at the bar and beat the eggs while he put them together.

Still, when I hear an egg being beaten in a plastic container I think: Dad's making omelets!

Since moving out, I've tried to make omelets like my Dad. However, every time I tried, mine ended up being scrambled eggs. I was determined to get them right, so I practice a lot. Earlier this week, I made 2 perfect omelets. No scrambled eggs. Patience is the key.

Omelets

Ingredients
2 Eggs $0.24
Grated Cheese $0.25
Other: Whatever your heart desires! Here is what was in these particular omelets:
Ground Pork
Red Pepers
Onion
Servings 1 = $0.49-$1.00 (depending on what you put in them.


Directions
1. Crack and beat you eggs
2. Pour a little vegetable oil into a small frying pan and heat to medium low. I've found that the 3-4 works best. Pour egg in. Salt and pepper if desired.
3. Gently use a fork to scrape around the sides as the bottom side cooks.
4. Once the omelet is well cooked on the bottom flip it over using a spatula (this is where it could turn into scrambled eggs)
5. Add cheese and other ingredients.
6. Once cooked, fold together!

Good luck! What is your favorite breakfast food?

Friday Finds

Need some crafting inspiration? Check out these great projects:


Doesn't this egg look delicious? Visit the Caffeinated Globe to see great pictures.

I just love all of the detail Love, Laughter and Decor put into this spring wreath.

You might have already seen this project around lately. Taylor Made has submitted it to the DIY Club competition and the One Month To Win It competition. I think it will go far! Head on over to the blog to check out more pictures and see how this shower curtain was made.

Thanks for sharing your talents with us!

Links

Last week, when I did my post on Favicons, I realized what I should teach this week.

How to put a link in comment boxes.

NOTE: If you don't have a blog or website, go ahead and skip this post.

We've all seen this inside comment boxes, a URL you can't click on.

Today, I'm going to show you 2 different ways to leave a link inside a comment box. To do so, I first have to explain some HTML code to you. Don't leave the page, it isn't that scary.

HTML is like a file system and inside the file there are separators. Each one has to be closed. For instance:
<a> is the opening and </a> is the close. The dash means closed. Remember that. Now, on to the links:

This is a simple link, if you want the URL to appear as the link inside the comment box put this:

<a>www.makinglifeabliss.blogspot.com</a>

It will appear as: www.makinglifeabliss.blogspot.com

We have also seen this: a  long messy URL we can't click on:

To shorten the URL, and to make it possible for people to click it, you would want to put this:

<a href="http://makinglifeabliss.blogspot.com/2011/04/creating-your-own-favicon.html"> Make your own favicon! </a>

It will appear as: Make your own favicon!

***Important things to remember: the quotation marks and the closing tag.***

This is a comment I just left on a page. Notice how the making life a Bliss is a link:

 This is done the same way as the link above:
<a href="http://makinglifeabliss.blogspot.com"> making life a Bliss</a>

The words you type in between the opening of the file and the closing of the file will be what appears as the link inside the comment box.

Give it a try in the comment box below and leave me a link to your blog!
(Don't want to look silly and post the code wrong? Hit the preview button first and make sure it looks right)

Good luck!

A special thanks to: Maria from Agape Love Designs and Stephanie from Luxe Boulevard. Hopefully you don't mind that I used your comments as examples.

New look, same great taste!

Hey! I did a blog re-design today. What do you think?

You can now access making life a Bliss through

Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
Email
and coming soon You Tube!


Head on over and check out my list of all the Shabby Apple Giveaways going on!

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Chicken Broccoli Casserole Recipe Ingredients 2lbs chicken, cooked and cubed 2lbs frozen broccoli, partially cooked 2 c rice 1 c grated cheese Sauce: 1 lg can cream of chicken (or 2 small) ½ c sour cream ½ c milk 1 TBSP lemon juice Servings = 6-8 Directions -Cook rice -Mix and heat up all ingredients for the sauce. Heat until smooth and creamy. -Put chicken and rice on the bottom of a 9x13 pan -Put broccoli on top of chicken -Pour sauce over top. Slightly cut into the casserole to spread sauce -Top with 1 c grated cheese and some paprika -Cook at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until heated through.

Wontons

Wonton Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 lb ground pork $2.32
2 tsp green onions, chopped $0.16
1 Tbsp soy sauce $0.10
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp curry powder $0.50
1/2 tsp sugar
1 egg $0.10
1 pkg. wonton skins $2.99
Oil
Servings: 40-44 wontons = $6.16 (not including rice and dipping sauce)

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together and put 1 tablespoon into each won ton skin.
2. Wet edges with water or egg whites, fold over and seal to make a triangle.
3. Overlap edges, seal with water or egg whites.

4. In a deep fryer, or a large pot, heat oil (enough to cover wonton) to medium-low heat (if you have it too hot, the outsides will burn and the insides won't cook, I have a picture of that in a while. You'll have to make adjustments for your burner or fryer, but I boiled mine for 6-7minutes

Dipping Sauce:
Ingredients
1 c. water
1 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 c. vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp ketchup
Cornstarch
Directions
Bring ingredients to a boil and thicken with cornstarch (I find it easiest to mix the cornstarch with the water using a whisk before heating) Serve with rice.

Download the printable version here: Wonton Recipe

Friday Finds

I had a hard time deciding what to post this week and then decided on these:

Head on over to Make It and Love it (probably the best craft blog there is) and check out her tutorial on how to re-purpose an out of season outfit to a seasonal outfit, with cute ruffled diaper covers.

I thought these DIY candy jars were so cute! Thank you, Eighteen 25, for showing us how to make candy jars out of pickle jars!

Check out this freestyle skirt at Two Sides of the Rainbow:

Thanks for sharing your talent for all of us to see!

Burlap place mats and matching napkin rings!

Burlap Place Mat and Napkin Rings

Materials you will need:

1 yard of burlap $2.95

Thread

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Wire

Glue Gun

Paper Towel Roll

Lets get started on this tutorial!

Step 1: Cut your fabric. I cut mine 19in x14in. The straighter you cut, the easier it will be to sew. Use a ruler and draw a line and then cut.

Step 2: Sew around the boarders, 1 inch in. I tried this cool feature my sewing machine has, double needles! It was a quick way to do a double stitch. If your sewing machine doesn't have this feature, just sew around twice!

What's great about this sewing project: it's just a one time sew around. When you get an inch away from the end, lift up your foot (while the needle is down) and rotate your fabric. Like so:

Then, you will get beautiful corners that look like this:

Step 3: Fray the edges.

It does get a little messy. Hmm... what to do with all of this?

Step 4: Now that the place mat is done, it's time to make the napkin ring! Cut your paper towel roll into a little less than an inch. Cut some left over burlap an inch thick and wrap it around your paper towel ring. Zigzag your hot glue, making sure to reach the ends, this will help prevent fraying.

Step 5: Make the flower from the trash. Gather a few different strands of different thickness. Hold the end between your thumb and your forefinger. Make a loop above your fingers and then make a loop of the same length below. Repeat.

Step 5 B: Then, take a wire and twist it around the middle. It will look like this.

Step 5C: Use your fingers to spread out the loops to make a flower. You might have to play with it for awhile to get the look that you want.

Step 6: Glue the flower to the napkin ring. I do it on top of the seem, to hide the raw edge.

You're done!

You can make 4 of these for $2.95. Pretty sweet! What type of dinner party would you use these for? I'm thinking about a beach party!

Have you ever wanted to make your own favicon (the little icon next to the website url)?
Visit my tutorial here to find out.