• Make this adorable coffee sleve
    Blog,  Crafts,  DIY Tutorials,  Gifts

    DIY Reusable Coffee Sleeve Tutorial

    Last spring when I was in Hawaii, I frequented the Coffee Gallery on the North Shore of Oahu. Yummy good coffee can be found at the Coffee Gallery and I would highly recommend giving them a try if you are ever in the area. Anyhoo…as a souvenier I purchased a handmade reusable coffee sleeve made from the burlap bags the roasted coffee beans come in. Originally my idea was to try and replicate this sleeve using regular burlap, but when I tried it was an epic failure. The burlap bags the coffee came in were a much tighter weave and didn’t fray as easily, so now I am on the…

  • Survival Kit
    Crafts,  DIY Tutorials,  Gifts

    Finals Week Survival Kit

    Grab the coffee and snacks and get ready to hit the books…it’s finals week!! For high school and college students, there isn’t a more stress-filled week (academically) than finals week. Studying for hours on end, cramming as much information into your tired brain as possible. This week is finals week at our house…the very first of many to come. To ease the pressure just a teeny, tiny bit I put together these Finals Week Survival Kits for my daughter and a few of her close friends. Included in the Survival Kit are Starbucks Frappuccino drinks, Starbucks cookies, coffee flavored candies, sticky notes, new pens and Smartfood cheesy popcorn —get it…SMARTfood!…

  • Cleaning,  DIY Tutorials

    Homemade Laundry Detergent: A one Year’s Supply

    Due to the mounting costs of remodeling, I am always on the look-out for ways to cut spending on products we use regularly. This spring as I was scrolling through my facebook feed, I came across a post that caught my eye. In the article, the author shared her experiences saving money by making her own laundry detergent at home. Now, I’m no stranger to DIY and making things from scratch. I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to DIY household products, but what intrigued me was that this “recipe” was actually supposed to make enough laundry soap to last an entire year. One less item to have buy at…

  • design details from our kitchen make over
    Before and After,  DIY Tutorials,  Kitchen,  Money Saving Tips,  Remodel

    Adding Decorative Details Without Breaking the Bank

    For years (maybe even decades) I have drooled over kitchen magazines. The designs that really made my heart sing were were the ones that featured lots and lots of finishing details. I love classical Roman architecture, so anything with pillars, corbels, detailed molding and carved trims make me very happy. I’m the opposite of a minimalist. I like details and lots of them…but guess what? Details are really expensive, especially in the kitchen. For instance, the corbels offered by the company that made our cabinets were going to cost $300…each. Well, you can’t have just one corbel holding up a counter, so we were looking at $600 just for one…