Living with Punks

TUTORIAL: Come fly with me

The never-ending bedroom redesign for little punk continues. I feel like I’ve been working on this room For.Ev.Er! I had been going back and forth over what to do over the bed as you can see on my Pinterest board HERE. There are lots of ideas. Mostly just a jumbled look into my thoughts…they tend to be all over the place…

Then I get stuck…

Then I start doubting what I’ve already done…

Then I start hating what I’ve already done…

I refused to let that happen with this room…I mean I just bought curtain fabric, man…I gotta finish!

I wasn’t really in love with anything that I was toying with in my mind…but then I thought of doing a cascade of butterflies from her headboard up to the sky, similar to this one. I remembered Dana had done something similar with bats for Halloween and I loved that!

I tried to create on ombre effect using cream colored paper for the bottom butterflies and slowly getting brighter as it went up. Towards the top you can’t really tell because, really there aren’t that many shades of yellow :)

It took me a little less than 2 hours to get these all cut and hung. Just use regular scotch tape to secure to your walls. That makes it super easy to adjust as needed….and that’s good with us undecideds who like to change things up a bit.

I love how they come off her headboard…kinda like they are in her dreams, like a speech bubble. She told me the pink one is her, but she especially likes the one to the far right, who is flying away from the rest. Lord, help me!

I’m sharing the template with you just in case you want to make some too. Here’s what you need:

Various scrapbook paper in colors of your choice

Scissors

Butterfly Template HERE

Pencil or sharpie

2 paper clips

Print out the butterfly template and fold it right along the line

Unfold to reveal the entire pattern

I made the template just the right size so you can fit 4 butterflies on one sheet of large scrapbook paper

On the BACKSIDE of the paper, make a mark right in the center of the butterflies body. This is your folding point.

Fold the paper, right sides together precisely along that line. The easiest way to do that is to get the vertical edge straight and then press down right on the line. Your paper and your crease should be straight

Paper clip the half template onto the paper. Cut away!

Easy as that!

Keep going until you are done with all your butterflies. I suggest cutting and then placing 4 or 5 at a time. I ended up cutting about 10 too many, but we may still use them in her bathroom :)

Here’s the cutting graveyard…

Just use a bit of rolled scotch tape and stick to the wall. Get creative and have them wind around doorways, onto ceilings…whatever you feel like!

Have a great week guys! Now go cut some flutterbys :)

Eat. Cheesy Turkey Enchiladas

These enchiladas shatter all your ideas about how enchiladas should be made. They are creamy. Delish. Best of all, SIMPLE! I used leftover turkey, but you can easily use chicken. When I make them using chicken, I just pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store. Even more simple!
I lifted the recipe off of the Las Palmas enchilada sauce can and modified it to our liking. What makes them over the top is the use of cream cheese. YES, cream cheese!

We love serving our enchiladas with a side of shredded iceberg and a smidge of my hubby’s salsa. Normally, we’d use sour cream on the side too, but trust me….it’s not needed.

Here is the easy recipe for ya:

INGREDIENTS *makes 12*
Shredded cooked turkey or chicken, about 3 or 4 cups
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 cup shredded cheese, plus a bit more for topping
1 can of green chile enchilada sauce
1 can chopped green chilies
8oz. cream cheese
12 tortillas (possibly more depending on how you fill)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350
In a large sauté pan, sauté the onion in a bit of oil until they are soft and fragrant (right before they start to brown)
Turn heat to medium and add the turkey, can of chopped green chilies and cream cheese. Stir to combine and until the cream cheese is completely melted and incorporated into the mixture.
Here is what your mixture should look like:

Wrap your tortillas in a cloth napkin or kitchen towel and heat for about a minute to soften the tortillas and make them more pliable

Open up your can of enchilada sauce and pour into a wide-mouthed container. Dip the warm tortilla into the enchilada sauce

Place the soaked tortilla into your pan and add the turkey mixture to one side of the tortilla. Top with a bit of shredded cheese.

Wrap it up, keeping the seam side down and keep going…

Once all the enchiladas are wrapped up, pour some of the green enchilada sauce over the top. Do not drown it in sauce. Just enough to make it stay moist in the oven.

Top with some more cheese and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes

Dig in!

Look at that cheesy goodness. By the way, my kiddos eat these up! They are mild enough for little palates to enjoy, but tasty enough for adults to love too.
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Here is the PRINTABLE RECIPE

How to Host a Blind Wine Tasting

For New Years this year, we hosted a Blind Wine Tasting Party. It was a blast! (We also had a blind beer tasting too, complete with shot glasses and brown paper bags :) It was an awesome way to mingle and shave off some time while were were waiting for the clock to wind down to midnight. As I was planning for it, I made mental notes…and jotted down… all the essentials that made our night a success.

Blind Wine Tasting is basically a gathering of friends that get together to taste wine without knowing what variety of wine they are partaking. The reasons are two-fold: One is to introduce your palate to new wines, without being biased by name or label. The other is to have fun!
Blind Wine Tastings can be anywhere from simple and informal t0 extravagant and complex. But here are a few tips that will help you along the way:

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Keep the tasting to no more than 6 wines

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If you are serving white, keep it in the lineup before the reds

Cover your bottles to hide the label and number them clearly.

My tutorial for Wine bags HERE!

Create a written survey for your guests to keep their own ‘score’ of each wine

Click HERE to download my FREE Blind Wine Taste Survey

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Have a carafe of water near so guests can cleanse their glasses in between tastes

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Keep wine charms handy so guests can distinguish their glass from others

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…or, use chalkboard paint on the bottom of each glass!

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Each taste only requires about a 1 to 2 ounce pour

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To keep things extra fun, keep all the corks visible on the table to create a a guessing game!

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Serve some cheese and crackers with the vino. It pairs beautifully with wine and helps balance the alcohol, so you can enjoy the rest of the night!

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If you’re feeling generous, pick up a few bottle stoppers or other wine-related gifts for your guests to take home with them.

Have you been to a blind wine tasting recently? What tips do you have? I can’t wait to host another one. This time without the pressure of New Years!

Craft Hope Project 16 (Fabric Giveaway) CLOSED

The winner of this giveaway is #2, AMY. Congratulations Amy, an email has been sent to you :)

If you aren’t a follower of Craft Hope, then you might not know their newest project:
The Littlest Warriors

Craft Hope is a love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those who need them. As you can see, they are on their 16th mission! And like all great ideas, theirs started small with big intentions. Their projects have blossomed into an awesome cause that helps people all over the world!

With this new Project, The Littlest Warriors, they are collecting handmade bags for the littlest cancer patients. Please go HERE for the details, but I will share some here with you…
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Create a handmade bag for the littles to carry all their fun goodies to the hospital when needed.

There is a pinboard on pinterest with a roundup of some great bag tutorials to get you started. Go HERE to see the pinboard and get some inspiration. Here are some of my faves:

I think it’s a great idea to fill the bag with goodies (crayons, markers, coloring books, legos, etc.) before shipping it off to Craft Hope

All the bags are due to by Monday March 12,2012. Go HERE for the address to send all your bags to, once completed

Need some fun fabric to sew up a few bags? I have just the ticket!

2 yards of adorable green elephant fabric! Can’t you see this fabric being made into some cute bags for the littles? It is a home dec fabric with a white background. The fabric is 54” wide so you can be sure to get a few sturdy bags out of this material :)

Here are the deets on this particular giveaway: