I'm pretty sure I have an unhealthy relationship with anything boxwood. Everywhere you turn in my house, you are bound to see some type of boxwood something. So, naturally I had to add more! For me, this project cost me nothing. (Major score!) A couple months back my parents went to a fireman's ball up at the beautiful Box R Ranch in the hills of Ashland, OR. My mom gushed over the awesome decor that her friend had put together. Apparently, nobody wanted to keep the wreaths or boxwood sprays. Crazy right? I actually had no idea she had this stuff in their shop! The Mr. & I were on the hunt for an air mattress in the shop when I spotted these. It was the most glorious -EYE CANDY- I quickly called my mom and asked what she was doing with them. To my excitement she told me I could have them! (: This is very easy to create if you went to Michaels or your closest craft store and bought the materials. Michaels is constantly having so many sales, so coupon up and make a trip! Here's how I made my boxwood wreath...
Happy Sunday everyone! Today on the blog, I want to share with you an easy DIY anyone could do! Even for those "non-crafty" ladies and gents out there, you can do this. (; I'm pretty sure I have an unhealthy relationship with anything boxwood. Everywhere you turn in my house, you are bound to see some type of boxwood something. So, naturally I had to add more! For me, this project cost me nothing. (Major score!) A couple months back my parents went to a fireman's ball up at the beautiful Box R Ranch in the hills of Ashland, OR. My mom gushed over the awesome decor that her friend had put together. Apparently, nobody wanted to keep the wreaths or boxwood sprays. Crazy right? I actually had no idea she had this stuff in their shop! The Mr. & I were on the hunt for an air mattress in the shop when I spotted these. It was the most glorious -EYE CANDY- I quickly called my mom and asked what she was doing with them. To my excitement she told me I could have them! (: This is very easy to create if you went to Michaels or your closest craft store and bought the materials. Michaels is constantly having so many sales, so coupon up and make a trip! Here's how I made my boxwood wreath... Now, don't laugh at the picture qualities for this post. I did this late at night (cause for some, that's the best time to get things done right?) These were a little bit more tricky to work with because the wreaths weren't exactly all the way round. These boxwood sprays were tiny which I liked because they were easy for creating a full look to my liking. Some were single sprays and others were 3 sprays on one stem. Basically you start by putting the stem between the wood wreath sticks or whatever you want to call those things haha. Then, take the spray leaves and go under one of the sticks. Basically, you are weaving it to make them stay. Once you find a technique you like, just continue adding the boxwood to the wreath till you get the desired look you are going for. (: And there you have it! You have your own boxwood wreath! These puppies can be expensive but if you can find a good deal on one, get it while you can! Otherwise, buy your crafting materials with those coupons and make it yourself! It really is easy to do and a great decor that you can style so many ways! Below is how I decided to style this one (: So, get your craft on and let me know how you style your boxwood wreaths. I'd love to see! Hope everyone had a great weekend and happy DIYing!
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PHEW! <--- That is the best word to describe Friday's backyard installment. How did everyone else's weekends go? What kind of projects or fun adventures did you go on? The Mr. & I are so excited to share that we FINALLY have grass! Woo! I just have to say how THANKFUL I am to finally have grass in our backyard. It has made a world of a difference. From having a gravel backyard to now, you never realize just how much some grass can spruce up a yard! We have a long way to make our backyard just how we want it, but this is a huge step! (: Check out below if you're interested or looking into doing sod as an option for grass in your yard. It's some hard work but so rewarding! Hope you enjoy. I have to give The Mr. a big pat on the back for ordering this sod for us. The company we ordered it from delivered Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Make sure that whenever you order your sod, you have time to lay it down within 24 hours. To keep it fresher or lasting longer, make sure you keep it wet by spraying it all down with a hose. Below is how much we got. We had about 1,000 sq. ft. to cover so The Mr. ordered 2 pallets. (pssst, we had well enough and had quite a bit left over oops) Our backyard is up above our house on our second level so my dad's skid steer came in handy for hauling rolls up as we needed them. Look at those skid steer skills (; Oh, and that view <3 I know it doesn't look like it at this angle, or on this side, but we got a company to come out and blow 6" of dirt on our gravel. For most other yards that aren't just a rock pile, 3" should do it justice. The right side picture does the 6" a little bit better justice. Once you have your dirt in, you want to rent one of these rollers. There is a spot on the side that you fill it up with water to make it heavy. Roll over your dirt to make it nice, compact and smooth. Side note: I always seem to catch Paisley mid lick. :p Now that the dirt is nice and compact, you want to spray quite a bit of water on your dirt to make it wet enough for the grass to lay on. Here comes the fun part (haha). Rolling out the grass! When it comes to lining it up, it doesn't have to be perfect but you want to make sure that both sides have enough space to lay down flat. Wiggle it around and lift up each side to make it fit if you have to. There was some that had some small gaps between them. A step I didn't photograph was that we put fertilizer on the dirt for a little extra help.
Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share my very first decor post!
This weekend, the Mr. & I along with my brother and sister-in-law took a trip up to Portland, OR. If you've never been, add it to the list! If you haven't read my about me tab, you may not know that we have a 5 month old German Shepherd. My brother also has her sister! We found this amazing training place in Portland called Offleash K-9 Training. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. We were there for two days worth of training so we made a fun weekend out of it! (: The girls learned so much! And oh boy, so did we! While the girls were in training the first day with the trainers, we took off to Ikea. I have only been to Ikea once. I kid you not, I felt like a kid in a candy store when we got there. The excitement was at an all time high you guys! I found so many treasures to transform my kitchen more into the style I am shooting for. Farmhouse Style! I have to give a big shout out to Joanna Gaines for creating a love for this look. Her kitchen is swoon worthy. The Mr. & I both love the kitchen in their Farmhouse that we had to try and bring it into our home...Lillie Style (; Check out below for our kitchen transformation! For my first post, I wanted to do something exciting! Well, my body thought otherwise and I came down with a cold :( Instead, I was craving me some home cooked chicken noodle soup. Now don't get me wrong, I do love that old fashioned Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, However; There's something about creating your own concoction of soup that feels really rewarding. This is where my handy new crock pot came into play. The Mr. & I got a new crock pot for our wedding and I have been IN LOVE. I began looking at other women's no fail recipes for chicken noodle soup. My sister-in-law also had a really great recipe. I basically begin mixing certain things I liked and Wa-la! My version of some Lillie home cooked chicken noodle soup! If you are looking for an easy recipe to just throw in the crock pot, this is it! Check it out below and enjoy! First step, is to take out 4 chicken breast and let them thaw while you do your prep work. Next, cut 1 3/4 cup - 2 cups of carrots. Then, go ahead and chop up 4 stalks of celery. After you've chopped up your celery, open & drain your 15 oz canned corn and set aside. This step is of course optional. Most chicken noodle soups don't have corn in them. On to the chopping of the onion. You'll need one medium sized onion. Now I don't know about you, but when it comes to chopping onions, slicing onions, anything to do with onions, I cry like I've watched Fox & The Hound one too many times. (You all know the part I'm talking about) I have to give a shout out to Pampered Chef for creating this amazing food chopper. It is a game changer. I've tried everything under the sun to try to avoid the tears. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment below and let me know your trick to keep your eyes dry! Once you've chopped your onion, it's on to the garlic. This honestly has to do with personal preference but I chopped up 3 cloves of garlic. Now that you have everything chopped up, place your thawed chicken breast into the bottom of the crockpot. Dump your carrots, celery, drained corn, onion & garlic on top of your chicken. Drizzle about 3 tbs of olive oil on your veggies and chicken. Tiny suggestion (and honestly it doesn't make that much of a difference but it is the best olive oil!) Drizzle 2 tbs of regular olive oil, then 1 tbs of basil olive oil. I love to cook with the basil olive oil when it comes to veggies. It adds the best flavor I kid you not! Time to add the chicken stock. Thank you Costco for your box of Chicken Stock. These come in handy and I like how they are not so bulky. They can fit in the fridge easily. Now, you can use broth, stock, whatever floats your boat. This is just what I had on hand. I used 3 - 16.9 fl oz containers & 1 cup of water. Now, it's time for the seasoning. Add 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp cumin. We are huge cumin fans so you can leave this out or you can put it in. Again, all preference. For the finishing touches, I added some lemon and salt & pepper. Add as little or as much lemon as you please. I personally think the more lemon the better. Also, more salt the better. Yes, I am one of those people. Lastly, set both your bay leaves on top and put the lid on! You'll be taking these out after it's all cooked. Once everything is in, set your crockpot on low for 5-6 hours. DON'T put your noodles in the crockpot with everything. When it reached the 5th hour of cooking, I boiled the egg noodles and added them in. I set my crockpot to warm for about 5 minutes and then served it. I completely spaced to take an after picture. I just was ready to enjoy it! My family came over and they loved it! So, all in all this is my twist on chicken noodle soup. I would have loved to put a can of cream of chicken in this to thicken it up even. Sadly, I didn't have one on hand so NEXT TIME! Anyway, try it out and let me know what you love or don't love about it! I'm all for improving! :)
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Emily Lillie| 25 | Wife | DIY | Decor| CategoriesArchives
February 2017
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