Corkboard on sale!

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday expecting the largest corkboard I could find being a 2' x 3' board! So imagine my excitement when I found this monster sized corkboard and at a steal for $30!! 

(Kids already tried opening it lol)

 

The plan is to paint the frame white and hang behind our couch! I'm going to put family pics on it, quotes, pretty prints etc. and hang twinkle lights over it! I've been at a loss as what to put behind the couch so far so I'm pretty stoked about this idea! Would have spray painted it today but it's rainy & humid!

Stay tuned for finished result! 

Black Friday flooring bargain!!

I'm finally getting around to showing off my new laminate flooring for the living room! Not installed yet though! Stepdad is going to do it after Christmas! I got this flooring for an amazing $.49/sq ft during Black Friday at Home Depot! I had read tons of reviews on this and seen that most people had bought during last years Black Friday! It's Alameda Hickory by Trafficmaster! 

Once it's installed, I'll post pics! Stay tuned!

Start of Christmas at the Tate's!!

I have started decorating for Christmas! More details and pics to come soon!

Is it ever too early to decorate for Christmas?

Ok so I know some people get really irritated when they see Christmas stuff early in stores but I get a little excited!! My husband wasn't too thrilled when I pulled out a Christmas box from the garage this week! But hey it was only 1 box! I was feeling inspired after seeing the Christmas villages at Wal-Mart!

Doesn't that get you in the spirit a little?!

So I pulled out my Dollar Tree village houses; the ones I don't mind the kids playing with! I put these on our dining hutch and the kids play & rearrange them occasionally. 

When do you start decorating for Christmas? Feel free to show some pics of your villages; I love them!! 

Stay tuned for more Christmas decor!!

Halloween Mantle

Just wanted to show some of the Halloween decor on our mantle this year!

The frames have scrapbook paper in them and hadn't glued letters on them to spell "BOO" yet. 

Most of the items are from Dollar Tree. 

Enjoy & feel free to pin away!!

Halloween Wreath

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween at my house!! I live & breath all things Halloween! When October 1st hits, it's nothing but pumpkin patches, festivals & Hocus Pocus watching! It's like I'm a kid again. 

Any who, here is a little wreath I made for the front door. Most of the supplies were from Dollar Tree and the skulls were from $1 package of mini skulls at Dollar General. Not too shabby for about $8. 

Supplies List:

Wreath form $1

2 rolls of orange ribbon $2

Skull wire ribbon $1

Black creepy cloth $1

Black rose bouquet $1

Giant black spider $1

Mini skulls $1 

Hot glue & T pins-had on hand

Enjoy!

My Dream Kitchen!

Having an Ikea like 40 minutes from your house is a very bad thing! We've been up there like 5 times in the last 6 months; buying and exchanging items! They've recently changed all their kitchen displays to include the new Sektion line of cabinets. Well here is my absolute favorite!

Love white kitchens! And look at that amazing butcher block island! Swoon!

Here is my little model showing us around!

The only thing I would change is the grout color! I prefer white grout with the white subway tile. Other than that, I'm in love!

Just gorgeous glass front cabinets! And this whole kitchen is less than $5k!!

 

Now if only we had our own house! DFW is currently experiencing a housing boom so we're getting priced out! 5 years ago you could get a great starter house for $120k now that won't get you much and not in a good school district. Worried we might have waited too long to buy. Ugh! Currently living in my parents rent house until I'm done with school. So until then, I'll just keep daydreaming about this kitchen!

 

"Never give up. Great things take time." -Author Unknown

Strawberry Cake Balls

 

 



Cake balls are super simple and easy to make! These are great for birthday parties, holidays, or any day really! Make a big batch of these and wrap in a cute little container and they'll make an inexpensive gift for any occasion. Just follow the recipe below

Ingredients:

• Strawberry cake recipe (box or homemade)
• Bag of candy melts (I prefer Wilton)
• Icing (canned or homemade)
• Sprinkles (optional)
• Baking Cups (optional)
• Lollipop sticks (great for dipping)

Directions

• Bake cake according to package and let cool.
• Once cooled, crumble the cake into fine pieces

• Start adding icing to the crumbled cake until you've reached right consistency. You'll know if you've added too much icing because the cake will be soggy. If you haven't added enough, it'll be hard to roll into balls without crumbling apart. The right consistency will be similar to clay. Just keeping adding cake & icing until it's perfect!

                                   (This stuff is CRACK in a can! So sweet! See my finger print lol!)

• Roll your batter into balls and place on cookie sheet. Some people put in the freezer to let harden. I prefer to just let them sit out at room temp. for about 30 minutes
• Melt candy melts in bowl. You'll melt in 30 second intervals until done. The package will have directions. The package will have a tip to add shortening to thin it out. I suggest doing this.
• Put lollipop sticks into cake balls and dip into melts. I like to dip the tip of lollipop stick into candy melts then put into cake balls; it'll help it hold.
• Add sprinkles before candy melts harden!!
• Let cake balls harden and enjoy!

                                      Have you ever made cake balls! Comment below and please follow!!

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Candy Buffets!

So, what is a candy buffet? Candy buffets are well buffets of candy lol! Pretty displays of candy usually matching the colors of your party theme! They're great for kids parties, baby showers, wedding receptions, etc!! 

Now I've seen very detailed instructions on setting up a candy buffet but I don't think that's necessary so I'll give you some simple steps!

Step 1: First, you need to decide on your party theme and colors! 

Step 2: Buy supplies! Candy to match/coordinate with your them! There are online candy wholesalers that sell candy by color! Party City also sells candy by color now! You'll need to get some gift bags for guest to put candy in and some scoops for the candy! Last but not least you'll need glass bowls, jars, vases for the candy! I highly suggesting stopping by the Dollar Tree first and getting some bowls and jars there first as apothecary jars can get expensive!

Step 3: Setup! Display your pretty jars full of candy and let guests enjoy! 

Books I'm loving!

I should have probably titled this "Authors I'm loving"! The last few books I've read have all been Karen White books! She's amazing and her Tradd Street series is Fantastic with a capital F :)

1st off if you love books about the South, you'll love this series! The Tradd Street series is set in Charleston, SC. It's about a real estate agent who can see ghosts and she's just inherited a historic home with a couple of ghosts from the past trying to tell her something! Don't let the seeing ghosts part throw you off! I'm not into paranormal, sci-fi type stuff! It has historic Southern homes, architecture, history, secrets, mystery and a little romance! You won't be disappointed I assure you!!

Have you read any Karen White books? What books are you currently reading? I'm always on the hunt for a great author to read!

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

 

Looking for fun ideas this summer? Enjoy this free printable!!

 

 

Click here to download the Word document

 



My 1st Link Party!!

So, I know it's probably not that big of a deal but I'm participating in my 1st link party as a newbie blogger!! Hoping there are many more to come and this brings new opportunities for me. Any ways I'm participating in Penny Love Projects' Feature Friday Link Party. Please head over to her page and check it out!

I'll also be going to First Monday Trade Days in Canton on Friday so stay tuned and I'll be posting about that soon!!

Craigslist Hutch Makeover

After falling in love with several hutches way out of my price range, I knew I'd have to makeover something very cheap! Enter this $60 Craiglist find and some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! This paint is amazing! Absolutely no sanding required, though we did a light sanding anyways to be safe.

The colors I chose were Annie Sloan Pure White for the outside of the hutch and Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue for the inside! After sanding and painting the whole thing, I replaced the glass doors with chicken wire painted white and finished off with Annie Sloan Clear Wax!

This stuff is smooth as Crisco! Very easy to use!

There was one knob casualty during re-assembly so I'll have to get some new hardware soon!

 

I'm linking up with Feature Friday Link Party!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment!

 

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