Wonderfully Made: May 2017

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Patriotic M&M Oat Bars

Hello! I hope y'all had a fabulous weekend! My Mom and I were busy working on the landscaping in my front yard while eating way too much takeout. Tall Tan Man and I have pretty much ignored our yard since we moved in and I can't wait for the outside of the house to look good! I just have to say, I don't think landscaping is my thing. I'll decorate any room but next time I might hire a professional to at least tell me what I should plant. :) My Mom and I have big time sweet tooth's so I decided to make Patriotic M&M Oat Bars. I found {this} recipe from Lil' Luna and I just made some small changes. I decided to cut the recipe in half and swap out milk chocolate for semi sweet.

Patriotic M&M Oat Bars

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Quick Oats
3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Butter {softened}
7 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 TBSP Butter
1/2 Cup M&Ms

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt. With a spoon {or a pastry blender} mix in butter until fully combined. Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture and press remaining mixture into an 8x8 baking dish.

3. In a small sauce pan combine butter, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate chips. Melt the ingredients on low heat while stirring constantly. Pour the chocolate mixture over the oats.

4. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of oat mixture and M&Ms over the melted chocolate. Slightly press the M&Ms into the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to completely cool before removing from the pan.

So who wants to come over and take some of these of my hands? Or should I say love handles?!!! These bars are so so so good and super easy. What are your plans for the next weekend? We haven't made any yet which is pretty typical for us...

Have a great week!

{Leslie}

Friday, May 19, 2017

Mack is 16 Months Old!!!

This basket will not be containing Mack much longer! This crazy boy is keeping us on our toes and I cannot imagine a sweeter toddler {not counting the hours before 7am and between 4-6pm}. I've learned that when you're in a good season with a baby you better enjoy it because new teeth, a cold, and/or a growth spurt are around the corner. We are in good spot right now which means my barista is probably missing me and I don't need massive amounts of under eye concealer!!!

If you can't tell, I decided not to buy new winter clothes during our May 18th snow storm... #hellobelly #imisstexas

Mack runs everywhere and I love hearing his ~~little~~ feet on our wood floors. We have already gone through 3 sizes of shoes and all I ask is that he waits a while before he is a size 14 {like Dad}. He likes to hold my hand and pinch my neck skin {gross}. Pasta, pasta, and pasta are his favorite foods. Maybe if I let him eat that every meal he might get out of the 40th percentile. Mack still loves to play in toilet water, go to the park, and explore our backyard. He still isn't talking... Mama {not dada, sorry Tall Tan Man}, this, that, and Amen are his only words. Laughing is his method of getting someone's attention which can be hilarious when people try ignore him. He just gets louder and louder then reaches for them to hold him. This child knows no stranger.

So thankful for the weekend and my Momma coming in town today! I was flying solo this week which means no cooking, cleaning, or shaving. TMI? Never.

{Leslie}

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Details on our DIY Giant Pegboard!

Hello! This pegboard has been up for almost a week and I have some good news. It hasn't fallen off the wall and Mack hasn't taken one thing off the bottom shelf! Win-Win! We used {Vintage Revivals Tutorial} as a guide, but tried a couple different things. I am not totally convinced my changes were easier/better so if you decide to do this project you'll have to make that call!

Here are the 2 things we did differently {make sure you read Vintage Revivals tutorial first, it's AWESOME}:

1. We decided not to use a normal pegboard as a hole guide. I saw this as an unnecessary cost. The normal pegboard sheet was $18 and its only purpose was to mark where all the holes go. I preferred to buy more decor for the shelves with that money! Now if you don't mind the expense, having the normal pegboard would've made the project easier.

2. I would say the two hardest parts of the project were drilling perfect 90 degree angles {so your dowels/shelves aren't crooked} and then, drilling 96 of them......... I thought Vintage Revivals method for drilling perfect angles was great but I thought I had a better idea. Not sure if I was right...

I really wanted to do this project all on my own but I wasn't able to keep the drill steady with our guide we made from a 2x2. Thankfully, Tall Tan Man has a steadier hand than me and was able to drill the 90's with our guide. All of the measurements were kept the same like I was using a normal pegboard then I marked both sides of my plywood every 6 inches {after the initial 3 inch mark}. Then Tall Tan Man drilled away! We definitely recommend using a 1″ Forstner Drill Bit!

Please let me know if you have any questions! This project is very doable and took us only two nights to complete. Good luck!!!

{Leslie}

Thursday, May 11, 2017

One Room Challenge {W6}: DIY Giant Pegboard

Ahhhh my entry room is DONE! I have absolutely loved doing the One Room Challenge. This challenge pushed me to make a plan, decisions and actually FINISH a room the way I wanted to. I might need to do this every couple months. :)

{Calling it Home}

This is room started out pretty amazing {cough} with blue carpet and dirty beige walls. Painting the walls and refinishing the wood floors did wonders for the room, but the room still felt so hodge podge.

and now...

Y'all this might sound crazy but I am OBESSESED with how this room turned out. I definitely stepped out of my normal decorating comfort zone and couldn't be happier!!! The last addition to the room was adding the giant DIY pegboard. I had been searching for "large wall decor" for weeks and finally stumbled upon {Vintage Revival's tutorial}. I'll be back this weekend to give you some tips on how we followed the tutorial with some really beautiful late night cell phone pics of the process...

So what do you think?! I was totally on the fence about this project. I thought it might be too funky for my taste, but then I decided this pegboard could work in multiple rooms. I think it would be super cute in a mud room with hooks for backpacks, a playroom with books and toys on it, or even in the garage for tool storage. This would be the prettiest tool storage ever... I want to give a BIG shout out to Tall Tan Man for all of his help on this project. Honey, I know I told you I could do it on my own and then I cried when I couldn't work the drill correctly...THANK YOU, BABY!

Most of the decorations came from the Marshall's sales rack which was on fire this week. I did score this scripture frame {which was where the name of the blog came from} from Hobby Lobby and the crazy looking succulent from my local grocery store!

One more shot from the other side of the room! Thanks for all the kind words about my {Craigslist dresser makeover}!!!

aaannnnnndddddd thats a wrap! I am so glad I finished on time, you better believe that this procrastinator cut it pretty close! :) I'll be back in the next couple of days to talk more about the pegboard!

{Leslie}

Thursday, May 4, 2017

One Room Challenge {W5}: Updating the Dresser

Heyyy! You know the song "I'm gunna make you lose your mind, up in here, up in here?" Well, that is the theme song for my day. Mr. Mack has been sick and sleepy all this week and today he decided he would rather cry then sleep...

I. am. losing. my. mind.... annnnnd I feel like making that face right now too. With that being said this weeks post is going to be short and sweet! I cannot believe we are already in week 5 of the One Room Challenge! I can also not believe that I am pretty much on schedule to finish this room. Now if you missed {last week} I showed y'all my new Craigslist dresser.

Gorgeous, right??! I was fairly certain I wanted to keep the wood finish, but I was not sure how well the dresser would take the sanding and staining. If you followed along with my {insta} story you already know my process a little bit. I first sanded the dresser with 80 grit sand paper and finished it with a 220 grit. After this I cleaned the dresser and stained it with Minawax's Dark Walnut. I originally wanted the dresser lighter but when I tried that it looked way too golden.

I finished the dresser with a wax and pulls from Hobby Lobby! If you haven't checked out Hobby Lobby for dresser pulls you are really missing out. They have so many awesome options! These were the three I was trying to decide between.

I ending up polling 7 friends and the gold won with a 4-3 vote. I was hoping for a more convincing win because I was so indecisive about what I wanted.

I am so happy how this dresser turned out, the side panels are my favorite detail!

The cost break down for this project is $65 Dresser + $28 Knobs + $15 Sand Paper/Stain = $108 !!! Not too shabby! I am still playing around with styling the top but I think this {DIY Mirror} is here to stay.

Only one more change I made this week was adding this plant. I don't know what the heck I am doing. I wrote about how I could only have fake plants while I have babies in the house then {this} blogger convinced me I could keep this plant alive. We will see!

I'm hoping this guy doesn't throw my new plant!

The only project I have left is buying/making something the big empty wall {I wrote about it here}. If you have any ~~brilliant~~ ideas I'd love to hear them!