Bing's Play Market and Sweet Shoppe

I wanted my daughter to have a play market for awhile...right after I finished her play kitchen project. I could not find one that I love especially find the right one that is not way overpriced. So I decided we should just make her one for her on her third birthday! I have been doing a lot of research to see if people have DIY tutorials on it but most of them built them from scratch. Well, I am no carpenter...so I was looking for pieces of furniture that resembles like it just like I did with the play kitchen project..I was thinking bookshelves, old end table, shoe racks...and then one night I came accross a DIY Market tutorial from the Ikea website using shoe racks as a play market! Great idea! I am glad someone thinks like me and I am not all crazy...however we did not have an Ikea around North Dakota, so I found some from Bed Bath and Beyond website for 14.99. The good thing about the BB&B's shoe rack, they have 3 shelves!! 

I was living at my mom's house at the time and could not live with my husband yet due to the flood that happened it Minot. I did not want to bring shoe racks with me in the plane either! So, I drive to BB&B and purchase them there from their website, and had it delivered to our new home in Minot!

TIP: If you order from BB&B at the store through their website, you can use their 20% coupons for each item, and they will ship it to your home!

I really liked how the Ikea DIY play market tutorial turned out, but I knew I still had to make some changes, and make it my own. Well, their version was to have each shoe rack back to back and leave space in between, just enough to have a child go in and out of the market, and have a fabric material go across on top, almost like tent that markets do. I wanted mine side by side, and meet in a corner, and have each side have a different theme, in this case, a Sweet Shoppe, and a Food Market. Not to mention, the Ikea shoe racks are built differently from BB&B ones. Little Imagination goes a long way.....

So here is what I came up with, and this is how my husband and I built it!

Pretty Cool huh? The market is actually two piece, instead of being connected, it is easier to move it anywhere this way. We used 2x4's to make it sturdy! All the curtains were sewn by me! It took hours since my machine keeps acting up on me! The fabric and the sign can be found at Hobby Lobby, and the Cupcake painting was from Home Goods. She already had the food but we had to get her the gum ball machine and the register to complete her market and sweet shoppe! It cost me less than $50 to make this project! It looks more authentic not painted, don't you think??

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! Thank you for reading and have a fabulous weekend!

Pork Chops Smothered in Gravy

I really love this! I wanted to try something new one day, but it took me two tries to perfect the recipe. But now I really find it is so easy to make...it is definitely comfort food! You may just want to take a nap to soak it all in afterwards. Please do not expect your waist to go down two sizes after this meal! But here you go!

What you will need!

Pork Chops (any cuts, I prefer the one with the bone, but that is just me!)

Lemon Pepper

Pepper

Salt

Garlic Salt

Milk

Flour

Oil 

Butter

Water

Parsley Flakes

Preparation:

Sprinkle salt, pepper, and lemon pepper, and flour on the pork chops. I like a lot of lemon pepper in mine, i think the lemon kinda cuts down the fatty taste that pork usually have.

Set oven at 350.

 Let's Cook!

 

In pan, lightly drizzle your oil. Once it is heated up, sear both sides of the pork chop. Cook it long enough on either side that is half way cooked!

Take the pork chops out of the pan, and then transfer them in a baking dish. Cover with foil and stick it in the oven.

Put all the drippings of the gravy into a measuring cup.

Let's make the gravy!

Mix a little bit of water and flour together. Make sure the flour is completely dissolved.

In a sauce pan, take a spoonful of butter, and let it melt.

Add your flour and water mixture into the pan.

Now it gets clumpy, so add your milk, and whisk to get all those clumps!

Add the drippings from the pork chops into the pan. It should be bubbling up, by now but keep mixing! If its too thick just add a little bit more milk!

Pull out the Pork Chops out of the oven. By this time, there should be a little bit more juice in the pan from the pork chops so add that to your gravy.

Add garlic salt and pepper to taste. Then add, your parsley flakes. Now, that your gravy is done, put gravy on top of the pork chops, and stick it back in the oven!

A few more minutes, and you are done!

 

Here is what it should look like when you are done! 

I usually serve it with mash potatoes, mac and cheese, and biscuits! Happy cooking! Hope you try this recipe because it is that good!

Bing and Bugs "Dream" Tree

I was feel extra crafty one day sitting in our condo back in Sacramento, and I wanted to add a special something in my daughter's room. I always loved the look of old branches with chandelier that people often have as their centerpieces for weddings...so I wanted something just like it. I went around the neighborhood and park looking for fallen branches to make it. After I was done with it, my FABULOUS girlfriend from Sac loved it so much, she wanted it for her little princess too! Of course, I would do it for her, she will always hold a special place in my heart...and it was a great idea! Bing (my daughter's nickname) and Bugs (her daughter's nickname) are BFFs, and how awesome would it be that they will have matching ones? I wanted to something for little Bugs anyways since we were soon leaving Sac at the time...I wanted her to remember us and her BFF forever. So here it is, their very own "Dream" Tree:

This was from Bug's room! The branches were roughly painted white. To create the chandeliers, I took swarovski crystal beads and threaded it with invisible thread. I stuffed the .25 cents craft glass I found at Joann's with moss fillers from the flower section.

Here is Bing's tree! She is sound asleep! I added the little doves that you can find at any craft store. The wings have a touch of pink glitter, and used hot glue to attach the flowers I had laying around.

Here is Bugs (left) and Bing (right). Aren't they just soo cute together?! I miss our little play dates, they always had fun..even the mommies and daddies too! xoxo

The "Lindsay" Wardrobe

This wardrobe I found on Bisman I LOVE, but when I called my hubby to see if he wanted it, he said NO. Yup, it was a NO. He thinks we already have too many big pieces of furniture in our home. He maybe right but I still wanted it. The lady that was selling already came down on the price, so it was hard for me to let it go. So, I called my best Minot girl to see if she wanted it before I completely past on it, and she said YES. Yay, I am glad it is going to someone who can really use it and appreciate it as much as I do. She wanted to redo it, but it was taking her FOREVER to do it. IT WAS TORTURE.It was sitting in her garage for weeks, and every single time I passed by it, I would think, "If she was mine, how I would I redo it?" I really loved it so much, I FINALLY offered to do it for her. We talked about how she wanted it done, but after the first coat of paint,I knew how I wanted to finish it.She was not made from REAL wood, she is ALL particle board, so I definitely had to SAND AND SAND this piece. But it can be done so here she is in Tiffany Blue with white wash on top, and HEAVILY distressed!

This was inspired by a little keepsake jar she bought from Hobby Lobby. It had a rustic feel to it, so I decided this will match it perfectly.

JUST A TIP: To get more of that rustic, and "old age" look, I highly recommend using OIL BASED polyurethane!

I loved the "old age" look to this piece!

I love the knobs, I was going to spray paint them white, but I think they are perfect just the way they are!

Here is what she looked like sitting in her garage for weeks :)

Update: I decided to put wallpaper to the interior of this wardrobe. I love the feminine vintage rose design, don't you?