DIY Chalk Board Serving Platter

Hello, good people! I am so excited to share with you this  project from one of the coolest blogs I 
have stumbled upon! This chalkboard platter is just genius and I love it!  Amanda Wright of 
 Wit and  Whistle  has lots of cool DIY projects, a"stylishly  quirky paper goods shop", 
and more along with gorgeous photography! 


She points out in her tutorial that you need to use a special kind of chalkboard paint made for 
porcelain (never knew there was such a thing!) But I do love chalkboards and love to make them on 
all kinds of surfaces. This idea is a fun and creative way to identify what types of foods you have on 
your platter for your entertaining guests-like cheeses, cookies, or appetizers. 

This is the first of a few highlights and features I will be doing from time to time to share some 
great projects and highlight talented crafters I've discovered. 
Hope you enjoy and go visit Wit and Whistle for this tutorial and  more of Amanda's  amazing ideas.
(Seriously, besides being beautifully designed some of Amanda's handmade cards are laugh out loud funny!)

So, did you enjoy this idea? (Who doesn't love chalkboards these days? )
Looking forward to sharing more of my own ideas later this week with more Valentine's fun, a really big giveaway, and more!

5 DIY Whimsy Heart Dangles

Hi again everyone! Are you getting in the Valentine's Day spirit? I love that there is an excuse during the long winter to decorate again and celebrate love. I have a confession: I used to think of it as a "Hallmark Holiday" with too much pink everywhere, and I didn't really get into it.

But on a personal note, it is a special time for our family, because Feb.14th was the day last year that we adopted our youngest son! A significant reason to celebrate and remember our own "Love Day" every year from now on!

Ok, now onto the craft I want to show you:

You might remember seeing my "Whimsy Heartfelt Ornaments" from Christmastime.
 I had a lot of fun coming up with these and I decided to repost because they are so pretty to
display in my windows and on doorknobs for this season, too.

And, I made a few new ones in cream with vintage lace and different rolled felt designs, with yellow ribbon, for a twist on the traditional reds, pinks, and purples you usually see this time of year.

 So, are you curious? Want to see how I made them? Click Here

5 Free Facebook Timeline Headers!

Hi everyone! Who has the new Facebook timeline? Have you thought about how fun it would be to add a unique header to it?  I'm  excited to start offering you free Facebook timeline headers!
Here are a few I came up with in honor of Valentine's Day coming up! (but they might be fun to keep afterwards, too! )
TO VIEW MORE DESIGNS CLICK HERE

Baked to Perfection the Oven Fries Experiment!

 Who likes fries? Of course, just about everyone. I bring to you today a french fry miracle that  

tastes like deep fried but only uses 5 tablespoons of oil!  

But this comes with a warning--

they are addicting! 

A quick story behind my discovery of these started with a visit to

 some friends. They offered me these fries and my first response was 

"these are so good-are they fried?"

 "Nope. Oven fried." 

"Really? I need this recipe!"

Coming from Cook's Illustrated Magazine, 

here's what you'll need to try these out:

 (p.s. It's important to follow closely for great results.)

3 russet potatoes, peeled or skins on (your preference),

cut lengthwise into 10-12 evenly sized wedges

5 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil

salt and ground black pepper

heavy duty baking sheet

large bowl for soaking potatoes

foil

paper towels or dry, clean kitchen towel

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position. Preheat to 475.
2. Place potatoes in large bowl and cover with hot tap water for 10 min.

a hot bath works wonders to remove starches and reveal a creamy, smooth center

3. Meanwhile, coat a heavy duty rimmed baking sheet with 4 Tbsp. oil.
Sprinkle evenly with 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. ground pepper (suggested amount.)
 Set aside.

4. Drain potatoes and blot dry with cloth or paper towels. Spread out onto paper towels
or kitchen towel and thoroughly blot dry.
5. Wipe out empty bowl, return potatoes to bowl and toss with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil.

and add a little salt and pepper to taste so both sides are coated

6. Arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Cover tightly with

foil and bake 5 minutes.

7. Remove foil and continue to bake until bottoms of potatoes are spotty golden
brown, 15-20 min, rotating baking sheet after 10 min.
8. With spatula or tongs, loosen potatoes from pan, then flip each wedge, keeping
potatoes in single layer.
9. Continue baking until fries are golden and crisp, 5-15 min. longer, rotating pan
as needed if fries are browning unevenly.

And here were mine when they were done! 

These taste great sprinkled with malt vinegar, or for a delicious 

low fat Indian-inspired dip, try mixing:

1/2 c. Greek yogurt

1 crushed clove of garlic

1/2 tsp. yellow curry powder

dash of salt

1/4 tsp. sugar

Ok, so now is your mouth watering? Go ahead and give it a try-you won't be disappointed.

I Have An Announcement!

Hello again everyone! I wanted to express a huge thank you to all of you sweet followers and readers out there. I have been overwhelmed by the growth of this blog and all of the supportive
comments on my projects. I wouldn't be able to do it without you!

With that being said, I am excited to announce that I will now be offering sponsored advertising here at ReMadeSimple! I am committed to promoting businesses and sites that I feel would be relevant to  you and promise to always give my honest opinion when doing sponsored posts. For more details and rates, click here.

Also, I am looking forward to letting you know about a few amazing giveaways I have coming up in the next few weeks!

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple today! I hope you come back again soon for these giveaways and more frugal DIY projects and a few recipes coming that you won't want to miss!

Make Your Own Scratch-Off Valentine's Day Cards!

Hi everyone! Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and today I wanted to 

share with you a really cute homemade card idea I saw in my new issue of 

Better Homes and Gardens. It's the little things that amaze me and I was 

fascinated to find out you can make your own scratch-off paint with acrylic 

paint and dish soap! 

Now I haven't tried it yet, but finding this out raises the 

bar for creative card and thrifty gift ideas.  I can't wait to try making the paint 

myself along with some fun cards for all occasions.

Here are the instructions with a link to BHG and free templates:

Make this fun Valentine's Day card with our template and type in your date-night choices. To finish the card, follow the easy steps below.

1. Print the card onto cardstock and trim. Print the heart template and cut out, then cut a strip of clear Con-Tact paper long enough to make four hearts. Trace around the heart template on the paper side of the Con-Tact paper.

2. To make the scratch-off solution, mix 2 parts metallic acrylic paint with 1 part dishwashing liquid. Using a small, flat paintbrush, apply a thin coat of the scratch-off solution onto the front side of the Con-Tact paper and let dry for an hour. Repeat with a second coat, and add a third coat if your paint looks streaky.

3. Cut out the hearts (following the traced outline), peel off the backing, and place over the heart spaces on the card. Package the card with a new penny.

Get the card template.  >>

Hope you enjoyed this and thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! 

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Milk Jug Vellum

So, my last post showed you how I repurposed milk jug plastic into pretty garland.

 And I promised, the milk jug fun wasn't over-it has only just begun!

Here's another use for all that translucent plastic-introducing "milk jug vellum". 

That's right. Vellum-the pretty see-through paper you see on wedding

 invitations and cards that you can now make yourself. 

And feel good about being a little more "green".

Check out this short video to see how I did it! 

So, if you watched my video, you'll have an idea of what to do:

Here are the materials I used:

card stock or index cards

blank paper card

scissors

small paper cutter

yarn

rectangles of milk jug plastic

Dremel or hole punch

opaque marker

yarn needle

glue gun

First, I cut out rectangles out of my washed and dried milk jug.

(I wasn't worried about them being perfect at this point because I knew

my paper cutter would do the trick with smoothly cutting the edges).

Here I am cutting the straight lines to form a plastic rectangle.

Then, I cut a heart out of a pink index card.

In the video above, you will see the that I used my 

Dremel to drill small holes along the edge of the plastic.
(but you could also use a sharp hole punch). 

Then, I threaded my yarn needle and wove the yarn

through each hole to create a pretty border.

After glueing my heart to the center of the card, 

I hot glued my vellum with a dot on the back of each corner and
placed over the top. I finished my card by writing my message in 

opaque marker. "Be Mine".Pretty sweet! 

So, what do you think? Inspired or at least amused? 

I know vellum isn't expensive to buy at the store, but why not "reduce, reuse, and recycle" whenever you can? And make something beautiful.

(That's what I'm all about here at ReMadeSimple)

 Thanks for visiting and come back again soon. I have many more ideas to share! 

Linking up with these and this party.

Milk Jug Love

If you've been following along, you'll know how much I love to repurpose

and take recycling one step further than the bin by making creative

things from ordinary plastic, paper and bottles. 

So, that being said, I've been cutting out the circles from milk jugs 

for a few months now, because I think the translucent plastic pieces could 

become something really cool.

Weird, maybe. 

But I've been a "think outside the box" kind of person my whole life. 

(And I like being that way!)

So, my first milk jug project is inspired by the lovely day of

Valentine's day coming up. A thrifty little craft idea that is practically free! 

Here are the materials I used to make this project:

• milk jugs 
• scissors
• Dremel (or hole punch)
• white opaque marker
• twine

Featured on Remodelaholic!

When Cassidy of Remodelaholic contacted me about featuring my table redo, I was thrilled.
 If you're not familiar, Remodelaholic is a very cool blog where a husband and wife team
show you how they remodel houses on a very tight budget, keeping in mind reducing,
reusing, and recycling--just my style! I am a big fan.

If you've been following along, you might remember this post-it was a fun experiment with new paint technique that turned out so cool! And if you are visiting here for the first time, I hope you will take a tour and  look around at my other projects and tutorials and stay awhile! I hope you enjoy what you see here!
Here are a few photos of my project:

Click HERE to see the after results!