Holy crap delicious! Mini Fall Cheesecakes

One Sunday night we were hanging out with some friends and eating lots of dessert. 

Because calories don't count on Sundays. :)

I had made snicker-doodles and when my friend Tyrell bit into one she said "Holy crap that's delicious!" 

We laughed but I loved her expression!

So I thought it would be fun to share a "Holy Crap Delicious!" dessert here once a week. 

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!

This week is mini-perfect-for-fall cheesecake bites. 

Super easy and super good. 

I made 4 kinds.

Your basic strawberry topped cheesecake.

Pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake.

Layered Reeses cheesecake.

And dulce de leche cheese cake.

For all of these start with a Jello No Bake Cheesecake.

Prepare the crust first and spoon a spoonful into cupcake liners. 

Press until flat and even. 

Mix the filling.  

Pour the filling into a glass measuring cup or something similar and pour the the filling into the already prepared cupcake liners.

(Side note: The filling sets pretty quickly. It's easiest to add the mix ins when the filling is not liquid, not quite fully set.) 

Now add your fillings and mix ins. 

For the pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake I use can pumpkin and add some cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. (Your basic pumpkin pie spices.) 

The dulce de leche cheesecake is awesome. 

You can choose to use dulce de leche sauce or regular carmel sauce. 

Top them off with some bulls eye caramels. 

(You can find them at most Walgreens or Walmarts.)

The Reese's Cheesecakes are my personal favorite. 

You can also but a graham cracker crust on the bottom and then layer the Reese's on top. 

Num, num. num.

And keeping it simple with some fresh strawberries. 

Perfect size for bite size indulgence. :) 

so much to say, so little time part 5

Conversations with a 3 year old are fantastic.

#1. "Bless my baby sister Rad."

#2. "My sad heart says it needs ice cream." (Melodramatic much?)

#3. "I just want to be Rhett when I grow up." 

#4. "Mom, can I eat the green parrot in the kitchen?" (Translation, green pear.)

#5. "I want to get Dark Mater a present so he'll be happy." (Dark Mater = Darth Vader)

#6. "Rhett what's your full name?" "Black Rhett."

#7. "Mom, what's the heck?"

#8. "Dad say hi to my Batman." 

      "Hi Batman."

      "Dad he no can talk to you. He's a toy."

#9. "Dad this is my quadruped." (A quadruped is dinosaur that walks on 4 feet. Thank you Dinosaur Train.)

Numbers 2, 3, 6, and 7 are my favorite. :) 

Rhett and his "baby sister." 

(And yes, that is Rad's trusty blue spoon. He loves that blue spoon.)

PS. Thank you for indulging me when I share these! We laugh so hard when he we go back and read them and we don't want to forget any of these down the road. 

Click here to read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

5 easy steps to print and organize all your pictures

Ok people. 

Between our social media accounts, external hard drives, and camera phones I think we would all agree that 99% of those pictures are still in digital form.

I mean on my Facebook account alone I have about 70 albums and at least 1,000 miscellaneous  pictures.

And that's not even taking into count the pictures from my Nikon, saved to our computer. 

"Hi, my name is Julia and I have a picture hoarding problem."

 A little over  2 months ago, I started to think about what would happen if my Facebook account, or Instagram or even our hard drive, randomly shut down or got deleted. 

I could literally lose every picture.

Plus isn't there something so special and nostalgic about flipping through a photo album?

It's a beautiful way to show your family history.

So I decided to start at the beginning and just print them.

At first the idea overwhelmed me, but once I got into it, it really wasn't that hard - or that time consuming.

So here are 5 super easy steps to get your digital masses of pictures to print.

Step 1: Decide how you're going to want your pictures organized in the albums.

Since our boys look SO much alike as babies, for us it made sense to have an album (or multiple) for each boy so that we can keep their pictures straight. We also did an album for Jake and I. 

Step 2: Create new folders on your desktop, corresponding to the albums you want.

Having a separate folder for them will REALLY help when it comes time to order/print them. 

Step 3: Starting choosing your pictures. 

Although we have all of the pictures saved to our hard drive, I actually preferred to use our Facebook accounts to get most of them. 

Since they were already in "albums" on Facebook it just helped to make sure I wasn't missing any event or moment. 

I also went back through our hard drive and Instagram accounts. 

A note about printing from your Instagram!!

Since Instagram crops your pictures into a square and not a rectangle, if you go to a source outside of ones designed for printing from Instagram (like Walmart/Costco) your prints will come back missing the top portion of the image. They also can come back over pixilated if they have a heavy filter. 

Like this.

But don't worry!! 

If you want to print from Instagram click HERE for some great sources.  

PS If you are saving a printing more that 75-100 pictures/category I recommend starting a new folder for the additional prints to help keep everything organized.

Step 4: Submit your pictures for printing. 

Obviously there are ways to print from home, but if you are doing doing a ton of pictures, submitting them is a lot easier. 

I used Walmart Photo Center because their price for a 4X6 is .09 cents and Costco's price for a 4X6 is .13 cents. 

And Walmart will ship the prints to your house for free. 

Click HERE for the link to Walmart's photo center.

Click HERE for Costco's photo center. 

I ordered all my prints as 4X6s. Obviously there are some I want as bigger prints, but my goal was just to get them printed and in albums. 

When submitting your pictures, submitting several small orders rather that just one large order, will help ensure you get all the prints you want. I found that loading too many in one order meant that some didn't load correctly. 

Also each separate order (at least through Walmart's photo center) is boxed and mailed separately so if you are trying to keep pictures categorized that will help SO much, verse getting one large order and having all the prints mixed together.  And since shipping is free it's not a big deal! 

Step 5: Buy your albums and get your pictures in them! 

I had a hard time finding albums in the store. And actually so did the sales associates. 

Strangely enough, the photo albums were not in the photo section at Walmart. They were by the wedding stuff. Go figure. 

I found some basic black albums for 4X6s for $5 each.

 

When I ordered my pictures, I kept the orders separate for each person, but not by event. So when they arrived I had all of Rhett's pictures for example, but they were mixed birth through now. 

I didn't worry about getting them perfectly in chronological order.

For me it worked to separate them into three piles, baby, toddler and now. 

Depending on your family and your pictures three piles/categories seem to be an easy way to get some sense of chronological order without going crazy trying to get it exact. 

That's it!

But here are a few more tips.

1. OMG how will I EVER HAVE TIME TO DO THIS?!?!

Don't feel overwhelmed!! I did this over a week, whenever I had 15 minutes I would go through safe some pictures to the right folders and then come back to it later. It really was fun going back and seeing pictures we hadn't looked at in forever. 

2. This all sounds great, but what if I don't have it in my budget to print a bazallion pictures?

If your budget doesn't allow to print them all at once, don't stress! It's awesome that 4X6's are .09 cents. Total I spent about $65 to get the boy pictures printed (this included the albums) but I haven't printed the pictures of Jake and I yet. It wasn't in our budget, but at least now they are organized so when I go next month to get them printed, it will be just submitting them and getting them in the albums. 

3. So it's great that I'm now caught up, but what about all the pictures I'll be taking in the future?

What we are doing is every time we need to clear our phones to create more space, I put all the new pictures into new folders, one for each family member. We also clear our Nikon then too. Now that I'm caught up, it takes me less that 5 minutes to do organize them and I can spend some where between $5 and $10 a month on printing the most recent pictures so that we can enjoy them somewhere besides our computer screen. 

a sweet sweet settee, high boy and what would you do?

So one time I was at an auction and this settee came up for bid. 

I wasn't planning on buying it, but when the bidding started, well it actually...it didn't start.

The auctioneer (is that what they're called?) started the bidding and NO ONE raised a paddle. 

And I felt so bad for the settee! 

(I feel bad for Christmas trees that don't get bought so this is right in line with that kind of crazy.)

I didn't what it to feel left out, so I raised my paddle, and sealed the deal - for a whooping $50. 

Don't hate. :) 

At first I wasn't planning on keeping it, but one afternoon on a whim I hauled it out of the garage and into our front room.

Bingo! 

Our front room acts as our foyer/formal sitting/dining room and I want a little sitting area, but any couch-ish thing that we brought in had to be a very specific size. 

And this fits perfectly. 

I'm thinking of doing something like this inspired by Restoration Hardware. 

Not the deconstructed part, but the fabric and finish on the frame. Probably a lot lighter on the finish actually, but you get the idea. 

And of course with a double welt. A double welt is always best. :) 

I found a similar fabric HERE. 

Don't you think it would look great with our future dark walls?!

Now let's move onto the highboy. 

This was a local Craiglists score. 

But I'm torn on what to do with it. 

I'm thinking a chippy Olive Green with some chunky mercury glass or brass knobs.

via

1/2/3/4

Or some English Yellow with off  antique white drawer details and some tortoise shell knobs. 

paint/knobs 

Or what about a rich, vibrant blue with chunky wood knobs?

blue 1/ blue 2

What do you think? 

Green, yellow, blue or something else entirely??

too cool for preschool

About 3 years ago I wrote this post on our old family blog. 

According to my calculations back then, Rhett had approximately 821 days till he started preschool. 

It's funny how vividly I remember how hard and long that day was.

PS Doesn't little Rhett look just like Rad?? 

Dang our genetics are consistent.

Anyway Rhett started preschool about a month ago. 

He picked out his outfit the first day. Anyone surprised by the batman shirt? I'm not. 

Whenever someone in our family leaves we say "Where's my kiss?!" and a kiss must be given. 

The post preschool pickup reunion. Be still my heart!

Rhett loves preschool. He has always been ridiculously social. He loves anything that moves and that will interact with him. We started him in a one morning a week play school when he was 18 months so the transition to two mornings a week of preschool was seamless. 

I love being his momma, being his world. But at the same time nothing makes me happier than seeing his little world expand and watching him grow and learn. 

I really believe in the idea of being a secure base for my kids. I will always be there for them. I'm not going anywhere. And as they grow I will let them explore on their own, to wander a little farther and then come running back when they need me. If they go too far, I will go to them. And we'll start over. Together. 

Rhett I am so proud of the little boy you have become. I am so proud of your limitless ability to find the fun in life. I am so proud of your innocence. I am so proud of tender heart and your desire to explore. I am so proud of you being you. I am so proud of your bravery and confidence in your ability. I am so proud of the million times a day you ask "why?" and "how come?". You are an awesome preschooler. 

And to finish this somehow-turned-sentimental-mushy-momma-post, some preschool wisdom from the preschooler himself:

"Miss Debbie is my teacher LADY."

"I taught the chickens my ninja moves." (His teacher has chickens.)

"Mom, preschool is my favorite. But the letter Ds not my favorite."

"Miss Debbie said no sharing my booger." 

"I'm a big puzzle man."

"Don't worry mom, I wore my wonderpants (underpants) all day at preschool." (He's kind of a nudist at heart...)

"At preschool we do lots of preschool stuff because we go to preschool and it's just preschool."

PS I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't loving the couple of hours of alone time I have with Rad/alone time I have for myself because Rad naps most of preschool time/can I get a hallelujah chorus? Thanks. :)   

ramble jamble: things I said coming out of anesthesia

A compilation of wisdom from post surgery and the following days on lots of pain drugs.

"My doctor, he looks like Bradley Cooper. But I told him I like Ryan Gosling better."

"Nobody gets yellow paint today!"

"Are you having a wonderful day?" (to the nurse. apparently I asked her several times.)

"Where's my Jake? I NEED MY JAKE!"

"Oh you're my Jake. Are you going to leave me?"

"Shhhh. Jake. My mom got you suitcases for Christmas. Shhhh."

"We need to send a message in a bottle to Aunt Tina. About the strawberries."

"It's night time. Yes. It's definitely night time. Did you know it's night time? It's definitely night time."

When asked how my foot felt. "Oh. Don't worry. The squirrels are massaging it." 

When my mom gave me a shirt as a present. "You got me a shirt?! (start to cry) I don't have a shirt for you! You want a shirt from my closet?"

"I just love Tyrell." (she's my best bud.)

And of course what "coming out of anethesia" moment would be totally complete without a charming video. By the ever supportive husband.

PS. Don't judge my mullet-ish hair, lack of make up, random lizard and PPS. the sheets were in the laundry.

Rhett and his "boot."

This may officially be my coolest scar. The rest are from shaving. :/

Check out my scar and a guest post: a child's dress up box

Hey all!

So apparently I'm the worlds biggest pansy, because the whole foot surgery thing really knocked me off my feet.

(Literally and figuratively. :))

But now I have a cool scar.

Check it.

Not gonna lie, I never thought I'd show a picture of my foot on this blog...and it probably won't happen again. Sorry if that disappoints anyone. ;)

(The dark spot around it is the last of the bruising.)

Anyway the surgery, combined with our lovely children simultaneously deciding to get sick and then not sleep through the night, have left Jake in I in a slightly zombie-fied state.

So I'm really grateful for Eva from Home Decor emailing me and asking if I would like her to guest post.

She's created a cute idea of turning an old suitcase into a dress-up box for your kiddos.

Read on to see her ideas and thank you again Eva!

I'll be back on Monday. :)

------------------------------------------------------------

Hello 551 East Furniture Design Readers, I am Eva Stephen from Home Décor and am glad to be here to share my tutorial for a dressing-up box for children’s rooms! Julia has been kind enough to invite me to share my insight with you lot! I really hope you like this and try it for your children, because they sure will love it!

Happy reading!

xoxo

DIY: DRESSING-UP BOX PROJECT FOR CHILDREN'S ROOM

My niece loves dressing up; she has really taken after her aunt. She wanted to be a bride for the whole year after I got married. So fairy wings, princess dresses, pirate hats, cat costumes and tiaras can be found all over the house! They need to be stored somewhere, but don't all these fairy-tale costumes deserve something a little more special than the average plastic tidy box? Also, this project can be used for a boy’s room too, by selecting the appropriate cloth it may be used for storing space ships, pirate treasures and weapons!

I however have directed this for a girl’s room; I made her a beautiful dress up chest so she could feel like an actual princess dressing up her in chambers! Before our little adventure, you can see she was just stacking up her dress-up stuff on an old drawer cabinet from Shop4Furniture, which I plan on using to create a nice coat rack (that too of course with a fairy-tale theme!-nothing goes to waste when I work!)

Part-treasure chest, part-tidy box, part-somewhere-extra-to-sit, this old steamer trunk fits the bill perfectly.  This one was salvaged from a dark and dusty corner of my parent's attic, but you can pick them up cheaply online, or if you’re lucky you might come across a great thrift find!

 I love the beautiful details and rustic colors.

 You will need:

·         Cleaning cloths/ brushes

·         Strong craft glue + brush

·         Dubbin or leather treatment

·         Clear, matt varnish

·         Sharp craft knife

·         Approx. 3m lining fabric (this will vary according the size of your trunk)

·         Sharp scissors

·         Iron

·         Dressmakers' chalk

·         Staple gun

·         A lot more craft glue!

·         Felt pads (optional)

 1.      Clean

The first job is to determine what condition the trunk is in and decide how much of a renovation job you want to make of it.  For instance, do you want to give the metal clasps and fixings a polish with Brasso to restore their shine? (I've chosen not to here) Do you want to paint or varnish the exterior?

No doubt the leather will need some care, so clean that up and apply some conditioner or dubbin.

Give the exterior a good clean: a soft brush and a gentle scrub with a cloth and some warm, soapy water should be good enough to prepare the surface.

2. If painting, remove labels

If you fancy painting the trunk, instead of simply varnishing it like the one shown here, you'll need to remove any exterior labels and stickers at this point and apply a primer (like Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3) and a couple of coats of your desired shade.

As you can see, I couldn't quite bring myself to remove these little testimonies to the trunk's well-travelled past; for me, it seemed a shame to paint over the timeworn charm and character.

3. Varnish

 If you decide to go for the 'maintaining its full shabby charm' look, paste down any peeling labels and fraying fabric edges to create a good, flat surface on which to apply the varnish. It is a good idea to dab a layer of varnish over each label before applying the first full coat of varnish. This gives them a little bit of extra protection and ensures that the inks don't run when you brush across them using more vigorous strokes later.

I'm a big fan of Bonar Naturale clear varnish as it gives a really nice barely-there kind of finish. 3 coats are probably enough, but don't skimp because in a kids room - especially for an item like a dressing up chest - it is going to get a lot of wear. A resilient wipe-clean finish is going to be worth the effort of a few extra coats now!

 

4. Remove old lining

More often than not, the lining in these trunks is ripped, fraying, and showing signs of damp or mildew - generally a bit grubby and smelly! It's going to need replacing before you store all those lovely dressing-up clothes in the trunk.

To do this, you'll first need to carefully remove the brackets and tacks holding the lining in place. Put them in a safe place so you can replace them later. Using a sharp craft knife, carefully cut out and remove the lining.

5. Select a replacement lining fabric

This is going to depend on the look you've gone for on the trunk exterior. A brightly painted trunk might suit a lovely vibrant contrasting shade or cheerful pattern inside.

 

For this renovation, I've chosen a lovely muted-hues rose motif (Sudbury Rose by Linen Union, available from Tinsmiths). A thick furnishing fabric like this is ideal for ensuring that the glue you use later doesn't come through the fabric.

 

6. Cut fabric to size

Now comes the tricky part! You're going to need to mark out or make a pattern for the pieces.  And, most likely, they won't be regular shapes since the trunk will have warped and bowed over time. You can trace the shapes for the pattern on to paper first, then transfer to the fabric, once you're happy you've got it right. Or, if you're feeling brave, directly on to the fabric using dressmakers' chalk.

You will need 4 smaller rectangular end pieces plus two larger rectangles (1 for the top and 1 for the bottom).

Carefully cut pieces to size, allowing a generous border which will be folded under at each edge to hide the staples (it also gives you a bit of extra allowance for any measuring mistakes!). Fold and iron the hems.

7. Staple top and base pieces in place

For the long rectangles, place the fold of the hem along the front edge of the base of the trunk. Hold or pin in place. Flip the fabric over and, using your staple gun, staple the hem down all along the edge. Flip the fabric back over and smooth it down the wall of the trunk, across the bottom and up the back of the trunk, until you match the opposite hem to the edge at the back of the base.

Repeat the process, carefully stapling under the fabric to secure the hem of your piece to the edge of the trunk with no staples visible.

If you don't have a staple gun, you can use tacks instead. Push the tacks through the hem whilst the fabric is the wrong way out and hammer them in through the top layer of fabric, so they are not visible.

8. Attach end pieces

Use the same technique you used before to staple or tack the hem to the inside edge of the trunk under the fabric.  

Then glue these pieces straight into place, sticking the hem allowance on the other three edges flat so it follows the inside edge of the trunk and is glued on to the walls of the trunk.

Secure the hem with staples to the walls and base / top. It doesn't matter that you can see these staples, because they will soon be covered by the large rectangular panels.

9. Glue top and base pieces

The rough edges of the hem allowance for each end piece and the staples will now be covered with the large rectangles you've secured to the inside edge of the trunk at each end.  A good, strong craft glue will stick these down securely enough. Apply the glue under the fabric and press down firmly, making sure not to create any wrinkles!

10. Replace interior fixings

It's looking pretty good now... all that's left to do is carefully replace the brackets and any other fixings you took out and put to one side earlier.

It is a good idea to add some canvas straps to prevent the lid opening fully, especially if it's going into a kid's room. It limits the damage they can do a little! For this, cotton canvas webbing is ideal. Alternatively, sew some straps made from rectangles of your lining fabric. Again, the size for this will vary according to the size of your trunk.

  

 

11. Add felt stoppers

If the trunk will be used on a wooden or laminate floor, add some adhesive felt pads to the base to prevent scratches.

12. Remember the golden rule

You've laboured hard and it looks great. Go ahead and feel proud of yourself! Now say goodbye to it.

Of course, you want children to treasure your handiwork and look after their new dressing-up box, and most likely they will. But it is always worth remembering my mother-in-law's golden rule: don't give them anything you don't mind getting broken!

 Are your children Potter fans, they will love if you keep a Hogwart's style Halloween feast this year, read my Potter inspired Ideas and do share some of your own!