projectqueen.org

Evangel Home Office Phase 1

Thanks to all of you who dug into your pocketbook and donated to
Joyce’s office renovation at the
Evangel Home.

Carrie and I have spent the last two weeks working there and it was an amazing experience!

Joyce is thrilled with her office and we were so excited to show it to her.

You can see the BEFORE pics of Joyce’s office here.

Our first priority for Joyce’s office was lighting. The only lighting she had was a lamp on her desk. She did have natural light from a window, but not enough to make her workspace a well lit area to work in! I don’t know how she did it during the winter. Fresno gets some really cold, foggy, dreary days. She must have been sitting in the dark!

Carrie has a friend who is an electrician that was nice enough to install 4 canned lights, a new electrical outlet and a new light in the closet.

Can you see the canned lights? They made a HUGE difference in the room.
When we asked Joyce what color she would like on the walls, she said, “I can see cool gray or blue in here.”
So gray it was.

The electrician had to go through the wall to “pull” electricity from the light switch.
We had to patch the hole up too!
I’ll show you how it was done in another post.

We replaced the baseboards.

My awesome hubby painted the baseboards.

Shelves were built in the closet so Joyce could store all her goodies.
A tall, 4 drawer file cabinet will go in on the left hand-side of the closet.

Here are some of our thrift store goodies.

This sweet little round table was free.
We found it in the Evangel House donation room.

This is our $7 bench. I had a vision

Our $12 chair.
Easy upholstery job!

Baskets we will paint with spray paint.
They will look fabulous painted gray.

I’ll be back soon to show you more…

Leave a Comment

Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe Round-Up

As much as I love the way my mom taught me to make Corned Beef and Cabbage (just boiled in a big ol’ pot),
I’m going to branch out this year and try something new.
Which one might you try?
I’m still deciding… they all look delicious!

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
Family Fresh Meals

Shepherd’s Pie
Holy Cannoli Recipes

Cabbage Stew
Preparedness Pro

Corned Beef Cabbage Turnovers
Recipe Girl

Corned Beef and Cabbage Calzones
Reader’s Digest

Corned Beef and Cabbage Salad
Relish

Corned Beef and Cabbage Hash
Deep South Dish

Scalloped Corned Beef and Cabbage
Rachael Ray Magazine

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup
Skinny Taste

Corned Beef and Cabbage Pizza
Seeded At the Table

Corned Beef and Cabbage Patties
Adora’s Box

Easy Corned Beef and Cabbage
Paula Deen

Leave a Comment

Shades Of Light – Amazing Lighting

Recently, I happened to see an advertisement that caught my eye called “Shades of Light“.

I clicked on it and WOWZERS!!!

What a pleasant and amazing surprise to see the assortment and unusual selection of lighting!

Have I been under a rock and all of you know about it????

I immediately ordered a catalog to be sent to my home and I got it 3 days later!

I love chandeliers… here are some pretty unusual ones that I wanted to share with you.

Italian Antique Reproduction Acanthus & Tassel Chandelier

De Vine Wood Ball Chandelier

Industrial Cage Work Light Chandelier
LOVE THESE!

Naturally Superior Twig Chandelier

Dripping Crystal Shade Chandelier

Tulip Basket Lantern

Natural Oyster Shell Chandelier

Jute Wrapped Cage Table Lamp

Twisted Root Branch Candlestick Lamp

Quatrefoil Wooden Panel Sconce

Aren’t they amazing????

I have to confess that some of them I wouldn’t put in my home,
but under the right conditions, they would be perfect!

I promise I’m not getting paid for this post .

Have a wonderful day!

Leave a Comment

How to Make a Chore Chart System For Your Children – Part 2

One of the more popular posts I have done is

How to Make a Chore Chart System For Your Children.

Since there has been so much interest on the subject, I decided to do a part 2!

I have learned that with my boys, they love it when I switch things up.

Anything to make chores fun, right?????

These were my favorites.

This ice cream cone chore chart is adorable for preschoolers.

Fifth & Hazel

This is a fun way to liven up the chores.

LDS

I am definitely going to make these.

Crafty Soccer Mom

If you just want to make a basic printable chore chart, this is an easy site to make one and it’s free!

DLTK’s Custom Chore Charts

If you are not sure what chores are appropriate for which age, I found this fabulous printable.

It not only designates what chores are appropriate, but also gives a goal of life skills to teach at certain ages!
Busy Kids Happy Mom

For those of you that prefer an online chore/behavior reward system, here is a fun app I found.

Jo Frost Rewards – aka Super Nanny (also available for Android)

You can add the names of your children, chores, behavior and rewards and then assign points to everything! If your kids are tech savvy like mine, it might be a great option. If your children are like my oldest, they can probably set the whole thing up for you too! My boys love this way of tracking their chores.

Lastly, if you are looking for a great chore chart for mommy this is my favorite!!

Motivated Moms

Motivated Moms keeps me on track for those days when I don’t feel very disciplined. I’ve used the print out version and now I have the app for my phone and I love it!!! Yes, even moms need chore charts, at least this mom does.

I am going to let you in on a little secret…

I am a horrible housekeeper,

ssshhh don’t tell anyone

(Don’t worry my husband already knows!)

So this little gem has come in quite handy. At least it gives me a place to start and I love checking off the little boxes!

I hope you found some new ideas to motivate you.

I know I did.

Spring is just around the corner, time for the cleaning to begin!!!

Thanks Mandy for having me!!

1 Comment

Gingersnap Cookies

You are in for a treat!!!

These are the BEST cookies.

They are sooo easy and turn out sooo pretty every single time I make them.

The odds are good people!

I’ve been making them since I was 12 years old.

They NEVER disappoint.

They melt in your mouth with a spot of Chamomile Tea.

To die for.

So make a double batch.

Gingersnap Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening or cooking oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup sugar (for rolling balls in)

1. In a mixing bowl combine about 1/2 of the flour, the brown sugar, shortening, molasses, egg, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed till thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour.

2. Shape dough into 1-in balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or untill set and tops are crackled. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes about 48.

2 Comments

Chicken Tikka Masala

Lately, I cannot cook worth a darn. It is pathetic.
The only thing that comes out good is when I make cookies.

Because we cannot live on cookies alone I have to keep trying, trying, trying. Ugh.

My problem? I’m so burned out from 23 years of having dinner
on the table at 6:00.
My husband teases me about not having to cook for an army anymore.
I seriously do not know how to cook for 2 people.
Nor, do I want to cook at all anymore….
but we won’t tell him that.
What’s wrong with a bowl of cereal for dinner?
Hmmmmm?

I decided not to give up.
I also decided not to make a kid friendly meal,
and go all out and try my favorite Indian dish.

Chicken Tikka Masala.

I found this recipe from Chef in Training.
She has some great recipes!

Give this one a try… I think you will like it.

Chicken Tikka Masala

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cayenne pepper2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp salt

Sauce
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 jalapeno pepper (finely chopped)
(I used 2 Tbsp of chopped, canned jalapeno, because I didn’t want to have to mess with a real jalapeno and gloves, etc)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream

(My husband and I like more sauce to go over our rice, so the next time I make it I will double the sauce part of the recipe)

Step 1
Cut chicken breasts up into bite size pieces and toss in a large zip lock bag. Set aside.

Step 2
In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, black pepper, ginger and salt. Stir to thoroughly combine.

Step 3
Pour into zip lock bag with chicken. Seal tight and shake and move chicken in bag to evenly coat. Place in fridge and marinate at least one hour.

Step 4
After chicken has marinated for at least an hour, dump into large frying pan (marinade included) and cook on medium-high heat until chicken is done and cooked through.

Step 5
Place chicken in strainer and let remaining marinade drip off. DO NOT rinse.

Step 6
In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Add in finely diced jalapenos and minced garlic and saute for 1 minute.

Step 7
Next, add the cumin, paprika and salt. Stir to evenly combine.

Step 8
Add tomato sauce and heavy cream to sauce pan. Stir to evenly combine. Once the sauce has started to bubble, turn heat down to low and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally so cream does not burn on the bottom.

Step 9
Add chicken to sauce and stir to evenly coat and combine. Let simmer a little more if needed until sauce is thickened.

Serve over Jasmine Rice and Garlic Naan (both of these can be found in the freezer section at Trader Joe’s).

Serves 4

♥Enjoy♥

I’m sharing with these great parties!

1 Comment

A Dollhouse Tutorial You Are Gonna Love

I’m honored to share a special project that Susan

from Second Chances by Susan shared on her blog last month.

When I saw her amazing dollhouse that she made for her granddaughter,

I fell in love.

I was flooded with memories of my own childhood dollhouse.

I never tire from looking at all of the items and details

that Susan used to make this special for her granddaughter.

I need a granddaughter to make one of these for….

oh heck, maybe I’ll make one for ME!

Take it away Susan!

Where does the time go? I can’t believe it’s been two months since my last post. It’s not like I’ve been sitting around doing nothing. Actually, just the opposite which makes it hard to fit in time for blogging. I thought I would share something that took a good chunk of my time prior to Christmas. My granddaughter wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. They live about 900 miles away and don’t have enough room in the car to bring home a full-sized doll house, so after spotting this great idea I decided to make something similar. Instead of using three-ringed binders for the structure, I went with thrifted double album covers. I got them for 10¢ each.

I needed four double album covers for the project, and a couple of single covers as well. The first thing I did was to place white duct tape down the outside and inside spine of each double cover, making sure to fold the tape over the top edges. I then placed two covers together and taped along the top and right edges. I left the bottom edge untaped for the time being. I did this with all four covers so that, when finished, they were all connected together and would create four rooms when standing up and open (see one of the following pictures.)

The next step (which is an addition to the original idea) was to add a floor to each room. I did this by taking apart the single covers, cutting them down slightly, and taping them to the bottom of each double cover. I taped them along the top edge (of the floor) to the front and the back. After taping, I folded the floor up and closed the cover to make sure it was going to fit okay. If the fit was okay, I finished taping around the rest of the floor edges. I did the same to each “room” of the doll house.

When I was all finished taping, it looked like this with all the edges covered with duct tape.

The next step was to decide on what scrapbooking paper I was going to use for the walls and floors of each room. I adhered them all with mod podge, letting each room dry before moving onto the next.

The finished doll house folds like this when its not being played with.

Before I go further, I thought I would mention that I entertained the idea of cutting 12 x 12 squares of masonite for the doll house, which would make it pretty sturdy. I opted for the album covers because they were recycled and lightweight. But, they do warp a little when applying mod podge to them. So do what you want with that little bit of information!

Anyway, now for an overall tour of the house before I get into more of the furniture details.

The bathroom and bedroom.

The bedroom and living room.

The living room and kitchen.

The kitchen and bathroom.

The bathroom started with these thrifted pieces…a tub-shaped soap dish, a small ceramic dish, and a candle holder. I didn’t have to do anything to the tub. I spray painted the candle holder white and glued the dish on top to create the sink. I used E-6000 for all of the furniture gluing.

I used a vintage crocheted pot holder for a rug. All of the images were found on the internet, resized, printed, cut, and mod podged into place.

The family room was created from an old wooden box, two candle holders, and an acrylic dessert cup. (I didn’t end up using the wooden piece…probably because I couldn’t find it at the time!) The lamp was easy. All I had to do was turn the dessert cup upside down and glue it to the top of the candle stick. The ottoman was just a matter of gathering a circle of scrap leather around some batting and gluing in place. The couches were a bit trickier. I removed the hinges, ran the front edge of the lid through the table saw to barely cut of the front edge. I had to run the base of the box through the table saw to make it the same height as the lid, then cut off the front edge and put a new bottom on it. Once they were the same size, I glued some decorative wood pieces to the bottom for feet. I completed them by making little cushions and pillows.

The drapes, plasma tv, fireplace, basket, and plants are all images from internet.

The bedroom began with a wire napkin holder, picture frame, and air freshener. I sprayed the bed pieces white. I then drilled holes through the wooden frame and wired it to the head of the bed. (I actually turned the napkin holder upside down.) I removed the board of the picture frame, drilled small holes spaced alternately, then covered it with batting and green fabric. I then pushed white brads through the fabric and holes and secured them to the back. This created a tufted look for the headboard.

I removed the air freshener liquid from the lamp, made a mattress, pillows, and cover for the bed, and mod podged some coordinating paper to a cute little trunk. I pulled a thrifted doily from my stash to use as a rug. Once again, the images were from the internet.

The kitchen was a lot of fun. The furniture was pretty easy. It consisted of four wooden salt and pepper shakers (two not shown), a pedestal candle base, and a ceramic trivet. I glued the trivet to the candle base to create the table. If you’re worried about it breaking, you could use a cute lid from a metal canister instead. I cut the tops off of the shakers. Originally, I was going to make a padded cover for them, but went super simple by gluing a canning lid to the top of each and adding a scalloped paper medallion to the top with mod podge.

The fun part was finding all the cute images to glue to the walls. Another thrifted doily makes a cute rug.

An aerial view of the kitchen gives you an idea of how the house stands when its open.

This project did take quite a bit of time (especially waiting for the mod podge to dry) but it was fun. Everything but the canning lids, scrapbook paper, duct tape, and air freshener lamp was thrifted.

And, the best part is that my granddaughter loved it!

Thank you so much Susan for sharing your amazing project.

1 Comment

Simple Valentine’s Day Treats

I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s Day.

I love the colors. I love the sweets.

I have fond memories as a child giving and receiving valentine’s.

As a teenager, I hated it.

If you had a boyfriend or a secret admirer,

you received a rose during one of your classes.

A total bummer if you weren’t a “popular” girl.

As an adult, I’ve told my husband,

“Do NOT bring me flowers on a day that the calendar says to bring me flowers.”

He understands.

I usually get them the day AFTER Valentine’s Day .

Here are some goodies that would be great to whip up for your little valentine or

your BIG Valentine on Valentine’s Day

in our case,

the day after.

ValentineTreatCollage

1. Valentine’s Chocolate Chip Cookies from Itsy Bitsy Paper Blog

2. Valentine’s Marshmallows On a Stick from Apple Valley Girl

3. Valentine’s Brown Sugar Blondies from Baked Perfection

4. Valentine’s Dipped Rice Krispie Hearts from Cooking On the Side

5. Valentine’s Pretzel Buttons from Griffith’s Rated

6. Valentine’s Chocolate Dipped Oreos from Your Home Based Mom

7. Strawberry Valentine’s Chex Mix from Butter With A Side Of Bread

1 Comment

Simple Handmade Valentine’s For Girls

Here are some great Valentine’s Day ideas for the little girls in your life.

I’ve had so much fun looking at all the different ideas.

Hope these get your creative juices flowing.

ValentineGirlscollage

1. Valentine Bracelet from Whip Up

2. Valentine Rock Candy Headphones from Spoonful

3. Valentine Hair Barrett from Write From Karen

4. Valentine PomPom from Tangled Happy

5. Valentine Fairy from Creative Works For Children

6. Valentine Ring Bling from Mom On Time Out

Leave a Comment

Evangel Home Project

I’m so excited to be sharing a special project that my sweet friend (Carrie) and I are tackling within the next few months.

We are calling it:

The Evangel Home Project.

Carrie literally stumbled upon this special place one morning.

Carrie says:

“I felt drawn to volunteer at the Evangel Home after it kept “showing up on my radar screen.” (Love how God does that.) First, I read about the shelter in a local magazine, then I heard it mentioned in church, then I happened to hear their short radio program one Saturday morning while driving. On the program, they were celebrating a young woman who had just graduated from the program. She said her favorite class was the “Boundaries” class. I was impressed by the fact that the Evangel Home doesn’t merely “house and feed women” they help change the course of their lives. This resonated with me because I believe that simply giving someone food and shelter isn’t enough to begin a change in the broken lives of hurting women and their innocent children.

Shortly after relocating to the downtown area, I was taking a walk and I looked over and there was a sweet little old house with a pink door with a sign that read “Evangel Home.” I felt the Lord gently nudging me to find out about this place. And so I did.

I remember feeling nervous the day I went to meet Joyce, the Volunteer Coordinator. After she showed me around, I confided in her that I wasn’t sure why I was there. We chatted for a bit and she described some of the various volunteer positions. She wondered if I would answer phones one day a week. For some reason that just didn’t sound right to me. Somehow our conversation moved to the fact that I love doing decorating projects with one of my dearest friends. I told her that Mandy and I love to take thrift store finds and redo homes on a tight budget.

Then she got excited, “Oh! We have a studio apartment that is in big need of updating.” She took me into the apartment and I saw the dingy little kitchen, the awful white walls and the outdated linoleum floor. I got so excited. ”This is what I want to do! I want to redo this apartment!” She was so appreciative. As we walked back into her office to discuss the details of when I would start the project I started noticing the office she had brought me into. I asked her if by any chance I could do her office too? Her face lit up. She could hardly contain herself. She said, “Oh can I pinch you? Are you for real? Oh I’m so excited, so excited.” She said all this while doing a little dance and hugging me. Then, she shared a little of her story and with each word she shared, I realized why God had brought me here.”

We are going to begin with Joyce’s office.

Joyce is a petite woman with a big heart.

She smiles and laughs and loves her work at the shelter.

Joyce spent 28 days in the shelter in 1989 after life threw her a “curve ball” and she found herself homeless. After that she realized that she wanted to be a part of this life-changing ministry that had helped her at such a crucial time. She came on staff as the Volunteer Coordinator and has worked there to date.

Joyce’s favorite part of her job is working with all the various volunteers who come to bless the Evangel Home. Her office is full of hand-drawn notes of love for her and photos of some of her most precious memories. Joyce is respected and loved by co-workers, volunteers and women and children who live at the Evangel Home. Joyce’s only request was for her office to be a warm and welcoming place to interview and meet with the volunteers.

Carrie and I have big plans for Joyce’s office.

If you would like to be part of this project, we would appreciate your prayers and/or a small monetary donation. The Evangel Home is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit corporation and all gifts are tax deductible. Year-end receipts are sent upon request. The only source of income that the Evangel Home receives is through tax deductible donations. They do not receive any government agency funds. If you would like to know more about the Evangel Home, please visit their website at www.evangelhome.org. If you would like to make a donation on line, you can do so quickly and easily by clicking HERE. An address is also provided on the same page, if you would like to send a check.

PLEASE NOTE: The only way that the donation will be ear-marked for our project is if you clearly state on your donation or check, “OFFICE PROJECT”.

♥Thank you so much!♥

CARRIE & MANDY

I’m linking to: