Almost There

Little by little I am working on my 'list' from the beginning of the year...  It just takes me awhile to blog about it!  I've also been diligently checking off assignments and internship requirements as I finish up my masters degree in community counseling.  *Sigh.  It feels like it has been a long time coming, but then, at the same time, it feels as though it has gone by fast.  At the end of this semester I will be finished with my coursework, and only be left with post-degree requirements before I am able to sit for the licensure exam (another 2 years away).  Perhaps another post will be dedicated to the ends-&-outs of these requirements, but for now all you need to know is that I am... almost there!! :)  Next week I will be fine-tuning my resume in hopes to start applying for counseling positions to start in May.  I will keep you posted about that process.

Now back to this list of mine, & the non-graduate work that I have been doing :)  

I actually made this first project over Christmas break.  I've had an empty frame hanging in my kitchen for some time now (don't get me wrong- I love the empty-frame look; however, they tend to make sense and be cuter among other empty frames...not just one).  So, I was intrigued when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I was truly inspired!  I went with my friend, Tracy, to Hobby Lobby and found the supplies I needed, wire & cute little antique paperclips!  Using the Hubster's handy staple gun I attache the wire to the back of the frame.  I then added Christmas cards to it (as it was Christmas time when I made this).

Here's what it looked like...

I recently received my cousin, Em's wedding save-the-date in the mail and instantly wanted to put it on display!  (SO happy for Em & Michael!!).  I went ahead and changed the display in my frame, and I absolutely love how it turned out!!  I intend to continue to update it with thank-yous, wedding invites, baby announcements, and what-not!  SO fun!


Here's what it looked like after I did the 'switch-a-roo'...

& Here's a little close-up of my cousin's save-the-date!  You can also see the tiny antique paperclips I was talking about.  This save-the-date is such a cute idea! The date shows up in the background as if it is on the old theater sign!  Em, have I told you yet that I am excited for you?  Ah!  Can't wait!

 

 

I have also tried a new recipe that I originally found on Pinterest!  It's called Mexican Baked Eggs, and it was absolutely delicious~ and especially SPICY (which I love)!! 

 Mine did not turn out as 'fancy' as the one pictured in the link above, but it was still tastey ;) This is what mine looked like...

Though this dish was technically a breakfast dish, we had it for dinner so whatevs :)  Oh yeah, & the Huster approved!  (That is always a plus!)

Another thing that I have been trying to make room for is helping my friend, Lindsay, decorate her kid's bedroom.  As I mentioned with my list from the beginning, her & her husband are expecting a baby boy this summer!  Not only that, her little girl, Olivia, will be turning 2!  (I can hardly believe it!)  With that being said, Olivia will be needing a 'big girl' bed to sleep in, and her brother will be taking over her crib.  Lindsay is planning to have them share a room so we've gotten together to brainstorm ideas to make that possible.  

Lindsay was not sure she wanted to buy a new comforter set for Olivia, and we tried to brainstorm what we could do with her twin size grey duvet cover.  We decided to use fun fabrics to make a flower print on the duvet, and then Lindsay would use the rest of the fabric to make some cute throw pillows for the bed.

So far we've taken a trip to cute little fabric store in Bloomington, IN called Shiisa Quilts.  They carried some cute & unique fabrics!  We were able to pick out some fabrics for Olivia's portion of the room.  And after brainstorming ideas Lindsay put this together...

Here's a picture of me with the little princess, Olivia, herself!  So cute!  

We still need to work on the nursery side of the room, and add a few finishing touches/stitches to Olivia's duvet cover & pillows, BUT... we are ALMOST THERE!!!  ;) 

Love,  Bekah

Rick~Rack & Recipes

One of my goals for this year is to make birthday presents as much as possible.  This is something that I have been making steps towards since last year (as you've noticed in my previous post).  So far this year, my niece, Claire, has turned 3!   Her birthday was on January 15th.  I was inspired by this pin for her gift idea, yet I wanted to add my own 'touch' to it.  Though my gift did not reach her in time, I stuck with it and made her gift.

Here's what I did...

I painted a base coat of white acrylic onto an 8x10 canvas.

I then taped a piece of pink tissue paper to a regular sheet of printer paper and printed a copy of the picture I wanted to use of me & Claire.  After that I mod-podged the tissue paper picture onto the canvas.  This part was rather difficult since the tissue paper is so delicate.  I actually had to do this step over because the piece ripped.  I found that using a foam brush is very helpful when applying the mod-podge.

The next part is where my special 'touch' comes in.  I wanted to make the piece more fun by adding modeling paste around the edges of the picture to add texture, and then using the opposite end of a paintbrush to make little hearts around the picture.

I let the modeling paste dry for about a day, and then I used watercolor paints to add some color.  This really helped the texture and hearts to 'pop'!  Of course, I used pink... I was told that was the little princess' favorite color :)

Next, I had some fun defining the hearts with charcoal and sharpie scribbles.  This also added to the texture piece.  To continue with the heart theme, I added a stamped message at the bottom corner of the piece.  I found these stamps a few years ago at Hobby Lobby; I absolutely love them and use them on almost everything I make ;)

My final step was to finish the edge of the piece.  I decided to paint the edge black with a simple acrylic paint.  Once that dried, I used my hot glue gun to add the pink rick-rack.   She received it last week (I know, I know... a little late), but it seemed to be worth it!  My sister texted me a picture of Claire with her gift and told me that she said, "Mom I need some tape so that I can hang this in my room."  So precious!  With her sister, Adrienne's, birthday coming up in March and her brother, Shelden's, in April I had better get started on their gifts for this year! 

Another one of my goals is to try new recipes and post about ones that we've enjoyed.  I wanted to start this journey off by first adding some of our favs.  We really like fish, and I've found a quick and easy recipe that I have used and it seems to get good results (aka... the Hubster approves!).  This recipe is for Flounder, but we have also used a similar version on Tilapia.  Here are some pictures of this delicious dish!  The first is of the fish before they were baked.  The second shows the finished product along with a fresh spinach salad.

I sometimes like to make my own salad dressings as well.  For this salad, I made a lemon pepper salad dressing since there was lemon pepper seasoning on the fish.  It went really well with the main dish!

Here's a picture of my fun little dressing mixer from pampered chef!  Love this thing!

The next dish is another favorite, enchilada casserole! The only thing that I did different in this recipe is that I used refried black beans rather than refried pinto beans, but we have had it both ways and we like both- sometimes it comes down to what I have in my cupboard!  Chopped green onions and tomatoes on top add a little extra goodness that is so delicious :)  We also liked placing our pieces on some fresh spinach.  Jazz it up however you like!  If you try this out, let me know what you think!

ENJOY!!!

Past Projects

Christmas 2010 the Hubster gave me a new digital camera!  Nothing too fancy, but I was still excited to be able to document our lives through snap shots.  I also happened to take a few pics of some of the projects that I finished last year.  That being said, what better way to be inspired for my list of projects for 2012 than to reminisce on 2011?

I mentioned in my previous post that I would like to make more hand-stitched alphabet wall-hangings.  To give you an idea of what I was talking about, below are a few pictures of some of the wall-hangings I made last year.  Though these show an entire name, I would like to try and have a variety of alphabet letters stitched and stretched on an 8x10 canvas frame (i.e. instead of 'Adrienne' I would just put an 'A').

This was made for my niece, Adrienne, for her 8th birthday last spring!  Unfortunately, I do not have the finished project pictured, but I ended up stretching the fabric on an 8x10 canvas frame and adding pink rick-rack ribbon around the edges.  (And Adrienne absolutely loved it)  :)

This one was made for an amazing young woman, Tader, for her birthday & graduation/dorm warming gift this past fall.  Here you can see the final touches with the rick-rack around the edge.  (Plus if you notice real closely, you will see that I had to relocate the large pink dot from the original idea... oops!)

I love this piece!  This was for my sister-in-law's birthday last fall.  I like it because it has a vintage/fun feel to it.  The flowers on this piece were actually from an old pillowcase!  If you look closely you can see that I stitched around the different shapes of the flowers onto a mustard yellow fabric, and then stitched that whole piece onto the white background.  The button seemed like a fun addition, too! You can tell I love those rick-rack edges!

I give credit to my friend Laura who gave me the stitchin' inspiration!  Here is an example of some of her work.

Well, what do you think?

Ready or not...

... I started a blog!!  Yep, here it is thanks to Tracy who patiently talked me through the initial stages of deciding on a template, background, etc.  She was also gracious enough to be enthusiastic about my blog title, Team Eckhardt!  Seeing as how I value positive affirmation, I am grateful to her for that positive encouragement. Thanks, Tracy!

So why start a blog? On New Year's Eve Michael and I had a few friends over to play some games and celebrate the new year together.  As we were casually reminiscing about 2011 and exploring resolution ideas for 2012, I somehow found myself resolving that 2012 would be the year that I start a blog. ( I am somewhat proud of the fact that it is up and running before the end of the year-- when I am usually  scrambling to accomplish any resolutions I had made). 

Yet, beyond getting a blog started I've been at a loss of what to 'blog' about.  While brainstorming I have decided that this blog will act as somewhat of an accountability for me.  You see, I have a tendency to be inspired by anything and everything from DIY projects, to decorating, and even recipes!  Yet, oftentimes, the inspirations never materialize.  I either forget about it or get busy with everyday life. So... I made a list!  It's pretty general and not timeline specific, but it is a start.  I hope this list acts as a reminder of my inspirations.  I am sure it will probably grow and evolve, but as I said, it is a start.

Decorate the bathroom... Michael and I have been renting this house for a year and a half.  I have struggled to find inspiration for our small pink & white tiled bathroom!  However, I've finally decided (about 3 months ago) to try a 'shabby chic' style to jazz up the bathroom a little bit.  This project has started to materialize, but hopefully this will be a nice push to finish the job and show the results!

Try new recipes... I think this has actually materialized quite often in our house, many thanks to Pinterest.  The Hubster, though skeptical when I was first introduced to Pinterest, has recently voiced his appreciation to this site.  If I recall correctly he said something along the lines of, "Ya know, Pinterest really has made our lives better" (as I was preparing a recipe that I had recently 'pinned' on my 'Yum Yum Yum!' board).  I just smiled.  But yes, I would like to continue to prepare new recipes and blog about it... prepare yourself-- this may get messy!

Make gifts as much as possible...  I enjoy crafting and creating special gifts for the ones I love.  Sometimes life gets hectic and it sometimes seems easier to just buy something, but hopefully with this on my list I will be motivated to think creatively and blog about the process.

Make DIY projects from Pinterest...  Has anyone else gone onto Pinterest, been absolutely 'pin-crazy' with an overload of great do-it-yourself projects only to not do any of them?  You are not alone!! I thought it would be interesting to keep track of DIY projects I have pinned and then share my version of that project.  We shall see if this works!

Finally make a T-shirt quilt... OK people.  Do you realize how long I have wanted to make a T-shirt quilt?  Since HIGH SCHOOL!!!  I am not going to tell you how long it has been since then, but I am FINALLY going to do it! My mom gifted me with a sewing machine about 3 years ago.  I used it maybe once and didn't finish a project at all.  It has been boxed away since I have been married (2 and a half years!!)  However, I got it out and threaded the needle about two weeks ago (it had been so long that I had to watch a youtube 'how-to' video though!)  Anyway, here's my idea... I was in cross country & track throughout high school and college.  I've really wanted to have something that reminds me of that awesome season of my life!  If you've been in sports you know that you get so more T-shirts than you are able to wear. Well, that has been my experience for HS & for college.  I figured I would dedicate one side of the quilt to my high school sports-related T-shirts, and then the other side to my college sports-related T-shirts with their respective colors.  What do you think!?  I actually talked to my family tonight and they are going to bring my old T's to me sometime next month when they come to visit!  Get excited!!

Help Lindsay with her 'room makeover'... Lindsay is a great friend of mine who is currently expecting her second child (a son!) by this summer.  She is hoping to combine his room with his older sister, Olivia's.  I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to ideas to help her out and we are planning to meet to get these projects underway.  I am really looking forward to this!  Thought it would not hurt to blog about the process!

Decorate our bedroom on a budget... I think with anything on this list, doing it on a budget is a given!  I really am not sure what or when I will do this, but I have been wanting to do something for some time.  There really isn't a theme muchless space in our bedroom to do a lot with.  We also have 2 of Michael's 3 bikes in our bedroom as well.  I put this on the list to get it out there that I would love to change things up a bit!  Any ideas or suggestions on utilizing & decorating small spaces?


Make Alphabet stitches on stretch canvas.... & start an Etsy shop...  I should probably talk about these together, but thought realistically I would need to make something before I could start a shop!  But this has been an idea of mine for some time!  The idea of stitches stretched on canvas frames came from my friend Laura.  Hopefully at some point I can show you her amazing work!!  I decided to try some of it and love it! (I will show these examples in a later post).  I have been loving alphabet decor and art so I thought it would be interesting and fun to try and make these to try and sell on Etsy.  We will see what comes of this!

Read books for fun!!...  I love this!  With some disclosure, I am in the final stages of my masters in community counseling (hoping to someday be a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC).  You can imagine, and are correct, that this keeps me really busy.  One thing that I have found to be difficult in previous semesters was to continue to read stuff that is not related to clinical counseling work.  Hopefully by putting this on the list it will be a little boost to continue to read on my own and perhaps share my thoughts about these books on here.

Wow, quite a list, huh?  I am glad that my New Year's resolution was not to complete this list!! As I said earlier, this list is not timeline specific and this blog may evolve into something entirely different, but it is a start...

Other than this list I am sure I will post a little bit from the life of Team Eckhardt!!  Reflections of the heart, our faith, or even just really random stories!  It's all apart of the adventure for us.  Stay tuned for more!

Rebekah