Easy No-Sew Roman Shade

I completed this project a few months ago but have been clearly a little slow getting it out! I can't sew worth a damn, so this project was perfect for me. Whoever invented Stitch Witch, you're a genius! This roman shade is also reasonable enough to swap it out a few times a year!

Lets get started..

Materials

Fabric (I chose a thicker, more expensive fabric but you can be as cheap as you want!)

Stitch Witch or any kind of fabric glue

3 tension rods

Fabric Scissors

After selecting your fabric, you need to figure out your measurements by measuring your window. I measured from the inside of my woodwork and also measure the length of the window. Once you have your measurements, you'll want to cut your fabric and make sure to add an inch to each side and you'll also want to double your length. 

Since we left an extra inch on each side of the fabric, go ahead and fold over the edge by 1 inch and secure it with Stitch Witch. Do this on the other side as well. Once the two sides are dry, go ahead and double the fabric over, right sides together and glue the two cut ends together to create a seam.

Turn the fabric right side out. Now you should have a large rectangle of double fabric.

Now the part that makes this magic! Tension rods! Make sure to choose a tension rod that is plenty long enough for your window. You don't want it so stretched out that it becomes weak in the middle. Also make sure your window can hold a tension rod. My window can barely hold one!

Insert one of your tension rods into one end of your fabric. Insert your tension rod and fabric into your window and make sure that it's nice and snug so it'll hold.

Once you have your fabric hung, go ahead and grab another tension rod and place it about 6-8 inches below your top tension rod. You'll place your tension rod on top of the fabric like so..

You'll want to pull over the doubled fabric over the tension rod to create the "roman shade" look.

It takes awhile to get this right and you just have to fiddle with the fabric until it's just how you like it.

Place your 3rd tension rod the same distance away from your 2nd. Mine all ended up being 8 inches apart from one another.

Again, pull the fabric through and adjust the fabric until you have it just so.

And that's it! Pretty simple, right? I love how it turned out and it's so simple to just switch it out if you want something new.

Let me know if you have any questions!

My future assistant

More snow and cold, which means my new maxi skirts and dresses will be hibernated for at least another week. The snow also caused us to leave Kansas City a day early, to be able to make it home safely. We did however sneak in some shopping where I managed to buy 2 maxi dresses, 2 maxi skirts and a years worth supply of boxers for Brian! The gap outlet never disappoints!

I've also been doing some other shopping as well! How cute are these onesies and bibs?! Can't wait to buy some! 

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Have a great Monday!

Easy Shrimp Pasta

Ah more snow coming our way. Why not!? It's only March 21st and I only have tulips coming up in my front yard. They won't mind one bit.

I have completely stopped cooking winter meals now and for good reason. It's been 5 months of heavy, comfort food. I've been longing for fresh pesto and tomatoes! Last night I made a fresh, light shrimp pasta and the best part is, it's so easy and so quick! From start to finish, this takes 20-25 minutes, tops! Perfect!

Ingredients

½ cups Olive Oil

4 cloves Garlic, Minced

3 whole 14.5 Ounce Cans Diced (or Whole) Tomatoes

½ cups White Wine

2 pounds Jumbo Or Large Shrimp, Peeled And Deveined

Salt And Pepper, to taste

Fresh Parsley, Minced

1 pound Linguine, Uncooked

Red Pepper Flakes, to taste

Cook pasta for 1/2 the recommended cooking time. Pasta should still be very firm.

In a large skillet or pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Dump in the tomatoes and wine. Stir the mixture together, season with salt and pepper, and allow to cook for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare a large parcel of heavy duty aluminum foil. It should be large enough to hold the entire pasta dish.

Throw the shrimp on the top of the pasta sauce. Throw the drained pasta over the top, then pour the whole dish onto the foil. Tightly wrap the foil into a parcel.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and keep warm until serving.

Open the foil parcel right before serving. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil over the top. Squeeze on lemon juice, if desired.

*recipe courteous of the lovely Pioneer Woman

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies-EVER

End the search folks. I have the best chocolate chip recipe of all time. That's as valid as Chris Harrison saying "it's the most dramatic finale yet and you won't want to miss it!". Yeah yeah..however, these really are the best! 

What makes them so soft and chewy, you ask? It's the amount of bread flour used, almond extract and of course, parchment paper!

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon almon extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 (12-oz. pkg.) Nestle Tollhouse Chunks

• Directions

  PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
  
  COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chip chunks. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper.
  
  BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 
  

Tomato, Avocado Sandwich

This sandwich just happened to come about. I knew I had an avocado that needed to be used up and also, tomatoes that were 2 days from seeing the compost! This isn't exactly a meal you feed your husband. He'll never find that big slab of meat! His loss!

You only need 4 ingredients for this no fuss sammie! 

-1/2 tomato

-1/2 avocado

-whole wheat bread

-Fat Free mayo or olive oil mayo

-cilantro (optional)

Toast your bread, lube it up with some mayo and place your sliced tomatoes and avocados on top. I added cilantro since I had some on hand and it's my favorite herb! It's delish! You can also add some mozzarella for more of a caprese sammie! I plan on nixing the mayo and adding fresh pesto, once my garden is in this summer! Yum!

Churro Pancakes

Breakfast for dinner! It's the best! That is, if you're making churro pancakes! I had every intent to make churro waffles, however our waffle make that was a hand me down, was smoking and literally burning my throat! To Goodwill it goes! I'm sure little Cayman loved that. Soo..the batter is actually waffle batter but made into pancakes. Have you ever used waffle batter for pancakes? Much better!! I will forever make my pancakes with waffle batter from here on out!

In all seriousness, these are stupid good. Not exactly a diet food when soaked in butter and then smothered in cinnamon and sugar. I can hear the angels singing now. They were heaven! 

Excuse the terrible picture. It may be my worst yet. I was too excited to eat them and didn't properly adjust my settings.

Churro Pancakes (er..waffles)

For the pancakes..

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons of baking powder

2 Tablespoons of white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups of warm milk

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon almond extract

For the cinnamon/sugar coating..

3/4 cup sugar

3-4 Tablespoons of cinnamon

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and 2 Tablespoons sugar; set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk, 1/3 cup butter and almond extract. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; beat until blended. Lade the batter in a hot pan until golden. Mix together the 3/4 cup sugar and 3-4 tablespoons of cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Place the melted butter into another shalllow bowl and dip the hot pancake first in the butter, then the cinnamon, sugar mixture. Be sure to coat both sides of the pancake with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture. Serve immediately.

adapted from sixsisterstuff.com

And you can thank me later for this! 

Ombre Balloon Backdrop!

This is a perfect backdrop for birthday parties, a photo backdrop or anything really! I used it for a photo backdrop for my 1st birthday shoot this morning! I think it's super cute and I love anything ombre! 

DIY Yarn Garland

This is ridiculously easy. No seriously..no thinking involved here! My kind of project! I made this for my 6 month old shoot today and it took me just 30 minutes! I love it so much, I think I'm going to make a few for my office!

All you need is some yarn and scissors! I chose a charcoal gray, yellow and baby blue. I cut my main string to be about 4 feet long and and then decided how long I wanted my tassels to be. I cut 10 pieces of the same length, folded them over and tied them together with a little piece of yarn. I repeated until I got to the end! Easy peasy! 

I loved how it turned out and will be making many more!

Washington, D.C.- Day 7

This is was our last full day in D.C.. Aunt Maggie, Brian and I all headed to lunch to a local Italian cafe and we had an amazing lunch! After lunch we were able to meet up with Brian's cousin, Chris. We chatted over coffee for about an hour or so before heading back to Aunt Maggie's. Today was very relaxing and we just hung out knowing we had to go back to reality the next day! 

Thanks Maggie for hosting us! I have a permanent craving for chocolate covered strawberries and now have the itch to chop my hair, thanks to you!

This is the end of our D.C. trip! It was perfect and had a blast! Stay tuned for our trip to Florida in 3 weeks!

Washington, D.C.- Day 6

Day 6 was a long and exhausting one! We left VA and headed into the city around 11am and didn't get back to 11:45pm. It was so fun but so tiring! First up, was Arlington Cemetery! It was really cool minus the cold, wet and dreary day! We saw The Kennedy's gravesite and all those famous white headstones! 

After Arlington Cemetery, we headed down to the Pentagon. We saw the Pentagon Memorial but no photography was allowed. WHAT?! Don't they know the world is following this blog and they want Pentagon pictures?! Apparently not. So off to the Wizards game we go!

We went to the Wizards game with his cousin Brad and his good friend Katie. We had a great time! Off to Day 7!

Washington, D.C.- Day 5

 We just got back Sunday night and I realized I had stopped on Day 4!  Thursday was a great day! We spent the day shopping and eating and just lounging around. It felt great after walking miles and miles, biking and sightseeing. I shopped and shopped while Brian carried my bags! 

I didn't take any pictures that day since we were just out shopping. However, I did take a picture of Aunt Maggie's tasty salmon that night!

Next up, Arlington Cemetery and the Wizards game!