Pink truffles

I made these Oreo truffles for Ruby's 1st birthday (her birthday is on the 25th, but I made some ahead of time)
They are so easy to make and taste so yummie.

You need:
1 bag of Oreos (or the knockoffs) 36 ct
1 Creme cheese 8 oz
1 small bag of chocolate chips
1/2 bag of unsweetened coconut flakes
pink gel food color (optional)

Here is what I did:
1. Separate the white part from the cookies, put in a bowl.
2. Crush the cookies, I used my food processor.
3. Take the white part of cookies that are in the bowl, add creme cheese to it and put it in the microwave for 30 sec.
4. Mix the creme cheese and cookie whites, and add to the cookie crumbs.
5. Mix in well.
6. Sit it in the fridge for 10 minutes and then take a tablespoon full and roll it in a ball.
7. I let them sit in the fridge for another 30 minutes.
8. Melt chocolate and roll the balls in it, then roll them in coconuts. Sit the in a liner and put in the fridge.
9. enjoy!

This amount made 32 truffles.
Cost: $2.06 cookies $1 creme cheese $1.32 chocolate chips $1.47 coconut flakes. = $5.85
App. $6 total (I had food color and liners in hand already)

Worth every little bit of it!

*I colored the coconut flakes by putting them in a freezer bag and adding the food color, then letting Ruby play with it, to mix it good. I gave it another round of shaking and turning and VOILA! pink coconut!

$30 for living room and kitchen makeover/facelift

So I have been away for a while.
Ruby had a surgery and then got sick and we spent about 3 weeks in and out of the hospital. I will write about the whole thing later on.
I finally got around to take pictures of the mini makeovers I did on our house.
$7 makeover in the living room and $23 dollars for the kitchen.

So our living room was a plain Jane, rental living room. The only thing going for it was the built in bookcase, everything else...well, bland. So I spent $7 in Home Depot in the OOPS! paint area. The guy in that area already knows me. I bought this paint that really doesn't have a name. It looked great, it's kinda like hot chocolate made with milk color. I love it. That was all the money I spent, because somebody has left half of gallon of red paint there, it was offered for free and as a DIY hoarder, of course I had to get it. For what I had no idea. I didn't have a plan what to do with the living room, only thing I had was a desire to change it cozier. To be fair, I did use some craft paint, a can of white spray paint I had in hand already. Plus other misc supplies, like paper, glue and so on.
P.S! I have rollers and trays for painting cause I always wash them after using.
So here are the before pictures.

 And after $7 and few nights it looks like this.

Remember her, my $1 yard sale purchase.

My laptop is in there, so the Babynator could not get to it. 

 

This part was in the desk, that now serves another purpose. (Laptop would not fit in the desk opened if this part was in)

Painted the picture frames red with the free red paint I  got, used the same paint for the desk.
Used carbon paper to trace the letters on the wall, then painted the inside with metallic white paint.
There are still few pictures that are waiting to go up...

My old table sits there now to hold my purse and diaperbag when I'm lazy and don't feel like putting it up.

Covered the lampshade with an old book I had, Used Elmer's glue and water to "Mod Podge" it. The metal "Candy Jar" was some ugly ugly Christmas container that got a coat of spray paint and some leftover red paint.
The awesome thing, kiddos cannot open it so they need to ask for candy every time they want some.

Because Mister Hubby owns like gazillion hats and they are always all over the house, I decided to use them as work of art and display them.

I moved our couches to make a playarea for Ruby, it's next to my computer desk so I could work while she plays and also it contains her toys in one area. Plus, she love to look out of the window.

These pictures were all metal, but to make them look warmer and not to over do it with red I painted them white and added the red for the lettering there... Got my cuties near me!

Still waiting to find a great deal on a sectional I want. Maybe soon I'll have it. Usually our coffee table is empty because Ruby, little kleptomaniac steals everything from the surfaces she can reach.


It's not perfect and there is still work to be done (put up curtains, re upholster my blue chair, find/build new TV stand, Add electric fake fireplace, buy a new TV) but for $7 I spent, it's ok!

Here are few pictures of my less than $25 kitchen makeover.
Here is the before.

Few nights (after Ruby went to bed and here it is)

$13 back splash

Old cork board got a facelift.

New kitchen towel holding thingy. I have no idea what it's called. We made it from 3 pieces of fence pickets we had in the garage. It looks crooked on this picture, it is straight.

Please excuse the smudge on the cabinet door, I have no idea what is it, and it's not there anymore. Ghost smudge.
Used stain and Poly mix, $7.77 from HomeDepot

Better view, sorry about the missing microwave piece, I was washing it and forgot to put it up.
Added temporary curtains to the windows. Still missing the baskets I want to have in the top open cabinets. I am too short to use them anyway so it's a good way to hide junk I don't need all the time.

Painted a towel rod white and put the spices there in a row. Love that idea!

Well, considering the amount of money I spent on this project I am pretty happy about it too.

Fake backsplash, low cost, great for renters!

So when doing my kitchen makeover I was thinking about putting up back splash, but I didn't want to commit to anything for a long term, plus everything I liked was way out of my budget. So I looked around in Home Depot to come up with something creative yet simple and something I can take down (If I decide to move somewhere else)

Here it is, meet my $13 back splash

Easy to clean 

It's paintable wallpaper, $13 a roll (I did my whole kitchen with it)

I decided to keep it white, until I want to change it to something else. Plus it went well with my black and white theme I have going on the kitchen.

Jumbo crochet hook

There is a old saying in my head, little creative me telling me: If you need something and they don't sell it, just make it!!! Here it is, my SUPER JUMBO CROCHET HOOK

Eestilaadas

Here is recipe for the cheapo-fast meal called Eestilaadas.(aka. I ducked up the enchiladas I wanted to make and made this, since then we love it.)

You need: 

1 lbs of ground beef 

2 cans of rotell

1/2 lbs of cheese 

10 tortillas

Oil, salt, pepper

1. Fry ground beef (add salt and pepper to your taste)

2. Add 2 cans of Rotell, mix in, turn heat to low, let simmer for a bit. 

3. Shred your cheese. (It's cheaper than buying shredded cheese)

4. Take a casserole dish, add oil to the bottom. 

5. Lay 8 tortillas in the dish like shown on the picture. 

6. Add Ground beef-Rotell mix. 

7. Sprinkle cheese on top. 

8. Wrap those babies, add 2 tortillas flat on top. 

9. Put them in the oven at 350 F for 20 min. 

10. Feel proud! Clean up! 

11. After the 20 minute mark annoying peeping, take them out. 

12. Plate your food, add sour cream on the side and enjoy. 

Cost: Ground beef $2.50

         Rotell (knock off) 2 x $0.59 = $1.18

         Cheese 1.49 / 2 = $0.745

         Tortillas 1.49 for 20. $1.49 / 2 = $0.745

Total:  $5.17

Feeds 4 people, 2 each. 

Toy chest face lift.

As I mentioned few days ago I found a great old toy chest-bench combo for $15. I bought it online and had Mister Hubby pick it up.
After I was done with Little Miss Ruby's recliner-chair I started working on the toy chest.
Few pictures of before and after.

Little Helper, as always! 

Water damage 

Mommy, is that mine??? 

I lined it with felt I had in my craft closet. 

Little bit of white paint. 

And VOILA!!! New chest for toys, much better than those ugly diaper boxes. 

I will paint the hearts pink inside and add her name to the chest. Otherwise it's ready. I am happy, but what is most important, she loves it.

Little Baby Boss Chair (First upholstery)

I am  into little baby things that look like adult stuff, so when I found this chair for sale for $15 I knew its for my Baby Boss.
It was banged up and dirty, I gave it some TLC.
It was a NO SEW upholstery!

My mom sent me the fabric few years ago, so I didn't need to buy it. I had a staple gun and staples, ribbon I bought from a dollar store few months ago. Paint was the one I bought for the china hutch. So cost of this pretty Baby Boss chair $15.

Love it!