Follow Me!

Follow me on pinterest!

http://pinterest.com/kelseykelsss/ 

Follow me on instagram!

{{kelseykels25}}

All Me

Hey happy readers! My name is Kelsey Stradling, i am from mesa, az, I'm 19 years old... and I'm a pinterest addict.

I eat, sleep, and breath my pinterest app! {I've got a serious addiction} but its okay! Because I've learned and gained so much from it! I love to sharing my secrets and successes! And i love. to. talk!

{My wonderful mother who i thank for my creativity, and my two sisters}

Along with making things and decorating my very first apartment {which might i add is going very nicely} I love being in the kitchen! finding and trying new recipes is one of my favorites!

{Spicy Sweet potato fries}

 {my T-shirt Rug!}

i've have thee greatest family! they are more than i could ever ask for!

I'm a super busy college student, but i truly have a zest for life! and i always find time for the things i love!

{My three best friends who have been there from the start, literally, we have been at each other's side since elementary school! Would be lost without them}

thanks so much for reading! it really means the world! I hope i can help you in some way!

Breakfast For a Champion... AKA.. Me!

Raise your hand if you are either A) a lazy bum and hate making breakfast in the morning. Or B) a freaking superstar and don't have time for breakfast. Yeah I just raised my hand twice. If you didn't... Then... GET OUT! But if you did... I'm gonna change your pretty little lives with my little friend... The Oatmeal Casserole.

{Nom. nom. nom.}

 

 

Baked oatmeal casserole

Total Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnut pieces {I used Almonds!}
1 cup raspberries {any berries work!}
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

{for all you non-glutaniers This recipe can EASILY be made gluten-free! Just use gluten-free oats!}

 

Preheat oven to 375°F and spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. {Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal}

{In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.}

Add the oat mixture first.

Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. add the bananas to the top, thennn...



 

smoother all that junk with the milk mixture!

 

Shake the pan up so that everything blends well

{It's blurry because I was shaking it...? just kidding! It's blurry because I suck.}

 

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nice and golden, and the milk mixture has set. {for extra goodness, sprinkle some brown sugar on top!}

 

Now I have breakfast for days!

{one Point for the busy college student!}

 

Baby girl always thinks she plays such a big role in my creations...

 

So that’s that! It’s pretty healthy too! it was also a big hit with my roommates! Which is always my favorite!

 

It's a Clean Freak Thing

and When I say clean freak... I don't mean myself. Well I am a clean freak.. Like crazy OCD everything has to be organized and perfect.. But when it comes to eating dirty fruit.. I could care less.. Eating dirt is good for you right?? Makes you stronger? Boost your immune system? Well that's my theory! {I'm seriously going to be the best mom ever...} But... If you are a germophobe.. {again, not me at all!} I have a little somethin somethin that I think you just might like!

But first I need paint a little picture for ya'll... I’m sitting in a McDonald's, brother is sitting across from me watching endless Netflix movies involving dinosaurs.. Don’t ask. on my phone which is about to die.. in Payson. I’m SUPPOSED to be at my aunt and uncle's ranch in snowflake buuut someone’s car decided it had enough 30 minuets out of Payson. So I’m here with my daddy's laptop blogging. at a McDonald’s. While my superman of a Dad is fixing the car. Huhhh... Did i mention I’ve been here for like 3 hours!? Yeah well it’s true. But making the best of it! And yeah that means venting to you people who actually read this. Anyways.. Keep scrolling and you’ll get what you need..

 

Produce Soak!!

{Yayyy for clean fruit and vegetables!}

 

Ok so I saw this on Pinterest {obvious} And I was like.. Yeah I kinda wanna do this... becauseeee this lady was all like.. the water was brown when i was done soaking my fruit. and I was like okok lady... that is NOT even true! Brown?! Seriously!?? So I wanted to prove that she was totally exaggerating like a crazy! But guess what!? When I got done... the water definitely had a brown tint. No jokes! Plus there was a billion little floaties! So if you don’t wash your fruit... you’re eating that! {Don’t worry I used to be that person eating all that, it happens..}



 

Fill your sink with water and add a cup of vinegar. Add your fruit and soak for 10 minutes then just rinse your fruit real good and that’s basically it! Another fun fact this will help preserve your berries! Mine last way longer when i do this!

 

 

Fruit is my favorite! Especially when it’s easy to access for a little snack!

 

{Oh and heads up, don't soak peaches I think it makes them squishy, but I'm not 100% sure if it was just a bad batch or if it was the soak}

Ruffles Out. Chevron In!

Look at this!

LOOK AT THIS!

Fabulous right!? I remember my first time seeing one of these... Ahh.. good times.  

Now you see.. a few months ago, it was Ruffles! Ruffles! Ruffles! But let me tell you somethin.. Ruffles out! Chevron in!!! I love love love lovvvve it! The pattern is everywhere! Including my Pinterest boards! {Funny... I'm POSITIVE I said this exact thing about a month ago only I was talking about ruffles!!!}

So here we go!!

First we start with the flower. Which is made by cutting tonsss of petals out of felt!

NEED:

Scissors {Duh..}

Some kinda fabric glue {I used hot glue, I think that's best because it will set faster}

Felt sheets {I used 4 per flower}

A bit of thin cardboard {from like a cereal box or something}

To start, cut your felt into strips {2.5 inch, 2, 1.75, 1.5, 1} Then cut your strips into 2.5 inch, 2, 1.75, 1.5, 1 squares. After you got your squares start making petals outta them. I wanted a bigger flower so I did 5 petal sizes, it was about 8 inches in diameter.

To make the petals cut each square into a rounded petal shape, with a wide base and a pointed tip.

 

{I made 'master copies' of each size because I wanted all of them to be the same because I'm OCD.. And because I felt it would be easier because I was planning on making three!}

So after the petals cut a 4 1/2 inch circle outta cardboard then a felt circle a bit bigger than the cardboard to cover it.

Start gluing the petals on, starting with the largest.

Notice that the space between the first and second row isn't a big one. You want to overlap them as much as you can. You also want to make sure you have a good space in the middle when you are all done.

It should look somethin like this!

For the center I used a rounded button.

I used a 12x12 piece of wood, you coulddd use a canvas.. but I figured a piece of wood would be cheaper! It was love at first sight with this fabric! Isn't it a beauty!? I just knew I wanted it in my house!

{Anyhow... I basically just stapled the fabric on the back of the wood and hot glued the flower in the center.}

{They make me soooo happy!}

Now here comes some creative geniusness! I used pop tops to hang them!

I screwed a screw through the bottom hole and bent the top half for the nail to hang on.

There is seriously nothing better than the feeling of being done with a project!

...except it goes away quickly when you turn around and see the big mess you have to clean up.

Anddd that's it! I'm really happy with them! It didn't take me a long time so that is always a plus {I usually spend months on a project} I've gotten a lot of complements too, always rewarding(:

I love the yellow one! It started a whole new color scheme in our living room/dinning room area! We are starting to experiment with colors other than red! Which is exciting!

Mmmm.. Cheeseeeee

Hallelujah for delicious Mexican foooddd!! {And cheese! Oh my gosh I love cheese!} These enchiladas are seriously worth its weight in gold! I was a little nerve to make them {I have never made enchiladas in my life!} But they turned out great!!! And it seriously was not hard at all!

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Enchiladas

With White Sauce & Green Chili's

Ingredients

·   10 soft taco shells

·   2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

·   2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

·   3 Tbsp. butter

·   3 Tbsp. flour

·   2 cups chicken broth

·   1 cup sour cream

·   1 (4 oz) can diced green chillies

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan

2. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese.  Roll up in tortillas and place in pan.

3. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Add broth and whisk until smooth.  Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.  

4. Stir in sour cream and chilies.  Do not bring to boil, you don't want curdled sour cream.

5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake 22 min and then under high broil for 3 min to brown the cheese.

Who hates shredding chicken!?! Well let me give you a little trick that might make your life a little simpler! USE YOUR KITCHENAID! It works wonders! {If you don't have a Kitchenaid... then what the heck is wrong with you!? Go get one right now!}

DIY T-Shirt Rug {You're Gonna Love It}

So I don't want to sound conceited but.... This rug is ridiculously awesome! Like who wouldn't want this in their house!? Andddd it's made entirely out of old shirts! Pretty sweet yeah?! {Lie. I did also use someee fabric scraps... but still recycling!}

Ok, I'm going to share my secrets with you! BUT... I will warn you first! It did take me three months to do this. THREE! ...Yeah I might have put it off every so often... and I might have been a little lazy about it... Wait actually both are extremely true... like seriously... I think my sister would have killed me if I didn't get this project out of our living room in the next five seconds! But I had every right! It's a veryyy tedious and time consuming {Obviously} project. But just look at it! It's beautiful!

{DIY T-Shirt Rug}

Can I just say that I am totally excited to write this blog! A) Because it means I'm finally done! And B) because this rug makes me so happy and I just want to share it with the world! {Hope you like pictures! Becaue this blog has a lot of them!}

First of all, you are going to need a lot of shirts! {The more T-shirty, the better!} I wanted it to be very colorful as you can tell! So that made it easy to collect a bunch of random colors!

{I totally raided bags of my mom's old clothes that I found in the garage! So I had a lot of color options, which made it easy to pick the colors I wanted! I also asked my other family members if they had any clothes they were planning on getting rid of, because frankly... I don't have many clothes that I want to give up!!}

Cut the shirts into strips, 3 to 4 inches long and about a 1/2 inch to an inch wide. Whatever you want, its not a huge deal. {My strips were all over the place! Some were fat and short some long and skinny... I think it just adds to the crazy!

  

{The fabric will come later. A tip: do not underestimate the number of strips you need!!! YOU NEED A LOT! I was cutting more strips all throughout this project.}

Get a larger shirt {or any kind of thicker material} and cut out the shape and size you want your rug. {I used the back of an extra large shirt}I did a rectangle but you can seriously do whatever! I think a circle one would be pretty cool! After you have it all cut out, start cutting little slits in a line. Leave and inch space around the boarder! {I just pinched the fabric with the scissors and it made the perfect size slits}

{You don’t have to cut the whole thing before you start adding the strips. I cut as I went because the rows that I finished were a good guide for the rows that I was doing next. It doesn’t have to be perfect!!!}

{Adding the strips}

To shove the strips into the slits I used a letter opener, I suggest you have something pointy like that to help you get them through. {I used a thicker plastic needle at the beginnig and that was good too, but what I liked about the letter opener was that if the hole was too small I could use it to make the hole a little bit bigger}

You will be working mostly from the back. Go the direction that the slits are horizontal {I know I said it doesn't have to be perfect... But it would make your life easier if these lines were lined up}

                      

Push the strip through the slit, then push the other end through the slit next or above depending on how you are looking at it.     

then push the other end through the slit next or above depending on how you are looking at it.

 

Flip it over and pull the strips tight {The more you do the harder it is to find the stip you are working on!} 



The Front will look like this  

 And the back like this

Before you know it your rug will be exploding with craziness like this! 

Three Months Later….

 Almost there!!!

DONEEEEEE!!!!

I love how the back looks too!

This part is optional.. I just thought the rug would be bunching up and would get messed up a lot.. soooo.. I got this plastic grid mat to put on the bottom to make it a little more sturdier.

The holes were itty-bitty so I cut them bigger

Then I made it stay by threading some extra strips through the mat and the rug

I am a little worried about it not staying on as good as I want, it was pretty sturdy... But I don't know... I might add some more after awhile... I was just soooo ready to be done that I stopped there!

**UPDATE!!**

I finally just hot glued the mat to the rug because the strips weren't holing it together. Also the hot glue gave it a little grip so it stays in place on the hard floor better.

Completely finished! {The best feeling in the world!!}

Remember how I said I used some fabric strips? Well... After starting my rug I started working on my ruffled shower curtain and I had leftover fabric so I cut it up and added it to my rug! Genius... I know(:

SEE! They go together so well! Life is just wonderful!!

All the hard work was so worth it, because if you couldn't tell.. I love this rug! A few months ago... That was definitely NOT the case... But now I'm glad I stuck through it! {I could totally use this rug as an object lesson someday... Ha I can see my future kids sayin.. "Ohhh.. Mannn... Mom's telling the rug story again..." I crack myself up!}

\

TOTAL COST: $1.50

{And that was for the mat!!}

{Kelsey: Win.}

Oh my goodness! I was so distracted that I didn't even mention Pinterest! My bad...

 ...Oh hey guys.. I got this idea from Pinterest......