My Baby Tepe

I feel like I've talked a lot about our new puppy, Tepe. 

But she is just so cute and cuddly!

She is 18 weeks old and already 25lbs! She is growing up so fast and I DO NOT LIKE IT :) 

But, she still likes to cuddle and thinks that she should always be touching someone. 

Yesterday we had to take her to get spayed. 

I was a total nervous wreck and just didn't want to admit that my little Tepe is growing up!

So basically I went down memory lane and looked at every picture and video we have of her from the first day we got her, January 8th. 

And now I'm gonna share some of my favorites with you! 

(if you follow me on instagram then you have probably seen a few of these before)
Also, please excuse the quality. Most of these are taken with my phone.

Day 1! Just leaving the shelter in Liberty, still nameless at this point :) 

Finally home and needed a bath.

Aren't those eye just killer?!

Yes, she is on our counter top. Don't judge, I cleaned it super good after. I just wanted some light from the window. We were having a photo shoot with her new collars :) 

You can see the post about the hand made collars from Etsy HERE. 

more beautiful eyes :)

Here is a series of photos I like to call "Tepe getting comfortable" 

When she was little she did not like her crate. We would try to get her to go in with food and everything but she would hang her little bitty legs out. 

Yes she fell asleep like that. 

Tepe doesn't like to sit on the floor. She will find anything to sit on as long as its not the floor. 

Laundry basket. 

Bar Stool

Reeds hunting bag

And her favorite. 

FEET. 

And this is Tepe in the car. 

She LOVES the car, one day we left the door open and she just sat in the passenger seat for an hour :) 

 She thinks she can drive. 

And always wants to be close to the driver. 

 

But then passes out in the back seat. 

These are from yeasterday after her surgery. She had us both so worried. 

She got sick twice once we got her home and was so not interested in anything related to food. 

She just looked so out of it :( 

And then this morning after LOTS of sleep she was ready to roll :) 

 This is our most recent family portrait. All cuddled up on the sofa watchin TV. 

No we didn't pose her she did that all on her own :) 

Everything! Ranging from Tepe, palm fronds and coolers

Goodness today was so productive! 

I've finished projects that I've had from back in the fall! 

The only thing I didn't really do was take good pictures... oops :) 

First thing first. This is the longest project I've ever had. And its my fault I've just sat around and put other projects before them. I hope that these are what the clients wanted, they kinda let me do whatever. 

These are painted on Palm Fronds. The friends I was painting these for brought these to me a while back. She found them down near the beach. I think they are planning to hang these above or near the door, so I tried to do a few different orientations. 

this is another little canvas that I did for another friend here in Clemson. 

She has had these done for each of her grandchildren with just a few changes. 

This is the first that I've done for her and hope that it matches the others well enough to work! 

Annnnd finally I've gotten the chance to paint a cooler for one of Reeds buddies up here at school. 

He called last week and asked if I could do a little work on his cooler for spring break. 

He wanted the the Patagonia symbol in the front. 

And then finished out either side with a orange golf bag and the other with a Clemson bow tie. 

I think it was really fun to add those little bits to finish of the sides :) 

Annnnnd finally the top is the famous Tillman Hall along with the saying

"A Clemson man needs no introduction". 

Today was great :)

I love working on little projects, not only are they fun but they are so great to motivate.

 Literally it feels so great to finish something, sometimes it takes me wayyyyy to long. 

But this always makes me feel better about finishing school stuff, 

I have 10 week review coming up March 28th. 

So be looking for some funky furniture school projects in the future. 

Making New wood look weathered

So y'all know how much I like to paint on found objects. 

I've recently tried to find things that are easier to replicate so I can produce my items quicker with out so much of a hunt. 

I've decided to look into making my own pallets. 

I've done this before with found wood that is BEAUTIFUL. 

But it also weighed a TON and could really only be placed on a mantel and couldn't be shipped. 

Here is an example of one of the older, natural weathered pallets. 

(I don't have images for the first few steps but once we get to the staining I have plenty!)

What Reed and I decided to do was buy a sheet of 1/4 pine plywood to cut in to the plank sizes we wanted. What we did next was beat the wood up a bit by sanding ALL of the edges.

You can distress the wood with anything you have laying around. We hit it with both sides of the hammer, an old chain, and even knocked a bag of nails around to get a few different marks. 

I wasn't home when Reed was doing this part and so later we decided it needs to be done a little different. Reed put all of our boards together using extra scrap pieces, nails, and wood glue on the back with wire for hanging. While this was super sweet of him to do he did his steps backwards. 

Next time we decided that we will mix the boards up a bit more so the grain doesn't match and sand them/distress them BEFORE we put the pallet together. 

Again, sorry for the lack of images, but here is what our pallet looks like with out stain. 

Now this is the fun part. 

Staining the wood is what really gives it that ages/weathered look that so many people love about old pallets. While you can't replicate it exactly with out leaving it outside for a few months I've tried to find the closest stain to that lovely blue grey. 

What we used is 

Minwax Ebony and Minwax Dark Walnut stain. 

Latex gloves to protect your hands

water

foam brushes

a shop rag. 

We tried 2 different techniques. 

Our first technique we damped the wood with the rag and water.
Then brushed on a coat of ebony stain wiping off shortly after it was applied.
Then we went back over with the Dark walnut again wiping down with a rag. 

 

this is a better depiction of what it looks like after being wiped down.

This is really beautiful but is a little warmer (more brown) than what we were hoping but it is still very pretty. You can see more variation up close.

So for our second pallet we tried a little different technique. And I even have a video to share!!

(Please excuse my 5 year old girl voice, my squintched face, and crazy hair)

For those of you who 1. couldn't undrstand me 2. didn't watch the video or 3. like seeing words better here is a quick description. 

It is very close to the same process as before just changing a few steps around. 

First you really soak the wood with water. I used my spong brush this time to make sure I had a good amount of water sitting/soaking in to the wood. 

I then would brush on a small amount of JUST the ebony stain. Kind of scrubbing it around to make sure it gets in to the distressed areas and the grain of the wood. 

Then just like before you wipe down your wood soaking up what is left sitting on top. 

You can do this as many times as you like depending on how dark you want your final pallet to be. 

This is one layer over every board, then going back over in a few spots to draw out some variation. 

Sorry I don't have a better picture of this one hanging up but it looks a lot more naturally weathered than the first! I'm going to be using this technique from now on!!

Hope this is interesting or helpful in some way!
We are both so excited to know how to age our own wood now!
If anybody is looking for a pallet painting let me know, I've got two ready to be painted on :)

Chicken Bombs!

I've realized that one of my favorite parts about getting married is cooking dinner. 

And really it's one of the only times that I feel semi grown up. 

Talking with Reed through out the day about thawing out chicken or what we should pick up from the store is lame but its a fun reminder that I get to come home to him each night. 

Usually I cook, unless its something Reed has "harvested" or involves the grill. 

But, for this recipe Reed got it from a friend and was ready before I got home. 

They sounded interesting so I thought I would share with you :)

Ready or not, here is the 

CHICKEN BOMB

recipe! 

All you need is a few 

Chicken breasts

 bacon

 cream cheese

 shredded cheese

and jalapeños.

Yep, Reed is very comfortable in the Kitchen. 

He cooks for me all the time, my favorite is when he cooks breakfast. 

mmm mmm good! 

Step 1: Slice and de-seed the jalapeños peppers. 

On a side note, this is how Tepe helps in the kitchen. 

She always has to be touching someone, so since I was standing still taking pictures I became her seat. 

Step 2: Mix the cream cheese & shredded cheese

Step 3: Spoon the cheese mix in to the jalapeño slices. 

Step 4: Slice the chicken breasts and place the jalapeños in the center and recover.

Step 5: Wrap the chicken breasts with BACON  and season to taste. 

Step 6: smother in your fav. BBQ sauce. 

This step and step 5 are kinda optional, just do it as you wish :)  

And I made veggies for  the sides :) 

What you will need is:

Red potatoes

yellow squash 

zucchini 

olive oil 

seasoing

Step 1: Slice each veggie up  

Step 2: Place the veggie slices on a baking sheet  and cover in olive oil then sprinkle with your favorite seasoning.

 The one we use the most around the teeny tiny house is CAVENDERS. 

When I was slicing the veggies one fell on the floor and Tepe tried to eat it. 

This was her response. 

We decided she must not like vegetables. 

The final step for each:

Bake the veggies for about 20- 30 minutes at 350. You can flip them half way if you like. 

And for the chicken put them on the grill until cooked fully through! 

I think it took Reed about 15 minutes? 

(I could be totally wrong about that, I never grill)

And here is the juicy inside of the fabulous 

Chicken bomb! 

This was SUCH a fabulous dinner. 

Like I said earlier, I love cooking for Reed. It is one of my favorite parts about being married. 

We eat a lot of chicken, and casseroles. 

But I'm learning and love going through our recipes from family and friends to find something new to impress my man with :) 

Hope y'all try these and like them as much as we did!!