Win a Brasil Getaway from CB2 and Novogratz Collection

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CB2 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Let's take a minute and talk about cool furniture today, friends.  You know how I've been craving clean white walls and bright poppy colors in my home, right?  I just HAVE to show y'all the fun new CB2 and Novogratz Collection!  It's full of pretty colors and patterns inspired by Robert and Courtney Novogratz's vacation home in Brasil.  I have been a fan of the Novogratz's funky eclectic style ever since I first saw them on HGTV several years ago.  The way they combine old and new, colors and textures is pretty brilliant.

I love the color combination in the Botao sectional and that you can mix and match the pieces:

This swinging chair looks like a whole lotta' fun.

Even this little colorful rug adds a ton of character.

Looking at this furniture makes me feel like I could use a tropical vacation.  I can almost feel the sand between my toes and smell the beachy air now.  Here's the good news:   You and 3 friends could win the trip of a lifetime -- a one week stay at the vacation home of CB2 collaborators Bob and Courtney Novogratz in beautiful Trancoso, Brazil.  10 other lucky winners will receive a CB2 giftcard worth $100 along with a personally signed copy of the book “Home by Novogratz”.
Enter the CB2 and Novogratz Brasil Sweepstakes before June 3rd and you could be headed to Brasil this summer!!

Follow CB2 on their social media channels for more updates on the Brasil trip of a lifetime:
-Twitter: @CB2Tweets
-Pinterest: CB2
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cb2

How to Make {Easy} DeliciousWhole Wheat Bread

Some of you long-time readers will recognize this recipe from a couple years ago.  Remember when my friend gave me a wheat grinder so I was obsessed with learning how to bake bread from scratch and my friend Sarah saved me by sharing the single best bread recipe in the world?  And then how I baked all my family's whole wheat bread for a year and I could recite this most perfect recipe by heart?

Only a few of you who are reading now now were around in the olden days of this blog when all of that went down so I thought I would share it again -- this time with pictures.  Because you just can't believe how light and yummy this bread is without seeing it.  Really.  Get a load of this:

Just look at that!  And it couldn't be any easier to make.  These are the notes I received from Sarah based on her experience:

A few tips that helped me--(1) Use white wheat flour for a lighter, airier texture. Hard red wheat works fine, too, but it's a little denser and has a nuttier flavor. (2) This recipe (kneading time, etc) is written for a mixer and I'm not sure how to translate it to pure manpower. (3) You can buy wheat gluten and dough enhancer at the grocery store in the baking goods. They come in decent sized cans, good for probably 5 or 6 batches of bread.(These are what make it have a light, airy texture even though you are using 100% whole wheat flour.)

Here are my own notes, based on my own experience with the recipe:

 1. I have always used hard red wheat from my food storage and it is delicious.  I'd like to try it with white wheat flour sometime, but I have always just used what's on hand.  2. Wheat gluten is easy to find in the bulk bins of your local grocery store or health food store.  Dough Enhancer is another story altogether.  I had a tough time finding it locally and what I did find at Whole Foods was pretty expensive.  BUT you can make your own easily and it is worth the investment.  3. I usually cut the recipe below in half because that's all the 5 of us here can use while it's fresh {2-3 days}.  Half a recipe makes 3 good sized loaves for me. 

 Basic Honey Whole Wheat Bread

9-13 c. whole wheat flour, divided
3 Tbsp. yeast
¾ c. wheat gluten
6 cups hot water
½ c. olive oil
1 c. honey
3 Tbsp. dough enhancer
1 ½ Tbsp. salt

Place 9 cups of whole wheat flour, yeast and wheat gluten in mixer. Mix for 1 minute. Add hot water and mix for 1 minute. Cover and let dough rise for 10 minutes, or until pretty close to the top.

Add olive oil (canola can be used), honey, salt, and dough enhancer. Turn on mixer and add 1-3 more cups of flour, once cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the side and is not super sticky. (Better to add too little flour than too much.)

Knead dough in mixer for 7-10 minutes. Preheat oven to 170º and grease pans. Lightly oil your hands and divide dough into 4-6 portions. Form into loaves and place in greased pans. Put into warm oven for 25 minutes to rise.

Then, without even touching the pans, turn the oven up to 350º and bake for 20-25 minutes (to internal temperature b/t 180º-195º). Place on wire rack to cool. I like to swipe butter over the top of the loaf when it's still hot.

 It makes your home smell absolutely heavenly and my kids think it makes the best PB&J sandwiches they've ever had.  It's not even too much of a time commitment -- generally less than an hour and a half from start to finish and most of that time you can be doing something else while you wait.  I'm the hero of the day whenever I bake this bread for my family and you will be, too.  Guaranteed!

I'll be linking this recipe up here:

 

S'mores Devotional Idea for Girls Camp

On of my most frequently pinned images from this blog is my S'mores Devotional handout that I used at Girls Camp last summer.  I realized just this week that I only shared the image and never shared the message that went with it.  It's pretty self explanatory, but I thought I would share that message today as I know many of you {like me} work with young people at church or at camp.  It is a great message that the girls really took to heart.  Here's the handout again, just in case you didn't see it before:

The devotional was based on this message from Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the Young Women General President at the time.  Her original message was directed to the leaders, but was easily adapted to apply to the girls.  This is my interpretation that I shared with my girls:

I want you to think about s'mores for a minute.  What is the best part of a s'more?  {The chocolate, the melty marshmallow.}What happens when you hold a marshmallow over the campfire?  {It gets all soft and gooey.} This experience we have had at camp has been wonderful.  We have spent several days away from the noise and busy-ness of our regular lives and taken time to focus on our Savior, Jesus Christ.  As you have felt the Spirit here your faith in God has grown.  Just like a marshmallows roasted over a fire, the fire of faith has softened your hearts. The gospel has become delicious to you and you will remember this time with joy.

I challenge you when you go home and back to the "real world" to keep these feeling alive.  Keep your heart soft and mooshy, just like a s'more!  How do you do that?  Look for the s'mores in your life:  S'more opportunities to feel the spirit, S'more chances to bear your testimony, S'more hard things to accomplish, S'more ways to serve others, S'more experiences reading the Book of Mormon, S'more times to show love. 

S'mores aren't just for camp!!  If you look for them, you will find s'mores all over in your life.  Once you begin finding the s'mores in your life, help your friends to find their s'mores, too.  The more s'mores you find the sweeter your life will become and the happier you will be. 

I finished by bearing my testimony to the girls and expressing my love to them and how I know that they are daughters of God and have divine potential.  I also gave them a little s'mores treat because everything is more fun with treats attached.  I've included a round-up of some of the cutest, yummiest-looking s'mores treats I have found all over the internet:

 

{A Kiss of Color}

  {Glorious Treats}

{I Knead to Bake}-- This is what I made for my girls, but I used Teddy Grahams instead of regular graham crackers to up the cute factor!

 

{Recipe Boy}

{Cleverly Inspired}

{Chef In Training}

I hope that helps some of you who are preparing for Girls Camp right now, too.  Have  a great week my friends!

I'll be linking up here:

Happy Mothers Day One and All!

Got this from my daughter yesterday.  I love meatloaf so much!  I'll never cool it on the meatloaf.  Have a great day all you moms out there.

Tiered Ruffle Apron Tutorial

It's getting to be that time of year again . . . Girls Camp is fast approaching.  In the past I have been busily preparing devotionals, costumes and treats for my girlies in my own Young Women group at church.  This year I have been given charge of the whole craft cabin.  It's like a dream come true, I tell you.  Not only do I get to coordinate all the craft projects that all the girls will be doing at camp, I get to decorate the craft cabin and my committee of crafty ladies.  Yes, I said decorate my committee.  Hence today's project.

The theme for camp this year is Defy the Odds: Hunger for Righteousness.  The Hunger Games? How fun is that?!  Each group at camp is a different district and Crafts is {perfectly} District 8 or Textiles.  I am using old sewing patterns as table covers and I wanted to incorporate lots of fabric into our decor.  I thought it would be fun for all the workers to have something that identifies us as the helpers the girls can turn to.  That's where these fun tiered ruffle aprons come in.

Each one only took me about 30 minutes to make.  Here's what you'll need:

Supplies

• 1 piece of fabric 25-inches x 16.5-inches for base of apron {This fabric doesn't show so it can be muslin or something very plain and inexpensive.}
• 4 strips of fabric 7-inches wide by the width of your fabric from selvage to selvage {about 42-inches usually} for ruffles
• 2 yards of 1.5-inch wide grosgrain ribbon for waistband and ties
• coordinating thread

Instructions

STEP 1:  Make a narrow rolled hem on three sides of each piece of fabric {the two short sides and one long side.}

STEP 2:   Gather the unfinished edge of your four long fabric strips to form ruffles.

STEP 3:  For evenly spaced ruffles without a ton of measuring, fold your base fabric piece in half by bringing the bottom hem up to the unfinished edge and pressing the fold with an iron to crease the fabric.  Fold fabric in half again by bringing the crease you just pressed up to the unfinished edge and pressing the new fold into a crease.  When you unfold your fabric you will have 3 pressed lines, like this:

Each crease will act as a sewing line for your lower three ruffles.  The fourth ruffle will align with the top of the fabric.  So easy, right?

STEP 4:  Lay fabric wrong side up on your work table.  Beginning with your bottom ruffle, lay your strip of gathered fabric wrong side up on top of base fabric along the crease closest to the hem.  Here's where it gets a teeny little bit confusing.  Pin the ruffle on so that it seems like it's upside down as shown here:

This way, once you sew it in place you can flip the ruffle down and hide the raw edge under the ruffle.  So go ahead and sew it in place, flip it down and press it so it lays nicely,

STEP 5:  Repeat step 4 for the next two ruffles.

STEP 6:  When you get to the top ruffle we're gonna' switch it up and confuse you again.  Lay your apron base on your work table so that the ruffles are down.  Align the raw edge of your top ruffle right side down with the raw edge of the apron base on the opposite side from the other ruffles, as shown:

Sew it in place then flip the fabric all the way over the top so it hangs with the other ruffles and press it in place.

STEP 7:  Line up the center of your ribbon with the center of your apron and pin across the top edge.  Stitch in place as shown:

That's it, y'all!!  Simple enough to make and so happy-looking.  How could you be sad wearing an apron like that?

I conned Sis into modelling it for me {and all of you}.  It's so fun and girly she wants a whole skirt just like it!  She'll probably have to wait until after camp for that . . .

I love aprons, but what do you guys think?  Do you wear aprons when you cook and/or clean or is that just too 1950's for you?  Rest assured you'll be hearing more about my Girls Camp experience in the weeks to come.  Have a great weekend, friends!

I'll be linking this project up here: