perfect pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins!

It's been a minute. Don't judge me, okay? I really had full intentions on blogging on the reg, but unfortunately it fell on the back burner yet again. #commitmentissues

Anyways, I'm back this morning to fill you in on something that may single handedly change your life, your purpose for being, or maybe just your go to breakfast. They are the PERFECT pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins! I mean, they're literally flawless.

 

 

This isn't my original recipe (don't tell the fam)- it's from the-girl-who-ate-everything.com . I highly suggest you check her out! She has loads of great recipe ideas! I did slightly tweak this as to fit the needs of my tiny fingered tribe. If you would like the full size muffins- check out the link at the end of the post.

Ingredients

-2 large eggs

-1 cup of sugar

-1/2 15 oz can of pumpkin puree (I usually used Libby's, but also Baker's Corner (the cheap Aldi alternative. I personally see no difference in taste.)

-1 cup of chocolate chips  (mostly because I eat half the bag before I get to put them in)

-1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

-1 teaspoon of baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

-1/2 tablespoon of pumpkin spice

-1/2 teaspoon of salt

-3/4 cup of vegetable oil

The total time to make the mix was about 10 minutes, literally so easy and my two minis even helped.

Instructions

1. Pre Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray mini muffin tin with non-stick baking spray. My pan makes 30 mini muffins and the batter usually fills it 1 and 1/2 times.

2.In a medium sized mixing bowl (I used my kitchen aid mixing bowl), beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and veg oil until smooth.

3.Add in the remaining dry ingredients and what's left of your bag of chocolate chips (let's be real, you ate some).

4.I fill my muffin tin to the top for more plump muffins, it is about 1 tablespoon full of the mix per muffin.

5. Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins comes out clean.

* Makes about 45 mini muffins

 

Told ya! So easy and so delicious you guys. My kids are 3 & 2 and they absolutely love them! Totally kid approved and simple enough that they can help out! Theoretically, I'm sure they'd be perfect for your brunch or coffee dates, but SAHM life.
 

Until next time, Olivia.

This recipe was adapted from the-girl-who-ate-everything blog , if you would like the full size muffin recipe check out her page! It's fulllllll of GOOD FOOD!



 

diy custom color glaze

Hi guys ! If you're following along on IG then by now you've seen the end table redo. It started out Hunter green and some weird shade of Orange. It ended up grey with BLACK GLAZE. Let me repeat myself ... BLACK GLAZE. I had never seen or heard of such a thing. I was trying to match the color of another end table and having a heck of a time. Turns out there is such a thing and that's exactly what was on the other table ... Thank you anonymous lady with the patients of a saint (sarcasm, people)! I really didn't want to drag the little people out and into hob lob so I made do with what I already had- clear wax/glaze/whatevitsallthesame.  I was a little apprehensive at first, but it is just paint after all and if first you don't succeed ...you can paint over it and they will never know ;) ! I haven't tried it with any other colors yet, but I have a feeling that it will work the same! So this is what I did ... A quarter size of the clear wax of your choice and a pea size of black acrylic paint. Wax and paint onto a paper plate and mix thoroughly (I just blended with my brush). The thoroughly part is IMPORTANT! If it isn't mixed all the way you will have all kinds of crazy colors and an uneven finish. I learned this the hard way. Mix, mix, mix! I also figure this would be a good time to mention that I do not use a wax brush when applying wax.  As long as you are applying THIN layers, it will be fine.  Maybe a tutorial on wax application should be something I do soon. Anyways, apply in said thin layers and buff immediately. Typically I wait until the wax has dried all the way, but I didn't want the black acrylic paint to set. Here is my finished product . I used 'primitive grey' and the wax / glaze mixture. 

better late than never! diy farmhouse coffee table

     YOU GUYS! We officially have working WiFi again!!!! I know you're probably thinking, "why didn't you just use your phone"? Well because frankly I'm lazy. I also am basically in denial that I am probably legally blind and it gives me a headache to try and read microscopic font on my phone. I am also VERY excited to catch up on The Bachelor! I know, "why didn't you just watch it on T.V./ DVR it"? Well, because in addition to being lazy, slightly blind, and a sucker for reality T.V,  I'm cheap ...AND deprive my family of "normal" T.V AND force them to watch HULU/NETFLIX. Okay, back to business.

 

     DIY FARMHOUSE COFFEE TABLE. SO EASY. Let's start with a list of materials and tools. We used plans from www.lovegrowswild.com , she has GOBS of projects and they're all great. Her table was 46 1/2" x 38 1/2", we did cut this down to 45 " x about 27". You can obviously make adjustments, but as far as that goes, I cannot help you because math!

 

Materials

• 4-4x4 cut to 18in. long - these will be your legs
• 2-1x4 cut to 37in. long -these will be your long "aprons"
• 2-1x4 cut to 29in. long -these will be your short "aprons"
• 3-1x4 cut to 32 3/4 in. long- (you may need to adjust and cut to size) these will be your "supports "
• 7-1x6 cut to 46 1/2 in. long- these will be your tops
• 1 scrap piece of 1x4 for a spacer *important*

In case you're new to building furniture and are thinking "what the heck is an apron and support"? I got you, because that was me too. Apron is a fancy furniture making way of saying SIDES. The long and short sides of your table, friends. Support is a fancy way of saying the extra wood that goes on the bottom so your table doesn't fall when your kids climb on it. You're welcome.

 

Tools

• Miter Saw - or have your fav. department store cut your wood to proper lengths, some do for free and other's charge.
• Kreg Jig- HIGHLY recommend
• tape measure
• drill
• 2.5 in. Kreg Jig screws
• 1.25 in. Kreg Jig Screws
• Sander
• Stain and or paint. I chose to use Minwax Dark Walnut and sealed with clear wax from Hobby Lobby

 

Assembly

1. Okay so we went a head and decided to make our "pocket" holes in every apron or side (long and short) and all three supports first. You'll need TWO "pocket" holes per end of each apron, for a total of four per apron and four per support. We used our Kreg Jig for this. You may make pocket holes with a large drill bit, but the Jig is much simpler.
2. You'll want to begin by attaching the apron or side flush with the top of your legs. You'll be using 2.5 in Kreg Jig screws to fill your pocket holes. Place your scrap 1x4 under your apron to space your joint correctly. Repeat this for each apron.
3. Once all 4 aprons are attached to the legs, you will have what should resemble a rectangle or a base ;)
4. Measure the inside of your base from long support to long support. This will be your measurement for your support beams. This is where your scrap 1x4 pieces come in. Again, 2 pocket holes per end of support and use the 1.25in Kreg Jig screws to attach the supports to the aprons. You will want 3 supports total. Two on each end and one in the middle.
5. At this point you're ready to line your 1x6 pieces up side by side long ways, this will be your table top, so make sure you're happy with the layout. Once you're happy with the layout, place your base on top and attach your 1x6's to your table by screwing 1.25 in Kreg Jig screws through your supports INTO your 1x6.  Repeat until all are secure.
6. Now your table is upside down.. flip it over. Just kidding, but really. Then sand, sand, sand, sand.
7. If you are wanting a distressed look to your table, I would do so at this step. There are plenty of great distressing technique's on Pinterest. I just found some random objects and added a few dents and scratches.
8. STAIN/PAINT/REPEAT AND SEAL. Follow your stain/paint directions, allow to dry and then seal. Again, follow your specific seal instructions.

I realize I should have taken step by step pictures, you can always refer to the link above and look for the farmhouse coffee table! Here's the finished project and you can view more pictures on IG @thecornerfarmhouse.

rumor has it

Hello everyone!

     This week has been pretty mellow and I do apologize for the lack of interesting posts. If you're wondering why I always post so late in the day, it's because the tiny humans I'm required to take care of often times make bedtime a giant game in which case I NEVER win. So here we are at almost 10 pm and after 52 ' snacks ', 24 refills and exactly 129 trips to the bathroom, I need the equivalent of those in glasses of wine and I'm still wondering what to write about ... Frankly I got NOTHING accomplished today and was just happy everyone was fed and bathed at some point, but me ...that mom life.

     Right now I'm currently working on some sign designs for the shop & browsing business cards. We will be at our first show in February! I'm not %100 sure on the launch date for Etsy, BUT I am leaning toward the beginning of March! Over the next two weeks, I will be sharing what type products you can expect to see at the upcoming market (with dates) AND on Etsy -via IG. Depending on feedback, I may be offering a give away or two for our grand opening! Make sure to follow along on IG or subscribe for email alerts so you don't miss out!

Have a great weekend and we will see you back Monday!

Olivia

    

DIY cotton wreath

Hello!


     I don't know about you all, but Mondays come too fast and for me they fly by instead of drag on. First off I'm happy, but kind of sad, that the mystery mutt and her owner have been reunited and our house is restored to its regular crazy! She was really a sweetheart and slept the entire time she was with us. Luckily her owner was just as sweet and SO thankful to have her back. Okay, back on track- A few days ago I stumbled upon a cotton wreath someone had made out of cotton balls, a vine wreath and craft paper. Saturday night, against my better judgment I stayed up way too late trying to conquer this project. I'm not sure when my Saturday night excitement became crafting, but I assume somewhere between the first peanut and the second. I'm okay with it. Anyway, the supply list for this is basically nothing!

• GLUE GUN & GLUE STICKS
• GRAPE VINE WREATH ( I purchased mine at Wal-Mart for around $5.00)
• BAG OF COTTON BALLS (These I had on hand, but from the Dollar Store $1.00)
• CRAFT PAPER or BROWN PAPER BAGS (optional, I didn't use)
• BURLAP (optional, for hanging purposes)

     I didn't take step by step photo's, but trust me, it's self-explanatory. The whole reason I started this was because I did not want to purchase the faux cotton stems at $6.00+ a piece OR the dried cotton plants from Hobby Lobby that are right around $10.00. Let alone buy a cotton wreath, if you haven't checked the prices on those , yikes! First off, you're going to want to put your favorite Netflix series on because step one is the most tedious. In order to get the fuller look and as close to the faux cotton as possible, I took the cotton balls and stretched them. Which sounds fairly simple, but it was not. I chose to group approximately three cotton balls per "fluff" on my wreath. So once you have finished your entire Netflix series of choice, you are ready for step two. If you choose to add the craft paper or paper bag to the bottom of your "fluff" , I would suggest you do that now. I would assemble the "fluffs" and glue the paper straight onto the bottom of each individual "fluff". If you're confused about this - Pinterest, my friends. I didn't have craft paper or bags on hand so I opted out. Third, you will need to start to pull a few sticks out from your wreath. A few here and there will be plenty. Finally, after you realize 10 years of your life is gone, you are ready to attach your fluffs. I honestly had no plan for this step other than to place them randomly. I put some on the ends so they would stand out and some tucked into the wreath itself. I would recommend you put the glue on to the wreath and NOT onto the fluff. Ouch. To be frank, I got lazy and stopped gluing the pieces on and started more or less shoving them onto the branches...that resulted in me putting the fluffs back on the wreath after I got it hung up (USE THE GLUE). I used some burlap ribbon to hang on an old ladder and voilà!

     I promise it's not as bad as I made it out to be.  That's all for now! See you back Thursday!

dogs, garbage, we take it all...

Hello, again!


 I know today I promised there would be a picture of a stunningly perfect window collage on my wall. However, life happened and what didn't happen was that collage wall. In case you're wondering why it never came to be, let me give you a run down of my day... While I was ever so graciously slaving over a warm breakfast of toaster waffles for the kiddo's, my son started screaming bloody murder. Naturally, I thought someone had broken an arm or leg or lost a limb. When I came bursting into the room and realized there in fact had not been any causalities of the extremity sort, I was relieved, partially upset I stopped inhaling my coffee, but mostly relieved. He was looking out the window clearly very distraught about a small dog wandering around our house. She was obviously freezing to death, probably hadn't eaten in days, scared and lonely (see how my thought process works before caffeine?). Considering I had never seen the dog in our area before (we have a lot of dogs that wander aimlessly in our neighborhood) I decided to wait and see if she would attack my fiancé who was unknowingly working on something by the garage. There she went, right up to him, but no attack. The coast was clear. I threw on my boots and ran outside, flannel pj's and all (the neighbors inevitably thinking "there goes that crazy lady again"). She followed me right inside and made herself at home, on my pile of clean laundry. Hmm. She helped herself to our dog, Angus', food and water. Angus' was not very hospitable and is still pouting about our new house guest. 12 + hours in, no tags, no response to FB posts or flyer's and tomorrow we will see if she is chipped. 1 stray dog, + 2 smitten toddlers - collage wall = one exhausted mama. I don't think there is anything we won't take in... be it junk, garbage or animals.

We did tear apart our dining room table bench because I thought the legs would be perfect for a mini farm house table for the kids. Tyler did some constructing and with some stain and chalk paint the table was born! Then I decided I liked the table as a coffee table and that the kids will have to share, for now. Bottom is after assembly + dark walnut stain, top is chalk paint before distress and wax and middle is final product! I will find time to take a better picture, for now, bed.

dining room

Guys, FINALLY got rid of my burgundy walls in the dining room. Honestly, I was obsessed with the color scheme the previous owner chose when we moved in. It was a lot of tans and burgundy/maroon, which was great for primitive décor and I even painted my upstairs to match. Overtime, I absolutely came to despise the burgundy dinning room and now my hideous upstairs hallway. I picked "useful gray" by the HGTV line, not too dark & not too light. So today was the day and let me tell you, it was a very long and exhausting one. How do you paint an entire dinning room with two toddlers to watch? Do you take them to grandma's house for the day? Nope. Do you bribe a friend to watch them in exchange for Starbucks? Nope. Do you build a small barricade to try and keep them out? Yes, but that too will fail. This is what you do...  You arm them with mini-roller's, drag out every retired sheet in the house to line the floors, you pray that God has a sense of humor and you brace yourself. You also laugh, A LOT and not because all the things they do are funny. You laugh because you are trying to prevent yourself from crying every time their sweet little greasy fingers leave not so sweet, but equally as greasy marks all over your wet paint. You laugh again because what should be a completed wall is a mural of poorly illustrated Mickey Mouse heads and monster trucks. Then when its all said and done and they're FINALLY sleeping, you smile. You smile because although the walls are painted one solid color now, their little handprints and your poor attempt at cartoon characters is still under there somewhere. Then you may cry, because you realize you're overly tired and getting emotional, lol. ANYWAYS, I wish I would've taken a picture in the day light, but said toddlers prevented any extra time being spent in there. I will also post a picture when all my stuff is put back and touch ups are done. Here's the general idea, excuse the floor and again I'm no photographer. I will be spending the rest of my night catching up on The Bachelor and watching The Hills reruns ...

diy mason jar sign

Back again! So far, so good, right? Today was a little less productive than I anticipated. I did choose a gray paint color for the dining room, Useful Gray by HGTV. I think it goes well with our pallet accent wall, don't worry I will be posting a complete picture at some point. I also found time in between vacuuming up Cheeto crumbs and cooking chicken nuggets (healthy, I know) to do a small DIY project. We will call this project "TRUE LIFE: I have a minor addition to Ball mason jars"... okay it's a large problem and my house is busting at the seams. In my defense, my family officially supports this problem and they were the culprits in this situation. My brother dropped  off a big heapin' box of antique medicine bottles, soda bottles and you guessed it... mason jars! When I have had more junk in my bath tub than people, I can say it was a successful weekend. For this project, I used some scrap wood we had laying around, black acrylic paint, white Martha Stewart chalk paint and my personal design from my Silhouette Cameo. I may go back and add a few more details, but this is the result as of now! I love it. Excuse the fact that I am lacking in the picture taking department.

my story

Where to start? My name is Olivia. I am a mommy to two blonde-haired, blue-eyed cuties! I am a lover of all things junk, coffee and Johnny Cash addict, I like to decorate and paint.. literally everything and if eating pizza is wrong, I don't want to be right. I am engaged (insert sappy story of your choice here) (really I hold him against his will & force him to help with renovations and dirty jobs). We moved to our corner farmhouse over 3 years ago and are just now getting ready to start in on the projects we have envisioned since day one. I know, slackers! We have in the mean time, had two wonderful kids and I have recently changed my career to stay at home mom / want to be interior designer/ furniture flipper/ pizza aficionado. All the credit in the world to the moms that can rock it all, you may come over anytime! I am brand spankin' new to this blog business so bare with me as I stumble through these first couple of posts. I hope to inspire people as I post about our journey to bringing this farmhouse back to life.