Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Add 3 cups water and next 8 ingredients (through cannellini beans), stirring to combine.
Combine remaining cup of water and tomato paste in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Stir tomato paste mixture into bean mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with cheese, if desired.
This picture frame project was done by .... mE. I know, are you going to die of shock that I actually did one of the crafts that I'm blogging about? The whole project (including iron) cost less than $20! I purchased the craft paper to match my home, the $1 frames at Michaels Arts and Crafts (or maybe it was Roberts... they both have them) and then used some Mod Podge to adhere my paper. After the mod podge dried I painted the edges to match, "inking" the edges a little with the paint to blend the edges into the paper. If you look closely you can see that I am NOT a perfectionist and I did not sand my project to give the mod podge a smooth and finished look. My green one ended up with a few bubbles. I'm told you can pop those with a pin but I've never tried it and the bubbles aren't that noticeable. So there you have it ;)
My daugher picked out this really really cheapo baby cradle (flimsy plastic) from the dollar store. It was covered in this beyond hideous pink and orange design which emphasized the cheap look. We grabbed some sparkly paper to match and covered up their nasty labels with some pretty paper and voila! a prett(ier) baby cradle for my daugher. This one was totally eyeballed so the lines aren't even that straight but she didn't care (and neither did I!) and I think it looks MUCH cuter now. So get creative! You never know what a little paper and mod podge can do!
Ok, so remember how I said I'm in love with homemade wall art? Here is another example. This beautiful art piece was made using PAPER. Yep, craft paper. It doesn't get much easier than that people! Here is her TUTORIAL.
Ok, I know this idea is old-school -- weren't we all using watered down glue in kindergarten to make pencil holders for our dads on Father's Day? But with the explosion of beautiful and sophisitacated papers out there I think it's time to revisit this kindergarten craft and make our dest a more interesting place to work :)
Ok, this is a little mod-art for me, BUT I think it could easily be transformed to match any taste. The best part? The materials are simply foam core board and paper. Yep, she actually uses sticky wall hanging-stuff instead of nails to paste this art peice on her wall. Don't be surprised if you see a ton of wall-art projects coming from me. I LOVE THEM. I think large pieces of art are generally wayy wayy to expensive, and it's so much fun to make something to fill up that empty white space.
Simple project made amazing using cute paper and Mod Podge. What's not to love??
I love this adorable idea! I actually made them this morning as a surprise for my hubby. I happened to have a Chinese take-out style box and I put a tag on it that said "I'm so fortune-ate to have met you 5 years ago today!" The fortune cookies were really easy to make, though I didn't have cute patterned paper like the lady who made them in the picture. I used plain cream colored paper and they still turned out really cute. You def. need strong adhesive to hold them together though -- mine kept popping apart :)
Ok, so it is a little bright and retro for my taste, but think how fun this would look in a girls room! WIth pink furry pillows no less ;) Check out the link and see the impressive before and after shots! Hooray for do-it-yourself projects :)
