Finished Projects: Accent Wall.. With Stencils!

Several months ago a craft store near my house closed down. Initially, the news closing of the most easily accessible craft store near me was devastating. That is, until I realized that there'd be a mega huge sale before they closed down! I haven't mentioned it before, but a lot of the new crafty items I've been showing off in my blog posts lately, like my pinking shears, have come from the sale.

Had it not been for this amazing sale, I probably would never have thought to pick up big wall-sized stencils. They're normally $20 per design (and some places online sell them for more than double that)! So, when the craft store was selling them at 50% off, you know I stocked up.

I knew right away that I wanted to use one set to paint an accent wall in Quinn's room. I've been saving it so it could be her birthday present. I wanted it to be special for her. And I lucked out in that the set I bought her came with 2 sets of wall stencils in it: A big polka dot stencil and a stencil of half a dozen small polka dots.

I love the look on Mitchell's face! Haha

Ok, so in case you didn't know: this is what Quinn's room currently looks like. It's pretty boring on this side of the room. It's just her bed and one little thing hanging on the wall. I've always planned to do something eye-catching on this wall, so it's purposefully blank. (And possibly, I'm just a little cheap when it comes to decorating!)

Some of my supplies.

I didn't really take a lot of pictures of the supplies or the process. Luckily I took this measly picture of some of my stuff. I picked out a small can of pink paint and a small can of purple paint.

I used painters tape to tape to tape the stencil to the wall and without a real plan, just started placing the dots and painting.

First dot down. A million to go. 

The kids were dying to help...

Ehh, what the heck, it's her room. I might as well let her paint a dot!

I couldn't just let Quinn have all the fun so Mitch got a turn, too.

After the kids had a turn, I took over so this wouldn't take all day. I painted, I think 5 big pink dots and then I painted a ton of a little pink dots..

It looks a lot more vibrant in person.

I probably should've waited to replace the stencil in between dots, because a few drips of paint got on the underside and made little marks on the wall. I'll have to go back over them with the yellow paint at some point. So keep that in mind, folks, DON'T rush or you'll just make more work for yourself!!

Anyway, I moved on to the purple. And that's it. Even with my slow kids helping, I managed to get this whole thing done in about an hour and a half, including set up and clean up!

The finished product.

I probably should've mapped out the dots a little better, but I like how it's really random.

And as a bonus surprise, when the wall dried and I pushed the furniture back to where it went, it looked like this:

It looks like I planned it out perfectly!!

Quinn was really happy with how it turned out.

My flash is killing the pigment!! AHHH!!

I am really happy with how it turned out, too. This is the wall opposite the door so every time I walk by her room I will get a glimpse of it. I like the idea of an accent wall, so you get something special in a room without being completely overdone.

 Also, in case you didn't notice, her bedspread has little polka dots on it, too. That's why when I saw the polka dot stencil I had to get it for this room!

The view from the opposite corner.

I love how easy this was and it was done in no time, once I made time to do it of course. And like I mentioned, I have some more wall stencils, so hopefully I can find some more time to do those to give my rooms a little more character!

Jill Can Cook: Jalapeno Popper Dip

Does anyone else have 30,000 friends on social media that CONSTANTLY share those food making videos from websites like Tasty or Buzzfeed or is it just me?

I'm not even exaggerating; I have about 20 friends that share the videos and several more that share food recipe links. I also have several friends that share pictures of food they've cooked or ordered out at any given time. I check my social media throughout the day and I feel like I'm in a constant state of raging cravings with all the stuff I see.

Do you know how tough it is to diet when I'm bombarded with pictures and videos of fattening food all the time?!

I'm not complaining. Please keep sharing food stuff. As it happens, once in a great while, someone will share something that I may not have come across otherwise. Like the recipe I'm showing you today. (Thanks, my-friend-in-real-life Bob!)

I had a party coming up and wanted to make a new appetizer. Before I even so much as thought about checking out my saved appetizer recipes online, a friend (First my-friend-in-real-life Bob and then 2 more!!) shared a video for this Jalapeno Popper Dip. It caught my eye. It looked easy, yet rewarding. I asked my fellow partygoers (my family, mostly), if they'd eat it. 80% of them said yes.

Here goes:

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Adapted from: Spend With Pennies


Ingredients:

• 1 4oz can diced jalapenos, well drained OR 4-6 fresh jalapenos, roasted and diced (include seeds if you like it really spicy)
• 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• ¾ cup + ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

Directions:

1. In a mixer or by hand, combine cream cheese and sour cream.
2. Add cheddar cheese, ¾ cup parmesan cheese, and diced jalapenos, mix well.
3. Spoon into 8x8 baking dish, spreading evenly.
4. Blend bread crumbs, melted butter, ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese, and dried parsley, using a fork or your fingers, until crumbly.
5. Sprinkle the buttery crumb topping evenly over the cream cheese mixture.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until hot and breadcrumbs are golden brown. Do not overcook.
7. Serve with bread or crackers.

As I said in the beginning of this blog post, I originally found this recipe by watching a quick, less than a minute long video. There was no way that I was going to be able to remake the recipe by rewatching the clip, so I found a similar recipe online to follow along with.  

Anyway, if I wanted to make this like the video, I needed fresh jalapenos. So, I grabbed 6 of them...

I have never cooked with jalapenos before. I hope I don't screw them up!

I cut them in half and broiled them in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Just long enough to make the skin dark. Then I pulled the dark part off, cut them up and put them aside.

I cut them up and pulled all the seeds out.

I decided to not make this too spicy so I chucked all the seeds. That was probably a bad idea because the dip ended up being not spicy at all. If you make it, consider keeping some of the seeds to keep it from being too bland.

All the cheese getting ready to get mixed.

The cheese all mixed together. It's starting to look pretty good!!

In the interest of not making tons more dishes for myself, I mixed the cheeses with a fork as opposed to a mixer. It wasn't hard.

Quinn wanted to watch every step of the process.

Then I added in the seedless jalapenos and spread it into a baking dish.

The bottom layer of cheese/jalapenos.

I melted the butter, mixed it with the breadcrumbs, then added that layer on top of the other.

The dip with the breaded topping.

Unfortunately, this is where the pictures end as far as the dip is concerned. I brought it to my parents party, cooked and served it and didn't take any other pictures of it. 

Anyway, I got to the party early enough so that I could precook this, but my mom was using her oven as a warmer so it was on a very low temp so the bread topping didn't get as brown as it should've. The cheeses ended up getting all melty and warm, just not the top. 

And as I'm writing this, I realize that I forgot to add the extra parmesan cheese into the bread crumb topping. Hmm. I wonder if the lack of extra cheese and failing to crisp the top is what made this dip somewhat lackluster? Obviously, the missing seeds made it less spicy, but it was kind of boring overall as far as I was concerned. Everyone seemed to like it and eat it, but by the time dinner was ready to be served, I noticed that only half the dip had been eaten. Usually the dips are gobbled up by anyone within a 10 mile radius. 

I think I may have to do a re-do on this one to be completely sure it was a bust. Or maybe one of my 4 readers (that's you!!) will take a stab at it and tell me if it really is the best dip on earth.

And just because I love taking/sharing pictures, here are a few from the party:

My dad made a frame for no-idea-why, so I put my grandparents in it for a photo op.

Joe specifically picked his shirt to match my $5 dollar dress! He's so cute.

Most of us wore some type of red. Here's my niece, Jazmyn, with my sister in varying shades. And bonus, Jazmyn's mother, my other sister, is right behind her!

Joe with my brother. This is the pose I get when my direction is: "Act like you're talking to eachother and aren't posing for a picture."

Oh and don't forget, I made something else for the party, so I'll share some more pictures on my next recipe post!