Stylish Storage Solutions!

If your like me, you are always limited with your space and looking to create more space. Especially with an 'attic room'. Slated ceilings etc. With the help of my mother I finally got around to building myself a book shelf. No longer will my books have to sit in a pile next to my bed! Now my lovely (new) terrarium also has a home too.

So first we took a trip to our local lowes store and purchased some 8x1 pine board. We looked for a board with as little knots and possible and as few blemishes as we could find. Then I selected some corner molding to create a ledge on my shelf. I wanted a ledge so that I could know any items I might place on my shelf will be secure (knick knacks, candle holders etc.) I also selected these lovely L brackets that have a bronzey scroll design on them instead of the ugly ones. Carefully chose my nails. I bought 1 inch brads to nail the ledge to the shelf, 1 inch finishing screws to screw the bracket to the shelf and 1 1/2 finishing nails to screw the shelf to the wall.

With the help of my mother the boards were cut and the edges of the ledge were mitered. I just love mitered corners!! I matched up the corners and glued the ledge down using wood glue, clamped them down and waited 30 minutes before nailing the brads into the ledge. Then I used a bit of 'plastic wood' to fill in any screw ups I made :/ After letting that dry for another 20 minutes I got my handy dandy sanding block out and sanded down any rough edges through the whole shelf, even rounded off some corners. I gave the entire shelf a good dusting and then stained it using a walnut stain we had left over from another project(use plastic gloves while staining). I only did one coat yesterday and let the shelf dry till this afternoon.

I attached the fancy brackets to the shelf and then the shelf to the wall using a level of course. And now im lovely shelf is complete :) The entire project cost me about $29 and that is enough wood and screws for another shelf.

xoxo
JuliaCatherine

Vegan Black Bean Soup- Recipe Courtesy of YCHRISTINE

A favorite recipe that I have made twice so far and works out perfect everytime. Very quick and easy, well worth taking the time to make this instead of opening a can of some crappy store bought soup.

"Pureed black beans and tomatoes are combined with vegetable broth to make a nice thick base for this soup, which hosts celery, carrots, onion and corn.
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 pinch black pepper

4 cups vegetable broth

4 (15 ounce) cans black beans

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1.	Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, celery, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. Season with chili powder, cumin, and black pepper; cook for 1 minute. Stir in vegetable broth, 2 cans of beans, and corn. Bring to a boil.
2.	Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, process remaining 2 cans beans and tomatoes until smooth. Stir into boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.

The recipe in it entirety can be found here

I strongly suggest the following substitutions. 2 cups frozen kernel corn. I also did not have fresh celery so I used a tablespoon of celery flakes and a can of stewed tomatoes instead of crushed. Great with a grilled cheese sandwich, baked potato. Even better the next day as lunch or leftovers. I hope you will give one of my favorites a try!

xoxo
JuliaCatherine

February Contest Winner Announced!

And the winner for February's Contest is...

Beth W. Of Rose Bush Designs!

Congratulations Beth and Thank You to all who participated in this Months Contest. The answer to the riddle was my "Classic Pink Pearl Studs" There were many entries that were correct so it came down to the random number generator. Each entry was assigned a number then the number was picked at random.

Remember to sign up for my mailing list so you can be notified of special contests here on my blog and exclusive sales and coupons, only for mailing list members.

xoxo
Julia Catherine

February Contest

This month's contest is to solve the riddle related to an item in My Shop.
The riddle to solve is:

"In the section for your ear
You will surely be near,
Find the studs that are pink
And you've got the right link!"

How do you win? What do you win?
Just shoot me an email to juliacatherinejewelry@gmail.com Use the subject "Blog Contest" in the subject line and copy and paste the link or the name of the item that the riddle is referencing.

If there is more than one person who submits an answer they will be submitted to a raffle to win my 'Floating Heart Earrings"! Now remember that as always the winner will also be extended the offer of free shipping on any shopping in My Shop. As well as 15% off coupon for any other shopping they would like to do.

Mailing list members have already gotten a head start! Make sure you join so next time you can too.

Good luck everyone! Answers will be accepted up till February 15th, all correct answers will be put into a raffle and drawn on the 16th.

xoxo
Julia Catherine

p.s. Comments have been disabled for this post so answers aren't mistakenly left as posts.

Tuesday's Finds- Italy In Honor of "eat, pray, love"

I just started ready Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Love, Pray:One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" The book is about Elizabeth's travels across the 3 countries. So far she has traveled to Italy and that's what today's finds are all about! ITALY! The book is great so far, I highly recommend it!

alebook67's- buonconvento,tuscany watercolor original painting.
A sunset view of Buonconvento, a small village near Siena in Tuscany. The detail of this is amazing for a watercolor. This artist was born in Florence Italy where he lives and works as a professional artist. All his artwork comes matted on black, which really makes the artwork POP. Still a fairly new artist on etsy, show some love.

Lots more artwork of Italy in alebook67's shop.

Whichgoose's Roman Leaf Crown
A little Julius Cesar for all of us. You could go roman or Greek with this one with this gorgeously detailed leaves in metallic colors. Handmade by whichgoose.

Lots of AMAZING headbands for all ocassions in this shop.

ThePigAndThePeacock-Roman Neroli Shea Butter Soap.

This soap is infused with spicy, flowery, sweet neroli and exfoliating orange peel. Can you say LUXURIOUS?

Also made with shea butter which is amazing for skin care. So smooth and moisturizing. Help your poor skin through this dry, dry winter. Many more flavors in this shop. Check them all out.

I hope you all enjoyed this weeks tuesday's finds. Hope to meet you back here sometime soon. Also be sure to check out more great "Tuesday Finds" today on The Awesome Chicks of Etsy Blog. (sponsored by the ladies of ACE)

xoxo
Julia Catherine

P.S. Make sure you sign up for my mailing list to the right, february mailing going out soon and giveaway starts soon too!