Reclaimed Texas Art Piece from House Scraps - Part 2

TIME OUT! If you missed the first part of my Texas reclaimed art project, read about it here.

At this stage I had already:

• Gutted and re-assembled a pallet base
• Gathered and cut scrap material to fit inside of the pallet
• Painted the scraps vibrant colors

Next, diving into part 2 of the project, came assembling a "lid" to my art piece. The end goal? A top (front) panel for the pallet with the shape of Texas cut out, to create a shadow box-style effect. For this part I used a section of paneling from our living room remodel.

Reclaimed Texas Art Piece from House Scraps - Part 1

And now to introduce hands-down my favorite project of 2013 - the Meadow Lane Texas reclaimed art piece.

I did it! After a year of talking about it, I finally made it! A reclaimed art piece made of only reclaimed scraps from our house remodel - trim, base boards, shelving hangers, fence wood, pallets, paneling, old screws, etc.

I took a ton of photos throughout the process, so being as brief as I possibly can, here's my beloved mixed media art project, inspired by artist Dolan Geiman.

PYRC #49: Ham and Cheese Sliders

At my family's 2011 Super Bowl party, my cousin brought the. best. ham and cheese sliders. I completely forgot to snag the recipe, but when a similar one passed me by on Pinterest (who knows, could have been the same recipe), it was pinned and immeidately on my radar. I've been waiting (for way too long) for the perfect opportunity to test these sliders, and low and behold came a work baby shower... for twins! Opportunity prevailed. Ham and cheese sliders. Done.

Chocolate Covered Banana Split Skewers

Birthdays in the office = treats! Needing to make a gluten free friendly recipe, I settled on banana split skewers.

How to Shred Chicken with a KitchenAid Mixer

Of all of the nifty tips that have come across my email or Pinterest account, I'm pretty sure this one is my fave - shredding chicken with a KitchenAid mixer. I've done this multiple times for recipes requiring shredding chicken (or any sort of meat), and it could not be more genius and efficient.

The first time I shredded chicken with a fork - while making crockpot buffalo chicken - it could not have been messier or more time consuming. So the next time I stumbled upon a recipe requiring shredded chicken (for example, baked buffalo chicken rolls), I threw the cooked breasts in my KitchenAid mixer, set it to a medium to high speed, and shred away.