spice it up

When Richard Bird, CPA is being Travel Warrior January through March, I find projects.

Project #1: Paint the pantry door. (I hope the Travel Warrior approves. He is a little wary of my projects sometimes.)

The green was left over from when we painted the kitchen walls. The blue I bought as a "sample" can at Lowes. It's great for small projects because you can get the custom color in a half-pint.

The secret to my AMAZING straight lines. (Acrylic Gel Medium.) It is a little pricey but one jar lasts a long time (many projects).

First tape.

Then "paint" the AGM along the tape edge to make a seal.

Once the AGM is dry, paint your color as needed.

** Special note ** Peel tape off while paint is still wet for an edge good enough to please the OCD painter.

I love the way it looks. With the exception of the hideous doorknob... need to do something about that hardware...

Do you see the white wall around the pantry? Should I paint that green like the other wall and door? It might make the white door frame stand out...

Christmas Gift

My family does a Christmas gift exchange each year of homemade-only gifts. I could blog for weeks about all the gifts that have been created, if I had pictures of them all.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the gift I made for my brother in law. But I do have pictures of the gift I received in the mail from my sister-in-law, domestic goddess in training, Brit.

You'll have to ask her for details but it is a beautiful plate/dish, handpainted. Thanks, I love it!

work in progress

Just about every room in my house is a work in progress. That is the fun of owning a home I guess. (Even if it is worth 18% less than what we paid for it...) Here is that little table back in its proper place.

I pride myself in decorating my house with minimal cost. So when I heard everyone raving about Anthropologie I resisted, because I was determined to buy secondhand. Well then one day I found myself in that store and I was in love. *Sigh* So any money I saved by buying this little table at a garage sale, was lost when I spent $8.00 on the adorable little knob at Anthro. At least I splurge on the small items and not the big ones, right?

Besides, I got a deal on this cute little alarm clock on ebay. It turned out to be smaller than I anticipated, but it still stole my heart.

Before

I was looking through old pictures tonight and came across these pictures of our living room. It is a crazy coincidence because they were taken exactly two years ago, January 6 2007.

We've come a long way living room.

At Last

Here are pictures of what I've been up to in the last... however many days since I last posted.
I can't claim that I did the floors and carpet myself... but I did paint and move furniture and clean clean clean!

Our new floors (post flood) are laminate. I'm really happy with them. Easy to clean and very durable, crucial characteristics in a house with small children.

The little hands and feet aren't some wild-modern-art, they are plaster molds of Cameron & Eli's feet and hands at two weeks old.

Glitter is soo IN

I've jumped on the glitter band wagon. I love this stuff! I was really feeling the need for a craft so I called my crafting mentor, Krista. (I use the term "called" loosely, we have a unique method of communicating.)



Step 1: Cover styrofoam shape with mod podge. (Original instructions said to use a spray adhesive, which works well on smooth surfaces but Krista suggested mod podge, and I think it works better for rough surfaces.)

Step 2: Cover with *SPARKLES!*

To really get the full effect you need to see Krista's.

Project

I love completing a project. This one has left me a little unsettled because I need to put a knob on the drawer and because there is no sense putting in back in our room because it will just have to be removed at carpet-laying time. But anyway.


Before:

It required primer. I did it the lazy-girl way, with spray paint primer. It's so easy to do when you have a few minutes here and there during the day.

A fresh coat of paint can make a garage sale bargain feel new and personalized.




When my house gets put back together I'll post a picture of the table in its proper place. I am thinking cute old-fashioned clock and lamp on top?

Tater Turkey

One last preschool craft. After four weeks of toddler-mania I am off the hook! (For a few months anyway.)

It's a pretty lousy picture, but for me that is normal. He has pepper feathers, craisin eyes, and a pisachio beak. He was supposed to have onion wings but we didn't make it that far. He is standing up with the help of a tripod of toothpicks.

Here is where I got the idea.

www.familyfun.go.com is a great resource.

Apple Chips

Here is a yummy and easy fall treat. I did these with the preschool kids and they loved it. Cameron didn't actually like the end product, but I did!

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees

• Line cookie sheets with Parchment paper.
  

(Brilliant side note: I didn't have parchment paper so I consulted the internet and found this idea. Cut part of a paper sack and spray it down with cooking spray. Let it sit for a few minutes and it works great. Don't try to do this without some kind of paper, I made that mistake for you.)

In a bowl mix 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. You can add nutmeg and ground cloves if you have them. (I didn't.)

• I used my handy vegetable/fruit slicer to slice the apples very thin. If you don't have one, cut the apples in half and slice them in half-moon shapes. (The thinner the better.)

• Dip them in the sugar/cinnamon bowl and lay them on the cookie sheets.

• Cook for 1 1/2 hours and then turn and cook for another 1 1/2 hours. If they aren't crispy enough, turn off the oven and leave them inside overnight or for a few more hours.

• To prevent them from sticking to the paper, loosen them with a spatula as soon as they are done baking.

These are my modified instructions from this recipe.

Last Halloween Craft

A Halloween idea the day before Halloween. Really helpful. I did these today with Cameron's preschool. They are empty Crystal Light canisters, wrapped in gauze, with little paper eyes.

No wiggly eyes, we all know why.