lilac and butterflies

My lilac bush is at peak at the moment and I have cuttings all over my house - the smell is fantastic. These beautiful flowers have attracted a lot of butterflies to our garden so it's a double treat. This post is a little tribute to my Dad who gave me the camera I used and who, apart from everything else that is wonderful about him, is an amazing and inspiring photographer. Happy Birthday Dad. 

easter recap

We had a great day yesterday and I just wanted to share some of the photos I took and some links to a few fun crafts and recipes. 

 First off, how cute is he? I made the bow-tie from this awesome tutorial. It really was simple to make so I will definitely be adding a few of these to his wardrobe. 

I made Martha's vanilla bean cookies with raspberry white chocolate cream. Did you know vanilla bean is so expensive? The original price in Jewel for one bean was $14. Thankfully it was on sale for 50% off but still the price tag on these cookies including the premium white chocolate and raspberries was probably over $20. They were good but next time I will make do with just vanilla extract. 

I used lemons in the vase with pretty lilac from my garden. Usually we wouldn't have much at this time of year but the kooky weather brought them on earlier than usual. I thought the lemon water would kill the flowers quickly but they are still perky today. 

I made these deviled eggs. The adults looked a bit suspiciously at them but the kids loved them and this plate was empty in no time. 

I set up the kids for some crafting with some $1 mask kits that I got at Michael's and some Easter coloring book pages.
Great day. 

embroidered onesies - tutorial

Embroidery is an easy way to personalize and beautify simple items. It is especially nice for anything baby related. For this project I picked up a couple of white onesies for about $5 and turned them into something a little more special. 

To start out find the center of your garment so you know where to place the wording. Then using your embroidery hoop to stabilize the garment lightly write out the word you want to embroider in pencil. I write so lightly that you can barely see it but it's enough to guide you and then it will come out easily in the wash. You could also find some word art online to help you design your embroidery but I just free hand it. 

I used a simple back stitch for this. It is the most basic of stitches but it is nice and neat and for a lightweight garment like this it seems to work best. Just remember that when you are starting your first letter that you go one stitch length in from the bottom so you can back up to where you actually want the first stitch to be. 

The felt flowers are simple to make and you can find good tutorials for them here and here.

This kind of project makes for a great baby gift and of course you could personalize the garment with a name. 

I'm sharing this project at some super cool link parties - check them out. 

Pintrest Recipes

I am sure we are all the same, surfing pintrest, choosing recipes that we think sound and look really great, pinning them and then....nothing.

This week I decided to actually have a go at some of the recipes I found and let you know how it went. I'm going to use an extremely simple rating system I've devised - Make it or Skip it. Of course these are only my opinions and I'm a long way from the "Oprah Effect".

                                                                     Source: tablefortwoblog.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest

Honey Bourbon Chicken 

We all really enjoyed this and I would recommend it. I used 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts although the recipe calls for chicken thighs. The breasts stayed moist and melted in your mouth so you can use either. I also like this because the cooking time is 3-4 hours on low in a slow cooker. This works well for me because I usually only think about dinner after lunch so sometimes I just don't have the time to make other slow cooker recipes. This is a Make it!

Source: doctoroz.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest 

Hungry Girl EZ Cheesy Lasagna

I needed to adapt a lot of this recipe. It says that you only need 2 sheets of lasagna. I have to say this seems impossible to me. It's a make for 2 recipe but the thing I like about Lasagna is it's freezability (new word?). It's a good idea using the eggplant as a layer but there are better low fat lasagna recipes out there. Skip it. 

Source: dashingdish.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest

Low Carb Chicken Enchilada Bake

This is really excellent. The genius part of this recipe is the fact that instead of cream or sour cream you use blended cottage cheese. I have never even thought of that before but it is a perfect cream substitute. It's just the right amount of spicy and you can add or remove the amount of cheese on top. I had seconds - Make it!

Cucumber Feta Rolls 

Hope you enjoyed this post. If nothing else it has helped me learn how to spell recepie, reciepe, recipe.

I'm sharing this post at some cool link parties - check them out.  

I was going to a girlfriend's house for dinner so I thought I would bring these along as a healthy appetizer. It's hard to slice the cucumber to look this pretty and in the time it took to drive there (30mins) the filling and the water from the cucumbers created a soupy mix in the bottom of the dish. This made them look just a little less appetizing than this photo. Skip it.

Source: goodlifeeats.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest

Wallpaper Tips

Warning - this is a long but informative post!

Okay, so I began my very daunting project of wallpapering one wall of my son's room today and I have some tips already. Let me start by saying that both my parents and husband said I should just not do it. It's too hard, messy and prone to problems. But the thought of this awesome paper on one wall of his room was too much to resist. So, caution to the wind, I set about the project!

I measured the wall and ordered two rolls of paper. I have already discovered that I will need to order another. A couple of things happened. First, I unrolled the paper - just to look - and it tore about 6ft in (tears). Second I didn't think about matching the pattern and the amount of wastage that occurs by having to do this. So TIP #1 - Get more paper than you think you need. 

Wallpaper patterns repeat at various intervals. It is not something that I saw on the website or even considered but mine repeats about every 1.5 feet. That means that in order to match it up sometimes I lose almost a foot in excess. Darn. So if you are buying paper check that part and then order enough. Actually, rule of thumb is buy one more role than you even think you might need. I now have to order another role and pay the shipping so it is costing me more :(

Okay, so once you have purchased the paper you need to stick it up on the wall. All wallpapers are different and the instructions for how to adhere it are written on the role (at least mine were). Some papers have the adhesive already on the paper and you just have to imerse the paper in water (messy if you ask me) and some are the type you can paste the wall and then stick the paper on the pastey wall. And the third is the old fashioned kind where you paste the paper and then stick it up. TIP #2 Wait until you get the paper in hand before you buy any supplies. 

Did you know that Home Depot has not carried wallpaper paste and supplies for 2 years? You can get it online but I found what I needed in person at an ACE Hardware.

room makeover - furniture refurb

The painting is finished! On to the next and what feels like the 110th part of my project to turn our guest room into a little boy room was to  refurbish 2 dressers. These dressers have been around since my husband was a kid and he had them in his room. When he moved out, they moved with him and into our first apartment, our first house and now our son's room. If wood could talk.....

Dresser with white primer

Anyway, rather than buy new furniture I wanted to update these pieces because frankly, there was nothing wrong with them except the color and hardware.Spray paint is the way to go. I tried other paint and it is just not good. You can see the brush marks and it takes many more coats. Here is a tip though. I decided to spray paint inside - bad idea. Apart from possibly developing "the black lung" (Zoolander) it is such a mess. I covered everything near the direct spray but it created a mist that went everywhere. Luckily it's easy to clean up the 'dust' with just a vacuum or damp cloth but needless to say when I began the second piece of furniture I hauled it out to the garage.

Even with the mask I had paint up my nose - ick.

On the first piece I used a primer. It took longer but I think in hindsight it has a better gloss look because of the primer base so I would say it is worth the time to do that. The second piece is in navy blue so I didn't use a primer and the finish is slightly lacking. Still, it's good enough and I'll share that picture soon.

I had some crackling which made me crackle I can tell you. It wasn't cold or too hot when I was spraying so it may have been a substance under the paint that caused the issue. However, when I didn't use primer I didn't have any crackling. Not sure what that means....

Sun is shining very brightly! Almost makes my dresser look angelic. 

The hardware if from Home Depot. I was kind of limited because the old hardware was 64mm wide and the selection was not great. Still I think it worked out nicely.

So far I'm about halfway through the list of things to do in this room. Just finished the trim today and wallpapering starts this weekend - gulp. 

I shared this story at some awesome link parties - check them out. 

journey of one thousand miles

begins with one step. I think that is how it goes.

So this week I started on my son's new room. I am going to do a cowboy theme and this wallpaper has been ordered. I am beyond excited about how it is going to look. I am not that excited about actually putting it up! I am just doing one wall in the wallpaper and the rest will be painted in blue. The list of tasks is long but I am excited about putting it all together.

Here is a look at my to do list:
1. tape room
2. paint ceiling
3. second coat ceiling
4. paint 3 walls blue
5. paint trim and doors
6. paint inside of wardrobe
7. paint blackboard paint on closet door panels
8. sand and prepare tall boy and dresser
9. paint tall boy "poppy red" and dresser "navy blue" (many steps here!)
10. wallpaper wall
11. steam clean carpet
12. order bed
13. create and hang wall features/shelves
14. sew curtains
15. sew quilt and pillowcases

16. move little boy in, smile and take a vacation.


I will try to keep you updated!