Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #1

Kim over at Newly Woodwards is having a party! Follow along or join in the festivities.

Welcome to Week #1: Dare to be Thankful! In Kim's own words this weeks project is: "Take some time making your own DIY Thanksgiving project. It could be a fun Thanksgiving advent calendar, homemade thank-you cards, a banner or something completely unique."

Frankly this weeks dare was a big, giant fail on my part; I had junk to do all weekend and I completely dropped the ball. So no new project from me. However, I want to be involved and be supportive, so I figured I'd re-post a project from last year. It's not like anybody actually saw it except for Kelly!


My boss receive a book entitled Hello, Cupcake! for Christmas last year and for some reason brought it in to work recently. I was smitten. Everything in the tutorial cookbook is ADORABLE! And very simple, too.
At my grandmothers, for Holidays, the grandkids are not expected to act like adults. We are not asked to bring a dish, or help out in the kitchen. While this can be a relief at times, sometimes it is also nice to be treated as a grown-up. Especially when you have a house, a fiance, a big girl job, and two fur-"babies". So I decided this year that I would make cupcakes! Yay! Only problem is, I've never made cupcakes before. Well, not really a "problem", as I am a fairly good cook, so the baking part was no trouble, but I completely underestimated the time and financial commitment that fancy cupcakes take. I chose to make the "T.V. Dinner" cupcakes and the " Larry the Turkey" cupcakes.

 

I went to Schnucks on my lunch break to buy the supplies. It took forever since I don't bake much and I wasn't sure exactly what I needed. I had decided that instead of the Peas and Carrots cupcake you see in the first picture, I would make a Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows one. So I needed lots of orange Starburst, but I didn't know how many... And I also decided that instead of Chocolate Pudding, I would make Stuffing. That was easily accomplished with Betty Crocker Ice Cream Praline topping. So I got most of my stuff at the grocer, but I still had to stop at a cake decorating specialty store for the rest, Karen Ann's. She was really nice and incredibly helpful.  Anyway, after 5 hours of baking and decorating, here are the results.

I think they all turned out really great, but it was definitely hard work. You'll notice there are no Larry's and there are also two random "Pudding" cupcakes. I ran out of time and the will to live. Just kidding. But it was 11 pm, I had run out of orange Starburst, and I was tired. So, I deemed it "good enough". I am the queen of "good enough", BTW. But they were a big hit (especially the mashed potato ones), so I was happy.

So what do think of my recycled DIY project? Have you checked out the other links at Kim's?

Fashion Friday: Dr. Suess Converse!

I just received an email from Converse about their newest "custom" line of All-Star tennies: Dr. Suess themed! How much fun is that? I LOVE Converse and actually happen to have 12 pairs myself; pink, orange, red, white, blue, green, black hi-top graffiti, etc... I used to even have a leather pair, but they apparently were lost in the shuffle in my previous life as a nomad. I still have my very first pair of chucks, covered in doodles about boys, Metallica, and Marilyn Manson. I definitely want need a pair of Dr. Suess Chuck Taylors.

And all the Whos down Whoville held hands and began to sing...

Adorable!

 

 

If I Ran the Circus

The Cat in the Hat

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Kids - Cindy Lou Who

Kids - One Fish, Two Fish

Kids - Grinch Face

Kids - Thing 1 and Thing 2 (Thing 2 is on the other shoe!)

 

  

How cute is this new Converse line? Would you ever wear cartoon inspired shoes?

What the?

Any idea what this is?

Well, obviously it's Brussel Sprouts... Right?

I had no idea that Brussel Sprout's grow on stalks. None. Not the foggiest.

Apparently neither did the cashier, she said "Ok, I give up. What the hell is this"? Hilarious. I had a crowd of people gawking at my alien spawn vegetables.

Would you have known? Have you ever bought produce that has stumped the cashier?

Parental Kitchen Remodel: Before and After

Let me preface this by mentioning that my family didn't know about this blog until recently. The Mister is painfully (and psychotically, sometimes) private and I was afraid he would freak out and kill me frown on it when he found out. Well, he saw the name of the site in the Most Visited list (which is how he accesses his beloved Craigslist) and was all "Is that our Little Pink House"? and I'm all "Maybe?" And he was all "Ok". Ummm. Awesome.
So I told my mother about it and she, of course, had to check out her posts first and noticed that I totally dropped the ball and neglected to show you guys a proper Before & After of their kitchen remodel. Remember that lack of follow thru I mentioned last January? Yup. Hasn't improved.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

Removed the wall the clock is hanging on.

AFTER

Opposite angle, there used to be a wall here!

I just love the bookshelf she added for her oodles of cookbooks, what a great use of vertical space:

And the convenient file storage in the desk:

What do you think? It's crazy how different it looks, isn't it?

If you missed the first four remodel posts, you can see them here, here, here, and here.  Wow, I really do suck; these were from May!

Monkey Love

So sleeeeeeeeepy....

Dozer always sleeps with his mouth slightly ajar.

Does your (human or fur) baby have a funny quirk when they sleep?

Quick Fix: Walking in the Spiderwebs

so leave a message and I'll call you back

Quick! Who knows what song that's from?

This speedy little project didn't photograph too well, it just looks like the mirror is dirty (or cracked), but IRL it looks just like spiderwebs!

So convincing, in fact, that the Mister did a double take. He actually thought I had neglected to clean the mirror for so long it had developed cobwebs. Um... I'm pretty sure that would take longer than the few months it has been on the wall.

This was a superdiduper easy and quick little addition to our Halloween-time decor.

1. Allow your hot glue gun to heat up.
2. Drip a dot on one side of the mirror and pull slooooowly to the other side.
3. Place tip down on other side to catch.
4. Start again from the point you ended at.

It is also a very subtle decoration. I don't think a single person at our house for Halloween noticed it... Or at least they didn't mention if they did.

I think this was my favorite decoration in our house this year. A word to the wise though: If you do this project next year, don't drop the hot glue directly on to a painted finish. When you try to remove the globs, it will take the paint off. The inspiration article I had (I can't find it now) mentioned using a hot glue pad to start your lines, but I thought they were being overly cautious. whoops.

See those little imperfections in the paint?

So now I have to decide if I want to; a) repaint the mirror just like it is, b) distress it ala Debbie, or c) make it an entirely different color so I can paint the console under it a funky shade.

I think even if I redo it like it it, I may put a glaze over it to bring the brightness down a notch.

What was your favorite DIY Halloween decoration this year (in your house or someone else's)? What do you think I should do with the mirror? Do you have a favorite glaze that you have used?

Halloween 2010

We had our first party ever (yes, ever) on Saturday night. I'm not sure I will ever do it again. It was A LOT of preparation and stress for very little payoff. My family and the Mister's family came and seemed to have a fine time (the first time they've ever met, BTW).  But only 7 of the approximately 70 other people we invited showed up. Embarrassing. Well, obviously not THAT embarrassing because I am telling you about it, but whatevs.

On the plus side, my house looked great! My mom was of the opinion that I spent too much time on the decor, but really that's what a party is all about right? People being jealous of how great the house looks? LOL

I found faded black and off white cheesecloth at Joann's for 50% off! I bought 40 yards (4 bolts, 2 of each). I sprayed the white down with slightly (very slightly) diluted coffee, then left them hang on the clotheslines for a few days.

We had a bad storm one night with crazy strong winds, so that helped with the aged and tattered look.

The upstairs is unfinished and I didn't want people wandering around the entire house. There was half a zombie torso in here Saturday night.

Some more shots of the dining room:

Ignore the bone and the plate. And the empty liquor suitcase.

I bought these a while back from Madam Talbot's on Etsy.

The pictures were a HUGE hit. Everyone kept asking about them. I bought the frames at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, still $20 a piece (ouch) and the mat board and mat cutter from Hob Lob too. Used a coupon for the mat cutter and the mat board is always on sale. Matting is time consuming (at least for me, I suck at math), but it's totally worth it to learn to do it yourself.

We (meaning my mom) Fall-ed up my china cabinet with my Fall/Winter china. That's right, I have china for the season's. I'm fancy like that... lol

The Mr.'s mom gave this set to me. It's 12 place setting, plus a bunch of extras. It's Japanese and has little pine cones on it. I love it. She has had it for about 30 years and her friend had it for at least 30 years before that. We added some acorns to be festive!


Here are the curtains in the kitchen:

Ignore the mess, please. I took these the "morning" after.

I put the cheesecloth drapes up in the living room too.

My new lamps from TJ Maxx. Yum.

If you cared to notice we moved our couch up from the basement last Monday. I am loving it! I was on a desperate search for a couch, then decided we needed a sectional, then changed my mind again and made my brother come assist the Mr. in moving our ridiculously heavy couch. Mr. was pissed that I couldn't just help him myself, but the damned thing weighs a zillion pounds!

My coworker, George, brought me a present! A new skull friend who fits right in with all the other skulls! It's a nice one too; solid and hefty.

AND (drumroll please) the Mister's mother brought me a present as well... Brrrrrrrrr (how does a drumroll sound?)

An antique pirate ship door stop!!!!!!!!! OMG, I was so freakin' excited when I opened this up I started freaking out and shrieking. I am sure they thought I was completely insane. Ya know, if they don't already. I saw this bad dude at an antique store in the town they live in. I wanted it ridiculously badly, but it was really expensive, so I left him behind. *sniffle* Well, apparently, Mr. was actually paying attention when I mentioned it (shocking, right?) and he sent her down to investigate. She thought it was neat and she knows the woman who owns the shop and now it's mine, MINE, MINE!!!! Yay.

We have windows on all four sides of our house and no central A/C, so we have to prop our doors open or they will slam shut. Perfection.


How was your Halloween? Did people bring you presents too?