Cookies and Cream Cake, SAY WHAT?!

This is by far the best cake I have ever made!  I found it on Annie's Eats.  I love her blog, it is one of my main go to blogs for recipes.  The other of course being Pioneer Woman.  They can do no wrong!

I just followed Annie's directions step by step and ending up with the best tasting cookies and cream cake I've had in my life, and a very happy husband!

Sorry for the ugly cake platter dealio.  I had to use the one for transporting because we had his birthday dinner at my mom's casa.

Bird Watching

It's been a while since I've done some painting on canvas so I figured it was high time to give it a go again.  This is my last small canvas that came in the 3 pack at Ross (totally random).  I wasn't quite sure what to paint on it but then I remembered the last time the Hubs and I were in a Rug Store there was a pillow that had this cute bird design on it (also totally random).  I knew I wouldn't remember it exactly so I whipped out my phone and snapped a pic of it.  That was months ago.  I'm so glad I used my noggin about it though because it took me no time at all to whip up this little diddy.

I used some of my blue water colors to paint the background.  Then I went back after they dried and did the whole bird and branches deal. 

For some reason it looks green here but I promise it's blue

Once again, Hubs scored points because when he came home from work he commented on how much he liked it!  We don't have much blue in our house though so off to the booth it goes.

Lampshade

This was my first ever lampshade makeover project.  I found the lamp at the estate sale I went to back in the spring and it has been sitting in my garage ever since.  I bought some fabric from my local fabric store and was ready to get to work.  The shade that came with it sucked.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great lamp shade as far as shading the lamp but when it came time to put the fabric on it, it sucked (no other words to describe it). 

I felt like doing this about part way through the project.  I don't know why it stressed me out so much!

I used some spray adhesive and sprayed it on the shade and then I smoothed the fabric over it.  I did it just a section at a time to make sure the adhesive wouldn't dry before I got to it.   

While the adhesive was drying I taped off around the bottom of the actual lamp (not the shade) to spray paint the base.  It was originally gold, I painted it black, didn't like that, painted it silver, didn't like that, and then finally went with a champagne color (close to gold but not so bold) which I thought really accented the fabric.  Whew, I'm not picky or indecisive at all (poor hubby)!

I was so glad to have the project finished and my first lamp redo done!  I don't really have a place for it in my house so it's in the booth just waiting for the right person to take it home!

Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

SJ from Homemaker on a Dime so kindly let me know about her "Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop".  Just link up your latest and greatest to show people what you're made of!  I sure am!

Furniture for Grandma Doris

We have these friends that we claim as family.  We usually go on vacation with them every summer and have a blast.  Their grandma's name is Doris and she is a riot.  They got wind that I'm into furniture and she asked me to redo this ooooollllllddddd piece that she had.  It's an end table that was her mother's.  It had an awful ring on the top of it where someone had over watered a plant a few too many times.  Her only request is that it be stained Mahogony to make it look like it used too. 

*please use your imagination on what the table looked like before...forgot to take a pic*

After a couple hours (yes hours) of sanding I wiped it down and then applied a wood conditioner.  I was going to use some polystain I had already but wouldn't you know it that when I opened the can it had congealed.  Darn the bad luck.  Off to Home Depot I went.  It took 2 coats everywhere but 3 coats on the top and middle section. 

Hopefully this is what Grandma Doris was looking for!

We're Gonna be Famous!

Not really but that's what I felt like when I went up to the booth yesterday.  I was just minding my own beeswax going to drop off some loot in the booth when I walked up and there was a full blown photo shoot going on.  My heart stopped for a second.  I was a little star struck because while I know Mrs. DeVore's stuff is pretty freaking amazing, mine just sometimes borderlines on amazing.  I kindly asked if I could put my stuff in the booth and they were super nice about it.  I tried to hurry up but I felt like they were watching my every move.  All I could think was, please don't trip, please don't flash your bum on accident (I was wearing a dress), just act cool. 

Turns out they were from a yarn company that distributes to places like Michaels.  They were using our booth and our stuff as props and backgrounds for photos of the yarn.  Not just balls of yarn, but like a blanket they made out of their yarn. 

Here they are hard at work.

Many apologies for the crappy iPod photos.  I'm just glad I had it with me to document this craziness!

China Cabinet Redone...again.

Remember back when I found this china cabinet at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore?

I have already grown tired of the way I re-did it the first time and decided it was time for a change.  I had left the inside the original brown wood look.  The items in the cabinet just weren't poping.  It just wasn't working for me. 

So, I woke up from a nap and brought the can of black paint inside, cleared out the cabinet and started painting away.  It took 2 coats because I didn't prime the inside.  I might regret not doing a coat of primer but I think it looks pretty good for now!

All in all, it might not have changed the look too much but now I can take better naps.

Check out my new favorite item in there.  They are light pink glasses.  They were in the booth across from ours and I had been eyeing them all summer.  When I was up at the booth the other day the lady who runs that booth was in there so we started talking and low and behold she gave them to me for half the price!  SCORE!

Easy DIY Fall Wreaths

Even though it is not technically fall yet I gave in and decorated for it!  Let's just say when it is officially fall my house will be welcoming it with open arms.  This is the first fall season in our new house so our decoartions are looking a little sparse. 

The first order of business was a fall wreath.  I went online to check the ad for Hobby Lobby and as luck would have it all their fall wreath picks were 50% off!  I made a mad dash there on my lunch break and assembled a wreath for our door.  I ended up going back the next day and bought more stuff to make some wreaths for the booth.  It will be fall there too ya know!

I started with a simple grapevine wreath.  I was in luck because these were not suppsoed to be 50% off but the lady rang them up as floral and took 50% off!  YAY!  Sometimes its great when people make mistakes!

Here are some of my many picks.  These are just the ones for the wreath I am keeping.

 

After a little hot glue and some floral wire here are the finished products.

My husband made me so proud.  While working on the wreaths I made the comment that our dining room table looked like fall thew up all over it and his response was, "I'm ok with that, I love fall!"  Made me smile :)

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White is the new Gold...

...probably not but I didn't know what else to title this other than "spray paint some ugly crap to make it look better" but that just didn't have much of a ring to it.

I found these gold items at my local Salvation Army.  I hit them up on my lunch break every now and then (about twice a week to be exact).

A little spray paint always makes things better!

(don't hate me, these were gold too but yours truly forgot to take before photos)

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

I've been dying to make those and I finally had a legit reason to.  My friend Sarah is having a baby girl in October and over the weekend all of us Sunday School gals threw her a shower.  Thus...the baby pink lemonade cupcakes.

The recipe I used for the cupcakes I found here.  I also used her recipe for the icing as well.  I just decided to use 1 color instead of 2.  I also added a little bit of lemon zest to both the cupcake batter and the icing to give it a little extra zing. 

For the garnish I added pink sugar sprinkles and cut up lemon triangles.  I figured I had a whole lemon that was going to go to waste (you know, the lemon that I used a little bit of zest from) so might as well use it up!  I think lemon zest swirly things would be pretty on top too but I don't have a zester (I use a cheese grater) and I'm not that talented.

Blue Shelf

I have got to think of some more creative titles. 

This is a shelf I scored at my local Salvation Army.

Please Please Please ignore all the crap in the background.  This is what happens to your garage when you become a thrifter.  DO NOT (I repeat) DO NOT let your husband see this picture if you want to start thrifting.  This is not the way to get him on board with it.

I primed it with some good ol' Zinser spray primer and then spray painted it with Krylon's Global Blue.

It took 2 coats and covered quite nicely.

I think it would be perfect in a boy's room or as an accent piece for a pop of color.  For now it is living in the booth because I don't have a boy's room. 

Lunch Break Cookie Making

Today was a slow day at work and I re-discovered Tasty Kitchen.  I wanted to make a dessert because we kind of ran out of ice cream the other day and apparently more ice cream is not in the budget for this month.  Time to get creative.  Lucky for my husband I tend to be the creative type  (otherwise I would turn into a monster due to the lack of ice cream) Insert smiley face.

I stumbled across this recipe for Nutella No Bake Cookies and lucky for me (and the keeper of the budget, who just so happens to LOVE Nutella) we had all the ingredients on hand.  *Cartwheel* 

Here it is:

• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• ½ cups Milk
• ½ cups Margarine
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pinch Salt
• ¼ cups Peanut Butter, Creamy
• ¼ cups Nutella
• 3 cups Quick Oats

Over medium heat, cook sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine. Boil one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, salt, peanut butter, Nutella and oats. Stir until combined. Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax paper and cool. Refrigerate. Eat. Repeat.

source

I was able to make this, take the dog out for a potty break, and pick up Subway on my 1 hour lunch break.   Not too bad. 

I did not taste the cookies yet but the batter was delish!

Another shelf...

I found this dingy old shelf at a yard sale and thought one day when it grew up it could be cute.  It was absolutely covered in cobwebs the day I bought it though.  Sometimes this works out because you get it for a better price that way!  But it's still ga-ross.

I primed the entire thing and then spray painted the gold parts silver.  Once it was time to spray paint the wood parts I taped off the new silver parts. 

It would be perfect in a laundry room or by a front door for leashes and such.  It's too long for any spot in our house though  :(  Hopefully somebody will want it!

Makeshift Shelf

A local Fudge store, yes, Fudge store, was going out of business so I meandored on in there to see what I could find.  I found a couple baskets, a wooden box and then this half crate looking thing.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with but I bought it anyways. 

After thinking it over for a little while I decided to make it into a shelf.  I primed and then spray painted the whole thing white.  (sorry, I forgot to take a before picture, just imagine it looking like very light wood).

The brass owl was a lunch break thrift store find!

Roadside Furniture!

This is one of my favorite things...ever.  Finding furniture on the side of the road.  It gives me such an adrenaline rush!  My husband and I spotted this piece and went and picked it up after church.  Picture this....5'2" blond wearing a purple dress and 4 inch wedges digging through a pile of furniture and trash on the side of the road.  Oh yeah, it happened. 

This is what I got:

A chair. 

Here it is after a little TLC. 

I just wiped down the whole thing, primed it, and spray painted it gloss white.  I had some leftover fabric from the bookshelf makeover and vanity bench makeover so I decided to just use that.  I had to remove the seat and rip off the old yucky fabric and then staple the new fabric on.  I always iron the fabric before stapling it though and this time I broke the ironing board (sorry honey).  I figured it's probably ok though because this is the only time I iron anyways...

I also got a rocking ottoman...not sure what I'm going to do with this yet.  (sorry forgot to take a picture!)

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