11/50 - Easter Wreath

Found a pretty wreath on whipperberry while browsing pinterest and told my mom I'd love to make some for Easter with her.
She had her paper all cut when I got to her house, however the night before I wasnt sure if I still wanted to do mine with the mod podge. So we decided to do hers the same way and mine different (and actually ended up doing hers a bit different still)
I helped her mod podge strips of paper...

I've still got glue on my nails!

Then we needed to paint the base wreath but stopped for a pic together


Then painted


While they dried mom worked on her strips and I cut mine


Then it was time to glue everything together YAY HOT GLUE GUNS!!


Just need to add some Easter goodness


ta-da!


I didnt glue any of the Easter stuff in, instead I picked the colors my place is decorated with so I can use it for other holidays by just adding cute things.

I currently have it hanging in my window but will eventually have to find a better spot for it (its hard to see any detail with the lighting)

Momma started a blog and wrote about hers here.

I also made some Cream Cheese Cookies from Bake, Sew, Sing last night to contribute to dinner with my neighbors.

However, I didnt have quite enough sugar so I added a bit of brown sugar and ground up some fancy sugar to coat the outside of the cookies. I also added a touch of almond extract. I like how they turned out! Very moist inside and a nice crunch on the outside, I did have to bake them closer to 9 minutes though (recipe calls for 7)

10/50 - Earring Holder

I live in a studio, it has a small bathroom. Luckily it has enough room that I've been able to add containers for storage.
One thing I didnt give myself enough room for was my earrings.
This is what I had been using...

It just wasnt cutting it!

I had some ideas but was adamant about not buying anything for this project.

Then I looked at my craft table...

AHH! How'd that happen?

Dont worry, I fixed it! (just dont look at my bed)


I had these little cork boards I got at the dollar tree and spotted them while cleaning and decided thats what I'd use!

Cork, wire, and pokey thing...


Drew some lines


Poked some holes then put the wire in



(The back is ugly, but it doesnt matter)

Then I just had to hang and fill them up!


The great thing about it being cork is I can store my studs on it also!

9/50 - Cupcakes!

WOOO CUPCAKES!

Now, I normally wouldn't count a cupcake as a 'project' but I used the stove for a couple things making it a whole new world for me! And as I said in my first post about projects... new things in the kitchen are going to be projects!

I used the recipe from 'What's For Dinner' - Its a Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream (a whole new-to-me kind of buttercream! made with Granulated Sugar!)

While I was at my moms last weekend we were watching Cupcake Wars and I was like "UGHGGJUHGRFJ! I WANT TO MAKE CUPCAKES!" she said "WE SHOULD!!" and then it happened!

While she went to the store to get milk and liners I started what I could. I got the cocoa mixture ready and started the dry ingredients... She got back right in time!


I got everything together and was about to add the cocoa when...

THIS ISNT LOOKING RIGHT!

Then I realized "Crap! I added the butter! oops!" (butter was supposed to be for the frosting, NOT the cupcakes)

So I started the batter over and it looked great so I was able to add the cocoa mixture


messily fill cups


and bake!

(dont they look nice?!)

So while they cooled I made the frosting... You have to mix the milk and flour until its kind of the consistency of brownie batter, add vanilla, then let it cool to room temp. While it was cooling to room temp you beat the crap out of sugar and butter. With exception of scraping down the edges sometimes I literally had it mixing the entire time it took the flour/milk/vanilla to cool...

I read the comments on her blog and some had problems with mixing so much it then separated... so I dont know what I did but it worked!



NOMMM


So the cake part is very moist, exactly how I like it, light and very cake-like. The frosting is SUPER light, like whipped cream light! and its got a very light taste, not very sweet, but enjoyable. My personal preference is more sugar but it was def. nice for something new!

Also Mom and I decided we're going to try some bakeries around and just share what we get... so we went to a place today and got some kind of raspberry chocolate cake.
The cakes frosting tasted EXACTLY like this, except it had a raspberry flavor to it.

I guess I should take pics of what we get from now on cause we totally graded it.

We went to Piece of Cake in Sellwood
I guess this is what we got:
Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream Ganache
Layers of chocolate cake filled with raspberry, iced in buttercream & topped with dripping ganache.
We gave the bakery a C-
It was very cute inside, you can see the whole kitchen, but the only things that had labels were the cupcakes. So we had to ask about each cake... which was difficult because the woman there had an accent and talked SUPER soft. I literally leaned into her and had her repeat herself, even with no accent I would have had to have her repeat herself.
She gave us a menu but there are no pictures... so it was very hard to decide, and they kept the cut cakes out of sight, so you couldnt even get an idea from looking at them. It kind of killed the experience.
She also didnt ask if we were eating there or taking it, she just put it in a to-go box... so we brought it back and ate it. We didnt even see what it looked like til we got back!
We both agreed if we saw the cakes inside neither one of us would have decided to get it, a very unexciting looking cake.

The cake itself got a C
It was ok tasting but super boring. The raspberry flavor was too faint.

So I dont know that we will go back again just because the way its set up was too difficult to be visually stimulated. (Which is how I pick what I want!)
This was very disappointing cause I always pass this place and was very excited to finally try it... WOMP WOMP...

WHEW LONG post!

8/50 - Kitchen Cabinet Hardware

My mom and I have been talking about getting hardware on her cupboards for quite a while now.
I kept telling her we needed to go pick some stuff out and she kept asking me when I was going to do it.

Finally she said "will you come over Saturday and get the hardware on my cupboards?"

So finally it was set! This was going to happen!

I ended up going over on Friday after work. We went to Home Depot and found that most of their selection is by order, and the selection they do have in the store is minimal. We even asked to take home the store samples so we could pick one. (They said no)

We picked out two then headed to Lowe's.

*cue heavenly sounds and sparkly lights*

Their selection was HUGE and they had so many on sale! We picked out eight to ten more (I didnt get any pics)

When we got back to moms I got to work figuring out which looked best while she was working on something else. She finished and came down, I had four picked out that I liked and had her hold them up and see what she liked also. I talked her into my favorite one so back to Lowe's we went!


Now came the measuring (there were some issues but I eventually figured it out!)


I was able to finish 1 row of drawers before heading home for the night.

Came back a little after noon on Saturday to finish it up!

Had to take down the hard-to-reach cabinets


Moving along


And after some time... DONE!


Mom loves and, and so do I!

7/50 - Baby Book

Boy, #7 already? January isn't even over - I have to say I'm proud of myself!

This project is 4 years in the making. My nephew (friends kiddo) who is now over 4 years old finally has a baby book. Back when he was born I had bought an inexpensive scrapbook kit and told my friend that I could put together a baby book for her.
I sat down and planned out some pages then got super intimidated...
What if it sucked?
What if she hated what I put together?
What if I regretted cutting some things?
What if what if what if... ugh

So there it sat... eventually being put in storage.

A little over a week ago I came across it and brought it home. I stared at what I had ready (oh but mind you NOTHING glued!) and then I bit the bullet and said 'fuck it! get this thing done already!'

So I did. Its simple and I'm happy with it. And hopefully she is too!



On another note, its been a hard week for me! I've been having a hard time getting my sleep schedule to work with me so I've been doing a lot of sitting and being lazy. It felt good today to finally DO something.

I cleaned my ceiling fan!
Seriously... freakin nasty dude... yeah, I took pics lol



OMG bug! (thankfully it was dead!)

pretty!

ahhh much better


Right after I took that last pic I heard a faint cracking sound... promptly said 'SHIT' and took the cover off to see a nice crack forming. Patched it the best I could and wrapped the whole edge with electrical tape and stuck it back up (more gently) Hopefully it doesnt die anymore!
I had tried cleaning it when I first moved in, but it was so dirty I had given up.

The weather in Portland has been oddly warm - last weekend I brought out the bunnies to play in the grass.

6/50 - Wall Art

I got my order from naokosstoop and promptly got to work to get it on my walls.
While the big print was still on its way I checked her shop to make sure I would get the right size frame.
On Monday I asked mom to go to goodwill with me and found a nice simple frame that was marked for the right color to be 1/2 off!


The big one ended up being $1.99
and small ones were $0.99 each (two were 1/2 off from $1.99)

On Tuesday I used my Dremel to sand off the finish on the large frame


Then I went to WalMart and picked up a can of black spray paint for $0.96!

Oh, I also received the large print in the mail on Tues!

I am really trying to be frugal with anything I'm crafting and was concerned about the cost of a mat for the larger print (and knew I could figure something out for the small ones)
Then I remembered I had red wrapping paper I bought from Ikea a year ago so I figured 'wouldn't hurt to try!'


So after some Xactoing and lots of measuring I finished and now have wall art!


I apologize for all the reflection!

My clock used to be on that wall so...
BONUS PROJECT!

Before:

After:

I had to find a new home for the clock so I thought Jack could keep it company. Then realized... it looks GREAT there!

5/50 - Beam Bling

I am SO excited about this post.
I live in a place that I'm not allowed to paint, so I'm stuck with a lot of white.
One really cool thing about my cozy home is that I have beams. But they are painted, so they kind of just... get ignored.

Before:


I put a lot of thought into the roll of black con-tact paper I bought.
Where I would put it.
What I would cut it into.
IF I could cut it.
Would it be too sticky?
OMG WHAT SHOULD I DO?!
So there it sat, still in its plastic... just... a roll.
Until last night when I got the urge to start a project I had talked to my mom about.

I had to find an image of a hopping bunny... as in the progress of a hop (I dont have drawing talent so I couldnt freehand it!)
All I could find was a pretty small image so I bookmarked it planning to take it to work so I could enlarge it and print it. (This was the other day)
Last night it popped into my head to use my computer as my platform and just trace it onto parchment paper! DUH!
And on I went!
I cut out one 'bounce' but realized it wouldnt be enough so I cut out one more today and finished it up. This was way faster and easier than I had ever expected!

The process:
Find image, enlarge in photoshop to desired size, trace


Cut out with Xacto knife


Put a dab of double sided tape to arrange


Stick them on one at a time and voila!


I LOVE it, this makes me smile every time I look up, and its so eye catching.