Server Makeover

Eons ago I would wake up really early on Saturdays to hit garage sales in search of old, tattered furniture in need of TLC. I’d then bring them back to life by making minor repairs, refinishing or painting them. I don’t do this as often now but still find the time to dabble in projects when time permits. It’s so satisfying to see the transformation of something old to something spectacular. Sometimes a coat of paint and a little elbow grease is all it takes. If you haven’t seen my cane chair makeover check it out here.

Here’s the latest project. This little server needed a little oomph after the kitchen redo.

DH suggested I paint the body and leave the wood exposed on top. It turned out better than I expected. For painting over wood furniture, sand lightly with fine grit paper. Wipe dust off then paint. I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer In One. It worked beautifully and I highly recommend this product. I’ve used this paint on my interior walls too and it sure does save you time!

By the way, I will be heading off to California tomorrow for a little R and R with family and friends. I’ll make sure to share my travels with you.

Welcome Alphabet Walk Blog Hoppers

Welcome Alphabet Walk Blog Hoppers! If you haven’t heard of the Alphabet Walk Blog Hop, visit Piper’s blog,  One Sydney Road, for all the details. Pretty easy concept-get your camera out and take photos of what represents the letter you chose. My letter is R and I had so much fun hunting for this letter in everyday objects. It was a bit challenging at first but I made a game out of it with my family visiting from out of town.  So as they were sightseeing around town, they had to find the letter R.  My 12 year old niece actually took a few of these.

Bench near the White House
Supports at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar Hazy Center

Light Post near the swimming pool

Bench at the National Harbor

The back of bleachers at the US Army Twilight Tattoo Concert

Udvar Hazy Center beams

Out and About

Hello dear neglected blogosphere. I’m sorry I’ve been away so long. I’ve been spending time with family visiting from out of state and am having oodles upon oodles of fun doing it. We’ve been sightseeing and showing off the beautiful Metro DC area, going to the beach, and eating. Lots of eating! Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Cake Mix Ice Cream Sandwiches

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone. May you have a fun-filled celebration!  We are going to be spending time with family this weekend while indulging in barbecues, fireworks, firefly watching and some good ol’ patriotism.  I’m also really excited to make these ice cream sandwiches.  We made them last weekend and they were such a hit, we’re making them again.  Super easy and super yummy.  That’s pretty much my cooking motto.

Easy cake mix ice cream sandwiches

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• Your favorite ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter, vanilla extract, eggs.  Use a cookie dough scoop or roll dough into 2-inch balls and place them onto the prepared baking sheets.  If you don’t have a cookie dough scooper, get one! I can’t live without mine.  Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Do not over bake. The cookies should be set, but still soft.  Let cool in on the baking sheet then transfer to freezer for at least 30 minutes before filling.
   
3. Scoop ice cream and place between two cookies and gently press together.  Fill all of the cookies, lay out on a baking sheet, and place in the freezer to harden.  If you’re having a party, you can make this a day in advance.  They can also be stored in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!

Ta Da!

Finally, the anticipation is over. Here’s the ALMOST finished kitchen. Still need to tile the back-spalsh/walls, purchase new fridge and stove,  install bin pulls and a few other minor details. DH and I were the designers and project managers through this whole ordeal and our goal was to maximize this small space as best we could. Before, the kitchen was so small and as you can tell not very functional. Now it’s so open. Everyone can be in the kitchen at the same time! I also love the peninsula and my faux Tolix stools. We’ve had a few gatherings already and it’s been so wonderful to be able to entertain. So, without further adieu, here are the before photos.

This is pretty much all the counter space I had to work with.

We removed this wall and what a difference!

See the window? That was closed off and the door we made into a window.

Beautiful formica!

This layout doesn’t even make sense.  The fridge was covering up counter space and cabinets. Even with this awkward kitchen we fell in love with this house and saw the diamond in the rough.

Dining room overlooking the living room. The wall between the dining room and living room was widened and the wall where you see the picture frame, removed.

AND AFTER:

This kitchen reflects our casual lifestyle and I was inspired by this room from La La Lovely, one of my fave blogs. I need to add accessories and put things up on the walls. I was thinking of shelves to the right of the sink. Any suggestions? I’m also getting rid of that family of chickens you see there on the small buffet.  I’m not really going for a country look.

This door was once a window

I’ve been tagged!

I’ve been tagged by Sandy at Sandy A La Mode.  Love her blog! You’ll have to pop over to her blog and say hello.  She’s so inspiring with her sewing adventures and cute posts.  She’s another kindred spirit who seems to share the same passions as I do.

The Tag game goes as follows:
Go to the 8th folder in which you store your photos
Select the 8th photo
Post it to your blog and tell the story behind it.
After following the above instructions, you are ‘supposed’ to tag 8 other bloggers.

Here’s my photo taken in August 2008. I took this photo while we were in line to ride this tractor hayride to the peach orchard where we picked fresh peaches.  This was at Great Country Farms, an agritainment farm where we saw farm animals, played in their awesome playground, and lunched at their vineyard.  Oh, that was a good day.

So, here are the 8 bloggers I’m tagging. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have time to tag others, like Sandy mentioned, it’s just for fun so no worries. Maybe just share your 8th photo from your 8th folder?

Oh Sweetlee Me

Lola’s Girl

Sugar Lens

Mo Pie Please

Flower Pot Designs

Florida Girl Meets The Midwest

Little Wickies

Korean American Mommy

When blog worlds collide

We’ve all made friends through the blogosphere, right? Strange how this occurs but I am truly amazed at how many friendships I’ve developed through this medium. One such friend is Alely from Oh Sweetlee Me. I was drawn to her cheerful blog, her beautiful family, and just how honest and open her posts were. So approximately one week ago, Alely was going to be driving through my neck of the woods with her family so we planned a meetup. Due to time constraints, we met at McDonald’s and we chatted it up like we’ve known each other for years. There was an instant connection as soon as we saw each other. Her parents, her aunt, and her beautiful little girl were all quite lovely and we had a wonderful time under the golden arches. And true to her blog name, she really is sweet. She brought me a beautiful necklace from her Etsy shop, Sweetlee Designed.

Thanks, Alely. Please come visit when you’re in town again.

This is Alely. Wanna see a better photo, head on over to Oh Sweetlee Me.

Make Perfect Lemonade

Wanna know how to make lemonade without all that squeezing? Here’s a recipe from old rural family tradition. Farm wives would make their lemonade this way using water from nearby streams and serving with thin crisp sugar cookies. Doesn’t that just sound delightful?   I’ve had this recipe for years and will never make lemonade any other way.  You really don’t need those fancy squeezers!

The general rule of thumb is to use 1 lemon and 1/2 cup sugar for each quart of water. There is no exact recipe because 1. lemons come in different sizes and 2. lemons, just like our palates are different. So, here’s the deal, you don’t get to taste until after the steeping process so if you like more of a lemony taste, squeeze in more lemons. I know, squeezing involved but this is optional and it’s very minimal.  Play around with the recipe.  The key here is the method. Follow it and you’ll acquire the perfect balance every time.

1. Roll lemons until soft
2. Slice them thinly then place in a pitcher.

3.  Add sugar to lemons and mix a little. Place mixture in the fridge and let steep for one hour. Never heard of steeping? Steeping just means to soak something in a liquid to extract flavor.  What steeping does in this case is extract flavor from the rinds.

4.  After an hour or so, add water. Mix and enjoy!

Have a great weekend and I hope you do include this favorite summer treat to your plans.

Topiary Tutorial/Challenge/Giveaway

Ok, due to popular demand, here’s the topiary tutorial. My kids made it for the most part. I haven’t made one of these in years so I’m glad you pressured me into it. I love the smell of eucalyptus wafting through the kitchen-ad added bonus.

NOW THE TOPIARY CHALLENGE AND GIVEAWAY

I hope you make one for yourself and share your pictures with me.  I’m sure you’re all going to make it your own and they’ll be amazing. Yes, this is a challenge!  A fun one, at that!  Send me a picture of your topiary and I’ll post them in a future post!   Please send them by July 12th, okay?  If you submit a photo of your topiary, you will be entered in a giveaway.  One person will be chosen by random and will receive a lovely package from Small Burst.

Oh, now here’s that tutorial….

What you need:

• 4 oz. Dried Eucalyptus branches- 3 of them
• 4 inch green Styrofoam ball
• Thick branch as the the stem.  Found mine in the yard.
• Planter (I have lots of planters laying around from garage sales.  You can get them for 25 cents!)
• Large rocks
• Newspaper
• Glue gun
• Deer moss

1.     Cut the eucalyptus in 3 or 4 inch pieces. If you want a more compact topiary, cut the eucalyptus shorter.

2.     Strip the leaves off of at the bottom approx. 1/2 in.  Set the leaves aside and and use for potpourri. I just placed all the left over pieces in a nice bowl in the bathroom.

3.    Insert the stripped side into the styrofoam ball. Work your way around, insterting branches 1/4″ apart.

4.      Leave a small area on the bottom clear for the stem. My kids found a great branch in the yard. Insert stem and glue in place.

5.     Fill in the empty spaces with more branches. You can use the imperfect branches for the underside.

6.     Place the stem in your planter.  I used large rocks found in the yard to hold it in place and used          newspaper/scratch paper to fill in the pot and to further stabilize the stem.  You can also use floral dri-foam instead of the rocks which I’ve done in the past.  Cut the dri-foam to fit in your planter and instert the stem.

7.     Got this new unopened package of Pottery Barn premium deer moss from a yard sale for $1.  Place deer moss on top of paper and glue in place.  This time around, I didn’t glue them so I can use them later for another project.  I’ve had this deer moss for a year and used them to decorate throughout the year.

and viola!

Also tried it in this white planter (also from a yard sale for cheap ninety-nine)

What do you think-the terra cotta or white planter?  I may go with the white planter since it’s smaller and fits on the window sill. But I like the natural, rustic look of the terra cotta.

Check this project out over at My Backyard Eden.   Click on the link below.

I’m also struttin’ my stuff on Somewhat Simple.

Welcome SITSahs!

Today is my SITS day. For those of you who are not familiar with SITS, it’s a fine establishment of bloggers who support one another and today I’m being featured! It’s my day! Not familiar with SITS?  Let me give a rundown. I joined The Secret is in the Sauce (SITS) to connect with other bloggers. I love to read blogs and if you do too, SITS is a great place to peruse.  New to blogging? SITS is a great place for tips  ( thanks to blogging gurus Tiffany & Heather) and to establish an audience.  For whatever reason you decide to join, I assure you that in the process you’ll make many new blog friends who will become your support system. It’s really unbelievable. Friendships were the last thing I thought I could cultivate through the blogosphere since my intentions were just to have a creative outlet. I now have connections from around the world. These new found friends inspire me daily. SERIOUSLY! See for yourself and visit my friends listed on the sidebar. So welcome everyone and have a look around. You’ll find a small burst of everything here. Happy blogging and thank you ever so for stopping by!