Pallet Signs

I've been having so much fun cutting apart a pallet and making signs!  The beach one is for my kids beach themed bathroom, and the flag for my front door.  I used things I had on hand, so they were both FREE to me!

I've been extremely busy crafting and fixing up my house, I just haven't had the desire to blog (I may have just lost half my followers with that statement).  I've decided I'd rather spend time with my family.  Blogging takes up way too much precious time for me.  I may throw a few things on here from time to time.  I sure appreciate those that faithfully blog because they certainly are inspiring to me and I love seeing all that they come up with!!!  Thank goodness for google reader to support my speed method of blog reading :O).

Here are a few more shots of the signs...

Things that I've been busy working on that may or may not show up here...

1.  Newly painted front room wall and kids bathroom.
2.  New curtains and curtain rod for the front room and kids bathroom.
3.  My love for Kilz spray paint primer...made over towel holders for kids bathroom.
4.  Newly painted bathroom cabinet and cute shelf paper for drawers and interior of cabinet.
5.  Refinished surfboard for kids bathroom.
6.  Sign #2 for kids bathroom.
7.  Kids at the beach pictures displayed in bathroom.
8.  Entire kids' bathroom reveal.
9.  25 yards of concrete for our driveway and upper and lower patio in backyard with radius stairs :O).
10.  Reupholstered patio furniture.
11.  Rosette pillow to match curtains in front room.
12.  Refashioned curtains for kitchen patio door.
13.  Decorative stepping stone for flower garden.
14.  Large rrefinished picture frame for front room.

That's all I can remember at the moment of things I've been working on. 

Black & White Bag

A few weeks ago I was on a bag making kick.  With scraps I had on hand I made this up in just minutes!  I took a rectangle of black material, cut strips of white, sewed the strips to the rectangle, then sewed it all into a basic bag.  I added velcro, a strap, and a few rosettes. . .

It's for the 10 year old, but I've used it a few time too.  I LOVE it!

For a full list of parties I link to click HERE!

Lego Cake & Cupcake Stand Fail

My adorable little son had a birthday earlier this year.  We thought we had a plan for his cake & theme, but the night before he changed his mind.  Not really the best or most effective way to go about planning a party, but it all worked out.  I was in disbelief that NONE of the party stores OR Wal-Mart carried Lego themed party stuff!  Do they not know how many little boys ABSOLUTELY LIVE FOR LEGOS?! 

Anyways, being that it was the night before his party, I decided to make a bright colored cupcake stand that somewhat resembled traditional Lego colors.  The only problem is that for some reason my E-600 didn't set up well on one of the joints, and it fell apart on the way to the farm that we had his party at.  I had used the dollar store glass candle sticks and sprayed them white, I wondered if maybe the spray paint mixed wrong with the glue and didn't allow it to set. . .

I separated them and it all worked out, just not the way I pictured in my head. . .

The night before (when he changed his mind), he came up with an elaborate plan for what his "Lego" cake would look like.  I felt bad, because it sounded like an amazing idea, but it was THE NIGHT BEFORE.  The poor little guy, he knows what I'm capable of when it comes to cakes, as the below B.O.B. cake (from Monsters vs. Aliens) was what I made for him a couple of years ago.  But, that cake took me 3 days and a whole lot of cuss words.  In fact, I've not made a fun cake since (it did me in). . .

He settled for his next idea.  He wanted me to buy this Star Wars snow machine set, and wanted the cake to look like snow.  His big sister put it together for him and we stuck it on top. . .

I didn't plan to post ALL fails this week, but hey, I guess we'll get them all out of the way!

Sewing Outfits & My Fear of Patterns

I made a couple of outfits for the 10 year old before our Disney trip.  Here's the deal though, I'm terrified of patterns.  There's lots of tiny print, and foreign words, and little points, and all sorts of things I don't understand about them.  So, I just wing it.  That doesn't turn out too well in the end.  The above yellow skirt didn't hold up very well in the wash (apparently I don't know how to hem properly).  And the below white top I completely screwed up (it was supposed to have an elastic top...at some point I sewed too much over the elastic and it's REALLY tight now, haha) - it will make it's future debut as a bag :O). . .

The pink top and the green skirt both turned out great, AND washed up well.  I guess I should go take a sewing class and learn how to do it. . .but, that probably won't happen anytime soon!  I think I'll stick to what I know :O).

Thank goodness my momma gave me all this scrap material to play with.

Modge Podge Candle - Dislike

Have I mentioned how much I dislike my mantel right now?  I would love to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it, but at the moment it's at the bottom of the project list.  In fact, I'm tired of my entire living room, and would like to change everything in it, but again, I've got other pressing items on the list. 

The other night I decided to modge podge the above candle, hoping that somehow it would boost my spirits to have a little change up on my mantel.  Everything in my living room is SO BROWN and SO GOLD.....really, really, tired of it all.  There are worse things in life, I know.  I'm just ready for bright, happy, refreshing colors in there.  One day. 

Anyways, for some crazy reason I thought adding some white would be good, but no, it ended up looking wrinkled and much like a toilet paper roll.  Plus, it didn't "go" anymore with the other stuff I had up there. . .

I moved it to the top of the piano, I still don't like it.  I just need to go buy a new candle.  And do something else with the ridiculous ribbon I added to it, and then maybe paint the black a different color.  I look at it and think "toilet paper tuxedo", NOT really the look I'm going for. . .

Oh, the things we do when we're bored :O).

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

My sister-in-law's birthday was on Mother's Day.  When I found out she was planning to make her own birthday cake I made her email me the recipe so that I could make it for her!  Making your own birthday cake is against so many rules of having a birthday. 

She is a BIG chocolate lover!  So, it surprised me to find out that her favorite cake is this lemon poppy seed cake.  She originally found the recipe in a very old church recipe book.  I'm a BIG lemon lover and was excited to try out a new recipe. 

LEMON POPPY SEED BUNDT CAKE

3 Cups Flour

2 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/2 Cups Milk

1 1/2 Cups Oil

1 1/2 TB Poppy Seeds

3 Eggs

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 tsp Lemon Extract

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour a bundt pan (I like to add a good amount of sugar to my flour to make the edges sweet and crispy).  Pour batter into pan.  Bake for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, run knife around edges.  Let cool for a bit before turning out onto platter.

LEMON GLAZE

1-2 Cups powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla, lemon zest, bit of milk to get the right consistency.  I even squeeze a bit of the lemon into the frosting.  Mix and drizzle onto cake.

I used my Dollar Tree cake stand made out of a dollar glass plate glued to a dollar candle stick - using E-600.  I should give credit for this idea, I've seen it all over blog land, but most recently over at 

A Love to Create with Trina.  She has so many great ideas!

This cake turns out super moist and SO YUMMY!  I would love to make it using almond extract in the place of lemon.  I think I love almond just as much as I love my lemon :O) . . .

Speaking of cake, remember how I posted my Cake's in a Jar the other day?  Well, somehow that post was deleted by Blogger.  I'll have to repost those again soon. . .

For a complete list of parties I link to click HERE!

Framed Vinyl Saying - Wedding Gift

A good friend of mine needed a vinyl saying cut for a wedding gift.  I told her I could throw something together (any chance to craft is a great one, right?).  I'm really liking the look of scrapbook paper behind glass with the vinyl on top - the same way I did the Mother's Day frames. 

I had a gold Pier One Imports frame from the DI that I bought for a dollar.  I primed and sprayed it white, then distressed it.  I added a black rosette, some little pewter scrapbook trinkets, and white ric rac...

Used my Silhouette to design the vinyl and stuck it on...

For a complete list of parties I link to click HERE!