Headboard Details

This is a reminder of how the door looked when I got it. 

Nice right? After some inspiration from here, I peeled the tape and stickers off & I scrubbed the heck out of it with soapy water & a scrub brush. After it was clean & dry, it got two coats of Glidden Gripper in white.

 

After letting the sealer dry and staring at paint chips for a few days, I decided to paint it Behr's Teal Zeal. I just bought the color sample size and I have just a little bit left over. 

 Lastly I added a piece of chair rail around the top edge and cut a piece 1/4" plywood to create a little shelf across the top and painted them to match after filling the nail holes & caulking the seams.

 To hang it we used a french cleat.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out and so is the hubby. In fact he likes it so much he even gave me the okay to order a new duvet cover! Our bedroom is finally starting to look the way I've been dreaming about. 

 Pooh bear likes it too. He was a gift from my hubby for our first Valentine's day back in 2007.

Homemade heart shaped pizza pockets.

So confession, I love Hot/Lean Pockets. I know they are terrible for you but they taste so yummy and are so fun to eat. (Yes, I'm kind of like a 5 year old sometimes.)

Tonight was leftover night and we just happen to have all the fixings for pizza but, I was in the mood for something fancier. Hmm... I know! Pizza pockets! However, circles & squares are boring but hearts, now that's fancy!

Here's a quick little tutorial on how to make your own. 

1. Roll out dough 1/2 inch thick, use a cookie cutter to cut out dough, roll remaining dough out 1/4 inch thick. Roll out 1/2" thick shape to make it about 1.5 times the size of the cookie cutter. Roll out 1/4" thick piece to make slightly bigger than cookie cutter.
2. Turn cookie cutter with thicker edge facing up and lay larger piece of dough over the top.
3. Push dough down into cookie cutter making sure to leave dough up and over the edge of cookie cutter.
4. Fill dough with yummy toppings.
5. Wet the edge of dough with water & place the other piece of dough on top.
6. Press down on edges to seal. Flip over and remove cookie cutter. Use a fork to firmly seal the edges. Poke a few holes in the top to allow stream to escape.
7. Bake at 425F on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet on middle rack for about 10 minutes.
8. Enjoy! (Pictured: Feta, chicken, green onion, spinach, ranch & mozzarella.)

And in case you want to see exactly how I do it, I even made you a video! (I feel so special right now!) Hope you make some of your own and wow your family!

 

And about the headboard, I kind of spaced on taking pictures & took a nap instead. Whoops. So pics tomorrow I promise.

Headboard Love

For the first time since 8th grade (that was 10 years ago in case you were wondering), 

I have a headboard.

& I love it.

I'll post the details and more pictures tomorrow. 

(After I take some with better lighting.)

I'll be getting a good night's sleep tonight. 

^_^

Junebug Inspired Dress

Is anyone else following Project Run & Play Season 3? 

I'm slightly addicted. Maybe because one of my best bloggy friends is a contestant (Hi Stef!) or maybe because all the contestants have mad skills, and I'm hoping some of their awesomeness will rub off on me. Either way, ADDICTED. And I always have the intention of participating in the At-Home-Sew-Along but, I never get my project finished in time. This is the dress I started for the first week's Junebug Remix challenge. 

I finally finished it a couple days ago but I have a really good reason why it took so long. 

I discovered I HATE knits. 

I mean I love them, they are cozy, soft and are a joy to wear but sewing them, UHG! I had such a hard time that I gave up decided it was best to put it aside for awhile so I wasn't tempted to set it on fire. After letting it sit for a good 2 weeks, pouring over every helpful tip google provided me with a link to and watching several youtube videos, I was ready to try again. 

It's not perfect. or anywhere close to great. or even good. 

I'll go ahead and describe it as "acceptable for a first try."

Seriously, I have to give major props to anyone who can sew knits.

So without any further whining from me, here are a few more pictures of the dress.

 At least it is "a good spinning dress."

I think I'm going to take a little break from sewing until I regain some confidence in my sewing abilities.

In the meantime I think I'll work on some more nursery projects. 

Since baby is due in 7 weeks and the nursery is looking like this

 at the moment.

 And a little collage of how my bump has grown.

Can you tell I love hats?

New Tessa Dress Variation

On Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed 45 east minutes to the hubby's parents place for the Niner game. While we were there Nana volunteered to keep Mina for 4 days! Mina decide that 3 would be enough but still I had 3 days with only one kid! It was pretty awesome. The first day I rested and played with Caetlin, the second day I sanded, painted & primed furniture, and yesterday I sewed up a storm. I forgot how quiet it is with only one kid. I didn't have to stop what I was doing every 5 minutes to referee! I finished a couple Black Hole Projects and completed 2 more projects from start to finish! 

Here is a dress I made for Caetlin with the scraps leftover from her birthday dress. I gave her a pile of scraps to keep her entertained while I worked and she brought it to me to "make me a dess peas?" How could I say no to that sweetness?

It's a variation of the Tessa Dress Pattern from Oh So Sassy.

I love this pattern. I use it all the time. It is cute and simple.

 I added elastic to the back instead of the tie.

 And of course my little model insisted on wearing her tutu under the dress. I had to bribe her with a candy cane to let me take pictures.

Little Bird Peasant Top

The first of 14 Black Hole projects it completed. I'm proud of myself.

 She wasn't thrilled about modelling but tolerated it well enough since I was making funny noises to entertain her.

 She does however like the shirt and pointed to almost every bird on the front and said "Chirp Bird."

Reclaiming UFOs (un-finished objects, that is) from the Black Hole.

Remember I told you about my black hole drawer last post?  

 

Here's a picture of it in case you forgot how terrible it was.

And here is is all laid out, minus a few things that never even belonged in there in the first place.

 

 Want to know what all that stuff is supposed to be?

Diaper inserts, a skirt for my aunt, a hooded cape, an owl pillow, a tutu dress, a peasant top, mobile pieces, Junebug remix sew along challenge, a pillow for the nursery, a sweatshirt for my nephew, a poofy sleeve shrug, a wet bag & 2 American Girl doll tops.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Yeah, I have a really bad habit of starting stuff and not finishing it. 

That's why my word of the year is COMPLETION!

Speaking of which,

 here is something I actually completed!

 Okay it wasn't in the drawer but it is finished. The secret is I crochet in the car while the hubby is driving. We had a 45 minute drive to the in-laws place to watch the 49er's beat the Saints on Saturday. ( GO NINERS!) It's for my cousin's new little girl, Molly. I made her a little (key word here) camo hat as a baby shower gift totally forgetting that the dad's head is twice the size of a normal person's head and that baby might (did) inherit this trait. So I had to make a bigger one that will actually fit! And now that we know she's a girl, I got to add the cute bow.  I think the hat turned out cute & girly even though it's camouflage & safety orange.  Besides having a huge head (love ya Dan!), Dad is also a little bit of a gun nut.

 And because I refuse the buy those bubble envelopes, I cut up a paper bag, addressed it, stitched it up leaving one side open, inserted the cute hat and finished stitching it closed. Then I did a second seam, careful not to catch the hat, to make it extra secure. Yeah I'm kind of awesome. ^-^

Destashing project

I have scraps. Tons of scraps. I don't know why I save them all. I just can't help myself. So one of my goals this year is to use up my scarps & improve my quilting. Confused on how these 2 things go together?

Scrappy baby doll quilts!

                                                                  (source)

Ta-da, two birds with one stone. This way I get back some storage space, improve my skills and have a stash of cute handmade gifts for the little girls in my life when every I should need them. (So I don't have to stay up until 2am the day before the gift is to be given. Sleep, sweet precious sleep!)

My other goal is this drawer.

 

This is the drawer where I hide all my unfinished projects. Which wouldn't really be a problem if I ever took them back out and worked on them. But no this drawer is kind of a black hole, once it goes in it doesn't come out.

 

So this afternoon during quiet time I'm going to take everything out and make a list of what's in there, post the list on my side bar & work towards FINISHING them!

Wish me luck!

The nesting has begun

 Despite being bone tired 90% of the time, things are slowly getting done around here. Mostly a lot of little things, like cleaning out & organizing.

Like the center drawer of my craft desk

Before nesting

After nesting

And under my bathroom sink

There isn't a before pic but let's just say this is a HUGE improvement.

 If you want to imagine the before think a bunch of gallon ZipLoc bags filled with random stuff tossed under there. Yeah it was bad.

Fresh squeezed oj & orange vinegar.

The first of every month is my super cleaning day. The coffee pot is one of the things that gets super clean. I brew 10 cups of vinegar (followed by two 10 cup pots of water) to keep my coffee tasting fresh. And I just can't justify dumping out 10 cups of vinegar so, I end up making more orange vinegar, which I use for everything from wiping counters to mopping the floor to cleaning the potty chairs. But making orange vinegar means I need the peels from about 15 oranges. So we pick and juice and peel oranges for what seems like hours. Did I mention I don't have a fancy juicer? Or any official juicer for that matter? No I'm kind of ghetto and use the bottom of a cup over a big bowl. Fun. But the end results are pretty satisfying. A clean coffee maker, a little over 3 pints of fresh orange juice and 10 cups of orange vinegar.

And finally I'm motivated to work on the nursery! 

Here are some before shots when it was my craft room/guest room.

Crap piled on my desk, ghetto blanket curtain, guest bed without a mattress because it we used it for Caetlin's big girl bed.

Unorganized fabric, extra blankets, the hubby's guitars, random crap up on the shelf.

 And now

A crib, a mattress, real curtains.

 I love the curtains. They took me about 5 months to finish and I'm kind of pissed off about it because they are so pretty I wish I'd just buckled down back in September and finished them then!

Ruffle-y deliciousness.

This morning I hung some Ikea curtains for the closet doors.

 I've still got a little more cleaning to do but most of the junk has been moved out.
Baby's dresser, which is a work in progress, is tucked in the closet and will double as the changing table.

 And last but definitely not least, our new brick walkway!

 

This is what the area looked like when we moved in back in April.

 

Here it is in October after baby girl tripped on the uneven broken cement chunks and busted her lip open twice in under an hour. I got a little crazy and decided it was coming out, NOW!

Day 2 of me ripping up the cement.

After I marked off the new walkway and started digging.

And today.

 I love it. The hubby did all of the brick work by himself. I supervised from a patio chair with my feet up. ; ) The entire project cost us under $200. I think it adds so much more to the backyard than the old "path" ever did and the girls can run and ride their bikes and scooter over it without breaking their faces.

 We also moved over a garden bed so we can have our herbs closer to the back door and kitchen & I can't wait until spring so I can plant some pretty flowers down the right side next to the house.

Oh, yeah.
 

It's now the home to my fabulous little compost bin.

 I built it at the beginning of December out of a bunch of scrap wood. The hubby was surprised and so was I! Because he actually liked it!

 And just a little update of how I'm looking now-a-days.

Yeah, there's a lot of baby packed in there now.