Striped Halloween Candle

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The idea for a striped candle came to me as I was perusing the October issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  They showed some beautiful black and white striped tapers just perfect for Halloween.  I have tried and tried to include a picture of my inspiration, but am unable to.  Here is a link to the website where they are sold if you are interested. 

Several days later the idea popped into my mind on how I could create my own striped candles, using things I already own.  I love these kind of projects. 

I knew I could make my own version with electrical tape and some cream colored pillars collecting dust in the basement. 

And here it is.  This is so stinking easy it doesn't need a tutorial.  I started with a stripe at the top and then at the bottom. I then eyeballed a stripe in the center.  From there I added the remaining two stripes by eye.  Sometimes the lines got a little wonky, so then I would reposition until it looked good enough.
 

I am displaying these together on a table with other Halloween lovelies in my living room.  I picked the cute little pumpkin this morning out of my garden.  These didn't grow so well and this is the only full size one so far.  Still, I love it.
 

My daughter put the crow on the branch and I think it is a nice touch.  Great free Halloween décor.

What do you think?

 

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Napkin Holder and Silverware Caddy

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A while back I saw this post at Shanty 2 Chic.  She turned a 1x4 furring strip and some Mason Jars into some darling planters for mother's day.  I took the idea and decided to create something else with it. 

What do you think?  I think it is such a cute way to display silverware.  When we have guests over we usually eat buffet style.  I like to have the utensils out where people can grab them. 
 
If you want to make one you will need to purchase a 1x4 furring strip.  Cut it to the following lengths.

3 1x4" boards cut to 12"
2 1x4" boards cut to 2.75"
(The instructions at Shanty 2 Chic say to cut the board to 2.5 inches, but that was too small for me.  I cut mine to 2.75")

I followed the instructions at Shanty 2 Chic to assemble the boards.  I under painted mine with brown craft paint.  I then added 2 coats of latex on top and distressed until I liked the way it looked.  I decided not to add the screen door pulls to mine.  I also used pint sized wide mouth jars.

 

While I was making the silverware caddy I thought it would be nice to have a napkin holder to match.  I used the same 1x4 furring strips, but you can see in the picture below that it is assembled slightly differently.  I cut my boards to fit the generic napkins I buy at my grocery store.  These may be a different size than the brand you buy, so if you plan to make one of these measure first.  I cut my board to the following lengths.

 

4 1x4" boards cut to 6.5"
2 1x4" boards cut to 8.5"

Take the two 8.5" boards and two of the 6.5" boards and make a box out of them on a level surface.  Use wood glue finishing nails to attach.  I used a nail gun for this, but a hammer and nails will work well too. 

Take the remaining 2 6.5" boards and attach them together.  I used a Kreg Jig to make the pocket holes to attach the two boards.  This will be the bottom of your napkin holder.  This should fit inside the box you made earlier.  Attach with wood glue and nails. 

Paint and distress as desired.



When the paint was dry I attached a piece of felt to the bottom of the napkin holder and silverware caddy.  This covers the exposed pocket holes on the bottom of the napkin holder and makes everything slide smoothly across the counter.  I used a piece of craft felt for this that I cut to size.  I simply glued them with my glue gun. 
 

 

 

Here they are again!  If you make one let me know.  I would love to see them! 

Jo

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Hummus

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Today I was craving me some hummus.  I love the hearty flavor of this bean dip on veggies, tortilla chips and especially with pita bread.  I admit to sometimes buying the hummus at Costco.  It is alright, but I think it leaves a bit of a chemical aftertaste in the mouth.  I much prefer to make it myself.  And, really it is so easy that their is no excuse...other than laziness.

I developed this recipes many years ago when we lived in Tempe, Arizona.  There was a restaurant there that made the best hummus.  We were way to poor to eat there as often as I wanted the hummus.  So one day I ordered their hummus to-go and took it home to replicate.  I tweaked the ingredients until I got it just right, or more likely "close enough".   This is still my go to hummus recipe. 

What you need:

1 can of garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)
reserved liquid from the beans
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 clove fresh garlic
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp tahini
sea salt to taste

 

1. Drain beans and reserve liquid in a bowl.  Rinse beans under cold water to remove excess salt.

 

 

 2.  In a food processor or blender combine the beans, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and tahini.  Start blending and add enough reserved liquid until you get the consistency you desire.  I like my hummus to be a lot wetter than store bought.  I suggest adding the bean liquid one TBS at a time for better control.  I also like to press my garlic first so I don't get any big chunks in the final product.  Add salt to taste.  This will depend on the beans you buy and your personal pallet.

 

3.  Serve with your favorite veggies or pita bread (mine is whole wheat).

4. ENJOY!

 I hope you like it as much as I do.

 

Here is the recipe in an easy to copy format.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 can of garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)

reserved liquid from the beans

2 TBS fresh lemon juice

1 clove fresh garlic

3 TBS extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp tahini

sea salt to taste

 

In a blender or food processor combine garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, and enough reserved liquid to blend until smooth.  Salt to taste. 

 

Jo

 

 

Painting a dresser

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This dark stained dresser has been with me for quite a while. I bought it from an unfinished furniture store over fifteen years ago. I think it was the first piece of "real" furniture I ever purchased. Yes, I did choose that stain. At the time it looked nice, but even then I remember secretly wanting the stain to be lighter. Oh, the influence the men in our lives have over us. For some reason the men I know seem to love dark furniture. My husband does...and as a consequence our house is full of it. Oh well! You live and you learn.

Back to the dresser.  It has been lurking in the basement guest bedroom since we moved into our current home.  It has been filled with craft supplies and fabric.  But Millie needed a new dresser for her bedroom and since I already had this one I decided to see if I could make it work.

I got a bunch of off-white paint chips to see if I could color match it to her bed which came facory painted from IKEA.  I found that Sherwin Williams Dover White was a perfect match.  I had the Dover White mixed at Home Depot in flat Behr Premium Plus (Sherwin Williams paint smells bad to me and gives me a headache). 

Doesn't she look pretty now!  She looks very Pottery Barnesque to me.

Here are the steps I used to get a nice finish.

1. First I gave the whole dresser a once over with the orbital sander. This is totally unnecessary for adhesion because of the primer I used, but there were some rough spots that I wanted to smooth.

2. Next I filled dent and holes with Elmer's wood filler and sanded again.

3. I covered the whole dresser with Zinzer Cover Stain (in the brown can). I used a high density foam roller for this. I also used disposable craft store foam brushes to cut into the crevices. When I was done I threw everything away = easy clean-up for this oil based paint. I did one coat on most of the dresser, but two on the top since it gets the most use.

4. Sand between coats.

5. Painted the dresser with the Behr Premium Plus (in SW Dover White). I mixed in Floetrol paint conditioner to minimize lines and brush strokes. Again I used the foam roller and brushes. It took three light coats to get the coverage I was looking for. Again, I sanded between coats.

6. I wanted a natural looking farmhouse finish on this dresser. I decided to use a paste-wax as a topcoat, and it gave me the natural look I was going for. I used Trewax brand paste wax in clear because that is what I had on hand. There are other brands out there that may or may not work better. I don't know. After a few days the past wax "set" and became a semi-hard finish that protects the paint. 

Here are some more pictures of the Millie's new dresser in her bedroom.

 

I made these tissue paper pom-poms a while back.  They are so much fun in a girls room.  Some were made from a Martha Stewart Weddings craft kit and the others I made on my own.

 

 Well, I hope you like the new dresser.  It was so satisfying to take something that I no longer loved and turn it into something I do!

Jo

Stenciled Shower Curtain Tutorial

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In my last post I told you I would show you how to stencil fabric.  This was my first try at it and it turned out great. 

The top of my shower curtain is a white cotton waffle from Target.  I think it cost me $15.  I knew I wanted the shower curtain to be taller than the standard 72 inches.  I wanted it to hide the shower head.  Plus I think it adds a bit of drama to the bathroom for the curtain to hang higher.  I looked and looked for a navy printed fabric with a pure white background that I liked but never found one.  I had seen several bloggers use the new Martha Stewart craft paint and stencil sets at Michael's and decided to give it a try.  I chose this stencil pack from the Martha Stewart line at Michael's.  I also used the Martha Stewart craft paint in Deep Sea Satin and the Fabric Medium.    

The application was easy with these foam pouncers.  Do you like my paint pallet.  Yup, it is an upside down Frisbee!

I used a piece of white cotton duck for the fabric.  I went all cheap and bought a small piece.  That meant I had to piece the fabric together in the middle.  In hindsight, I wish I had purchased enough yardage to stretch across the whole length of the shower curtain.  It wouldn't have cost much more and would have looked better in the end.  Live and learn! 

I used an Elmer's glue stick on the back of the stencil to keep it in place while I stenciled the fabric. It worked surprisingly well. I didn't have any paint bleed under the stencil.

The only thing I don't like about the Martha Stewart stencils is that they have you line the stencil up with these white dashes that are printed on the stencil. After I was done stenciling one row, I couldn't see them through the paint. I had to keep wiping the stencil off with a paper towel in order to line it up.

After that I let is dry overnight, and then pressed it with a hot iron to set the paint. Easy peasy!  I hemmed up the bottom and side edges and attached it to the white shower curtain with a simple straight stitch.  All in all, I like the way it turned out.  It still makes me smile when I walk by the bathroom.

Jo

Kids Bathroom Part 3 - Reveal

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Hey there!  Today I am so excited to show you how my kid's bathroom turned out.  I absolutely love it.  I decided to frame in the mirror and incorporate it into the board and batten design.  I think it turned out great.  I also made the mirror the same as the doors in our house.  They all have a small piece of wood between the top board and the vertical sides too.  I think it ties it into the rest of the house and makes it look like it was always there. 

This side of the room was a major oops that ended up turning out for the best.  The chalkboard started out as a framed picture from Ikea.  It had a natural wood frame that wasn't going to work in here anymore.  I wanted to paint it white to match the woodwork in here.  The glass was glued to the picture frame, and while I was trying to remove it, it broke.  I felt so bad.  It was one of those moments that brought me back to childhood.  I truly felt that I was going to get in trouble.  Then I remembered that I was a grown up and therefore completely allowed to destroy my own stuff.  Yay!  After I broke it, I had to figure out what to do with it.  In the end I decided on a chalkboard.  It may seem funny to have one in the bathroom, but it has been great.  I am using it to teach the kiddos how to spell. 

The little sign under it came about after my daughter thought it would be funny to have a sign in the bathroom that said "all employees must wash their hands before returning to work".  My husband came up with "ALL CHILDREN MUST WASH THEIR HANDS BEFORE RETURNING TO PLAY".  Originally it was printed on the chalkboard, but I decided to make it permanent on a leftover 1X6.  I don't know if I will keep it on the ledge forever.  Honestly, I just haven't gotten around to putting a fastener on the back yet.

 

Here is the sink area again only from a different angle.  Sorry about the bad picture.  This bathroom has zero natural light (no windows) so it proved a bit tricky to photograph. 

The picture above the towel was taken by a local photographer and friend a year ago. I just love it. I found the frames at ROSS for $5.99 a pop.  You all probably don' t have to shop at Ross do you?  It is one of the best stores around here.  I know how sad that sounds.  Have I mentioned that I live in a small town? The frames have a shiny silver finish and add a bit of glam to the room.  I also love the little sand dollar.  It was a gift from my daughters 2nd grade teacher.  It adds a little beachy charm to the room.

The photos above the toilet are of the kiddos on the Oregon Coast last summer.  They are lovely reminders of a great family vacation.   

In this picture I am trying to show you the difference in texture between the wall and the area I skim coated.  It is hard to see in the picture, but the skim coated walls are really smooth and the contrast makes it look right.  Does that make sense?

Here is a photo of the shower curtain that I painted.  Yes you heard me right!  I'll show you how to do it in my next post.

I found this cool little tooth brush holder at Bed Bath and Beyond.  This bathroom also serves as the guest bath on the main floor, so it is nice to have everything tucked away.

Isn't it cool!

It perfectly matches the hooks and towel bar I bought for the bathroom.

Actually, this is supposed to be a toilet paper holder, but I don't think any one will ever know.

Can you keep a secret!  This bathroom revamp is full of mistakes.  I hate to admit it.  There are areas that make me want to cry when I look at them.  But, I have had several friends and family members in here and no one but me even notices them.  (I'll admit I haven't been pointing them out).  My point is that things don't have to be perfect to be beautiful.  So, if you are considering making a change in your home, don't be afraid to jump right in.  I hear from so many friends that they could never do something like this.  I think they could if they just tried.  Just Do It!

Kids Bathroom Part 2 - Board and Batten

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Lets catch you up.  In my last post I talked about smoothing out the drywall texture by applying a skim coat.  If you are interested check here.  For my board and batten I used 1X4 vertical pieces and a 1X6 topper.  I also removed the old baseboards and replaced them with a 1X6.  This gives it a nice chuncky look.  I also used a piece of brick moulding on the very top to create a nice little ledge.  I don't seem to have any photos of it so you will have to see it in the reveal pictures.

I tried to follow the studs when attaching the vertical boards, but sometimes I wasn't able to.  In those spots I used my good old friend, construction adhesive. 

This stuff is great.  I can't believe how strong the initial tack is on this stuff.  Warning!  You better move fast with this adhesive, because it sets fast.  After 15 minutes you won't be able to move the board without some demolition style force. 

When I started this project I assumed that the walls in the bathroom were straight.  I mean, it's a new house so the walls will be straight right?  Wrong!  There was a major bow near the bathtub.  In order to get the boards to sit flush with the wall we needed to support them while the adhesive set.  Enter the towel bar.  This was my husband's genius...I give him full credit.  We removed every towel bar in our house (3) and used them to brace the boards to the bowed wall.  They worked great. 

 I will show you the final reveal tomorrow.  I think you will like it...I sure do.

Jo