Sunday, March 27, 2011

Book Page Wreath...

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Between yesterday and today I did a little bit of work on the sheet music breakfast tray... AANNND... I started and finished this book page wreath!..


Yesterday I picked up a straw wreath form from Michales for 6.99... I had a couple books hanging around that I had tea dyed this past summer...  see here...  I was going to tie the books together in a bundle with some twine like the ones at Pottery Barn... but I didn't like the books once the covers were off... the glue on the spines was unsightly... so yesterday I started pulling all of the pages out...


...with a little paper twirling and lots of glue gunning...


...and lots of glue gun burns...


...I had pulled two books apart and covered the messy straw form...


It took longer than I had expected... I did use a large 18" wreath form... and my glue gun... that technically is my Mama's... I took it with me when I moved!.. it doesn't turn down on low thought... so it was hot hot hot... and took awhile for the glue to cool... so I spent a lot of time holding the cone rolled pages in place until the glue cooled...


...just don't read the pages of the wreath!.. hahaha... I found these books last summer... ...someone had tossed them aside... they're cheesy romance novels...


For now the wreath is hung over the sweedish couch for the front room...


Chris and I were just out in the front room looking at the wreath... it looks much larger in person than in these photos... 

Link Party Time:

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Friday Eve...

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As Cynthia says Happy Friday Eve...


...had vietnamese for lunch today... the Jasmine tea was good...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Work Life Balance...

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...is beyond out of balance!.. working late and then dreaming about work all night is starting to wear me out!.. soo this Saturday I'm going to spend the day working on projects that I've started but haven't finished yet... and I'm getting my hair did!..


This past weekend Furs and I popped into Fair's Fair Bookstore downtown... and I picked up a few books of sheet music... one of which is of sheet music for songs about the ocean... ohhh I miss the ocean... anyway as we were heading back to the car we past Stampede City Stamps... I had to go in... right inside the door there were bags and bags of envelope corners with stamps on them... I guess to be steamed off?.. Anyway they have stamps there for five cents a stamp... from all over the world that have been peeled off of envelopes... So I got a couple bucks worth... Not sure what I'm going to use them for yet...

The sheet music is for this breakfast tray that I've repainted...


...cream of course!.. the bottom and top are going to covered in sheet music... thats is happening this weekend coming... I thought I had a before picture... it was ugly... but I can't find it in my photo library...  the parts that are now cream were black... and the top that reddish brown colour...

This evening on the way home we had to pop into the grocery store... I was feeling tired and sorta homesick... so I picked out a sweet treat...


Om nom nom... 


I love chocolate seashells... if only the egg had been stuffed with them too... 

That's it... nothing much up this week so far... just work and sleep... work and sleep... Hopefully tonight I can stay awake long enough to watch all of Republic of Doyle... if you've not seen it yet try to catch it when its on...

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Relaxing and Productive Weekend...

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Furs and I couldn't stay awake long enough Friday night to watch even one movie!.. We caught up on a few PVR'd tv shows while we ate our pizza and then intended to watch a movie or two after... no such luck... we passed out!.. but we got lots of sleep... much needed sleep!..

Yesterday we ran out and picked up some hot tub chem that we were out of and I picked up a few supplies... chaulk board paint... metal primer... brown and gold paints and some brushes... 

The sun has been out now the past couple of days... it was so warm this afternoon that I got the windows open for a little while to let in some fresh air... it was lovely to have fresh air flowing through the house again... it gets so blah after all winter all barred up!..

 Anywhoo when we got home yesterday I kicked off my sneakers and headed into the house stoked to go work on a couple projects...  I turned around and looked back towards the front door and found the sunlight beaming in across my Chuck Taylors...  I had to stop and take a couple snaps... 

...well this:


...turned into this:


...then this:


..just a neat evolution that I felt the need to share... it was totally unplanned but makes a great little series... 

Remeber a few months back I found a pile of silver platters on kijiji for super cheap!?.  I'm going to make a few Silver Platter Chalkboard Displays... these things are all over the DIY blog world... this was the first project that I started to work on yesterday:



I used some Rust-Oleum Tremclad Rust Paint Water Based Primer in grey as you can see in the shot above... I put it on thick to help fill the etched pattern in the platter surface...  I let it sit over night and then this morning once it was dried I gave it a sanding to flatten out the brushstrokes... 


Then I broke open the Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Paint to find out that it had frozen during shipping to Home Depot... it was useless... so we ran to HD to return it... they had two other cans of the paint... the first one was also useless... but the second... luckily... was ok!.. 


Here it is drying... I brushed it on with a small brush... I was hoping that the paint would level out as it dried but it is still brush stroky... so I think a light sanding is in order before I put on another coat... and the next coat I will have to put on with a small roller... Hmmm... I'll keep you posted with the finish product!.. it'll need a day or two before I give it a light sanding... If you have any advice for working with chaulk board paint please share!.. I'm all ears!..

Yesterday after the platter was primed I begun workin on a shadow box assemblage... I pick up bits and pieces of papers that have been dropped and left behind and collect little bits and pieces of metal or intersting things like foreign stamps off of envleopes or small tickets and tags... then after awhile I'll build up an assemblage... check it out...


I picked up this plain shawdow box a couple years back at Ikea...


...yesterday it got a coat of brown paint...


...then gold paint...


...then for the assemblage... I started piling things up from the collection of bits and pieces I've been picking up and squirrling away now for about 8 years... woah... I didn't realize how long I'd been keeping some of these bits and pieces!.. haha... the clock faces were given to me a year or so ago now by our neibs A&B...

After a little shuffling around I had it...  then some glue here and there along with some sticky standoff dots and more glue and it was all tacked into place...  it made for some neat photos...





This last one is my fave.. 


I glued a few more pieces into the frame itself... the bell from my maternal Grandmother's budgie bird's birdcage from when I was little... and a plastic giraffe that my bestie Jirrian bought for me when we were in University and on a trip to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal!.. and that was it... I'm not sure if its finished yet... I think it might need more... perhaps something on the inside walls... And I just realized that I meant to find a wooden candle stick and some sort of same size as the candle stick finial... both to be painted brown and then gold... the candle stick attached as a stand for the box to sit atop... and then the finial for the top...


Last night Furs and I headed out for some Vietnamese Pho for supper... Mmm... and then we headed to visit a friend who is moving away... again we planned to watch movies once we were home... but it wasn't to be... Furs popped over to visit some of the neibs in one of their garages... the local watering hole for the residents living at this end of our street!.. and I fell asleep!.. perhaps we'll watch a movie or two tonight!.. 

...but first its time to finish the laundry with Furs and figure out what we're gonna make for supper... What did you get up to this weekend?.. make anything?.. bake anything!?.  Oh yeah... I finally finished the carnation wreath that I started back in October... check the post below this one... I've posted some snaps of the final wreath... and a link back to the tutorial!..

Ooo... I'm going to be making a spring cleaning list for the house... maybe while supper is cooking... I'll post it if anyone is intersted... I feel energized now that I can actually smell Spring in the air... I haven't been fooled into thinking that the weather will now be nice until next winter... I know the difference of that!.. We'll see more snow now before Summer actually gets here but at least now there is light at the end of the dark winter tunnel!..  Have you begun your Spring cleaning!?. 

Link Party Time:

Finished Carnation Wreath...

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So I've finally finished the Carnation Wreath that I started back in October!.. Check out where I began with this one:



...so I finally finished the wreath this afternoon!.. snip snip snip...


...and glue glue glue...


...and I'm done!..


Finally!..

Friday, March 11, 2011

BAAAAHHHH!..

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OMFG... just when you think it can't get any busier it does!.. holy eff again!.. what a week!..

soo... we're chilling out and relaxing all weekend starting with a MOVIE NIGHT TONIGHT!..

...we stopped at Superstore on the way home from work to grab a fresh pizza... and of course movie nibblies... chippies... popcorn... dairymilk with hazelnuts... beef jerky... the pullout couch is pulled out and piled up with pillows and blankets and the movies are about to begin...

Chris just brought over the pizza hot out of the oven... now to decide which movie to begin with!..

Happy Friday!..

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Chicken Cordon Bleu... AND More Whoopies...

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Just when I think the week can't get any busier... it does... last week was just nuts busy... Then instead of chilling out and taking it easy Friday night we decide to have people in for a few drinkies so as soon as we got home from work we frenzied and got the house all tidied... so... most of yesterday was spent on the couch until the evening until we had to make a few visits to friends...

Today was groceries as usual... laundry... the Sunday things... I started painting an end table that I picked up this past summer... not sure if the paint is going to stick enough... perhaps I shoulda used oil... or sanded it more... we'll see... I couldn't really focus though because I wanted to make this for supper:

Chicken Cordon Bleu... to cook in the slow cooker... Ooo... I love my slowcooker... 


When we were at Superstore this morning I got a mallet...


After you flatten your chicken to about 1/4" thickness drop on a slice of swiss cheese and then a slice of ham...


Roll up the chicken with the cheese and ham inside and secure with toothpicks...


I think I could have flattened them a little more... We'll see how they cook up... perhaps they were flattened enough...


Then half a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed with a quarter cup of milk... and a quarter cup of white wine... only I don't like white wine in my cooking so I just tossed in a quarter cup of water... mix all of that up and pour over the chicken and cook on high in your slow cooker for 4 hours... 

...THEN... while that has been cooking away I pulled out this awesome book and made oatmeal whoopie pies with maple bacon icing... OM NOM NOM NOM... BUT I left my dslr at work... I think... so I only had my canon point and shoot to take the photos for this post today... I was not impressed when I discovered this... anywho onto the whoopies!..



I didn't get quite the yield I was supposed to... I tried to make them just a tablespoon drop fulls that the recipe called for... 


These whoopies are so great and cakey!..


I wasn't sure how I'd like Maple Bacon Icing...


But this recipe has turned out great!..  Check it out!..


These puppies are sitting in the refrigerator now... just waiting to head to work with me in the morning...