Throw Pillows!

The other day I shared my first paper pieced quilt blocks and then my modification of turning them into circles. And I promised I would show you what they ended up as.

Since I hate repeating myself, doing a whole quilt of paper piecing wouldn't be very fun. But we never have enough pillows on our couches so...

I used this amazing (saucy) Alexander Henry fabric on the back which I think is a nice foil to the orderly, conservative vibe of quilt blocks.

Painted Thrown Pillows: Upcycle

I had bought some orange cushion covers at Ikea 

No matter what I sat them next too, the brilliant orange looked a little rusty and autumnal. While that is gorgeous, my house leans more towards the bright and bold so dusty colors just don't gel with the rest. 

After placing them in my donation box but dragging my feet about dropping them off, I finally grabbed some fabric paint to see what I could do. They were already a loss.

Now we love them! And the pillow forms inside were thin and cheap so I double-stuffed them with my lumpy old gray cushions too. Those things looked like they were full of baking potatoes. 

But the two together - rich, thick, deluxe comfort. 

I'm a happy lady and my living room has one more bright pop of color.

Renovations

Sorry my posts have been somewhat infrequent.

We've been doing this:

Because we were moving.  

I gave away half our stuff and packed up everything else into boxes.

THEN WE DIDN'T MOVE! 

So, we looked at all the missing furniture/stuff and decided it was a really good time to fix up the place.

We needed to repair things

because our builder was an ass and did a very crap job of just about everything. 

There was  A LOT to fix. 

Specifically vast, extensive, (expensive) drywall issues.

 And the ceiling. 

And the niche was sinking, backwards. 

Like it was trying to slink away. Bastard.

*SIGH*

And it was time to replace the floor...

New floor = Pretty

New floors require  new base boards.

And Plinth Blocks. I love Plinth blocks. Saying "plinth" is fun!

Try it :-)

And now the painting has begun.

Look at our boatload of paint! 

Like... a metric boatload which is much, much worse than an imperial one.

I keep hearing rumors about how nice it's going to be once it's all complete. 

I don't believe them.

Dresser Renovation: Before and After

I have a bad history of buying furniture at yard sales or Goodwill (DI) and then stashing it away in my basement indefinitely. Isn't that terrible?

It's just a whole lot of work to refinish something and my plate feels painfully full already. I'm just not one of those bloggers who refinishes a table in the afternoon and then paints her front door that evening. Never will be. I'm clumsy and prone to spills - things never go as planned. Never

Which is why I'm so pleased to have a furniture before an after to share. It's rare as unicorn tears.

Since I'm confessing, my husband and I haven't had a dresser since our house burned down in 1997. We've had several homes, several cars, several a-whole-lot-of-things, but never a dresser. It just failed to be a priority - especially after making do for fourteen years. So when I saw a dresser and end table set (end tables! We haven't had those since '99 when a homebuyer wanted us to throw ours in with the house) at DI for $55.00 I brought it home.

It was in rough shape. See.

Sanded:

Ta-da!

Can I show you my favorite part one more time? Check out the snazzy drawer lining. Me and The Podge got up close and personal. Viva la gift wrap!

Doesn't it totally remind you of this:

Linked up With:

Whipperberry

Planters and Mac and Cheese

When I saw Amy at Positively Splendid's planters I knew it was just the thing to spruce up our front porch (remember, the relatives are coming). I had most everything but the largest pots on hand so this came together in no time at all. What do you think?

If you want to make one just click on the Positively Splendid link above; Amy lays it out in easy to follow steps. 

Another neat thing I found was a great recipe for Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese on Monkey See- Monkey Do. It makes my mouth water just looking at it. We've had it twice since Yolanda posted the recipe and I barely got this picture before it was all gone. So delicious!

And finally, we had this one straggly looking tomato that was too feeble to plant outside so I experimented with the sub-irrigation planters:

Here's a close-up:

Ironically, this once near-dead wisp of a tomato is the only one that survived and it's huge now. Yay! In case you're wondering, the penny keeps the water from growing slime. Our youngest loved watching the bottle fill up with roots. 

Rainbow Party Cones & Time Out

Our family has a wonderful tradition; when someone goes on time out, the non-offending children get to do something really fun. This is very effective because the person in trouble is doubly punished and it helps them be mindful to not break the rules in the future. It all started years ago. My eldest is a pretty self-contained unit and he made the terrible mistake of asking me what was the big deal with time out. The way his six year old brain saw it, time out was an oasis of quiet and a break from his brothers. This would not do. The next time he was sent on time out, I popped popcorn with my younger two hoping that the smell of his favorite food wafting up to his room would make my point. The next infraction, we skipped school and watched a cartoon - suddenly the point was much clearer to him.

This message has been played out many times over the years and I think it's a good one. Sometimes doing the wrong thing doesn't just cause you to receive punishment (like being fired) it can also cause you to lose blessings (like a raise or an opportunity). My boys understand this through and through - as a mom, what more can I hope for.

Now what does this have to do with the pretty vanilla cone at the top of this post? Everything. My 13 and 12YO got into an argument last week. We don't allow quarreling in our house as a considerate exchange of ideas is a lot more effective way to get through life than say, punching someone in the nose. Since their conversation was escalating, I put them both on time out to think about how they could have handled things better. Now I had to find something AWESOME to do with my 11YO. He isn't a TV kid at all so movies and video games were out. I'd been wanting to make cupcake cones with him for at least six months so we got to it. Sorry, I completely spaced on getting a picture of my cute boy.

Step One: Place the cones in a muffin pan. I've tried cookie sheets and its been a tippy disaster. 9x13 pans work well too.

Step Two: Make your favorite cake batter, we used Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Separate it into three bowls and color each batch of batter with food coloring. Be mindful of the batter color - yellow cake will turn blue dye green etc.

Step Three: Each cone holds about three tablespoons of  batter so gently layer one TBL of each color into the cones:

Now they're ready to bake. Afterwards they should look like this. Cool completely before frosting:

We frosted ours to mimic favorite ice cream flavors like chocolate chip mint. All this required was mint frosting and mini chocolate chips. They looked real enough that they fooled my husband :-)

As things inevitably go, Brayden and I got tired of making ice cream cones after about this many:

So we decided to try a multi-colored piping technique I'd seen on TV. All you need is a zip loc bag (or disposable pastry bag), paste food color and white frosting. 

Paint lines of food color up the sides of the bag:

Add frosting:

And pipe your heart out, cool 'eh?

Want to see these babies in action? I call the first one Psychedelic Chomp:

Thanks everyone for hanging out to the end of this tutorial. Hope you make these with your family (without someone needing to be on time out first).

Linking to:

Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs

Spotlight Yourself: Santa's Gift Shoppe and Ideas

cupcake , parenting