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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Lace Dresser & Night Stand

One of my most ambitious projects from Pinterest has to be the dresser and nightstand that I just finished for my guest room. I combined several different ideas from different pins and prayed! The pins I looked at were: Painting Laminate Furniture, Spray Painting Furniture, and Adding Lace. Let me preface this by saying that I just looked at the picture for adding lace and took the description of the pin and ran with it. After getting into my project, I went to the blog and found out that she did not add lace to her dresser, she used paintable wallpaper with texture! Oh well, I was committed by that point.

To start, I bought a nightstand from a thrift store for $15 (solid wood) and a dresser for $5 at a yard sale. Here are the starting projects:

These were very loved items, they showed their wear and tear and even had a resident - EEK!

First step was sanding the furniture, even the laminate. I didn't worry about it too much, just roughed it up a bit. Next was adding two coats of primer. I went ahead and used the primer that was recommended and it worked great! It was Zinsser Cover Stain.

Next was adding the lace. I bought a yard of lace at Hobby Lobby for around $5.00. This let me cut enough strips for 3 drawers on the nightstand and 5 drawers of the dresser.

Once they were ready, I grabbed the Mod Podge... I put a layer of Mod Podge down and then placed the lace on top of it. I followed up with putting another layer of Mod Podge over the top of the lace as a glue/sealer and trimmed any excess on the side. I let it dry overnight.


Next was the painting. I am so glad that I took the advice of the blogger and bought a spray nozzle for my spray paint. It was around $3.00 and worked great! I sprayed the drawers with a steel gray spray. It took 3 coats to cover the lace and the sides of the drawers. I then sprayed the dressers with white.

I added hardware that I got at Lowe's on sale for around $25.00. and put them together. I love the way they turned out!



Since my husband is not crazy about having gray, white, and yellow in our bedroom decor, I decided to do it with the guest room. These are the first things I have finished for the room. Now I am trying to get my courage up to make a quilt! Thank goodness for my mom who is willing to help me...

Cupcake Pizzas

As soon as the kids got home from school today (yes, they are still in school for a couple more days - love year round school!), J started asking what was for dinner and if we could have pizza. I happened to have just seen something on Pinterest (original link cupcake mold pizzas). I had everything to make these babies, except the pizza dough and needed to run to Target to get some cabinet locks to keep C out of the drawers...

The Target that I went to was kind of small, and didn't have Pillsbury Pizza Dough. The only thing they had was crescent rolls, so I decided to go with it!

I preheated the oven to 375 degrees and sprayed my silicone pan with Pam. Supposedly you don't have to, but I was scared...

I only ended up using one package of crescent rolls and got 12 cupcakes worth of pizza. I just pushed the wide part of the dough into the bottom of the pan and then remove the excess. After doing that with 2 of them, I was able to combine the extra parts and make a third crust.



Next was a spoon of pizza sauce. My kids aren't huge fans of sauce, so I just did a little bit. Added cheese and pepperoni to only mine (again, the kids aren't fans). Baked for 15 minutes and they were delish!!! Very easy for a weeknight meal. Between myself and 4 kids, we ate all 12 of them (they are fairly small).



All in all, my kids seemed to like them. They weren't the favorite pizza thing I had made, but they worked in a pinch... Plus we had fun with Callie trying to use a fork.





Pinterest Addict

My name is Aimee and I am a Pinterest addict, and I have no desire to change. Since my sister-in-law introduced me, I have come up with so many ideas, recipes, projects, etc. My husband believes it is costing him a lot of money, and he is probably right. Good thing he loves me!

Although I haven't blogged in awhile, I have been very busy. I have found raising 4 kids with a husband who travels Monday - Friday keeps me hopping, but projects have been saving my sanity. And cooking is the only form of legal child abuse that I am capable of! My kids may not like it, but it is saving money and hopefully better nutrition. I am going to start putting down my various projects, whether cooking, sewing, crafting, painting, etc... because trust me, some funny stuff has happened along the way!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Green Bean Saga and Aunt Lew's Chocolate Chip Cookies

It has been a day! I have made bread (recipe to come later - it is awesome!), homemade dishwasher detergent (will also post after I have tried it out), chocolate chip cookies, and dinner. I also had to run for a couple of hours to verify my daughter's SS#. Did you know that you have to have ID for your 10 month old to get her SS# to file your taxes? I asked if I could just plop her on their desk - they were not amused. Instead, I had to drive to her doctor's office, 30 minutes away, and get a copy of her last medical visit. Dumb! All of this to file taxes, which I don't want to do!!! Let's just say, I was tired and it was a long day!

Then comes the chaos of dinner. My kids are painful at dinner, this is putting it lightly. If it isn't standard kid fare: mac n'cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, I had better prepare for a battle. Tonight, I made grilled pork chops, fettucini alfredo, and the dreaded green beans. You guessed it, there were many tears. Tonight, I was a little tired of the theatrics, and decided to record it for posterity - and all of you! 




After, I asked her if she learned a lesson, she stated "yes, that you are mean!" It only took her 8 years to figure that out! Assisting me in the diabolical plan - her Uncle Chris! Lucky dad is out of town...

The only thing that got her to eat her green beans, was the promise of a chocolate chip cookie. I thought I would share the awesome recipe here!!!

Aunt Lew's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream:
2 C. Shortening
2 C. Brown Sugar
1 C. Sugar
2 t. Vanilla

 Mix in 4 eggs and add the following dry ingredients:

4 C. 8 T. Flour
2 t. Salt
2 t. Baking Soda

Stir in 1 pkg. chocolate chips and nuts (if desired). Mix thoroughly, bake 8 minutes at 375 degrees.


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Quick Mix (aka Homemade Bisquik)

My mom calls this "Quick Mix" because you can use it to make dinner quickly! I used this for pancakes tonight for my kids and they loved it! Unlike most of the food I make them eat :-)



4 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Powder Milk
2 T. Baking Powder
1 t. Salt
3/4 Cup Butter

Mix all together until crumbly. Store in fridge for up to 6 months.

For Pancakes (made about 8):

2 Cups Quick Mix
1 Cup Milk
2 Eggs

For Biscuits:
2 Cups Quick Mix
2/3 Cup Milk

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Best Bathroom Cleaner Ever!

I have seen several posts on Pinterest about mixing Vinegar with Dawn and getting a great cleaner. Most of them recommend doing a 1 cup of Dawn, 1 cup of Vinegar mixture. I tried this and it was way too sudsy - it took forever to rinse off. So, I have played with it and found that a good mix is 1 cup of Dawn with 3 cups of Vinegar. I also add some fragrance oil that I found at Walmart for only $2.00! Trust me, the vinegar is strong!!! This at least helps it smell better.



All you have to do is spray it on, let it sit for about 30 minutes and rinse off. It takes care of all of the hard water (which is awful in Herriman). This cleaner is fantastic and super cheap!!!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fun with my Silhouette Cameo!

My sweet husband bought me a Cameo for Christmas and I love it!!! Today L and I decided to get our craft on...

I had a wooden box that I bought several weeks ago, but wasn't sure what to do with it. I painted it white, dry brushed some pastels on it for texture and then added some vinyl. 

I think it turned out pretty cute - and cheap - which is always good!