Rocking Chair Makeover

I found this old, well-loved rocking chair at a garage sale in the neighborhood. It was only $3, so I bought it, brought it home, and stuck in the garage until I had time to fix it up. Fast forward two years later....

(I am short on time, long on projects I'd like to accomplish)

I sanded the chair down and then accidentally left it outside during the one time it has rained in the last oh, 5 months? Yep. Anyway, the rain caused some weirdness to happen with the coating on the chair (i.e., it all flaked off and could now basically just be brushed away with a towel), so that made my job a bit easier. Not that I recommend leaving untreated wood out in the rain--not so good for the wood. We also had to repair the top right spindle on the chair. It was broken in half and just tied together with some twine, so we (and by we, I mean Lucas) reattached it with some tiny screws. Good as new!

I gave the chair a coating of spray on primer, followed by 2 coats of Rust-oleum Ultra Cover spray paint in Aqua. After everything had dried, I finished up with a clear topcoat and added a cushion from the summer clearance at Home Depot plus an adorable baby. If you try this at home, baby is optional.

This chair will be for outside use on our deck. The paint job is good, but not great--thus regulating itself for outdoor use. I will probably bring it inside if it should ever rain here again (not holding my breath for anytime soon, of course), just because I don't exactly trust my topcoat. I'm a novice spray painter, and I've seen what water did to this chair the first time around.

(also-please disregard the dead lawn in the background. no rain=watering restrictions=dry and dead grass=thriving chinch bug population).

Rock Matching Game

This project was inspired by one of my new favorite blogs, The Artful Parent. She made a set of fabric heart covered rocks for Valentine's Day, and I immediately wanted to do the same for Lincoln. Only...I had no rocks. Rather, I had no rocks larger than a pebble, and there was no way I was cutting hearts that small (not to mention that it would have been a fairly obvious choking hazard. But! This past weekend, a solution was found. Yes, it took driving 3.5 hours to Austin (no, not just for the rocks...we were visiting friends), but I do think the rocks I "found" (read: stole from our friends' apartment complex) are perfect :) I made sure not to take all from one spot, so I don't think they'll ever be missed...

Since Valentine's Day had come and gone, I modified the project and turned it into a matching game for Lincoln. I had pinched (<---that there's criminal speak for "stolen") 10 rocks from the apartment complex, and discovered upon arriving home that Lincoln had, in his first act of hoodlum-ism, tossed an additional 2 rocks into the bag. So we began our project with an even dozen smooth, palm-sized rocks.

Before starting, I cut out 5 pairs of matching shapes from small scraps of fabric using pinking shears (in case you are wondering...hearts, circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles). Why only 5 sets, when I had 12 rocks? Because stars proved INCREDIBLY hard to cut out that small with pinking shears, and I only just now thought of the possibility of diamonds. Oops.

Onto the fun part!

I wanted Lincoln to be able to participate in this art project, and since I didn't want him using the Mod Podge glue, I decided that he could paint the rocks before I glued on the shapes. He mostly just dabbed each rock with a blob of paint. This took him about 2 minutes, total, and then he moved on to this:

Yep. Wodat Lincoln again! Hope you all aren't tired of seeing him yet, because I don't think that game will be getting old any time soon....

Next step: adhere fabric to rocks with a layer of Mod Podge adhesive. I just brushed it on with one of Lincoln's paintbrushes. You'll notice 2 of the rocks are just painted (remember how I didn't want to cut out stars?) Let dry and artfully arrange in a circle to take a lovely picture.

Now, I bet you are wondering how exactly we plan to use these (right? right??). You're in luck! I plan to tell you, via an adorable photo set of my son and some witty captions (fist pump!).

Ok, the first one doesn't come with a picture. I plan to keep the rocks in a drawstring pouch. We will pull the rocks out one at a time and make piles of matches. We may also place the rocks face down on the floor and take turns turning them over, a la Memory.

You could also place the rocks into your giant toy dump truck and push them around the yard! If your dump truck "driver" should happen to throw a fit every time a rock falls off the back, I recommend showing him how to place them closer to the front of the truck bed. I wish I had though of that before the 3rd tantrum...

This exciting use is called "perilously stack them on top of another large rock." Fun! (Also, notice, if you will, the red elastic band peeking out from the young balancers pants...big boy undawess!)
You could see if your dog would like to eat one (nope). But feel free to yell "Webwy, no no no eat wocks!" anyway. (a side note: up until this week, our dog, Wembley, has been pronounced "Wedy" by Lincoln. It has now morphed into "Webwy.")

Hope you enjoyed this long and rambling blog post trying to pass itself off as some kind of tutorial. I'm done now.

:)

Tutorial: Stuffed Monster Toy

Haven't done a tutorial for awhile, so thought I'd share this toy I made Lincoln for Christmas. I apologize that I don't have pictures for all the steps. Our camera was acting up around Christmas, so I'm lucky to even have these pictures. I'll try to explain each step though, and you can let me know if you have any questions!

Lincoln has never really been into stuffed animals, but I thought I could remedy that if it was a stuffed animal made by *me*. It was a nice thought, right? Unfortunately, Lincoln didn't really latch on to this guy either. Although, he has recently started playing pretend with him--brushing his teeth, putting him under the covers and kissing him goodnight....it is so adorable I nearly implode every time he does it.

So, if you'd like to make a little monster guy for your own little monster...follow along!

Supplies needed:

1. Fleece fabric--I bought a 1/2 yard from the remnant bin at JoAnn's. Depending on how big you want your monster, you can adjust the amount. I also bought some remnants in a few different coordinating colors to use for the eyes and mouth. Really, all you need is scraps for those, though, and they really don't even need to be fleece....(although, mine were).

2. Embroidery floss and needle.

3. Sewing machine and thread.

4. Scissors.

5. Fabric Glue--I like Fabri-tac.

6. Stuffing (polyfill, cotton, fabric scraps...whatever you have...)

Instructions:

1. Create your pattern. I drew my picture out on a little piece of notebook paper, then had Lucas transfer it to tissue paper because I really have no eye for proportions and I wanted it to have matching arm and leg sizes. But that's just me. If you have any sort of drawing skillz, feel free to draw directly onto the tissue yourself. The tissue paper is nothing fancy--just leftover from some package, I'm sure.

2. Pin your pattern to your fabric. You will need 2 cutouts of your monster (front and back). To save time, pin it to a double layer of fabric so you only have to cut once. Cut out your monster.

3. Cut out eyes and a mouth from the fabric scraps. Add a nose, if desired. Using the fabric glue, stick them to one of the monster shapes wherever you desire its face to be.

4. Let the glue dry, briefly. 10 minutes should be enough. If you have an embroidery hoop, you may want to use it for this part, but it isn't necessary. Thread your embroidery needle with 2 strands of the floss. Tie a knot at the end. In the center of each pupil, embroider a large french knot. Then, stemming outward from the knot, embroider a series of straight stitches in a circle around the eye (if this makes no sense, just see picture for reference...). Repeat for second eye. For the mouth, I just did a series of running stitches. Feel free to get creative with the embroidery--you really can't go wrong here.

5. Pin the front and back of the monster cutouts, right sides facing (that would be monster face facing in...). Using your sewing machine, sew along the edge using a 1/4"-1/2" seam allowance. I used a zig-zag stitch to help reinforce the seams. LEAVE A GAP OF AT LEAST 3-4" SO YOU CAN TURN RIGHT SIDES OUT AND GET THE STUFFING IN!!!! VERY IMPORTANT!!! I left the gap under an arm so it would be inconspicuous, but really you can leave it anywhere. I ended up liking the way the contrasting stitching looked when I closed the opening, so I wouldn't have minded it somewhere more prominent!

6. Turn the right sides out and fill your little monster with your choice of stuffing. When ready to close, thread your needle again with 2 strands of embroidery floss. Using a whip stitch, close the gap. I also went over a few of the seams with the floss to reinforce things, and because I liked the contrast of the orange thread on the blue fabric. But that part is optional : )

I hope this wasn't too confusing! If something isn't clear, please let me know so I can fix it!

Valentine's Day Tutorial

I don't normally decorate our house for Valentine's Day, or really any holiday other than Christmas, but since one of my goals this year is to make one handmade item a month...I figured, why not? This project was really easy and adds some nice color to the living room. Plus, it can be reused next year--even better.

Supplies needed:

Red/Pink/Heart/etc. cardstock (found mine in the scrapbooking section at JoAnn's)

This font (it is free to download)

colored pencils, crayons, or markers

glue

scissors

sewing machine and thread

You can make these any size you like, but just to give you an idea, mine are 5"x5" squares.

1. Cut out your squares from the cardstock. I used a solid color square for the background and glued a smaller printed square on top. I also chose to make 2 hearts to hand on either side of my banner.

2. Install the font onto your computer. Using your word processing program, type the letters L-O-V-E...I had to enlarge it to about size 350 in order for it to be big enough for my squares. Seriously. It is the tiniest font ever (at least on Macs...).

3. Print out your letters, color in the hearts, and cut them out--I was fine just using scissors, but if you have a craft knife, that might be handy.

4. Glue letters onto squares.

5. Using your sewing machine, sew a decorative border around each square and heart.

6. Done!

Happy Valentine's crafting! If you have any fun ideas, I'd love to see them--please leave a link in the comments!

Tutorial Tuesday: Kid's Table Makeover

We took a trip up to Ikea recently (is it sad that we have to make a day trip out of a store that is technically in the same metro area in which we live? It just takes so long to get there we feel like we waste the drive if we don't stick around awhile or go somewhere else while up there (usually Rice Village, as we did this day). Anyway, we had been wanting a little table and chair set for Lincoln and came across the perfect, inexpensive set while perusing the children's area. So, it came home with us. I started putting it together, but it just seemed so...boring. Blah. I decided since it was so inexpensive, I could probably afford to get some paint and make it less...beige.

Before:

After:

I used spray paint for the wood--the color was Rust-Oleum Colonial Red in Satin finish. I didn't seal it--figured if I ever want to change the color, it would be easier to change without a sealant on there. I partially assembled the chairs and table before painting--that way it was easier to coat multiple surfaces at a time. The tops of the table and chairs I painted with chalkboard paint. I used the spray paint version, but in the future, might go with the regular paint in a can. The chalkboard paint spray paint came out with a very narrow stream, so it was hard to get an even coating on the surfaces. It will still work, but in the light you can see streaks.

This was a really easy project--total cost, for table and chairs plus paint: $45.

Tutorial Tuesday: Holiday Cakeballs

For Lincoln's first birthday, we went with a Winter One-derland theme. I knew I wanted a snowman cake, but the idea of a flat snowman cake just seemed so...flat. I tried to think of a way to stack 3 cake layers and make a snowman, but it still seemed kind of "eh." Then one day, I stumbled upon cakeballs. Cakeballs! Brilliant! Obviously, this is not a new idea, nor one I can take any credit for what-so-ever (see the fabulous Bakerella if you want to see some truly amazing cakeball artistry). I am merely going to share my personal experience making them, and the decorating stylings my good friend Zandy and I came up with to go along with our winter theme. Without further ado: bring on the snowmen!

(collective sigh: awwwww!)

Before we get started, a bit of warning: these puppies take time. LOTS of time. As in twice as long as I planned for, thus pushing all my birthday party preparations a good 3 hours behind schedule. You will need to start at least a day ahead of time, 2 days if you really want to be safe. Like I said, these are a time intensive endeavor. Make no mistake, though! They are DEFINITELY worth the effort, especially for a first birthday party! I made 2 flavors of cake, which yielded about 100 cake balls, which was about 75 too many (oops....). Note: in my pictures, you will see both flavors of cake interchangeably. Just in case you thought your eyes were playing tricks on you... : )

Cakeballs

inspired by Bakerella

You will need the following items:

• 1 box any flavor cake mix
• 1 can prepared icing (any flavor that complements your flavor of cake)
• ingredients to prepare cake according to your box
• 1 package candy bark--vanilla for snowmen or chocolate for reindeer
• embellishments: pretzels, m&m's, black gel icing or edible black marker, gum drops, mini oreo cookies (or whatever candy/decorations you have on hand....)
• 1 package paper lollipop sticks (you can find at Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, or Michaels...)

Directions:

1. Prepare cake according to package directions and bake in a 9x13 pan. Cool completely. My advice: make the cake at night and allow it to cool while you sleep. Then start assembly in the morning.

2. Once cake is completely cool, remove it from pan and place in a large bowl. Using 2 forks, a wooden spoon, or your hands, crumble the cake. Optional: add candy sprinkles to the crumbs for added crunch and a bit of color. (picture 1)

3. Add approximately 1/2 the can of icing to the crumbled cake and stir in using a wooden spoon (or your hands). Test and see if you are able to roll a scoop into a ball. If not, add some more icing until you can. (pictures 2-3).

4. Using a 1/2" or 1" dasher or a spoon, scoop out some cake. We found the 1" to be bigger than we wanted, so we ended up dividing each original ball into 2 balls. Roll into a smooth ball and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat until you have used up all the cake (about 50 balls). Place cookie sheet into freezer for 2-3 hours. You want the balls to be cold, but not frozen completely solid (you need to be able to get the lollipop stick in...). (picture 4).

5. When cake balls have been in the freezer a good 2-3 hours, you are ready to dip. Melt the candy bark according to package directions in a pot on the stove, or in a microwave safe bowl. We had better success doing small batches of bark at a time. With larger amounts, the bark tended to solidify before we could use all of it...(picture 5).

6. Insert a lollipop stick into a cake ball. For snowmen, stack 2 on top of each other. Dip into the melted candy bark--if needed, use a spoon to coat evenly. (picture 6)

7. Working QUICKLY (before the coating hardens!!!), place any embellishments on the cakeball--m&ms for reindeers' noses, pretzels for antlers, gumdrops for noses, oreos for hats, etc. If it hardens before you get something on, just dip the candy in a bit of bark and attach. It works just fine that way, too. Wait until the candy coating has fully dried before drawing the faces on with the gel or edible marker. We placed our lollipop sticks in pieces of foam, egg cartons, and glasses while the coating hardened. (picture 7)

8. Use the gel or edible marker to create your faces! (picture 8)

9. We displayed our creations in shoe boxes that we wrapped with Christmas paper. We poked holes in the boxes with metal skewers and then popped the lollipop sticks into the holes. Voila! So festive!

All told, this project took a total of 2 days. The first day was just baking the cake, but the second was crumbling, rolling, freezing, waiting, dipping, decorating, and of course, eating. If you've got the time, these are not only adorable, they are delicious. Enjoy!

Lincoln's fantastic birthday spread. Don't worry, he got a bite of snowman : )

(special note: thanks to my SIL Breanne for the fantastic photography! My camera is on the fritz and she has a wonderful new digital SLR that she was nice enough to bring with her when she came to visit!)

Tutorial Tuesday: Brown Sugar Chex Mix

This is the best Chex mix you will ever eat. Ever. I have already made it twice since December started, and have every intention of making a third batch before the month is out (I share, of course) : ) Sweet and salty and crunchy and....so so good. I mean, any recipe with brown sugar, butter, and chocolate can't go wrong.

So, make this. Now, if you happen to have all the ingredients. I suppose you could wait until tomorrow, but really, why? So. Delicious.

Brown Sugar Chex Mix

(from my mom...not sure where it originated, though...)

Ingredients:

8 cups Chex cereal (any type--rice, corn, whatever...)

1 cup pretzel twists

1-1.5 cups brown sugar

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3 Tablespoons corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup-3/4 cup peanuts (I like the sweet and crunchy type, but honey roasted is also good...)

1/2 cup M&Ms (or more...)

Directions:

1. In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the cereal and the pretzels (NOTE: I have no bowl in my home that will hold that much at one time, so I have to make this in 2 batches. Just divide all the ingredients in half...).

2. Place the brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a microwave safe measuring cup (I use a glass Pyrex). Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from microwave and stir to combine.

3. Stir baking soda into brown sugar mixture.

4. Pour mixture over the cereal/pretzel mix and stir gently with spoon to coat the pieces. Not all pieces will be coated, but that's ok.

5. Place entire bowl in the microwave and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave (NOTE: be careful! it will be very hot!) and stir again with a spoon to distribute the brown sugar topping evenly (about 1 minute). Pour out mixture onto waxed paper to cool.

6. When cool, break pieces apart and place in a plastic ziplock bag. Add the peanuts and M&Ms and shake bag to combine.

Mmmmm. Don't forget to share (I know, it will be hard!)

Enjoy!

Tutorial Tuesday: Water Proof Mattress Protector

This project was born out of necessity. It was necessary for me to stop doing so much laundry. Lincoln is a bit of a super pee-er. That means, no matter how thick the diaper, cloth OR disposable, he is going to pee onto the bed a minimum of 3 times a week. Meaning, I have to wash and dry his sheets and mattress pad 3 mornings a week BEFORE morning nap. Enough. I have had enough. So, I pulled out some hideous fabric from my fabric stash and stitched up this functional sheet protector. It has been in use for about a week now. I wanted to test it out before I posted the how-to. There are a few things I'd do differently next time, but all in all, it serves its purpose. It does slide around a bit--maybe I should have made it wide enough to drape over the edges of the bed? Also, I think it would benefit from quilting so the layers don't shift about--but that would actually require quilting, which I have no idea how to do. So, there you go.

How to make a Water Proof Mattress Cover

1. Gather your fabrics. I cut squares measuring 31"x31", but will go longer next time (at least width wise....). I used what I had available in large quantity: the snowboarder print is a flannel, the celery green is PUL (a water proof fabric), and the dark olive green is fleece.

2. Pin the top layer and middle layer together. I wanted the flannel to be my top and the PUL in the middle.

3. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch around all 4 sides, so that the 2 pieces are now one piece. Trim the excess off the edges.4. Now, pin your new double layer fabric to your backing fabric, right sides together. Below, the flannel is facing the fleece.

5. Untangle your son from the pedal foot. This actually occurs almost continuously while sewing and is the main reason you haven't seen a sewing tutorial for awhile on here...

6. Again, using a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch around all 4 sides, but this time leave a 12" gap on one side so you can turn the right sides out. DON'T FORGET THE GAP (unless you and your seam ripper are good friends!). Turn your fabric right sides out and stitch the gap closed.

7. Console your son, who is quite upset you took away the pedal foot, box of pins, bundle of raffia, pinking shears, and can of buttons. You never let him have any fun!

8. Besides being ready to throw in the towel at this point (see #7), I had to top stitch around the edges. I think top stitching makes any project look better, even snowboarders on purple flannel backed with olive green fleece...9. Position your new mattress cover strategically on your mattress.

10. Sleep tight knowing that you won't have to wash your sheets and mattress pad in the morning (and if the mattress protector does get wet, you can just toss it in with your other laundry for the day....or make 2!)

Let me know if you have any questions or if something is unclear!

Tutorial Tuesday: Roasted Red Pepper sauce

(ARRRGGGGHHHH!  I just wrote this entire post, then got the eerie feeling it was a little too familiar...a quick check of the archives revealed this.  Dang it!!!  Sorry for the repeat.  Boo!)

Well, as you may have noticed, I did not yet start my Tutorial week.  But, at least I have a Tutorial Tuesday for you!!  And if I get it ready, I do have another in the works...

For tonight...roasted red pepper cream sauce.  This is a recipe I came up with a couple of years ago and is a favorite when we can find red peppers on sale.  They can get expensive, so when they are on sale, I stock up and roast them in big batches, then freeze them.  You can substitute red peppers from the deli at the store (usually in the olive bar section), but don't use the jarred varieties--they are too bitter and the flavor is not good for sauce).  We serve it over whole wheat pasta with breaded parmesan pork chops.  Yum.

Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

by Kelly at Our Lincoln Log

Ingredients:

2 whole red peppers, halved and seeded 

1 garlic clove

1/3 cup tomato sauce

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. cream (or 1/2 and 1/2)

2 Tbsp. grated or shredded parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Place pepper halves, cut side down, on a greased baking sheet.  Place in a 425 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until skins turn black and blistered.

2.  Remove peppers from oven and place into a plastic bag (or paper bag--either is fine).  Seal the bag and steam peppers until cool enough to tough.  The steam will loosen the skins and make them easy to remove.

3.  When peppers are cool to the touch, peel of skins and place in food processor.  
Add garlic clove, salt, and pepper and blend until smooth.  Stream in tomato sauce.

4.  Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan on the stove over medium heat.  When hot, pour in red pepper sauce and whisk to combine.

5.  Before serving, add cream and cheese to sauce and stir until melted.

Enjoy!