Paint projects

I finally did it! I admired this shelf in a neighbors bathroom years ago and when they moved she gave it to me. It was originally just the natural bamboo color, but I've wanted to paint it chocolate brown almost since I got it. I finally pulled out the spray paint and did it! This was my first spray paint project. Spray paint has scared me for ages, but now the fear is gone. It was a lot of fun and other than still waiting for the feeling to return in my index finger a great experience. This will eventually land in the hall bath upstairs in our new house. Not sure what's going to be on the shelf yet. I'm planning on painting a step stool for the bathroom as well.

Speaking of bathrooms, this is my sample board for our downstairs powder room. I'm really liking the stripes, but we're going to go with just the one lighter shade of purple for the big stripe and a more gray than black small stripe when we actually do the bathroom. I can't wait to see how this turns out.
I'm getting so excited about all the projects I'll get to finalize when we move!

My yard sale finds

This past weekend, I was taking my boys to a church activity when I saw a yard sale and this caught my eye.
Isn't it cute? I'm planning on fixing it up a bit and storing blankets in it in the living room.
I also found these lamps. I'm hoping to transform them as well, but since I've never done lamps before this will be an adventure. Not sure yet what I want these to look like when I'm done.

I also picked up this punch bowl set. I love it! Hubby's not sure we'll ever really use it but I've already got plans for my next get together.

Finally finished

Hubby brought vinyling to mind the other night, so he helped me work on (and finish!) our Family Home Evening board. I finished the board a while ago, just needed to do the tags. I love how the tags turned out. I eventually want to get a new, taller board with pegs and do it again (and keep the same tags), but that will have to wait - I have too many other projects I want to work on right now.

Stuffed Strawberries

I found these surfing the blogging world this past Monday. I followed the link to the Food Network and copied out the recipe. We had all the ingredients, so the boys helped me make these for our Family Home Evening treat that night. It was a big hit! We'll definitely be doing these again... maybe tomorrow!

The "Ping" that satisfies

There is something deeply satisfying about hearing a "ping" as each jar of jam seals at the end of the day. I love making jam and this is one of my favorites:

Blueberry Lime Jam (Ball Blue Book)

I will always make this whenever I can find blueberries for a good deal. It was such a good deal this time, I invited a few friends over to make some too. Three batches and a bunch of extremely tired kids later, I'm pretty exhausted myself. However, as I hear each "ping," I know I'll be doing this again tomorrow - Bing Cherry Jam. Can't wait to try it!

Skirt fabric reassigned

I recently bought some light weight denim to make a skirt, but I'm not very confident when it comes to sewing clothing, so I decided to use the fabric other ways. Especially since I was able to find some skirts already made that I liked just fine.

I made a tablecloth.I also made a texture book for my baby. He doesn't put things in his mouth, but he loves to feel things. I went through my fabric scraps and found a bunch of different textured fabrics for the pages. I added bias tape (some store bought, some home-made with a bias tape maker) to the edges of the pages and made the cover from the denim. I put some decorative stitching with some embroidery floss I had and sewed all the pages and the cover together. It's not perfect - far from it, but I think my baby will like it.

Superman's birthday cake

I recently found online instructions for a rainbow cake (can't remember where, though). I thought it'd be fun for Superman's birthday cake.

I started with a white cake mix and divided the batter into six bowls. I added food coloring to the batter and then mixed it up. My boys loved watching the batter change colors and then telling me what color it was. ROY G BIV into the cake pan...

Superman wanted a green dinosaur on a green background. I tried to talk him into another color, but he was adamant.
This is what it looked like on the inside.
I made rainbow cupcakes with the other half of the cake batter.