Inspiration For Redoing Our Bedroom -

This was our room at the Linck Hill Inn, for the marriage retreat last month.  I am completely in love with this wallpaper and want to find it, or something very similar, to for our bedroom.  It can't really be seen here, but the wallpaper stops about a foot from the ceiling, at a trim.  from the trim to the ceiling it is painted the color you can see to the right.  I want to mimic this as well. 

 Another view of the room:

From Belt Hanger to Utensil Holder

My kitchen utensils do not fit in my kitchen drawer.  I had them in a crock, but it was messy - and I had two crocks, one for wooden spoons, one for metal/plastic utensils.  While cleaning this week, I decided I would like to hang them on the wall, and of course I wanted to do it IMMEDIATELY - patience never being my strong suit.  I stopped at Dollar General while my daughter was at her piano lesson, and found this $2.50 tie & belt hanger

The hanger part popped right off, no tools needed.

There was already a nail in the wall where I wanted to hang this.  Seriously. I have no idea why, but this project was one of my quickest ever!

Joy & Willingness

Weekends exhaust me.  Looking at my schedule, it doesn't appear that they are that much, if any, busier than my week.  I do less cleaning, so there is less work.  We usually have some fun things planned.  So what is it that makes me want to stay in bed and hide while everyone else is shouting TGIF? 

I think it is the lack of schedule.  I am not really a go with the flow person, as much as I want to be. 

Not that our weeks are all that predictable- we had drop in company (in the middle of my spring cleaning mess) a sick teenager, an unexpected spree of running (errands) to solve an unexpected car issue...  not to mention that I was spring cleaning all week.  My yearly ritual of starting at one spot on one wall & cleaning, scrubbing, decluttering, organizing, & then usually cloroxing every square inch of this house- making a list of projects as I go a list so long that I wonder if we will ever make a dent in it.

Add in that we have 8 puppies in the back yard, and when my husband forgot to close a gate, a cow in my front yard...

It is not as if I have some perfect routine here all week long.

So maybe it is more than just the lack of structured schedule?  I think it might also be the sense of failure.  The week is over.

I did not exercise once not once.  (With Matt sick all week, I didn't drive him to the weight room, so I didn't walk the trails while waiting for him.  I didn't take him to PT, so I didn't run the canal while waiting for him.  I didn't use the weight machine in the garage, nor do the 30 day shred even once.  I did do sit ups and push ups before bed at least, most nights)

My in box is overflowing w/ messages that require answers, in a polite society.  We have an event next weekend that I have no details for, and that makes me jittery.  My daughter leaves for a last minute, I know almost nothing about it and do not know if she is prepared, missions seminar at a college this week. I leave for Texas in a week, & I have no idea what I am wearing, what we want to do while there (other than see Luke graduate from basic training, that is why we will be there!) What we need, etc. I did not finish the spring cleaning, I have 4 rooms + 6 cupboards uncompleted.  My to do list (todoist app, love it) has 47 uncompleted items from this week, not including the things I listed here.

So when the weekend hits with all of its chaos, and obligations, I just want to quit.  I started looking for excuses to avoid events first thing this morning.  "Matt has been sick all week, he won't be up to the adopt a hwy clean up" I checked on him, and he of course sat up in bed & said he feels much better & is ready to go... "We haven't run all week, no sense running at the lake today, we can just start fresh next week." Uhm, horrible logic.  Even a walk around the lake will be better than quitting entirely.  I'll spare you the rest of my "logic", but I had excuses to avoid every item of my day.

Then I read my morning devotion.  Which is where I should have started first this morning.  The last verse of today's reading in She Reads Truth Prayer In The Bible (through you version) is:

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." psalm 51:12

Oh. That's right. My joy comes from my salvation, not my circumstances. And let's face it, my circumstances are not all that bad. I am very blessed. But I lost my focus, and I was busy feeling discouraged & overwhelmed. And my new prayer for Fridays? While everyone else is shouting TGIF, I will be praying, "God please grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." As I watch my freshly spring cleaned home become littered with weekend chaos & clutter. As I deal with difficult people, somewhat tedious events & difficult requests. As I try to catch up on just a few of the things that didn't get done this week. As I attempt to jog around the lake w/ a pulled tendon, 80 extra lbs that I cannot seem to lose, & my inhaler.  

God please grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Guard my heart, and guide my tongue. Help me to be uplifting & encouraging to everyone around me. And thank you Lord, for saving me. My joy is in the salvation you have granted me. I am so sorry for not keeping that foremost in my mind.

Angelfood Cake from Scratch

If you have chickens, and you have a kitchen aid mixer, angel food cake from scratch is likely to be a regular recipe come spring time, when the hens are laying more eggs than you know what to do with.  This is so quick and simple to make, the mixer does all the work!  This recipe uses 12 egg whites.  Save the yolks to make homemade pudding.

of course, the time I make this to get a photo for this post, I am rushed and do not let the egg whites get stiff enough, and then the cake doesn't rise nearly as high..  I'll get a better pic another time.  This one still tasted great!

Preheat oven to 350


1 cup of flour
1/4 tsp salt

sift together & set aside

12 large egg whites at room temp
 beat on medium until foamy, then add:

1 tsp cream of tartar
beat until soft peaks form

add 1 1/4 cups of sugar, gradually, beat for about 2 more minutes, until stiff peaks form

add 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
beat just long enough to mix through

remove the mixer bowl from the mixer.  Very gently sift the flour mixture, 1/4 at a time, onto the eggs.
With a spatula, while turning the bowl, fold the mixture. Repeat until all the flour is added

Gently spoon the mixture into an angel food pan.  Bake until golden brown, around 35 minutes.  Run  knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, remove from the pan to cool.

From the Martha Stewart Website:
"Craving chocolate? Replace 1/4 cup cake flour with 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; reduce vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon."

Finishing up some Dishcloths

Part of my 52 Projects in 2013, where I am trying to use up some of the supplies in my craft closet, finish half finished projects, and finally get to some of the projects I have had in the back of my mind for a long time.

I had some cotton yarn leftovers in the craft closet, so I pulled it out and quickly made up a few dishcloths. In the process, I remembered how much I really enjoy making these.  So quick and easy!

My favorite "pattern" is two rows of double crochet, one row of triple crochet.  Repeat. 

I have a lot of cotton yarn in a pink and green variegated color.  I think it would make nice wash cloths.  Add in some home made bars of soap, and they might be Christmas gifts this year...

I'm looking at pattern ideas here:

http://tipnut.com/dishcloth-crochet/

and I think I want to try this one:

http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/ruffled-crochet-dishcloth/

and this pinterest board has so many great patterns!

http://pinterest.com/suzie_berger/crochet-dishcloths/

Painting a worn out travel coffee cup

I've included this in my 24 days of Simple Christmas crafts, because it would be simple to paint a Christmas theme, or paint one as a gift..  but travel mugs in general make great simple gifts.  Watch for sales at Shutterfly and Ink Garden to make nice travel mugs with your photos on them.  I did one for my husband last year with our family photo (all of us in Steelers jerseys) and not only does he love it, but it has held up really well.

From This: To This:

in 5 easy steps.

(And the after will look even better if you have any actual artistic abilities...  )

Step One:

Use a brillo pad to remove the rest of the existing design.  This was a coffee mug from sheetz that I love.  It has a great lid, a great seal, and it keeps my coffee hot.  But the design wore off where I held the cup all the time.  

Step 2 - Base Coat

I used a paint named "camel" and sponged it on.  

Step 3 - Paint on your Design

(this is an after pic, I didn't get a pic of the just painted step, so it will not be this shiny at this point)

I know that painting and drawing are not my strong suits.  I could stenciled, I could have traced a design on and painted it in, or I could have even used decals or stickers.  But I love Fraktur, and I liked the idea of painting this imperfectly freehand.  

Step 4 - Modge Podge

The next thing I did was spray a clear coat onto the cup.  And then i watched all the paint (and sharpie - I used sharpie to write on the verse at the bottom) run down the cup.  Learn from my mistake.  Paint on a coat of modge podge to seal the paint on the cup.  I probably could have stopped there, or added a couple more coats and left it at that..  but I chose to add the clear coat, which made the cup shiny and smooth.

Step 5 - Clear Coat

No Sew - Recovering the footstool

This embarrasment has sat in my kitchen for the last year.  Ok, maybe two.  I would often toss a throw blanket across it to hide the tear...  but that was as far as I got.

Why?  Because I was convinced there was some great, exciting, perfect new technique that I would want to try on it, and I didn't want to do something less than spectacular.  So instead I settled for embarrassing.  I know it makes no sense, but it's how I often work.  Or don't work.

Recently I bought the exact same color, same type, of fabric, planning to slipcover this until I found something more exciting to do with it.  (Because my dog sleeps on this, and I put my feet on it after coming out of the garden, fancy embroidery was not a good idea. Not that I DO  fancy embroidery, but I had ruled that one out anyway)

So today I finally pulled out the material, changed the thread on my sewing machine, and...  got sidetracked by cleaning out the craft closet. Then I walked past this and decided I should cut the extra material off the bottom before I covered it.

THEN I remembered the black spray paint I found when I cleaned out the cleaning cabinet today.

 Which reminded me of this fabric that was in my craft closet, meant for a tote bag and bible cover I never made.  And since I use a bible app on my phone these days, probably never would make.  I didn't sew a bit of this - not one thing.  Folded over edges, and a staple gun.  The bottom edge is the salvage.  Took me about 15 minutes, after the paint dried on the legs...  It is not perfect, it is not fancy, and it does not match the chair it sits in front of..  but I was planning to recover the chair anyway.  And this looks soooooo much better than the before!  :-)

 

One of my goals for 2013 is to complete 52 projects - mostly completing projects I already have started, and using up supplies in my craft closet.  I have a pinterest board where I am posing all of the completed projects, to keep track of my goal progress:

http://pinterest.com/htruck/52-projects/