Year in review part one

This past year past has been a very productive year , I have made many changes and improvements to the house , so many in fact I am nearly out of projects , I may have to start ripping out perfectly good things to feed my hobby of DIY . I thought I might share them with you now . Painting the dining room table black was a good choice for me , I painted it with high adhesion primer , two coats of black latex paint and a coat of oil based solid black stain/polyurethane mix a new table for little or now cost since Iused what I already had .

I cut this hole into the wall of the basement stairs to let light in .

I built shutters from stock lumber that look like salvaged shutters to conceal our TV .

I did a full makeover of my daughters playhouse , lots of paint a built in bench and shutters turned a neglected playhouse into a pretty playhouse that does double duty as pool storage through the winter months.

I added my favorite exterior finish , shingles stained soft weathered grey.

I made over a worn out brown table into beach style with the intention to sell it but loved it so much I kept it for myself.

I bought an ugly but solid coffee table for $25 and turned it into an ottoman.

I built a v-groove wall for the front porch for added style privacy and shelter from the winter wind.

I transformed a basic Ikea shelf into a shelf that has more character and charm and is now one of a kind.

I finally tried cutting out the center of one cabinet to install metal mesh for an open look.

Although I can't use this porch for many more months , I don't forget relaxing on the upper porch with its newly painted floors in stripes of course.



So there is part one of my little year end round up , maybe I can inspire some projects you have never even though of

It's Complicated

Well all good things are complicated right? The decision to get out there and go see this move is not complicated at all , go see it . Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep are great together , this is a must see movie , if you loved Something's Gotta Give I am sure you will love this one too .

The characters are fun and witty , you may have to stop yourself from getting lost in the incredible decor .

I couldn't convince my husband to go see this with me , maybe you can't convince your hubby either , so grab a friend or two or go alone and go have a good laugh , this one will be added to my collection that is for sure.
* drag your husband too , he will love it , I am sure , I may have to go see it with my husband again , I know he will love it .

Wonderful Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas day here at home , the girls are older now and i said they couldn't wake us until 8:00am , so promptly at 8:00 they got us up , they were so thrilled with all of their gifts , I am always so glad when they like the gifts I spent so much time debating over . Here is Sophie making bracelets with a kit I picked up . She also loved the drums I bought her , this kid loves to drum all the time , so I figured it was time for some drums , with volume control.

Late Christmas night we drove to my in-laws house to get a head start on our boxing day gatherings , here the four cousins modelled their furry hats from Grandma and Grandpa.

Our girls got a WII from them as well , they have been playing it all day now.

Here is my niece with the towel I made for her , it is a little family joke .

And Sophie with her pink fox hat , so adorable.

The two girls set the table and made lovely place cards while we rested , good girls.
It was a great Christmas with with family , now it is time to get all these things put away and time to take down all the Christmas decor .

The PJ Eve Party Begins

we have just opened our Christmas eve pj presents for the girls , they needed to get ready before our guests arrived , the girls also exchanged their gifts to each other like we always do on Christmas eve and they decided to give me an early gift too , the lovely earrings I am wearing in the photo , aren't they sweet , I love these earrings , I had pointed them out a while ago.

The house is a glow with candles.

It feels like a winter wonderland.

I came up with a great little temporary platter today I wanted to share with you , I turned this little bowl upside down and placed a matching plate a top making a perfect temporary platter.

Looks like the real thing doesn't it?

Looks pretty yummy doesn't it ?

The bar is ready to rock , can you see we have a bottle of Caramilk liqueur , I will let you know how that tastes , we have some Spanish wine and mom's bringing the pomtini's , looking forward to some good cheer.

Sleep tight , hope Santa is good to you

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful family , friends , readers and followers and general supporters , thanks you so much .

Sad day yesterday

I bought this beautiful cake stand many years ago , it is my most favorite item in the kitchen by far , it makes everything look yummy and beautiful , well it was a sad day yesterday when I went into the cupboard to get it out and found this sad sad sight , I yelled and nearly cried , "why me" I know I am fortunate that is all that I have to bring me nearly to tears , but it did .
This is not the only thing to be broken lately , things seems to be getting destroyed in droves lately , last week alone my Oster beehive blender was broken , my iron was knocked off the ironing board by careless maneuvering and the foot broken so now although it works it is a hazard , and my mixer , my crock pot and now this , feeling a little cursed.

Of course none of these things were broken by me but by an unnamed single member of my family , years back it was my husband who used to break my precious finds , he has since become much more careful and he hasn't broken a thing in years , although he did wash a barfed on slipcover cushion cover in WARM water yesterday , so maybe it won't fit , we will soon see if it still fits, cross your fingers.

In remembrance of my broken green cake stand I chose green for the color of this recent batch of sugar cookies , such a pretty shade , don't you think ?

This is how I ice my cookies , I pipe the shape just in from the edge of the cookies , this allows me to flood the cookie with icing.

Then I sloppily fill in the center with a generous amount of icing , using the tip I can guide the icing into any empty spaces.

After I let the icing set I added another layer of icing , doubly sweet.

I went out to Homesense in search of a new cake stand , didn't find the one I wanted , I will keep searching , but I did find a lovely double decker stand , which will be painted SOON.

I also picked up this diner style cake stand which was on sale with this glass lid , they can't break this one right ?

Have a very Merry Christmas , see you soon.

Time is ticking away , there are a few short hours before our Christmas begins , we celebrate my families Christmas here tomorrow night , we open gifts and enjoy good food and drinks and most importantly time together.
I am cleaning and getting all things ready for our visitors, we are having a PJ party this year , I figured this would be fun and practical since then all can tuck into bed when they get home late on Christmas Eve.

I added this white crushed stone to my candle jar , then embellished it with blue ribbon and a K ornament , I think it resembles snow ...

The girls and I made these simple fun ornaments , did you know foam balls are really over priced , I hate that...

Here is my ornament , of course it must be soft blues and white ...

Menu for tomorrow night

{remember these are snacks not dinner , I hope no one comes with a full belly}

~shrimp and cocktail sauce

~pizza appetizers

~mac and cheese { I have perfected my recipe}

~baked broccoli dip

~meatballs

~deviled eggs { a classic and often overlooked , yummy}

~sugar cookies with royal icing

~glazed lemon bunt cake

Sounds like a full day in the kitchen doesn't it ?

Simple dining chair slips

Imperfectly dressed.

I completed the set of four little dresses for our dining chairs, they are basically simple hemmed rectangles with simple tabs on the sides and a generous ruffled hem , easy as pie, a little stamp of our birth days and it was as easy as that , ok well it took most of a day but it was easy happy work.