Entering to Win a Trip to Paris!

One of my favorite blogs is Oh Happy Day! written by Jordan Ferney. She lives her life, that's all I can say. And, she's giving away a trip to Paris!!

Visit Oh Happy Day ! to enter to win

Making over a Dresser

I made over my childhood dresser because it needed a little TLC.
I guess I forgot to take a before picture, but just use your imagination.

First I sanded away the stain on the wood. This step took the longest and I went through a lot of sandpaper.

Then I primed the wood

Then I did 2 coats of white semi-gloss and added pulls from World Market

Nice!

Farinata Recipe

Farinata

Last night I made a delicious farinata for dinner. The name literally means "floured" and is a popular street food in the Liguria region of Italy. I first tasted it when I studied abroad in 2007 and finally got around to making one. It's a dense pancake-like dish made from chickpea flour, and made a simple, delicious dinner when paired with some steamed veggies.

I think simple is my new thing. 

I loosely following this recipe from the Minimalist

Basic Farinata: (serves 4ish generously)

4 cups warm water

3 cups chickpea flour (Bob's Red Mill)

2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste

2 tsp black pepper, plus more to taste

5 Tbsp olive oil

• Preheat the oven to 475*
• Fill a large bowl with the water and slowly whisk in the flour to prevent lumps
• Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hr, but as long 12 hrs
• Skim any foam that has formed on the top and add the oil, salt & pepper. You can add any other herbs or sauteed veggies at this stage if you want to get creative.
• Pour the mixture into a very well greased baking pan (mine was 9 x 13 and worked perfectly)
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until crispy golden brown and cooked throughout.

 Farinata

This was amazing and next time I am going to experiment with some more flavors and a little less oil next time. Although, I might just keep it simple.

DIY Gold Sequins T-shirt

I was over at Say Yes! to Hoboken and saw a project I had to try myself. Liz took a regular pocket t-shirt and used gold elastic trim from the fabric store to jazz up the mini pocket. I just happened to buy a bunch of white pocket t-shirts from Target the other day, so it was fate.

I always find a new project to try whenever I stop by Say Yes! to Hoboken out so check it out if you please. The full step-by-step instructions for the pocket embellishment-ing is here.

Read on for my version...

So I headed to G Street fabrics, but they didn't have elastic sequins strips, only non-stretchy trim. The main difference is that mine has border of thread around the edges, but I wasn't happy with how mine looked after I pinned it down. I felt like you could see the edges too much. Blast, this always happens when I try to copy someone else.

Well, as you can see from this picture, I was already toying with the idea of gold trim around the neckline, so I decided to go with that look and save the cute pocket project for another time.

I sewed down both side of the strip with my trusty Brother, careful not to puncture the sequins (there were a few casualties). A few sequins fell off along the way, but I just saved those to hand sew into the point in the front to neaten things up. At this point, I was still debating the pocket, but decided it might be too much gold. But if I were to do it again, I might just go for it.

Finished project: 

 

I love how the gold adds such a little pop. Oh, hey there, I'm just some gold sequins peaking out on a Tuesday, no big deal.


These little bird scissors are the best for making little cuts. I got them at Sally Beauty Supply and I use them for everything.

Now I just need to find more things that need gold sequins...shouldn't be hard!

The House

(I deleted the outside photo of the house just in case I get famous and get stalkers)

There she is. Looking pretty good for 101 years old! Stay tuned for some before and after pics of some small(ish) projects being done.

I have a meeting about a job tomorrow... in bocca al lupo to me! crepi !

I want

everything from this seller on etsy. Especially this hive. That's all.

Altoid Tins

So sometimes I think there are not enough hours in the day. Where does all the time go?? Then I remember that I do things like this:

This robot tin was made in the likeness of Tyler's mom for her b-day. She has crazy hair, is holding a wine glass, and has a big heart. One of her bot-hands is a light bulb, because she has a lot of good ideas. Also, she has a lot of bling. Tyler is the creator of this masterpiece, but I hope to take a crack at it soon.

Just Google 'Altoid tin crafts' and you'll find all kinds of stuff out there. Like mini toolboxes! I thought these would be perfect for holding extra screws, bobby pins, or any other little things.

 

First, I drilled holes in the top for the handles, so I wouldn't chip the paint.

Then,  I spray painted the tins with primer, and then 2 coats of red paint. 

(You can leave the tins together or bend the hinges apart to get better paint coverage like I did)

After letting them dry, I screwed the handles on. The handles are metel eye straps used on boats, so you may have to go on a little hunt for these if you don't live near water. 

  

The perfect size for eyeglass repair kit