Chocolate Mint Cake

Ingredients:
1 box Devil Food Cake Mix (with water, eggs and oil)
1 container of Duncan Hines frosting creations frosting starter
1 packet of mint chocolate frosting creations frosting mix
1 package Andes Mints
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream

Mix cake according to package directions. While mixing, chop up half of the package of Andes Mints and add them to the mix. Cook in two round cake pans according to package directions.

Mix the Duncan Hines frosting creations starter and mix together according to package directions.

When the cake has cooled, frost the top of one of the cake rounds. Then, stack the other round on top and use the rest of the frosting to coat the sides and top. Put in the fridge.

In a glass measuring cup heat the 1/3 cup of heavy cream in the microwave for about 30 seconds on 40% power. After it's heated, add the chocolate chips and about 6 Andes Mints. Stir until smooth. You may need to put it back into the microwave for 10-20 seconds at 40% power - but be patient and stir it will get super smooth. (be careful not to burn the chocolate by putting it in the microwave for too long!) you just made ganache!

When the cake has cooled a little, pour the ganache (the chocolate mixture you just made) slowly on the top center of the cake. Let the chocolate work it's own way spreading across the top and dripping down the sides.

You can garnish with the rest of the Andes Mints and some fresh mint. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat.
Enjoy!

Refinishing a Kitchen Table

Take the table legs off.
Use stripper to remove the old polyurethane and stain. I like gel stripper, I coat the table, let sit for 15-20 minutes and then scrape off the finish. Then, repeat and repeat until all the stain and poly is gone.
Turn the table over. Sand and paint the base and legs the color you prefer. You could also use spray paint.
Use painters tape to keep paint off of the stripped wood.
Sand stripped wood, sand again.  Make sure ALL of the poly and stain is gone.
Apply the stain of your choice. You can apply multiple layers and different types of stains to achieve the color you want. I always stain a small piece of scrap wood with the different stains and layers (labeling as I go right on the wood) as a test to see what combo I like the best. Then I use this as a guide to choose the stain for the table.
If you want a shiny, durable finish, use polyurethane. I use water based. Poly is very finicky, clean the surface with mineral spirits before the first coat. Also, you can thin the poly with mineral spirits, this takes longer to dry, but gives you thinner, easier to work with coats. Sand with VERY fine sand paper between coats of Poly. Let dry thoroughly between each coat.  I usually waited at least 24 hours. Sanding with Steel Wool 000 gives a very fine sand, and produces a very smooth finish. Make sure to wipe off the table with mineral spirits after each time you sand. Once the poly is smooth enough and thick enough after it has dried- you are finished with the poly coats.
Reattach the legs and enjoy your new table.
I usually let my furniture sit for a good week before I bring it into the house so the paint and stain can harden and set.

 

 

Couch BEFORE and AFTER!

You read that right....  After!!! I finished the couch, I finished the couch!

duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duuuuuhhhhh! (you read that with the "and now presenting" music running through your head)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'm so happy it's done....  I took tons of pictures, and I plan on doing a reupholstery tutorial if there is any interest.

Old Frame/New Frame

 Do you have some old frames that look, well, outdated?? I've done it once, and I'll probably do it hundreds of times. Just give that old frame a couple of coat of Krylon indoor/outdoor paint- the colors you can choose from are amazing! And don't make the mistake of buying it from the craft store. Walmart sells it cheap. Do the spraying outside far from anything you don't want overspray to get on. I spray my frames in a box with a drop-cloth underneath, usually in the garage if it's too hot/cold/windy outside. Tape off any part that you don't want painted, the glass didn't come out of these frames, so I had to tape them off.

Add a beautiful piece of art (this one is an original by my daughter) and hang in the room of your choice. This technique also comes in handy when you have a bunch of mismatched frames that you want to hang together and look cohesive. Spray paint! It's amazing ;)

Baby shower craft night

I will admit... I don't love shower games. I don't hate them either.  When I throw a shower I like to keep games to a minimum or non-exsistant. I decided to try something different and have a craft baby shower.  There was some prep work (of course), but the craft was fun, not too time consuming, and anyone could do it!  We made art for the nursery- it was inspired by all the baby rooms I've seen that have the alphabet in wood letters of all different fonts hung on the wall.  I didn't have the time or money for that craft, so instead I came up with this variation:

Gluten Free Food, beautiful and delicious!

I painted an old, large frame that I had in my garage.  I picked mustard because I wanted the look to be vintage/old fashioned looking.  I cut a piece of thin plywood to the dimensions of the artwork cut-out in the frame, but I cut it just barely smaller than the actual dimensions in order to leave room for the fabric and batting that would cover the plywood.  I cut a piece of muslin and thin cotton batting to cover the plywood, I left a 2 inch overhang (or more) on all sides.  

I had to iron and iron and iron the muslin to get all the wrinkles out!

Starting from opposite centerpoimts, hot glue the fabric down.  Pull tight!  Work out from the centers, check for smoothness on the front as you go.

Smooth as butter!

My frame didn't have the tabs to hold the artwork in, I used small nails hammered into the frame and supporting the artwork in place of the tabs.

The base of the project is now ready.  Not too hard, and I happened to have everything but the paint color on hand!

I chose 26 different scrapes of fabric, with lots of solids.  Too many patterns would look too busy (next time I think I might even use more solids).  I lined them up in order of how I wanted them on the picture.  I measured the canvas size and divided it by 26 to see roughly the size of each letter (mine was about 3.5 inches).

Now the part that took the longest... Cutting the fabric.  I wanted the letters to be all different sizes, so I cut some up to 4 inches and some as small as 2 inches, and everything in-between.  I wanted there to be at least 6 really large looking letters.  The hardest part was adding the iron-on interfacing. I used light-weight heat-n-bond.  If I hadn't wanted to waste as little fabric as possible, then I could cut larger swatches of fabric and a bunch of 4 inch squares of iron on interfacing.  But I cut them all to size in the first place and cut the interfacing by tracing the fabric on it and then ironing it on.  It.took.a.long.time. But I wasted very little fabric and very little heat-n-bond.

To set up for the shower, I printed out three different options of fonts for each letter of the alphabet and placed the piece of fabric I wanted to be used for that letter on top of the "inspiration" fonts.  Oh, don't forget to print all the letters out reversed!  It's easier to just see the letter already in reverse and not try to imagine it. Place sharp fabric scissors and pencils all over the table.   Now you are ready for the party!

When the shower guests arrive they can cut out a letter or two whenever they want.  They can use the fonts you printed out as inspiration and a guide.  The only instruction I really had to give was to make sure they drew the letter backwards on the paper of the heat-n-bond on the back of the fabric and to try to make the letter fit to the size of the cut fabric.  As soon as all the letters were cut out, we arranged them until we liked how it looked, removed the paper on the back of the fabric, and then ironed on the letters.  Easy! And the guest of honor got to take home a finished project.

Oil rubbed bronze lamps (sorta)

We acquired a pair of bedside lamps about 5 years ago from some friends who were decluttering. We were about to sell our first house and needed some more substantial looking furniture to stage our house. They didn't have lampshades so I borrowed some from my mother-in-law while we had the house on the market. They worked great, but always lacked a bit of our style.
A year later I bought modern lampshades and it helped them seem more appropriate in our room, but I don't think my husband ever liked how stark white they were.
So, I finally just did what I had to do- spray painted them with a can of Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze metallic spray paint.

First I cleaned and prepped them for painting. I covered the knob, cords, and electrical source with tin foil. So easy! I used a few small pieces of painters tape to keep the foil tight to the cord right next to where it attached to the lamp base.

Then, I shook my can of paint and went to town. Super easy, instant gratification. The hardest part was not getting spray paint all over my garage- this stuff can spray far! Also, I had to make sure to look up from the bottom. It's easy to not notice that the curves and ledges didn't get any paint on their underside.
This project took less than a half hour, cost me a few bucks, and totally changed the look of the lamps.
They still don't look modern- but they do look a bit more sophisticated and appropriate for a bedroom.

2012 Resolutions

Finish my heap-o-(half-finished)crafts.

Single Girl quilt
Strawberry red and blue quilt
Strawberry Fields quilte
quilt pattern for Chris
COUCH!

Then a thorough clean of the craft room and I'll be a happy resolved girl.