Monday, March 8, 2010

Chair Makeover

This beauty was sitting pretty at the local thrift store when I stumbled across her. Clad in mustard yellow vinyl (and only $9), I thought it would be the perfect addition to my room, with a little work.




To recover the seat I flipped it upside down and unscrewed the screws from the bottom and the seat lifted right up. I pryed the staples off that were holding the vinyl to the seat base and the cushion was still in puffy condition and didn't smell so I kept it. I didn't want to have to sew so I laid my material on the floor right side facing the floor and placed my seat bottom on top of it and began to pull taunt and staple. Within minutes I had a great looking chair! Now the question is whether or not to paint the wood white...any thoughts?

I'm linking to:
MakingThe DIY Show Off

Friday, March 5, 2010

Friday Funny

Watch the boy on the left....

Oh My Sticky Stickers!


Yesterday I picked up some new glasses from the dollar store and of course they each had a huge sticker stuck to the bottom. I used an old trick my mom had taught me, to soak the stickers in window cleaner for a few minutes then scrape it off.



Once you get the sticker itself off there will be a little glue left but it easily pulls up.




There, not so bad huh?! I hope someone can use this trick!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Salmon Patties

Our favorite and most frequently used recipe is our Salmon Patties.

Ingredients:
2 packets of Pink Salmon by Chicken of the Sea (skinless & boneless)
1 egg
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 cup of mayo or miracle whip
1/2 cup of old fashioned oats or cheez-it's or even goldfish crackers ground up
2 tablespoons oil

To make:
-heat oil in large frying pan and mix all of your ingredients (it's a fairly wet mixture but don't let that scare you, they turn out deliciously moist)
-spoon out a tablespoon of your mixture and plop it into the frying pan, repeat until you've used all of your ingredients
-flip after about 3-4 minutes, cook on the other side for about 3 minutes
-dish it up

Quick, easy and relatively healthy!
Over-used Recipes Swap

Blind fix

So I found these awesome, cheap blinds at Target. For $14 ea. I couldn't pass them up. And they had them in the width I needed, 31". It wasn't until they were completely installed that I found out they weren't LONG enough! Yikes! So instead of tearing them down and taking them back I used the extra slats I had left over from my shorter window above my sink to extend them. Wow, what was I thinking?!!



So I took the left over slat strings that I had cut off of my kitchen window blinds and began sewing, yes sewing, them to the my too short blinds.



The extra slats to be added...



And here is the after, it still needs a little tweaking but I'm just thrilled to have them hit the window sill now. :)



You can see the stitching if you look close but from a far it's not noticeable thank goodness!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

DIY Wall Art



I first saw this idea on My Sweet Savannah's blog. The concept is stunning and to have it personalized with say, your own children or pets makes it even more meaningful. So while I was at our local Dollar Tree I came across these beautiful off-white plates and knew exactly what to do with them. I pulled out my black paint pen from JoAnn's and went to town.

First I took a picture of my girls from the side (against a solid color background is best). Then in Photoshop I clipped out the silhouette and printed it on a regular piece of paper the size that I wanted. Then I cut the silhouette out and used it as a stencil to trace the face onto my plate and then I just painted it in. I suppose you could just take a picture and print it out in the size you'd like and cut it out that way, skipping the Photoshop step if you're not too familiar with it.

I let that dry (which was pretty quick) and I added a caramel colored bow using left over ribbon I had laying around and popped the plate into a plate hanger and up on the wall it went. Piece o'cake.



I'm linking this post to:
DIY Day @ ASPTL

Monday, March 1, 2010

Patiently waiting for warmer weather

so I can refinish this bad girl.



I picked it up at the local Salvation Army for $60. I just have to figure out what color it's screaming at me...any thoughts? My dining room is going to get a fresh coat of taupe/gray paint and my table and chairs are black and cherry. I was thinking a mustard or a distressed white, or should I play it safe with black? Hummm, decisions decisions.