Picture Frame Redo's

 A while back I had decided that we should put our kids' pictures that had been in the laundry room in the kitchen . . . and while I was doing that, I may as well paint the frames so they would go together and get enough frames so there would be enough . . .

This is what it looked like in the laundry room before we changed everything (it is kinda very embarrassing to show this picture . . . please excuse the junk mess . . . we need to get that cleaned up.)  But yeah, you can see that it didn't really look all that great . . .

And this is after, in the kitchen.  I painted all the frames with a primer and spray paint mix, then got all the glass washed and the photo's put back in.  I made the family letters in clay at the beginning of this year (ha ha - they're definitely not perfect, but when they're that high up above the window, I doubt it'll be that noticeable:)   We tied the letters up with some twine.  I think they look cute:)

 Guess what one of my next projects needs to be now?  Here's a hint: there's a big, empty, boring space over the computer desk in the laundry room . . .

Have a wonderful day!!

A Belated Birthday Gift: DIY Whiteboard & Keychain

For my cousin Katrina's birthday, I was having the hardest time deciding what to make her.  Earlier, closer to her birthday, I had made the key chain, but I needed something else to go with it.  Now finally on Saturday I got to making the rest of her gift.  It was actually pretty easy and quite fun to make!!

I simply took a frame and painted it white, then took a piece of scrapbook paper the size of the frame (8x10") and scrapbooked it a bit to make it cute and fun!!  I wrote "To Do" and "Words of Wisdom" on it, so she can either write reminders to herself of things she needs to do (I do that all the time on my whiteboard) or write bible verses or quotes on it.  (I think I need to make myself a whiteboard like this either for the bible verses or the notes, because they both don't end up fitting on my whiteboard:)  Then I simply added some flowers I had made onto the corner to jazz it up a bit:)

Wah - lah!!!  A DIY whiteboard since the glass works the same as a whiteboard!!

This is the key chain I made Katrina - the front and the back.  I used black and white cotton fabrics and then cut out a felt "K" and sewed it on the front to personalize it and make it cute:)  I really love these key chains.  The tutorial is here.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful day!  And hopefully I'll start doing blogging again . . . school's out after this one last week . . . and my oldest brother is graduating . . . . crazy!!

Baker's Review Wednesday 41: Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

1 cup margarine or butter, softened

2 3/4 cup sugar, divided

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sour cream

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and 2 cups sugar until fluffy.  Add vanilla  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt; add alternately with sour cream, beating just enough after each addition to keep batter smooth.  Spoon one third of batter into a greased 10 inch tube pan.  Combine cinnamon, nuts, and remaining sugar; sprinkle one-third over batter in pan.  Repeat layers two more times.  Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes, or until cake tests done.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

***

This cake was so absolutely delicious!!  It was simply amazing and I would definitely make it again.  It was just moist and yummy and said "more"!!  Not that that's really a good thing . . .

But I do repeat . . . make this delicious coffee cake - I urge you to try it and you will find a new favorite . . .

Have a wonderful day!!

Crafter's Weekly - week 16: make a hot pad

Last week we were to make a hot pad.  I decided to do a larger one that you could set under a pan, that had a ruched center.  I also tried doing a bigger piece on the back, and folding it over to the front, but that didn't work out very good.  I guess it just works best to do right sides together, flip, and top stitch, at least for me!!  I still think it's kinda cute though, and I really like the ruched look! 

Did you make a hot pad last week?  Link up below!!

This weeks challenge is to make something with fabrics you normally wouldn't put together (and have it look good!!).  :)  I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but that's the point right, to challenge myself to do something!!  I'd love if you'd join in, of course:)

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Baker's Review Wednesday 40: Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
3/4 cup buttermilk

For glaze:
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Prepare a loaf pan by misting it lightly with cooking spray and dusting with flour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the lemon zest and vanilla, beating in well.  In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds.  In three installments, alternate adding in your flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour.  Pour the batter in your loaf pan and bake in the center of your preheated oven for around 40-60 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 10 minutes while you prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar with the lemon juice.  Run a butter knife around the cake in the pan and lift it out, placing on rack.  While cake is war, place the rack over a sheet of wax paper and poke some wholes on the top.  Brush on the glaze.  Let it cool completely and enjoy!!  This cake stores well at room temperature in an airtight container.

***

This was a pretty good cake, but it wasn't very lemony, except the areas where the glaze had sunk more into the cake, which was more the top half in the middle.  I think it might work to put some lemon juice in the batter to make it more lemony . . . ??  Overall though, it was a good cake and I would recommend it:)

Have a wonderful day!!  Did you bake something this week?  Link up your recipe and review below.

Crafter's Weekly - week 15 - activity w/ children

What do you know?  I didn't do the challenge.  How 'bout anyone else?  I'm just so out of ideas for what to do for crafter's weekly.  I need to get a list out so on Monday, doing my crafter's weekly post, I'm not sittin' there searching my brain, trying to figure out what this weeks challenge is going to be.  Does anyone have any ideas?

Here's some ideas I kind of thought of:

• make something w/ fabric you wouldn't normally put together
• make a hot pad
• make a pillow/pillow cover
• and I'm not really thinking of anything else:(

So does anyone have some ideas to add to my list?  It can be to make something certain, or use some certain object in your craft . . .

Comment if you have some ideas!

This week I'm going to say the challenge is to make a hot pad.  Everyone can use hot pads: keep it for yourself, give it as a gift, sell it, etc.

Did you do an activity/craft with a child this week?  Link up below!!

Have a great HOT day!!  And comment and give me some ideas for crafter's weekly if you have any!!

Baker's Review Wednesday 39: Cinnamon Coffeecake Loaf

 Cinnamon Coffeecake Loaf

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

3 tsp. baking powder

3 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided

1 1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used about 1/2 olive oil because we didn't have enough regular)

2 tsp. vanilla

3 tbsp. butter, melted

In a bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt.   In another bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until smooth.  Pour half of the batter into a greased bread pan.  In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon; stir in butter.  Drizzle half over batter; cut through with a knife to swirl.  Top with remaining batter.  Drizzle with remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture; swirl with a knife.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from a pan to a wire rack.  Yield: 1 loaf

***

I think this was pretty good.  I had it when it was really fresh, a little to hot, I think, so it might be even better later.  I don't know if making this with real buttermilk would make this different or not, as I just used the regular milk and lemon juice substitute.  Also, I don't know if using olive oil would make a  difference in how it turns out.  My only problem was when taking it out of the pan, part of the bottom just stuck to the pan and didn't come out with the rest of the loaf:(  All in all, though, I think this is pretty good and I would probably make it again, especially if everyone else likes it, but no one else has really tried it yet:)

 

Did you bake this lovely week?  Link up your recipe and review below!!