Eleanor's Newish Tricycle!

Ok. So this was an insanely satisfying project. I recently bought Eleanor a used Radio Flyer Tricycle for $11.99. I was pleased with the price and figured I could clean it up. Only I couldn't. It had some weird tar-like substance on the handlebars that none of my magic chemicals could get off. So I decided to paint it, since that is pretty much my answer to everything in life right now. I took off the seat and taped up the wheels before I remembered to take a picture, but here is what it looked like before, only much, much dingier, and without the yellow basket on the back or the streamers.

Here is a close up of the handlebars. Ugh.

And the whole bike, minus the blue seat. A few coats of white primer, a few coats of aqua spray paint and a touch of pray gloss later...

... and we have THIS! Isn't it adorable? I am so pleased with how it turned out!Eleanor loves it so much, a little too much. Sadly now when all the neighbor kids are out riding bikes in the driveways and playing in general she will not join in if her bike is out there. She will sit on it in the middle of the lawn making sure no one will touch it. Then she wants me to bring it indoors so no one can touch it. Great. Little Ebeneezer Scrooge we've created. Remind me again, at what age does sharing kick in? She can scoot around on it a bit and can push the peddles back and forth, but doesn't understand the whole "around motion" that will get her moving. Hopefully by the end of the summer she will figure it out. I'd also love to add some sweet white streamers, but don't think there is a way to get them in the end of the handles. The previous ones were cut off and I couldn't get the handles off either. Oh well, Good enough.

I Made A Bench!

So I recently got it into my head that I needed a bench at the end of my bed so I would have a spot to sit and put on shoes and socks. Pregnancy makes the dumbest things seem really important. Generally the end of our bed is where my totes full of clean laundry sit til I am ready to have a folding party while watching a movie. I'm slowly trying to make our room into a grown-up space that looks pretty, versus the college bachelor looking space it's been. I mean, we have a tall kitchen cupboard ($3 at a yard sale last year- it was brand new!) that holds our extra canned goods right next to our dresser. Because nothing says classy like pinto beans and applesauce in the bedroom. Anyhow, I found an online tutorial and got to work.

I bought a new shelf piece for $3 and four table legs for $2 each at our local Restore. A piece of foam for about $9 at Joann's with the half off coupon (Does anyone know a cheap source for foam?), $1.50 for button blanks that I covered with fabric I had on hand and new fabric for $7 a yard on sale. I used 1+1/2 yards. I used an old fleece blanket for the batting, spray paint I had on hand and my neighbor Timmy cut the legs down for me with his saw. It has 6 legs (the two far back ones are the tops of the table legs and don't match, but you don't really see them) and is only a tiny bit wobbly! Yay. I actually bought some small "L" brackets for $2 to strengthen it so I feel very comfortable sitting on it. All together I spent $34 (if my math is right), half of what the gal in the tutorial spent and mine is a wider depth and more sturdy. Oh! And mine has tufted buttons. I'm pretty pleased, however, if I were to ever make another one (which I doubt I will ever want to do) I know what mistakes to avoid. Like using dowel screws as opposed to regular ones, but hey. Live and learn. Here are my pictures. I will have to post what it looks like at the end of the bed once my room is clean. Ahem, might be a while.

I took this close-up to see if you could tell where I had to patch the fabric together. I bought one yard thinking that since it was decorator fabric it would be 54" across. Didn't even check. Duh. Got home, realized it was 45" and wouldn't work and had to go back and buy another half a yard. Then got home again and realized that another half a yard didn't solve my width problem, duh, so I ended up just patching it all together. You can't tell unless you look close, so, yay!I do enjoy sitting on it to put on my socks. And my piles of laundry look ever so much better stacked on this as opposed to sitting in tubs. Ha. Yeah, I will be clean and grown up one of these days. I have a few more projects that I've finished recently and a few more to knock out in the 23? days til our little man is supposed to arrive. Wish me luck!

Kitchen Before & After!!

Remember this? Although I am one of the slowest unpackers ever, I did actually get the kitchen together so Eleanor didn't have to eat in a towering Mousetrap. Can you find her amidst the clutter? Somewhere to the right of the diet coke. So it was put away, but not cute.

Then I decided I was so in love with the color Peacock Blue that I had to put it somewhere in my house. Being renters, I had to put it somewhere small, so that when we move in 2 years it will be easy to paint over. I chose the back splash. I love the look of lacquered walls and venetian plaster, so I did my own DIY version. Since the back wall was super beat up from when they changed out the counter tops a few years ago, I decided to go with the textured look of venetian plaster. I used cheap wall putty to make it look like plaster, painted over it with my glossy paint and then wiped a rub-on poly over that to make it really shine. This is just the paint color test. But you can see how truly awesome it looked before. Ha.

And here is a picture where you really can't see the texture at all. Go Marianne! But you can see that I moved my measuring cups and salt off of my little ledge and made it an actual "display" of sorts. Pretend those are air quotes around the word display. P.S. The empty knife magnet thing is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I think everyone should own one. You can even install them inside of your cabinets! They are so handy! Um, paper towels are never cute, but what can you do?

I also finally got around to hanging some pictures up and making little curtains for the windows. So I declare that the kitchen is done! Maybe. Either way, here are the before and after pictures. Please ignore the after pictures garland. That was for a baby shower that was at my house. It's not permanent.

Before....

After!

After!

After! P.S. Did I mention that I found the cake stand I have been looking for for over 6 years? My sweet Bishop's wife from my singles ward (What up Wendy!) had one that I adored and I have been searching ever since. Also didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for one. This one was $16 at TJMaxx! Early birthday present to me!

More after.

Close up of the curtain fabric. I searched in vain for something less than $49 a yard. Finally I found this coverlet from Urban Outfitters and made it into curtains for two rooms! I plan to use more of it elsewhere. I have a ton left over.

Here are a few close ups of the art I hung in here. I have so many family photos in our living room (blog to come soon) that I only wanted art prints in here. Here is Queen Esther by one of my favorites, Minerva Teichert. I got this for Clayton for his birthday last year. We have a problem of buying each other gifts that we want for ourselves.

The Lost Balloon.

Disaster & Accident in the Italian District

Doll jumping rope with cats. Yep. Underneath, Rainbow circle? Sadly I find these images off of public domain sites (and a few, cough cough, other sites) and don't know the artists info.

A close up of a Carrière self portrait and a robot escaping on a pony.

Menier Chocolate advertising poster by Firmin Bouisset. Chocolate graffiti?
I can get behind that.

And a gratuitous treat shot. The baby shower had some serious good eats. Pinwheels, homemade salsa, apples with caramel, chocolate caramel cookies, coconut cupcakes, veggie pizza... Happiness. I decorated with an aqua and red theme, but it wasn't very clear. Oh well. The adorable red magnet board is actually from Eleanor's room, which is ALSO done. I know! Three rooms done? What is up Marianne? I will post them all soon. That is my goal. But you all know how I am with goals, so...

And because a post should always contain something of Eleanor.
Here is a sneak peak at the living room.

We're Bringing Rainbows Back (Yeah!)

2012
*Update*
Sorry to all the pinners out there that are finding this blog post to see how to make the cute hair bows. I never made a tutorial as I am not one of "those" blogs (However, I LOVE those blogs!), this is just my family blog. Basically I just used plain grosgrain ribbon in varying lengths glued together, then I glued a few buttons on the "end" of each rainbow, then glued the rainbows and clouds onto a covered barrette. For the rosette, I again used ascending lengths, and hand sewed the ends together to make a circle, ran a running stitch through it to gather, then glued them on top of each other. Sorry if that doesn't make sense.

It's Birthday time here in Michigan. Tomorrow Eleanor turns ONE! We are so excited for our little star. I know it's a cliche, but I cannot believe how fast this year has gone! In preparation for the big day we have been busy little bees. Here's a bit of the action. We will post more after tomorrow!

We practiced eating cake all by ourselves. She aced this of course.

Two hands full at all times.

We practiced wearing crowns. This one is courtesy of Burger King.

Don't mind the messy sweater. A little juice got away from her.

Happy little queen.

On to the rainbows! Look at how fun this is! I found a link to this rainbow cake about two months ago and it set the whole theme for the party, because I wanted to make this cake. This is just the batter, so cute!

Here are the cupcakes baked but pre-frosting. I will post the finished ones once I, well,
finish them.

Here is the start of another project. I wanted to make Eleanor a party dress for her big day, and then of course I wanted to make a rainbow dress. Just a heads up. Rainbow fabric (and wrapping paper and paper plates etc...) do not exist. The gay community has taken hold of rainbows and everyone else has backed off. Well I want rainbows back! (Thus the title. P.S. Sing it to a popular Justin Timberlake song.) They can use them too, I just want to be able to use a rainbow without someone thinking of my "orientation". Gross. Anyhow, back to the dress. I had to buy seven different colored fabrics to make my rainbow "fabric".

And here is the finished result. I didn't use a pattern, so it's a little off, but all in all I am happy with the results. It fits, so that is huge. The sixties, mod shape I imagined looks a little too Rainbow Brite for me, but I suppose that is a comparison you are going to get.

I also made these little hair bows for all the girls that will be attending the party. And to anyone who didn't get invited, sorry. I wish we could invite half the ward, but until we can party outside, we had to keep the guest list small. If you are feeling slighted, let me know and I will make you a rainbow bow too.

I need to go to bed so I am not a zombie for tomorrow. We are taking Eleanor to the zoo!