Decoupaged table with book pages

We'd been using this old table to hold some of Jack's toys in his room. Ugh, pretty depressing right?
I think I found it in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco when I was pregnant with him. Anyway, it REAAALLLY needed an update.

 See the fake wood bubbling? I knew it needed more than just a paint job. So I took it apart which was easy since it was just screwed together.

I thought about leaving the legs 'natural' since they still looked okay and thought it may add some interest. I did polish them up a bit with this restorer. Then I painted the top and bottom shelves green. I had some spray paint left over from this project.

Then I rummaged through Jack's books to find an old one with cool art. A few years ago I picked up a box of old books from a school sale. There were a few with pretty cool illustrations but that were otherwise pretty trashed (no covers, pages missing...) I thought this one would be perfect for this project.

 I measured the shelves and cut out a template for my paper 'tiles.' I needed 16 for the table. The book had exactly that many pages, including the title page. I probably wouldn't have included that one if I had enough pictures, but I think it actually looks pretty cool (and now we'll always know what book we used!)

 Then I painted the tops of the shelves (one at a time) with a thin coat of Mod Podge. You can find this in any craft store. I used the matte, but you can use whichever you prefer. I love this stuff.

I decided to start with the bottom shelf in case I ran into problems, I'd figure them out before I did the top. I'm glad I did this since my first attempt resulted in some major bubbling. After doing some research and messing around with the process, I found that I achieved the best results this way:

1. Paint a thin coat on your surface.

2. Position your paper where you want it.

3. Press it and smooth the paper down, concentrating on those edges! Do your best to get the bubbles out.

4. Wait for that bottom layer of Mod Podge to dry before...

5. Applying a top coat. Wait for that to dry.

6. Put two more coats on, waiting for the Podge to dry completely in between. Some coats took 20 minutes to dry, but it seemed as the layer got thicker it took longer.

And Voila! So much better!

Got my first Birchbox!

 Birchbox is a company that sends out a box of deluxe beauty samples to you every month, for a very reasonable $10/month subscription. This is my first one, but I am already awaiting August's. So far, I've just tried the coconut nourishing body cream (smells like heaven and stays put) and the Benefit Hello Flawless foundation (perfect shade for my skin and fun for dressing up.) Most of the products seem to be high end/ organic/ cruelty free, which is great. It reminds me of the little samples you get with your purchase at Sephora (or used to get, I should say.) Except you get way more things to try. Love it! So fun and so girly.

Plum jam

We made this plum jam the other day from plums we picked off various trees in our neighborhood park and growing on the side of the road. It's good, a bit tart, but I like tart. I burned the first batch, so I watched the second one carefully and cooked it less than the recipe called for. It's the perfect consistency; I love the chunks of purple and yellow plums.

We had some plums leftover, so I used them to make a plum cornmeal galette. It was perfection. I ate the whole thing by myself in just over two days. Not a good few days for the old health, but oh--who can resist? The taste of summer gets me every time.

Find the galette dough recipe here, and a link to the Martha plum jam recipe here. She uses plums and peaches, but I used all plums. I found I needed some extra sugar and maybe two pinches of salt to counteract the added sugar. It was still quite tart, but tasted homemade and not sugary sweet like store bought jam.

Lace painted table

Here is my attempt at recreating the lace painted table from my earlier post. Thanks to A Beautiful Mess for directions!

Here is our banged up, heat damaged table. It was always covered with a tablecloth. I know, sad, sad, sad.

Here is the table with some lace draped over it. I found the lace at Joann's for about $5 a yard. I needed three yards to cover this table and three leaves. Our table was 42 inches wide, so I needed lace that was at least that width. This was 43 inches, and that mere inch of 'extra' lace was barely enough to wrap around the edge of the table and tape down. Keep that in mind if you attempt this! Also, a curved table is more difficult to cover than one with straight edges, and the tighter you can make the lace, the better.

Here is the surface after spray painting and letting it all dry for one hour.

I would recommend applying a thin layer of paint, as those parts I attempted to cover more thoroughly just ended up looking a bit blurry, as you can see in this shot. Also, the paint was so thick, it kind of created a weird pattern on the paint when the lace was eventually removed. All in all, I'm happy with it though. It's a definite improvement!

Random notes from parenthood oblivion

I love this idea over at A Beautiful Mess for updating a tired old wood table. All you need is lace and spray paint.

And this is ridiculous but also pretty funny. For crying out loud, eat your cereal, Ryan Gosling.

I'm obsessed with The Skunkboy Blog. Like, obsessed. Katie has inspired me to start wearing actual outfits again and and to care about how my hair looks. Thank you for bringing me back from new motheritis. Now I only wear sweats at home.

And speaking of hairdos, here is a list of 20 great hair tutorials for long-haired gals like myself. I'm having fun with my hair again! Sorry for the enthusiasm, but I feel like I'm waking up from a long nap...

I made this lemon pie with a saltine crust that everyone on NPR raved about. My sister and her boyfriend loved it, but not me so much. Maybe a chocolate filling to go with the salty crust? Not lemon, anyway.

Finally, here is a really cute handmade baby toy that I think would be perfect for my little one.

Superhero cape!

Someone requested a superhero cape. He wanted a green and black cape, the lightning bolt J was required since I made a similar mini cape for his stuffed monkey (now called 'Supermonkey.')

I started by taping some sheets of newspaper together to create a pattern.

I traced this onto green and black material, then sewed the two fabrics together, right sides facing.  I reinforced the insides of the collar, where I later sewed some velcro. He's a little rough with his toys, as most four-year-olds are, and since this is satiny material, I knew it would need some strengthening. I used Steam-A-Seam to iron some cotton fabric on the inside, where it wouldn't show. It worked great.

Then I turned the cape right side out (through the opening I left!) and stitched around the entire perimeter of the cape. Finally, I zig zagged the Superjack logo onto the back!

Isn't this the sweetest little Christmas tree angel? I found this little gem at the Goodwill years ago, at the bottom of a bin. She is made out of paper and is about as tall as my pinkie finger. She's my favorite ornament, and each year when I unwrap her she makes me smile.

It's been a long, wonderful, busy few months. I had a baby who is a month old today. I now spend most of my time taking care of him and his older brother, feeding, changing diapers, cuddling, reading books, cleaning, doing unreal amounts of laundry. I'm still recovering from a C-section, those things are no joke. Today was actually the first day I could manage the laundry on my own. Am anxious to feel strong and able-bodied again. Patience...

 We made 'gingermen' over the Christmas break. Jack was thrilled and loved decorating them. I found the recipe online over here.

And finally, here is, thus far, my favorite drawing of Jack's. Pretty amazing I think.

What may be the best cookies ever?

Holy crap. I just saw this recipe and had to post a link to it, if only so I don't forget that these exist.

Who wants some Nutella-stuffed Brown Butter and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies? Recipe here

Pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling and homemade vanilla extract

Seriously, this looks so good I think I'm going to make it for dinner tonight.  Find the recipe here

I also made some homemade vanilla extract a few weeks back. I found the recipe in this awesome book that I got for Christmas last year.

The homemade vanilla is relatively simple to make, and pretty inexpensive when you consider how much a tiny jar of extract costs. This recipe makes a ton (about two cups worth) and uses just five vanilla beans (about $3 at Whole Foods) and two cups of vodka (the cost depends on the quality of vodka you use, I had Smirnoff on hand.)

To make it, you just gather a mason jar (mine held 16 oz. filled up to the very top,) some vanilla beans (5) and rum or vodka. Open and scrape the vanilla pods, stuff the seeds and the pods into the jar and fill it up with your alcohol.

Then let it sit for a few months before using, shaking every week or so. Mine should be ready around Thanksgiving, before I begin all my holiday baking. And I seriously go through a lot of vanilla, more so than liquor (especially now that I'm pregnant!) The flavor of the homemade variety is supposed to be much better. This is what mine looked like after I made it, but it's already much darker now after just a few weeks.

My sister's birthday gift

I made this video for my sister's birthday recently. I used Windows Live Movie Maker, which was really simple to learn and use.

It was inspired by this video that Wendy showed me, which is awesome embarrassingly accurate.

Snow day

We were lucky enough to make it to the snow in Lake Tahoe last weekend. The conditions were perfect, lots of snow on the ground but none on the road (no chains!)

Snowballs were thrown, one little snowman was made, and we even got to go tubing, which I insist is one of the most fun activities in the world. I swear Jack giggled all the way down the hill...each and every time.

And after it all, we got to come home to our sunny, warm little house. But I think someone would like to go back next year...

I want to make this!

 Isn't this hand-sewn bird just the prettiest thing you've seen all day?
The pattern can be found in this book:

Handmade sleep mask

I made this Paris-inspired sleep mask for my sister last week. The cream-colored lining and lace were 'borrowed' from an old nightgown of mine and the blue silky fabric (seen on the front here) used to be inside a wool skirt! I love re-purposing and using things on hand. I searched for about an hour for these materials, through fabric scraps and old clothes waiting to be donated...it was delightful to find such pretty fabrics and fixings in what I already own.

Here's how I made it:
First, I used my (homemade) sleep mask as a template. It would be easy to sketch one if you don't already have a sleep mask, I'd just draw one big enough to comfortably cover the owner's eyes and then some.

Then I traced that onto the wrong side of my two fabrics. I like a soft, silky lining for the inside (the fabric that will be against the eyes.) I cut the two pieces about 1/2 inch larger all around and used my iron to press it along the traced line.

Then I cut out a double piece of cotton flannel about 1/4 inch smaller than the pressed pieces to sandwich between the two fancy fabrics. I pinned this 'sandwich' together, adding the elastic at the sides.

And then I put on some DVR'd 30 Rocks and sat down and hand-sewed all around the perimeter, making tiny stitches, and adding extra stitches around the elastic for strength. I think my sister could choose to wear it with either side facing out.