heart desk
It all started when I spotted this sad but cute little desk on the curb. Even though it was really beat up and we didn’t exactly have a space for it, I decided it should come home with me.
It was in really bad shape but I’ve been wanting a little desk so it seemed like a really good option to test it out. I sanded it down and cleaned off some cobwebs, then painted it with some leftover paint from when I was choosing colors for the living room in Woodland White.
It cleaned up really nice and I found a little spot for it in our dining room. It’s a little rough around the edges, quite literally, and not very well made but it’s cute and more importantly, free. Plus it’s nice to have a tiny workspace of my own and a few drawers to stow things.
homemade deodorant
For the past two years or so, I’ve been a faithful user of Soapwalla deodorant cream but I ran out this weekend and had forgotten to order more. In my desperation I made my own deodorant. It was easy enough and seems to be working pretty well. I made a tiny batch just to try. Here is the recipe.
homemade deodorant
3 Tbsp coconut oil
1/8 cup corn starch or arrowroot
1/8 cup baking soda
splash of tea tree oil
Mix ingredients until combined. Store in cool place.*
*With recent high temperatures, I haven’t had a cool place. The mixture liquifies but still totally works, I just give it a little extra stir before applying.
the chair
This story starts with a chair, a chair my grandfather made for me. I’ve had it since I was a kid and I love it not only for sentimental reasons, but also because it’s so comfortable with it’s giant arms.
Originally it was pink, a dusty pink, girlish fabric I didn’t choose. As a teenager I made the unfortunate request for him to reupholster it with leopard fabric and it’s been that way ever since. Partially because of this fabric choice and partially because of it’s size the chair has been banished from our apartment for most of the time we’ve lived here. A few months ago, I reclaimed it from my mother who had been keeping it for me.
I was determined to make the chair fit in our space and as soon as it was home, I started pulling and peeling away fabric, surprised that the pink was still hidden underneath. I was ecstatic, hoping I could just return it to it’s former glory by removing the leopard. The pink was actually quite nice, though faded it had a circular pattern I quite liked.
I cut and I tore and removed as much leopard as I could, only to discover that only about half of the pink fabric remained. So I was stuck. Then the chair just sat like this for months. Occasionally covered with other fabrics to disguise it’s Frankenstein appearance. I was too intimidated to reupholster it and all the slipcovers we found were atrocious.
But finally, nearly six months later, I bit the bullet and made my own slipcover. I had some “help” from little Weetzie. I made a pattern from sheets, pinned and basted all my pieces together and sewed the whole thing up.
It’s almost like a whole new chair! I’ll admit it’s still a little frumpy, but it’s a vast improvement from being covered with a sheet or in it’s torn up state. When I finally chose a fabric, there wasn’t enough yardage to make a cushion so that was sort of a drag. At least now it looks complete and blends in with our apartment. Mostly I’m just happy I tackled and finished a project that has been on my to do list for months and months. Now if only I would repaint our mantle…
Also, if you haven’t already, please vote for Doctor Meow! Just click that link and “like” the video. Thanks!
Halloween Pumpkin Mantel
Generally speaking when it comes to Halloween decorations, I lean more towards the actual scary than the cute. On the other hand, I love pumpkins and I knew for our mantel I wanted a ton of pumpkins.
I bought a handful of fake pumpkins from the craft store (they never go rotten!) and went to town. I thought I’d stick with a black and white theme and at first I was tempted to make them pretty with patterned stencils, but was inspired to paint cute faces on them when we found a light up pumpkin at a Halloween store. We turned that one into a makeshift light putting it on an antique tripod.
Of course with the black and white theme, I was able to incorporate the ghosties I made.
Look at that happy pumpkin face! They were all painted with acrylic paint we had laying around the house. Pretty simple and pretty fast.
This is the just the beginnings of our decor. We have some more creepy awesome stuff that I’ll share over the next weeks. Not to mention that next weekend is our horror movie marathon and all the treats and decorations that go along with it. Can’t wait!
Wedding cakes
Hello dear friends! We’re back from our honeymoon which means back to blogging for me. I hope you all enjoyed the guest posts while I was away.
With everything that happened in the past few weeks, I’ve got lots to share. There were many adventures on our honeymoon. There were many fun times with our visiting family and friends. And of course, there was the wedding. So I’ll have lots of details and treats in the next few weeks for us all to nibble on while we wait for the official photos from the wonderful Liesl at Photo Pink (I’ve seen just one photo so far, and it’s stunning and I can’t wait for the rest).
I want to tell you all about everything, the food, the music, the rain, the craziness and all the fun, but it just won’t be the same without photos I think, so I’m going to string you along a little bit longer. Not to worry though, the road to the finish will be highly entertaining and delicious.
Let’s start with cake, shall we?
Perhaps you recall, I chose to make our wedding cakes. Yes cakes, plural. There were eight of them. I took over my mom’s kitchen for 2 days and made a huge mess. We spent one day baking and one frosting more or less.
When I say that I made eight cakes, I really mean I made about 24 (or 30, I lost count), since each cake was several layers. We made 10 chocolate cakes, in 3 different sizes alone.
Luckily, I had lots of help in the kitchen to get everything done. Robin, Agatha & Shiri, some of my oldest friends, came in from out of town for the wedding and spent their extra time preparing frosting and measuring ingredients for me. I would not have been able to do it without them. I put Robin to work as soon as she got off the plane. Shiri and Agatha were also kind enough to actually drive all the cakes across town to the wedding.
Many cakes were made, and even more frosting. Vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting, espresso frosting, peanut butter frosting. More than I needed it turned out.
I made a raspberry sauce for one of the cakes. It’s one of my favorites, as it’s sweet and tart, with only a few ingredients. I also made a chocolate ganache to top a few of the cakes, but something went terribly wrong along the way. This is the sort of thing that happens when you are making a ton of cakes at once, and also trying to organize the final details of a wedding. So there was no chocolate covered cake, though I wish there had been.
Here are the beginnings of a little coconut cake. With these cakes being a bit taller than usual, I reinforced them with some wooden dowels. A few were still a little wiggly though.
Despite everything being rushed, I was happy with all the cakes except for one. If only that chocolate ganache hadn’t turned to chocolate fudge, it would have been lovely. Instead this cake was a chocolate raspberry mess. I couldn’t leave it alone even with the reassurances of my friends. Alas, despite my best efforts, it remained a mess. It tasted awesome though.
So for the record, I have no regrets making the cakes. Even with all the time it took, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Nearly everyone told me that they tried a few flavors and loved all of them. Every single cake was completely eaten by the end of the night. I would say that’s a wedding cake success.
