Lazy Sunday Days… and Homemade Christmas presents

While I have a quiet moment I thought I would do some catch up with my blog. I don’t know about anyone else, but this time of year can be busy for me. I have a graphic client, I am doing some volunteer activities in my bdsm community and I am trying not to work ten hour days on top of keeping the house clean (I still have Christmas decorations up!).

This week I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should because I have been reading some good books so today I slept in for the first time in a while. I decided that today was going to be a lazy Sunday which for me means a pot of tea and my fancy tea cups while catching up on some of my cooking shows. It also means that I will spend the day in my comfy clothes and puttering around the house (it’s time to take the Christmas decorations down).

One of the things my mother made me was a tea cozy (see picture), which is a wonderful addition to my tea collection. What I did this year for Christmas was give my friends and family homemade gifts. Two of which were the pickles that I made in the summer (and blogged about). Another item that I did was homemade vanilla extract.

One of the things I kept in the break up was all of the alcohol from our bar. Most of which I do not drink, so I have been trying to think of ways to include it in my cooking or thinking of new ways to use it. One of the items I had is bourbon and one of of the cooking shows they talked about how to make homemade vanilla extract and how easy it was. All you need is a container, bourbon and some vanilla beans.

I was shocked to see how easy it was to get vanilla beans. You could order it online or if you are lucky enough to have a spice shop near by you should be able to pick up some vanilla beans for 15 dollars (which for me made two bottles of vanilla and a few beans extra so I can make some for myself). On a day trip to the city (NYC) I was able to pick up vanilla beans from a spice vendor.

The only thing I was unable to do for my vanilla was to make labels but I attached cards to the bottles that let my friends know when the vanilla would be ready to use. I have a feeling making vanilla might become a standard gift for me.

 

 

Craft Project – Chalkboard

While I was working on re-painting the kitchen I thought that it would be a nice touch to add a chalkboard. I know that it is all the latest rage to have it, but it really is a nice touch to have in the kitchen to write down what you need.

So I looked online and saw that others have created chalkboard in a variety of ways; from doing whole walls, fridge doors and cupboard doors. I had one wall that was very blank and long so I thought that having a chalkboard in that area would be a nice touch in that space.

The first thing I needed to do was to find what to use for my chalkboard surface. So one day after work I headed over to Salvation Army (because I am a girl on a budget). I was lucky that day and for seven dollars bought a picture in a frame and two other picture frames that I needed for other photos.

I thought this would be perfect because it was just the right size for the space I had picked out.

What I needed for this project:

• picture in frame
• painters tape
• chalkboard paint
• spray paint
• yellow paint
• buttons
• newspapers

I layered newspapers over the glass of the picture frame and then spray painted the frame white. Which is what I thought I wanted for the frame color.

I then removed the newspaper and taped the inside of the frame with the painters tape so that I could then use the chalkboard paint. I did two layers of paint.

Once I completed that I hung it on the wall but realized that it was just too much white. So I then painted the frame yellow to match the yellow in my kitchen. Once it was dried I took a scrub to “rough up” the picture frame to make it look a bit more lived in.

To give the chalkboard a bit more character and give it some texture I decided to add buttons to it that would bring in the different colors in the kitchen. When this is done one of the buttons will hold the chalk to the board.

This was a fun project that I think brought some character to my kitchen and gave it a modern twist.

Project Update: Earing holder

This weekend was a good mixture of hanging out with friends, being lazy around the house, running errands and puttering around the house and yard.  Today, the errand I had to run was going to The Home Depot which is a very dangerous store for me. But you say how willow? You are a girl who likes to cook and make her house pretty. Well, there is the garden center (where I only picked up three bonnie containers of rosemary) and I needed to get supplies for my projects.

The real reason I went was because I needed to get silicone for my shower head cap. It separated from the wall and all of the silicone in the house was a year past its expiration date. Who knew silicone had an expiration date?? Anyways, while I was there I picked up paint removal supplies, a saw, screws with anchors (I have plaster walls) and screening that goes in your windows.

I got this idea from my friend Ellen who took a frame and placed screening behind it. Once it is stapled into place you can hang your earrings from it. What I did was find a picture frame at my favorite shop (Bliss) and she painted it brown for me (to match my bedset) and it will contrast well against my soon to be blue walls.

Here is the finished project.

  

Project Update – Scrapbook Cookbook

Last year I came up with the idea to create a cookbook for myself with all of my recipes that I have gathered over the years. I have been on the look out for a yellow scrapbook and last week I found one on at Micheal’s and it was on sale! Who can pass up a sale??

So I am very excited that I have finally found my scrapbook, now I just need to start gathering the scrapbook supplies. I am hoping that this project will help me be more creative and help me with some of my desires to have everything perfect. While I know that I want to have this be a useful cookbook which means that it will probably get messy, I also want to make it pretty and reflect me. Maybe one day someone will find it and be able to learn a little bit about me.