A Little Paint Makeover

I have been busy lately preparing to sell my house and
helping plan a 2nd birthday party, so I haven't had much free time address the growing number of great ideas I have pinned. But I did manage find some time on a sunny afternoon to for a quick soap-pump update.

I loved my foaming soap pump that I had purchased a year ago. Partly because I find the foam fun, and partly because I am cheap and the foam soap pump uses less soap. But it was just not pretty enough to have out on my counter all of the time. So after looking through some of my pins I found the perfect solution.

The inspiration for this quick makeover was a pin that I have seen multiple times and is what I would call a "classic pin" - you know, one of those pins it seem that everyone has pinned and has been around since the start of Pinterest.



This is a very simple and quick process. Basically you:

1. Choose the pump you like and make sure it is empty and clean.
2. Spray paint it with paint for plastic.
3. Add soap and put back together.


The only problem.....I am the WORST spray-painter EVER! No mater what I do I seem to get paint drips and streaking. I try to follow all the painting tips, using a light misting spray, light coats, constantly moving while spraying, but it never seems to work for me. I think I'm too impatient and my light coats are not as light as I should be. So after my first few coats I used high grit sandpaper to even thing out a bit. Another light coat and things were looking better.

For someone with a better spray-painting technique this is a quick makeover. For me it took a little longer but was still easy. It doesn't look like a high-end soap pump,  but it does look 100% better then when I started, and I think it looks good enough to keep it in my bathroom a little longer.




Before                                                                      After

Since I was already in my painting grove - OK it was not much of a grove but my hands were already covered in spray-paint and I did have cardboard laid out on the grass - I decided to update a few other things with a little red spray-paint.

The Miracle Cleaning Power of Water

I have been getting my house ready to sell and my to-do list  seems to be getting longer and longer every day. I am amazed how many things have been on my list since they day we moved in (almost 4 years ago). One of these (never-seem-to-get-to) items is to address this:

And no, the grout is not supposed to be dark grey. Gross right?

I find it is one of those tasks that gets forgotten - how many people pay that much attention to the kitchen floors anyway? OK, maybe a lot of people. But it seemed like a big and not very fun task so I kept on putting it off - for 4 years. Now that I am about to invite a bunch of strangers into my house to criticise it I finally bit the bullet and decided to tackle this gross grout one night.

I remembered a pin from a friend that made it seem like there was a quick and easy solution. I'm sure you have seen similar pins all over Pinterest.




After a week of cleaning with various cleaners around the house all week I was also looking forward to a less harsh cleaning solution, and one that promised to be quick and easy.

I will admit I was a little hopeful (With so many version of the same thing being re-pinned all of the time it had to work, right?) yet skeptical. In principle I do not like vinegar and backing soda miracle "cleaning solutions." On occasion I do clean with vinegar and baking soda separately, but I don't understand why you would mix them together. If you have ever taken a high school chemistry class you know that when you mix the two you will end up cleaning with water. The one time I do mix the two is for maintenance drain cleaning, but it is for the bubbling action not the "miracle cleaner" that results from mixing the two (though water itself is a great cleaner). When it came to cleaning grout I thought this bubbling action may be helpful again.

So I went through my kitchen cupboards and gathered my supplies.

Water, Vinegar & Baking Soda

I adapted the directions a bit to hopefully make it work a little better for me.

1. I made a paste of water and baking soda and using a small brush and worked the paste into the grout and gave it a light scrub.
    
2. I then sprayed the baking soda covered grout with vinegar and watched it bubble away for about 10 mins.
3. I  gave it another light scrub then sprayed with water and wiped the tiles down.

This is what it ended up looking like.



It is a little cleaner, but I'm thinking I would have had the same results with just spraying with water and scrubbing. It definitely did not end up looking like the pin results.

In the end I was not really out much (except my time) as I already had everything on hand. There are other version of similar recipes out there that I considered trying. But since I already wasted a night on this in the end I used a commercial grout cleaner. Maybe I will give the others a try in my next house.

Sunny with a chance of rainbows

This year I was happy to once again help my good friend plan a birthday party for a very special girl. After she decided on a rainbow themed second birthday party I started pinning ideas right away.

I found a lot of great ideas, but since the party was to be simple and low-key we choose a few of our favourites and planned a perfect summer time gathering.

Here are a few highlights of the day:

 Rainbow Cake

 

Decorations

Bubble Party Favours

Food

 

 

One of the great things about the rainbow theme is that it is really easy and quick to put together. All you need is a variety of colours and you have a rainbow party. One of the best pins I found was for this site http://catchmyparty.com/blog/free-rainbow-birthday-printables-from-printabelle which have free party printables. I used it for the water bottles, and a few other things I did not have pictures of.  It also has many other great party theme printables.

 

There are a lot more great ideas that we didn't have time to try, but if you are thinking of a rainbow party check out my pin board and have fun planning your own perfect party.

 

The sign of a great party

 



Curtain Call

Source: BHG.com via Tanya on Pinterest

This pin was originally for the curtains made from dish towels and curtain clips. It's a cute idea, but I actually pinned it because I loved the look of the shelf in the window for plants that doubles as a curtain rod.

This was one of those dream pins that I like to look at wistfully hoping that some day I could make it happen. It's not that his would be a complicated project at all - it is actually a simple 15min project (if you are not sewing your own curtains) - the problem is that the shelf is from IKEA, and the nearest IKEA is a thousand km away. So it's not like it is a quick run to the store.

Fortunately (I think) I found myself on an impromptu trip to Montreal this winter with the-other-half to buy his childhood dream car and drive it back.

Which meant I could make an impromptu IKEA run! Unfortunately the two-seater dream car was not designed for an IKEA trip so I was limited to a few small buys - but the shelf made the list.





Kitchen Window Shelf
using IKEA Grundal Shelf 

Shelf and Curtain Rod
All in One

You might be a redneck if ....

Last weekend my cousins threw my aunt and uncle a joint 60th and 65th birthday. The theme was ... you guessed it ... a redneck party!

This theme was perfect for my family. I would like to think we are a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll, but it ends up that we may be more redneck than country. So even though our redneck side can appreciate all of the redneck decorations and games, we are just far enough removed so the theme is fun (and not mocking) and is still an obvious theme (not just a normal Saturday night). But the best part was that the only thing that we needed to purchase for the the red-neck decorations were the teeth (we actually have a dentist in the family).

Once my cousin asked for some help with planning the party I did turn to Pintrest. And found quite a few great ideas such as these:



The difficulty was in choosing  the best ideas that we could put together within the week before the party. This is what we came up with:



Red Solo Lights

1. Red Solo Cup Lights - This was actually my mother's idea. She found mini solo cups at the grocery store - they are shot glass size -and I drilled holes in the bottom so we could stick them on a set of Christmas lights (and garland) we had. You probably do not need a drill for this project, I was just a little power tool happy at the time.









Yup - a jar of redneck teeth

2. Redneck Teeth - You can't have a redneck party without redneck teeth. My cousin found bags of teeth at Walmart in the party section. 









 


Jack Daniel's Soap Pump

3. Jack Daniel's Soap Pump - When I first saw this idea I loved it! It is so simple to do. You take an empty Jack Daniel's bottle, fill it with soap, and screw on the top of a soap pump. I filled it with Softsoap and happily found out that the top fit perfectly!










Cheers!

4. Beer Can Patio Lanterns - I knew there was a reason I didn't return my recycling. Once again I brought out my power drill and made patterned holes in the beer cans so the light could shine through. Then I hung them on a string of Christmas lights by inserting the bulbs in the hole and twisting the tab over the hole to keep them in place. If you really want to be redneck (we just ran out of time) take your cans out to a field for a little target practise instead of using a drill.






Booze, BBQ & Booty Shaking!

5. Party Sign - I basically copied the idea from the post above. I found some scrap wood in the garage, gave it a quick coat of prime and a quick sand, then then I wrote on it using a Sharpie.









6. Camo Bunting - This was a simple no-sew project that took less than an hour. I made a triangle template on a piece of cardstock, traced it out on some scrap pieces of camo (as I said we didn't have to buy anything - there was actually quite large amount of camo available) and cut them out. I then laid out long pieces of Duct Tape - sticky side up - place the triangles on about 1/2 inch from the edge and 1/2 triangle apart, then folder the Duct Tape over (sticky sides together), and was done!



Redneck photo booth set-up
(picture taken after it started to rain)

7. Photo Booth - We set up a photo booth so everyone could take pictures. A large piece of camo was hung from the rafters of the garage and wrapped with an old set of Christmas lights. An old plastic chair (that we still use during outdoor parties) and an old tire that was outside - do you see why we may be a little redneck - was added to round it all off. We then had a selection of redneck clothing (think camo and trucker hats), mullet wigs (yes, we already had these on hand), and of course redneck teeth. Everyone seemed to enjoy acting out their inner redneck.

I set-up a camera on a tripod and light (as it was a little dark in the garage), and  everyone could either use the camera remote, or have someone take the picture for them.



Right at home

8. Pink Flamingos - One of the pins suggested hanging strings of Christmas lights and putting plastic pink flamingos on the lawn - check, and check - these were already existing in place. You might be a redneck if.....









The little pooper

9. Dog Plop Bingo - This was the great idea of my other cousin. It is played like Cow Patty Bingo - an area was marked off in a grid as the Bingo "field" (and the dog was allowed to roam around this area). Everyone then wrote their name down in a square on the corresponding Bingo card. Whoever choose the square (or the one closest) where the dog had his first plop (i.e poop) won.








To round out the decorations we had a camo flag, picnic tables and red check plastic table cloths, camo coasters, a deer skull, and a whole lot of Duct Tape. All the decorations were put up with Duct Tape. Even the flag pole - which broke in a storm last summer- was held up with Duct Tape.






Conclusion: This was a great theme for our party! Decorations were easy and cheap to make, food could be kept to simple BBQ items, and everyone had fun. The only downside was that the day turned cold and rainy so we had to postpone the other redneck games. But since we had so much fun we are planning on holding a part 2 this summer. So there is more to come...

Happy Mother's Day

During my last play date with Kate I had decided to spend some time making a Mother's Day gift for Kate's mom. I was a little worried about the results of our homemade finger paint project so I wanted a back-up.

When I saw this fingerprint necklace I thought it would be perfect!



Source: /www.according-to-kelly.com
via Tanya on Pinterest

It is so simple and sweet. Would be super easy to make, and as a huge bonus I had everything on hand.

Before Kate arrive I opened an old package of white Fimo I had (and when I say old, the Fimo was part of a bead making kit I receive when I was around 14....which is almost 20 years ago!) and I softened it up my kneading it for a bit. Then I rolled a few small balls and set aside for latter.

After our finger painting was complete I just flattened out the balls out and helped Kate press her finger in the middle. It worked great!

I set everything aside and we went for a walk in the park.

Fingerprints

Later that afternoon (after Kate went home) I baked them in the oven.....and burnt them. It may have been the age of the Fimo, or the general baking time didn't apply since they were so small, but most likely it was because I placed them on tinfoil since I didn't like the idea of them baking on a cookie sheet I actually use for cookies. When the white Fimo burns it turns purple and splotchy. But the still looked so cute so I set the aside and tried to figure out if there was a way to fix it.

In the end I decided to try to give the a coat of paint to see if that hid the purple colour. The only problem was if the paint was too think it would fill in the finger print and defeat the point of the whole project.

In the end I used paint markers that I already had for the Anniversary Plate. I painted each pendent, let it dry for about 30 seconds then dabbed it with some paper towel. After the paint dried I thought it looked great.

I added some jump rings and a clip to turn the larger one into a key chain charm, and a chain to the other to make a long pendent necklace or a wrap bracelet.

Fingerprint Key Chain Charm

Fingerprint Pendant

Conclusion: This is such a simple craft to do with young kids (even a baby could do it) that looks great. I have seen similar ideas for Christmas ornaments that would be easy to make and family would love to receive as gifts.

Play Date with Kate

Finger Paints!

Last month I had a play date with my favourite little girl (I can say that as I only have nephews). Since we don't have kids of our own our house is lacking in kid friendly toys. So when I have a play date I usually have to plan ahead - especially now as Kate gets older she may figure out a plastic spatula and a paper towel tube is not a toy...well at least it can't be every time.

Source: www.huckleberrylove.com
via Tanya on Finger Paint

I wanted to try painting, however since Kate is still at the age where she likes to try and eat everything I was hesitant about buying finger paints from a store.Now since Kate isn't my kid I can be a little over protective. It is one thing to make your own kid sick, let them fall and bruise, or run around in dirty clothes, but it is another thing when you have to return the kid to their parents who trusted you to be responsible for their child for a few short hours. And I'm not judging here, if I had kids I am sure they would be the dirtiest, sickest, most bruised kids on the block.

So after some searching I found this recipe that looked simple and seemed to make a nice vibrant paint. And best of all it was editable - though (personally) not appetizing.

The finger paint has a jelly texture which make the colours a little transparent so the colours were not as vibrant as I expected, and I really wanted strong vibrant colours. Checking the recipe again to see if I did anything wrong I notices they used gel food colouring and I had used liquid. I tried adding gel and found it did make a difference. 

After following the instructions (and using gel colour) I ended up with this:

Conclusion: The paint was super easy to make and Kate loved painting with it, and eating some of it. Though even with the gel dye (that I would totally recommend) it is still a gel paint and not as opaque as I was looking for - it will never quite be the same as commercial finger paint.

Time to Paint

Source: www.astimeflies.ca
via Tanya on Pinterest

After seeing this pin I thought it would be perfect for our play date and could be a great Mother's Day craft Kate and I could do for her hard working mother.... and a perfect use for the new finger paint.

Even though I would have like more concentrated colour, in the end I decided to use it for the Mother's Day project anyway. Kate still likes to put new things in her mouth so I wanted to use something that I knew what was in it.








Instead of using the tape to spell out words I used letter stickers that I had.

Because of the gel paint I also painted a basecoat so there would be enough contrast when I removed the stickers.

Then Kate did a wonderful job of painting!

I actually had a hard time removing the stickers from the the small canvas. I'm not sure if it was the canvas, or the paint glued them on. But it worked well for the larger (stiffer) canvas, which luckily was the Mother's Day one.

What do you think? Will Kate be an artist some day?

Conclusion: This was a fun and super easy project. As you can tell the paint was put on pretty think so cracked a bit when it dried. It may help to limit the amount of paint used and/or help spread it around a bit. I am happy wit how it turned out and will include some pictures I took of Kate making it with the gift.

Cloudy with a chance of keys?

Source: fab.com via Tanya on Pinterest

When I saw this magentic key holder I loved it. It is such a fun and simple design. And since keys go missing in our house everyday I was thinking this was just the thing I needed.

But when I started looking for them on the Internet I was surprised to find out that they retail for $12-24!

So maybe I didn't love it that much. It is cute but really, $24 for a plastic cloud with a magnet?



Not to be dismayed I was determined to keep looking, so I was thrilled to find them on focalprice.com* for around $6 including shipping.

Once they arrived I loved them.


Stealing an idea from one of the customer photos from the Focal Price site I decided to frame them and create a little key centre in our entryway.

Conclusion: I love them. They hold the keys really well (even my heavier set as you see in the picture) and it's just as easy to attach them to the cloud as it is to throw them on a table - and this way they don't get lost under a pile of stuff.

These magnetic cloud key holders make keys easy to find and grab them on the way out of the house.

* Focal Price is one of those wholesale/retail direct from China sites. Looking a reviews I was a little hesitant as some reviews are great but others were really bad. However, since they were so inexpensive I decided to buy 4 (one was for a birthday present) and if something went wrong I would be only be out $25, which is an amount I can blow on coffee and treats for a week. So long story short I receive my clouds 3 weeks after I placed the order, though I did have to contact them a few times to ask for my confirmation/tracking number which they forgot to send. Oddly enough the shipping date was the same date I contacted them - so if you plan to order from them I would recommend following-up with them right away if something is off.

Oh my Guinness

Kiss me I'm Irish!



Source: allrecipes.com via Tanya on Pinterest

OK, so I'm not really. But I do love to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it's because of the green beer, or Irish food, or because it's the only day that is is OK to dress head-to-toe in green, but I think it is mainly because in Canada St. Patrick's Day is an excuse to have fun with friends with no strings attached.

So once again we invited our friend over for a little Irish themed festivities.

After the success of the Guinness Cupcakes last year I decided to try a recipe that I pinned for Guinness Chocolate ice cream.


It is a great simple recipe that only has 4 ingredients!
(Beer, Sugar, Cream and Chocolate)

So I pulled out my ice cream maker (that I don't get to use nearly as much as I would like) and whipped up this recipe in no time at all.

I really loved the taste and texture of this ice cream. You can taste the Guinness more in the ice cream than in the cupcakes, but it is not overly strong or distracting.  It is smooth and light more like store bought ice cream and not as dense as custard based ice cream.

I did have have a problem with the chocolate chips though. Maybe because I bought store brand which may not be as high of quality (though I think store brands are usually comparable) or maybe I did not stir enough, but I had problem incorporating the chocolate into the mixture. The chocolate seemed to cool faster than the mixture and small bits of chocolate came out when it was setting. I did try to strain some of this out when I poured into the ice cream maker but I still had some gritty chocolate in my otherwise perfect creamy ice cream.

I plan to try this again with different chocolate and/or try incorporating the chocolate chips while the mixture is still on the heat. Because it is so easy to make so it will be no problem to try again.

 

I also made the Guinness Cupcakes again this year. Since I was planning ahead I made the whisky ganache that I did not have time to make this year. Not surprisingly these were a big hit. The ganache tasted great and not at all boozy. The Guinness chocolate cake with Irish Cream icing and Whisky chocolate filling is a great combo. Though if you are short on time I still think they are great without the filling as well.