Raise your hands if you wanted to be like Molly Ringwald when you were little! Did you want to be uber cool and moody, yet aloof and misunderstood? Did you wonder what she saw in Andrew McCarthy? Am I typing with my inside voice again? umm… sorry ’bout that.

Okay, on to todays post. Mentioned here in my deck post I hinted at doing some big things on the deck! This past long weekend (Happy Canada Day eh) I was busy working on some of my little projects and plan to share them with you over the next week or two.

First up was my charming little candle chandelier. A birthday gift from the hubs back about six years ago, it had seen better days. Not too bad (used loosely) from afar…

but she hid a dirty rusty little secret. A close up for you…

Mama needs some new mascara. oy.

So, never one to leave a good chandelier out to rust (okay, so I am one to do that, did you SEE those pics) I set out to correct my bad.

In search of some new sandpaper I came across these new sandpaper ‘sponges’ which I liked for this job as I wanted to get into the crevices while maintainng a good grip on my paper. Using regular sandpaper sheets can be cumbersome for a job like this. And result – they worked great.

Here Molly is mid-sand (Yes, I just named my chandelier after an 80’s teeny bopper idol – so what?)

One she was all sanded I started the fun part – spraying! This is the part where you feign surprise about the colour.

Molly took about 367 8 coats to completely cover. The key to a nice spray paint finish is LIGHT coats to avoid the drippy droopy look. No one likes a drippy chandelier. Another tip is to make sure to turn her over and get in all the nooks and crannys for a really solid, smooth coating. The finish is really up to you but for something sparkly like this, a gloss finish is most appropriate.

And, now she looks like THIS…

Ain’t she PRETTY!?

I’m in love. My husband on the other hand exclaimd “PINK!?” Yes, Duckie Kev, pink.

My little boy loves his hats. And he also loves Thomas and Friends but that’s neither here nor there. My little boy also loves to do things himself now that he’s a ‘big boy’ (two), so when I came across these letters for $1 each (!!!) at Michaels a little light bulb went off in my head.

Why not make him his own little place to hang his hats – and coats!?

These letters came in white with the hooks attached but since they were living in the bargain bin they’d become quite scuffed and had yellowed a bit too. So I gave them a good spray with some white paint that I had on hand and they were as good as new again (well, they actually were new to begin with but now they looked newer than that even).

They also came with a little hook on the back to hang them but since the letters were cheap to begin with, the hooks were kind of wonky and not very well hidden on the back. In other words if I were to hang them that way you’d see nails and the tops of the hanger. Not very toddler friendly at all! Also knowing a kids tendency to yank things at eye level I came up with a good solution on how to hang (and consequently re-hang when yanked down) the letters.

You can see the hole left behind from where I removed the old hanger. Then I used (my favourite) “Command Picture Hanging Hooks“. These things rock and I use them for everything. I especially love how they don’t damage the wall, and of course are reposition-able.

Once I had all the letters hung this is what I was left with! Chace loves it and hangs his jackets up all the time. He also sits on the stairs, points and squeals ‘hat!’ at every given opportunity. Success!

I love to scrapbook. I’m not sure if it’s the visual part of me, the creative part of me, the sentimental part of me or the social part of me… but I do know that I like it. And so does Chace, my two year old boy. He regularly points to the albums and says “Mommy yook” (translation – Can we take a look at your exquisite album creations Mother dearest”)

Now some of you might have raised an eyebrow at two parts of that – the ‘social’ comment as well as the whole ‘scrap booking’ love declaration. Let me address those.

You’re thinking social? yes, social. I got into scrap booking because some of the lovely lady friends I inherited when I started dating my hubby (yay for my husband’s buddies having great women) love to scrap. I was skeptical at first (see next note) but wanted to get to know them better and go away with them to their retreats so I decided to start an album. From there I was hooked. It was creative, fun and boy, had it come a loooong way.

Which brings me to my next point. For any of you who have the same 1990’s impression of what scrap booking was that I did, throw it out with your solid colour construction paper triangles. Today’s supplies are so amazingly different and BETTER so therefore, is the result you can achieve. Creativity at it’s finest my friends. Very rewarding. And to document the ones and moments that you love – pricelessly awesome.

If you still don’t believe me, check out Becky Higgins (the genius behind “Project Life“) and Ali Edwards. Too amazing women who are pioneers in the field of scrap booking. Their stuff is ah-maze-ing.

This post was sparked initially due to a call for entires on Becky’s blog. I’ve entered a few of my layouts so wish me luck!

Below are a few snippets of some of my recent layouts. Enjoy!

One of my favouritest people in the whole world has a little girl who just turned two on Friday. The birthday girl’s name is Sophia but we all affectionately call her Miss S.

Since Miss S is (theoretically) entering the terrible two’s I thought we might as well teach her how to spell it. What’s better than art that functions as a teaching tool? Not much. (hold your sarcasm please) A teaching tool? Isn’t that like giving a 7 year old boy socks for Christmas rather than the toy he really wanted? Perhaps, but I think Miss S’s mommy will appreciate the gift and plus, a homemade gift shows how much you care. And it’s pretty too! Behold!

Now, I can’t in all conscience take credit for the great concept here. That will have to go to Destri over at The Mother Huddle. Gotta give props where props are due. Check her out. That girl’s got some mad skillz.

Anyway, first step was to find a stencil. I was thinking of doing a shape – butterfly, flower etc. but just was so in love with the alphabet that I had to go that route.

Next I grabbed a frame. Okay, question. Why do they sell white frames with off-white matts? Don’t they know that clashes and is highly annoying? Perhaps that is why this frame, instead of coming with the typical smiling family comes with this depressed looking chick. What’s her problem anyway?

So I decided to spray both the frame AND matt while spraying the stencil. Yes, I decided to spray the matt. Why not? I wasn’t going to use it as is so worst case, I ruined it. But guess what, I didn’t. (yay for trying something new and it working on the first try).

After those all dried the next step was to find some paper to go in behind the letters. I dove into my scrap booking paper stash and came up with this bright (hopefully toddler loving) palette.

And then because I am too lazy to cut squares (which would totally work) I used my circle punch and went to town.

Happy with my colours I started to lay them out over the letters. I laid them out face up and then simply flipped each colour over (these are the backs of each piece – the paper is double sided) and taped them all in place. Here is what it looked like at this point.

Now see that pesky hook/hole at top that messed up my chances of having this fit perfectly in the space created by the matt? My first thought was to trim that off and mount it on white paper. But as we all know, no white is created equal so it looked awful. Ummm, no thanks. So, a new solution was born – hence moving it all up and adding a cheery strip at bottom. Which, when it was all said and done, I think I prefer. Yay for happy accidents.

So there you go. A personal DIY gift that is functional, fun, easy and heartfelt.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MISS S!

The following is an actual conversation between my mom and I (when I was about 20) after another dissatifying display of my less than stellar culinary skills.

… okay, so I was joking (what does my mom have against KD anyway) but miracles of miracles, I did just that! Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t LOOKING for that in a husband, it was just a bonus. After all, a girl’s got her priorities – cute butt, nice teeth and if he can cook, bonus. True story.

I jest, I jest, but my hubby really is a good cook. So much so that people are always asking how he makes his recipes. So after denying me my attempts to get him to audition for Food Network casting calls and/or be the talent in a cook book that I’d design, I convinced him to appear on my blog. Presenting Chef Kev! I hope to post these once a week featuring some of the many wonderful meals my +1 has created (lucky, lucky me).

I wasn’t allowed to do this though without the following caveat – “I don’t measure, I just go by taste” so apologies for the lack of measurements but feel free to comment on any of these posts with any specific questions and we’ll get them answered for you!

The menu today features BBQ Teriyaki Mushroom Steak, Roasted Potatoes (with thyme & rosemary) and Asparagus Broccoli Soup (topped with Cheddar and Bacon). Yum-to-the-double-M-meee (aka YUMMY).

BBQ Teriyaki Mushroom Steak

Start by making your own marinade in a bowl using olive oil, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce and tangerine fig balsamic (Chef Kev note: regular balsamic along with orange juice or pineapple juice can be substituted for the tangerine fig balsamic)

Trim the fat off some strip loin steak (any steak cut will work though), stab with a fork a few times and place in marinade. Refrigerate for a few hours and let sit at room temperature for one hour (E: why? Chef Kev: because meat always cooks better from room temperate. E: {inside voice} news to me). Flip/turn/coat every half hour in bowl.

Cook 3 to 5 minutes each side on a BBQ grill (depending on thickness of steak and desired doneness).

For the mushrooms, you’ll want to cut your mushrooms into slices, and place into a saucepan with some chopped shallot, a chopped clove of garlic, a bit of butter, maple syrup a splash of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Simmer down/reduce in pan. Spoon on to top of steak to serve.

Roasted Potatoes (with thyme & rosemary)

Asparagus Broccoli Soup (topped with cheddar and bacon)

Trim tough ends off of one bundle of asparagus. Cut a few small flours of broccoli – trim the stalks back and use mostly the flower. Steam both.

In a food processor, add one peeled shallot, chicken or veggie stock and 1/3 to 1/2 cup table cream. Add steamed asparagus and broccoli. Add fresh dill (dried will also do), and salt & pepper to taste. Liquify in food processor.

Place your soup back into the pot that you used to steam your veggies and gently simmer for few minutes. Season to taste.

Finish by topping with grated cheddar cheese and crispy home made bacon bits.

E-N-J-O-Y!

So,what do you think of the new Chef Kev feature?

We live on the west coast and people are always talking about how green and lush it is here. And they are right… with the exception of our back yard.

We live in a town home and have a nice wooden deck off the back kitchen/family room area. Even though it looked like this when we moved in, we assumed it was most likely due to neglect (you may notice by the sludge in the garden bed that the previous owners didn’t exactly have green thumbs). We thought once we moved in and gave the grass a little TLC we’d be golden… or at least green anyway.

Wowza. Now that is ugly (with a capital ‘ugh’)

So, our request went in for the gardeners in our complex to address the – lack of – grass issue. (I could take care of the garden myself) so they came and raked and laid out some seed. We waited and waited and the grass started to grow back – yay! … Until the next year when it basically looked like this again (minus the sludge soup in the planter area). It was quite the whoop-whoop-whoop moment (think Debbie Downer from SNL). Ya, well she must have visited when we weren’t looking. Thanks Debbie.

But have no fear, Kevin is here. He set about on his own mission and went to get some sod to lay this time – “seeds are for wimps” is what he said (well, he didn’t actually say that but I just typed it so we’re going with it). What I think he actually said is more along the line of “@#%^&$# grass!”

Rolling out the red green carpet….

Did I mention it might have rained on him? Well it did – A LOT.

Speaking of soggy, apparently there is a drainage issue in our little back yard space – you think? After another round of the patchy grass/dirt show we had had enough. The little sod died and so did our dreams of grass. But, we’d always wished for a bigger deck anyway (we didn’t do it to begin with because strata said ‘no’) but now we had ammo. So, we took our big dirt guns (illegal since we’re Canadian) and showed them our grass pistols (you know I’m exaggerating to make this more dramatic right) but where I’m going here is that we got strata to let us extend the deck – cue the sky opening and Elaine doing a happy dance! Kevin might have danced too but he’ll completely deny it.

Enter Adam – carpenter extraordinaire and Kev’s soccer team mate and buddy! Yup, we have people in high places. Now this is where I let the pictures speak for themselves because I can’t tell you exactly what they are doing here other than extending our deck all they way out to the planter. So, there was a lot of this going on…

and this…

and this…

That’s Adam. And after he finished that, he did a bit of this…

Now, I know you are all thinking “wow, with that great tutorial I can now go and build my own deck” and so for that, I say “you’re welcome”.

So, within a weekend we went from this:

to this!

Thanks team Kevin Adam!

You also may have noticed that the sludge turned into some plants. That happened when I waved my magic wand wallet. It’s even changed since then which I will show in a future post.

So, there she be! A shiny new deck!  It’s literally like having an extra room out there. And it’s been great. And lucky for us, we have the best neighbours in the world (true story) so I find myself out there quite often – drink in hand – chatting away. It’s proven to be quite convenient really.

And along those lines, I have big plans for this space people – big plans! Okay, so they aren’t really big in terms of importance or world news but hopefully they will make the deck look a little nicer than it already does.

I plan to share some in future posts. If you’re excited, raise your hand? Awh, thanks Dad.