Duct Tape Wedding Hat

I have a special event coming up next week.  
I have, in vain, been looking for something special to 
WEAR to the event.  
Something that would make me look 
young, thin.....sigh...
you know how it is.

No such outfit was to be found, 
as no such outfit EXISTS.

So I set my hopes on a special hat.  
They ALWAYS come in your size.  

  

 I do so love this one, alas,
it costs as much as a small car.  
What to do?

As many an Elmore before me 
I determined that lack in the budget 
does NOT have to be the end of the deal.

When you want/need something... 
MAKE DO.

So I have endeavored to make one 
to suit both my hearts desire 
AND my budget.

I started with these.  
Flower pot.  Pretzel container.  
Plastic wrap.  Duct tape.

First I wrapped the pretzel container with plastic wrap.  
This way I can get it off the form when I'm finished.

Next I started wrapping the pretzel container 

with strips of duct tape.

To get a raised ridge I added strips of tape 

and pinched them into shape.

I wrapped all the way to where I wanted the brim to end.  

Then cut slits into the edges to splay them 

out into a brim shape & reinforced 

the slits with strips of duct tape.

Then I began pinning on the 

dupioni silk wire edged ribbon.

The wire edging was soooo helpful 

in getting it to lay smoothly.  

I could pinch pleat it easily as pinned it into place.

after pinning it I used my 

trusty rusty hot glue gun 

to adhere it in place

I lined the inside brim with the same ribbon.

To finish it I made 3 rolled prayer flowers 

from gray/black silk 

to adorn the front.

Viola.... duct tape wedding hat.

Now I just need some matching shoes....

Leather Coat Black Marker re-do

Found a cute orange leather coat at the Coldwater Creek Outlet on the $4.99 irregulars rack.  OH JOY!

Regular price (on their web site $249)  see it here

Seems some unfortunate accident had left the little darling with black smudges.

Used my old faithful stain removers, wd-40 & Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.... but the stains stayed.

Trusty old black Sharpie (permanent marker) to the rescue.

Taaaaaa.......daaaaaaaa.......

Easy Peasy Picky People Potatoes

In an effort to ease sweet potatoes into my picky kid/husband diet 

I devised easy-peasy picky people potatoes.

They are, in the words of my wee friend Anilese, "A party for your mouth".

Ingredients:

Red potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, light fleshed sweet potatoes. 

Garlic.  Butter.  Milk. Sour cream.  S&P

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In a microwave safe bowl put desired amount of potatoes.  

I leave skins on red/gold potatoes & peel sweet potatoes.

Pierce potatoes with fork.  

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Cover and microwave (I did 20 min for these)

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Now comes the goodies!  Milk (1/2 cup) butter (2 tbsp) sour cream (2 tbsp) garlic (2 to 3 cloves) 

For the non goodie eaters, substitute chicken broth - 

but be warned, the party for your mouth is way less fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Add goodies to microwave cup.  Heat through.  

If the garlic is not soft microwave them a wee bit more.

When the potatoes are done, mash with fork.

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Add in goodies.  

It will look ugly.

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Add salt & pepper.

Stir well.  

It will look better!

If you want mashed, here it is. 

If you want soup, add in heated milk and chicken broth, more sour cream.

It is makes a dreamy chicken potato soup.

  Simply add diced or shredded chicken.

optional add ins:

red pepper flakes

chopped jalapeno

cheese

Make it yourself heirloom cake plate

I have heirloom envy.  

The old fashioned pass-em-on-downs that other girls have, hand made crochet runners, old chipped china and pressed glass, faded velvet corsages, embroidered pillowcases & tablecloths, 

they strike a chord in my heart.  

But I do not come from a family (grandparents) that had such things.  

So I collect other peoples discarded heirlooms.  And I make my own.  

Behold, a simple collection of candle sticks, 

ice cream dishes and juice glasses and plates.  

With just a ring of glass glue (E6000) 

they become instant vintage looking cake plates.  

Heirloom envy begone!

Maybe my daughter will throw all my collected heirlooms out.

Or put them in a yard sale.

Or maybe she will love them.  

Either way, I hope they come into the possession of someone like me.  

Some one who loves old things along with new things.  

These make great presentation pieces for bake sales, church dinners etc.

Ice cream (parfait) glass + glass plate

Do it yourself heirlooms, the next best thing to a handed-down one! 

Sweater chop shop

The other day Miss Reagan & I went on a window shopping excursion (read idea shopping) trip through the Wonderland of Beauty.   

Otherwise known as Anthropologie.

We went... we saw... we drooled.

I promptly went to the thrift store (the next day) and purchased some goodies to Anthro-up.

Here is what I did.

Took this Davids Bridal dress (purchased at Village Discount Outlet on Farnsworth on 3 for $1 day) 

Cut the front of the dress into strips and made these flowers.  There is plenty of the dress to make more goodies.

Gap sweater, purchased at VDO on 3 for $1 day.  

Notice it was very large at the shoulders, impossibly small at the bottom.  

No way this... ahem... traditionally built woman was fitting in that.   

So I cut the sweater from the V-neck down to the bottom.   The sides roll inward, no sewing necessary.  

                                                    

Pin flowers on sweater... viola!

Are there any other Anthro girls on Thrift store budgets?  Share your tips & projects w me pleeeeeease.

Kitchen Work - the island

Honey Pie is a gracious and generous man.  

He divvies up the finances quite fairly, giving me the household budget, 

groceries, clothing and and spending money.

  

I get to spend it the way I want, he does not give a hoot what I do with my left overs. 

I get left overs by using cloth diapers, coupons, bulk purchasing, buying clothes second hand etc.  

I shop at Aldi, Cermack, Michaels Fresh Market where I save 40-90% on my groceries.

I make our bread, we do not drink pop. 

We do not buy pre-cooked or prepared foods.  

We eat fruit & veggies instead of chips and Oreos.

It may not sound like much, but it adds up!

I saved my left overs for 2 years and got ... A KITCHEN REDO!

I am a Horchow girl on a Goodwill budget.  

I'm not complaining about it.  Far from it.   

The hunt for what I have in mind and the journey to make it into what I want, 

ahhhhh there is joy in that journey! 

I love to look at home dec ideas.

         In so doing, I stumbled across this hand carved beauty.  

Priced at $8, 550

(find it here http://www.finesgallery.com/InfopageMFP-333.htm)

 It is a little bit toooo ornate, even for me, and that is saying something.

Wonder what Frued would say about my desire for opulace?  Oh well, never mind.

I prefer something more like this, which I found in a magazine but cannot find online.  

Since it is NOT living room work time... YET...( insert minacial laughter here) what is a girl to DO with her dream of oh-so-fabulous-wood corbels?  

Where could they go in the kitchen?

(kitchen before)

I know what you are thinking... well duh Rachel...slap them on the island of course.

Yes, I think you are right.

Add a bit of paint, my oh-so-fab-corbels and a few pieces of trim later,

and you get.....

Taaaaa-Daaaa

Yes indeedie, it is the same island.  

And that my friends, is the story of the island that cloth diapers built.

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The boring detail stuff

I found these corbels 70% off at  http://www.osbornewood.com/

They recently ran them 90% off  

which made them around $70 each (paint grade)

sign up for their sale emails!

The actual WORK was done by Mike & Sarah Haiser of MGH Construction

contact them at http://www.mghconstruction.com/

where you can see more of my kitchen under the kitchen photos!

Naked Yard Party

We moved into Blessings House in the middle of the summer.  The yard was my husbands every dream come true.  In  his estimable opinion a yard only needs one thing to be perfect with a capital P.  NICE GRASS.  And nice grass we had.  Little else.

In faith, dreaming of a lush garden of Eden, minus the snake, I had used my birthday/anniversary/Mothers Day money to have a flowerbed cut into the front side walkway and driveway.  It looked like this.

I'm sure those dandy concrete planters caught your eye.  I rescued from the curb of an ancient victorian house being stripped.  The pair were a wee bit chipped and black, but a round or two of spray paint froofied them right up.  They now stand guard at the steps of the front entryway.  Those babies weighed about a thousand pounds each.    You just gotta love strangers who will help fetch and carry for you when you need it.

Then I threw a Naked Yard Party.  I sent out a whiny pitiful explanation of my naked yard and invited folks to dig up a piece of something they had plenty of, in exchange for food and non-inebriating libations.  Some folks did just that.  Dug up some green leafy things.  Others grabbed a pot of something from the store.  All were welcome.

Next spring/summer we welcomed this.... the blue and white planters are my version of treasure.  They are stinking hard to find so if you see any snatch them up for me.  Pretty Please with sugar on top.

Ordered bulbs from ebay that fall and was thrilled and delighted the next summer with this

 

Never one to be hindered or hampered by conventional rules, I planted tomato, lettuce and carrots right there in the front along with the flowers.  It was lovely to walk out and pick our salad fixins fresh while cutting flowers for the table.

There was one hitch... Miss Reagan accidentally transplanted one of her Russian Giant sunflowers into the front flowerbed.  It looked like a TREE.  Seriously.  People would slow down and stare at the monstrosity of a sunflower growing up into the heavens like a modern day Jack's beanstalk.  Brent is 6'4 and it dwarfed him.

I will not go into horrifying detail  concerning my removal of the evergreen bushes near the front porch.  Lets just say that Honey Pie said it couldn't be done.  I proved it could.  Unfortunately their removal resulted in water coming in through the window well.  Something about roots sucking up rain water and when the roots were no more the water had to go somewhere else.  Who knew? Let's just say the pleasure of being RIGHT, for once, was overshadowed by the water ruining stuff in my sewing room.  Urggg. 

So if YOU have a naked yard of your own..... have a Naked Yard Party and fill 'er up.