No Icing Sugar Icing.

We made birthday cupcakes today!

Unfortunately I didn't notice we were out of icing sugar until it was too late to go back to the shop. I looked up no icing sugar icing on google and hit
this recipe.
I have never made anything other than icing that calls for powdered sugar so I was pretty worried about how this was going to turn out.

I shouldn't have worried. It's probably the best icing we've ever had.

The ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 1/3 cup milk
1 cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used scrapings of a vanilla bean)

Here's how we made it.

First I whisked together in a heavy bottom saucepan one cup of sugar and half a cup of flour with one and one third cups of milk.

I heated this over med high heat until it thickened. It burns REALLY FAST!!!! Keep stirring and don't answer the door or the phone. (because I would NEVER answer the door while cooking...... don't look at that irrevocably burned pan in the corner........)

I mixed in some blue paste food colouring and spread the mixture out on a plate to cool.

I whipped up some soft unsalted butter until it was fluffy.......
Black dots are vanilla bean seeds.

and beat the butter and the milk mixture together until it was light and icing like.

I made little angel food cupcakes.

They were delicious!
We added sprinkles and sparklers.
It was a good day.
:)

It's Curtains For Me.

Dear Mr. Curtains...... I need you to stop being so adorable so I can stop looking at you and go to sleep.

I worked my patootie off tonight and made two full sets of cafe curtains and one top flounce for the kitchen windows. They are DONE!!!! I just need the hardware to hang them.

Here is a bit of a detail shot. I couldn't get anymore of the eyeball looking turquoise and lime print so I just made a whole bunch of bias tape out of the half yard I did have. I have Loads of trim left over too for...... um.... tea towels? I added some rick rack trim in red to jazz things up and keep the colours matchy.

I'll take better shots as the kitchen progresses. I really do love these little curtains. I finished these three window covering sets in like four or five hours start to finish. Tomorrow I'll find all the mistakes I made because I rushed through the sewing but for tonight...... I'm proud!

Kitchen Colours and Some Curtain Choices.

Mr. Jimmy and I have made a bunch of headway in the Kitchen. We are almost done the paint part of the retrovation. Here are some progress shots and how we are making out with accessories and dressing.

This is a shot of the dining room wall and some of the colours we have in there. It also is following the teal, lime and red colour palette. It wasn't planned. We realized after we picked the kitchen colours that we already had them in many other rooms. I guess you should go with what you like.

The painting is almost done and the doors are almost all back on now. We are trying to figure out curtains.
I got this Amy Butler fabric from Simply Sew quite a few months ago. I hope they have more. I am planning on cafe curtains. I think the body of the curtains will be white with a thick trim of this Amy Butler fabric and maybe some red rick rack to separate the two.



The new door knobs installed. I love the old look of the porcelain mixed with the shiny new chrome.

Here is a better shot of the Amy Butler fabric we chose.

A matchy cookie jar we found up in the cupboard while the doors are off. Glad she didn't get given up at a yard sale.

A giant lilly opened up today in the living room. It smells so sweet. Must remember not to get my nose too close or I'll be wearing that pollen.

Happy Easter!

Nammy's Easter Tulips. Or the Merrits of Flower Arranging With a Frog

This is a glass frog.

It's used to hold up flowers in a low container. We find them in thrift shops for teeny amounts of money and scoop up the pretty ones. Mom says Nammy used to use them for arrangements like this one.

It's funny how a couple little tulips can lift your spirits and remind you of somebody you wish were still here. Nammy was pretty awesome, always wore an apron while in the kitchen and always had a doily on the back of the chairs. Such soft cheeks and hands and an even softer manner. I miss her the most on spring days.


These little mallard ducks showed up this week too. Right on schedule. The husband always watches out while the wife finds tidbits to eat in the roadside. He only gets some after she's safely off the road. So gallant. I look forward to them coming back every year. It's a sure sign of warmer weather.

Easter Nails.

Picked up some new polish a while back at the drug store. Here are more polka dot nails for Easter.

They are Sally Hansen hard as nails Xtreme wear,
colours are from left to right:
Fuchsia flower
Marine scene
Mellow yellow
Sun kissed
Green with envy

The base coat is the pink and I made dots with the rest of the colours using a stylus tool or dotter. You could use a sharpened pencil for the dots if you don't have a fancy tool. I finished everything off with two top coats of Ez Flow fast finish top coat.


Polka dots are probably the best design for those of us who have a hard time painting both hands evenly. Dots are way more fun when they're irregular anyway.

Fast, fun and festive!

Hope you get a few days off this weekend to relax and enjoy.

Mail Call.

Some exciting things arrived in the mail this week.

I ordered some things from my favorite online fabric shop
Hoot Couture

It always comes wrapped in a pretty ribbon...... like a present to myself.
The green and white is destined for a walkaway dress for summer vacationing.

I also ordered some pretty neat retro patterns from
mbchills.etsy.com

The patterns all arrived exactly as indicated in the etsy shop pages.
Each came with it's own little inventory sheet and business card.

I ordered this one for the pants. I hope to make some Capri's for the vacation.


I pretty much fell in love with this little top. I think the pink collared view is my favorite.

This will be nice for walks on the beach with a little blouse and sunhat.
I'll have to make big pockets for shell collecting.

and because I haven't posted nail art in ages. Here is my current nail design. Dragonflies on purple sparkles. They're short almond shaped gel nails. Great for renovating the kitchen.
(Yup I'm still pluggin away in there too.)

Here is a pretty springtime night sky. It looked like it was on fire.

PolymerCafe Magazine Cover!

This is me being very confused yet happy because somebody fabulous said I could have this amazing sparklie red bouncy ball. I think I had pretty much the same look on my face the other day when I discovered...........

I had gotten my work on another
Polymer Cafe Magazine
cover!

(you can order the magazine by following the links)

I LOVE this project!
The nest is made of little wood looking clay twigs. There are LOADS of step by step pictures and many fabulous artists in this issue (as usual).
It's pretty much my favorite magazine!

:D
(Giant cheesy grin!)

GIRLIE DAY!!!!!!

Mags and I did our nails and bought some sparklie rings.....

then we went to the hairdresser and got our hair done.....

when we came home Mom was all prettied up too so we took a girlie shot.

Then this happened!

:D

Hope you get to have a girlie day too.

Cupboard Doors Are Going Back On.

The upper cupboards are all painted turquoise and the very top cupboard doors are all painted white. We went this morning and purchased a drill that doesn't give us a shock every time we push the on trigger. So we're off and running. Drilling new holes for the new handles and

re installing the doors.

I think I might be in love with them so I took a picture
to make it last longer!
:)

They're still a bit wet so I"m leaving them open until they're completely dry.



Here is the new clock we got at Canadian Tire. I think it's a Debbie Travis design. It's hung up on a not painted yet wall because we couldn't wait to oogle at it. I'm beginning to think all this mess and work might just be worth it!

Early Morning Thrifting

Mom and I both went thrifting this morning. We both brought back some treasures.

Mom found this pretty sheet in London at the big thrift shop (it may be turned into a house dress) and she found this little purple summer dress at the local shop here in town. I grabbed the apron at the local shop as well as this super cool hair dryer! I hope it will work with pin curls and pillow curlers. We'll see how practical a purchase it was later tonight. It was $4.99 and is clearly marked WORKS!


I also scored some pretty awesome patterns! I am excited to unfold them and see how complete they are. Our Salvation Army shop (aka Sally Anne) only charges the original price on the pattern, but you are taking a risk by not knowing if the whole pattern is there.
So far...... it's been a pretty good day!

Kitchen Retrovations Continue.

Birthday week was pretty great this year except poor Mom was sick on my actual birthday but Maggs made me some pretty kick butt quiche. Merc sent me a virtual birthday note via the interconnected web. Mr. Jimmy spoiled me the weekend before with a fun antiquing day, and Mom surprised me with an after birthday celebration up in her Attic apartment when she felt better. That's not to mention all the great birthday suprises I got at work, or the super special flowers from Mom and then more from Auntie J and the A man. All in all I'm feeling pretty loved and spoiled.


George really likes birthdays..... well maybe he just likes birthday boxes that have been emptied. (Maggs always gets the best boxes for her gift giving.) Seriously.... why do cats cram themselves into the most impossibly teeny boxes? How can that be comfortable?

Here is a pic of what we've been up to today. I'm painting colour onto the cupboards while standing on a ladder and enjoying a bowl of pink lemonade ice cream. Twice I almost dipped the brush into the bowl and once I dipped the spoon into the paint. It all seems to be working out well otherwise though.

:)

Progress is being made slowly. Really want the paint to stick so we're taking our time and sanding and TSP ing well before we prime. We are also making sure the primer is well dried before we apply paint to it. Hopefully it will last a bit longer because of our efforts but only time will tell.