Now that I have your attention.
I've never had new bedroom furniture in my life. I don't know how many people have or haven't, I just know I fall into the "haven't" category. I'm not boo-hooing, I'm simply stating a fact.
I've actually saved up money and have even picked out my fabulous, new bedroom furniture.
And I would name it George. And I would hug it and pet it and squeeze it.
I've also picked out the dumpster I'd like to throw my current furniture in. Until...
Let me backtrack by saying that I've been living with circa 1983 bedroom furniture since [Prince's] 1999. My husband purchased this furniture brand new when I was 13 years old. No, he was not my husband at the time.
Because that would just be creepy.
So, here you have it...the ugly 80s bedroom furniture:
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I know Christmas was a couple months ago, but I'm just now getting around to Posting The Penguin Project.
My sweet baby girl (who just happens to be 21--AND Moscato-Legal) didn't ask for much for Christmas, but she DID want a penguin hat. She even hinted that Walgreens had a cute one I could get for her.
Since I'm a weirdo and would rather make stuff than buy it, I started looking for a penguin hat crochet pattern online. I never did find one, but I did find a basic hat from Leticia Maguire. From there, I pretty much winged it for the rest of it.
I chose a nice, soft yarn...warm and soft and mooshy!!
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Introducing Mon Cher Monsieur Pierre le Dres-sair:
Okay, "Dres-sair" isn't really a French word. You caught me. But it kinda rhymed with "Pierre." Plus, it's actually more of a chest than a dresser.
Let's just say the love of my life doesn't exactly share my interest in taking old, ugly, cheap, discarded, unwanted, or full-of-potential items and turning them into something, well, better.
Simply put, he sees my "interest" as his "having to work on junk."
Buuuuuut....I scored another piece from the online classifieds at work: A reproduction French Provincial chest I bought for $25.
So, let's call this, "Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® Take 2" (which I purchased at Second Betty, if you recall).
And, fortunately, it required very little effort on Philly's part.
We got a sneak peak at Frenchy at the end of my Jewels post--my first trial piece with ASCP.
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I confessed in my "hey, jude" post that I really don't sew. Unless I'm working without a pattern.
I'm just going to toss out some pics of quilts I've designed over the last five years or so. I don't have any "in-progress" pictures, but I think some of them are kinda neat.
I know I'm missing a couple, but I just can't seem to find pictures of them. Must have been before our digital camera...
My daughter's Sweet 16 (can you tell she's musically-inclined?):
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Actually, it's Philly's nightstand. And it used to match our horrifically ugly bedroom set that will be unveiled in an upcoming post. The makeover on this particular piece was really by happy accident.
Or mistake. Oops.
We'll just say that when I planned the makeover for all three of our ugly bedroom pieces, I miscalculated my supplies which left Nighty out in the cold...so to speak. Instead of getting the additional supplies I needed, I decided to just wing it with some paint and fabric so all three pieces wouldn't be (as the professionals say) "matchy-matchy."
And now for something completely different.
The Original Mr. Lackluster.
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I love pizza. I'm a total pizza hound. I grew up with my mom's should-be-famous homemade pizza. I've always tried to replicate it, but just never could. Because no one is a better cook than mom.
I'm only Italian by marriage, but let's face it...who doesn't secretly wish they could toss that dough up in the air and not have it land on their face, the ceiling fan, or their dog.
After years of trial and error, I've finally settled on my favorite from-scratch (sort-of) pizza. I say "sort-of" because I make my sauce from assorted canned tomato products. Hey, I'd love to saunter out to my garden and pluck up some vine-fresh romas, but it's winter. And cold. And actually quite rainy today.
That's really just an excuse because that would just be too stinkin' much work anyway.
I'm not a professional cook, and I think my sauce-from-cans is actually pretty darn tasty.
The low-down (this makes a bunch of sauce, BTW):
Sauce (totally tweak as you see fit):
2 T Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 (14 oz) cans Italian tomatoes
28 oz Contadina thick and zesty tomato sauce
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
5 cloves garlic, pressed
7 t. sugar
2 t. salt
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 oz chopped fresh basil (added about 30 minutes prior to making your pizza!)
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Annie Sloan Chalk Paint®!
(This is COMPLETELY different than "chalkboard" paint--so do not be confused.)
I've been seeing posts EVERYWHERE in blogdom about ASCP and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. (The beauty of ASCP is there's NO prep necessary as with latex or oil-based paints. No stripping, no sanding, no priming...just start with a clean surface. )
By the grace of paint, there's a shop 20 minutes away from my house that carries the stuff: A lovely little shop called Second Betty. The next closest shop is 2 hours away. Yikes. The owner was the absolute SWEETEST gal and I could have stayed there for hours.
She was incredibly helpful, then she happily took a bunch of my money. :)
But the super-nice thing about buying from a local shop is the fact when you get home, you get to open a lovely gift! Much nicer than the icky plastic bags from the Mart of Wal...
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I don't sew.
Well, not in the conventional sense anyway. I have absolutely no idea how to read and follow a pattern. I started dabbling with quilts a few years back and if I can't make it up in my own head, I pretty much can't do it.
My beautiful niece just had her first baby...a sweet little boy! Her handsome hubster is a Buffalo Bills fan, so upon learning my new grandnephew's name, I got straight to work on his quilt. (Is it grandnephew or great nephew??)
Either way, it makes me old.
I will not presume to call this a tutorial, since I'm a self-taught, complete amateur. But, this is my first quilt where I've taken pictures along the way.
Here's little Jude's Tatanka.....er...Buffalo.
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