The last two weeks

I have a little problem with finishing off projects that take too long and then I get bored too easily - so last week I was really proud of myself when I finally finished the Rose Afghan I'd been working on for about a year! It was actually quite fun to make - a lot of different blocks worked together and I especially loved making the rose blocks.....

Furthermore I finished 2 of the shelves I had bought at the thrift store.  I finished them off with chalkboard paint and then I thought they needed something else and decoupaged some shabby chic papers into the shelf cavities.  I especially like how the spice rack came out!  Unfortunately I don't have space in our rental home to put them up in the kitchen but hopefully before the end of the year I will be able to hang them - *sigh* - I HATE waiting!

Last year for Valentines I made each of us a little cardboard mailbox so that we can send one another little love notes.  It was a HUGE hit with the two princesses but unfortunately after a few weeks they looked a little worse for the wear and I threw them away.  This year I bought a sturdier mailbox at the craft store - I first had the idea of decoupaging it but in the end I painted it and then finished it off with some painted roses.  The two princesses are in love with it and every day I receive a bunch of sweet little drawings from them and I replace them with little love notes, sometimes with a little Hershey's kiss stuck on (which they especially adore.... ;) )

A while back I saw this project on The Graphics Fairy - Country Living Project and found it so beautiful that I just had to make it even though we are still quite a way from Easter.  The two princesses are still convinced they are made of chocolate and are for their consumption, but I'm very happy with how they turned out!  I'm still pondering on how to display them and am leaning towards placing them inside a nest made of a vine wreath lined with moss....

Last but not least is the type of craft I'm famous for - you know those type of crafts that you think up and you are so impressed with yourself because you have found a cheaper way to recreate something but it takes you ages to finish off.....

I've seen these little grass place mats made of green plastic with little flowers on them that look so pretty on an Easter brunch table.  But they are almost $8 for one and I don't like plastic most of the time so I sat down and came up with an alternative....

I can still remember my mom in the 80's working on her hook rug and being so impressed with myself when she showed me how to do it.  So I thought that this would look almost like grass.  I didn't know if you would still find the canvas for this but lo and behold there it was at the craft store.  I was so excited and I bought some green wool and also some pink flowers to add to the finished place mat.  It looks amazing and mine are bigger than the bought ones but unfortunately one place mat took me well over a week and a half of intermittent sessions to complete - so I'm one down, 3 to go.  I'm hoping to have 4 completed by Easter......

Cupcakes, snowstorms and other little things that makes me happy!

I have two vices in life - chocolate and cupcakes! I try to stay away from all these sins as much as possible, I honestly do, but every now and again (with other words every 2 weeks or so) I start to crave cupcakes. 

It isn't a sudden thing, it will build up over a few days. At first I will staunchly think of something else as soon as I start day-dreaming about lovely cupcakes, but it will get worse as the days succeed one another and by day 3 I will normally decide that in order for me not to completely go bonkers I will have to bake cupcakes and when this craving goes with an approaching snow storm (which I love - I LOVE snow!!!!) what is a girl to do but bake cupcakes?

So yesterday, after I had to pick up the kids early from school due to early closure because of said approaching snow storm I decided the kids and I needed some cupcakes (in other words, I NEEDED CUPCAKES!)

At first I wanted to make my go-to recipe that I got from my sister ages ago (which is divine by the way!), but then I decided that life is too short and there are too many recipes out there and I decided to make this vanilla cupcake recipe - http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/10/28/vanilla-cupcakes-vanilla-buttercream-frosting/. And oh my, am I ever happy that I did? Lovely moist, extra vanilla-ey and rich cupcakes. I think I'm in love - in fact I love these so much I might even choose them over chocolate cupcakes - I think!  So now I'll be able to go about 2 weeks again without cupcakes - problem solved!

What else did I do this weekend? I made this kissing ball that I saw a picture of on Pinterest and I think it came out quite nicely.

And I also made this dream catcher that I saw here - http://www.usefuldiy.com/diy-simple-dreamcatcher/ except mine doesn't look as nice as theirs. I like the beads that I worked around the hoop but I think I need to add more ribbons and lace at the bottom. I'm still pondering what to add....

And the other thing I would like to add is another colour wall to hang it on because this cream colour of our rental home is soooooo drab but that is something that a renter has to live with and something that will have to wait until we move back to Germany. Until then my poor dream catcher will have to keep on hanging against a background wall that does absolutely nothing for it, but as they say.... C'est la vie!

The lampshade in crafting purgatory

Last year I got it into to my mind to re-decorate the living room. Part of that re-decorating dreams involved a tall standing lamp. But knowing that we will most probably return to Europe in the foresee-able future I decided that I didn't want to spend too much money on buying an electrical appliance that will probably not be used because of the schlep of converting the US voltage to European voltage.

A few weeks after I started the re-decorating process (which is still a work in progress....) I discovered American thrift-stores and with that came the hope that I would be able to find a poor, neglected wooden lamp stand that just needed my loving care to restore it to its former beauty. All fired-up I started to think of ways to create a lamp-shade for my stand (that I still had to find) and what would be more fitting for my shabby chic deco than a cozy cream crocheted lamp-shade? 

I bought a cheap lamp-shade as well as some super chunky cream-coloured wool that had an almost chenille-like feel to it.  I made enough chains to fit around the bottom part of the lamp shade. Then I started crocheting some sc's, decreasing a few stitches every row, just to keep it fitting snugly around the lamp shade.  When I had finished this I crocheted a shell border around the bottom and there she was - exactly as I had imagined it, except without a lamp stand!!!!

The poor lamp shade has been sitting in crafting purgatory for the past few months - eagerly awaiting that day when I will finally take it out of the finished crafts' cupboard and put it on top of its stand, but alas! Apparently people do not throw away tall standing lamps, neither do they throw out sturdy, solid wood coffee tables (but that is another sad story....!)

It would appear that the poor lamp shade will have to wait until we get back to Europe where I will buy it a proper lamp stand!