Make Your Own Powdered Sugar

Did you know you can make powdered sugar! I found a post about it, I can't remember where but all you do is measure the amount you need into a blender then add 1 Tbsp of corn starch for each cup of sugar and blend until powdered. You may need to stir and blend some more. So if you do 4 cups of sugar you would add 4 Tbsp corn starch.  It's that easy!

Second Desk Refinish

I already took out the drawers. But here is the before.

We Acquired this desk for free, it was intended to be a temporary desk to use until we could afford a new one....We used it for 4 years! Way to long! Since we bought and made over this one. It also has a tutorial for painting with out sanding. Here is the after:

It is for my Daughter and turned out awesome!

Desk Refinish

I found this Desk at goodwill for 35.00. All the drawers worked, and it was a big solid desk, so I bought it! Thank goodness I had my hubby with me!

Here is the before!

I want to stress, I hate sanding. Now that I have discovered this:

I found it at LOWES!

                                                            I will NEVER sand again!

Here is it Primed.
I did 2 solid coats.

                       While Priming I discovered it was a Lazy boy brand and came from a Bank.

Talk about an awesome score! Soon you will see the desk we acquired as a temporary and used for 4 years! Its going in my Daughters room and is in the process of being painted PINK!

Here is the finished product!

I think black makes everything Better!
(and yes the walls are ugly, but we are renting)
There you go!

                            I did 2 coats of high gloss black, also from Lowe's, and I am loving it!

T-Shirt Refashion

I wish I had taken before pictures and Pictures along the way. But honestly I wasn't sure how this would turn out. So here is a shirt exactly like the one I cut up only a different color.

men's extra large

I used the extra for the ruffle and flowers.

I kept the original hem but ruffled the sleeves and gave them a new hem.

Since this was my first refashion of this kind I call it a success! A few tips, try on your shirt before cutting extra and use a favorite shirt as a pattern. plus take into account the stretchiness of both fabrics. And last try on before deciding where to place flowers. I would have liked mine a little higher.

A Messenger Bag for a Reverse Walker

So my oldest boy uses a reverse walker, he had a nasty bag zip tied to it from the school P.T.(physical therapist). It was ugly,could hold all his stuff, so all it did was lighten his back pack but he still had to use one. I decided to make him one. Since I'm not clever enough to actually design a pattern I used See and Sew B4583 and left off the strap. instead I did 3 straps that button, those I did come up with on my own.

inside

I am super happy with it and now he doesn't have to carry a heavy backpack!

Easiest Dress I ever made

The top fabric is vintage, it belonged to my Grandma.

This dress was super easy! 

In the middle of sewing this my serger ran out of thread and I had to re- thread it for the first time since I got it! It was such a pain in the butt, because it's not a self threader! However I stopped freaking out and was able to do 2 of the threads(the other 2 were still fine)! I am loving sewing!

Dress For E

This Dress took me 2 days total. Over all it wasn't the easiest but it wasn't the hardest either. It was my first time doing pockets and working with bias tape. I love the finished product!

Notice the fabric Flowers. You can find that tutorial here.

Here is the finished dress

She is planning on wearing it to the Daddy Daughter Dance at school next week!

My first Cake!

Chocolate Ganauche

Dirty iced

finished product

It was very YUMMY!

Harry Potter Wands

ok so I took regular copy paper and rolled it up, adding glue to the end to hold it. The skinnier it is the more sturdy in the end.

Start by filling with hot glue, make sure you have plenty of refil sticks on hand. I did the skinnier end first let that set then flipped it over and filled the rest. It helped to tap it to get the glue to move father down. Be patient this will take a while.

I set mine in a cup to let it settle and dry.

Next add swirls of hot glue to the outside in whatever way you wish!This will create the look of vines.

next begin painting with acrilic paint, I did brown first you could do black first.

Add your second color. lighly and add some  texture I did a third color even lighter, on one I did red, another blue and my daughters has a sparkly purple.



this is the one with the red.



next I took rub and buff, in silver and added that to the hot glue vines.This is liquid silver leafing. I used my finger and rubbed it on.

Then I spray sealed them, you could modge podge it with a brush.

and here they are drying.

look at those practicing wizards!

Later He made me draw a scar on his forehead!

I saw this on another blog, but have no idea where! I loved this project, very cheap and easy with awesome results! Who knew you you could make such an awesome thing with copy paper and hot glue!

Penguin Purse or Softy

We had a little friend turning six this week. She loves penguins but is also very girly and loves dress up and accessories. I needed a gift she would love that was simple, inexpensive, cute, and versatile. And could be made in the time left before the baby woke up and the kids came home from school (about 30 minutes). I gathered up some felt scraps, did a google search for a template, and plugged in my sewing machine. A fast and free birthday gift was soon hatched! If you don't have a sewing machine, you could even hot glue the whole thing together! And it is simple enough your kids could make it themselves with a little supervision.

Presenting the 15 minute pink penguin purse!

For the body shape I used a template that I found HERE.
You can enlarge or shrink it if you want, left original size it is about 6 inches long.

Cut out the pieces, trace onto some felt, and cut out the felt. I also grabbed a ribbon for making a handle. Make two bodies, two feet, two eyes, and one each of the beak and tummy.

Place the front embellishments on the top body piece. Pin in place and sew!

Arrange the feet and handle on the bottom body piece and pin in place.

Put the top body piece on, pin the two together, and sew around the outside edge from one end of the handle to the other leaving the top open. Unless you are making a softy, not a purse, then stuff in some filling and sew all the way around!

Ta-da! Now put something cool inside and give to your favorite little person. This penguin is going to hold a pair of glamorous sunglasses, but she can do double duty as a candy bar keeper, door hanger, or tiny accessory bag.