My first!

October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 | mollyeleen

Hello Strangers! I sure have been absent for too long. Isn’t it funny, when you think you did something maybe last week and then you sit down to really figure out when you last did said thing it’s like 6 freaking months later! I mean really?! But lets just pretend you are still listening (reading) and let me share my newest DIY, awesomeness if I do say so myself

My very first Ikea Hack! I am so excited it’s a little on the sad side, but the outcome is so fantastic!

So here is the short, of the long story of how this hack came to be. We had a lamp on a side table for over a year. This lamp became a thousand little shattered pieces in a blink of a toddlers eye. Hubby and I decided we needed to hang a lamp instead to avoid any future disasters. It could look cool so I searched for a chandelier and when I found an okay one to just see if we like it um… NO! All the lighting in the house is modern. And this didn’t cut it. So instead of sitting in the dark of the evenings – I thought, why don’t I just get the Joxtorp from Ikea (costs $5) until I find the perfect lamp, I was over it being so dark. So up when the Joxtorp and wow, I actually really liked it. Hubby like it too… score.

But then night came around… and the chair turned into the interrogation chair. Why? Well this lovely Joxtorp is cardboard (!) and no light can escape it except for at the bottom, so all the light was flooding the chair. It looked like an old movie jail scene with the bad guy sitting in a chair the light shining down on him while being asked “where were you on the night of October 23?” Humm… what to do?

Then I had an idea. A brilliant idea. A horribly, awful, brilliant idea! Why don’t I cut triangles into the lamp and cover the holes with vellum, then the light can escape. “It could be awesome. It could not work and suck. It was $5 – where is my exact-o knife!”

Here is what I did and what you will need

You will need the Joxtorp lamp from Ikea and a hanging cord, exact-o knife, waxed sandwich bags, hot glue gun, pencil, ruler and patients. Take the lamp apart (or before you put it together) and take one piece at a time and place upside down on a cutting mat. Measure 3/4″ of an inch away from all the score marks and draw lines to create the triangles. (You need to do a minimum of 3/4″ because the tabs used to hold it together will still be hidden). Cut out all the triangles and repeat on all 6 pieces. Yes this takes some time, but it is easy.

Next grab your waxed sandwich bags and carefully slice off the top pieces, not the side with the seam, and be very careful not to crinkle the paper. Grab your hot glue gun and carefully and slowly glue each triangle into place. Then trim the waxed paper to just the edge of the hot glue using the exact-o knife. – Repeat 29 more times.

Assemble the lamp as the instructions say, hang and ta-da! Totally geometric hanging lamp that emits a beautiful light at night and looks pretty amazing during the day too!

Have you made an Ikea hack? Will you be trying this? If you do, I would love to see your creation.

What!? Easter…

April 11, 2015 | mollyeleen

Hello strangers. Remember me? It seems I have forgotten all about blogging. Over the last few ~~days~~, ~~no weeks~~, months life has been crazy busy. And all because I like to make sure everything is perfect. I say “yes” I can help – way to much. I am a volunteer. I guess it’s my “new normal.” But I need to slow down and not make my family so crazy. This morning I made a big note to myself. “Find just Molly time!” Those four little words say a lot don’t they.

I have been thinking about this little note all day. And it occurred to me, that when I took a few hours to sit at the computer and blog it is really Molly time. It might not be what I “should” be doing. And some might think it’s a waist of time. I might not be all that good at it. And you might think my life is boring. To me, it’s a moment of quite. A moment of not doing for everyone else. Imagine that! Amazing. I have said it before and I will again… I am going to do this more often. Blogging is almost therapeutic. It’s been 4 plus months (almost 5) since my last post. MY GAD! That really sucks! And I have a lot to share –

Shall we get on to the goods… I think so. How about Easter? Hubby and I hosted a lovely Easter brunch this year. Of course this meant making sure everything was perfect (because that’s what I do). And of course, that doesn’t mean just the meal and the table setting. In my world that meant painting our bedroom the weekend before Easter and making an odd coat closet in the living room into a bar (I will share both next time). You know what ever sane person does before family comes over – on top of all “normal” life things.

As you know, Pinterest is an addiction. And when it comes to holiday’s – forget about it, you can find anything. I found a how to by Urban Comfort on making these beautiful little flower baskets for the table… out of coffee filters! WHAT? YES! Making them was super easy to. The overall effect was a little Martha, but I secretly like that.

For brunch we served crepes of all kinds! Well okay- two kinds. A sweet crepe bar with cream cheese mousse, a Nutella mousse and fresh fruit and a savory crepe torte. The second best thing about this meal (the first being it was delicious!) was that ninety percent of it could be made the day before. We got together with the family and my sister in law made crepes for hours (seriously at least 3) and I made the mousse’s, cut the fruit, prepped the sauces and other items for the torte. It was fun to stand around chatting and cooking. The kiddos dyed the easter eggs for the easter bunny to take and hide the next morning. Hubby and my mama chatted with us and there might have been a cocktail or two involved.

easterfun — (Can we just say how stinking cute Sneaky B is in this outfit? I mean really…)

The day was wonderful. The food delicious. The company fantastic. The stories hysterical. The best part – was all of it. Really, I just love to entertain. I love the process… even though I might just make my family bonkers for a few days. Hopefully next time I won’t be painting a room the weekend before, I am pretty sure we are good now on that end, well there is the play room…

A suitcase and a Deli Doll?

November 16, 2014November 16, 2014 | mollyeleen

A deli doll- yes you read that correctly. “Deli Doll”…what on earth? Let me start at the beginning

Today the girls and I spent the afternoon at my moms home. Today was no unpacking, no lifting boxes and no moving furniture day. If you recall she moved in August and we moved in September; it seems all our spare times goes to unpaking, lifting and rearranging furniture. But today we sat on the sofa and looked at vintage magazines that my mom found in this suitcase. Relaxing and hysterical.

Shall we start with a little holiday decor, for the exterior of your home? Christmas is right around the corner. “For nighttime hospitality, and to create a dramatic effect, here’s the ultimate in professionally ability. Frame your door way with a pink flocked tree that fits flatly against your house.” Okay can we just agree on how fabulous this is! And if anyone actually did this… kuddos! I would love to do this to our home. However, I am pretty sure Hubby would think I had gone over the deep end of crazy town. And where do you find a pink flocked tree that big. Obviously I would have to make it and I definitely do NOT have time for that. If anyone does this, you are my hero and I want pictures!

How about some crafting? We all love a little of styrofoam crafts don’t we? This stelar little book has some nifty ideas; not sure which is my favorite. A few of these like the Santa’s and the chimney scene could have potential. Like on the so tacky it’s cool scale. Not even sure what the top left is supposed to be. We guessed an ornament of some sort, but not really sure.

Now my favorite. The recipe books. Really it’s amazing. Truly amazing what people used to eat. Maybe some still do, but in my world WOW! Shall we start with a round of “Ring Around the Tuna” from the “Cooking with Jello” book circa 1960. “Ring Around the Tuna” would be a delightful salad for any dinner party. Salad? How is this salad? It contains lime jello, canned tuna (drained of course), pineapple, green stuffed olives and celery. Maybe the garnish of curly endive and radish roses make it salad? YUM! (okay really I can not even imagine what this tastes like). Next comes the Viking Ship Sauce Dish carved out of a cucumber… very creative. Honestly I might just be crazy enough to do this one day. I will share if I do. And can we just take a moment to look beyond the Viking ship cucumber and notice the tinsel garland on the table. Okay that looks pretty. Why didn’t I ever think of that?

Then we have the desert spread. Lot’s of delicious looking cookies, popcorn balls and a lovely cake. We started reading what kind of cake this was, looks like some kind of lemon, raspberry cake…But wait! It’s not an actual cake on the dessert table- oh no. It’s a sandwich “cake!” My mom and I where in complete hysterics at this point. Sandwich cake? Yes of course. It’s a ham and egg sandwich made to look like cake. Plus it has cream cheese “frosting.” If I was at this party and chose to have what looked like a lemon raspberry cake and took a bite to discover it was a ham and egg sandwich– I would probably get sick. If you make this Poinsettia sandwich cake, please don’t put it on the dessert table. Right?

And now the best thing ever. Yes I am being facetious. Very in fact. No party can be complete without the Deli Doll. Yes The Deli Doll!!! Yes this “conversation-sparker with her skirt of tempting cold cut meats” is…. I don’t even know what to say. The article says “The deli-doll is attractive featured by herself or on a tray surrounded by more cold cuts or breads” I… yes. I still don’t have the words.

The reality is, the ladies of the past where very creative and innovative to say the least. I thank them for bringing an afternoon of laughter of my mom and I, we enjoyed every minute of it, maybe not the way the ladies of the past intended but still. There where so many other tempting bits that I didn’t share here, like the Spanish Polenta that didn’t have one spec of polenta in it or the brain patties (yes), plus there was an assortment of egg cart flowers to make and tulle christmas trees! I am thinking a “Tasteful bites and crafting of the 50’s and 60’s Party” is in the near future, we just can’t let these delicious recipes and crafts go to waste. I am not being facetious this time either 🙂

One already

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014 | mollyeleen

Can you believe it? Sneaky B is already one year old. Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that I told you all I was preggers? Seems like it to me. This year has flown by!

We had a little party for Sneaky B over the weekend. Just a few friends and family in the park. It was a lovely day and I have probably to many pictures to share. As you know I never do anything simple, it’s a party, why do simple right?

Thanks to my obsession with pinterest, I found way to many ideas for this little party. Like red wax cheese “carved” to look like ladybugs, porcupine watermelon (can’t believe I made this for many reasons) and awesome felt critter mask patterns from illistyle — So stinking cute! Any easy to make. (You can try them too, by following the link)

Simple cupcakes with vintage mushrooms. While baking the cupcakes I had a minor freak out moment… What was Sneaky B going to have for her cupcake?

With the Fpies and not many safe foods that could become any form of a cake, I had no idea! I was a sad about this. In fact it was the first time I have been sad about her Fpies dignosis. I have not had a moment to metally process the fact that she has Fpies. This was the first…

But then my dear friend Kayce came to mind. She and her husband own a company “Miss Roben’s Allergy Friendly Mixes” (they are working on creating a website, I will share once it’s up and running) that makes food mixes that do not include the top ten allergens. YES, maybe one of these would work! Since I have not yet tried any oils, I thought maybe I could use the Chocolate Fudge Frosting (which contains corn free powdered sugar!) mixed with coconut cream. Sneaky B hasn’t tried chocolate yet, but I thought let’s just bite the bullet and see what happens. I made a little “cupcake” of frosting and she loved it! I mean what’s not to love- this frosting is delicious. And happy day no reaction 🙂

For a moment while working on the party I thought why am I doing this? Maybe we should have waited till after we move (in 17 days!). She’s only one, she will not remember this party. But the reality is, we needed a day off. We needed to spend time with family and friends. We needed to not think about packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking. It was delightful.

And now we are back to packing. In the next 17 days, we have a lot going on. Kiddo starts kindergarten. Hubby starts school too. We are moving. I am very excited to move; not so excited to pack, but excited to move!

Sprinklings: the “candy queen”

October 30, 2013October 30, 2013 | mollyeleen

A few days ago I gave you a sneak peek of the costume I made for Kiddo. Remember this pic:

Ten yards of tulle (I used the 102″ wide tulle) in many colors, ribbon, crown ornaments, crocheted stretch band thing, and plastic candy garlands from a few christmas’ ago. And after a few hours it turned into this

The Candy Queen! We found inspiration all over pinterest for this costume, although they where all candy princesses. Kiddo wanted to be a Queen. I’m not sure how the costume would be different to be a princess, but to her it’s a Queen.

All in all this was the easiest costume I have made for Kiddo so far. It’s one of those big bang for your buck kind of things. Yes it took a few hours, but really it was simple… oh and for all of you who don’t know how to sew (we need to fix that) this is a no sew costume.

Taking measurements: I had Kiddo put on the band thing (which becomes the top of the dress) I folded over two inches at the top to create a little extra support for the straps, then measured from her belly button to the floor. Kiddo measured 24″, so this is my final length for the tulle strips.

First thing to do is to cut all your tulle into 4″ strips. Very Important! – DO NOT UNFOLD THE TULLE! Keep it folded how is was on the bolt when you bought it, then fold it in half again along the length, and in half again. After folding you will have a piece of tulle that is the length of bought (1 or 2 yards) by roughly 6 to 10 inches. (In other words, when you are folding, you are folding the width to become 6 to 10 inches). This way when you cut your strips they will 1. be so much easier to cut and 2. will end up being 4″ by 102″ (or the width of the tulle you purchased). As for the length, I used 48″. (Why? because then folded in half the will be 24″ and that is the length of the skirt I needed for Kiddo.) Carefully stack each color of tulle, now unfolded, and cut through all of it to create the length (bottom left photo above).

Next, and for the next few hours, fold one tulle strip in half (lengthwise) put fold through one hole in the bottom row of the band and pull through a few inches, this creates a loop. pull the ends of the tulle through that loop and pull tight. Repeat, to create the first row. On my first three rows, skipped every other hole in the band. The last row, I added tulle in each hole in the band. Tips for this portion: 1. put the band around something solid (I used a game box) to keep it slightly stretched and 2. make sure you stay in the same row of holes on the band.

After awhile you will have a super full tulle skirt attached to the band top. Then we added ribbon as straps and tied a bow at the shoulder. (Add the ribbon the same way as the tulle but at the top, on front and back). I also added a ribbon around the band to “stitch” the folded portion down. Simply weave the ribbon through the holes and tie a bow in the front.

Next we took candy garland apart and used the pieces as beads and made three new necklaces…easy peasy.

Lastly we made a fascinator, of course. By gathering some scraps of tulle, beading some left over “beads” from the garland and attaching the crown ornament all to a head band, we had the perfect candy queen fascinator.

Right before the halloween parade at school today we had a crown change. The fascinator “is not big enough.” Luckily I had an extra crown ornament and headband to make a big crown. All in all this is one of my favorite costumes for Kiddo- it is so her. Happy Halloween friends!

Sprinklings of my reality is a 31 day challenge…one day left!

Sprinklings: I’m slightly obsessed

October 28, 2013 | mollyeleen

So are you a “pinner”? I sure am. For those of you not in the know… I am talking about Pinterest. I have been thinking of writing about pinterest for awhile now, wasn’t really sure I was going to write because what can I say other than it is a time suck that I do enjoy. And I have been wanting to challenge you all to a Pinterest Challenge (more on that in a bit).

Today I realized I have 91 boards and 3,419 pins. I think Electronic hoarder is a better title for me. The good here is that I do reference my “vegan for life” board for recipes all the time. And the “to do one day” board- well I actually have done about 20% of them. “Boo” has given me a lot of ideas for this Halloween and I am looking forward to this Christmas to try some of the new ideas I have pinned there. (Sorry for the mention of Christmas- won’t happen again till after Thanksgiving…my personal rule).

The not so good…there are so many other things I want to try. I’m sure I am not alone here right? For me, lately, the only way to get anything done is to challenge myself and tell everyone I’m going to do it…nothing like a little peer pressure. So I challenge you to…if your game.

The challenge is pick 3 pins from 3 separate boards and complete them by December 20, 2013. Are you game?
Here is what I chose, this wasn’t easy by the way- but I am happy with my choices:

To find links to these awesome projects, you can go to my VP 3 Challenge Board.

So if you are game, let me know. Send me pic’s of your projects and I will post your completed projects. Maybe you would like to write a guest post, I am game for that too.

Sprinklings of my reality read them all

Sprinklings: making dollars, for real

October 25, 2013October 26, 2013 | mollyeleen

First up, I actually intended to post this yesterday, I thought i did. So this morning when I saw that no one had read or commented I was shocked and saddened. Then I realized I didn’t publish it…mommy brain- yes. Then maybe it was not mommy brain but the stomach flu that I discover I had two hours later while praying to the porcelain god. Being sick sucks. You know what sucks even more, trying not to barf on your 10 week old baby while you are nursing and realize you have to run to the loo. Pure awesome.

So here you have it, yesterdays post which is now todays…triple checking I pushed publish this time.

____________

Yep it was time kiddo has some chores around here. So two weeks ago we sat down and made a list of simple chores she needs to do daily to earn two dollars every week. Money motivation- YES! Plus we sweetened the deal. There are extra chores to earn more money.

Never ones to actually have cash on hand I made these dollars (yes I guess we can add counterfeiter to my list of projects) that she can turn in when she earns enough for what ever item is important at the moment. Pretty ingenious I think. Plus cute!

I made a cute chat to print up once a week. Kiddo is not a fan of sitting at the dining table to have dinner. And honestly we haven’t been doing it much lately, and I don’t like that. But with Hubby at school many nights and Sneaky B, it’s just fallen off the radar. So it’s time to bring it back. We decided that Friday nights are family movie night so “being American” is a must and that makes Kiddo happy. Now she can earn one more night of eating while watching a show with a random chore. So far- we haven’t “been American” on an extra night.

And you know what so far so good, she has earned her four dollars for the two weeks plus an extra dollar. Who knew the girl likes to wash windows (aka the glass slider).

The plan is once she has done this for a bit, unacceptable behavior will cost her, literally. Maybe sassing will be fifty cents, whining a quarter and drawing on the furniture (yes we have this issue- I will share another day) will cost her a dollar.

Now that the plan is in place I need to follow through. Those that know me know this is a weak point, but I need to change to stay sane. (OH that sounds like a future post).

Sprinklings of my reality is a 31 day challenge…read them all

Sprinklings: eek seven days away

October 24, 2013 | mollyeleen

Oh my! How can Halloween be in a week? Needless to say I have been knee deep in tulle, glitter and baby spit up all day working on Kiddo’s costume. I’m not going to share what she is going to be, but I will give you a hint:

Any guesses? And now that Sneaky B is snoozing again, off to cut some more tulle…

(wow this is a short post, pretty much a cheat for the 31 day challenge, but I posted!)

Sprinklings: changing it up….again

October 22, 2013October 22, 2013 | mollyeleen

Do you like the new look? (New header & background for those who haven’t noticed)

I must be procrastinating… not sure what I am supposed to be doing instead (well I do but let’s pretend I don’t for now). Never being totally happy with my “logo” I decided this morning was the day to change it all. And I love it!

Here is the new business card, you can compare and see the old one here

Now I am finally inspired to get this going again…I took almost a year off. That’s a shame, but i guess I was busy growing a baby 😉

Part of a 31 day series, Sprinklings of my reality

molly b

creating, stitching, designing, thrifting

creating