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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Guest Bedroom Furniture Makeover {DIY}

I always wanted to re-paint or to do a furniture make over before but never really gets down to it until I saw missmustardseeds painting furniture video tutorial {here}. It looks very easy and she has her own milk paint for furniture line that we can buy from. So after studied her video tutorials I jumped right in to it and bought milk paints from her distributors across USA listed in her blog.

I must say that I really enjoyed painting furniture with missmustardseeds' milk paint. And these are the results painting thrifted furniture for our guest bedroom.




All furniture must be sand paper lightly before painting them. Since they are an old pieces, I did not have to strip the paint the paint will absorb nicely into the wood. I must say that I really enjoyed painting these furniture.



Do you see the rug with Moroccoan trellis motif that I painted {DIY} also ? Tutorial {here}

These two furniture {mirror and cabinet drawer} are located on the foot of the bed. Eventually I am going to re-paint them also but I do not know what color yet. Maybe, white, dark blue, I really don't know. So right now I leave it as it is until I decide what color to put on them.

Thank you for reading !

Painted Rug - Moroccoan Trellis (DIY)

I have been thinking about painting the sisal rug we have in our guest bedroom in our home in Delray, Florida. I saw many DIY beautiful painted rug in a blog before so I wanted to do the same for this sisal rug.

So I finally said to myself "I am going to do it and I will not stop until it finished!". It is a big rug too! It is 5' x 7' and it took me 4 to 5 days to finish it.

Okay here is the step by step.

This is the original rug and the finished painted rug.

What you need.


First, paint the whole rug using a roller brush with one color (the lightest color). I am using Muffin Mix for the light color and Marine Magic (the dark color) from Behr paint and bought at Home Depot.


Then take the motif template on the painted rug (start on the corner) and tape it down with masking tape so when you paint around it, it won't move. Please have the tape measure handy near you because you must always measure each pattern is line up with the same size. Let's say if the size of the line that I marked in black below is 18" then each pattern has to be the same position at 18". When all pattern are in the right position then tape down the pattern here and there and start painting. Since the sisal rug has lots and deep groove you might want to pounce the brush down instead painting it in a normal motion. Believe me I did a lot of pouncing. You see the first picture on the left, that is what you want to do first. Pounce the darker color around the template. Then fill in with  darker color on the inside of the pattern. When finished and dried, take the pattern off then you will see the motifs start to form. Then do the next pattern by putting the template next to it and join them together. Do not forget always to measure each pattern so that you will get a straight line of pattern a cross the rug.

This is what you do when creating the next pattern. You join the pattern together. At this point you basically start all over again. Pounce around the template, fill in with color inside the pattern. Then take the template off. Then do the next one until the whole rug is filled in with pattern.

At this point I almost finished painting and pouncing the whole rug.


The finished rug.



I am very happy with the result. It is now in the guest bedroom.

Thank you for stopping by !

Friday, January 25, 2013

Re-draw Winner of 2 Butterfly Paintings and USD 25.00 Target Giftcard Giveaway

Hello,
I re-draw a name for this Giveaway. 






Congratulations to Terri !
Please contact me by email at Elmelati@gmail.com !

Thank you so much !


Monday, January 21, 2013

Soft Blue and Linen End Table Makeover {DIY}

I could not be more happier with the result of this end table -re-painted and DIY. I remember when we bought it two years a go for USD 8.00 at a thrift store in Delray, Florida I knew that this table has potential to becoming a pretty little table to decorate our living room in our small cozy home.

It took me two years until one day  I decided repainting it as I was a little intimidated by the big job. But to my surprise it was not difficult at all. I used Missmustardseeds milk paint {here}. I love her paint very much. It is very easy to use. And in her website you can learn the easy tutorial with video on how to paint the furniture. In fact, it was not until I saw her video that I gained confidence to re-paint {a few already} my thrifted find furnitures and can not wait to post it here and share it with you.

Okay so with this end table I am using two colors. The white cream one is 'Linen' and the blue one is "French Enamel' and both are from missmustardseed.








To get that soft blue color; I mix in the white 'Linen' powder into the 'French Enamel' blue color. I want to have a soft blue color as the accent color for this end table.
My husband "Steven" had a strong input on this make over. He won't let me re-paint the top of the table. So I left the top of the table as it is.





I knew that I wanted to put decorative pieces on the four legs. So I bought the pieces from Decorators Supply Corp. {here}They have many beautiful furniture decorative pieces. But just to warn you  that you must order of  a minimum of USD 100.00 So with this purchase I bought other pieces that I thought one day I will make another furniture make over with it. 

Then I gold leaf the pieces and glued on the leg with all purpose Tacky glue.

Thank you for stopping by !

Announcement the Winner of 2 Original Butterfly paintings + USD 25 Target Giftcard Giveaway




From the bottom of my heart; I thank you so much for all of you who participated in this giveaway.  For those of you whom are not so lucky this time, there will be another giveaway coming soon. To improve curiositaellya blog I would love some input from you on how I can improve and be  better in another giveaway in the future.  I am not an expert on this and I only do this based on I know how and I am learning everyday as I go a long. For that, I truly appreciate it. Once again, "thank you All!"

For MeganP, please contact me with home address so I can send your winning prizes.

Thank you so much !

Friday, January 18, 2013

Ombre Sweetheart Banana Cakes

Yesterday I was having fun baking these two four stacks Ombre Sweetheart Banana Cakes. And today I continued by putting on the cream cheese frosting and took pictures of these two lovely Sweetheart Banana Cakes.

I used an old recipe that was given to me from an old  friend of mine. It is very easy to do and guarantee that you can never go wrong baking this cake. I modified the recipe by adding 2 ripe bananas and it is very moist and to my surprise tastes quite delicious. I know sometime you probably questioning and wondering the cake made to look like this, is it taste as good as it looks. My answer is; it does taste delicious as it looks. 

Both cakes are the same cake but I used two different food coloring, one is red and the other one is blue.

I wish I used a different method of creating the little purple heart sprinkle sugar  to create a crisp edge of a heart shape on the top the second cake. But I did not. More less I think it is a pretty cake.

I did not do a good job in cutting the first cake to show the inside of the cake because the flowers were on the way. But It is still showing the nice ombre color I want.
















::Recipe::

Ombre Sweetheart Banana Cake

Cake
~ 1 pkg yellow cake mix or French Vanilla Cake Mix
~ 1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
~ 4 large eggs
~ 1/2 cup cold water
~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil
~ 3 ripe bananas {I used 2 bananas but I think it will taste so much better with 3}
~ Food coloring, red and blue for the above cakes.

Preheat oven 350 deg. Grease and flour 4-1/4 by 4-1/4 inch heart shape cake moulding. {I got mine from Home Goods. You can use any size. You can probably get 3 of 4 stacks cake by using this size heart shape cake moulding.}

In a bowl; by using a fork smash the bananas and
mix all the ingredients together using electric mixer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

To get the ombre color. Take a small new bowl and put about half cup of batter and pour for the first {bottom} heart cake and put a tiny drop of color and mix well with spoon. Pour 2/3 close to the top rim of the pan. Then bake for 16 minutes. The cake will slide right off when cool. Wash the cake moulding.  Then for the second cake, put another half cup of batter and pour it on a new bowl but this time double coloring and mix it well with spoon. Then pour it on the pan. And bake for 16 minutes.
Repeat the second step for the third layer cake but this time triple the food coloring to get the color slightly darker than the second cake. Repeat the same process for the fourth cake but this time make sure you have a lot more of food coloring. So that the color will show more of gradation. You can test the colored batter by spoon it on a flat plate. Doing it this way you can see the different for each color, whether you need more color or not.

Note: I have only one heart shape cake moulding. If you are planning to do this I think it is better to have two or more cake moulding.


Cream Cheese Frosting
~ 1 cup cream cheese at room temperature
~ 1/4 cup butter at room temperature
~ 3 tablespoon powder sugar
~ vanilla
Mix all together with electric mixer.

If you need to decorate with different color of Cream Cheese Frosting; then take 1/4 cup of cream cheese mix then put a drop of color. Then decorate the cake.


Before you decorate the cake with Cream Cheese Frosting you need to 'crumb coat' the cake first. To do this you need to make 'icing.'

~ 1 white egg at room temperature
~ 2 tblspoon powder sugar
~ Using electric mixer mix until stiff. 
Before you put the crumb coat. You need to put the Cream Cheese Frosting in between layers of cake. So do that first. Then using spatula smear the icing thinly to cover the cake. Then put in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then proceed decorate the cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.



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Good luck Everyone and,
thank you for stopping by !







Thursday, January 17, 2013

Washi Tape

Aren't we all love washi tape ?
I do !

I can't wait to receive my washi tapes that I ordered through Etsy. By the way, Etsy is a great source to get washi tapes {here}. But I just have learned that we can make our own washi tape. Tutorial below.

Washi tape are being used in almost anything. Art, vases, glassware, packaging, cards, wall, even taped on bicycle. The sky is the limit. Use your own imagination.

Take a look of how these creative people used their washi tape.




Source; http://pinterest.com/pin/112941903124864947/








Make your own washi tape {TUTORIAL}
Source; Aeshetic Nest
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I hope you enjoy the "Washi tape" presentation !

And,
"thank you for stopping by!"