Erasing Wrinkles and Acorn Lamps

  OK, so I can’t believe 2011 is almost history. This has been a wonderful year of embracing my mid-motherhood-crisis (that’s when your kids go off to school and you decide what the heck you want to do when you grow up). It has included starting this blog to inspire creativity, buying a piano to teach myself  (Lady GaGa of course), joining a bible study, and waiting patiently for that next chapter. God has always had his perfect timing with me. Sometimes it’s frustrating cause I’m not the patient type. But Jesus is my wing-man and he never lets me down.

Well….it’s come. I took my dream job! I partnered with the two doctors that created Proactiv in their new venture to take over the 2.5 billion anti-age industry. I have a virtual franchise in the company and I’m coaching / training others to do the same. I’ve gone from rescuing old crappy furniture, to rescuing people from their crappy jobs! Brittney Spears Mom, Lynne also works with our company doing what I do. I will meet her at our March training. Pinch me! When you’re a retired pro-dancer and entertainer like me, being in her presence is like royalty. I might bow and wear a fancy hat.  (Details on my new gig are HERE)

So, crafting has taken a bit of a hiatus.  Somewhere in between insanely busy and busy though, I knew I needed to do something to my lampshades. Heaven forbid they be naked. My former coffee filter shades got moved to the living room on some vintage opal glass lamps I found. These lamps are huge. They were so ugly when I rescued them from Craigslist for all of $10! I ordered the crystals on Ebay.

These blue glass lamps (below) that used to have the coffee shades got adorned with basic shades from Target that were boring my eyeballs into a turkey induced coma. zzz.  With some scraps of linen fabric and burlap, acorn tops and hot glue, they gave birth. These took only about 15 minutes to makeover. yay! Thought I’d share….

I promise to bring you some holiday pics of my home and my favorite killer recipe I’ve been rockin’ in the kitchen and it’s been rockin’ on my thighs. So long as I can wrap my apron strings around my waist and tie them in the FRONT, I’ll keep baking.  Happy holidays. Happy crafting! xo Sarah

Epic Baby Changing Table & Ornate Mirror

My sister’s having a baby!! What better way to welcome her into the world, than with a super fun changing table and mirror set. I’m kinda crushing on hot pink right now, as you can tell.

A Little Help From My Favorite "Sweat Shop" Employee!

Watermelon Pink Dresser

Every girl with a house full of testosterone, deserves something pink.

 

Available @ Fred Meyer - I like the $1 stiff brushes. They get into the cracks well.Removing drawers & taking off hardware3 Cans of Watermelon Pink

 

$25 Dresser - Begin taking off hardware

 

 

Three Cans of Watermelon

 

 

Black spray painted hardware.

Before

 

Ta-Da!

 

NEW – Urban Farm Condo

 

 

 

 

 

Carriage Doors Between Study and Dining

Bowling Alley Wood Dining Table

 

 Well, I’m trying for the second time to post a bunch of fabulous photos from my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s condo. Many of the photos are still not posting, but at least a few good ones are here to share with you. It’s a love-hate relationship with my computer right now.

Their condo sits in downtown Portland between the Willamette River and OHSU hospitals. In a short time of living here, they’ve taken the bare white walls, covered them in brick vaneer, and hung reclaimed carriage doors.

The doors were a find from Rejuvenation Hardware in Portland. They were covered in coats of paint. They had them stripped and professionally painted by an artist with shades of white, grey and black to bring back the salvaged look and accent nail holes. The walls are adorned by their daughter Hanna’s canvas artwork which she sells at “Hunt & Gather” in the Pearl District.

The dining table is made from a salvaged bowling alley and styled with Glassy Baby votive holders. I love her mix-and-match style of modern pieces with farm house flare!

Tram Between OHSU Hospitals

Our fun day in the city included tubing on their boat and watching the OHSU tram wiz by from their living room window. If you’re ever in Portland, the OHSU tram is a great way to get a bird’s-eye view of the city!

We are taking in every day of sunshine here in the NW, which in turn has put me on a cyber-diet!….less Facebook, blogging, and Twitter, more gardening, parks, and smores!

Tour Our Latest Custom Home

My husband (Palisade Homes) has been one busy guy! He’s just wrapped up two beautiful custom homes for clients. We hosted open houses in them this week before the clients move in today.

This morning, before I could even wipe the crusties from my eyes, he called me downstairs to his office. “Let’s talk about building in the ‘Street Of Dreams 2012’ next Summer”, he said. 

So we got to sketching house plans. It always starts this way….on a piece of scrap paper, a napkin, whatever is handy. The “Street of Dreams” is a yearly event of multi-million dollars homes. The last few years, the prices have come down to a more reasonable price point. Next Summer it is in our city of West Linn, and homes will be priced in the $700s-800s. This will be my biggest design project to date.  Full staging, high expectations, thousands of people walking thru looking for something to critique, and tons of media exposure. It may very well be the first ‘Street Of Dreams’ home designed by a self-taught-stay-home-mom-creative-girl and not a professional. Oh, man. I’m getting nervous now….NO. Super excited!

Well, here’s one of the homes Bill just finished up. I’ll share the other one soon. This home is a 5,000sqft 2-story in Lake Oswego, OR. Enjoy.

Off White Cabinets With GlazingAppliance Storage. Love it!

Master SuiteMaster Bath

Theatre Room

Wet Bar & Wine Cellar, TV Behind The Mirror

Main Level Wet Bar Between Kitchen & Dining

“Red, White, & Blue’tiful Chair” – Wordless Weekend

Summer Quinoa Salad & Cucumber Lemonade

Quinoa Summer Salad

This light but filling salad can be made with quinoa (a gluten free grain sold next to the rice) or with couscous. I eye-ball all the ingredients. Really, you can’t screw up this recipe!

Mix together:

I use about 2-3C cooked (and cooled) quinoa or couscous. Most can be microwaved. EASY!

2 squeezed lemons

1/4 c olive oil

kidney beans, drained

garbonzo beans, drained

sliced kalamata olives

feta cheese

chopped peeled cucumber

chopped red pepper

mint leaves, chopped

basil and chives chopped (if I have them in my garden pots)

salt and pepper to taste

Cucumber Lemonade

And the perfect Summer beverage with this is my friend Wendy’s “Cucumber Lemonade”!

Mix:

Lemonade

Sprite

Sliced Cucumbers & Ice

Serve with a couple cucumber slices in each cup.

Blue Sky, Beachy Decor & Salt On The Rocks

It seems like forever since I’ve had a free moment to sit and blog. Our home was photographed for a feature in The Oregonian newspaper. I’ve been micro-cleaning in full OCD mode! Also, we participated in Portland’s Ultimate Open House Tour last month which was a great success. Thanks to everyone who came through!! Our house isn’t for sale. We took part just to help promote Palisade Homes and meet more of our community.  I was quite exhausted after the two week tour and looking for some R&R on the back deck with some sunshine.

With the long Memorial Day weekend nearing and nothing but rain in the forecast, my husband and I looked online for empty seats to Southern California. We found some and flew out with the kids just a few hours later! I’m never spontaneous like that.  One might say we were Jonesing for some sun, needing a break, or going crazy. Yes to all the above. As much as I hate to fly (yes, I was a flight attendant for 5 years), I just love passing through the clouds and seeing blue sky does really exist. My 7-year-old son asked me, “Mom, how come I can’t see heaven up here?” I wanted to say, “Son, you live in Oregon. Blue sky IS heaven.” But instead we had a very nice deep chat over our ginger ale. I could feel everyone’s ears perk up near us to see as to how I would answer that. And don’t you know they both perked up and chuckled when he asked, “Will we see bodies floating up to heaven?” Honestly I welcome these questions any day while 35,000 ft in the air instead of the,  “Mom, what’s keeping our big plane in the air?” I hate to think about that one.

We landed safely and headed to Newport Beach for a beautiful sunset before driving to Palm Desert. We are fortunate to have a family home in the Desert which we tend to visit once or twice a year. It’s right next to the big Marriott hotel (above). During the day, we walk the grounds of the hotel and visit the talking parrots. As the sun sets, we take a seat in the lobby, sip on margaritas on the rocks, and take in the fabulous bachelorette parties rolling through for the holiday weekend. Hilarius!

We enjoyed several days of much-needed R&R and swung through Laguna Beach on our way to the airport. I fell in love with this quaint beach town. I didn’t see Lauren Conrad or any of the MTV cast. But better yet, I found the most FABULOUS nautical decor shop. It was whales, horses, jute, chippy paint and Japanese floats. Nope. Not a single bird in the whole place! Birds are so yesterday here. Typical trendy LA. Portland did have one thing on them though. Not a single salvaged looking piece was actually reclaimed. Go Portland! I am so pleased to share this amazing collection of beachy finds from Tuvalu, Laguna Beach.

License Plate Ottoman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refreshed and rested indeed!

 

Hope you all get some blue sky this week…..and margaritas salted on the rocks.

xoxo, Sarah

Make Your Own Starbucks Cake Pops

Unless you’re living under a rock or a giant sized cake ball, you’ve probably seen these too-cute-for-words-cake -pops by now.

I’m pretty sure Starbucks “borrowed” the idea from the cake pop pioneer, Bakerella. Sure hope she’s getting royalties!

I made these for Easter gifts this year and they sure brought some smiles! I’m already hording red, white, and blue melting chocoates from the craft store to make some for the 4th of July and end-of-year teacher gifts.

My first attempt at this treat was pretty successful considering I had eager little helping hands (from my boys) help roll and sprinkle them.

Cake Pop Hostess Gift

I found lollipop sticks, take-out boxes, floral foam (to put in the box), paper confetti, and melting chocolates at Michael’s crafts. They would be cute in a flower pot, too.

To make the cake pops, watch this step-by-step video from the cake pop master, Bakerella. The only thing she doesn’t tell you is how much frosting to add to the cake mix. I used about 1/3 C.

Also you can make these ahead and freeze them in plastic containers for up to 4 weeks. They are also the perfect bite sized cake for your toddler’s birthday party!

For a healthier alternative, think fresh carrot cake, zucchini cake or chocolate zucchini cake – mix with a homemade cream cheese frosting, dip and sprinkle. There’s no way your kids will know you snuck in veggies!

Happy crafting! xox Sarah

Wordless Wednesday

Before…..