Some Beauty To Start Your Week

Blessings!

New DIY Shop Cart ~ with old top

Never enough shop carts. At least that is what I have been told. I agree that storage is king and when you add wheels with stops there is nothing better. Your tools and supplies can move to wherever you need them. 

The hubs is currently in the middle of a big backyard project and needed more surface space to lay long boards on. The finish on our benches around our fire pit did not weather well and began to peel off leaving the wood exposed to the elements. He has removed them all, dried them out and sanded them down so that he can refinish them. While he was in the middle of sanding he decided it would be handy to have another rolling cart and started this one with nice big drawers no less. 

He took the top of another diy cart he had and used some leftover cherry wood scraps from his office wainscoting project and made it the height of his other carts, sawhorses and sander so the boards would lay flat. 

It turned out really nice and has worked well. The outdoor bench project is coming along and I hope to post more about that next week. 

Happy Saturday!

DIY Office Wainscoting

Over the past couple of months the hubs has been working on another DIY project, this time in his office which happens to be in our home. His plan has always been to make wainscoting for the room to match the cabinets and his desk and he finally found some time to get started. 

All the wood in the office is cherry including the new wainscoting. We made a couple trips to the few wood stores that were open during the quarantine so he could see what was available, price materials and get ideas so he could make some decisions on the overall look and design. Once it was finalized and he had everything he needed he began making the panels in his "shop" which also happens to be our garage.

All the molding for the top of the panels was cut, bundled and marked according to the wall it corresponded with. 

He assembled, stained and finished all the panels before they were actually installed although they were carried up to the office many times to double check the fit and make adjustments. 

He had trouble with the finish the first time he applied it. He did not like how it turned out so he sanded everything down and started over with a new finish. 

It took a lot of patience however it was worth the extra work.

It looks much better and in the long run I think he will be much happier with the end result. 

Everything matched up nicely.

Once the wood ages and changes color it will match all the other things he has built in his office such as his desk and cabinets. 

He designed the credenza so his shredder and garbage can would fit nicely behind the doors.

There are 10 drawers total in the cabinet. They are set on wood runners which make them pull out very smoothly. 

He is still deciding on what electrical outlet covers to use on the wainscoting but other than that he has this project just about wrapped up. 

 Now, as the weather starts getting nice, he can begin the outdoor projects on his list, some of which I have requested.

Happy Monday!

Thank~You Treats { cookies & cupcakes }

Last weekend our neighbor brought us a container full of fresh Arugula from her garden. Of all the things we have grown in our garden over the years we have never planted arugula so it was an extra special treat.

It was enough for two salads. A large salad for dinner and another personal size salad for lunch. 

The salad was simple and was made with ingredients I had on hand which included grape tomatoes, ribbons of sliced red onion, roasted pine nuts and shredded parmesan cheese.

For the dressing I used one of my favorite flavored vinegars and simply drizzled it over the top and then sprinkled the salad with a bit of salt and pepper. The light vinegar dressing was just right for the tender leaves and tasted wonderful. Once the arugula was gone we needed to return the container it came in and decided to fill the box with some homemade goodies as a thank~you. 

Mr. Wonderful suggested some chocolate chip cookies since that was also what he thought sounded good so I made a batch. Half of the cookies were extra large which I thought would be fun to fill the box with and the other half were the regular size.  While those were baking I had a sudden whim to make cupcakes for them also. Since I had already used chocolate in the cookies I thought I would make vanilla almond with buttercream frosting and decided to make it a small batch of 6 cupcakes; 4 to give away and 2 for us. It sounded like a perfect plan to me so I kept my apron on and continued. 

Once the six vanilla almond cupcakes were in the oven baking I cleaned up again and began making the frosting. Well, another wild idea popped in my head, this time of making a half batch of chocolate cupcakes. So,  it was back to the sink to wash up everything once again and then mix up 14 more cupcakes. To top the chocolate cupcakes I made strawberry buttercream frosting  using my homemade jam. Not only does it make a pretty pink frosting but goes so well with chocolate. We had some wonderful fresh strawberries a few days earlier which would have been wonderful as cupcake toppers however I made strawberry shortcake the night before and used them all so I made cupcake picks for the tops instead. 

When all was said and done we had 20 cupcakes and 40 chocolate chip cookies.

We filled up the box with the sweet treats and walked it over to the neighbors. It was a fun to surprise them with a box full of treats. We still have a lot of sweets so we may need to make a few more deliveries!

Happy Saturday!

Queen of Hearts QUARAN~TEA PARTY

Due to the coronavirus and social distancing it was not possible to have our annual Mother~Daughter Tea Party last Saturday as I have done for the past eleven years. At least not in the traditional sense. The realization was disappointing and I considered just skipping it this year and it was even mentioned that I should just take this year off however I could not let it go. After much thought on how I could make it happen I decided I would need to mail the tea party or deliver it and with that in mind I thought it would be fun to make a

Tea Party in a Box. 

At first my plan was that everyone would be getting a box which would have been about 10 boxes, give or take, but collecting all that I needed to fill the boxes plus the logistics of delivery got a bit overwhelming since shopping is not what it used to be. As the days went by it became clear that this year the tea party would be a special tea just for my mother 

but with a little twist, 

which is explained in the directions below.

Next, the tea party needed a theme and since the box was going to my mother I decided on 

Queen of Hearts

QUARAN~TEA PARTY!

And here's the little twist:  The party can also be an online/tele ~ Tea Party. So, if she wants to have tea with the girls we do it from each of our homes which would be fun too.

 

Once the invitation and directions were finished it was time to fill the box with all the tea party necessities:

Tea of course, placemat, plate, doily, napkins, spoons, cookies, Scone Mix in a Jar with baking instructions and of course a china tea cup and saucer. 

I lined the inside of the box with wrapping paper and  

covered the Scone Mix in a Jar with cute fabric and attached baking directions.

Little tea cookies were wrapped up and placed around the box and in the tea cup. 

The scone mix makes six little scones and can be served warm from the oven. The directions come with suggestions for add ins and toppings. While I was at it I made myself a batch too. Mine were lemon with a lemon glaze drizzled over the top.

Of course tea was included and tucked neatly in the holder below. 

My original idea included cloth placemats which match the invitations however, 

the images did not transfer very well onto the fabric so unfortunately I had to nix that idea, at least for this tea party. They were cute though so I thought they were worth sharing. 

There was also a Queen of Hearts crown because that is one of our tea party traditions. 

The box was wrapped and stored for 3 days to be sure it was safe to open. 

The "Queen of Hearts" face~timed me right before she opened the box so we had a little party of 3 { dad joined too } and shared a cup of tea!

Happy Tuesday!

Mothers Day { twice in a week! }

This year we celebrated Mothers Day two weekends in a row. Miss E had to come home for an appointment on May Day so she stayed for a long weekend.

The two of us set up an office for ourselves downstairs since my "office/sewing/craft room" upstairs was covered with projects in progress and as a result there was not much available space. We did not really consider Mr. Wonderful's office although we could all fit comfortably if we wanted however he is on the phone a lot so we preferred our cozy spot on the game table. Of course we did remove the adorable spring quilt on top while we worked so that it would not get dirty. 

Miss E's appointment last week was for another ultrasound of her neck which she has every 6 months to monitor her lymph nodes. In March she had her scans and then had to come back a week later on March 20th for a special ultrasound. When we arrived for that appointment the hospital parking lot had gone from the usual completely full garage to empty spaces on all the floors and also having our temperatures taken at the door and given  dated badges to wear. Last week it was the same thing, empty parking structure, temperature and badges, so we were very happy they did not have to change or cancel her appointment. There will be more imaging required, however, for now she has a break. 

Once we returned from her appointment Papa Bear had grilled up a great dinner for us. 

His signature burgers are amazing although Miss E and I did not top ours with pastrami like  he did. The stuffed hamburger patties along with the toppings were quite enough for us. 

Saturday we picked up some online orders at one of our favorite stores which was fun. I had not done that yet but it worked great. We pulled up along the curb, called the number and they came out and put the packages in the back. Easy, peasy. We actually did it twice! 

We had another fabulous dinner Saturday night which required a little team work but we work well together. 

It was another beautiful evening so afterwards we sat by the fire pit to have dessert.  

We also did facials and face masks which was relaxing and a lot of fun.  It was a wonderful weekend and a special early Mothers Day!

Happy Monday!