teen boy bedroom {the ORC edition} week four

So this is week 4 of the One Room Challenge, which means only 2 weeks left, so technically last weekend should have seen super productive.... well it wasn't! Instead we had the Science Walk downtown DC, more specifically for me watching my niece and nephew while their parents and Mon Cheri went marching downtown! They came from NY, the least I could do is spend the days with the kids, we had fun but no work was done... And on Sunday, it was our town Science day, so Brick Master and the robotic team were on display, which means me too, as I am a parent volunteer.

Not everything was lost, I had a little bite of time at night to do some sewing. I am finally finishing the quilt I started years ago, more exactly I finished the top in April 2014!
(we had a lot of snow that year)
It just sat there in my sewing room waiting for me to quilt and bind it.  At the time I had even purchased some black and white fleece  for the back and cut the binding. But I felt overwhelmed by the size of the quilt and the challenge  of putting all that bulk in my sewing machine.
Well no more, with this room redo, we need a good quilt, and this is it.
I just finished quilting and attached part of the bidding, it will be done, in time for the room reveal.
So at least we will have painted walls, brick wall and a handmade quilt!

We are moving along toward this mood board:

Better chance next week!

rock climbing bag, perfect for teens

As I mentioned on the first post of this year ORC Brick Master is a fan of rock climbing, he goes after school about once a week and really enjoys it, especially with his friends. This year for Christmas and his birthday (just a few days apart) he received his own set of shoes and harness.

So of course I had to make him a bag to carry it all! I followed the same tutorial that I used previously to make some art journal bags. It is just much larger and with corners to accommodate the width of the shoes. The fabric I used is a set of prints I won 5 years ago, which I saved for a special project for Brick Master, unfortunately I never did anything with it, and now it is too old for the robots! (do not hoard fabric, use the good stuff right away!)

So I kept the robots for the lining instead of making them a feature. The coordinating prints were really good, so it was easy to work with all of them.

I added on the bag a loop to attach a little carabiner,

making it easy to attach to his backpack,

as he goes just after school.

For the strings I used shoes laces, it is the perfect color,

sturdy and cheap!

I could not help myself and use a robot as a tag on the front,

layering it with another print.

It is a claw/hand robot as Brick Master is usually the one designing something like that

for his robotic club....

may be it is not too late for that fabric after all!

Happy sewing!

teen boy bedroom {the ORC edition} week three

This is week 3 of the ORC: my son's bedroom makeover, and the half way point and we have progress!
It was a busy weekend, we installed the "brick wall", actually just paneling, but it was a bigger job than I expected.

We had to work in the room, which is not too small but has a queen size bed, so it really limits the space.
And do not get me started on the flying dust that came from having  to cut the panels in the room... they were there, we were not taking them back downstair to cut them!

( I still need to reinstall all of his Star Wars pictures...)
We also decided against gluing the panels to the wall, just in case we get tired of it. So we screwed the panels to the studs, it is not as seamless as glue, but if/when we decide to remove it, it should be easy and the drywall will not be totally ruined.
I still need some 1/4 round for the sides for a more finished look.
Brick Master likes it and it brings a lot of characters to his room. This wall (and the computer) is the first thing you see when you enter the room.

(in case you are wondering, it is a root beer bottle among the many glasses of milk!)
With the walls painted white and the brick accent wall, his room is on its way to have that industrial loft feel we were hoping for. Next we need to tackle some shelves!
here is our inspiration board:

a very sweet bunny breakfast

After baking a super cute bunny decorated carrot cake,

I set up another cute Easter table.

This time it more like a breakfast or snack time event.

Do you let your children eat candies with cookies for breakfast? May be not, but it all looks so pretty together!

And I am not even responsible for all that sweetness! My MIL baked the delicious cookies and brought all the candies and chocolates, so of course we had to eat them. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed the event. There are a few leftover, but not many.....
Happy Easter!

teen boy bedroom {the ORC edition} week two

Here we are, week two of the One Room Challenge.
Here is the plan for my 16 year room update:
-repaint the wall from "old" yellow to white, -put up some "bricks" on the main wall, -add some shelves above the dresser, -update the window covering, -update bedding, -decorate the room.

1) brick paneling from Homedepot. 2) shelves tutorial from the DIY playbook 3) dresser from RHTeen (not happening, but beautiful!) 4) light from IKEA 5) bedding inspiration from RHTeen.

So far, I managed to repaint the walls and purchased the brick panelling.... which was a fun experiment (not!) We have tight stairs and bring these 4 x 8 feet panels up was not a cake walk. We are letting them acclimate to the room. It will be a busy weekend!

Here are two of my favorite teen boy room updates:

 from  Remodelando la casa

and 

from Craftberry bush

a so sweet bunny cake

I think I made my most successful carrot cake, ever!

It is the usual recipe, but this one has bunnies on it,

isn't it so cute?

Okay, so I am not a cake decorator and it is not perfect,

but it is still really cute!

A while ago, I was daydreaming and going through catalogues

when I found this beautiful cake from William Sonoma:

super, duper cute,

but it is $70+ shipping and it is full of nuts!

So I set out to make my own version, for a lot less, bigger and nut free.

I always use the same recipe, the one that came with the pans, from Wilton.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup of oil

2 cup of sugar

2 cup of flour

2 tsp of baking soda

2 tsp of cinnamon

1 lb of freshly shredded carrot

Mix eggs, add oil while mixing, add the rest of the dry ingredients with strong stirring,

and finally add the carrots, gently.

Split evenly into 2 pans (also make great cupcakes!)

bake at 350 for 35 min.

I had to trim around the cakes a little as the cake stand I wanted to use is slightly smaller

than the cake pans.

I made the cream cheese icing:

3 cup of powdered sugar

3 packages of cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat version)

1/2 tsp vanilla.

I cut each cake in half to make it a 4 layer cake, always very decadent!

I also covered the cake in the same icing....

which was probably not the best idea!

I had purchased the bunny image from Fancy Flours,

and it is supposed to go on top of buttercream....

Well I went ahead, and a first it was ok,

but then, it started to wrinkle more and more!

I was so disappointed, but I continued with the decorations.

At least I knew it was tasty.

I set up the table with so cute bunny plates (from PB)

and set up the cake on the table.

To my surprise, it was a lot smoother,

not perfect, but I was no longer upset about it!

And the best part, it was really good!

There will be cake for breakfast for a few days!
Happy day!