a storage box for above the fridge

I have been making some changes to our kitchen: I started repainting it palladian blue, like the living room.
I spent a lot of time, searching for the right color, trying many things, but none seems to be "me", until I got tired of it all, and reached that same blue/grey/green!

And it was perfect, bright and fresh, but as usual once I touched the paint, other things needed attention....
The curtains looked ugly with the new color, especially on this little area, just above the fridge:

At the time I made it in 2012, it is was quite appropriate, but it is now 2020, time for something new! So it was off with the "curtain" and on with the mess.... It remained that way for quite some times, but I found myself with a lot of free time right now!

(we changed fridge a few years ago, and 

went with white unlike the rest of our appliances)

So I built a simple box out of  1 x 6 pieces of pine, that I had on hand, nothing fancy, just like I did for the crates I built in 2012 

They are still in their location, I guess not everything needs to change this year!
This time it is a lot bigger

but same principle,

I decided to stain it like it did all the other ones,

but not to transfer any images

but instead to affix these 3 wine enamel plaques I purchased a few years ago (and that I was able to find in my cleaning!):

I am able to hide all of the mess in the box:

I really like the look of the tags on the box, and above the fridge!

Like in most houses, we use the fridge to display stuff,

just regular mess....

This has been my first week at home,

so I am started to catch up on the projects I have been wanted to do.

The kids have been home for 2 weeks already,

with close schools and universities.

With most of my relatives in Europe,

we spend a lot of times reading the news,

it is scary!

So we also spend time making food,

like homemade pizza

in our outdoor pizza oven: 

(I know I need to clean the outdoor table,

winter has been long!)

I will share more of the kitchen redo later, it is still very much a work in progress...

I hope you and your family are staying safe.

Guinness cupcake with baileys frosting,perfect for St Patrick's day!

While it is St Patrick's day and the perfect holiday to celebrate with friends, this year, we are all practicing social distancing. So I made some cupcakes to deliver to my friends:

based the multiple layers cake we we enjoyed  so much last year, together:

It was appreciated by everybody! So the cupcakes are basically a repeat, at least for the base: devil food cake recipe from King Arthur, with Guinness instead of the liquid.
For the icing, I used Baileys as the liquid for making butter icing (butter, sugar and Baileys), so delicious but not kid friendly!

Happy St Paddy's day!

a set of strawberry coasters

I recently made this cute little set of strawberry coasters for a friend's birthday:

I am so ready for spring and its strawberries!

I followed this tutorial from Ellis and Higgs at Diary of a quilter,

using a mix of red prints from Tilda cottage collection,

left over from my floral jewelry bag.

Previously I made pepper coasters:

so why not strawberries?
It is not my first time making something strawberry inspired, after all I made this little pouch:

but my favorite strawberry things are tartelettes aux fraises!

And now the perfect stack of strawberry coasters!

I might need to make some for myself...
Happy sewing!

Almond blossom as a triptych for our bedroom

For the last few years, I have looked at art works for our bedroom. Ever since I redid this room during the ORC, I have searched for something to put next to my side of the bed.
Well I made a triptych out of one of Van Gogh's most famous painting: the Almond Blossom!

About 2 years ago, while we were in Amsterdam, we visited the Van Gogh museum, it was the kids first time really seeing his artwork, and they were fascinated. While I had been there before, it was still mesmerizing. We did not acquire any print then, just enjoyed the experience.
A few weeks ago, while going through IKEA, (it is on my way back from dropping off Brick Master at university) I bought a canvas version of the almond blossom, not quite sure how I was going to use it.
The print was too big to use as is in our room, so I decided to make a triptych out the canvas. I purchased 3 canvas (12 x 24) from Michaels (luckily it was buy 1 get 2 free!)

and started planning my cuts...

it felt a little sacrilegious to do so

but it was only a print from IKEA!

I cut each piece 4 inches bigger than my canvas to staple

in the back, making sure there would be prints on all the edges.

I did not remove the previous canvas,

just added my printed layer,

keeping in level on the bottom.

After the first one, it became easier as it started to look good!

And here are my three panels, ready to be hanged on the wall.

In order to hang them, I used some blue painting tape and a level, keeping everything aligned and leveled....
And it looks really good,

I like seeing the painting on the edges,

so much dimensions!

(the room looks very blue in this pic, but it doesn't feel like that in person!)

It feels like the perfect addition to our master bedroom.

It has been more then 2 year since the ORC,

so a few things have changed: new curtains (white instead of flowery),

blue lamp shade instead of white,

and a blue duvet cover instead of red:

the furniture remains unchanged!

Happy crafting!