Firsts
I've been up to a few firsts lately. Something about finally being a homeowner has awakened my nesting instincts, I guess.
So yeah, I've baked a few things in my day. Sausage balls, lemon bars, cookies. But I'd never attempted any sort of bread before. Bread is Haaaaaarrrrd. lol But I had some left over bananas that had gone too ripe and not wanting to be wasteful, I got the sudden urge to try my hand at banana nut bread. As kids, this was a special treat (heck, still is!) that my mama used to whip up in two seconds flat. It's very simple ingredients, after all.
I had to borrow Mama's loaf pan as well as flour and baking soda and powder. I have, like, NOTHING in my pantry. lol She also sent me the recipe and gave me hints. And of course, I can't read a recipe. I get too far ahead of myself and ended up mixing the sugar with the other dry ingredients when it was supposed to have been mixed with the eggs, bananas, vanilla, etc. My bad. But the recipe said "Mix all dry ingredients" and isn't sugar dry???
Apparently not, when it comes to baking. *shrugs* But since it all gets mixed together at the end anyway, it didn't really mater. And after an hour(!) of baking, it came out beautifully.
And yes. I ate the whole loaf by myself. Well, minus the sliver I gave my mother so she could see if I passed the test. hehehe (I did!)
Does it not look just, well, yummy? I'm gonna hafta get me some more bananas! *licks lips*
My next project was a little paint project. Spray paint, to be specific. I'd bought a wicker and metal tray at a yard sale for $2 the weekend of Lyssa's b-day. It's a cute tray but I'm not exactly into wicker. And while the metal details looked black at first, it was actually a dark green.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before pic. *shrugs* But after several coats of black glossy spray paint...
It came out gorgeous! Now I love it!
Still not sure what to do about the wood handles...leave them wood? Or paint them. I was afraid that painting them black might make it too oppressive. But I'm not sure about leaving them wood, either. I'm considering painting them in a satin nickle finish...Thoughts? Opinions?
Then, I thought, you know? Spray painting isn't all that hard. And I've never liked the brass/gold tone of the frame on my floor length mirror. My bedroom is done up in black and red, after all. Or it will be all black and red if I ever get the bedroom suit that I want. hehehe So...
First I taped up the mirror part. This is a lot harder than it sounds. You've got to get the paper just right to the edge of the mirror so that you don't have scrape any paint off of it. But painter's tape doesn't seem to stick too well to glass. It kept wanting to come peel off.
But look, there, at the gold tone. Not bad, but sort of cheap looking, no?
So, a few coats of black glossy spray paint and voila! But trust me, painting the mirror was a lot harder than painting the tray. For one, it being a flat object, I really needed it to be on a raised surface in order to get all the edges. And getting to that little sliver of frame where the frame met the glass was a devil.
But all that hard work paid off! Doesn't it look classy? I think so, anyway. Much better than the gold/brass. And I only had a tiny smidgen of paint to scrape from the glass. Just around the edges. And wouldn't you know that a touch of Windex took it right off?
I was a little concerned about getting covered in spray paint. The wind was a little happy that day and with me not being the brightest bulb in the pack, I did spray against the wind a couple of times. But amazingly enough, I managed to escape mostly unscathed. Only a tiny little bit of paint on my trigger finger and a smidgen on my left hand from having to raise the mirror to get on the edges. And that stuff came right off.
So I'm declaring my first little DIY projects a success!
Next up on the DIY agenda? Painting my guest bath--walls AND vanity. I've just got to get the dough together to buy paint, primer and supplies. Once that's done, I'm commissioning my amazing jack of all trades uncle to install a new light fixture and my dad to install new towel rods and the like. Can't wait!
So yeah, I've baked a few things in my day. Sausage balls, lemon bars, cookies. But I'd never attempted any sort of bread before. Bread is Haaaaaarrrrd. lol But I had some left over bananas that had gone too ripe and not wanting to be wasteful, I got the sudden urge to try my hand at banana nut bread. As kids, this was a special treat (heck, still is!) that my mama used to whip up in two seconds flat. It's very simple ingredients, after all.
I had to borrow Mama's loaf pan as well as flour and baking soda and powder. I have, like, NOTHING in my pantry. lol She also sent me the recipe and gave me hints. And of course, I can't read a recipe. I get too far ahead of myself and ended up mixing the sugar with the other dry ingredients when it was supposed to have been mixed with the eggs, bananas, vanilla, etc. My bad. But the recipe said "Mix all dry ingredients" and isn't sugar dry???
Apparently not, when it comes to baking. *shrugs* But since it all gets mixed together at the end anyway, it didn't really mater. And after an hour(!) of baking, it came out beautifully.
And yes. I ate the whole loaf by myself. Well, minus the sliver I gave my mother so she could see if I passed the test. hehehe (I did!)Does it not look just, well, yummy? I'm gonna hafta get me some more bananas! *licks lips*
My next project was a little paint project. Spray paint, to be specific. I'd bought a wicker and metal tray at a yard sale for $2 the weekend of Lyssa's b-day. It's a cute tray but I'm not exactly into wicker. And while the metal details looked black at first, it was actually a dark green.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before pic. *shrugs* But after several coats of black glossy spray paint...
It came out gorgeous! Now I love it!
Still not sure what to do about the wood handles...leave them wood? Or paint them. I was afraid that painting them black might make it too oppressive. But I'm not sure about leaving them wood, either. I'm considering painting them in a satin nickle finish...Thoughts? Opinions?
Then, I thought, you know? Spray painting isn't all that hard. And I've never liked the brass/gold tone of the frame on my floor length mirror. My bedroom is done up in black and red, after all. Or it will be all black and red if I ever get the bedroom suit that I want. hehehe So...
First I taped up the mirror part. This is a lot harder than it sounds. You've got to get the paper just right to the edge of the mirror so that you don't have scrape any paint off of it. But painter's tape doesn't seem to stick too well to glass. It kept wanting to come peel off.
But look, there, at the gold tone. Not bad, but sort of cheap looking, no?
So, a few coats of black glossy spray paint and voila! But trust me, painting the mirror was a lot harder than painting the tray. For one, it being a flat object, I really needed it to be on a raised surface in order to get all the edges. And getting to that little sliver of frame where the frame met the glass was a devil.
But all that hard work paid off! Doesn't it look classy? I think so, anyway. Much better than the gold/brass. And I only had a tiny smidgen of paint to scrape from the glass. Just around the edges. And wouldn't you know that a touch of Windex took it right off?
I was a little concerned about getting covered in spray paint. The wind was a little happy that day and with me not being the brightest bulb in the pack, I did spray against the wind a couple of times. But amazingly enough, I managed to escape mostly unscathed. Only a tiny little bit of paint on my trigger finger and a smidgen on my left hand from having to raise the mirror to get on the edges. And that stuff came right off.
So I'm declaring my first little DIY projects a success!
Next up on the DIY agenda? Painting my guest bath--walls AND vanity. I've just got to get the dough together to buy paint, primer and supplies. Once that's done, I'm commissioning my amazing jack of all trades uncle to install a new light fixture and my dad to install new towel rods and the like. Can't wait!
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