Butter Chicken Recipe

I highly recommend this recipe for butter chicken. We went out for Indian food last Friday and ordered this for our son to eat--I ended up eating most of it and just HAD to have it again! I made it last night and it was fabulous.

Try it!

Vintage File Drawer Repainted

I rescued this drawer from my parents' barn. It had rusted (it was from a 1960's style office) and was dark green with a brass colored handle and various scratches and chips. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to sand, prime and paint it the other day I neglected to take a 'before' picture.

But here is the after picture:

I really love how it turned out. I think I might use it for recipe organization. It's for 3x5" cards.

Painting a Bookcase: Before & After

I rescued these two small bookcases from my parents' barn. I wanted to use one in our little boy's room. I chose the one on the right for this purpose.

I may make the left one into an art cabinet...but I have to figure out how to remove the bottom part. It was apparently a radiator cover.

Here is the 'after' picture of my bookcase.
You can't tell very well, but I did a glazing technique.
Here are the steps:

1. Prime the whole thing with plain old interior wall primer.

2. Paint the whole thing with interior semi-gloss paint.

3. After it dried, for the glaze, I used a gel stain meant for finishing wood, let it sit on the paint for a few minutes, and then wiped it off. It gave it a grainy look. I don't love it, but it is more interesting than plain off-white.

4. To do the blue back of the shelves, I used a satin finish spray paint. I masked the sides really well, shown below:

I applied quite a few coats of spray paint to cover the white and the glaze I'd already done. I really like it and can't wait for our house to be finished so we can use it! By the way, the blue shelf backs were a last-minute decision. I wouldn't have painted and glazed them if I thought I was going to spray paint them.

Update: See this post of my toddler's room to see this shelf in action! Love it.

Want to Make: Wall Art II

There are so many great ideas out there. I can't wait to decorate the walls of our new house! Here are some ideas:

kitchen

message center

Initials with denim for a baby!

Nursery Canvases ... love these.

World Market knock off...love it.

modge podged baby sign. Love that stuff.

I must make these (same idea, at least...not same designs)

love this color!

with ribbons. Sort of looks like a message board!

A New Technique

...at least it is a new technique to me!

Carbon paper just made my newest project a whole lot easier. I printed some images off of the computer to use for a project for my little boy. I wanted to transfer them to another

paper. I don't have a $200 Silhouette cutter the way so many crafty people do, so I thought I'd have to cut them out carefully and then trace them.

And then my dad suggested using carbon paper. He doesn't know if it is even sold in stores anymore, but he has a stash in his basement for projects in his wood shop. He said it used to be sold for 10 cents a box. Talk about a frugal solution!

I had never used carbon paper. It saved me so much time!

Here's how you can use it to trace images you've printed from the internet.

1. Sandwich the carbon paper between the image and the blank paper (or fabric) you'd like to transfer the image onto.

2. Take a sharp writing implement and trace around all the lines on your image. Try to pick up the pen/pencil as little and don't move the carbon or the image until you're all finished tracing.

3. Check your work! Now you can paint it.

What do you think? Was I just having a blonde moment or is carbon paper news to you, too?

I'm about to embark on this new project. Stay tuned to see how it turns out. It might take me awhile.