In The Kitchen

Last night, Brenna and I tried our hand at making home made tortillas.

It wasn't too bad!

We watched a couple of videos on YouTube and figured we could give it a go.

We mixed about 3 cups of flour,

not quite a cup of warm water, 1tsp. salt, 1tsp. baking powder and 2 Tbs. of olive oil.

Knead it for about 3 minutes, cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

Shape into small balls

roll into small circles.

Put this into a hot, dry, non-stick or cast iron pan.

Cook until you see bubbles form, then flip.

Cook the other side until lightly browned and flip back one more time.

These are amazing when right out of the pan. Doug liked them with just butter. I liked it with everything.

Brenna liked it and part way through decided she didn't like the chicken. After she picked out all the chicken, she didn't like her salsa.

After she scraped out all the salsa, she decided she didn't like the tortillas after all.

sigh.

Like I said, I liked it all!!

Happy Monday~

lynn

Gel Transfer. Again.

O.K., back at it!
And not NEARLY as many disasters.

This get transfer thing is going to take about 100 more tries to perfect it. And even then, I think, who knows?!

I learned this technique from an online class by Julie Prichard, of Land of Lost Luggage. She offers several classes in conjunction with Chris Cozen. They are wonderful.

Here is my 2nd attempt:

When you xerox your transfer image, use a toner printer. I take mine down to our local Staples. I have also been told to use bright white paper. I would like to try with a little bit lighter weight paper to see if it makes much of a difference.
When using words, you need to make a mirror image of your word(s).

Then it will read from left to right when you lay it down.

Small is helpful when beginning this.

Here, I spread Golden's Soft Gel Medium and laid the paper on top. I then used a wide, plastic palette knife to go over the design. It's a little like using Modge Podge, with one LARGE exception.

Do NOT get the gel medium on top of your transfer piece. After every swipe with the palette knife, wipe it off with a paper towel, then go over the piece again.

This picture shows a metal palette knife, and it was too thin and I thought it would rip the paper. I ended up using the white palette knife up above. You can also use an old credit card.

 I would also recommend when you lay your transfer piece down, begin laying it down in the middle. When I just put the transfer image down and didn't pay attention to the way it hit the gel, it buckled and then I couldn't get it to stick, or then my paper had a crease in it.

Let this dry overnight. I have done this with just waiting 2-3 hours, but without much luck.

Well, more like with about as much luck as I'm having now.

The next step is to get your image wet.

I use a spray bottle and spray water over the paper.

You can see how it begins to lift. You will be rubbing your finger in small, circular motions across the paper.  I think the trick here is to not rub too hard. If this happens, you run the risk of yanking up the whole image. It needs to come off in light, thin layers.

Or, even if you do use light, circular motions, the paper seems to have a life of it's own and comes off too fast.

This is what happens.

Bummer. Then you have to think of ways to either fix it, or collage over it.

Here, I begin on the larger piece of the bird.

Spray, circular motion, wipe off the paper.

This next picture has about 2 layers gone.

Keep going.... it's kind of a meditational thing to do-

if the image stays put. Otherwise lots of  thoughts come to mind that aren't so meditational. Such as, "Why am I doing this anyway?" "I'll have to paint over this AGAIN???" "How many trashed canvases can I justify?"

Now I'm getting to the end. Do you see the word above? It looks like it has a slight haze over it. That means it has more paper that needs to come off. This is where a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser comes in handy. Remember, light, circular motions.

Here it is all wiped off. Not too bad, but I will need to fix up the "f" on the word fly. The bird is missing some tail feathers, and a bit of his lower wing. This can be incorporated into your design if you like an old, chippy look. I can drive myself absolutely crazy with detail, but I enjoy the aged look so this is a good thing for me!

I am not, not (!) an expert at this by any means. But It's fun to learn together, and help each other with our mistakes. 

 Julie's on-line classes are very helpful and I like to look through a Google search to see what others have come up with for transferring images.

Let me know if you try this and what you think!

~Lynn

bird graphic courtesy of The Graphics Fairy.

word "fly" from downloaded rsmith-mixed goodies.

Linking up to 

Stuff and Nonsense Friday Unfolded

Inspiration Friday , At The Picket Fence

Disaster

What was supposed to be a post on how to do a gel transfer is now a post about a disaster.

 Do not attempt gel transfers if you have to go pick up your kid(s) from school in an hour and 20 minutes.

WAIT for more uninterrupted time.

Learn to read.

Then you won't have to start over because you put the words in the wrong order.

And then realize you just missed one word.

Which, if placed properly,  could have potentially avoided said disaster,

Lots of scraping,

and weariness.

And some frustration.

7 random things

I am just a little competitive, so when my friend Debbie of Words Upon Wheels put my name on her blog to see if I could list 7 random things about myself, I thought, "huh. I bet I could do that." So, here you go, Debbie!

1. I had never been outside the U.S. until was 45. Did i then go to europe? nah. asia? huh-uh. I went to India, complete with a trip down the Ganges river at dawn with floating dead bodies.

yeah. pretty at dawn, huh?

2. My natural hair color includes a LOT. of white. all over. too much, really. My hairdresser used to say it was so straight it looked like a cat sucked on it. Now it's curly and i use a straightner every day. Go figure.

3. I like the show Glee. And yes. I watch it every week,(with some discretion) but I have to tape it because my husband hates it. But I watch it anyway. My favorite episode is the one with Gyneth Paltrow and "Umbrella".

4. At least for the next four weeks, I am taking 18 pills a day to combat Ulcerative Colitis. Breakfast consists of fiber, water, 8 pills and more water. gag.

5. I have always wanted to sing back up for a huge band in front of an enormous audience. Like madison square garden or or some Woodstock-like audience. huge.

6. I watch Vh1 music videos while I work out at the YMCA. (I would watch Country Music Videos, but I don't think there's a channel for that.) Then, I embarrass my eldest by calling her and saying things like, "have you heard that song by Jay-z? something to do with a d.j.? it's soo good! Oh, it's by Usher? Right. Isn't it great??!!" I have found that I like Michael Franti, Train, Maroon 5, Sara Bareilles and I find Lady Gaga to be the most weirdly fascinating person.

7. The dumbest purchase I ever made was the red convertable Mustang that Lauren is currently driving.  I thought I was past the days of carting children and backpacks around to various sporting events, but then Brenna surprised me by joining the co-ed Basketball and soccer team the year I bought the car. I could barely fit two kids into the back seat, let alone all the stuff into the trunk. And having the top down? Not in the summer, when it's 112 degrees out here. It's like being roasted in an open pit. That only works at the beach. The best time is the fall, when you can turn the heater on and have the top down. Lauren doesn't like it either, because she can't take anyone anywhere. Do you hear me complaining?

No, this is not me. I don't smile in this car anymore. Well, maybe once in a while with the top down.

Thanks for this, Debbie-it was a lot of fun. And now you all know more about me than you ever wanted to!!!!

xo
lynn

$4.00 curtains.

I had white cotton sheers in the living room.

Had.

I bought $4.00 worth of store-brand black tea.

Ready?

Wash curtains. Especially if they are like mine and have black dirt on the top of the tabs. 

I have 6 panels.

Fill up your washing machine with hot water, on large setting.
Take paper tags off of tea bags and toss into washer. I put all 48 bags in.

I let them steep about 10 minutes or so. Maybe a little longer.

I took them out with a strainer and pushed down to get all the tea out.

Then I added my 6 curtain panels.

About every 10 minutes I would close the lid so the machine would agitate, then I would lift the lid so the machine would stop and the panels could soak.

I did this for at least 30-40 minutes. 

Then I closed the lid and forgot to pull them out after the first drain cycle, so it ended up running through the whole cycle.

The end result was pretty impressive!

Can you see the difference? It looks very similar to muslin, but just a shade darker.

After I took the panels out, I dried them for just a couple of minutes to get the wrinkles out, then hung them over the shower to dry. 

After they dried, I did notice a couple of spots by the hem on two of the panels where the tea was a much darker stain, almost like a mark of dirt. Luckily, I was able to put the panels up in such a way that the spot was hidden by furniture.

When I was finished, I put a large cycle on and just ran some laundry soap and bleach through the washer to make sure I didn't tea-dye all my big -girl panties later.

Here is a link I looked at for some ideas on how to do this:

http://www.reddawn.net/quilt/teadye.htm

The panels in the dining room:

I especially like them with this old dictionary banner I sewed:

Oh, yes. More on the banner next week!!

Definitely.

The next thing to do is to get different rods...

or spray paint the old ones!

xo

lynn

linking to:

Inspiration Friday

and

Vintage Inspiration Fridays

and

Wow Us Wednesdays

and

Feathered Nest Friday!

o.k., 

and....

SNS at Funky Junk Interior

repurposing, part 2...

What a week. 

I love my Mucinex-D, but when I don't take it, I am almost incapacitated with sinus headaches. Therefore, the lack of posts.

Here is the beginning of the re-do.

I still have more to do, but how I do love what we have gotten done so far...

from this:

to this:

I must say, I am fond of the little painting/transfer I did. I did this in order to practice for the big one over the couch.

I like it so much, I think I'll make it into a series with some different birds and words.

And SOME day, re-open my Etsy.....

This is the big canvas over the couch I have started. I like having it hanging and I walk past it several times during the day and can begin to form a picture in my mind of how I would like it to look. It has changed several times!

Plus, the sconces I re-painted and roughed up.

I love the aqua pillows...I am (really) going to try making a couple of big pillows (really) out of muslin and burlap to lighten up the room. (really)

But in the mean time, it was easier to find the aqua pillows. I went back for more of these pillows:

They were GONE the next day!!

I like the aqua ones, as they draw the color of this into the room:

It is an old, chippy wooden box I bought from Susie when she had her shop in Crestline.

She snuggled it right into the baker's rack and sent me on a hunt for my "prettiest" magazines.

Here is the rack all put together.

An amazing transformation...

of treasured items grouped together in pleasing ways

old and new..

This dish was my mom's. No, the picture isn't of her..

My dad's school books with a box I made.

The china hutch got a good cleaning out as well and all the pretty glass ended up inside with my Great-Grandmother's china.

Little bitty surprises here and there..

a sachet,

some sea shells,

little bits of unexpected pleasure.

I'll leave you with this and continue on through the week!

Have a wonderful day~

xoxo

lynn

linking to Wow Us Wednesdays