Tasty Tuesday Fail!

I had intended to make a knock-off of Starbuck's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins for this week. However, I learned that I should not attempt to multi task while baking and to always use fresh ingredients.

My muffins looked great straight out of the oven:

But were totally doughy on the inside and tasted awful.


I'm going to attempt a re-do!

This is definitely a mis-adventure!

Annie makes her debut!

If you remember, I found Annie a few months ago here. It took me forever, but I finally got her finished!

Here's the before:

And here she is after:

To make her look so pretty and matching, I

Unscrewed the seat and set it aside to recover while watching the Georgia game

Sanded her down until the finish was dull and spots of bare wood were showing

Washed the entire piece with soap and water and let dry

Paint three very light coats of pure white glossy interior latex paint ( I used a Valspar sample can) with a good quality brush.

While the paint is drying, take the staples out from the existing cover. I did this on the living room floor watching football. I use a screwdriver to pry the staples up, then pull them out with needle nose pliers. There's probably an easier way, but this works for me.

Take the old cover off.  If you need to add new foam/ padding, do so now.

To recover:

Lay a piece of muslin or white fabric on a flat surface ( like the floor) and smooth out. Cut out around the seat bottom, leaving a generous amount to staple with.

Pull up the top side taut, and put a staple in. Repeat with the opposite side.

Now pull up the right side until tight, and put one staple in. Do the left. Now all four sides should have one staple holding the fabric tight.

Go back to the top side, and start adding additional staples. Add 3 or 4, then go do the bottom. Repeat around the sides until you've stapled the hell out of it.

Pull the point of the corner in to the center and staple. Fold the wings in neatly, and staple to make pretty corners.

Repeat the entire process with your pretty fabric.

Once that's done, hammer in any staples that decided to kick back.

Put the seat on the chair, and screw it back in.

Display the chair in a prominent area, and mention to everyone you know about your project.

Again, here she is:

Linked up to:

  

Front porch improvement

The planter my pumpkins were resting on got moved to actually hold flowers. I know, a concept. But mums were three for $10 at the orange store, which was too good a deal to pass up. And I only had two planters.

So the pumpkins were sitting on the ground, looking a little lonely.

 I have two Cafe chairs that were a gift from an Ex-Prince Charming for my back patio table. They're not really designed for sitting exposed, and are definitely a project for the to-do list. Way down the list. I also have to decide what color to paint them. Maybe something bright and funky.

Anyways, the front porch is covered, so I took one chair and brought it out to the front porch.

My pumpkins now have more drama.

 I needed  a holder for all things gardeny like my watering can and hand trowel to clean up the porch. So while at Ikea on Sunday, I picked up this white pot to put hand tools in.

Then I found a white pumpkin at a yard sale, so I moved things around and now the tools are hidden.