Doodles & Stitches: June 2013

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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This is no ordinary cookie...

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup raw sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup milk chocolate chips

	Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
	Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and raw sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
	Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Mango Salsa

You must try this salsa! Tobi (one of my very best friends) gave me this recipe & it's AMAZING!

Mango Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can Mexican style corn, drained and rinsed

1 onion, diced

2 T chopped jalapeno

1 mango, diced

1 avocado, diced

¼ - ½ cup chopped cilantro (I used about ¾ cup with the doubled recipe. Really to taste)

Juice from 1 lime

Red wine vinegar to taste (I used about 1/8 cup)

Salt and Pepper

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West End Salvage

Have you seen the show? Have you visited the shop? It's in Des Moines, IA
Their show's on HGTV and DIY and if you haven't seen it, you must!
They create the coolest designs and furniture and have AMAZING IDEAS!
They have salvaged items from all over the WORLD. The items in this place are incredibly unique.
I got to meet Don Short, the owner, when I was visiting in Des Moines last week.
I wanted to share some of my favorite pics with you...

(click to visit their site)

Here are some of my favorite things I saw at West End Salvage...

How cool are these?

Is your mind going crazy with possibilities for these old radiator and vent covers?

If only this would fit in my suitcase?!!?

I love this old Shoe Case. So beautiful!

This is the stair well - the place has 4 floors! It's like Disney World for someone like me, I could have spent several days in there. Amazing!

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French Chair

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A French Chair named Fantine

I found this chair at an estate sale recently.

I knew it had great potential.

The BEFORE photo makes this chair look much better than it actually did.

The fabric was faded, ripped and smelled like Aqua Net and Ben-Gay.

The upper fabric was glued and stapled to the chair. I found it was very difficult to remove.

I removed the front top completely, after removing the seat.

Under the seat, I found 4 signatures on each corner.

I love making up stories in my mind about oddities like this.

I imagine they were from 4 loving ladies that recovered this chair for their mother or grandmother,

a couple of decades ago.

I left the back fabric on the top. It was not removable without tearing up the foam.

Moving on to the painting technique...

First of all,

I painted the whole chair with Miss Mustard Seed's Ironstone.

As you can see, it peeled and flaked where it wanted to.

That's part of the magic of milk paint.

Next, I washed the entire chair (in a very watered down paint technique) using ASCP "Creme".

Then I mixed a little ASCP "Duck Egg" with the "Creme" and using a detail brush,

I painted in the accents on the chair (see above photo)

I lightly sanded over the paint to allow alittle more wood to show through.

I covered the seats with this beautiful fabric from Premiere and

I used this pretty trim around the edge.

It covered my hot glue globs ;)

And here it sits in my foyer.

Steve says it's his favorite piece that I've ever painted...

and I've painted a lot of pieces!

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I got these awesome cups at Home Goods.

They are made by Cynthia Rowley and the entire set of 4 cost only $7.

As adorable as these cups are... the MONOGRAM makes them!

I used one of my favorite script fonts... "Janda Happy Day"

and I used "Bright Pink" adhesive vinyl by Silhouette.

Each letter is about 2 inches by 1.25 inches.

For a complete tutorial on using the silhouette cameo, see my other posts...

DIY Silhouette Cameo & Vinyl

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Vinyl Door Numbers

Affiliate. See Disclosure HERE.

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DIY Beach Pillows

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I made these pillows in one hour last night!
It's a super-easy sewing project.

Here are my notes and simple instructions...

FORMULA:
(Height of pillow) + (1/2 inch)
(Width of pillow) x2 + (7 inches)

In order to sew a covering for a pillow that measures 20" x 20"
this is how you'll calculate using the above formula...
(20") + (1/2 inch) = 20 1/2 inches
(20")x2 = 40 + 7 inches = 47 inches

So... cut your fabric 20 1/2 inches x 47 inches