My New Dessert Stand (and Giveaway)

Yesterday when I was at Goodwill I saw a plate and dome set sitting on the shelf and thought about it but it was $4.99 and after all I was at Goodwill…I didn’t want to pay that much for it. After I got home and I was browsing around I saw several posts over at the Shanty 2 Chic blog where everyone was participating in their “I did it with Gorilla Glue” party last week. There were several posts on how other bloggers had used Gorilla Glue to create dessert plates. I wanted to make a Pedestal Dessert Stand too. Immediately I thought of the plate and dome set that left on the shelf at Goodwill. So the next morning on my way to work I decided to pop back into the Goodwill to see if it was still there and it was my lucky day because there it was. Someone had thought about buying it I know because it was on the other end of the shelf. I do that all the time. I will find something and walk around the store with it until I make up my mind about buying it but lucky for me that day because the shopper put it back on the shelf and I scooped it up. Next I needed a pedestal. I found a class candle holder that still had some wax dripping on it and it was priced at $1.99. I took them both to the check out and now they are mine.

I scraped all of the wax drippings off of the candle holder and I washed all the pieces.

The directions on the Gorilla Glue say to apply a thin coat of the glue to one of the pieces and to dampen the other piece where you want to join the two together. The water and glue will “foam” a little bit and they caution you to not use too much. Then after you join the pieces together they instruct you to clamp them together until they dry. I don’t own a “clamp” and I don’t think it would have worked on my project so I grabbed the next best heavy thing I could find to apply some pressure…A bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz! Worked perfectly.

Now, have to say I am thrilled with my new Dessert Stand and it was a piece of cake to make…HOWEVER……

I am not happy with the way the glue dried! I thought it would be “clear” and it is “white”. Just like the package said. Yes, it says right on the package that it dries “white” but I guess I wanted to believe it would dry clear so badly that didn’t believe it! It’s really not a problem. This is nothing against Gorilla Glue. It is a great product and when a project requires an extra strong glue…..Gorilla Glue is the way to go. I just did not want to leave out any details and felt like I had to give it to you straight! I am a fan of “no surprises!” So just be prepared to see the glue if you use a clear plate. I am going to get some of those little white paper dessert doilies and no one will ever know. Also, you can’t see where I attached the pieces when I have food on the plate. I will keep searching for a glue that is strong enough to hold clear glass but also dries clear because this project is just too easy and too cute not to try again!

See the white glue through the center of the plate?

With that said……LOOK! How beautiful is that? And, I made it myself!

And what a pretty price tag. Total Price: $7.00. :) I am linking this post up to the “I Can Make That” Party over at Just a Girl. That is where you are going to find lots of other great project ideas to try out for your self. AND……

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!! Just click on the blue gift box on my side bar for more details!!

I am also linking this up to DIY DAY at A Soft Place to Land and Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville and Transformation Thursday over at The Shabby Chic Cottage Stop by and be amazed!

I Am Having A Giveaway!!

How cute are these three wall plaques??? They can be yours! Today I am announcing a GIVEAWAY! I was delighted to be approached by www.csnbaby.com about hosting a giveaway featuring one of their great products on my blog. www.cnsbaby.com has generously offered this set of 3 wall plaques for my giveaway and I am going to offer up to 3 ways to enter.

Their website is huge and has everything you could ever possibly want or need for the baby in your life including nursery furniture. Now my babies are practically grown and grand children are not anywhere on my radar yet. Whew! :) But these would also make such a great baby or shower gift. If you would like chance to win this set here is what you do:

1. Visit the CSN Baby site and take a look around at all of their great products and then leave me a comment on what you found that you liked best.

2. If you already follow my blog let me know and I will give you an additional entry. OR become a follower of my blog and send me a note to let me know and I will put you in for an additional entry.

3. Mention my GIVEAWAY with a link to my blog on YOUR BLOG and let me know and I will put you in for a third entry.

CSN stores also has many other websites that you might be interested in such as www.csnstores.com, www.allbarstools.com, www.cookware.com and many more! ( I need to take a look at their bar stool site for myself.) :)

My CSN Baby Giveaway will end this Friday, November 13, 2009 and I will announce the winner on Monday, November 16, 2009.

I will use a random number generator to pick a winner. So take a few extra minutes and have a look at their great products and let me know what you find! Easy Peasy!! Good Luck!!

Lamp Revamp

I see brass lamps all the time now at the Goodwill. This one only cost me $1.99. It works perfectly. It’s only crime was that it was brass in color and therefore now regarded as “dated”. I brought it home with me determine to give it a more up to date look.

When I bought this brass lamp it was missing the “harp” that the lampshade attaches to. So I picked one up at Lowe’s for $2.98. That was all it needed other than a new shade and a color make-over.

First thing I did was to clean it up. Then I used my blue painter’s tape to cover the parts I didn’t want to spray paint. I took it outside and gave it a coat of spray paint and let it dry.

I could see that I missed a couple of spots so I gave it a second coat. I used Rustoleum metallic finish spray paint for the oiled bronze look I like so much and let it dry.

This lamp has such a simple shape to it and I love the grooves of the middle section. It is amazing how different it looks once re-painted.

The spray paint gave the base such a nice sturdy looking appearance.

I removed the tape, added a light bulb, and a new burlap/linen covered shade and here you go. I found a slightly cheaper burlap/linen look lampshade at Lowe's for $14.98 that is almost identical to the one I bought at Target for $19.99 for the Floor Lamp Redo I finished and posted to my blog earlier this week. You can pop by there if you have a minute to take a look at that project

Bye, Bye Brass, Hello New Lamp!

Total Price: $20.00. ($1.99 for the lamp,$ 2.98 for the "harp", and $14.99 for the lampshade.)

Our First Year College Student Daughter is already talking about moving out of the dorm next year. She said “I think our dorm room is shrinking”. I have always thought since the day we moved her in that her room was unbelievably small. And they put two girls in there! Dark and tiny so I understand why she is already dreaming about an apartment with more space. Anyway that means she will be needing some furniture. I think I should be able to re-hab a lot of Goodwill Goodies to help outfit her apartment. Good thing I have a year’s notice. :)

I Love Painter’s Tape!

I love Painter’s Tape! It makes me fearless about painting almost anything. In the old days, when it came to painting a room, my husband painted out all the trim areas and I did the rolling. We have only hired a painter once in all the years we have been married and the 7 houses we have lived in. We have a two story foyer area that needed painting and there was no way we were going to be able to do it ourselves so we broke down and hired a professional. But other than that we have always done it ourselves. When we were building the house we live in now I was so overwhelmed with all the decisions we had to make that we actually told the builder to just paint everything beige. BIG MISTAKE!! When I look back at that decision now I just shake my head! My husbands new job at the time required him to travel a lot and I really didn’t want to guilt him in to painting walls on the weekends so I decided it was something I could do myself. And I did! With the exception of the kitchen and family room which we painted together, I painted everything else. All of the bedrooms, bathrooms, dining room and office. Piece of cake. With the help of Scotch Brand Blue Painter’s Tape, (this is not a paid endorsement…I wish!) I taped off baseboards, ceilings, and door and window trim, rolled the walls, and had professional looking results when I pulled the tape off. It is a great feeling to pull that tape off and reveal a clean and crisp painted edge.

Now what made me decide to write about “Painter’s Tape” of all things? Well, I found a set of bar ware at the Goodwill for $1.99.

Here they are with some of the other things I picked up that I will revamp in the next week or so. I cleaned them up and removed the metal rings on the ends and taped them off with some of my favorite Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape and gave them a good spray down with some black paint. They look like new!

The painter’s tape lets me cover what I don’t want painted and it is easy to remove.

First I sprayed the front side. Let it dry. Then I sprayed the opposite side careful to cover all the nooks and crannies.

We have never had a bar ware set before. We have limped along and can pretty much make any drink with our Chief Wahoo Shot glass from our days enjoying Cleveland Indians Baseball and living in Ohio. My re-vamped set has five pieces and it has a jigger! I think it’s a jigger. And I am not sure what one of the other pieces is…I am guessing maybe a tool to make lemon or lime peels? Anyway, we will try our new set out and if we end up using all the pieces and if they make entertaining easier I will then think about investing in a really nice set. But in the meantime, these will do the job.

And here they are. Looks like a new set to me! Not bad for $1.99!

I am going to link this post up to Transformation Thursday over at Tales from Bloggeritaville and Thrifty Thursday over at The Shabby Chic Cottage. Visit both of these site to see what other trash has been transformed into treasure this week.

The Wizard of Oz Tree

In honor of Outdoor Wednesday over at A Southern Day Dreamer ,I would like to show you the tree I pass when walking our dog Oakley along my favorite trail in the woods. The trail is now covered with fallen leaves and I love the crunch and swishing sound it makes when we walk through them. Every time I walk past this tree I think of the tree in the Wizard of Oz who gets so insulted when Dorothy and the Scarecrow try to pick an apple off of it that he slaps their hand. It’s a dead tree and I am not sure what kind it once was but it has a fun and creepy look to it all at the same time. And it didn’t even throw apples at me after I took it’s picture!

Stop by tomorrow to see what I found at the Goodwill today that I am revamping. Sorry but I can’t show it to you until tomorrow because the paint is still drying.

Also, if you haven’t stopped by Leigh’s Tales of Bloggeritaville yet to vote in her Best Halloween Costume Contest do so now and think about casting your vote for the Jolly Green Giant and Little Sprout. So far I think we are loosing quite badly to “The Dust Bunny”. The kid’s costume section is so cute to look at. Check it out for Halloween Costume ideas for next year! And THANK YOU if you think our costumes are worthy of your vote!! The contest ends tomorrow so vote today!! Happy Wednesday!

Scored a New Floor Lamp Today

Well, I scored big today at the Goodwill. We need a new floor lamp in our office. There is just not enough lighting in there. We turned our living room into an office and we desperately need better lighting in there. It is the only room on the lower level that does not have some sort of overhead lighting. We really need to bite the bullet and hire an electrician to come out an install an overhead light or chandelier in the middle of the ceiling of that room. In the meantime we have been limping along on the world’s ugliest 1980’s Brass floor lamp. I am so delighted to put it out in the trash for the week. It is not even worthy of going to the Goodwill or having a new paint job. Believe me, I thought about painting it. But the thing is it buzzes when you turn on one of the two switches it has. Buzzing cannot be good. I don’t want to pass along a hazard on to some unsuspecting Goodwill shopper who would thing she scored big until she got it home and it buzzed when she plugged it in. Kind of like me when I brought home that chair that I did not know belonged to a smoker. BUYER BEWARE!

Yesterday it was cold and rainy all day long and my plan was to go out and purchase a new floor lamp. That never happened. And now today I know why. There in the back of the Goodwill was standing a great looking floor lamp! It was waiting for me. It had some amber colored glass bauble danglies (a new word that I just made up :)) but it was sturdy and looked to be in perfect condition. Even the color was right. And you know that I am not afraid of the Spray Paint but seriously this already had that oiled bronze finish that I like. A mere $15.00! Sold!

Next stop was Target to look at lampshades and I was lucky once again and found the perfect Burlap/Linen looking shade. The shade actually cost more than the lamp at$19.99. I brought my new things home, gave it a good scrubbing, and the amber glass danglies had to go. And here it is! It should work perfectly in our office next to my Vintage Typewriter Keys artwork. The electrician still needs to be called but this will get us by until then in a much more up to date way. So the total price tag: $35.00. Not bad!! I am going to add Today's Goodwill Score to Between Naps on the Porch for METAMORPHOSIS MONDAY. I am also posting on The Thrifty Decor Chic so stop by and see what other deals and transformations have taken place today!

I am linking this post to Furniture Feature Friday over at Miss Mustard Seed's blog. Stop by there to see other faboulous furniture and house !

Spicy Rubbed Roasted Chicken

Something as basic a Roasted Chicken was not always so basic to me. I did not make my first fully Roasted Chicken until just a few years ago. Since most of my family will only eat the white meat it seemed wasteful. This is the recipe that changed all that around here.

I decided to give it a try when I sawthat the name of the recipe was “Spicy Rapid Roast Chicken”. I was lured in with the words “Spicy” and “Rapid”. “Spicy” it is…and “Rapid” it is not. I like to buy the big Roaster Chickens for this…you know the ones with the pop up timer. It’s kind of like roasting a mini turkey really. I usually buy a 7 to 8 pound Chicken and if you want to try this one…and I highly encourage you to do so, plan on it roasting for between 2 to 3 hours. It is truly worth every minute of wait time. (your house smell so good too.)

Here is the recipe and I renamed it because the word “Rapid” was an outright lie!!

Spicy Rubbed Roast Chicken

1 7–8 pound whole “Roaster” Chicken

Olive Oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp. paprika

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse chicken thoroughly inside and out under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towel. Place chicken in a shallow roasting pan. Rub the entire chicken with olive oil. In a small dish, mix the kosher salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, paprika, and cayenne pepper together. Sprinkle all of the rub mixture over both sides of the chicken.

Make a “tent” out of Aluminum Foil and loosely cover the top of the chicken to prevent over browning. Put the chicken in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Lower the temperature to 400 degrees and continue to roast till done. Check every now and then and towards the end of roasting remove the foil to enhance the browning. When your pop up timer is up…in approximately 2 1/2 hours, remove from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before you start to carve.

I like to move the Chicken to a cutting board after it has rested and then pour all of the juices from the pan into a fat separating cup. You want to keep all of the deep brown sauce and browned bits and pour off the fat. This sauce is what makes this chicken so wonderful. Something about all of those rub spices mixed in there with all the browned bits and it is delicious. Carve your chicken and then pour the brown sauce over the platter of meat.

Serve with mashed potatoes or hot buttered noodles and a vegetable.

(You can use the leftover carcass for making chicken stock. Place in a stock pot and cover with water, throw in some carrots, and a chunked up onion and simmer for at least an hour or more. Strain and save the broth for making Chicken Noodle Soup the next day with any leftover meat you might have left or freeze for future use. Makes a very flavorful soup stock.)

Now it was a rainy and raw day here today…the men were starving…and I forgot to take a photo of my bird when it came out of the oven so the top photo is an image from google but very closely resembles what mine looked like. I even served green beans with it like in the photo. But I served mashed potatoes instead of the roasted ones above. Oh, and there was no Iced Tea either. I’ll get the hang of this blogging thing one of these days. :)

I am adding this post to FOOD FRIDAY over at DESIGNS BY GOLLUM. Stop by there for some wonderful recipes!