DIY Canvas Print - Take 2

See Take 1 to find out what didn't work for me in making my own canvas print. Here is the successful version :)


Supplies:
Canvas (I used 8"x16")
Picture* (same size as your canvas)
Scissors
Matte Mod Podge
Wax Paper
Paint (color of your choice for the border, black is a nice complement to a black and white print - I used the small acrylic bottles found at Hobby Lobby)
Sponge Brush
Small Paint Brush
Spray Sealer Flat Finish (found with the spray paint at home improvement or craft stores)


*Since I was up against a deadline (we were exchanging Christmas gifts at Thanksgiving and it was Sunday night that I finally admitted defeat on take 1 and we were leaving Wednesday morning which means I had to have this ready by Tuesday....), I was in a little bit of a pinch to get a large, decent print made. I usually use Adorama for my printing needs, but there was no time for shipping. I had trouble finding a local place (Walgreens, Target, Walmart, etc) that would print in the size I needed (8" x 16") so I again went to the UPS store and had them print it on cardstock. This worked out really well as I didn't want a glossy finish anyway and I was able to increase the contrast on the print after the first time as it printed a little more gray than it looked on my screen.

Trim your picture so it will fit on your canvas without the edges hanging off. Spread a coat of  Mod Podge on the canvas and place the picture on the canvas. Smooth out the bubbles with your hands. You have to work quickly here as the Mod Podge dries quickly on the canvas. Turn the canvas upside down and place some heavy books on it to give it a good bond.
Once it is dry, squirt some paint onto a tray (disposable plates work great for this). Use a dry sponge brush to sponge paint the sides of the canvas.

If you sponge on the sides of the canvas, just the right amount should sponge over onto the edge of your print. This gives it a cool look and covers up any part of the print that might not have been cut straight (if you're like me). Use the small paint brush to get in the corners and in between the print and canvas, if necessary.

Once the paint is dry, cover the whole canvas, sides included, with a coat of Mod Podge. I generally use my finger as a Mod Podge applicator, but you could use a foam brush or something similar if you'd like.

When the Mod Podge has dried for a few minutes, set it upside down on waxed paper and again put heavy books on it. Let dry overnight.
Spray canvas, including sides, with a clear, flat finish sealer/protector spray - two coats. This step is not necessary, but it helps to hide any imperfections in the Mod Podge layer and give the print a smooth finish.


Here's the finished product.

I am delighted at how it turned out!


I wanted a matte finish to the print so I used matte Mod Podge and a flat spray, but you can use the glossy versions if you want a glossy finish.

DIY Canvas Print - Take 1

I've recently seen a few blog posts about making your own canvas print. I love this idea and thought I would give it a try with a picture I took of my new nephew. It would make a great Christmas gift for my sister and brother-in-law.


Here's the step by step on making a canvas print via photo transfer.


Supplies:
Canvas (I used 8"x16")
Picture printed on plain paper (since I was using a large size, I got mine printed at the UPS store - be sure to print it flipped horizontally as the mirror image will appear on the canvas)
Scissors
Gel Medium (I used Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel found at Hobby Lobby)
Foam Brush
Water Bottle
Newspaper

Cut your picture to fit the canvas. I cut mine a little bit bigger than the canvas so the image would wrap around the sides of the canvas.

Spread a thick layer of the gel medium all over the canvas.

Place the picture upside down on the canvas and smooth it with your fingers. Try to get out all of the bubbles. If you cut the picture a little bigger than the canvas, be sure to cover the sides with gel medium and press the paper against the sides. Let canvas try overnight on newspaper. (I use our awesome, very country, Pigeon Roost News.)

Now for the difficult part. Use a water bottle to wet the paper and rub the paper away with your fingers. You have to be very careful because you need to remove all the paper, but not the image. This takes a lot of patience.

My image looked pretty good after getting a lot of the paper off, but when it dried, there were still paper remnants that became visible. I tried wetting the canvas again to remove the paper residue, but it was hard to get it off without also taking off the image. I put the canvas under running water in hopes of disintegrating the paper that way instead of rubbing which at this point was taking off the image, but that didn't work.


In the end, I was left with....

Not such a great gift. Thankfully, the blogosphere has more than one way to make a canvas print so on to take 2. I really wanted the transfer method to work because I think it's the coolest, but sometimes, you just need to admit defeat. Stay tuned for take 2.

Confidence

If you've talked to my hubby at all in the last, say, 5 months, you would know that he is confident. Very, very confident. You would know this because he would have told you. Multiple times. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard the word, "confident," I would be a rich lady. He even made a chart of his confidence through the years. It's trending higher (which he is sure to tell you). But I digress.


Being from the South, he likes to wear sleeveless t-shirts in the summer. This fashion choice is one that amuses my sister and brother-in-law so when we found out that they have sleeveless onesies, we knew the perfect gift for said sister and brother-in-law's little bundle of joy.


Of course we couldn't give him plain old sleeveless shirts, we spruced them up Uncle Mark style.

Word of the hubby's confidence can spread even farther now. We also made a tuxedo sleeveless onesie (for those formal occasions babies go to), and a baseball one since that's the hubby's favorite sport.


Since little baby J lives in Chicago, we got these in 9 month size so they'll be the perfect fit when warmer weather comes to town. Best gift ever? Quite possibly :)

Bruchhaus Baby Bash!

We recently hosted a shower for some coworker friends. They are expecting a bouncy baby boy on December 10. I had a lot of fun preparing for the shower and Stephanie, my planning cohort, did a great job with the games and cakes. I think everyone had a great time (even the single guys!). Now to the pictures!


I altered our fall decor a little bit to fit the baby boy theme.

We had a yummy hot chocolate bar with crushed peppermints, caramel, piroulines, and, of course, marshmallows and whipped cream.

This excellent pumpkin dip was fun to show off in a home-grown pumpkin.

Stephanie did a great job with the diaper cake.

And the real cake.

The happy soon-to-be parents!

Congratulations Michael and Abby!

Schrute Farms

Back in April, we planted some carrot seeds. Throughout the summer, I periodically pulled a couple, but they were always very small. So eventually, I just left them alone. Finally, this fall, I pulled up the rest and here's what we got:

They look a bit more like beets than carrots.

Since the growing season was ending, I was going to pull up the rest of the garden, but then I found this little pumpkin growing.

Hard to believe that little thing was growing in this mess! 

Here's the tomato plant that started growing tomatoes in September after the wind knocked it on it's side.

That pretty much wraps up this year's garden. I transplanted the herbs into containers and brought them inside. We'll have to come up with some new things to grow next year and give it another go.

Fryin' Okra

I’ve never fried anything before. Like, really fried. Sure, I’ve fried an egg and used olive oil to sauté chicken, but I’ve never put a vat of Crisco in a frying pan and fried something. Until now that is. When my friend S and I were at the local farmers market, I saw a basket of okra. I told her that the hubby likes fried okra and she told me how she makes it (so good as to impress her father-in-law). So we split a basket and got out the Crisco.

Chop up the okra; soak it in eggs.

Mix cornmeal and whatever spices you like (I used paprika, garlic powder, and pepper) and add the egg-soaked okra.

Heat Crisco in a frying pan until it is liquid.

Toss okra in the Crisco and fry.

In this particular batch, I didn’t use enough Crisco, but they still turned out okay.

My Southern husband gave me a 6 for my effort. I’d say that’s pretty good for my first attempt at frying!

Fall Decor

I don’t usually decorate for the seasons, but this year I wanted to do something with pinecones. So with a little inspiration from Pinterest and some help from the garden, I redecorated the mantel and added a touch of fall to the dining room.

Here is the mantel before.

I started with the square hurricane vase. I filled it with popcorn, red kidney beans, green split peas, and topped it off with round spiky plant matter that fall off trees like pinecones (I have no idea what they are called, but they look cool). I put an upside down bud vase inside the hurricane before filling it with the popcorn, beans, and peas. That helped fill up some of the space inside so I didn’t need as much popcorn, etc. A couple pinecones surround the vase that’s tied with a strip of burlap.

Upside down wine glasses make great candelabras. They also display pinecones and a gourd. I tied strips of orange fabric around the stem of two of the glasses and used a brown ribbon for the third. I love this wine glass idea because it can be reinvented in so many ways. Different color ribbons and display objects can be used for a variety of seasons and events.

A pumpkin and gourd adorn the end of the mantel.

I used the extra gourds by the letter blocks.

I really like the final product. Simple, but festive.

In the dining room, I flipped the table runner to the brown side and set up three pinecone/gourd wine glass candelabras.

I also filled a couple bowls on the hutch with the extra pine cones.

Now I want to drink some hot apple cider!

Sources: The popcorn, beans, and peas are from the grocery store. I picked up the pinecones and the spiky spheres on the side of the road when I was out for a bike ride. The wine glasses are from Dollar Tree and hurricane vase from Garden Ridge. I got the round candles on clearance at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The pumpkin is from our garden and the gourds are from Walmart.

Subway vs. Goats

This weekend, the hubby and I took a trip to Eureka Springs, AR for a wedding. On the way through rural Arkansas, he mentioned that a house in that area with lots of land is better than a condo in Chicago. His main point to back up his statement is that you have room for goats in rural Arkansas.


After being on the road for a couple hours, we were getting hungry and looking for a Subway to stop and eat. While on a winding, rural road (with no restaurant in sight), we saw a yard with several goats. Here is the conversation that transpired...


Hubby and I simultaneously: Goats!
Me (sarcastically): You're right this is way better than Chicago. But they don't have a Subway.
Hubby (emphatically): You don't need Subway. You have goat milk!
Me (sarcastically, again): Because goat milk is so filling.
Hubby (still emphatic): You can eat the goats too. Just don't eat the goat if there's only one.

What's your opinion? Subway or goats?

Chicago!

I got to spend a week in my old city, Chicago, helping out with my new nephew! It was wonderful being able to help care for this adorable little boy.

Isn’t he the most precious thing you’ve ever seen?

While I was there, I also got to hang out with my young, cool, urban friends, L and K. L just got back from a trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley while K had just gotten back from a fabulous trip to Paris. So we met at their new favorite spot, P Diddy’s (aka Taverna 750) for dinner, drinks, and travel stories.

The drinks at P Diddy’s come with a sidecar in a bowl of ice. Nice! L and I both got the 750 and K got a Manhattan.

It’s kind of like Italian tapas so we got to try lots of different dishes. We finished off the night with this amazing chocolate lava cake. So good!

What a wonderful week in the city. I even got to bring home a few bottles of cheap wine from Trader Joe’s.  :)

Alabama!

A few weeks ago, my husband and I had a free Saturday. When he suggested some sort of mini road trip, I immediately responded with, "Let's go to Alabama!" I've been keeping a tally of states I've visited and thanks to a trip out west this summer, I reached 40. But Alabama was not one of those 40. Despite the fact that it's the state right next to mine and it's only 80 miles down the road, it remained the only state east of the Mississippi that I had not visited. So off we went!


Here we are at the border. He was so nice as to pull over and pose for a picture with me.  :)

This trip did nothing but remind us that we were in the South. We passed a catfish barn, Discount Camo next door to the gun and knife store, and a dollar grocery with a tobacco-only drive through. This was all before we left Mississippi!

The highlight of Alabama was the signs for the Coon Dog Cemetery. Seriously?

We drove to Muscle Shoals at my insistence mainly because I recognized it from Sweet Home Alabama (it has the Swampers and they've been known to pick a song or two). We didn't find much there, but nearby was the home of Helen Keller.

We took the Natchez Trace Parkway back which provided some peaceful green scenery. We came close to going through Tupelo, MS which I have been wanting to visit even though my husband insists that it's not exciting. Similar to Muscle Shoals, my desire to visit is due to the fact that I've heard of it in a song. This one from The Proclaimers (of I Would Walk 500 Miles fame). "Sean I'd say the best one came from Tupelo, Mississippi I'll tell you now that grown men cry and Irish girls are pretty." We'll have to save Tupelo for another day.


41 states down. Only 9 more to go!

Makin' Whoopie! (Pies, of course!)

Ever since I got a whoopie pie cookbook and baking sheet, I have been wanting to try them out. But, I needed an excuse so I wouldn't end up eating them all myself. When my friend E had a sweet baby boy, taking them dinner was the perfect reason to make some whoopie pies.


I also love any excuse to use my KitchenAid mixer.

Just before I licked the beater...

Ready for the oven.

Cooling by the window.

Marshmallow filling :)

It's official. They're great!

Cupcake carriers are a good way to store and transport whoopie pies.

Writing this post has made me hungry, I might have to go eat one of the 2 pies left.  :)

The Week's Favorites

Last week, I had two delicious dishes that made a reappearance at the end of the week for a nice date with the hubby.


The first dish is Lemon-Spiced Chicken (adapted from The Newlyweds' Cookbook). This is best made with thighs as suggested by the cookbook and confirmed by my resident poultry expert.


8 chicken thighs
1/3 c evoo
juice from 1 lemon
1 T cumin
1 t paprika
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 t oregano
several sprigs of fresh lemon thyme (great and easy to grow in the garden)
coarse salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)

Mix the oil, lemon juice, and spices in a bowl. I pull the leaves off of most of the lemon thyme, but leave a couple whole sprigs in there. Put the chicken in a baking dish and pour the mixture over top. Be sure to coat the chicken well with the mixture. Let sit for 30-60 minutes or refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Heat oven to 400.


Ready to go in the oven...

Roast in the oven at 400 for 40-50 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Serve with pan juices poured over.


I complemented this with my favorite pasta salad.

Call me a cheater, but I love Suddenly Pasta Salad. It's even better with my favorite croutons crushed on top.


I also sauteed some yellow squash and spinach with a little chicken broth and fresh lemon thyme.


Yum!