Chevron Striped Table Top Refinish

When my husband and I first got married 7 years ago, we bought this little kitchen table and four chairs off of craigslist. The top wasn't in the best shape when we bought it so we stripped and refinished the top and it was beautiful. After 7 years and 3 kids and scrubbing up all of their messes, the top was looking pretty bad. 

We were going to refinish the top again, but then my in-laws called us and said they got a new table and wondered if we wanted their old one. Theirs was a foot longer and had bench seats that could comfortably seat 8 adults and even more kids so of course we said yes!

We decided to try to sell our poor looking little table and chairs, but the most we could get for it was $40. I just couldn't give it up for the little amount, so I decided to have some fun with it. I have always wanted to try painting a design on a table top so this was the perfect opportunity.

I decided to go with a cute chevron pattern on top and to use whitewash so that you could still see the wood grain underneath and so that the chevron wouldn't be too bold of a white.

First I measured the table top. Our table was 48" wide by 35.5" wide. I got some graph paper and drew it to scale so that I could get a good idea of what the chevrons would look like. I went with 5 stripes with 4 peaks on each. I took 1/4" off each top and bottom so I wouldn't have to deal with the extra 1/2" and then did some math:

35 inches / 5 stripes = 7 inches / 2 = 3.5 inches

48 inches/ 4 peaks = 12 inches / 2 = 6 inches

on my graph, one square is 2 inches long so I drew the chevrons on my graph paper.

In order to transfer this pattern to the table top, I would need to draw a grid of dots on the table top, 3.5 inches apart width wise (starting 1/4 inch in on the top and bottom) and 6 inches apart lengthwise.

 
Now that I had it planned, I needed to prep the table. In order for everything to go on smooth and even, I needed to strip the rest of the current finish off. I used this citrus based paint and varnish stripper:

It doesn't have as many chemicals and fumes as other chemical-based strippers, but you should still use gloves. I sprayed it liberally on the whole top of the table and then let it sit for about an hour. You can take it off as early as 30 minutes after applying or wait as long as 12 hours.

I used a plastic putty knife to scrap off the softened finish. You want to be careful at this point not gouge the table as the wood will be softened a little too. It took a while to scrape it all off and every time I thought I was done I would scrape a little more and more would come off.

After I was pretty sure I had got most of it off. I used a palm sander and 60 grit sandpaper to smooth out the top. I gradually used finer grit sandpaper until the top was nice and smooth. I think I stopped with 120 grit, but I can't remember for sure.

This next part was the hardest part, measuring and marking the dots. I am a perfectionist and wanted each stripe to be perfectly aligned so I wanted to be sure that each dot was just right.

I started by taping the sides so I could just mark right on the tape. Then I drew lines 6 inches apart along the length and 3.5 inches (1/4" from the edge) apart along the width.

Luckily my husband has tons of different rulers and measuring tools, so used a large T square type ruler (the yellow one in the picture) and a smaller metal one to mark each dot.

 After I was happy with the dots, I used frogtape to connect dots and outline the stripes as I didn't want any of the whitewash to bleed through.

You want be sure to tape along the bottom of the stripes and top of the other so that they come out the same width. It will look like they are uneven, but it is just an optical illusion and as long as your grid of dots was right, they will come out just right.

I started out just outlining them, but after doing the first stripe, we decided it would be easier to just tape over all of the space we don't want white.  Before you do the whitewash, you want to erase any of the dots that you can see.

For the whitewash we used this Minwax white wash pickling stain. It leaves a subtle white, but the grain of the wood will still show through.

This part is easiest with 2 people as you have to work fast. My husband and I worked together on this. He painted on the stain (pretty liberally) and then I followed close behind with a rag to lightly wipe it off. We found that if we left it on too long the cheap wood that our table was made of, would soak it up unevely and look splotchy. When you wipe it off, you want to just go in one direction and go with the grain. After the first coat was dry, we repeated it two more times for a total of 3 coats. 

When it is dry, remove the tape and admire the beautiful stripes.

 

Not bad, huh? If you see any more dots, now is a good time to erase those too.

 

Now for the finish. We wanted something that would hold up pretty well to water and being wiped off repeatedly. We also wanted something water-based, as oil-based finishes tend to amber a bit and we were afraid it would make the white stripes look yellow.

 We chose Minwax Polycrylic Finish:

Using a foam or synthetic brush, I carefully wiped on the finish going with the grain. Be careful to not get bubbles. Then I used 220 grit sandpaper, wrapped around a wood block to sand it in between coats. After sanding, I wiped it off well with a microfiber towel to get off all of the dust. I repeated this process 6 times over the course of a week. 3 coats probably would have been fine, but I did a few more to be sure it would hold up well. At first, you could feel the edge of the stripes pretty well when running your finger across it, but after a while, everything was perfectly smooth and you couldn't feel them anymore.

I was so happy with the way it turned out, that I really wanted to keep it, but then I realized we have no where to put it in our tiny townhouse, so I sold it. I sold it for $100, and I felt good about that. I think I could have gotten more if I would have waited longer, but we needed the space in our garage. I hope the new owners appreciate it and get good use out of it!

1000 Sale GIVEAWAY

I made my 1000th sale on Etsy last week (or the week before, I can't remember exactly) so I am celebrating!

First I am offering free shipping (U.S. domestic orders only) on all orders of $5 or more. Just use the coupon code "FREESHIP1000". This offer expires on 7/15/13 so hurry!

Second, I am doing a GIVEAWAY! How would you like to win a $20 gift certificate to my Etsy shop? It is so easy to win, just use this widget to like my facebook page and leave your email address for 2 entries. For an extra entry, you can visit my shop and tell me what your favorite item is.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will be open until 6/22/13 at midnight. You must leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win. I will not use your email address for any other reason except to notify the winner. The winner will be notified within 48 hours of the giveaway closing. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, another winner will be chosen.

If I can get 100 likes on my facebook page, then I will giveaway a second $20 gift certificate, so share this with your friends too!

Thanksgiving Free Shipping

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We've got our turkey in the oven and family on the way. To celebrate the holiday and to help you with your Christmas shopping, I am having a free shipping sale through the weekend in the Etsy shop. Just use the coupon code THANKSGIVING2012 to receive free shipping on any order (U.S. orders only). The coupon will be active until midnight MDT on Sunday 11/25. Happy Shopping!

Our Holey Girl is 6 Months!

This sweet girl turned 6 months old this week. I can't believe how big she's getting. She's still small for her age (5th percentile), but at least we are on the charts and she is growing and that is all that matters.

We found out at her 4 month check-up that she had a heart murmur and we had to see a cardiologist. Come to find out she was born with 2 holes in her heart (an ASD and VSD). It was a scary few days between when we found out about the hole (at first we only knew about 1) and when we were able to speak to the cardiologist.

The cardiologist explained to us how common it was (1 in 100 babies is born with a heart defect) and that most go on to live normal, healthy lives. Our "holey" girl is lucky in that so far she is fine and it is not affecting her too much. As long as she continues to grow and stays active, she will probably not have to have any treatment. They may have to repair one of her holes, but they most likely won't have to do anything until she is 8 years old.

I guess lucky isn't really the right word for what she is. She is blessed. When we first found out about her heart, we had so many friends and family members praying for her and we felt them. Although we were scared, we knew it was going to be okay, and it was. Prayer works. 

New in the Shop: Universal Pacifier Clips

 I've got some new items in my Etsy shop. I'm really excited to show you all as I have been working on these pacifier clips for a while. Other things kept coming up though so I could only do a few at a time. I still have more colors/styles to complete, but I decided to just get what I have up for now.

The great thing about these pacifier clips are that they work for almost any pacifier type. I say almost because I have not tested it on every type, but I am pretty sure you can find a way to get it to work with any type. A lot of clips have a wide piece of fabric/material that clips around the handle part of the pacifier. They are frustrating because not all pacifiers have handles. All pacifiers do have ventilation holes though which is why my style of clip will work.

My clips have a loop of skinny elastic at the end that you loop through the handle, if it has one, or a ventilation hole if it does not. It will even fit through the tiny holes of the Soothie pacifiers that most hospitals give out!

The ribbon is sewn securely to a suspender style clip that has strong plastic teeth that grip onto your baby's clothes/blanket/car seat/stroller, whatever. They are high quality and pretty much impossible for baby to pull off. 

The ribbon is also so pretty and soft. I have several that I made for my baby girl and she loves to suck on the ribbon itself :)

I currently have 9 styles up on Etsy, but more are coming so look out for those too. Check them out here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RisC?section_id=12438299

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread That You Will Actually Want to Eat

A few years ago I started making my own bread from scratch and now I will never go back. The homemade kind tastes so much better, is so much better for you, and is so much cheaper. It is a little extra work, but once you get the hang of it, it is not hard at all. I make bread at least once a week.

Towards the end of my pregnancy, I made it a lot more and froze a bunch so that I wouldn't have to make some for a while after I had my baby. You can freeze them for a month or two, but I wouldn't go longer than a few months or 6 months at the most as they get freezer burnt really easily and that ruins the texture.

When I first started making bread, I used the bread recipe from pantry secrets. It is an okay recipe that is meant to be fail safe and easy. It is easy and fast, but I don't think that my recipe is any harder. Mine might be a little easier to mess up, but even when I do mess up, it still tastes good, it just doesn't look as pretty. I also like that mine has all REAL ingredients. Theirs requires Soy Lecithin and I am not sure what that is exactly, but I am sure it is processed and we are trying to avoid processed foods as much as we can. It is also hard to find and you have to buy it from them (which is convenient for them).

My recipe comes from my mom, who got it from a local bakery in CA. I have modified her recipe a bit to make 2 regular size loaves as hers makes HUGE loaves that don't fit in my bread bags. Growing up, everybody knew my mom for her bread. She would donate a few loaves for silent auction fundraisers and they would often sell for over $50 a loaf! It is really that good and you can hardly believe that you are eating whole wheat bread because it is so light, fluffy, and moist.

I was scared to make hers at first because I didn't think that I could make mine as good as hers, but come to find out it is really easy and mine taste just as good!

This bread uses 100% whole wheat flour. I grind mine myself if a wheat grinder right before I make it. Wheat flour loses its nutrient value quickly after you grind it (like within a few days) and can become rancid quickly. When you grind wheat, if you do not use it right away, be sure to store it in the freezer so that you can retain the nutrients better. You can also use whole wheat flour purchased from a store, but it won't have the nutrient value that using freshly ground wheat can have.

So on to the recipe (scroll all the way down for full recipe)

Break making is so much easier if you have a good mixer with kneading attachments. I use the 20+ year old mixer that was a hand me down from my mom after she got a Bosch. Bosch mixers are the best. Kitchen Aids will work, but their motors are not as strong and will burn out rather quickly if you make bread very often.  You can also mix and knead everything by hand.

 First thing I do is grind my wheat. I usually use hard white or hard red wheat. You can use either kind, just not soft wheat. I think the red has a little bit stronger of a flavor and I have heard that it can be a little harder to digest for people who are not used to eating a lot of wheat, but I have not noticed any difference.

I fill the top of my grinder with as much as it will hold. For my grinder, this makes about 4 cups and only takes a few minutes to grind. I set it aside to use later.

 In the mixing bowl, I first combine 2 1/4 cups of hot water, 1/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup honey and 1 t salt. For the water, I use filtered water and then heat it in the microwave for a minute. You want it hot, but not so hot that it burns your finger if you put it in it.

I also have a trick for the honey. I take my 1 cup pyrex liquid measuring cup and first put in 1/3 cup of oil. Then I add honey until it gets up to 2/3 cup. The honey will settle towards the bottom, but there will still be a little oil between the glass and the honey. Then when you pour it out, the honey just slips right out without sticking to the glass.

Then I add 1/3 cup of gluten. The gluten is very important as this is what keeps the bread from being crumbly. When using whole wheat flour, you have to have gluten or the bread won't have good texture and will be dense. Gluten has gotten a bad rap lately, but gluten is only bad for people who are sensitive to it. For most people, it is totally fine. Just because something is gluten free, does not mean it is healthy. 

 Then you add 1 Tablespoon of yeast. You can use dry active or instant yeast. Both will work just fine. The instant rises faster at first, but the dry active catches up and in the end they both make the bread rise in about the same amount of time.

 After the yeast, I leave my mixer on, and then add about 4-5 cups of wheat flour, a cup at a time. My wheat grinder usually does about 4 1/2 cups at a time, so sometimes I supplement with a little bit of bread flour (I like the Turkey Flour from Lehi Roller Mills) if 4 1/2 isn't a enough. Do not use all-purpose flour.

 The amount of flour needed will vary depending on the day (humidity, pressure, temperature, etc) which is why you add it a cup at a time. You want to keep adding until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a clump in the middle. When I made it for these pictures I used about 4 3/4 cups. If you add too much, it will be dry, but if you don't add enough, it will be too wet and sticky to work with. If you end up adding to much, just a little bit more water.

After adding the flour, put on the lid, turn up the speed and have it knead the bread for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile I usually put the ingredients away, wash my measuring cups/spoons, and grease my pans and a small section of the counter. I will also turn on the oven for just a minute, just so it is a little warm, but not hot.

After 5 minutes, turn it off and then grease up your hands really well so you can take the dough out of the bowl and put it on your counter. The dough should be pretty smooth and a little sticky so make sure you put it on the greased section of your counter. After you start kneading bread, you don't want to incorporate any more flour which is why we grease our hands and the counter instead of flouring it. 

Now we are going to hand knead it just a bit to smooth it out a bit more after taking it out of the bowl. Start out with a somewhat flattened mound, then fold it in half and press. Then rotate it 90 degrees and do it again. I usually use both hands for this, but I needed one hand to take pictures with. Repeat this 4-5 times.

Now you want to split the dough in half to make the 2 loaves. I form an elongated ball and then use my thumb and middle finger to pinch the dough into two (somewhat) equal halves.

 To form the loaves, I flatten it out and fold it in half like I do when kneading, but then pull the sides down a bit to form a smooth top with the seam on the bottom. I place the loaves seam side down in the pans.

 My loaves weren't quite even, but that is fine. It won't matter too much. I place the pans inside the warm oven to rise. The rising time will again vary a ton. For me, it takes 20-30 minutes. If you have not made bread before or do not make bread very often, it will probably take longer. The more you make bread, the faster it will rise due to the amount of "wild" yeast that will be present in your kitchen. You want it rise until the dough forms a little dome above the rim of the pan. It will rise a bit more when you start to bake it too so don't let it rise too high or it can collapse. When mine gets close, I take them out of the oven and put them on top of the stove so that the oven can preheat.

When fully risen, bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on the top. When you pull them out of the pans, the sides should be slightly golden brown too. If they are pale, they need to be baked few minutes more.

Immediately take them out of the pans and place on a cooling rack. If you don't do this, not only can they become overbaked from the hot pans, but the steam can make the bottoms all soggy.

They smell so good, that it is tempting to cut into them right away, but in order to retain the most moisture and not have them dry out, it is better to wait for them to cool before slicing. Use a good serrated bread knife and cut them while on its side rather than from the top for best results. The end result is soft, moist, fluffly whole wheat bread that tastes soooo good. Store it inside a bread bag to keep it from drying out, but be sure it is fully cooled first to keep moisture from forming on the inside of the bag and making your bread soggy.

Because it has no preservatives, homemade bread will mold faster than store bought bread so be sure to either eat it within a few days or just store it in your fridge. I've kept loaves fresh for 2 weeks or more by keeping them in a plastic bread bag in the fridge.

The original recipe calls for 2 rises, first in a bowl and then in a pan, but most of the time I just skip that first rise and it always turns out just fine.

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/4 cups HOT water

1/3 C oil

1/3 C honey

1 t salt

1/3 C gluten flour (if bread is crumbly add more)

1 T Yeast (active dry or instant)

about 4-5 C Flour (whole wheat, bread flour or combo) then more if needed.

Combine water, oil, honey, and salt in mixer, then mix in gluten. Add yeast, then add flour 1 cup at a time until it pulls away from the sides. Put lid on and mix/knead on high for 5 minutes. *Butter/oil bowl and your fingers. (Dough should be sticky and moist) Twist dough around finger in bowl, then turn upside down in mound. Cover with a towel and put in warm, draft-free place to double in size (about 20-25 minutes). Punch down, divide in two and put in two loaf pans. Let rise in pan (about 15-20 minutes). Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.

 *You can also skip the first rising and put the dough directly into the loaf pans to rise.

So there you have it. It may seem hard, but it really isn't. Just a warning though, once you start making it, you will not want to buy store bought bread ever again :)

Toddler Alligator Costume

 To go with the Princess Tiana theme for Halloween, I made an alligator costume for my 2-year old son. It is perfect for his personality. He is so sneaky and gets into everything. I definitely have my hands full with this little guy.

I used simplicity pattern 2506 for the body. It is actually a dinosaur costume, but alligators are reptiles so I think it works. I followed the pattern exactly except for adding the contrast stitching across the tummy to make it look more like an alligator belly. I used a warm cozy fleece so that it would be comfortable and warm while trick-or-treating.

The tail is stuffed with fiber-fil and is so fun. My son kept trying to grab it and it was fun to watch, kind of like watching a dog go in circle trying to catch its tail. 

The back closure is make of velcro which makes it easy to take on and off. Perfect for my squirmy on the go little guy.

I came up with the head after seeing this Wolf costume from Make-it Love-it. I used a baseball hat for the base, added some plastic canvas for the snout and then covered the whole thing with the fleece hood. Some of it is sewed together and then glued to the hat with hot glue. It took a few tries to get the nose sewed together just right. It was tricky to the get the curves right and then I stuffed it with a little fiber-fil to give it more dimension. The eyes, teeth and nostrils are made of felt from my stash.

I added a velcro chin strap to help keep it on his head so he is free to run without it falling off.

I absolutely love how this one turned out. It is so perfect!