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Rose Bowl Flea Market

March 12, 2012

How was your weekend?  Mine was pretty great!  Saturday was 80 F and we spent most of the day outside in the yard.  We cleaned up flower beds and hosed off all the outdoor furniture and porches.  Then Sunday I went with my bestest friend, Heidi to the Pasadena Flea Market.  We’ve been wanting to go for a few months now.  It was really great to have a day away from kids and some time to ourselves.

It was a super busy day at the Flea Market, there were a lot of shoppers.  But, there was also a lot of really great stuff.  I took some pictures along the way to share just a few of the things that caught my eye.  I really didn’t buy much, but I did get a great vintage school chair for Dylan’s desk and some really cute vintage wooden fruit baskets.  My friend Heidi, well that’s another story, she found a lot of really fun, random things.

If you live in the Southern California area and would love to hit the Flea Market sometime, let me know and love to go with you.  It’s one of my most favorite things to do.

To see a little more about my Flea Market adventures, read here, and here, and here.

Fuel for the day!

Ready to load the car.  I bought the cute vintage school chair and the wooden fruit baskets.  Heidi bought the gears and pulley hook, the little table, the snow shoes, the licence plate, the railway crossing lamp, the mini globe, and some cute silver jewelry that is not shown. 

Do you see anything that interests you from yesterdays Flea Market?  Do you love the hunt as much as I do?

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Spring Break in Ireland

March 9, 2012

I’ve got some really exciting news!  We’re going to Ireland for Spring Break (that’s less then a month away).  I have the most generous parents. They are so generous, they are border line crazy.  They are taking us to The Emerald Isle for a week.  We are staying in B&B’s and even castles – WOW! I am so lucky – Lucky like the Irish! And I’m not just lucky because I get to go to Ireland, I’m lucky because I have great parents.  Parents that love and support me. I truly am blessed to have the family that I have.

I illustrated our little trip tonight. It was a lot of fun to put it together and later it will be a great addition to a shutterfly photo book of our trip. I mapped out where we would be staying each night, but there will be lots of little detours along the way. Don’t you worry, I’ll be sharing a lot of our trip. I hope to blog as I go even!  And I will be taking LOTS of pictures.

If you are following my Pinterest, you might have noticed one of my boards, The Emerald Isle.  If you aren’t following, come follow Oleander and Palm’s Pinterest.

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Chalkboard Easter Eggs

March 8, 2012

Why the heck not?  I love chalkboard everything!  I’ve even painted it on rocks.  So, why not eggs?

I painted black chalkboard paint onto paper mache eggs that I bought at the craft store.  I’m sure this could be done on real eggs as well.  But, this way they can be used over and over.  My kids can decorate and re-decorate these eggs as many times as they want leading up to Easter.

The eggs sit in these Paper Nests that I made last year with shredded pages from vintage books.  The black and white are far from traditional Easter colors, but I think they are a fun graphic element.

Are you in love with chalkboard as much as I am?

BE A FRIEND!  Leave a comment, follow Oleander and Palm by email, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

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Irish Soda Bread (with a twist)

March 7, 2012

This is what I made for dinner, and I thought that it probably should be served with Irish Soda Bread.

I know there are lots of people out there that aren’t huge fans of either currents or raisins.   So, this is my untraditional Irish Soda Bread.  Seeing I have an Irish name (McConnel) and I’m a redhead, then I feel I might be allowed to make these adaptations to a Irish tradition.

My Irish Soda Bread is sweetened with dried cranberries and orange zest.  And for health benefits and texture, I used some whole wheat flour and ground flax seed.

Irish Soda Bread
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp. ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
4 tbsp. sugar
the zest of one orange (finely grated)

1/2 cup cold butter cut into 1/2″ cubes or smaller
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

3/4 cup dried cranberries

Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl.  Using a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter to the flour mixture.

In another bowl, beat the eggs with a fork and add the buttermilk to the eggs.  Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour and butter.  And stir until just combined.  Add the dried cranberries and kneed into a ball on a well floured surface.  Do not over kneed, just till in comes together well.

Place ball on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Cut an X on the top of the bread with a knife.  Bake for about 45 mins at 375 F.  Bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the it comes out clean.

Serve warm with Orange Honey Butter (see below).

Orange Honey Butter
1/2 cup of butter softened
zest of one orange
1/4 honey

Mix well with an electric mixer.  Roll into a log in plastic wrap.  Then chill it completely.  Slice into coins for serving.

This recipe was adapted from Ina Garten’s Irish Soda Bread recipe.

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Metallic Triangle Desk: the how-to

March 6, 2012

 Here’s how I painted my found desk.

Here’s what I did.  I sanded down the piece and repaired a few of the draws.  Then I painted the whole thing in Flat Black Acrylic Paint.

The Supplies

So, I had in my mind that I could simply tape a few rows of tape and instantly have rows of triangles.  Not, so easy.  After lots of measuring it just couldn’t be done.  So, I ended up having to measure and tape each individual triangle.  Maybe someone that’s better at Math then me could figure it out, but with the width of the tape to account, I just couldn’t make it work.

Then I painted over all the tape edges that I was going to paint black.  This seals the tape and ensures perfectly clean tape lines.  I wanted to have just a random pattern.  So, there really was no rhyme or reason to it.

Once the black paint dried, I started painting the metallic paint.  I used Martha Stewart’s metallic craft paints in Yellow Gold, Silver and Bronze.  It took almost 3 coats of paint for each triangle.  I let the paint dry completely between each coat.

See how nice and clean the tape lines are.

To seal the whole piece and applied two coats of clear satin Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish.  Then I attached new brass hardware and lined the drawers with contact paper.

I hope you try something fun on a thrift store find or any piece of furniture that needs a facelift.  Take a risk, be brave, and you’re sure to end up with a unique piece.

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Metallic Triangle Desk

March 5, 2012

I shared that I was loving triangles last week.  And then I showed you the desk I found on the side of the road.  Well, I put the two together and came out with this.

AFTER
BEFORE

The desk got a full makeover.  After some minor repairs, I painted the whole thing black and added a graphic triangle design to the top of the desk.  I painted triangles in metallic gold, silver, and bronze paint in a random pattern.  New brass brass hardware cleans up the look.  It’s going in Dylan’s Star Wars room.

Adding the triangles actually gave this very traditional desk a modern twist.  Dylan thinks it looks even a bit space like.  I’m glad he’s happy with it.  I think it’s going to fit well in his room and come in handy.    Here it is in his room, now to find a chair….

Tomorrow I’ll share my technique and what products I used.  Let me know what you think, is this something you would try?

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DIY Spring Wreath: YouTube Video

March 3, 2012

Well, I tried something new this morning.  I made a video with instructions on how to make my Spring Wreath.  It’s far from perfect, I hate the sound of my own voice, the lighting is pretty terrible, and I’m not sure if you can really understand my instructions, BUT……. you should go check it out 🙂  Let me know what you think.  No, really please comment and give me feedback.  I need HELP!

“You learn something new everyday.”  Well, really lately I have been literally learning something totally new everyday.  Today I learned how to put text on my movie in imovie.  I also learned how to make my own channel on YouTube, and now I’ve learned how to share it with you.   I’m approaching 35….. I’m not young, hip and in the know!

To see my instructions video, click here.  Or if you would rather just buy one, check out my etsy shop.

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Monthly Memory Verse: March

March 2, 2012

Can you believe March is here?  Bring on Spring – I’m ready for it.

So, here’s March’s Memory Verse.  It’s free for you to download here.  If you want to know more about my Monthly Memory Verse, read here.

If you printed any of the Monthly Memory Verses or just think it’s a fun idea, please be a friend and “follow” my little blog.  If you already are a follower, please “like” my facebook page, sign up to follow by email, share this link with others, “Pin” it, or just leave me a comment.  

This is intended for personal use only.  

(Note: The text at the bottom of the image may print, but it is not within the 8 X10 measurement.  When you print, do not scale the image)

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Found Furniture

February 29, 2012

I really did just find this desk on the side of the road a couple of weeks ago.  Someone must have been cleaning out their garage and had loaded a bunch of junk onto the curb.  Among the junk with this little treasure (or soon to be treasure).  We were driving the truck, so Lonnie and I just through it in the back.  It obviously has seen better days.  All the drawers were there, but were in need of some repair.  The front left side was missing the bottom trim piece and the desk top was pretty roughed up.  But, I still saw some potential.

We stuck it in the garage not knowing what we would do with it, but I just couldn’t pass up FREE.  Now after a couple weeks of it collecting another layer of dust, I have decided that Dylan needs a desk.  So, it’s going in his room under the window once it gets it’s facelift.

I’ve been loving triangles, so it’s getting triangles!  I sanded it down this weekend and got the first coat of paint on it while Lon was in Idaho visiting his dad.  But, with 3 kiddos all to myself, that’s as far as I got.  The plan is to paint the triangles today (they are probably going to be metallic tones).  You can see on my Pinterest board here, that I’m digging gold right now.

Do you see the potential?  What would you do with this desk?  Color, Pattern, Finish – any ideas?

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Chubby Baby

February 28, 2012

Olivia is the cutest little chubby baby ever! Add I’m not biased at all, I’ve seen a lot of babies, and she just might be the most adorable baby ever.  She really should be a baby model or something.  Olivia is in the 90%tile for height and 97%tile for weight, surprise, surprise.  I don’t have small babies, Denali and Dylan were both 9 lbs and Olivia was 9 lbs 2 oz.  But, I really believe chubby babies are happy babies.  Dylan was a super fat baby, and he was my happiest baby.  Olivia is an easy baby, probably a lot of that has to do with her being our 3rd, but I think we also credit the chub on the thighs.

Lately I have noticed people talking about her weight, friends and total strangers.  At first they talk about how big she is for four months. That totally doesn’t bother me, I love her little rolls and dimply bottom.  I’m actually pretty proud of her stats.  What bothers me is that they continue.  They try to consul me by telling me that “she’ll grow out of it”, “don’t worry, she’ll stretch out”, and “it’s ok mommy, babies grow out, then up”.  I guess they think I’m concerned with her chubbiness.

I really find it quite funny.  I realize that I live in Southern California, but really people.  Is our society so vain and obsessed with image that we’re worried about the body image of a 4 month old?  It’s pretty sad actually.

She’s already on a special diet, milk only.  It’s really ok, you can comment on how fat she is, I’m not worried about.  She’s totally perfect!