Saturday, May 30, 2015

...grouting the shower

...grouting is pretty gratifying work...as the end result is so nice...
...but during the process it's pretty messy and tiring...you mix...then wait...then mix again...and then you spread the grout over the tiles...it's the consistency of peanut butter...then you wait...and then you wipe off the excess with a wet sponge...then you wait again...and then you wipe again with a damp sponge...and then you wait...and wipe again with a dry cloth...
...and you're done...

...now that the shower is done...I can do the floor tile tomorrow...

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, May 29, 2015

...setting the floor tile...

...as a contrast to the white marble...we decided to go with a dark-ish grey for the floor...
...it's called 'fossil'...and it has a dry-rough surface...not glazed...so it should be pretty non-slip...oh...and they're a really odd size...13 x 13...most tile are 12 x 12 or 18 x 18...these are the first odd sized ones I've encountered...
...the dry fit...and making the cuts...
...then it's just a matter of troweling and setting...
...repeat about 40 times...I definitely prefer setting floor tile over setting wall tile...
...and work your way out the door...ready for some grout...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

...Mirror Corners...

...y'all remember the Master Bath Mirror that I painted white...
...well...I tried to make it look like it had corners...just by making the brush marks sort of diagonally at the corners...but I wasn't too happy with this detail...and I wanted it to look more like a wooden frame than a smooth formica one...
...so I got out my little box saw...
...and sawed a little groove into the corners...now...another coat of paint and the mirror will be ready to hang...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

In the kitchen with Julia

...of course...I intended for this to be yesterday's Tuesdays with Julia post...but I didn't quite make it...so much work on the house right now...

...all of the details are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

...diagon alley...

...if you're not a Harry Potter fan that title probably doesn't make much sense...haha!
...but I wanted to put a little diagonal corner shelf in the Master Bath shower
...so I just measured out from the corner and marked the tile...
...and lined it up in the tile cutter...
...then when I was about 4 feet up the wall with tile...
...I 'glued' the two pieces together with some mastic...so that it looks pretty from underneath as well...
...just made a diagonal tile sandwich...haha...and the front will be filled with grout to hide the seam...
...and set it in the corner...

...finished setting the tile above...and then walked away...for about 24 hours anyway...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, May 25, 2015

...Shower Tile...

...after the Eagle Scout Ceremony...we got to celebrate my sweet sissie's birthday with her in person...which hardly ever happens...go here for the story of the card...
...then over the weekend...for the second time in my life...
...I'm setting some shower tile...spread the mastic...
...flip the trowel...and use the toothed side to scrape away all but the 'right' amount...
...use your spacers (if you're a novice like me anyway)...and set your tile...
...make extra sure your first row is level...
...and make some intricate cuts to go around things...

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

...Eagle Scout Ceremony...

...so...the big day finally arrived...
...we got to the Church early and set everything up...
...banner... ✔...table toppers... ✔...cupcakes... ✔...tinsel... ✔...napkins... ✔...punch bowl... ✔...water bottles... ✔...so everything was in place...
...a closeup of the cupcakes...
...then I got out the rubbermaid tote of all of Scout's memorabilia...so much fun looking at all the old photos...of such a tiny Scout...
...tiny shirts...and trophies...and cars...
...and hats and books...oh...and there's one of the water bottles that I forgot to photograph before...HA!

...now on to the ceremony...(none of these photos are mine)...Thanks so much Kelly!
...Scout waiting with the Court of Honor to be presented for his award...
...me...pinning the Eagle Scout Medal on Scout's uniform...
...Scout giving me my Mother's Pin...
...and his Papa his Father's Pin...
...Scout takes his oath...
...and receives his Eagle Scout neckerchief...
...then lots of visiting at the reception...

...it was a wonderful ceremony!...

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, May 22, 2015

...the Eagle Scout Cupcakes...

...time to decorate all those cupcakes...
...so we did that assembly line style too...
...first...just spread on some icing any which way...then see that little plastic tool...

...I made that...just from a piece of food grade plastic...I cut one side with a pair of pinking shears...
...then I just give the iced cupcakes a little twirl with the tool...and it creates these little ridges in the icing...perfect for holding all of those little red white and blue sprinkles...
...then with clean fingers...ahem...put a little decorative topper on each cupcake...

...now everything is ready...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

...Frugal Eagle Scout Decorations...

...Scout...being Scout...wanted to keep things really really simple for his Eagle Scout reception...

...he originally asked for red/white/blue cupcakes...and bottled water...that was all...(I printed out some little bands that we taped around the water bottles...but apparently neglected to take a photo of that process)...

...so the only thing I really added was a festive bowl of red punch...

...but we still needed some Eagle Scout decorations...frugal ones...of course...because a Scout is Thrifty...
...first...for the cupcakes...I just printed out some Eagle Scout symbols onto cardstock...fairly small...several (about 20) to a sheet...and cut them out...
...and then...just affixed a toothpick to the back with a little snippet of scotch tape...
...60 of those...
...then...using the same principle...on a larger scale...
...I taped a skewer to the back of a larger cutout...
...then glued another one onto the back...
...for some tabletop decorations...
...then I just stuck the pointed end of the skewer into a red white and blue balloon weight from the dollar store...
...I made two of those...
...now...for a banner......it's just a red white and blue dollar store banner...I printed some more Eagle Scout symbols...to fit onto the triangles of the banner...
...and just taped those onto the triangles...

...so now the decorations are done...let's go finish some cupcakes...

~Have a lovely day!