There's a baby a'comin party!

by Erin

About a week ago my friend Danielle and I threw a baby party for our dearest friends Lisa and Patrick. Lisa is pretty much the cutest easy goin' pregnant gal you could imagine.  She had only two requests when we asked her what she wanted in a baby shower: boys and girls shall both be invited, sweets were a must - as were cocktails.   How do you like that?  Love it! 

So anyway here is the bad news.  In our flurry of setting up and visiting with Lisa and Patrick's lovely friends and family, neither of us took any photos.  Fortunately Lisa took some good ones of her nursery after the fact (more on that after the food) and Dan took this cute one of us below.    That's Danielle on the left feeding Lisa some sort of gummy item.  There's that short girl on the right. :)  I told you Lisa was cute, didn't I?

Danielle, Lisa, & Erin with the candy bar in the background

So anyway, I still thought it might be nice to have our menu out there in cyber, test-nest space for anyone that needs any baby party appetizer ideas.  I've tried to link to any recipes I can.  Danielle and I split the jobs down the middle so it didn't end up being a ton of work for either of us, especially since we both started earlier in the week.  

Menu

• Sour cream coffee cake cupcakes infused with cream cheese frosting - rescued from Danielle and Jason's kitchen table by another guest coming from Pilsen. Whew!
• Bacon wrapped dates
• Ricotta and herb dip 
• Lil' Assholes - pickles wrapped in cream cheese and ham
• Jalapeno and cheddar crackers
• Veggie tray - celery, carrots, radishes, mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes 
• Savory palmiers
• Spicy Hungarian sausage from Lincoln Quality Meat Market
• Hummus
• French bread
• Hot apple cider 
• The CANDY bar

I'm feeling like I am forgetting something delicious.  Ugh! If someone was at the party and remembers, comment please!  The food was eaten all up, and I'm not even kidding.  I distinctly remember eating the last of the radishes.  So I do believe the food was a success and made clean up a total breeze. 

So as we were snacking and visiting we would breeze in and out of the baby's new nursery. Lisa and Patrick had it all set up for their guests to see.  Gifts were collected there and Lisa would open one or two when she felt like it, or when someone requested her to open their gift.  It was very easy and fun - I've never much been a fan of the 'sit in a circle and open gifts' model, so I was glad that Lisa decided to go this route.

the nursery

Isn't this nursery just the sweetest?  This baby is going to be so happy and I'm going to be so happy to have it close. 

baby blanket

Do you think Captain will be watching over the baby like this all the time?  Me too. 

So that is the blanket I made for a shower gift.  Aren't the fabrics lovely?  I am in love with that hidden fox fabric.  All of fabrics were purchased at The Needle Shop here in Chicago - although they do have an Etsy shop for those of you far away.  I have made versions of this heavy duty playtime blanket for my friend Meagan and my co-host, Danielle a couple of years ago.  The blanket is modeled after the pattern in Lotta Jansdotter's baby book which I love. 

Speaking for the two of us (Max and I), the evening delightful and to the best of my knowledge Lisa and Patrick had a wonderful time.  We can't wait for the baby to come.

Cherrio!

New Year's Project--Pantry Cabinet

by Leslie

If you checked out the blog a couple weeks ago, you would have read my post about my January Cure Project.  It just so happens that I finished several projects in the month of January.  Although I was certainly happy about my kitchen cart revival, I also finished a project that had been over a year in the making.

Remember my kitchen pantry cabinet I started working on?  Well, I finally finished it!  Let me tell  you, this project was well worth the work, but when I think back to all the layers of paint, sanding, and hardware work that needed to be done---well, let's just say it was a labor of love.

I might add that I am not a perfectionist.  I guess I should let you know this beforehand.  I have always been one of those "it's good enough" type of people.  This project was no exception.

 Here is the cabinet right after I bought it.  It is a bit grubby, with layers and layers of paint.  And check out the Peanuts comic on the front!  Timeless.

 I bought it at the local Salvation Army for $20.  They actually brought it in while I was there.  I think they knew I really wanted it, so they upped the ante on the price.  It was still quite affordable, I thought.

 Who doesn't love a green interior?

For some unfathomable reason, I thought I would strip this puppy to the wood.  It was a bad choice.  There were at least 5 coats of paint on it and the paint stripper wouldn't take the first (green) layer off.  I did the best I could, but I was still left with globs of paint and a less than smooth surface.

This is the moment when I felt like a mad scientist.  The wonders of toxic chemicals!  Here you can see where I removed the hinges.  The hinges turned out to be a major problem.

Frustration was setting in right here.  I decided to let it go until we moved into our house last June.  I then sanded the whole thing using my dad's palm sander (thanks, Pop!).  That made the process go much faster!

On to the next step!  The former owners of our house left a whole cabinet of paint for us, so I just used their leftovers and painted the cabinet white.  It took A LOT of coats, though.  I skipped primer.  MISTAKE!

Getting closer!  The final step was adding new hardware.  Unfortunately, they no longer make hinges like those that were on the cabinet originally.  I tried a few new ones, but nothing fit properly.  Fast forward several months and in my desperation to finish the project, I decided to use the original paint-coated hinges.  The only problem?  I had thrown out one of the three!

I decided to move forward with only two hinges and it worked fine.  To strip the hardware, I boiled it in water for 10 minutes on the stove.  I then scraped off the old paint (I ended up using my fingernails--they worked best!).  It actually worked like a charm!

 Here's the finished product!  It hangs out in our dining room.

I used it as storage for our china.  We have used it so much more since it has been handy.  Hurrah!

Finished projects!  Yes!