It's been a little slow moving over here in the Craptastic household!  I started my new rotation, and although I have more free time, I've been using that time to start running again.

So needless to say, after working all day and getting in a good run when I get home, I'm a little too tired to work on projects and blog.

I am working on a cute tote bag to carry all my study books around in, so hopefully I'll have that completed by tomorrow!

Onto the features!


Circa Dee revamped this boring old dresser and I love the two toned paint with the wood knobs!



Sunshine On the Inside refinished this campaign desk - love the whole setup!


I love Retro Politan's spin on chevron with the sideways design! The dark wood and white look great!



Lilyfield Life refinished this cute piece! Love the gold tipped legs!


Viva Cindy repurposed an old footstool with a fur rug! I flipping love it!

Feel free to grab a button if you were featured!

CRAPTASTIC


Cheers!

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I kind of can't believe it, but last night was our very LAST date night at Orange Blossom. Oh, we'll be there Sunday with the family for closing day, but yesterday was the end of an era for us. You see, almost every Friday night, for years, we've gone to Orange Blossom. It's where we go to feed our tummies and our foodie brains. Check out last night's Asparagus Salad! The pictures came out perfectly, and it tasted even better than it looked! Once that sorbet melts down and mixes all over everything...look out! This is...no joke...one of the very best salads I've ever had.
We also had the soup last night, it was Clam Chowder. Guess what? I don't eat clam chowder.... BUT I gobbled this up! It was explained to me that this is traditional clam chowder and what most people serve is New England style, the white kind. This was wonderful!
So, I know I've blogged the Smoked Pork Chop with Spicy Apple Butter before, but it is literally my favorite special. I can't even describe how juicy and tender this is. They smoke these giant suckers and then slice them and finish them on the grill.
Swirling each bite around in the pool of spicy apple butter that it's sitting on is just the icing on the cake!
Believe it or not, for once I didn't get dessert! I know I'll make up for THAT on Sunday! I'm just going to pretend calories don't count this weekend. It's like storing nuts for winter, except in this case, spring will never come...so I'm gonna eat up now while I can!


I'm ready to take some serious pictures Sunday of their all-day celebration. It's sure to be fun and tasty! Last night we had a long discussion with the chef, and heard all about how he came to know cooking. As a young guy, his love of skiing led him to work at ski resorts, first busing tables, then dish washing, then got thrown into cooking one day when someone didn't show up for work. Through many more series of events, and time spent in Paris, he discovered his talent for creating food that equals art. There are a lot of people whose taste buds are glad he did!

For now, I'm looking forward to enjoying tomorrow night, and my final post will have more info on what's to come from good old Orange Blossom Junction.

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I hope everyone's Friday is going awesome!  I am having a wonderful day!  My husband and I are in the process of reorganizing our laundry room to make more space and have more storage.  I am loving it so far!  We have to wait for a cupboard to come in, then we should be about finished.  Wahoo!  I am excited to share the before and after pictures.  I have also been working on getting my kitchen decorated, and should have posts starting on Monday, so come back for that!

As usual, the link-ups were amazing and I learned so much from you!  Thank you!  

You have to check out this awesome beaded lampshade from Loving Life.  She shares a tutorial on how to make your own!  Sweet!


I am also loving these DIY magazing organizers from The Creek Line House.  She made them from cereal boxes.  Genius!


Days of Chalk and Chocolate shares an amazing idea of adhering fabric with starch.  Fabulous!  You can change out your fabric super easy!  I definitely want to give this a try!

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The appeal of a plate wall is obvious. It brings decorative dishes out of hiding while filling a large space that might be expensive to cover with actual art. For those who love a particular style of dish, such as the ironstone plates in the first image, a plate wall makes a feature out of a cherished collection. Even a narrow wall seems suddenly interesting when a cluster of plates is strategically arranged on it. In a room that already has a lot of interest, plates of a single color do the trick without overwhelming the senses. While in a paired-down space, a grouping of patterned plates contributes color. I especially love the plates that form the unorthodox canvas for an oil painting while framing the new work.






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I have this big open space on the wall in my kitchen, above the sliding door, that has been driving me crazy. I hate open wall space. I made a quick sign today and it was surprisingly easy!I had this cupboard door in my garage from a long-ago ReStore purchase. I gave it a couple of coats of Valspar's Crystal Aqua that I had on hand.

After that dried, I measured how big I wanted my letters, and cut it with my Silhouette out of vinyl. I used the Pottery Barn font, which I downloaded for free.
I removed the letters, since I was going to use the negative space as a stencil. Next, I used transfer tape to ensure it wouldn't get all tangled when I applied my stencil to the board. A tape measure is your friend when it comes to spacing.
I stenciled it with black paint. After that dried, I lightly sanded the whole sign to distress the letters, and edges of the board. Last, I LIGHTLY wiped on and off some antiquing glaze to age it a bit.
I WANTED it to look this way. ;)
Hopefully you can see the distressing in these outdoor pictures. I almost wanted to see through the black letters a bit.

It's now happily hung in it's new home above the sliding glass door in the kitchen.

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So I have a conundrum.
I love having clean showers/bathrooms.
I hate cleaning them, especially the shower/tubs. Usually I end up all wet and covered in Comet and tired from scrubbing.
Arizona is synonymous with Hard Water and soap scum.
When we moved back to AZ from Seattle, I asked my husband if we could just pipe the water from Seattle down to AZ.
He said we could, but....
So until then, I'm willing to try different things to clean my shower.  I found one solution on Pinterest.  I just looked for it and it has magically disappeared, but I followed the instructions and I was FLOORED to say the least.
My showers literally looked like new with minimal effort.  No scrubbing.  I promise.

Here's the before pic. Usually I squeegie the glass and it helps alot, but still the AZ water does it's worst.
 Lovely Soap scum on the chrome.  SO nice.

How do I fix this you ask?

It's simple.

Equal parts of Regular White Vinegar, heated up in the microwave until about boiling - 2 minutes; and Blue Dawn diswashing liquid.

That's it.

Put the hot vinegar and dawn in a spray bottle, shake slightly and go to town.

I did 3/4 cups of each and had enough to liberally do my glass shower, including the marble walls and floor.

Note: The vinegar smell is really strong.  Turn on the bathroom fans and open the windows if you are highly sensitive to smell.  My kids asked what that smell was and I told them it's the smell of clean showers!

 When I first tried it, I was worried that the blue Dawn would stain the white marble and fiberglass.  Nope!  So awesome!

Now let it sit for  a few hours.  Longer if you have really bad scum.  Then get a regular kitchen sponge, and a bucket of water and wipe down the walls.  It does take a lot of water since you're using Dawn and it gets all bubbly.
 Here's some after shots.

 It beautifully took all the soap scum off the fixtures too.  My bathroom seriously looks brand new.
I didn't want to use the shower this morning because I didn't want to mess it up.  Nope.  I'm clean and so is my shower.  BONUS!

I was so excited I decided to try a few other things.

Here's what I tried and the verdict:

Marble and Glass showers: Awesome.  Definitely do again and again.

Fiberglass tub/shower: Awesome. Do again and again.

Toilet bowl: It worked well and I was very happy with the results. I will do it again.

Bathroom Counters/Sinks/Fixtures: I was happy with the results.  They definitely look brand new, but it takes a lot of water to clean up the dawn, not scrubbing mind you, but wiping away all the bubbles.  My 4 year old asked if I was making bubble pies in the sinks.  I had to use paper towels to finish up the job.  I may do this again, but it's much easier just to spray everything with 409.  I will probably use the vinegar/dawn on occation but not regularly.

Stainless Steel Kitchen sink: It's clean but doesn't look brand new. I'm on the fence about using it again.

Glasstop Stove: Again it's clean, but it was a lot of wiping, rinsing, and wiping to get all the soap gone.  I probably won't use it again.

I don't know how this will work for Tile showers since I don't have any.  I'd love to hear how it works if you have tile.

I also won't use it on my floors.  Too much water for clean up.  My kids would love sliding around on soapy floors but I definitely won't love cleaning up all the soapy water.  Maybe if I had a drain in the center of the kitchen I might consider it.  But since that would be weird and I don't want to put one it... there you go.

Honestly I've never been excited about cleaning showers until now.
Weird I know but hey... I have clean bathrooms.
Do you? ;)

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AND BOTH THESE PROJECTS
HAD STRIPES IN ONE WAY OR
ANOTHER!

I JUST WANTED TO SEND A SHOUT
OUT AND A THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING BLOGS FOR 
FEATURING MY BOOKCASE!









AND FOR FEATURING MY
CRATE AND PALLET
UNION JACK CHEST


THANK YOU LADIES, 
IM VERY HONORED TO 
BE FEATURED ON YOUR BLOGS!


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http://pinterest.com/pin/43347215132919215/
I can't believe how great the weather has been this week. It's only March, but today the temperature went up to 20 degrees Celsius at least. It's the North East of Scotland here, folks, so that IS extraordinary. July last year saw temperatures drop closer to 10 degrees. Climate change? It might be - which is bad - but I can't help but having really enjoyed a bit of warmth and the idea of living somewhere hot for once.

All this sunshine has really got me in the mood for outdoor living, picnics and generally lounging about in the garden, beach or park. I thought therefore today I collect some great images that give us some ideas to do it in style. Think lanterns...vintage picnic cases, retro table cloths...lovely tea sets.

I love these lanterns in the tree... http://thevintagehome.net/2012/03/02/its-picnic-time
Some great colourful vintage tablecloths...would love those in my drawer! http://www.flickriver.com/groups/51414710@N00/pool/interesting/
http://pinterest.com/pin/187251296976263865/
Pies in vintage scarves! http://pinterest.com/pin/133700682657613381/
No picnic without a proper blanket  http://pinterest.com/pin/269582727664674991/

http://pinterest.com/pin/32862272250457298/
All I can say is...aaaaahhhhhh.... http://pinterest.com/pin/166562886188014802/
http://pinterest.com/pin/8092474299919640/
Urban picnic http://pinterest.com/pin/244812929713570983/
http://pinterest.com/pin/254594185154277995/

Long may it last... Enjoy the weather everyone!

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