Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

I wish I could say these eggs were ones I made, but alas, they are Martha's. She never ceases to amaze me with all of her talent. Though I may not be able to decorate them as cute as Martha, I do have a fool proof method for hard boiling eggs, for the perfect yoke and easy peeling. Before this I used to guess how long to boil the eggs, then some times I would end up with that yucky gray ring around the yolks. The other tricky thing was trying to figure out the perfect way to peel them without breaking the whites. You especially want them to be pretty if you are making deviled eggs, at least I do. I found this "recipe" in my favorite family recipe book (next to my Mom's of course), you may remember that is where I got my pizza dough recipe from. This method is the best, I have had lots of perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs since trying it. Also, a trick, before you peel your eggs, roll them on the counter, I have found this helps a lot with the peeling as well.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Cover the eggs with cold water, bring to a boil, cook 2 to 3 minutes, then turn heat off and let sit for about 20 minutes. Put in cold water, then store in the fridge.

-I have also found if you roll them around in your saucepan a few times before the water reaches a boil, it will put the yokes in a good place.

On another note, I am 95% done with all my birthday party projects. I have to make a couple things today, then the rest will be done when I get back from the Easter holiday. Here is one of the projects that got finished up this week......
My dot garland. I love it. I found this cute idea over at the Purl Bee. This garland was perfect for me for a couple reasons. First, EASY project for a non sewer like myself, you sew a line down the middle of the dots with invisible thread. So even if you can't sew in a straight line, which I can't, no one will know, because the thread is invisible. woo woo! Second, it is great because it is super cheap! My budget for this extravaganza is super small, so using some felt I already had, and invisible thread, dirt cheap. I even ended up buying 2 sheets of felt, it cost me a whopping $.50.

Have I told you my theme for my son's birthday? I can't remember if I have or if I am keeping it a secret. Any guesses with the color scheme from the garland?

One Dollar Wednesday... Easter Wreath

For some reason whenever I visit the Dollar Store, I can't help but pick up a couple bunches of the fake flowers they sell there. I am a sucker for flowers, and it has led to a rather large collection of random blooms. I finally decided to use some of them.



I found this simple wreath, also at Dollar Tree, and a cute Easter card in the Target Dollar Spot.



The colors of the card were my inspiration, and I sent my wreath out to The Spray paint place for a quick coat. It's beautiful and sunny here, so it dried really quickly.



I painted this little Dollar Tree frame a nice "spring green" color.



I framed my card, arranged my flowers, and glued it all together.

Personalizing my POANG chair

This week is crunch time for me. My son's birthday countdown is 15 days. I have to have everything done this week, because next Monday I am going to Southern Utah to enjoy my parents and the Easter Holiday. When I get back I have Monday to bake up a storm and then his birthday is Tuesday, and I just want to sit back and enjoy the day. So, all my projects for the party have to be finished this week. It should be doable, I don't have a ton left to do.

My son LOVES books. He will crawl over and choose books over toys. He will sit and flip through the pages and he looks like he is actually reading. It is too cute. Because he loves books we decided to get him his own chair to sit and read in. As cute as I think the chairs from Pottery Barn are, who has $100 to spend on a child's chair? Not me. So we picked up the child's POANG from IKEA.

Really cute, but I wanted to give it a personal touch. So I found a cute font and cut out his name on heat transfer paper using my Silhouette. I am starting to really love that machine, BUT don't get me wrong, learning to use that darn thing has made me want to pull out my hair! It really is amazing though, it can do everything!
Once it was printed I ironed it on the chair pad. Since the pad was so thick I put a textbook underneath it and I had to press extra hard and hold it on longer to iron it on.
Here it is, I love how it turned out!
I really like it, I think my son will love sitting in it and reading his books!
What do you think?

Friday Freebie...and a FAIL!

Do you ever have a project that you work on FOR DAYS, only to have it not turn out? That is what happened with my original project for today. FAIL! So I will be posting about a project I did a couple years ago~~ it wasn't free, but very inexpensive~~to my delight!

I found an old desk, similar to this at a yard sale, I offered $5.00 and the woman was happy to get rid of it.



I used my trusty sander, and scuffed up the finish a bit.



After a coat of primer, and three cans of this...



I ended up with this! It resides in my living/dining room, and I get comments about it all the time from visitors.


I love the little details and the pretty feet.





What do you think? What projects have you started and FAILED? Happy Weekend!

Quick Easter Basket Makeover

I found this old basket in our storage closet the other day. My baby doesn't have an Easter basket and I thought with a little love this could do the job.
A little brown spray paint and some ribbon and this is what I got....

It will work for this year, I am not 100% in love with it. What I really want is to make a basket liner, but I just don't have time this year. I have way to much to do for the birthdays, and I will be out of town for a week, maybe next year. Have you seen any cute DIY Easter basket projects? I need some inspiration.

One Dollar Wednesday...fabric covered Easter eggs

Yay! it's April, and that means it's time to decorate for Easter. I love Spring, and I love to decorate my home in the beautiful bright colors of Springtime.

Sooo, I picked up some large plastic eggs at the dollar store the other day. I have nothing against decorating with the plastic eggs, but thought I'd fancy these ones up just a bit.




I cut some fabric strips...



tied a little knot in one end, and glued it to the bottom of my plastic egg. ( I was a little hesitant to use a glue gun, fearing that it wouldn't hold properly, but it worked FABULOUSLY)


Following my tutorial here, I proceded to roll a rose right around my egg.



When I got to the end of a strip of fabric, I just tucked the end of the next strip under, and continued.




This is what I ended up with. Three down, five to go.


It will be fun finding spots around my home to display these eggs. Do you decorate with plastic eggs?

Pretty Little Projects: The Master Bedroom

My good friend Liv from Liv(e) is sharing some of her projects from around her pink house. I love a good project, the little things always make a big difference!

Take one master bedroom. Add pale sunshine and coffee beans. Mix it up over Labor Day weekend. Here's what happens.

This is the quick, two-day transformation Kev performed in our Master Bedroom a couple of years ago. I still love this room and how it keeps progressing.

Thanks for all your hard work Kev.

Simple, yet such a big difference.Warmed the room right up! Thanks so much Liv for sharing your fun projects, we love them!

Do you have a pretty little project you would like to share? Are you interested in doing a guest post on a lil bird told me? Email us at alilbird3 (at) gmail (dot) com.