New Blog

Hello All! Well, whoever happens to stop in from time to time :)

I've started a new blog called Boheme Latina in the hopes that it will spark my creativity more and maybe inspire me to post more regularly. While I like the name of this blog, I really wanted something that was a bit more representative of me.

I don't think I'll be posting much around these parts anymore, but I do hope you'll join me over at my new blog!

Lucky (Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat)

Really like this song, so I had to share it! Cheesy? Yes. But love it either way!

Good Morning

Warm pumpkin muffins for a crisp morning. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

from Joy the Baker

makes 2 loaves or 2 dozen muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat flour)
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cups granulated sugar (I left this out, muffins were sweet enough for my tastes)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour two loaf pans (mine are 8×4x2) and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in. Fold in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the batter once in the pan.

Divide the dough between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

For muffins bake them for about 20 minutes or so. They are delicious warm!

Giant Fluffy Light

I came across this light fixture today.

I'm kind of diggin' on it. Don't know that I'd place it in our living room, but it might look nice in what will eventually become the office/craft room. You'll never guess what it's made from.

Check out the step-by-step here at Parlour.

From Gold to Silver

I knew that part of the living room DIY was going to involve the fireplace surround.

While it's not horrible, I knew it wasn't going to fit into the color palette we chose for the room. And to be frank, I wasn't a huge fan of the shiny gold facing. Just not feeling it. Sooooo...that meant that I had to find some way of covering or painting it. I couldn't think of a creative way to cover the gold up (didn't really try) and knew that we might want to use the fireplace even if it doesn't get cold enough around these parts. So I was happy to learn that they make a spray paint for high heat stuff. Enter this product.

But before I could get started I had to do some prep work, which involved covering any nearby surface with either plastic sheeting or the dogs' blankets. Yes, I said the dogs' blankets. They were nearby, dirty, stinky and I didn't mind if they got covered with spray. The dogs might have minded at the time, but they didn't get much of say. Don't worry. I bought them new doggy sized blankets to make amends. We're still friends.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah.

After covering our living room in said material and the fireplace with paper, I got ready to spray. But just as I was about to pull the trigger I noticed this:

Little insets that don't do much other than act as a decorative feature and a pain in my you know what. I'm not technically a perfectionist, but I wanted to do a good job. I put the spray can down and proceeded to fill in each hole with blue painters tape. That's what you see above and below. I filled 21 of those suckers before I could get going again.

I started at the top and worked my way down trying to lay an even coat. So there I am spraying away, moving from top to bottom. As I'm painting the bottom I stop and notice something.

Ugh. 21 more of those little inset thingies are also at the bottom. Yup. 21 more holes to fill. That's when I stopped and thought to myself what now? I did what any self-respecting "do a good job" kinda gal would do. I kept going.

Folks, I was tired and while I was only slightly annoyed by my discovery, I just didn't care. Besides whose gonna notice anyway? Well, just those of you who might visit me on a fairly regular basis. And even then, I think I can remove the paint from the insets. Not sure how, but I'll find a way!

So, after a few minutes I laid a second coat. The fireplace went from this:

To this:

Hiccup aside, I think it looks pretty dang snazzy. Now I just need to paint the mantel and this little project should be done! On to the next one. Kitchen cabinets...dun dun dun.

Narnia anyone?

photo courtesy of Maple Seed Renovation

 

 

I found this very cool idea on Apartment Therapy today as I went looking for armoires on their site. Pretty cool, huh? If I was a kiddo I would totally want a secret room. 

Love, love this.

Let's dance!

Because it's Friday