SPRAY PAINT YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS

I’m always looking for ways to spruce up the house without spending much money.  One day while padding the aisles of my local home improvement center in a dreamy renovation daze, I found myself hypnotized by the long rows of candy colored spray paints.  What snapped me to attention was a little squadron of spray paints with textured caps.  What was this?
Upon further investigation, I was surprised to learn that Rustoleum produces a line of “hammered spray paint” that lends the look of hammered metal to whatever you hose it down with. 

Giddy with anticipation, I took a bottle of “brown hammered” home.  I was skeptical that spray paint could look like hammered metal, but decided to test it on a floor register vent cover that was so beat up, it needed to be replaced.  Hot Damn!  I don’t know how they do it, but it really does look like hammered metal!

Around the house I went, collecting everything I could think of to spray.  Most fixtures in the house are original from when it was built 20 years ago.  Given all that time, and numerous horrible tenants, we need to replace lots of fixtures!  We were pricing out new light switch plates, register covers, and vanity lighting strips for all the bathrooms before I stumbled upon this little marvel.  Instead of buying everything new, I spray painted it all, and saved a ton of money.  The beauty of the hammered metal paint is even if what you are painting is dinged up; the paint covers any of the imperfections with its texture.

Another fun thing I did was put to use my collection of jars that I have been hording collecting.  Spray paint the lids and you have a pretty place to keep rice, popcorn, pasta, etc. 

You can even use them in the bathroom for bath salts and scrubs.  Or to store your cotton balls in while you work on attempting to create the world's first completely silent drape-runners.
 

Anyway, if you try it, I guarantee you will be hooked. 
I also tried the "oil rubbed bronze" color, and liked that too.  Maybe it doesn't look exactly like oil rubbed bronze, but it is pretty close.  And much better than the "dirt rubbed rust" look it replaced.

Why Bakeries Charge $4 per Cookie

This was my first time icing cookies.  Any experienced “icers” out there would know this by looking at the pics.  Because no one who knew what they were doing would undertake such a crazy project.

I’ve baked loads of cookies before, but when it came to decorating them, the most I’d do was toss on some sprinkles and call it a day.  I’ve always loved buying iced sugar cookies in a bakery- the colors, details, and the whimsical themes always make me feel like I’m having a very special treat.  And for a whopping $4 per cookie, it really ought to be a special treat!  But I never got up the courage to try making them myself, until now!

While pondering over what to bring to my husband’s annual fraternity picnic, it struck me that their official seal would translate perfectly to cookie form.

  After venturing out and spending way too much money on sugar, food coloring, icing bags and other assorted implements of destruction; I spread my spoils out on the dining room table.  There they sat for days while I agonized over which recipe to use for icing- royal icing…decorators icing…butter icing….??? 
Finally, after a semi-successful test run, I cobbled together inspiration from many sources and created an icing I was happy with. 

And it began.

After baking and cooling the sugar cookies (why do recipes for cookie dough always make about half the amount they say they will?!)  I mixed the icing colors I would need- dark red, old blue, and golden yellow.  I used Wilton paste icing colors- they produce a much richer hue than the regular liquid food coloring you find on the shelf in the grocery store.   I mixed a tiny bit of black in with the red to get the red I wanted.  More black was added to a royal blue to get the “old blue”, and I mixed in a hint of orange with yellow to get my golden color.

Icing was done in four phases so colors wouldn’t bleed.  It took a long time once all was said and done, but I was really happy with the results.  This was really a special occasion cookie- it was a lot of work, but the end result was impressive.
 I made fifty cookies, and they were a huge success at the picnic!  The brothers posed for pictures with the cookies and admired them for a while before actually digging in. 
I have definitely been bit by the frosting bug- but next time, I think I’ll choose a decorating concept that is a little less complicated!