mixed media door

once upon a time i had decoupaged and painted my door and after several years needed a change. i happened upon a fabulous dolce and gabbana catalog from paris and thought the images would be beautiful decoupaged on my door. i started by punching circles with my martha stewart punch and deocoupaged them on the door, i used approximatly 125 circles. this worked out well to cover up the pre existing decoupage. i then chose a paint pallete of creams, blues, taupe and gold. i painted around each of the circles haphazardy. i think the effect is very visually pleasing, i will go back in and add some more creams to lighten it up, but am happy with it thus far. never be afraid to take a chance, the worse thing that could happen is you need to buy a new door.

-take risks: if you win you will be happy, if you lose, you will be wise.



My room all done

My room all done
Originally uploaded by stacycakes

It all started w a box, a Tiffany box to he exact. I wanted to paint my room the color of my Tiffany box, cause let's face it, when you are lucky enough to receive a gift from tiffany's how excited do you get? I get very excited!.... Breakfast at tiffany's is one of my favorite movies and I enjoy the store, it's jewels and the color immensely.now I went to the store and got lots of swatches that I thought were a match but nothing came close, and the nice people at home depot told me they could match this color exactly,I thought This was the best thing since peanut butter and jelly, ut the machine wasnt working so we ventured to a different home depot. Low and behold we left w the perfect color! We painted the ceiling buckwheat by martha Stewart, the duvet and matching shams are linen from restoration hardware, the throw is from anthropology,the " love" shams are from the u.k. And the burlap drapes are from ballad design. The dress form is from a flea market in manhattan, the ballerina prints are degas, the night stand was my grandmothers sewing table that I painted. The bench is an antique that i reupholstered w burlap and stenciled w a french stencil.My bed frame is from pottery barn and I added the piece of salvaged wood to the head board. My room is my sanctuary, and I adore sleeping in a Tiffany box every night!!

Lemon squares And Meyer lemons

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

Last week we went to eataly and I couldn't resist the beautiful lemons I saw when I walked in. Meyer lemons, gorgeous color, lovely leaves and shiny, the smell, intoxicating.....after admiring them all week I decided to make lemon bars. I searched for a recipe that suited me and settled on this one from about.com. Even though I didn't eat any myself,the empty platter was proof enough!
Heres the recipe
2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectionary sugar
2 sticks butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
4 eggs well beaten
1 heaping teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
Sift flour and confectionary sugar together, cut in butter until blended.ressive into bottom of 9x 13 pan, I used a fluted tart pan. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Combine re,remaining ingredients and spread on crust. Bake at 350 for 30 more minutes. Sprinkle w confectionary sugar, enjoy!

Frog preschool lesson

Frog preschool lesson
Originally uploaded by stacycakes

This week we learned about the life cycle of the frog. We started out by talking about the difference between ponds, rivers, lakes and oceans. Than the children were asked where different creatures live. I filled my sensory table with water beads, which resemble frog eggs. If you are not familiar with water beads, google them immediately, they are very popular with the preschool set. It was so lovely out that we held circle time outside and I drew the different stages of the frogs life. The children than all had a turn drawing one stage. Most chose frog eggs, they did a great job! One day hey painted just tadpoles, we made frogs out of paper plates, and we illustrated the life cycle on paper, which though a challenge, came great! We made some cat talks out of pup cleaners and some paper turtles and made our own pond in our train table.finish the week w leap frog and a rendition of five gene and speckled frogs. I always enjoy this lesson, and so do the children!

Bunnies and carrot fun

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

We did so many fun projects leading up to Easter, we did a whole study on carrots, we planted carrot seeds, ate carrots as snack, we drew carrots,pai Ted carrots and sculpted carrots and than added some bunnies into the mix, cause bunnies love carrots! Than we had fun w eggs, dying them ,playing w plastic eggs. We had a fun couple of weeks.

Baking a rainbow

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

We made these cupcakes on st. Patty's day, and as you kn ow we have made every kind of rainbows imaginable, so why not cupcakes!
This recipe was taken from family fun magazine and the kids had a ball making them as well as eating them.
Here is the recipe:
Prepare a box of white cake mix according to directions, than divide the batter into 7 smaller bowls, now it's time to mix the colors...
Red- 18 drops red coloring
Orange- 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Yellow- 12 drops of yellow
Green- 12 drops of green
Blue- 12 drops of blue
Purple- 9 drops of red and 6 drops of blue
Now you are going to spoon each color in one at a time starting with the purple on the bottom, and ending wi the red on top, this is a bit time consuming but they come out beautiful, bake as directed and serve, fun and delicious! Enjoy

Fun with milk and food coloring

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

Here is a really cool science experiment. You take a shallow dish and pour just enough milk to cover the bottom. Add different color food coloring, I used green, yellow and two different blues. Dip sime q-tips in dishwashing liquid and than take one and dip it into the milk. Watch as the colors start to move, do not stir the milk around, just keep dabbing the tip in at different areas where it looks like the colors are still very concentrated. Watch the co,ors dance and move around, great fun, ours looks like the planet earth, don't you think?

M&m fun

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

I saw this fun lesson on a lovely website from England. Anything to do with chocolate is a bonus for me, so I thought the kids would love this and they did!
We started out sorting the m&m's by color, the kids had a blast doing this, when we were done sorting we observed which color had the most candies and which had the least.
I than added water and we went out the play....upon returning the m&m colored coating had melted away, the m&m logo had risen to the top and the kids were ready to paint with them. What fun the kids had painting with all the colors and a bonus was they smell great. We are saving our paintings to hang for our art show.
Supply list:
Large bag of m&m candy
Plastic cups
Water
Paint brushes
Water color paper

Peanut butter chocolate chip waffles

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

I made these for maids the other night and they were a big hit. Sometimes they enjoy breakfast for dinner, the novelty never wears off!

2 cups waffle mix or bisquick
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
Sprinkling off cinnamon
Chocolate chips, as many as you wish
Pam for the waffle iron
Heat waffle iron
Mix bisquick,eggs,milk and vanilla. Add p.b. And cinnamon, when all incorporated add in chocolate. Ladle onto waffle iron and cook until golden and delicious. Serve with cut up strawberries, orange wedges and bananas. Enjoy!

Sensory fun with rainbow rice

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

We have been doing lots of things with rainbows, so when I needed a good idea for my sensory table, colored rice seemed like a fun choice. The kids are nabbing a blast with it, I added some small sand toys, rakes, funnels, shovels, and than the kids decided to add some matchbox cars. Than I added some large collared gems, the fun is endless!

Here's what you need to make it:
rice
White vinegar
Food coloring
Baggies
Cookie sheet
Place 1 1/2 cups of rice for each color you want to make. Add 1 tbs vinegar and food coloring. Seal the bag and have the kids shake until the colors all mixed unto the rice. When all the colors are mixed, gently pourontoa cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes in a low oven,225.add toys and have fun!

Rainbow love

Originally uploaded by stacycakes

This week we reviewed the letter "r". I was trying to think of fun letter r projects, we made raindrops one day, traced the letter r, made colored rice for the sensory table and made colored rainbows. I filled an egg carton with alt he colors of the rainbow and had a special painting tool that pulls the paint, kind of like an ice scraper. I put all the different colored paint on the tip of the scraper and let the kids pull the paint onto the paper, they came so beautiful!.... Next post, colored rice for some sensory fun!