Night Bandits

Last night I went to pick up Mr. Lemon from the train station.

As we were driving home, I spied a dresser.

You know where this is going...

Now, it had been raining- actually pouring- for most of the day, but I still wanted to check it out. After I convinced Mr. Lemon with "I just want to pop out and see", I  made a somewhat illegal u-turn. Shh!

Crazy parking, check.

Flashers on, check.

Measuring tape in hand, check.

It was really dark, but I could see (with the help of car headlights) that despite one missing knob, the dresser was in great shape, and didn't have any rain damage. Immediately, I schemed how to get it into my car.

It was so heavy! Lucky me, I am married to Mr. "I-can-lift-anything"-Lemon! Just as we started to move it together, the homeowner came out.

Yikes! We were caught red-handed taking this guy's trash!

No worries- he said he had two more dressers and a mirror he was bringing out.

As the homeowner described the other two pieces, I thought, it is a good thing we came by to nab this dresser- how in the world was that guy going to get the other two down a flight of stairs all by himself?!

While Mr Lemon helped our new best friend with the other two dressers, I called Trina with a full report.

She has been looking for a low, wide dresser to turn into a fabulous something that I won't divulge here (save that for later). She also has a similar dresser in her girls' room, so I thought I'd give her a buzz to see if she wanted either.

Trina drove over to where we were to see for herself. She wound up taking both and a mirror to boot!

Score one for The Lemon Poppy Cottage night bandits!

This is my tall dresser. (I can't close one of the drawers until I attach a new pull otherwise it is a beast to open.) I put it in my sewing room... for now.

Trina's sweet hubby and Mr. Lemon are buddies and often the victims of our curbside furniture discoveries. But I will tell you one thing, we are happy to each be married to supportive, loving men. Thank you for keeping us in check, and nudging us to tackle our ever-growing lists of projects.

Goldie

On the way home from Zumba yesterday, this gem was sitting outside a favorite treasure hunting locale.

I was immediately drawn to her curves and tufted back.

She has cane sides, golden velvet fabric, and a French-y silhouette.

Now she is mine.

Hurray!

 I was smiling the whole way home.

She has a few little flaws, but who doesn't?

I cleaned her and placed her in my dormer window upstairs.

While she basks in her new sunny spot,  I make plans and collect ideas for her makeover.

Anyone have any ideas?

Please share- I'd love to hear what you think!

What to do With a Your Hubby's old socks

This project is so cute you are going to run and tell someone about it as soon as you see what it is.

You may be thinking, how do I make my husband's old socks look cute? They weren't even cute to begin with!

Argyle, striped, plaid or contrasting toe socks may induce more yawns than ooh's and ahh's as they patiently sit in your hubby's top drawer awaiting their next outing.

That is until they look like this:

Tell me you didn't just squeal with delight.

Don't lie now.

I know you want one.

I made this funny dog for my Pittsburgh gal pal's little boy. I told him he could name it. I can't wait to hear what his name is!

Ok so I technically didn't swipe one of Mr. Lemon's socks. Mostly because he has boring ones. I bought mine, but you could easily raid the drawers of your husband and sons while they are distracted...

This dog is made from one sock, so don't go tossing those stranded socks you shoved into the back of your laundry room cabinet.

Here is what you need:

Uno sock-o (Remember the larger the better! Look for pattern or make yours plain.)

Needle and Thread or a sewing machine. (I hand-sewed mine),

Button for nose

Stuffing

Ribbon for a collar

I got the idea from Create Studio's blog, which also has a lovely tutorial.

Now what to do with those ugly ties he insists on wearing....

Christmas Cheer

Hey Friends!

I apologize for the recent neglect on my part.. I have been working hard on secret Christmas and winter birthday projects for a while now. But in all my secretive crafting I failed to capture any quality photos. Whoops.

Anyways.. I made some fun things for my family this year for Christmas.... brought to you by Pinterest, of course. It was the first Christmas in a long time that I was able to make gifts. For the past few years we have either just moved or were in the throws of packing to move, so my boxes of future ingenious gifts/ projects were boxed away or in storage.

But no more! Hurray!

Since I have been teaching myself to knit, I made scarves for my sister and sister-in-law and my pal Celia (sorry for the spoiler, Celia... someday we will exchange gifts...). Each one was different- Jenn's was a purple infinity scarf, Rachel's was a creamy white cowl, and I won't ruin the surprise any more for Celia.... I will post on that masterpiece later....

For my brother-in-law Nick I made him a sweet set of coasters to go with four pilsner glasses and a large glass bottle for his home brewed beer. The glasses had chalkboard paint on the bottom rims and the bottle had chalkboard paint in the middle for him to label his concoctions. I would be remiss if I left the chalkboard areas blank, so I put witty little sayings on each one ("Johanna is the coolest" "Drink this"..etc).

I also sewed fabric baskets for my sister and sister-in-law and filled them with all the random little gifts I pick up throughout the year.  I sewed my mom a few Scrabble tile pillows of her initials, as an homage to one of her favorite games. Wait until you see the cuteness I made for a little friend... my step dad loved it so much I made him one! Check back for a forthcoming post on it! For my brother I made a fireplace kit, complete with matches. It wasn't until later that I discovered that his fireplace is gas... oh well he can still use the firestarters in his fire pit.

I also made some yummy white chocolate peppermint popcorn to give to friends.

This popcorn has three ingredients- 4 quarts popped popcorn ( about 1/2 cup of kernels popcorn), 16 ounces of white chocolate chips,melted and 10-12 candy canes ground up. so easy.

Side note: my favorite word in Portuguese is the word for popcorn: "pipoca" (pee-PO- ka). Try saying it- I promise you will smile.

 Melt the chocolate while you pop the popcorn, then add the crushed peppermints to the melted chocolate. In a big bowl, pour the chocolate mixture over the popped corn and stir to coat every bit. Once well-coated (you will have to work kind of fast) spread the covered popcorn on a baking sheet covered in wax paper. Let the chocolate harden and then eat or package it up to give as a tasty gift. The hardest part was keeping Mr. Lemon's quick fingers away... all in all it took about 15-20 minutes to make.  It would also be yummy with milk or dark chocolate and peppermint... mmmmm.