My perfectly, un-perfect FRAMED canvas print!

The Headlines:

I'm doing a boy baseball room.

I bought a canvas print.

For the most part,  I'm not a fan of canvas prints.

Let's FRAME it!

OOPS.

So, it's been established... I'm PICKY!  We're in the midst of doing my little boy's room.  That post to follow... but one of our projects within the room seemed simple enough to me.  I bought a vintage looking baseball canvas print (at yes, that fabulous store, Home Goods) that I thought was so cute and at such a good price!

But when I got it home it just bugged me.  

It was totally boring.  Canvas prints may work in some circumstances.  Such as, perhaps grouping multiple, "like-type" canvas' together.. but especially in this circumstance, where I thought it may anchor the wall above my sons bed... it would not.  It needed to be more grand, more wow!  So, I thought, let's put a frame around it!  4 boards, slapped together - no biggie, right?  Sounds easy enough, to me?!  But when I innocently mentioned this to BP (my husband) he was not on the same easy train as I was... he informed me he wasn't doing it.  He said, his time versus the cost was not worth it.  

So, I did what he said, I priced it.  Went to a store, Michael's, gave them the size and explained what I wanted (which by the way, pretty much didn't exist at their store...  a wide like RED, rustic looking 4 inch frame).... anyways, the worker said ballpark for him to do that would run me about $400-$450.  And he said other stores may charge more.  When I reported that back to BP he had a change of heart.  This, you have to know, is only because it's his son's baseball room, which he has a special place in his heart being that he played little league through college.   He set out to do it.  

Honestly, it was NO ride on the easy train like I thought - so, because by definition this blog is only supposed to give you easy projects - I apologize.  But, he did it!  Here's how: we went to Home Depot and bought 4 boards of 4" wide pine at 3/4" thick.  He used a miter saw and cut the appropriate dimensions.  He then screwed the pieces together to fit like a frame, applied wood filler and painted it.  But he cut the wood diagonally.  He said, if he could do it again he'd cut just 4 boards, meaning 2 longer vertical and 2 shorter horizontally to form a square.

Here's how it turned out. 

Something's off isn't it? I didn't notice it at first either but yes, it's crooked on the bottom left hand corner as you look at the frame.  See, look closer.

But after all his hard work, this picky chick knows when to let it lie.  It still looks great and my son is happy!  Maybe someday, we'll alter it.  And until then, perfection is sometimes over-rated.  After all, it's the quite un-perfect "Leaning Tower of Pisa"  that draws millions to see it every year!

Also, it does protrude from the frame a little bit.  I really don't mind this.  BP wanted to basically make 2 frames so it would be equally thick but I nixed that plan.  I told him... I wasn't that picky!   Hee hee.

**  Hey, if you like this, there's more where that came from!  Go to the home page and put your email in the top, right hand corner where it says "follow by email"... every time I do a new post - it will let you know!  And thanks ahead of time!

Fake "Make" your Salad Dressing!

The Headlines:

I Love major yum salads. 

There's an easy way to make any salad major yum.

Try this (it's faking making dressing)!

So the one thing BP (my husband) knows I do really well is make salads.  They're fun to come up with different combo's to suit the season.  They go with everything: steak, ribs, fish.  They even stand alone if you add some hearty elements.  Hamburger, beans even apples.  We make all kinds of salads here.  Salmon caesars, taco, "antipasti" types, southwestern style, bbq, dried cranberry & nuts... the list goes on.  But I'm not here to teach you how to make a salad.  Though the next time I do, I can certainly pass it along. Until then, I have a trick to make any one of your salads a crazy master piece.

This...

I know what you're thinking.  That's just 2 store bought dressings.  Hidden Valley Ranch and Bernstein's Restaurant Italian.  And you're right it is.  And to be honest, on their own, in my mind they do quite a nice job.  But together - it's like magic.  We had a friend (a guy) actually... over for dinner during Monday Night Football (go figure).  I made a spinach salad kind of like the one you see above.  He was fine to eat it but when I combined the dressings for him - and after he took a bite, his response - no joke - "This is the best salad I've ever had!"  He was so surprised that it was that good - it was cute actually!

I will tell you the Italian is hard to find sometimes.  Not every grocery store carries it.  So search high and low.  Also, if you switch it out for another Italian dressing the results will be along the same line but just not as great.  And there in lies today's post.  Simple but awesome.  Try it this weekend with almost any salad combination.  You'll be glad you did!

And for the record, someday I really will make my very own salad dressing.

If you like this, there's more where that came from!  Go to the home page and put your email in the top, right hand corner where it says "follow by email"... every time I do a new post - it will let you know!  And thanks ahead of time!