Five Feature Friday #30!

It's been a little slow moving over here in the Craptastic household!  I started my new rotation, and although I have more free time, I've been using that time to start running again.

So needless to say, after working all day and getting in a good run when I get home, I'm a little too tired to work on projects and blog.

I am working on a cute tote bag to carry all my study books around in, so hopefully I'll have that completed by tomorrow!

Onto the features!

Circa Dee revamped this boring old dresser and I love the two toned paint with the wood knobs!



Sunshine On the Inside refinished this campaign desk - love the whole setup!

I love Retro Politan's spin on chevron with the sideways design! The dark wood and white look great!

Lilyfield Life refinished this cute piece! Love the gold tipped legs!

Viva Cindy repurposed an old footstool with a fur rug! I flipping love it!

Feel free to grab a button if you were featured!

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Cheers!

Upcoming Spring Party!

Hey all!

I took a little blogging hiatus for the past few weeks so I could focus on finishing my research paper and presentation!

I'm DONE!  Such an incredible feeling!

Only FOUR months until graduation!

I'll be resuming Five Feature Friday and hopefully some projects this week!

In other news, a group of some amazing bloggers and myself will be partying with Jane from Adventures in Dinner towards the end of April!

We will be sharing some great Spring projects, so get yours together now so you can party along!!

I hope you all are having a great weekend!!

Cheers!

Spring Flower Cupcakes!

WOW!  I feel like I haven't written a post in forever!

I've been incredibly busy with school and this rotation.  My last day is this Wednesday (big tear) and I have to present my research paper this Friday.

My next rotation is Psych (yawn) so I'll be back into the swing of things with more projects and FFF soon!

As is custom, I've made my parting cupcakes!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here and we've already planted tons of flowers.  In the spirit of Spring I decided to make flower cupcakes!!

While my cupcakes were baking I cut up the flowers.

I used my kitchen shears to cut the long side of the marshmallow into thirds.  I used the regular size marshmallows, so I only had four petals for each flower.  You could probably do the same thing with the mini marshmallows and have tons of tiny flowers!

Now - ICING!

I don't have a neat icing bag (although I'd like to get one) so I use the DIY way.

Before I started frosting I took my can of frosting and whipped it in my kitchen aid.  I read this tip somewhere, and it really fluffs your frosting letting it last longer.  Last time I made cupcakes with the same container of frosting I only had enough for 24.  This time I was able to frost 36 cupcakes and I had quite a bit leftover.

This is how I make my own frosting bag:

I put a quart size ziplock bag into a cup and fold the edges over the side of the cup.  Then I use my spatula and put the frosting into the cup, scraping it on the side.  Then I'm left with a HUGE bag of fluffy frosting.  Just cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and frost away!

After the cupcakes were frosted I put four "petals" onto the frosting, then put a chocolate morsel in the center!  The mallows look more like petals if you pinch the edge together.  Viola!  Flower cupcakes!

I was really hoping to get some good photos in daylight, but I have to take these to work tomorrow, so night photos it is!

Originally I was going to make 24 flower cupcakes and 12 swirly cupcakes, but decided to make more swirly cupcakes.  I sprinkled those with edible pearl-like sprinkles.

I got the cupcake wrappers at Michaels for $1/pack!  Each pack has 50 liners.  I wish I would have bought more!!

Here they are all together! It looks like a little flower field!

I was forced to take a bite out of one so you could see the pink center! ;)

Cheers!

Five Feature Friday #29!

Another great week down!  I only have 1 1/2 weeks left at my current rotation!  That's upsetting!  I'll be happy when this rotation is over, because I'll be completely finished with my research paper and I can focus more energy on projects.  BUT I'll be real sad to leave this rotation!  I've been having a blast!

Before the features I wanted to show you what we did at our paint class last night!

We did small owls!  Trish had a few different owls you could choose from to paint, or you could make up your own design.

Here's mine!  I had to add chevron, of course!  I stuck to grays and blues!

Here are some of the other owls!  My Mom did the UT owl, Amber also did a gray and blue owl (we didn't plan that at all, we both walked in with the same color scheme of paints!) and another gal did a pink owl! Love them!

Next time we're painting a big sleepy owl, again in any color sceme you choose!  I'm deciding on my theme right now, becaue I think I might put it on the front door as part of my spring wreath!

The next class is March 24th @ 5pm.  It's held in the Hobby Lobby in Murfreesboro! Only $10 if you want to come!

Ok - features!

A Girl and A Brush madeover this dresser in a gorgeous soft green! You can click over to see what she used to make her fragile drawer pulls extra sturdy!

Owen's Olivia is at it again with this amazing pallet wall!  I want one of these so bad! I love how it softens the room but adds so much character!



Paint Speckled Pawprints shows us another way to use pallets! She made these amazing floating shelves for her bathroom makeover! Love them!

Bridgey Widgey saved this old desk from certain doom! I am completely in love!

Herringbone Lane turned this boring Ikea dresser into an eye catcher! Love the two toned look!

Feel free to grab a button if you were featured!

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Happy weekend!

Cheers!

More Surgery Stories, Thank You and A Giveaway!

I am currently doing my surgery rotation with an orthopedic group! I love it!  But, since technically it is my surgery rotation, my preceptors want me to see other aspects of surgery.

So this week I ventured out with one of the hospital's general surgeons.  What an adventure!  This surgeon does a lot of breast surgeries (not the enhancement type) so I was able to see a few breast biopsies done and some other interesting cases as well.

Tuesday morning I got to watch a thyroid lobectomy (where they remove one half of the thyroid).  It was SO different from all the banging and cutting we do in ortho! I got to make the last clip that removed the thyroid!

After lunch I ventured over to the Labor and Delivery wing and got to see a precious baby boy born.  After the baby had been delivered I was still helping hold the Mom's leg while the midwife was finishing with the birth process.  I had my face turned a little to my left to watch the baby get cleaned up when I felt a SPLATTER on my face.  I turned around to see BLOOD splattered all down the front of my white lab coat and I could feel it on my face!  While the midwife was cutting off part of the umbilical cord that was attached to the placenta, blood shot out all over me.  It was literally 1 mm from my lip.  Good thing I had my mouth shut! Welcome to labor and delivery.

Once that was finished I popped in to see a vascular surgeon finishing up his work on a carotid artery.  I got a quick anatomy lesson then went next door to scrub in for an exploratory abdominal surgery.  What was supposed to be a simple surgery turned into the removal of part of the small intestine and reattaching it to the stomach!  Insane!

So I was very lucky as a student to get to see some uncommon surgeries!  My heart is still in ortho though!

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway from my pal Ashley at Domestic Imperfection!  She gave away four sets of pillow covers and I was ecstatic to win two adorable houndstooth pillow covers!

My living room is a mess right now, so I didn't take a picture of the pillows all spread out on my couch, but I love how they all look!

I'm saving the other pillow cover until I decide where to put it! Thanks Ashley and Happy Blogiversary!!

Now I have a last minute reminder for a giveaway at my other pal Brittany's blog, Britt's Apron!

She is also celebrating her 1-year blogiversary and her giveaway ends tonight!

She is giving away this adorable apron she made along with a pair of earrings and a book she had made with all her dessert recipes!  How flipping cute!

She's also giving away one of these cute hand towels and a set of earrings to a second winner!

You can find the handtowels and earrings listed in her etsy shop!

But hurry!  Her giveaway ends tonight at 10:30!!

I hope you all are having a great week so far!  The weekend is almost here!

Cheers!

My Pseudo Mantel!

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Our house doesn't have a fireplace, therefore no mantel.  We do, however, have this little nook that sits up high in our living room.  This little space has become my "pseudomantel."  Pseudo - that's one of my favorite science words! :)

If you walk in through our front door, this is what you see:

I've been working on this little nook for over a year now.  It all started with a trip to an antique store in Columbia.  I literally stumbled over this $5 chair and brought it home with me.  I threw it up in this nook on a whim - eh, it was ok but I wasn't in love.

That chair is now a beautiful blue color and it hangs out on my front porch.

Back to the pseudomantel.  You can see the progression here:

Occasionally I venture back to Columbia for an afternoon of picking.  I found these two windows one day for $10.

I gave them a good cleaning and a new coat of white paint.  Once they were dry I hung them up in the pseudomantel and they sat there, waiting for me to finish decorating.

I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went on a walk yesterday with the hubby.  We walked all around our neighborhood and I found a pair of old sticks.

I love these boots!  They were my Mom's when she was younger and they don't fit her anymore.  I would totally wear these if they didn't cut off the circulation in my feet.  My Mom is a petite lady.  The shoe inserts are my late grandfather's.

I need to find something to put underneath the boots so they have a little height.  That way you can see them better when you're looking at them from ground height.

I made the fabric banner last night too.  It reminds me of spring and I love it!  I can easily switch this out for different holidays.

I love the natural feel of the sticks and the brightness of the chair and windows!  Now I love my little pseudomantel!

Here are a few more peeks!

I designed this space with items I have acquired over the last year, so I guess technically it was a free makeover!

Have a happy week!

Cheers!