Patriotic Fruit Pizzas

When was the last time you had a fruit pizza? No matter what your answer to that question is, it's probably been too long! A 4th of July pool party this week gave me the perfect excuse to make these delightful mini fruit pizzas, which were a big hit. There's just something about this fun dessert that makes you feel like a kid again--especially when it's bite-size.

I got the inspiration from this recipe, except I substituted the Cool Whip frosting with this recipe for creamy fruit dip (thank you, Pinterest). The result was definitely worth turning on the oven on a 100-degree day.

Fabulous Fabric Lamp Revamp

This little garage sale treasure has been sitting on a night stand in our guest room for a couple of years now. I think I bought it for a whopping $2. I like the base just fine, but the ugly shade has been begging for a facelift.

During a recent trip to Hancock Fabrics, I spotted some clearance fabric with a fabulous print in the remnants bin. It was $4 for two yards, so I snatched it up.

I wasn’t quite sure of the best way to cover the shade, so I basically just rolled it up in the fabric and cut along the top and bottom outline, leaving about 1” extra.

Simple Spray Paint Makeovers

The power of spray paint never ceases to amaze me. Case in point: three mini-makeovers from the past week.

Exhibit A – Spruced Up Sticks
My neighbor’s yard is often littered with twigs from her trees. One of those trees in particular—I’m not sure what kind it is--has some very unique, wavy branches. I never really thought much of this until recently when I realized I could use these branches as decor. With this vision in mind, I began the search for a large floor vase and found one at Gordman’s for $30.

Then, I picked out a few of the best-looking twigs from our neighbor’s yard and spray painted them silver. Easy peasy!

Up Cloche and Personal

Before I begin, I should let you know that I recently got back from a 2-week vacation to Europe. Since we returned home, I'm still adjusting back to "real" life... you know, being domesticated and cooking meals and working 8-5 (ugh). This also means easing slowly back into house projects. Hence my absence around here lately, and hence this post's somewhat-boring subject matter. 

Moving on. A cloche bell jar has been on my wish list for quite some time now. This week, I finally bought one at Hobby Lobby for $20 (50% off). I'm not sure if this is a great deal, but I didn't have the energy to search for cheaper options elsewhere. 

Now, a tough decision. What to put in it?? I made another stop at Joann's to see what I could find. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon some "textured spheres" on clearance for $3.97 a box (marked down from $14.99). I got two boxes, which ended up being just enough to fill up my cloche.

DIY Ceiling Medallion Mirrors

I'm baa-aack! April is still going to be a busy month, as we're planning a two-week vacation in May, but I still hope to get a few projects done around here. Let's start with this one...

My mission lately has been to incorporate more color into our mostly-neutral home decor. The first baby step I took a couple of months ago was purchasing new throw pillows for our couch. I was really drawn to the variety of colors in this print. Don't you love it?

pillows from World Market

With a new color palette that I could now draw inspiration from, I decided some coordinating wall decor was in order. While walking through the lighting section in Menard's last week, I saw some ceiling medallions that reminded me of a project I'd seen in this book:

Motivated by this exciting new idea, I picked up three medallions (one 16", two 10") and headed to the spray paint aisle. I was in luck, because my favorite Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch spray paint was on sale for $2.99 (actually $1.99 each if you count the mail-in rebate offer)! I managed to find three colors that were a close match to those in my pillows.

Eden, Cinnamon, and Aubergine

Back at home, it took roughly 3 coats of each color to make sure I hadn't missed any of those tiny grooves. The result? Three bold & beautiful medallions!

How I love thee, spray paint!

Although it would have looked fine to hang them on the wall just like this, I wanted to take my project one step further. Those empty centers were just begging for some mirror action, so I found three 5" beveled-edge mirrors at Hobby Lobby and proceeded to glue them onto the front (using Glass Bond adhesive for slick surfaces). Finally, I still had to figure out a way to hang them. I already had some picture frame hangers on hand, so I just glued these onto the backside since the mirrors were pretty lightweight. The hardest part was waiting overnight for the glue to set to full strength.

Not too pretty, but who will ever see it?

I decided to hang my medallion mirrors on the wall in our entryway, replacing this ho-hum picture frame:

This space also flows into our living room, so you can see the pillows with coordinating colors when you walk in.

I'm diggin' the way this project turned out -- it was really easy and a relatively economical way to make unique wall decor. These would also look good if you had a variety of sizes in a staggered/random arrangement on the wall, but I could only find two sizes of this style, so I decided to line them up vertically.

(New pic taken after we painted all our walls gray!)

Now I just need to figure out what to put on that empty console table (something that won't compete with my new wall decor). I'd love to know what you think of this project! Were the mirrors a good addition?

COST:
Medallions: $20.69
Spray paint: $8.97
Mirrors: $8.97
Total: $38.63

NOTE:

Little House on the Corner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

I'm still here!

Helloooo? Anyone out there?

In case you haven't noticed, I've been M.I.A for the past few weeks. Work and life in general has kept me too busy to do any fun projects, much less blog about them. I also haven't had time to visit other blogs, so I know I'm missing out on a lot of good stuff that other people are doing.

But don't worry (because I know you were). I'll be back!  I'm not sure when, but hopefully soon. Until then, happy blogging everyone!

Recipe of the Week: Delicious Trifle

Ok, so I haven't had a "Recipe of the Week" in, oh, a couple months. Oops. But it's back (at least for this week)!

We recently stumbled upon this recipe while searching for a wine & food pairing to bring to a party. According to the recipe, this "Delicious Trifle" pairs well with Apothic Red (which is a good bottle of wine for about $10-12).

I had actually never made any type of trifle before, but I took advantage of the excuse to go out and buy a trifle bowl, which I found at Walmart for only $7. Score!

Here's the recipe, via The Barrel Room:

Delicious Trifle
1 large angel food cake, cut in cubes
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
8 oz. sour cream
10 oz. frozen whipped topping
1 pint fresh strawberries
1 pint fresh blueberries
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
1 peach, peeled and sliced
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
 
In a bowl, mix pudding mix, sour cream, and fold into the whipped topping.
 
In a large glass bowl, place 1/2 of the cake cubes. Add half of the strawberries, blueberries, bananas, kiwis, peaches, and pineapple. Cover with half of the whipped topping mixture. Add a second layer in the same order. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with fruit from recipe or use mint leaves or edible flowers.

Notes: I made my angel food cake from a box mix and just tore it into pieces with my hands. But to save time you could buy one that's already baked (I saw them in the produce section next to strawberries). Also, this would be a great summertime recipe when all the fruits are in season and cheaper (I couldn't even find any peaches this time of year).

FYI - the original recipe doesn't have a picture with it. You're welcome.

Sure, it looks yummy, but did the Delicious Trifle live up to its name? You betcha! In fact, it could almost be called the Dangerously Delicious Trifle... it's so light and fluffy and fruity, you can eat a lot of it without realizing it. The trifle bowl makes a really pretty presentation too, so I'll definitely need to start trying more trifles!

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