Lets go fly a kite....

up to the highest height and send it soaring. That song has been stuck in my head since yesterday! Why you ask? Well my daughter's science project is to make a homemade kite. This was exciting! I do love a fun project ya know. So we set out on Saturday and bought the supplies:

 Two dowels
 a yard of fabric
 half a yard of coordinating fabric
 ribbon
 yarn
 twine

 First we crossed the two dowels together to form the "bones" of the kite:

 now make sure they are perfectly aligned (meaning they are the same length on all sides). Hold together by wrapping the yarn around the center.

 Now onto the pretty part of the kite. Make a diamond and fold the edges over to hem:

 You NEED to make sure all sides are symmetrical! This is a must apparently. Ours doesn't fly very good because one side is slightly different from the other. Darn!!

 After we hemmed the sides. We made a bunch of ruffles to go around the edges. See ruffle making HERE.
Then we added a tail with some bows on it. Then we took four pieces of ribbon and sewed them on the four corners of the kite to hold the dowels in place. We also added some ribbon trim all around the edges of the front and back.

 She sure is pretty! Too bad her flying is limited!

Up in the air for about three seconds before she crashes down. Lesson we learned: all sides NEED to be symmetrical, we probably used too many decorations, thus making it too heavy, and finally all sides need to be equally balanced. Good thing it doesn't need to fly for her project grade. Well at least it was a good learning lesson and she sure does look purty!! Maybe we will hang it on the wall of her bedroom as decor. See the kite has some use!

Michelle

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Changes

As you can see I changed my header and the background of my blog. I am trying to make it more inviting. I am also hoping the header defines my blog a bit better than just "Prudently Painted Vintage". When I first started this blog, I had just finished decorating my daughters room. I thought I was going to go on a furniture painting frenzy and paint paint paint. Thus the name of my blog. Well now that I have been blogging for about three months, I have realized I have a lot more interests than just painting furniture. Now here I am trying to reinvent my blog just a tad bit. What will you get? The same stuff I have been posting. Crafts, sewing projects, recipes, tips on products, and maybe a rant here and there. I hope you enjoy the slightly different look and continue to enjoy my posts! Thanks for following me!

 Please let me know what you think of the new look! Comments make my day :)

A special thanks to Vivienne at the V-spot for helping me out with button sizes on my side bar! She is too sweet and LOVE her blog. Check her out!

Michelle

Starburst Mirror revisted

So remember my starburst mirror HERE? Here is a pic in case you don't feel like clicking over and then back again:

 I decided this mirror was too plain for this girl! So I added some spray paint, a few buttons, some numbers, and a little twine and this is what I have now ( much better in my opinion):

I did blue because I would like to incorporate splashes of blue in my living room. I think blue and orange look so good together (I already have orange in my living room. I will post pics of my living room in another post).

 

Michelle

  

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liquid breakfast

So going on with my health kick this week, I thought I would share with you what I have been eating for breakfast for the past two weeks. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Hopefully by making good choices at breakfast you will continue your day making more good choices. I love this recipe! I actually look forward to it every morning. It is about 325 calories and 30 grams of protein. I am full AND satisfied until lunch. So here you go my protein smoothie (so good my two year old loves it!).

 What you need:
- a blender
-half of a banana (bananas have quite a bit of natural sugar in them, but they are full of potassium. They are also great for runners because they help prevent side stitch.)
-four to five strawberries (Berries are the best fruit to eat. They are packed full of antioxidants AND they are lowest in sugar content.)
-1/4 cup lowfat yogurt (you could use Greek yogurt to add more protein, or plain to have less carbs, or just a vanilla.)
-whey protein powder (I use one scoop of straight whey powder and half a scoop of milk chocolate whey protein mix. Total protein in powders together: 23g).
-a handful of ice
-1/4 cup raw oatmeal

 Put all ingredients together in blender except the oatmeal and blend until desired consistency. When finished pour into a cup and stir in the raw oatmeal. Now enjoy!! I just finished mine and it was delish!

 (silly clipart I borrowed from google images :)

 Remember if you are trying to build muscle, it is important to consume quite a bit more of protein. This is the perfect start to your muscle building day!

Michelle

  

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Product review

So I normally don't "review" products on here directly. I may tell you what I use when I do crafts or recipes, but usually not an entire post on a certain product. Guess what? I am today. It really isn't related to anything creative, oh well! Being that the weather is getting warmer and bathing suit season is right around the corner, how about some exercise? I personally love to run outdoors and lift weights in my community gym. Unfortunately, now that Ethan is getting older it's getting harder for me to make it into the gym to lift weights. Thank goodness he still LOVES our runs :) So anyways I decided to try this:

 I don't know about you, but I love Jillian Michaels. Not really the Jillian you see on Biggest Loser, but more so on her books. She is super intelligent and seems to know what she is talking about. The proof is in the pudding. Just look at her! I really recommend any of her books. I have read most of them and enjoyed each one.

 So on with the workout video. I had a fabulous workout yesterday morning (about to do it again after I post this). I am sore in places I have never been before. The moves are not very complicated. She also shows you beginning and advanced ways of doing each move. The best part of this video you ask? Being able to do it in your own home, so people don't look at you crazy when you groan about having to do mountain climbers....again (seriously hate mountain climbers. Who in their right mind invented those!!) Another bonus: the video is only like 10 dollars on Amazon. Seriously worth it!!

Michelle

  

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Starburst Mirror

So I was totally M.I.A last week. Mostly because the weather was and is so amazing right now. So I have been taking advantage. I went for my run just about every day and took my son to the park a bunch. My body thanks me for it (I had been slacking a bit on my running). This little guy thanks me for it too (how can you resist playing with this cute little thing all day? You can't!)

 On with the post, I know there have been a million and one starburst (sunburst what ever you want to call it) mirrors out there. Well I just have to say, mine is not original by any means. Also, there are some out there that could seriously sell in a high end store (mine by the way is not one of them, just sayin).

 So here is what I have for you:

 The supplies:

 Two different size shims (bought them at lowes)
 Round picture frame (bought at walmart like 4 dollars)
 Round mirror (have like seven of them in a closet here. Don't ask why, because I seriously couldn't tell you. Maybe I'm some crazy mirror hoarder. You need one?)
Goop
 Hot glue gun
 Ice (for the burns you most likely will get from hot glue gun)
 black acrylic paint
silver metallic paint
 
 Ok so now paint all the shims and round frame black. Let dry and paint over it in the silver (gives it some dimension with the two colors). Let them dry again. Now Goop the mirror onto the round frame (you know glue it with the Goop). Then evenly space out two different lengths of shims all around mirror and use hot glue gun to glue them into place (when you have them spaced how you want them. Now carefully hang on wall (seriously the shims are very sturdy on the mirror. Think I may Goop on some kind of backing to keep in place). Lucky for me my picture frame already had a little hangy thingy so I didn't need to attach my own. Sorry for the lack of pics ( I'm a slacker).

 There is a few for you to see how the shims and round frame look.

Now here is one more pic of the after:

 I think I may spray paint it red or maybe even orange. Who knows! I'll keep ya posted :)

 

Michelle

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