Old Windows Become Porch Art

I know.. I usually blog about food.  That was not the entire intention of this blog. It's just that I am food obsessed so that kind of took over.  I also wanted to share with you the way we make our house a home!  So here is a project Greg and I have been working on.  We started this last year with a couple of old windows we bought at a flea market, and then when we came upon a couple of windows in the neighborhood lately we were re-inspired and got to work again.

The original idea was to make these into hanging porch pieces to add some color and semi-privacy to our lovely 1920 bungalow porch.  After a year of displaying them in the living room, Greg got them hung on the porch once we finished a couple more!

Here's the basic process we went through, but if you'd like more details there is a great tutorial here.  We were not nearly that careful and perfect, and they still turned out beautiful!

First of all, you need an old window.

Clean it up, wash the panes well. If you are worried about chipped paint that may contain lead, you may consider sealing it before working on it. You don't want to lose that old chipped paint look!  I did not think of this until later, so we will be sealing ours after the fact.  Just makes sure you cover up the window panes.

Next, we Googled "free stained glass patterns".  There are a lot to choose from, but I think we got most of ours from here.  Here is the really cool part. We downloaded a trial of the Rapid Resizer, and put in the dimensions of the area we were working with.  It may stretch your design a bit, so make sure that will not make a difference with your design.  Next, it prints out your design on standard printer paper in the size you need. You just tape it all together and tape it to the other side of your window.

Next, you use the "liquid lead" stained class paint and trace your design, which is already finished in the above picture.  This needs to dry for part of the day before you begin your painting.  I like to leave the white paper behind it during the process so you have a bright background to work on.  Like I said before.. about.com has a much more detailed tutorial.

After following instructions on drying time, your windows are done and you could have something like this!

I will be taking them down to seal up the wood again, so we can keep that chipped paint look and to seal up any old lead paint.

This was a great project to do together, and we spent almost a whole Sunday working on them when we had a break from the heat. Now I just admire them from the air conditioning while looking out!

I Scream You Scream

So Greg and I have been talking about making ice cream at home for at least a year. We buy all of the vegan ice creams and love them, but they get expensive. Also it just seems fun to make it at home!  We don't have an ice cream maker, but my sister does! So... we're babysitting it for awhile.  I had a copy of VegNews magazine that had a bunch of vegan ice cream recipes in it and I can find about 142 other magazines around this house, but not that one!  So, I just Googled vegan ice cream recipes and found this blog with a few to try. I couldn't believe how easy this was!!  Four ingredients and 30 minutes later and we had ice cream!!  I would double the recipe if more than 2 people are going to be eating this ice cream. It was delicious!  Next time I'll try coconut milk, or maybe I'll crumble the Newman-O's into it.  It will be fun to come up with new combinations.  Greg has already suggested peach ice cream since they are in season right now. Mmmmm. 

Chocolate Banana Almond Milk Ice Cream.

Here is the recipe.
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups almond milk
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 heaping tablespoons chocolate cocoa
• 2 Tbsp sugar

Instructions

1. In a microwaveable bowl or cup whisk 1/2 cup almond milk with the chocolate cocoa and sugar until fully incorporated. Microwave for 40 seconds and then stir.
2. Place bananas plus the remainder of the almond milk into a blender along with the cocoa mixture and puree for about 10 seconds.
3. Place mixture in the ice cream maker and process for 20 minutes or until thick.
4. Serve right away or store in the freezer for later use or to firm up a bit more if desired.