MAKE A SMEG FRIDGE FOR THE KIDS

The cubby house construction and furnishing has continued at pace following Miranda's comment to me that it has to have a fridge and white walls before she considers it finished. That's cool. She is her mother's daughter!

Making a children's fridge can be pretty boring. If it doesn't actually refrigerate anything, there isn't much to distinguish it from a cupboard. Unless it is a SMEG fridge.

This was much easier to make than I expected. It turned out pretty cute and the kids use it so much, in particular taking things out and then putting them back over and again. Presumably, they must see me doing this a lot in the kitchen. Obviously, I'm not as messy as I think. 

Miranda's suit is a vintage 1950s bathing suit - gah! We got Natalie's little gold ice cream onesie from Square Pear.

Here's how I did it. 

Naturally, you don't have to make it like this. You could use an existing kitchen cabinet, bedside table or shelf as your starting point. You can paint it any colour you like too! For me it was just opportunistic, I found the storage cubes and just went from there.

Supplies needed:

• Two square storage cubes (I found them at the op shop).
• A rectangular shaped piece of MDF cut to size with appropriately rounded corners.
• A silver handle (I used a Prestige Satin Chrome handle from Bunnings).
• SMEG letters (I had them cut by a specialist from acrylic mirror).
• Powder blue colour paint (I used Wattyl E43W 'Athina').
• Foam paint roller (I used the Uni Pro Little Ripper from Bunnings).
• A set of mending plates to join the storage cubes together (I used Zenith Mending Plates from Bunnings).
• Hinges to attach the door to the cubes (I used 2 packs of Prestige Light Cabinet Butt Hinges from Bunnings).
• Glue to attach the letters (I used Araldite, super glue is also fine).

Construction steps:

1. Join your storage cubes together using mending plates.
2. Paint your fridge door using the foam roller. Two coats is plenty.
3. Measure and mark lightly where you want to position the fridge handle and SMEG letters. This is the only hard bit. Measure where they sit on a photo of a real SMEG fridge and then, using ratios, divide that down to come up with the measurements of where they need to sit on your little fridge door. Check by positioning them with blu-tac and staring at it.
4. I needed shorter screws than those provided with the handle because my door was quite thin. I attached the SMEG letters with a tiny dots of glue according to my pre-measured pencil marks.
5. Finally, attach the door to the cubes using the hinges. Try the hinges in place first to make sure the door opens properly. I found that I needed the hinges to sit on the outside of the storage cubes because my door had overhang all the way around. So if I had put the hinges inside like a traditional cabinet, the door would not have opened fully. Mark drill holes with a pencil, pre-drill just a touch and then attach with the screws provided. Make sure your screws are shorter than your door thickness or they will poke through!

SEMI-PRECIOUS GOLD FOIL EASTER EGGS

Decorating easter eggs is one of those things I just love doing. I even won a competition once!

There is something about eggs that makes them so perfect for decorating. I think it's their flat matte finish, perfect roundness and fragile nature.

This year I was inspired by semi-precious stones in saturated jewel tones and metallic finishes.

Here's my method and tips on how I made these eggs this year. The most important thing to note is that dyed easter eggs rarely end up looking how we expected or planned, but this is not a bad thing. In particular, I love the mottled and aged look some of them have. You may have heard me shun perfectionism before, and I encourage you to do shun it again with this project.

I was so surprised by how much I loved these eggs and I played with them for much longer than I needed to. They are so beautiful. 

Supplies needed:

• You need white eggs. The brown eggs at the supermarket will interfere with the brightness of your dye colours. I got mine from a European deli-style green grocer. Even then I had to check the box to find one with a good ratio of white eggs.
• Food colouring. I used red, blue and green in the larger 50ml bottles by Queen.
• White vinegar.
• Hot water.
• Melted coconut oil.
• Bowls, spoons, paper towels.
• Gold leaf flakes (I got them from Riot Art & Craft).
• Modge-podge glue, or a non-toxic glue.
• Newspaper and an apron!
• A go-with-the-flow attitude.

Method:

1. Boil your eggs and let them cool completely.
2. Prepare your dyes in bowls. The ratio is 1 cup hot water, 1 tablespoon vinegar and as much food colouring as you can handle. The boiling water and vinegar help the food colouring take and give a deeper colour.
3. As far as the coconut oil is concerned, you can either dab this on the eggs before hand or swirl it in the water. This repels the dye and creates the mottled effect.
4. I also had a go at speckling by dipping a toothbrush into the dye and rubbing it over a sieve. This created a little spray of dots onto the egg.
5. You can either dye the whole egg one colour or just part of it. If you position the egg on a submerged paper towel bed or cradle it in a spoon so some of it pokes out of the dye and stays white.
6. I also tried putting a couple of rubber bands around the middle of one egg which made a nice little tie-dye ring where the dye couldn't touch the egg.
7. One of the coolest things that happened, and it was a total surprise, was that I dyed some eggs blue and was not happy with them so I waited until they dried and then dipped them again into purple dye. There must have been drops of coconut oil left over because it created a two-tone mottled effect that I deeply love.
8. Finally, once they are completed dry you can gold foil them. Dab your glue sparingly on the egg in places where you want to highlight or hide or accentuate the dye patterns. Take bits of gold leaf flakes and put them on dabbing with your finger or using a soft brush. Once dry you can brush off any loose bits. 

Moroccan rug wrapping paper

All that time on the Internets looking at lush Moroccan rugs can pay off in a very inexpensive way if you paint your own wrapping paper inspired by the plethora of rug patterns.

You will need:
- heavy brown kraft paper
- acrylic paints in black, white and whatever other colours you love
- paint brushes and pouncer sponges
- the Internets to find rug patterns you like
- the ability to let go of any perfectionistic tendencies

Simple colours and patterns look best. Also, when painting, just stop thinking and calculating the pattern, just go with it. Wobbly lines that kind of don't match up look better.
Just let your mind go zany like a little old lady!

DIY marbled prints

White marble, blush pink and gold are just such an irresistible combination. This is an easy to make and you can get a very elegant result.

I recently did a guest blog post for Style Curator about making these easy marbled prints.

Marbled printing is often done with oil paint and turpentine. Using shaving foam as a carrier is easier, more fun and smells way better. Check out the post over at Style Curator.