Another Dang Year Went....Just Like That!!!!

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How in the heck did all this time get by me!?!?! Anyway, LOTS have happened between now and then. Here's the rundown in no particular order:

Music tree for a Christmas Tree in 2017

I had the grand idea over this summer to build an outdoor patio/theater.

My minions at work!! BWAHAHA!! 

I wanted to have planters on the patio so I made them with some of the pallet wood.
Turned out pretty good.

 

And VIOLA!! Here is the finished pallet patio/theater.

I am excited to see what fun we will have here. I still have to get the lights up, but I love it!! We plan to use it also as a stage for out son to have mini concerts. 

This was my post on FB:

I did it!! I have even shocked myself with this one. I built an outdoor 🎥 patio near completely out of pallets!! I even included a bar at the last minute because I had some extra supplies.

What have I learned?

1. God gives us all talents and skills. We need to just get out of the way and allow them to be expressed.

2. Pain can be overcome by set goals and desire.

3. One man's trash can be another man's treasure. Thanks for all the pallets.

4. There is absolute beauty all around.

5. Great fence neighbors are GREAT fence neighbors. Thank you Toby for coming to the fence near everyday to give me some girl power encouragement.

6. Frustration is an awesome motivator. I couldn't find anyone to help me till up the piece of land that I was using to build the patio. So instead of being frustrated and angry about that, I got my gold claw and I hand tilled it up myself. Again, my great fence neighbor, Toby, peeked over the fence and encouraged me to keep it going even though I was in a great deal of pain.

7. I have an amazing husband that stands back and allows me to have these crazy ideas and supports me into making them reality...even when he does not understand why I have the desire to do them.

Now, need to buy a projector and some speakers. Already have the lights, just need to put them up. Gotta have a movie night this fall!!

I Be Scrappin' Y'all

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As y'all know, I have been doing some remodeling of our basement. Well, I finished the pallet wall and bench!! It looks GORGEOUS!! Pictures of the completed room when we get the carpet in...Anyway. I had a lot of scrap pieces of wood hanging around and I just felt terrible thinking about just burning it in the fire.  What was I going to do!?!?!

Well, several months ago I got me some burlap and wrote on it and thought I would make a pillow of it and just throw it on my new bed, but that just didn't seem right. So it just hung out in my pile of "stuff". Well, TODAY, I go a itching for creative crafting and this is what came of it. It was a simple project. Steps below. Enjoy.

STEP 1:  I do not have pictures of me writing out the words, but I print out the words and taped them together in the size I wanted. I taped that to our HUGE center bay window and put the burlap on tap. This allowed the light to come through so I could trace it, with a Sharpie on to the burlap. Then I just filled in the word "beautiful" to make it stand out.

Burlap all rolled out and being dry-fit 

Taping down the edges of the burlap will help keep it from bubbling.

STEP 2: Don't mind the our basement floor.  I had some scrap 1/4 inch plywood and I rolled the burlap across it and taped it down. With the extra pieces of scrap pallet wood I dry-fit the boards around the words.

Jigs are AWESOME!!

STEP 3: Once you have the placements of your dry-fit frame, get everything cut down to size.

Power shot Brad nailer

STEP 4:  Now, I do not claim to be the brightest bulb in the box, but I just figured out that my power shot was a brad nailer too!!! That tad bit of information would have come in quit handy when I was putting on my shiplap, but I digress. Turn over your burlap sign and attach it to your pallet wood.

IT'S DONE!!!

I think I am going to love it. I am planning on putting it right over our guestroom bed.

Side Table DIY

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DIY Side Tables

With our son serving a mission for our church, we decided to remodel his room. I have DIY most everything so far. Once it is complete I will share the complete room, but at the moment one of the items I am super proud of are these side tables.

Our son's room is not very big so a standard nightstand was out of the question. I knew I needed something that was not going to take up much floor space, but it had to be more grown up and not too "girlie". So with that the hunt was on. I could not find anything I liked or was affordable.

One day after work I wondered into a local store, Super Low. They typically have odd and ends kinds of things from high end stores, like Pottery Barn and West Elm. That particular day they had Whitney Hutch pieces that sell on Pottery Barn's website for $250, Super Low had them for $20 each!!!!! I did a little bit of negotiating with them to let me have them for that ridiculously low price and it worked!!

I was so happy to have them, but they had NO LEGS!! I had, at first, thought I would just attach them to the wall, but hubby shut that idea down right away. No unnecessary holes were going in the newly painted walls. So legs were all I was looking for. Lucky for me, I had already had hairpin legs on my radar.

The best place I found the legs was Modern Urban Metals. It is an Etsy shop. They were affordable and just what I needed.

I am having fun with everything that is happening in that room. Can hardly wait for it to be complete so I can show you all.

How to Remove a Baked on Label

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Hey everybody!! Life has been too crazy to get into details, but a few things have happened since the last time I posted.

My eldest son graduated high school and now is serving a full time mission for our church in Texas. I began a semester in the University of Utah to study mediation and had it cut short. So that's on hold. I had to have shoulder surgery, which put a hitch in my giddy up. I am slowly mending and with that I am starting to do some crafts.

To start, once our son left we had decided that remodel his room. For starters we needed to add a closet. I am going with more of a farmhouse style. I made a headboard (which looks amazing, and I will post that soon). But something a little smaller to add a little touch of sweetness I wanted a ceramic old fashioned milk bottle. I knew something new would be expensive so off to the thrift store I went.

I found this lovely little thing.

The only problem was that it had a printed label on it that seemed to be baked in. But I loved it. So I had to figure out how to get that off. Below is a video of how I was able to remove it.

Beautiful Lovely vase now.

Printable Lunch Menu Planners

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So trying to be better this year with the lunches for my boys and I think this will help. I designed these planners so that I could see it and shop better and not be running around the kitchen like a mad woman just before they are to leave.

My one suggestion is that you laminate these after you print them.  This will obviously allow you to reuse them each and every month. I am going to make a frame and show you that later on. But if you just want to print you one of these, leave me a comment and I will be happy to email you the PDF.

Happy New School Year!!!

Outdoor Livingroom Set

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This seems like it was long time coming, but honestly, it went by pretty fast.  I made these based off of the chairs from the book 2x4 outdoor living. The same book I used to make our porch swing that you can see here. I like the swing so much that I just basically did the same design as the swing but added legs and the bench/coffee table was just what I had in my head....so simple.

If you want the measurements of the the bench/coffee table leave me a message and I will get that to you.

This was so fun and well worth the time and effort....the wood was FREE!!  Gotta love neighbors!

UPDATE: Just moved the furniture into position and built a firepit for them.  So excited for the fall s'mores parties!!

Finally!!! A Porch Swing

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Ironically, Lemonade and Porch Swings, has neither a porch or a swing!!!  Up until NOW!!!!!

Funny as that sounds it is true.  I have what some call a "stoop." At least that is what I call the little landing in front of my front door.  I wish I had a wrap-around  porch, but I have am making due with the blessing I have.

Now with all that being said, I do have an arbor my gorgeous husband built for me.....about 10 years ago.  Under it sit an over sized picnic table, we inherited from an neighbor before they moved that needed some TLC and we have enjoyed it ever since.  But the space has needed something else and finally this is what we've decided on.

Most recently, I had the blessed opportunity to walk into my neighbors Eden.  It was the most wonderful, peaceful place I had been in a long time....and it was next door!!! I wanted it and I wanted it bad, but I knew I would not be able to go out and buy all or any of what he has.  Prayer came into play and wouldn't you know it....another neighbor was getting rid of about 30  8-foot pieces of lumber he had left over from a project he used them for.  He offered them for anyone to take... and immediately took Handsome (that's what I call the hubby) over and we took all he had.

Later I learned about this book call 2x4 Projects for Outdoor Living. I picked it up from my local library. It has great ideas and the one I settled on was the swing.  Handsome didn't think I could do it, but when he woke up this morning, well, he was pleasantly surprised and I was proud.

Now I am going to venture into  making an entire sitting set, with two chairs, and a loveseat.  

I think I am going to paint it all red!!

So what do you think?

Ottoman Outta an Ole' Tire

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Summer is here and the projects are coming full bore!!!!  And here is the first one of summer.  With the little guy home with me, I had to come up with ones that he could help me with and that he would be excited about.  I also am making sure that his little hands can get in on the action too.

No matter the age, all "men" love their power tools.

And now that Big A has a J.O.B. little A needed something to occupy all those lonely hours with mom.


So our first project was making this ottoman from a tire that I persuaded Big O Tires to let me have.  I saw this idea on pinterest and since I was planning on creating a secret garden patio and I thought this would be a great addition...that was if I could manage to do this right.


The picture were all so easy to understand, the only thing is that they lead to thinking that all you need is a few hot glue sticks and some rope.  Nope!!!  I think about 40 glue sticks and it took about 5-6 spools of rope.  I guess it all depends on the size of your tire.  But nevertheless, it was well worth it. 


I did all I could with this little thing, but ended up buying a
bigger one with a lot more glue.  I started with 30 stick and
bought an additional 40 more.



Had to flip it over once it got wired gluing upside down.
It made it a whole lot easier and quicker.



Since this is just going to be sitting on top of gravel I opted
out of putting on legs. But you can, just add them to the circle
before you attach it to the bottom of the tire.

To make this weatherproof, I still have to cover it in polyurethane and for an added special touch our family monogram....just looking for the perfect font.

There she is!!! Now I just have to make three more just like her. 

I hope you are inspired to add a little joy to your world. Thanks for stoppin' by.

UPDATE:  Here is the ottoman with our monogram!!!  Don't cha' just love it!!!

"A" Picture Perfect Craft

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Trying to redecorate our master bedroom is a monumental task, but I for one am up for the challenge.

First things first, are the walls. Our walls are grey (or gray, I really don't know the difference in the wording, but I do like the spelling of the first one better, therefore, that's what I'm using) and white. Which I love, but finding pictures and other items to complement them has been a challenge.

One of the items I have always wanted to do was decorate with the letter of our last name "A".

Here is a step by step....I might have missed one.  Sorry if I did, but I'm sure you can figure it out.

I would usually use a higher number than 14...maybe a 16 or even an 18 or 22.  But this is what they had.  I like it in the oatmeal or even darker color  (would be cool on black with white?....hmmmm).

 Cut out the letters and numbers with an exacto knife.

 Using a craft roller or even a pizza dough roller (that's what I could find) and really get the paper stuck to the fabric.

 Acrylic Paint

 Dab. Dab. Dab. Dab......

Still dabbing until all of the opens are covered well.  Be careful not the go over the edges.



Such an easy and fun project.  I'd suggest to do this with you kiddos and have them make one for over their bed with their first name initial and their est. date as their birth year.