Santa's PJ's~quick craft & gift

Dollar Tree Bargains!

~Keeping Slipcovers in place & Yard Sale Finds

DIY boxwood preservation & Family Fun

*This is our serious shot!  I can't get the others to load! :( 

Hello there.  What have you been up to?  Aside from thrift shopping for 70's clothes (Grace and I had to do so for a fun little mother daughter church fashion show), I've been doing some serious spring cleaning and sprucing up the house for company.  The cleaning came both by choice, and by necessity. We had so much rain that a room in our basement flooded.  It was really a blessing in disguise, because I was able to get rid of a lot of things, and reorganize my workshop.  I completely rearranged the shelving and tables, and I love the new look.

Reception Snapshots

Happy President's Day!  Here are the photos from the wedding reception that I promised.  You can read a little more about the idea behind it all here.  It was held in our church cultural hall...which is a bit of a challenge to decorate.  I didn't attempt to take photos in there because I wasn't sure how they would turn out.  However, the photographer (who happens to be a friend) shared these photos with me to use on my blog, and I just played around with them a little bit more for this post...

sweet autumn banner

headbands for school

picture frame Terrarium

It is 70 degrees here in PA, and there is sunshine to boot!   I decided not to plant a garden this year since we will be out of town for an extended period of time this summer.  But that hasn't stopped me from taking advantage of this gorgeous weather and spending some time working out in the yard.

  I think it's time to share a little project with you!  When I did the Christmas home tour this year, I got so many compliments on my terrarium.  When I mentioned that it was made out of picture frames, everyone was so surprised!  I can't take credit for the idea.  I found it online.  It was a relatively inexpensive project for me, because I already had most of the frames.  I know that my 11x14 inch frames came from Walmart (those cheap $3 or so ones on the end caps), and the others either came from there also, or from the dollar store.  Some may have even come from yard sales!

I didn't take pictures during the process of making mine, and I can't remember where I got the idea, but I looked on the Internet and you can find all sorts of tutorials on how to make them~ like this one here.  The great thing is that you can switch out your display for the different seasons!  I really like mine, and leave it up year round.

Have a great day!

Robyn

Shabby Bunny Crackle Finish with Elmer's Glue

30 minute rit dye upcycle

So, ...I asked my tween, "Why don't you ever wear your khaki pants?  And she said, "Mom, nobody
wears pants like that to school"...

spring wreath from Christmas wreath

During the home tour, I displayed one of my Christmas wreaths on the chalkboard in the sun room.  I liked the idea so much that after the holiday, I decided I wanted to keep a wreath there year round.  Since the Christmas wreath was only for the holiday,  I needed a new one to last through spring and summer.

I found an old wreath in my basement that I had almost thrown away several times.  I never threw it away though, because I kept thinking I could recycle, ahem, "upcycle" it somehow.

homemade air pouches for packing fragile items

I recently sold one of my birds nests, and had to figure out how I would ship something so delicate.
I thought of those air filled plastic pouches that I usually find in my own purchases.  But, I didn't have
any, and I wanted to get the nest shipped off right away.  I started thinking about what I might have
around the house so that I could make my own air pouches, and it hit me...zippered sandwich bags!

I learned from a friend that when you bake cookies for a future event and need to freeze them ahead of time, you can stick them in a gallon size zippered bag, and suck out the air with a straw before you zip it completely closed.  (zip it most of the way closed except for the part of the straw that fits into the bag before you suck in the air~And push out as much air first).  That way they will stay fresh.  It works so well, that I thought the opposite should work also...  If I inflated the bag with the straw just before completely zipping it closed, wouldn't I then have made my own air packing pouch?

I googled it to see if anyone else had come up with that idea. Sure enough, I found some leads and testimonials.  So I tried it myself...



Just to be sure that the bag would stay inflated in the changing temperatures that would occur with
shipping, I stuck it outside in the cold for the rest of the day!  It worked~remained filled with air.




Then, I considered actually sticking the nest in one larger gallon size bag and doing the same thing
instead of putting little pouches around the nest.  However, I realized that would put moisture in the bag,
which wouldn't be a good thing.

That led me to another idea.  I buy these large food and bread storage bags at my local grocery store.
I use them all the time.  They don't have zippered closure~just twist ties.  But, I realized that instead of
blowing in the bag, I could put the nest in it, and gently wave the bag towards me to fill it with air before twisting and tying it closed...kind of like waving a plastic grocery bag in the wind and watching it inflate and then flying it like a kite!  So that is what I did, and then I twisted it closed and then tied it with a piece of twine and ribbon.  It worked perfectly!  I made sure that when I put it in the box, I pressed on it lightly to make sure there were no leaks.




The great part about using air packing is that it saves on shipping costs!

Simple Valentine’s Day T-shirt

My Ballard Designs Inspired Valentines Day Decoration

$5 burlap bulletin board

Heart hand warmers

Sleigh Rides 25 cents

DIY Sweater Pillows

"Home Sweet Home" Sign Made from a Clock

DIY foam “muscles” for costume