Succulent Window Frame

I used a chopped down section of pallet wood added a bottom with drilled holes for thorough drainage and added a variety of succulents.  I know that the succulents will eventually fill in, just not sure how quickly.  Thew window is the old basement bathroom window from our house that I saved from last fall when all our windows were replaced.  My hubby busted out the glass and I stapled Dollar Store chicken wire to the backside.

I stenciled "Le Jardin Heureux" the happy garden on the the front and voila, a cute lilttle window box that I hopefully can't kill.

Re-purposed Carport

Go Green.

The hubby took down our carport two summer's ago.  I had him save the 2 x 6 lumber so that we could re-purpose it into outdoor furniture.  We modified directions found on anawhite.com for platform furniture, but used 4 x 4 to raise the bench off the ground.

We even used old leftover paint from our shed to paint it.  Feels great to makes such a green project.

The cushions are from IKEA.  I haven't purchased throw pillows yet, but am thinking bright colours.  Our neighbor gave us the striped pillows and outdoor carpet.

We are in the process of making a few modular pieces to have a sectional.  I'll post photos when we are done.

I made the end tables from scarp wood we had from other projects and plan to make a few more. 

The kids enjoyed an outdoor movie with a friend while the folks hung out by the fire pit.  What a lovely way to spend the long weekend. 

Kewl tidbit about the umbrella.  We bought 2 of them from a Liquidation store for $25.00 each.  What a steal.

Wine and Canvas

Did a fun Wine and Canvas night with some friends.  We painted dragon flies.  What a fun concept these nights are.

Happy Mothers Day

Thrift Store Teacup Succulents - see below for instructions. 

Click on image to read the full post.

To all my family and friends, I hope you had a fantastic Mother's Day.
My hubby and kids were extra wonderful to me.  Hannah took a "re-purposed" workshop with "From the Attic Interiors".  She painted me a wonderful wooden candle holder and gorgeous stencil sign.  Anderson painted a beautiful scene on a seashell and they both with the help of daddy bought me a food processor.  Hurray, black bean brownies for everyone!

As an added treat the hubby splurged and bought me cushions for our outdoor furniture sectional we built using wood from our the carport tear down. The sun hasn't cooperated today to take a photo of the furniture.  I will post them in the near future.

Here is my Mother's Day gift for the mom's in my life.  Some of you won't have them in hand until the next time I see you.  I can't wait to find more cups.

Teacup Succulents Recipe.
Difficulty Level: Easy, no husband required

• Adhesive (E6000 craft adhesive or Silicone adhesive sealant) I didn't use any adhesive, the cup and saucer are not attached.

The masking tape helps the drill bit not slip while the hole is starting. 

For outdoor teacups, drill a hole through the cup and the saucer for drainage.  You can glue the saucer and cup together with clear silicon adhesive sealant or E6000 craft adhesive before drilling.  I opted not to glue them together.  For indoor cups, a hole in the teacup alone should be sufficient.  Succulents prefer to be dry.

Place a few small rocks at the bottom of the cup to promote drainage.  Add succulent and top with Cactus potting mix.

Here's my kids art projects for me.

$50 DIY Closet Anniversary

As our Anniversary present I asked Sean for a Home Depot gift card so we could revamp our 1960’s Master bedroom closet.  Our tiny cluttered closet was similar to the image below – sorry I forgot to take a before photo.

Originally we had 1 closet rail 70“ long with a single long shelf above.

Now each side has 2 sets of 27" long closet rail, which now totals 108" of hanging clothing space, plus space on the tall unit.

Before photo borrowed from Sweetpenniesfromheaven.com

Sean carefully removed the existing shelf and closet rod so we could reuse them.  Following the instructions found here from Ana-White.com my hubby built the middle shelving from ¾” plywood.  Two sets of metal rod sockets were installed on either side of the shelving (4 in total).  Click the Title up top for more details.

By fluke we had saved the old closet rod from our daughter’s closet.  My husband cut it down along with our closet rod to make two sets for both sides of the newly built tall unit.

Finally the original long shelf was installed on top of the new construction.  Only my husband can reach that shelf, but it comes in handy for things like extra bedding and seasonal wear’s. 

The project was approximately $50 (not counting the additional plywood for Buddy’s room).  We also used L brackets on the tall shelf to ensure, with cats and kids, the shelf didn’t somehow get knocked over.

Quoted from Ana’s site “It's built from exactly one sheet of plywood!  Yes, a closet from ONE SHEET of plywood!”  We bought two sheets.  A mis-cut was made, but we had already planned on doing a modified unit for our son’s room, so no wood was wasted.

Again, detailed instructions for this project can be found here.

Boo Decor

Michael's Craft store has burlap covered canvases on sale this past weekend.  Using my b-day gift card (thanks Hubby and kids), I bought one for Boo's room.  Using SCAL, I mocked up an inspirational quoted and then painted it onto the canvas using the vinyl as template.

I did brush the lettering with ModPodge and let it dry before painting the stencil letters.  It did help my letter turn out crisper with less bleeding.  It was perfect though.  I had to mix some canvas coloured paint for some minor touch-ups.  All and all though I would recommend using Modge Podge first.

Michael's also had news print covered canvases out.  I didn't buy any, but it did inspire the cat silhouette.  I bought the wood hanging boards/frames from the Dollarstore.  I thought the bird chipboards would be easy to pull off - NOPE.  So I removed the hanging screws to reverse the board to use the backsides.

 The bird die cut was from an XMas gift card I received and put aside.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Being Charitable

We decided Hannah needed a shorter hair-do, she needs a lot of help getting the knots out after showering.  She's also been talking about donating to Locks of Love once it was long enough.  However, I found a Canadian way of donating through The Canadian Cancer Society and Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

Here are the requirements from the Canadian Cancer Society: donations must be a minimum of 8 inches long. Hannah's clean and dried pony tail measured 11.5 inches long. Above, her hair is wet because I had just finished shaping it into a page boy after cutting off the pony tail.

 PANTENE BEAUTIFUL LENGTHS

ARCHWAY

2-1055 MIDDLEGATE RD

MISSISSAUGA ON L4Y 9Z9

There is a "postage paid" printable e-label on the following link, very convenient - found here.

As per the Canadian Cancer Society site: 
Pantene Beautiful Lengths accepts hair donations, then creates, ships and donates real-hair wigs to Canadian Cancer Society wig banks across Canada. There is no cost to the Society or to the individuals who receive these wigs. Please consider sending your hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths as a meaningful way to support someone on a cancer journey.