Yesterday Lincoln and I made a trip to Canton. I had a list of things that I wanted to get and although I didn't find everything that I wanted I did find 2 of the very important items on my list. I bought 8 more burlap sacks so I can make cushions for the chaise lounges outside...total $16. I also bought a metal tray that I wanted to make into a perfume tray for my dresser just to add a little something.
There you have it. This little project took about 30 minutes time with painting it, letting it dry, and then setting it up on my dresser! Just the look that I was hoping for. Not too much but just enough.
* Tray- $1 at Canton
* Paint and sponge brush- already had
While on Spring Break a couple weeks ago I took an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon to finally make something out of the cheap yet useful burlap sacks I got while at Canton. I broke out my sewing machine and after reading the HOW TO USE instructions once again I hammered two outdoor cushions out for my two chairs on the back porch. I have been on the hunt for something cheap but somewhat durable for the outdoor chairs and chaises because Hercules tears up every cushion that has ever lived outside. At $2 a sack I thought the burlap was very inexpensive. I ran to Alco after lunch and got some polyester fiberfill for the inside of each cushion.
After taking my burlap outside to get a rough idea of size I figured that I could make two cushions out of 1 sack so I went back inside and got to work. I cut the sack in half and then turned it inside out. I sewed the edges all the way leaving about a 6 inch opening for the filling. I then turned the material inside out again and began filling the sack with the fiberfill. I used a whole bag of fiberfill per cushion just it give it a little extra ooommfff! After the cushion had it's stuffing I then finished sewing the 6 inch gap up. I had some extra brown ribbon from a previous project and cut strips of it to sew onto each corner of the cushion so it could be tied to the chair.
One down.....I then did the exact same process for the other cushion.
I am not totally in love with the cushions at this point just because I would like them to be a bit fuller but Canton is this coming weekend and I hope to get Lincoln to go with me. I want to get about 8 more burlap sacks to make cushions for the chaise lounges and also bigger seat cushions for the above chairs. I can then use the current cushions for the back and I think then I will really love them. Since I cut the sack in half it made the cushion wide enough for any butt but narrow for the over sized chair. Hey, whatever works right?!
All in all this was a super inexpensive project costing $7 per cushion!
2 burlap sacks $4
2 bags of polyester fiberfill $5 each
sewing machine and thread- already owned
ribbon for tie downs- already owned
There you have it. EASY PEASY DIY outdoor cushions or indoor for that matter.
So far they have been outside for over a week and haven't been torn up..... :)
I logged in Wednesday to catch up on all my favorite blogs and got a nasty message from Goggle letting me know they were taking Google Reader away....GREAT! Now what am I supposed to do...fear not my pretties.Bloglovin is here. I signed up in like 2 seconds and then Bloglovin even imported my Google Reader list and I'm all set up...just like that. Who needs Google Reader? Not me! They are going away officially on July 1st but they have left my life as of March 17th. :)
The past couple weeks we have had some great additions, changes, and improvements around our little homestead. I'm sure that you are like me and when it starts to get a bit like Spring I am ready to clean up the yard, do flowers, a garden, and just get the house looking amazing. Spruce things up I guess.
I have had a list of to-dos for a while now and just about all of them had to do with the outside of the house. So far we have made a good dent in them and I have a few more ideas/wants that I plan to accomplish hopefully soon. After I get the house and garden the way I want them it's time to fix Peggy Sue to my liking. I started a bit of demolition on the inside yesterday but will wait to post those pictures another day.
I've been wanting to either pull out all the bushes in the front of the house or trim them back or something so we did both. The previous owners planted these holly bushes and let them get way too tall and they really took away from the house. We trimmed them way back over half of the previous height was cut down. They are now just sticks and will take about a year to get their fullness back but once they do we can manage them and keep them at bush height instead of the previous BRUSH look. After we trimmed them we pulled several up to clean up the look a bit more. The pulling part was what I was worried about because these bushes had been here for over 10 years. I knew that their roots had to be deeply planted and wanted to be sure to get them all. I also didn't want my yard rutted up but both of those worries were laid to rest when Lincoln came into the picture. He pulled his truck to the front of the house hooked the chain around the bush, ran it OVER a tire, and then hooked the other end to his truck. I was in charge of holding the tire steady as he got the chain tight and then hauling butt out of the way as he slowly and EASILY pulled out the bushes. I couldn't believe this little hair brained idea of his worked but it did.
Since the chain was ran over the top of the tire the pull was more upward instead of directly forwards which pulled all the bush out of the ground instead of breaking it off at the base. (what I was worried about ) I was very impressed. I told him good job and wondered how he had come up with that but he said he You tubed it! Amazing! The man loves YouTube! I'm learning to never doubt his methods.
This video is pretty much exactly what we did MINUS the dummy proof instructions....who wouldn't know how to hook a chain around something? Geez!
Hercules is still inside but his wound is a ton better. He can go without the cone now and his wound isn't bandaged. He goes outside more than in the past few weeks but he is still sleeping inside and has to stay locked up when we are gone so the other dogs don't open his wound back up since it's not fully enclosed! This is a picture Lincoln sent me the other day! Hilarious!
His message read..."If this isn't the definition of sitting on your ass then I don't know what its" definitely correct. LOL
Tuesday Lincoln built the chickens a yard. They have had free rein the past year that we've had chickens but they started wondering further and further. The past couple weeks they were tearing up the neighbor's yard through the pasture so they had to be contained. Now they have a happy little place to tear up that's all their own. Lincoln did a great job and all in just an afternoon! He's so handy.
Speaking of chickens we have some how dwindled down to just 4 hens and a rooster. With summer coming up it's the perfect time to get more chicks so he bought 12. They are growing so fast and are being kept separate until they are big enough.
This was 2 weeks ago and they are double that size or bigger now
Probably in another 2 weeks they will be big enough to go to the big coop with the others. Moose is also growing big! He chews on EVERYTHING and is so cute and playful. We are working on teaching him manners and he seems to be doing well at this point. He minds really well.
I have pretty much neglected my front porch since I've moved into this house. I mean it's just hard to get motivated about it. We don't have a lot of visitors and no one ever uses the front door WHICH I HATE! But seeing that the rest of the house is in tip top shape I really wanted to make the front of our house inviting. I'm on the hunt for some free pallets to make flower boxes out of...sort of like this....
In the meantime I painted the front door black instead of the all white.
before
after
I also got 2 ferns for my hanging pots Friday at Lowe's (more on that in a bit) and put one in the front and the other in the back. My ferns from last year did great and lasted all the way until after the first freeze. I think they are so homey and country looking. On top of the black door, the newly hung fern, and my 2 vintage chairs the front porch is coming around!
Once my flower boxes are done I will place one on either side of the brick step and I think we can call it good.
So Friday night Amber and I headed to Sulphur Spring to run some errands after we ate adult mac-n-cheese from Cibovino!!! OH MAN it was good. I had to go by Atwood's to get some peanuts for a friend's baby shower next weekend and then after we headed to Lowe's to get paint for the above door, ferns, paint supplies for the trim painting I planned on doing, and also 4 knockout rose bushes. I accomplished getting all those things plus some. ;) I thought heck while we are here let's check out the cabinets because I need one for Peggy Sue. I found the perfect one and went ahead and loaded it up. Across from the cabinets was counter top and how convenient that Peggy Sue would also need that but not at $86 no thank you! An associate came over and asked if I needed help with anything and although I didn't need help I did have a question. I told her I was looking for counter top options but I didn't want to spend a lot of money seeing it was for my little camper and only needed a small amount. She said they don't carry scraps and cutoffs but they do have damaged merchandise. My ears perked up...oh yeah...let me check out these damaged goods. I ended up getting a full sheet of Formica at a regular price of approximately $75 for a whopping $20! Can't beat that.
Seeing there was no room for anything else and I went in wanting to spend a certain amount and was nearing doubling that I figured we better head out with what we had....
So we checked out and headed to my TRUCK Corolla to load up and head home. Will it all fit....OOFFF COURSE!
Yesterday I planted my rose bushes. 2 on either side of my A/C unit on the East side of my house.
I got so much accomplished yesterday. I started painting the trim like I wanted to do before I get my gutters installed but once I did a little swipe I knew that I would never do a good job if I could do it without killing myself or someone in the process so I gave up that job and as I type now a nice man named Armando is out painting my trim for $200. TOTALLY WORTH IT! Now the painting will be done and tomorrow I will call to get my gutters installed. It has been a productive weekend and past couple of weeks. We are growing and improving! Today I plan on trying to make a couple outdoor cushions and maybe working on getting my garden ready. I'm not very motivated on the garden this year but I do need to do it. The savings are just awesome and I've learned some great ways of freezing pretty much anything so I don't have to worry about wasting my harvest.
As I have mentioned a couple times before I was asked to head up one of my best and oldest friends baby shower. I was beyond excited to have this honor and wanted Rachael's day to be great. I put a lot of hard work into the shower and I think it turned out AMAZING!
Pretty momma to be
The shower was last Saturday, March, 9th at Rachael's house. I got up that morning bright and early to get to Rachael's around 9:30. Even though the shower didn't start until 1 I wanted to be sure everything was perfect and the way I had visioned. Plus we had to put together a few last minute decorations and set up since I didn't do a dry run before hand at her house.
I had a lot of other hostesses as well and I put them in charge of random things like finger foods, drinks, plates, napkins, making a diaper cake and such. I took care of the decor, ordering the hostess gift, the cake, and anything odd or end thing that came up.
First was one of the most important things....the invite. The invite sets the mood for the event and also gets people there. After talking with Rachael and getting a few ideas on how she wanted her shower and just knowing what she likes I went with THIS INVITE....I found this so cute and colorful invite on Etsy. I contacted the lady and within a day she sent me the finished design.
After the invite was done I also knew that I wanted to make a wreath to be used at the shower for the front door but could also transfer over to the nursery and the hospital. This craft was by far the most time consuming but turned out perfect.
Next up was the cake and sweets. Rachael, like myself, has a huge sweet tooth and although mine has lessened with age... hers has not! LOL I knew first thing what bakery I was going to use for the cake I just had to find the design that fit this unique and wonderful Momma and baby! After searching Bing images high and low I came across the below design and used it for my inspiration. Gina at Creative Cakes by Gina is my all time favorite bakery and she's local. Her cakes not only look amazing but the taste isn't comparable to any other bakery around....so moist and yummy!
Inspiration
I also planned on having a candy bar at the shower before Rachael even told me she for sure wanted one. They had one at their wedding and I knew that she would love this detail. The candy bar was cute and so simple to throw together. It also served as a party favor for all the guests. Above the candy bar I made a cute banner out of scrapbook paper and white note cards that said SWEET BABY! (like my play on words there LOL)
I made two more banners... one for the onesie decorating station that wasn't originally in the plan but I used left over paper to help make the directions for the activity and used the long string as a clothes line for people to pin their onesie to.
the AWESOME diaper cake that 2 of the other hostess made that was placed on the onesie table for decoration
a few of the cute keepsakes
The other banner was a pre-made banner I bought from Hobby Lobby I just put the scrapbook paper and letters on it. It was hung above the gift table that was set up in the nursery and it said WELCOME SADIE.
before all the gitfs arrived
The hostess gift was set out beside Rachael's rocker for everyone to admire. Let me tell you after the shower I gave that baby a spin and it is definitely the Cadillac of strollers. I for sure want one when my time comes. I attached a big pink bow to Rachael's chair and above her head we hung pink and white tissue paper balls in different sizes.
Now that I had all that pretty much set up we set the food table with drinks. One of the other hostesses was bringing punch (which was so good) but I also wanted something else more fun so had a hostess drop off a case of water and bottle drinks. I took plain white cloth, cut it in strips and wrapped the fabric around each bottle. I secured the cloth with a diaper pin! So simple, easy, and cute! The hostesses did a great job on finger food. We hardly had any food left and the cake went super fast.
Once everyone arrived and was mingling and eating Jennifer and I brought in Daddy Brad for something special for him. He is so involved and just a great guy so we wanted to do a little something for him. Jennifer made him a Daddy Tool Belt and I read a little poem that went along with it. It was really cute and I think he liked it.
After everyone pretty much finished their food we started in on gifts...OH the GIFTS! Sadie is one lucky babe. She got so many cute and thoughtful things. Many people made her blankets and sock monkeys, and girlfriend already has a serious shoe problem.
this is the dress Rae came home in and plans on bringing Sadie home in it also! Her mom also gave her some of her old blankets.
These are only a few of the gifts. After the shower we went to El Chico and ate and then started on the nursery trying to get everything hung up and washed. WOW she has so much stuff. We counted like 6 baby bath tubs. LOL
All in all the day was so great! I loved helping one of my best friends prepare for such a life changing moment and can't wait to meet Miss Sadie. Rachael loved her shower and couldn't quit thanking me. I love that it turned out so great and would gladly host another. Piper has already enlisted my services for her shower in the time comes. LOL
