I told you so!

"I told you they'd be incredible!!!" I gloat

"Wow! You're right honey, they did turn out good" 

(I may have added in the you're right honey part) ;)

And the best part: They're completely solar, they work and cost under $30 for both!!!

Digital Photo Frame Re-do

While shopping at Goodwill this past winter I came across this digital photo frame still in the box. Enclosed was a 'thank you' note that indicated it was a promotional giveaway. The price on the box...$2.00!!!! I quickly snatched it up! Knowing I would find a use for it! It was stashed away until I began working on the picture boards for our sons graduation party. I quickly realized that I had way too many photo's I wanted to share. That's when I remembered this gem!

A few pieces of red grosgrain ribbon, some glue and the camera card (full of an additional 150 pictures) and voila!

Front Deck Up-Do Part 4

Ok, so this isn't exactly on my front deck...but it is in the flower bed in front of the deck! Someone had thrown this out in the trash and hubby saw it and knew I'd be able to rescue it! LOL! (he really 'gets' me!) I knew that I had to paint it my fave shade of blue!

Front Deck Up-Do Part 3

I found this great little ladder and decided to add some cup hooks to mount my stars. The barn stars were definitely showing their age and crying out for a new coat of paint!

Front Deck Up-Do Part 2

We have had this patio set for YEARS!!!!!!! Notice the forest green colored chair? Boring! But the set was still in great shape. We've gone through several umbrellas over the years (thanks to wonderful west winds). I of course got so excited about repainting it that I didn't get any good "before" pictures, oops! I disassembled the table and coated it with primer before I remembered to take the before pics! I'm on the look out for the perfect umbrella! I just love the new bright summery green!!!

What to do with old barn wood?

Make signs of course!!
A friend of mine gave me a piece of the siding off one her family's old barns that was torn down. I debated forever on what to make with it! I knew it had to be a sign.... my original plans were to make a "welcome" sign. Then I saw the Paris sign in the Ballard Designs catalog and thought "A-Ha"! Wouldn't directional signs be a cool use?
The signs are 24" in length and approximately 7" high. I used the CraftRobo to cut out the stencil (I used shelf liner) and painted with acrylic white craft paint. I put two sawtooth hangers on the back and a piece of felt (to protect the wall). The first name is the town we live in, Casnovia, and the other two are the nearest cities.

Bin re-do

Ok, let's face it...this may be a digital world but we all have "stuff" especially lots of paper in homes that we keep for various reasons. You know the stuff I'm talking about...greeting cards, envelopes, kids school papers, tax receipts, etc. Well, years ago I discovered I'm more of a piler than a filer. To help me contain myself, and have some room on the kitchen counter I decided to purchase these handy little plastic bins.

I've had them for years in my office/mudroom/laundry room all neatly contained on shelves with paper labels announcing their contents. They worked wonderfully for me. But this summer as we embarked upon a fairly major home renovation, I decided that the purple (walls) and lime green color combo was just a little too much for me. Especially, if we are going to place the house up for sale (still not 100% sure). So it was time to begin the neutralizing of the room. I have selected a soft pale green for the walls and wanted the bins to blend and I also wanted to get rid of the plastic look. Instead of replacing the bins (which fit perfectly on the shelves), I decided to spray paint them with this:


A word of caution about this paint! I've used other colors of this paint with no problems, but this particular color (Rosemary) was awful! Let me clarify...the color itself was GREAT but for some reason the trigger was horrifically hard to squeeze! I used 3 cans of the paint in total, and all were equally difficult until they were about 2/3 empty-then no problem. I can't explain! Anyhow, the result is this:


I LOVE the way they turned out!! I have larger bins on the top shelf that still need paint, but I really think I'll go back to my Krylon spray paint for those and do something a little different.

Stay tuned for the new tags!