Kid Friendly Halloween DIY Project

A week or so ago, my sister and I had a Halloween craft day with my little niece, and this one project seemed to spark particular interest and excitement with Ollie. I thought I'd share in case anyone else was looking for a kid friendly Halloween craft:

Start with these basic supplies: a mason jar, paint brush, mod pudge, scissors, tissue paper and a battery operated candle...

Oh, and one of these cuties too :) 

Cut the tissue paper to the size of the jar then draw out the shapes you want to cut (HINT: with Olive, we did tear art so that she wasn't using scissors)

Then paint on some mod podge and start wrapping your tissue paper around the outside of the jar. Apply the glue on the jar and over the paper to seal it in. This was Ollie's favorite part...

Then comes the really spooky/fun part! Stick your battery operated candle in each jar (I wouldn't use a real candle with all the glue these bad boys have), and turn out the light!

These jars are perfect next to your pumpkin on your patio....

Close up of the witch cameo on my jar...

And one of my little freehand kitty cat...

Enjoy!!

15 Things I Loved About You

Last night, we had to said goodbye to our dearest little boy, Jack. He had fifteen great years of life, five of which I was blessed to be a part of. We were so lucky that he was very energetic and full of life pretty much right up until the end, and that we were there by his side when he went.

In remembrance of our boy, I wrote down fifteen, of the infinite number of reasons why I loved (and always will love)  him so much.

15 Things I Loved About You:

1. The fact that you were willing to let my niece shower you with hugs and kisses; not because you enjoyed it, but because you knew that she did.

 

2. Your constant need to herd Tim, Gracie and me like we were sheep. You always wanted us to be together.

 



3. The fact that even when you were begging for food, you were always so kind and gentle.

4. The fact that you'd lay in bed with me every night when I was home alone and guard the bedroom door because you knew I was afraid to be home alone.

 

5. That you couldn't stand not knowing where I was or what I was doing every second of the day, and would do things like pop your head in the shower, at the risk of a steady stream of water to the face, just to make sure I was still in there.

 

 

6. That you would get so excited to go for a walk that you'd jump up and try to hug us at the first sight of your leash.

 

 

7. The fact that, even though you acted 99.9% human and sophisticated beyond your doggy years, you still had a compulsive need to hide every bone you found and feared the vacuum above all other evils in the world.

 

8. Your snaggle-toothed smile--and every other smile of yours too.



 

9. The fact that you were so sparing with your kisses that I always knew you meant them when you gave them to me.

 

10. The fact that you always stole the blankets from our bed or the laundry from our hamper to make your own little nests.

 

11. Your gentle but insistent requests for petting, done by sticking your head under my hand and moving it for me.

 

12. That no filtered water was good enough for your refined taste--only fresh from the toilet bowl would do.

13. The fact that you were so excited to ride in the car, that sticking your head out of one window wasn't enough--you had to run back and forth between both windows.

 

14. That you loved Gracie girl from the second you first saw her--and would sneak her little kisses when you thought we weren't looking.

 

 







 

15. That you came into Tim's life right when he needed you the most, and that you didn't leave him until you knew he would be okay on his own. You truly were his best friend, and you were my little puppy soul mate. You made us both laugh at least five times daily, and we really, really needed that.

 

Jacky boy--If there is a Heaven, I know you're up there rolling around in endless fields of bright green grass. Thank you for being the best little boy a girl could ever ask for...

 

 

 

 



Dresser Drawer Garden Box

If you read my last DIY project blog post, then you'll remember that I transformed an old dresser into an entertainment center. In doing so, I decided to take out one of the drawers and use the space for a shelf.

Being the resourceful (and okay--I'll admit it--cheap) person that I am, I couldn't waste a perfectly good drawer in good faith.

So, I decided to turn it into a patio garden box!

Please forgive the weird lighting...the sun was in a difficult spot and space was limited out on my lil patio...

First step was to line the box to keep the wood from rotting. I didn't buy fancy garden liner, but I did find a garbage bag that worked just fine. I cut one side and the bottom of the bag so that it fit the entire box...

Then, I poured in a thin layer of pebbles. This is important if your planter doesn't have appropriate drainage. Basically, excess water will run out of the soil and collect in the pebbles to keep your soil from getting water logged. Pretty nifty, right?

Word of caution: pebbles will weigh down your planter, so use them sparingly and position your planter where you want it before you fill it!

Next, I poured in a thin layer of potting soil...

At this point, I rolled down the edges of my garbage bag and poured a little soil over them just to make it look nicer. Then came the fun part--planting my new herbs!! I planted (from left to right) lemon thyme, sweet basil and cilantro.

 

After the plants were in the planter, I filled it about half way with soil and watered.

Not bad for a recycled dresser drawer, right?

The plants were $3 each, the soil and pebbles were $5 each (but both bags were enough for two planters), and the drawer, paint and knobs were left over from my dresser project. In total, I spent less than $20.

Summertime Juice

I've fallen truly, madly, deeply in love....with my newly inherited juicer (thanks Tim's dad!).
 
Today was my first day experimenting with fresh fruit juice, and I have to admit I was a little nervous. I opted not to add spinach or kale or anything else that--frankly, sounds incredibly unappealing. Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to become a hardcore juicer, but I think baby steps are key...
 
So, I started with some of my favorite fruits: apples, lemon, grapefruit, strawberries, raspberries and mango and figured I'd just throw them all in and see what happened. The result was something so yummy and summertimey that I just had to share:
 
Recipe:
 
2 lemons, peeled
1/2 large pink grapefruit, peeled
1 red apple
1 yellow mango, peeled and cored
1/2 lb strawberries
3 oz. raspberries
sugar to taste (just in case you're not quite a hardcore juicer like me and need a little sweetness to counteract the sourness of some of the fruit)
 

First,  I prepped the fruit. I have an electric juicer, but you could use a blender and strainer if you don't have one...

 

 
 

...then I had to convince myself not to throw in the towel and just eat the ingredients as is (aren't they scrumptious looking?)...

 
 



 Once I'd finally resolved not to eat the fruit, I threw it all in the juicer....

 

 

....and look at the colorful rainbow-ey goodness that came out the other end!

 

 

 

A quick mix and a spoonful (or two) of sugar, and voila!

 

 

 

 

All that's missing is an umbrella....and maybe some vodka? Hmm...the wheels are turning.

 

My First DIY: Dresser to Entertainment Center

For my very first DIY blog project, I decided to tackle the eye sore that is dearest to my heart. This baby....

This dresser was a gift from my mom for my first apartment in college back in 2006. I was into Shabby Chic at the time, so my mom painted it white, added the cute little flowery knobs and gave it to me as a "leaving the nest" present. As anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows, once she passed away, this little gem became priceless to me.

Many a conversation has been had about throwing this little dirty, disheveled mess out, but I would never in a million years dream of getting rid of it!  The sentimental value supersedes the fact that the middle drawer is chipped, and its in desperate need of a paint job, and its really too small to hold all of my clothes.

 

So, for the last few years, I've turned a blind eye to functionality and have used this dresser to store all of the clothes that I was too lazy to throw away. Makes sense, right?

 

Anyways, once we moved into our one bedroom, space became an issue, so this doubled as our TV stand. I finally decided on a whim to make it a true entertainment center, and thus, my first DIY project was born.

First, I gather my necessary tools:

Because I don't function without this...

 

A screwdriver, some wood filler and a sanding sponge (sandpaper would work fine)...

And my loveable pup Jack, who insisted on supervising...

 Then, I took the middle drawer out and removed the track to make room for a shelf to hold my DVD player and game console. 

Once the track came out, I filled all of the holes with wood filler and let it dry for about 15 minutes.

 

Once the wood filler dried, I sanded it down to ensure a smooth surface.

 

 

 

While I prepped the dresser, I was able to recruit my ever-so-eager boyfriend (can you tell how excited he was to help?) to take the knobs off the drawer.

 

And then I started painting. Look at the pretty blue color I chose! Its called "Tropical Lagoon."

 

 

If you do a project like this, don't let your boyfriend take cheesy pictures of you painting....

 

Jacky-Boy observing my handy work (after rubbing up against my black shirt)...

 

 

Look what I found while painting the drawers! My mom numbered the drawers during her renovation of this dresser years ago (she was so smart!). Finding this was pretty cool--it made me realize that I was sharing in the history of this piece of furniture with her (kind of sappy,  but I can't help it!).

 



 

After it was painted, I let it dry overnight outside and then put the pretty new knobs on. P.S. Don't be a dummy like me, and make sure you buy the correct number of knobs the first time around so that you don't need to make two Home Depot runs.

 

 

 

And then came the fun part--cutting a little hole in the back of the entertainment center for cords. I started using a very sharp crafting knife. If your dresser has thin particle board or cardboard backing, that will most likely work fine. If your dresser has an actual hardwood backing like mine, you will waste two hours in frustration-induced misery before you finally give up, go to Home Depot (for the third time) and buy a drill with a spade bit.

 

Note: At the time of this photo, I had patched the area surrounding the hole with wood filler. I went wood filler happy (in case you couldn't tell). Eventually, I sanded down and painted this hole, but I was so impressed with myself (or relieved it was over), I forgot to take a picture! 

 

 

After two days and about thirty bucks in materials, this was the end result.

 

P.S. The $30 was excluding the drill and spade bit that I bought in a moment of sheer frustration. I would suggest borrowing a drill and spade bit if you don't have one. I can' imagine what I'll ever use a spade bit for again, and now I have fifteen assorted shapes and sizes!

 

It gets Jacky Boy's stamp of approval. I think my mom would like it too...

 

This picture makes the entertainment center look much smaller than it really is. This is because I had to stand on my bed to get a full shot of it. One of the perks of living in a cramped one bedroom...

 

 

P.S. Look what I found when I was taking all of the clothes out of my dresser! Its my old jersey from when I used to go to my dad's football games as a toddler :) How's that for nostalgia?!