Week 3:Tame it Tuesday, a summer series on taming the mess

week 1
week 2
Welcome to week 3 in my summer series on taming the mess. Where I am attempting to claim back some of the areas of our home that have been overrun with what I like to call "drop and run" sessions. The busier we seem to be the more unorganized and disarrayed our home seems to get. I say "attempting" because this will not be easy for me. I had 5 orders go out this last week!

So Saturday afternoon after another busy week, I was wondering what I can organize and clean for Tuesdays post? I was also wondering when I was going to find time to post my 4th of July DIY that I had been wanting to do (I even already had the supplies for it). So I decided to combine the post. I hope you don't mind, doing it this way saved me some sanity and I got to go to bed at a normal time. lol!
First up I needed to straighten the back porch. I forgot to take a picture of the before. It wasn't in horrible shape, I just needed to finally put away all the stuff that had accumulated there. You know things like the fall decor bins to the garage, some tools back in the garage, take the broken metal bed frame to the garbage. Dust and sweep up the remaining leaves, dirt and cobwebs, etc.
Now we can sit out here again in the cool of the evening and I can have morning devotions out here too.

 This is also where I wanted my DIY 4th of July decor to go. I have been wanting one of these ever since I saw on Pinterest. After a trip to the dollar store and getting a clearance box of lights from my friend Heather. I am ready to make it!
Here is what you need: a hula hoop, lights, garland, twist ties, cup hooks, ribbon and extension cord.

I want this to be able to change out with the seasons so I am attaching it with twist ties (I save these when they come in a box of bags).

I wrapped the lights first then followed up with festive garland and wire star garland attaching them all with the twist ties. To hang the light I put cup hooks in 3 different positions in the roof of the porch. Then tied a loop of ribbon at each spot on the hoop where it would hang from each hook.

This hangs just over the table and chairs. It is a small back porch so one is enough. Eventually I want to add some rope lights under the railing. But we love this! We are even doing bedtime stories out here! This was so easy to make the hardest part was getting the cup hooks in the wood.

Here is another super fast and easy DIY 4th of July decor from my friend Heather.
Supplies to make: some super adorable July flowers from Walmart, foam ball, ribbon, 1 straight pin and a glue gun. Take the flowers off of there stems, hot glue them into the foam ball (arranging them in a pattern). Then pin and glue the ribbon to the top of the ball. Then hang and enjoy!

Have a wonderful, safe and blessed 4th of July!
 

Mason Jar Bug Catcher

Sunshine loves bugs. Unless it happens to be a spider that is on her or a wasp anywhere in the area. Those 2 happen to terrify her. But harmless boxelder bugs she loves! And it wasn't long after I took the photos of her enjoying her bugs that she stared calling them buddies. I think as a 2 year old she was trying to say buggies. However, she is creative and cleaver, so she very well may have meant to name them buddies. Lol! Boxelders happen to live in the elm trees on and next to our property.

                                                                 
 image source

So every spring and summer since then she has had just about every sort of contraption to carry her buddies around with her. This week I thought of this idea for her bugs.

 A mason jar with some pink tulle we had in our scrap ribbon bucket and a canning ring to hold it on. I like this much better than trying to poke holes into a lid.

Happy "buddie" catching!

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Father's Day gift from everyday items

Welcome back to Thrifting Thursday. Today we are sharing how to make a Father's Day gift from everyday items. We are using the wooden parts to the clothespins left over from our Mother's Day gifts from everyday items. This idea came from one of our 4H leaders, she taught the kids how to make them this week. To make these holders you need an empty can, wooden clothespins, rubber band, wire, wire cutters, sharpie markers, clear spray paint.

Note on cans and clothespins: we used mandarin orange and mushroom cans to match the length of our clothespins. You will need to match up the length of your clothespins (older clothespins may be longer) to your can. First place a rubber band around the can. This will hold the clothespins in place while you fill around the can. Make sure the double ridged part of the wood is facing out.

Once your can is full you will wire around the can twice to hold it together. Use wire cutters to twist the wire tight then clip off excess wire.

Once you have finished wrapping wire around the can. Use sharpie markers to write Happy Father's Day, the year, and any thing else they kids would want to draw on it. When decorating is complete spray each can with clear spray paint to give it a protective coat.

I forgot to take a picture of the final look of the cans because at our meeting we moved on to our sewing projects. But they looked so neat! I think it would be fun to fill it with dad's favorite candy when the kids give it to him. Thanks for stopping by!

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Pinterest Birthday Party, Part 2- The Food

For more ideas on this Pinterest birthday party go to part one and Heather's post.
Today I thought I would share all the Pinterest perfect food we enjoyed at this party and count it as a "New Meal Monday" post. Each guest was asked to bring a dish to share that they pinned or one they have been wanting to try (if they are not on pinterest). There was so much food, I didn't get pictures of it all. But here is some of the yumminess I did capture.

 And then there are these...

This is my first attempt at them and they may look good only because I hid the messy part of them in the cupcake liners! lol The first thing I did is search Pinterest under how to make cake pops My first tip: give yourself a couple days to make these so you don't rush any steps. My second tip: don't skip any steps. And my third tip: have at least double the melting chocolate than you think you will need. As I found out, what makes a cake pop look so good is 2 coats of chocolate, so back to the store I went!

I will admit this newbie to professional party planning may or may not have overbooked herself. I had this great opportunity the same weekend to publicly announce my new adventure at our local primary school's carnival. They let small businesses set a table to display their business for just $10. The response was awesome and I even got a special order that day. So worth my time!

So, because of the extra business activity I didn't use the made from scratch recipe that I had wanted to do. I also graciously accepted the help that was offered to bake the cakes from 3 boxed mixes for me. It saved me a step! Thank you Mr. Awesome! Once the cakes were done and my table all packed up I picked up these cakes all ready to go. We used 1 strawberry boxed cake and 1 white boxed cake and 1 lemon boxed cake colored turquoise! I don't have every step because I was new to this type of cake making and in a time crunch. So next time I will have a more step by step process for you.

The first thing I did when I got the crumbled cakes home is make up a batch of homemade cream cheese frosting. I will share in another post for you the recipe. Just mix in a little bit of frosting at a time. You want it to stick together but not be too mushy. Once you think you have it right (the only way you will know is to do this a few times). This first time I was just praying I did it right! Put them in the fridge for at least 4 hours. I needed them to turn out (no time for a back up plan) so I did overnight in the fridge.

They look so pretty and colorful! But just keep reading. lol!

The next morning is where it got interesting. And I only have the one picture because I was not enjoying this process.
Because it takes 2 coats of chocolate to make them look so nice I did all of the ones with out sticks in white chocolate to save time and money. (I originally wanted them 3 different colors). I also had to get them in the fridge as soon as the chocolate coat went on. The sticked ones I had in white chocolate for the first coat then colored for the second.
I had to do this crazy karate chopping action on my wrist to get the extra chocolate off the sticked pops. (That was one of the instructions I read up on. Tap your wrist not the stick or you will break the pop off the stick). Aside from all the steps to get them on the stick without them falling off they coated so much nicer than the ones without the sticks. I couldn't get a clean coat with the stickless ones.

Once all the pops were coated a second time, with the remaining  red and turquoise melted chocolate, I put each in a separate sandwhich bag, snipped of just a tiny corner and piped the swirls or dots on all the pops. Some I topped with sprinkles. 

 My honest feelings and thoughts during the cake pop making processes was "I don't like this, way too much work, and I am not impressed." I also may have swore off doing these ever again. Hahaha joke is on me because EVERYONE loved them including my husband, which totally surprised me. He said he loved the dense cake part. ...so I will be trying these again now that I know what to expect.

 Later this week I will share the final part of this party in some things we made for and during this event. For another perspective be sure to check out Heather's post. Thanks for stopping by!

Pinterest Birthday Party, Part One

 

I was at my friend Heather's house sharing ideas and asking her opinion of some of my etsy creations. Honestly, she fell in love with them. She wanted some for her grandkids and also for herself. She had been wanting to do a Pinterest party for some time. (Where she would gather friends together to share Pinterest inspired food and then make a few craft items found on Pinterest).
Her birthday was approaching and her son wanted to do something special for her. Long story she wanted a Pinterest inspired party. I had asked what she thought of going ahead and making it a Pinterest themed party. Between her ideas and mine. This is her Pinterest Birthday Party...



She talks in her post about how we arrived at the color scheme. It was bright, fun and Pinteresty perfect! Because it was a Pin inspired party I wanted to use not just mine and her ideas but also what we found on Pinterest as well.
If you have never been on Pinterest it is a lot of fun! It is an online bulletin board where you can save all the great ideas you find. We had tons of ideas of course so I will share with you what we "pinned" it down too! To quote Heather "It was as if a Pin had stepped right off of Pinterest and into my living room!!!"

To start with I made invites for her, I pinned the ideas and images from Pinterest of course. You can find most of these pins on my Heather's Pinterest Party board.

Then I made for her what inspired this whole thing in the first place, her birthday banners.

so sorry for the glare of the flash

 Heather wanted to add these.

She spray painted wine bottles and I used my Cricut machine (on deep and slow cut setting) to cut the red vinyl letters for her. She then wanted to use what she had for flowers. The daffodils and tulips had already come and gone, the iris and peonies were not ready yet. But what is in full bloom... dandelions. They actually were so pretty in contrast to the red and teal.

She also wanted a small banner so I came up with this for her...

We then made all kinds of flowers. I will do another post on how these were made.

This last one is one that I have only seen on Pinterest which links to this site.
Other items we used...

pumpkins she painted

my spring wreath

all the little added touches

"Pin" This!

Her cake stands and cake pops

She's just adorable!

In the next few posts I will share the food and cake, "how to" on some of the ideas, and the make and takes we did. Heather is also sharing her thoughts on the party as well on her blog Dumpster Diving Darling

Thank you for stopping by! We hope this inspires you to get friends and family together and celebrate life and creativity!

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