You can hear it on the wind

Yesterday I had a bit of change in plans for my project. I originally was going to make tin-can lanterns, however I experienced a set back with that one. I discovered after trying to hammer a nail through one of my cans that it was starting to deform a bit, so after some research I discovered that I should freeze the cans with a mixture of sand and water to alleviate this problem. I only discovered this however during the late, weaning hours of the afternoon. Not a good sign for a project a day challenge.

So I decided to put that project on hold until today (which I will hopefully finish and also post about today) and I moved on to another project that I've thought about for years now.

A couple of years ago I was hunting for my own makeshift, crazy dinnerware set at thrift store. The idea was that if I got a set that was inexpensive I wouldn't feel bad about something happening to them while in the dorm.  While I was digging around in the piles of dishes, I found this wonderful colander that had amazing character and look like it was used countless times to prepare fresh food for a family. I looked to see how much it was and to my surprise, the price tag said "Free to good home." Instantly I knew that this colander would be mine and would make a neat planter for the back porch (bad idea). Well, after a year of sitting outside as a failed planter, this colander has found new purpose as a wind chime with the help of some thrifted forks.



To make this nifty wind chime, all I did was wrap some wire that we had lying around the house around the forks making sure to make a loop at the top to attach them. Followed by tying some rubbery pony bead string to each of the loops and connect it to the colander. The final touch was to attach some to the handles of the colander to be able to hang it.

I'm really excited that this project is finally completed after that colander spending so much time in purgatory. The best part about it is when the sun shines through it, it'll display pretty star patterns.

Well, I'm off to go work on those tin cans! Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!

Summertime in a bar

So, for my first project of the summer, I decided to make some homemade lemon bars! They turned out really good and were a perfect excuse to use up those extra lemon and limes that we've had hanging around the house.



They might not look the prettiest, but they sure tasted good! I think the presentation would have been better if they had been refrigerated before they were cut. The crust also could have been in the oven a bit more before I added the filling, but nothing major =]

I got the recipe from here. It was super easy to follow and relatively quick to make, it only took about 40 minutes or so total to make. Plus it made the kitchen smell great with all these fresh lemon and limes being grated!

So, I know this wasn't exactly a craft, but I have actual craft plans to accomplish today! I'm still trying to get the hang of this blogging thing again and remember how to add everything in, but hopefully it shouldn't take too much to figure everything out!

Thanks for reading and keep posted for more projects!

Summertime Challenge

So, since I'm home again for the summer, I might as well make myself useful and really work on my crafts. Last summer I focused heavily on my scrapbook and I got a lot done with it! This summer though, I'd like to focus more on recycled/upcycled crafts. I've been working on a couple of projects for the past month or so that will most likely take me all summer to finish, but hopefully they'll be worth all the hard work I've been putting into them! My challenge for this summer though is to try to have a finished project done everyday and then blog about it the following day. I know that this is going to take a lot of work and a lot of inspiration, but I think it's finally time to put my crafting skills to the test! I've got a lot of great material to work with so let's get started!

Backyard Mini Nature Walk

So I've horribly failed at keeping this blog up throughout the summer. However in my defense, life has been insane since I've moved. We live at least 45 minutes out of town so our drive time has increased a bunch. If I get off of work at 2 and we make no stops for food, we get back to the house at 3, where you can generally find me crashed out on the couch. On top of that unpacking has been consuming my life, and we're still majority in boxes. Now though I'm repacking because I leave for school in 2 days! Gosh I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone by!
Anyways, I've done quite a bit of gardening since we've gotten here, and I'd like to share with you some of the fun things I've seen!


A rhinoceros beetle that I found.


An insect gall.


Mushroom! (I've become quite the fan of mushrooms lately. It's sort of odd, but I like it.)


I'll leave you this morning with some lovely Tent Caterpillars hanging out in a tree in the backyard.

I hope everyone has a great week! By Wednesday I'll be back in Chapel Hill!

A Pitiful Update

It feels like it's been a terribly long time since I've posted something new and it's been absolutely killing me! So even though I haven't really done anything since my last post, here's an update of what I've been up to:

1. We moved! My parents bought a house in Lillington and the past few weeks we've been frantic trying to get everything moved out here.
Here's a last look at my house in Fayetteville. Please ignore the dirty mirror. XD


2. One exciting new thing about our new house is the serious lack of mosquitoes! Which means I've been doing more gardening after work in the cool hours of the evening. I've also got new tomato plants that must be put into the ground as soon as I finish this up!

3. We went to a local farm to buy some goodies not too long ago! It's called Spivey Farms they although they are only seasonally open, I'm going to be going more when we need more fresh fruit. We bought corn, tomatoes, blueberries and this jar of homemade goodness called Cherry Butter. It's absolutely delicious on toast and works great in place of jelly for some good ole PB&J!

4. I went to go see Despicable Me yesterday for a friends birthday and fell in love with these little minions. I'm now plotting how to recreate their cuteness.


5. I also invested in a hammock this weekend! I'm very excited about it, but only managed to stay a couple inches off of the ground when I got into it. I suppose I'll just have to keep working at it! I'm sure it will come in handy on those cool Carolina days though!

I'll leave you with one last thing before I go planting. I was eating cherries this afternoon for lunch and I found this adorable little cherry that made me smile.


Doesn't it look just like a little heart? <3

Saturday Night Gardening

So this week has been crazy busy! Not only was it our first week of summer camp at work, but my parents bought a house! Between work and running around helping my parents get ready to move, I haven't had time to do much of anything, although something strange happened with Schotzie this week though...


She grew a mustache!

This weekend I was able to get a little bit more gardening done, because I must admit that I've become quite the garden-holic. The Home Depot had a bunch of Cati on sale and we just happened to have an old aquarium at the house. So I decided to make a terrarium for my mother's new sun room at her new house.


It didn't take much. I used some aquarium gravel on the bottom of the tank for drainage and cactus soil mixed with sand from the back yard. I really enjoyed making this one, and I think with some of the other Cati that I have left I'll make one for my dorm room at school.
I'll be busy helping my parents move for the next couple of weeks, but hopefully I'll be able to get some actual crafting done soon. I've got a special project up my sleeve, but I'm keeping it a secret till it's all done!

There's a fine line between an epic win and an epic fail

Last night I decided to make my very own granola bars. You can find the recipe here. It's a really simple recipe to make and it's a ton of fun.

The "glue" was made out of brown sugar, honey, and butter so it's really sweet and makes everyone come out into the kitchen to see what that wonderful smell is. After that's all melted together you combine it with your granola in a big bowl.



You can read all of the other directions in the link if you'd like, but the most important part of the recipe is where all of the granola is in your pan and you must compress the granola down to make it all stick together. If you don't complete this part properly, you'll end up with granola clumps disguised as granola bars like I did. So to help my granola clumps, I placed them into the fridge in the hopes that they will harden up. Sadly, they didn't. However I did make a nifty sign to alert late night refrigerator vistors! (Also as a disclaimer: one in the morning is not the time to realize that you don't remember how to spell refrigerator! =])



Even though my granola bars didn't turn out perfect, they are still quite yummy and I was able to make quite a few to take to work with me for snack time with the campers! Besides, who wouldn't want a granola bar the size of Schotzie's head?