Yard Renovations

Sorry for the repeat Facebook friends - but wanted to post this one for friends and family who don't have Facebook accounts.

We've been working hard at home getting ready for the big GRAD PARTY June 11.  My MIL and FIL have come down a couple of times and we've all been working our behinds off to get the house ready.  This weekend we got a lot done and these pics will reflect some of it.  Enjoy!!

New Fire Pit

I forget the name of this plant.  Mandevilla??  Hoping it will grow and vine up the gutter.  Love the color!!

Hanging plants and hummingbird feeder.  So far, one little ruby throated hummingbird comes a few times a day.  Love them!  I'd like to attract more, but I'm not sure how.

Side view.  One of my favorite flowers are the Gerber Daisies - which are in this hanging plant.  I move it into the sun every day.  However, we've had A LOT of rain and it isn't holding up well.

New fence, new tree ring pathway, new flowers thanks to my friend Judy.  I wish I would have taken some before pics - because you would NOT believe the difference.  It's so beautiful now :)

Another view of the tree ring pathway.

My new hammock.  So comfy and relaxing!!  Notice how much double stuff is enjoying the shade as well :)

New perennial garden.  Thanks Judy :)

Another view.  Love that fence!!!

One more view of the tree ring pathway.  That's the tree that dumped a major section on our house this past winter.  Seems we have some damage after all :(  Some pretty big leaking issues inside.

 New garbage area.  This used to be enclosed by an old rotting unpainted 6 foot fence. U-G-L-Y!!  Much MUCH nicer now!  Check us out - can for scrap metal, can for aluminum (special metals), can for glass.  Garbage is in the compost pile and paper burned - although Elyse has asked if we would consider recycling the paper.  Why not??  We are green baby :)

Side view of the front.  Beeaauuutttiiiffuulll!!

New gravel path to the back.  Marty sure worked hard on this and it looks great!  Not expensive either!  We had the edging, the pea gravel that fills the path cost 37.00 and the weed blocker underneath the gravel we found in the shed when we cleaned it out.  Not a bad project for 37.00 and a whole lotta sweat!

Are you getting tired of the pics yet?  Sorry, wanted to get it from every angle!

 Another view of the front.

Almost finished.  Love my tree there - Japanese Maple I believe.  It was here when we moved in. 

One little project left and you can see it here - plant some flowers in the little planters.  See that little thing in the front with the small purple flowers?  That's an Aster.  Long story but I saw a friend post some pictures of one of these and I thought "I would LOVE one of those" - and then another friend said she had some perennials/hostas I could have if I would like.  I got there - and look what she had??  It's gonna be so pretty :)

Spice Drawer Re-do COMPLETE!

Can't believe it - but I've almost finished my spice drawer re-do!!  I'm happy!  I still need another 10 jars or so - but for now - I think it looks great.  BIG improvement over what was before.  Let's look at some pictures and you'll see what I mean!!

Before - WHAT a MESS!!  What's in there anyway??  Who knows - not me - not you!!  So - let's figure out what we can do to clean this up a bit - for next to nothing. 

First, you'll need some of these.  You can get them from a friend, from yourself, or find a sale and stock up.  If you don't have a baby, find a flavor you like or else just give it to the dog!

Clean off/our your jars & lids really well using warm sudsy water.  Then use some of this amazing product to remove the sticky residue left over from the label.  Note - use this product as directed in a well ventilated area.  Trust me.  You will develop a killer headache if you do not follow this advice - lol.  I know.  Make sure you clean off the jars a second time after using the goo gone.  Turn the jars over and allow them to dry well.  You don't want them all wet when you place your spices in them.

Now, I needed to label my lids.  I have/had a circle cutter.  It broke.  I was tearing my hair out trying to cut out perfectly round circles.  I was so mad after several attempts that I decided I needed to come up with something else.  This is plan B.  Chalkboard paint.  I had some left over from a project forever ago, so I dug it out and mixed it up.

Now we paint.  Not an easy task, might I add.  Kind of messy - but we managed.  The first circle on your left is pre-paint.  Middle is half way through painting - and last one is post-paint.  I did 2 coats, allowing several hours of drying time in between. 

Here's what they looked like.  Now, I was unhappy.  Why?  Because I like color!!  So, again, not wanting to spend any money, I had to get creative.  Remember I said I used chalkboard paint?  I have some decorative chalks (you'll see in a pic in a moment).  I particularly am partial to pink - so out came the pink.  I also have a set of stampin' up colored pencils.  I am sure any chalk and any colored pencils will do.  I wrote the name of the spice on the lid in white colored pencil first.  Then I traced over the white in pink.  Then I took the decorative chalk in pink and using an eye makeup brush, colored over the lids.  Below is the result.

Pretty nifty, huh??  I'm happy.  If I had to do it again - I would've maybe made my pencil sharper.  I was afraid to because I didn't want to nick off the black paint.

Now THAT looks clean and organized!!  I think I'm in love :)

I found it!!

So one of my 40 in 40 goals is to complete a craft project (so good at getting started, so incredibly bad at finishing!!) - and tonight - I found the perfect one!  Please go to this beautiful blog to see how this is done - and I borrowed the picture from there.  It's just amazing and so perfect with my recent attempt at becoming musical again!

I'm in love :)

**When going back to the above listed blog, I found the tutorial she learned from HERE - so check them both out!  Looks like the picture above came from THIS BLOG as well.  Just want to give credit where credit is due - don't want anyone upset with me!  Such creative ladies out there :)  Good thing - 'cause this chick is creatively challenged! **

Spice Drawer Organization

Oh my goodness!  LOOOOOK at what I found!  Oh yeah - I am sooooo doing this!  I HATE my spice drawer with a capital H.  I can never find anything and I am ALWAYS wasting major amounts of time trying to find what I need when I'm cooking.

My only question is this.  Does anyone know what size 250 ml is?  Are we talking baby food jar, small jam jar, large jam jar?  I need a word picture people.  Isn't ml metrics anyway?  No, I'm not blond - I just REALLY dislike math!!

Check out the full instructions here.