Garden Grow: Chandelier

The dollar store had some solar lights for.... a dollar...duh... I painted them, popped the heads off the stands and then used poster putty to stick them inside the "candle sticks" of this chandelier I got from the thrift store for $8. Has a cool effect :) Tricky to get a photo of though.

Garden Grow: Firepit

My husband the ham helped me do this one :) 

What a buff and helpful fella! Basically i got this big ole hunk of rusty pipe for free after making friends with a junk collector. We dug a hole in the ground and buried it partially in that, filled it with the dirt we had removed, stuck a bunch of rocks in the bottom and called it good. We'd like to eventually decorate it a little more than that but for now, it's functional :) Which is great because we have a LOT of debris to burn off in this yard. 

Garden Grow: Mosaic

This thing was the biggest pain in the arse to do. I didn't enjoy doing it a bit and in the end I didn't get what a wanted, which was a table top. 

I ran out of both time and supplies so I did the best with what I had and its now a pretty piece in the yard. Which I won't complain on at all, a lot of people seem to really like it. That or they don't want to hear me whine about how annoying it was to make >. > could be.... Meh, it's pretty. Nuff said. 

Harry Potter Movie Marathon!

So I wrote a bunch of stuff...it got deleted...because technology suuuuuuucks sometimes...and I have been waiting for the gumption to rewrite this. And it hasn't come. It's not even May anymore, which is when this ACTUALLY happened (for the Battle of Hogwarts, of course) and so I am just all grumpy about the timing being ruined. lame sauce. And my photos keep disappearing! AUGH. 

So have a look at all our fun budget decorations and my cousins yummy themed treats! There were chocolate frogs, crunchy cockroaches, white chocolate wands, every flavor beans, lemon drops, all kinds of yumminess! 

Garden Grow: Plant Box

Our first new addition to the backyard! The plant box for the garden. We found a tutorial online (pretty easy, it is just a box after all) chose the paint and put it together. I wanted a bit of a shabby chic thing so I sanded down the painting (first a coat of white, then a coat of blue and then a final coat of spring green) we did and then painted it over with a clear topcoat for protection. 

This is me attempting some moss graffiti but it never worked out, the air is just too dry to keep up with here, especially during the summer. But it was worth a shot!

It's got tomatoes, peppers, brussel sprouts and cucumber in there as seedlings and then I planted the seeds of leek, carrots, basil and broccoli. I have never done this before so I am eager to see how it turns out!

"Tea by the Sea" Photo Booth

This was so whimsical and cute :) Again, using things we had. In the past, a theme had been princesses and so there was a large wooden castle prop. My aunt painted over this to make it resemble a sand castle. It was quite fun!

"Tea by the Sea" More Decor

You're not going to believe this but I got another cold (thanks Hubby...poor guy) so this is another short entry but I hope you enjoy the pictures of the decor. Much of what we had was contributed from people's own things, was already owned by the library or was found at thrift stores and the dollar store.

"Tea by the Sea" Fundraiser

Hello, dears... After having company visit and then getting a five day flu thing, I found myself on the week of an annual fundraiser for the local library. I volunteer with the Friends of the Library and for this event I was in charge of doing some PR graphic pretty stuff and then the decorating for the event. I thought you would enjoy some photos of the event :) The theme was "Tea by the Sea" which was a mix of seaside aesthetic and Impressionist art. We had a lot of fun, every thing came together beautifully and there were plenty of compliments to go around. My next few posts will cover the different aspects of the charming ideas that made this event a success. Here are few previews: