'Enough For Me'

Guess what...?  I've been saving these clementine boxes TOO!  Okay, don't judge me.  But I want to trrry.... to keep a promise to you, this is it... "I promise to use whatever I save or store".  This should make Mark sooo happy...or not.  And I promise to use it even if it is a bag of peach pits.  Yes, I saved those TOO!  Are you still with me?  But you'll be happy to know that I did throw them away after about 3 or 4 years cause I couldn't figure out what to do with them.  It was one of those secrets I really didn't want anyone knowing.  Then I saw Tord Boontjes' (boon tay) cherry pit necklace and thought 'WOW!' "I should have kept those".  Especially since Boonjes' necklace is gleaning $750.

We named this basket "Enough For Me" because of the egg carton.  Which by the way I've been saving those TOO!  And if we had another two weeks till Easter I'd be showing you all the things that have been leaking out of my brain that you can make and do out of these very well design containers. Relatively speaking these cartons might be right up there with the iphone packaging, ( I understand I might have hit a nerve) but the egg carton seems to have more versatility.  And by the way, I've been saving those iphone boxes TOO!

"Enough For Me" Easter basket ends all the woe's of "he got more than me"!  I remember going to school with Dawnelle one day and was impressed with the way the teacher handled the drinking fountain with a class of 20 or more children.  Her secret was this little jingle "one, two, three, that's enough for me" and on to the next child.  It was brilliant!  I thought how simple. Everyone was satisfied and no one felt cheated that someone got a longer drink than another.  'Enough For Me' can help solve the "he got more eggs than me"!  I cut a 2 1/2 dozen carton down to 20.  It fit so nicely into the clementine box.

    

Yes, I used a old pair of ear phones for the handle on one of our baskets.

This one we used an old lanyard from a 'Fame' show. 
If you use an old lanyard cut it in half.  Then string it diagonally from corner to corner and twist it once, that way your strap will meet in the middle and stay together.

The wire works so well.  The beads were made by my children years ago out of 'Sculpty' clay. 

If your children LOVE painting and art, let them decorate the box.  This took me about 10-30 minutes depending how elaborate you get.

Drill the holes in the corner ends of the box.  Cut wire or whatever your going to use for handles and thread through the holes. We used paper with telestial images to cover our boxes. 

It looks and feels so Urban, I really love the way it turned out.  Let me know what you think.

click here to see more Tord Boontje

Happy Easter!

vicki

time to start saving my cans

I found this on a new website I am currently a little obsessed with... ReadyMade. They recently had a competition for do-it-yourself projects that reuse items. They have the top 100 posted on their website and there are some absolutely wonderful ideas! This one happens to be one of my favorite.

Shelves made out of cans! How brilliant! You can take the cans and cover them with wall paper or spray paint them.

Can Decor

I also saw a similar idea on countryliving.com. Instead of using cans though they recommend using cardboard tubes from the hardware store. You know, the tubes that are used to pour concrete forms? They come in larger sizes than cans and they can be covered in paint, wallpaper, AstroTurf, fabric, stencils (like the lacy rocks), or even vinyl!

Hardware Store Decor

Don't worry... we'll post some pictures when we've created one of these wonderful pieces of artwork!

Dawnelle

Radical $50 Date

 Our modern vernacular does not include words like "radical" and "foxy".  Remember these?  I was talking to my girls the other day when we were doing something and I used "radical" in our conversation, Ali laughed.  I thought I knew why, I thought it was because she had never heard that kind of expression. But really it was that she was so shocked that I would say that.  For her the expression was so "old" and right up there with "gnarly". I think she was embarrassed for me even though jit was just us.  I was with Carina a yound friend of the families one day, and she used the word "foxy".  My jaw dropped...there's only one place she could have learned that...(her dad!).  Don't get me wrong proper language skills are a priority too...but it's always funny when our kids throw one of these old school slang words out.  It's kind of like hearing a one year old say "WOW".  Our good brother Tom was over last night and defined  "radical" as...anything that deviates from the norm in a significant way.  Spot on!

So... if you are looking for a out of the norm- in a significant way- "radical $50 date", start by visiting the Philadelphia's Magic Gardens on South Street across from Whole Foods.  Parking will cost $3 for two hours.  We were there for an hour and a half. Entrance is $5 per person.

detail interior wall

inside the basement

outside courtyard

detail exterior wall

click here for more info

We had to feed the meter for another 2 hours.  You'll see a lot of INTERESTING shops on South Street in Philadelphia.  And you'll be tempted by all the cheese steak and pizza places.  But you MUST hold out for "La Fuente"!  They cook their pizza's in stone ovens.  You might be saying "yeah, yeah, yeah, I've had stone cooked pizza before...It's good".  "La Fuente" uses fresh tomatoes in their sauce and it comes out bubbling with imported cheeses and meats along with the "just right" thin crust.  Four out of four of us rated this the BEST pizza we have ever eaten.  Seriously, look at that fresh basil, this pizza is off the charts!

If your reading this from Norway, Idaho or any of our other beloved places, we KNOW you'll be in Philly one day, so we just had to give you this "radical $50 date" tip.

vicki

music while posting John Legend "Each Day Gets Better"

scrap skirt

This past Christmas my mom gave me an issue of "Belle Armoire" and I fell in LOVE with the dress on the front! So I right then I thought, "I am going to make that."

 

I started by going into the sewing room in our basement and pulling out any and every fabric that I thought would look fantastic in this skirt. Then I started cutting. I didn't measure, I thought it would look way cooler if all the pieces were different lengths, and I just cut, cut, cut. Then I took a big piece of fabric and I sewed the little strips to the fabric in rows. Next, I just finished it by cutting out a thick band of denim and sewing it to the top with a zipper. And there you have it. My very own "Stylish and Chic Scrap Skirt".

ALi =]

photos: homevestures.blogspot

Shred the Biebs

I just can't ever bring myself to buy that shredded paper you get prepacked in bags. I'm always asking myself, "how can I do this without spending the money?" (after all it's just shredded paper, why should we be paying for that?) So instead, I substitute old posters (right now I have my eye on a pile of Justin Beiber posters from Ali and Ambers room, ouch!), flyers, tissue paper, or junk mail. There are so many ways to get shredded paper without buying it. Oh yeah...you will need a shredder.... or someone who has one. There are different kinds, get the one that shreds long strips, not the kind that shreds like Taco Bell lettus. Okay, I wouldn't buy shredded paper but I would buy a shredder...is there something wrong with that!?

Looky here! Aren't these just beautiful?! Sparkling clean mason jars with ALL this colorful shredded paper.

I recycled tissue paper from presents. Yes...I save that too!

My plan next is to fill each one with a toy or chocolate bunny and lots of Easter candy for a special early Easter dinner with the family tonight.

We are having rib eye steaks, fettuchini alfredo, salad, papaya con lime juice, and (SOJ) Special Occasion Juice, yum. The jars are mainly for Albert, Hyrum, Ali, Amber, and Jonathan (Jonathan likes stuff like this), and Christian (he's a hard core chocolate lover, ladies), oh, and I just found out that Zach's- Hannah's new boyfriend who came home with her for spring break to officially "meet the family...MWAH HA HA HA" (evil laugh impression for those of you with no imagination)- "love language" is gifts. I imagine it must be hard to keep that up as a student with little disposable income...

I put a branch in each jar with a white nest cut out of cardstock as the name tag. With the "Easter Jars" it creates a more whimsical setting than the one in the "Lacey ROCKS" post. It's going to be a fun night. Candles for the adults... candy for the little ones...steak for the everyone!

Since we covered the table in white butcher block, Amber suggested we put crayons out to keep everyone (Hyrum, my youngest) busy till the sizziling steaks make they're way to our table.

Bona Petite!

vicki

music playing while posting- Sade 'Soldier of Love' album-nice,nice...

photos: homevestures.blogspot.com

HUGE TRUCK LOADS OF MULCH FREE!

Piles of things, especially piles of mulch, dirt, wood, and rocks, always get my attention.  Uniformed piles side by side seem so industrious and resourceful. I always imagine big trucks loading the stuff up and unloading it.  Then I think how can I get one of these big trucks to deliver some piles to me. 

Asplundh Tree Expert Co. is a company with the bright orange trucks that trim the trees around the electrical wires.  They will deliver truck loads of freshly chipped mulch for FREE if your house is close to where they are working.  Here's how you do it...you pull your car over around where they are working.  You get out of you car, and walk over to them.  The men all stop and look at you, you visually identify the man in charge.  Most likely he's not the one up in the trees.  Then you YELL at him asking him if he will deliver a truck load to your house.  He YELLS back at you asking where you live and telling you when he'll be there.  Then you go home and decide where to have them dump it.  They come, they dump, that's it. 

 Find out more about Asplundh here.

vicki

"Lacey ROCKS"

Originally I thought I could just dig some ordinary rocks out of my back yard...but they weren't unified enough in color or so pretty.  Some things become important to me and I'll never know why.  It was in my mind all along what the rocks needed to look like.  I wanted them to be smooth and roundish.  Luckily I found a nearby nursury...bless their hearts... they had EXACTLY what I had envisioned.  You pay by the pound, and it wasn't like buying apples, it was rocks for heavens sakes and I was watching as she weighed each one.  Thankfully I was the only one there besides the rock weigher to see me pack them into the tiny trunk of my miata.  I spent $30.  I kind of didn't want my husband to know cause he wouldn't understand.

I added these beautiful glass candle sticks.

I wanted to show you how the layering effect looks when we added the "sculptural laignappe bags" and the "elegant...easy...edible...eggs".

The textures work so well together.

I never tire of looking at mother natures gems. After incorporating "Lacey Rocks" into your table setting for Easter or any other occasion, you can then retire them into your fireplace or your gardens.  These rocks combined with candles create such a mood, actually anything combined with candles create such a mood!

Prep by washing and then air dry,  then use lace, dollies and white spray paint to get the effect. 

In my opinion ROCK always wins.

Vicki

photos: homevestures.blogspot.com