DIY: hanging succulent baskets

At this point I don't think that I need to 

tell anyone who reads here regularly that 

I am jumping up and down for spring! 

In this house,

spring = plants... 

it also equals yard sales.

Two of my favorite things.

About a month ago I found this amazing 

vintage tri-level basket hanger.

You know the kind that hangs in the kitchens of 

hipsters and grandmothers everywhere?

I've been dying for one, and when I 

saw this one for less that $1

I had to have it, even though there was no where

in my kitchen to hang it.

That's where this project came from.

A way to have lots of beautiful succulents 

on our tiny apartment balcony….

all wrapped up in an adorable hanging basket.

So here's a simple gardening DIY! 

Hope you enjoy!

What You Will Need:

Some sort of hanging basket

Coconut husk liners 

cactus soil

enough succulents for fill your baskets

Step 1:

First I fit my coconut liners into the baskets.

This took quite a bit of cutting and manipulating.

I used a total of 2 liners for this project.

The middle liner needed quite a bit cut off that I

used in the top tier.

Step 2:

Then I filled each basket about 2/3 full of soil.

Step 3:

I next arranged each of the succulents 

in their respective baskets while there were still in

their individual containers.

I had a pretty good idea of 

where each plant was going to go when 

I was purchasing them,

making sure to get a good variety 

of tall and short plants

as well as getting some with some hang to them.

Step 4:

After breaking down each root ball

to allow the plants to breath a bit,

I carefully arranged each

plant into its new home.

I made sure to give the succulents some space

so that as they grow they can fill in the baskets.

Step 5:

After everyone was in their new homes,

I gave them a heavy spray down

with a water bottle. 

Took a few steps back.

And fell in love! 

Enjoy!

DIY: Up-cycled Easter Flowers

After all the eggs are hard boiled and ready to by 

dyed for Easter, what do you do with all the left over

egg cartons?

Well if you are me, you actually have a stash 

of egg cartons ready to be up cycled into something crafty.

While perusing Pinterest, 

I found thins great DIY from Homemade Serenity!

Now here's a lady that's on my 

"this could be useful for crafting" hoarding wave length.

Instead of following her explicit directions to make a 

wreath, the boy and I decided 

to make a little something pretty 

for his sweet little neighbor girl friend, Lily.

I am just loving seeing all the detail that he took the time

to put into these cute flowers.

It was also really cute listening to him talk about

how important it is to give girls flowers.

My little gentleman in training! 

DIY: Organic Moisturizing Hair Mask

For 30 years I've dealt with the

humidity frizzy poof that was my head of hair.

Since moving out west I've come to quickly find a

whole new hair trouble….

Wintery Dry Hair.

Ends that are dry and fried beyond belief,

dry itchy scalp,

and fragile strands that want to give up and break.

After a quick trip to the pantry and then the medicine cabinet,

I present to you a very easy 

DIY Organic Moisturizing Hair Mask

Ingredients:

1.5 Tbsp Organic Coconut Oil

1.5 Tbsp Organic Raw Honey

5 drops Peppermint Oil

5 drops Vitamin E Oil

Step 1:

In a small sauce pan mix all four ingredients and stir together over low heat.

You may need to vary the amount of honey and coconut oil that you use.  

I have very thick shoulder length hair.

Step 2:

Transfer to a bowl.

Separate your hair into small easily workable sections.

Step 3:

With you bare hands apply the warm mixture to the sections of hair 

focusing on the ends. 

Warning: the mixture may be hot! 

Wrap your hair up onto your head and wait about 40 mins before washing out

Tips:

Why bare hands?  

Soak up some of that added moisture on those dry hands.

Why is this so messy?

Working with oil and honey can be a giant sticky mess! 

Make sure that you wrap a towel over your shoulders so that you don't ruin your clothes.

I also applied in the tub so that anything that dripped didn't make an even bigger mess.

Don't waste your left overs!

I had just enough left over oily goodness to apply to my face and neck.

Coconut oil and honey makes a great face mask.

The oil softens and smooths your skin, while the honey heals and evens skin tone.

I just smeared it on and let it sit the entire time the hair mask was on.

DIY: Bleach Dyed Sweat Shirt

If anyone can figure out why oh why

I waited all these years to try bleach dying please let me know! 

I am kinda obsessed with single color 

tie dye which is what inspired this project.

Yet I have never tie dyed anything.

I have had this black sweat shirt for many many years.

It's always been one of my favorites,

but in recent times it's just started to look a little beat.

It needed something.

A pick me up if you will.

So a good bleach tie dye became it's fate.

I found this great DIY on 

Say Yes To Hoboken,

but as many of the things I see on Pinterest,

it didn't really work out for me.

I followed her directions to a T and the only results 

were one or two bleached out marks.

So I became frustrated with the project,

the hubs and I laughed at my waste of a 

perfectly good shirt, and I decided to take this project to the max.

At this point there was no coming back for this top, 

so my fears of "ruining" it went out the window.

I rinsed and rinsed the residual bleach from my first attempt.

I then re-twisted and rubber banded the top while it was still wet.

Part of my hesitation with tie dye or bleach dye in the past 

has been a lack of control, but I shook that off and just 

told myself that this wasn't an exact science.

After the sweat shirt was twisted and banded I

fully submerged the tangled mess into a bowl of straight bleach.

In the previous DIY steps that I had tried to follow

I was told that it would take 12+ hrs to see any change in color.

Well with my way it was almost instant.

With in about an hour I had the top out of the bowl.

I have to be honest with you,

at this point I was pretty sure that the next step for this 

beloved sweat shirt was the trash can.

The entire top appeared to be, well, tan.

I began to cut off the rubber bands on at a time,

as the shirt unraveled beautiful pinks, blacks, and creams were revealed.

Once I got the entire sweat shirt opened up I rinsed it until no more color 

bleed into the water.

I was so pumped up about how this top

turned out that I actually raided my closet for more things to

bleach dye.

Have you experimented with bleach dying?

I would love to see your projects! 

Share your secrets and results! 

DIY: Gallery Wall

I have been dreaming about this gallery wall for a few months.

Prior to our cross country move,

I had acquired a few really amazing pieces of art work

from some really talented friends.

It became very apparent to me that some of the 

artwork that I treasure the most all fit in the same 

color scheme, so I decided that they should all go together.

I am so happy to share with you how simple this wall was to put together.

Here's what you'll need:

artwork

hanging supplies (hammer, nails, ect)

newspaper

scissors

tape

sharpie

Step 1:

Pull together all the art work that you want to feature in your gallery wall.

Now is the time to play with the arrangement.

I must have placed all of my art work in about 10 different ways before I 

landed on one that I loved.

Honestly, this was the hardest part.

I looked at a lot of Pinterest post and decor magazines to 

finally decided that there didn't have to be a "RULE" on how to hang 

all of my treasures.

I knew that the large painting by

Brandon McLean

should be the heart of the wall.

I then realized I had a pretty nice balance of 

art to hang around it.

The moral is, don't let this part scare you.

Step 2:

Trace each from with your sharpie on news print.

Cut each one out.

Step 3:

Label each piece of news paper.

Line the paper up with the back of the frame and mark exactly 

where the nails and hangers line up.

Step 4:

Now it's time to tape all of the

news print to the wall.

This is also a great time to re-evaluate your arrangement.

It's much easier to change where you want your art to hang now, 

before you put holes in the wall.

I hung the large painting first 

(without making a template)

to mark the center of the wall as well as 

the correct height.

Step 5:

Go ahead and put your nail or screw

in the exact spot that your marked 

on the paper.

Once all your nails are in the wall remove the paper 

and hang your art! 

Viola! 

This really is an easy DIY that I was able to 

complete on my own in just under a few hours.

Enjoy!

P.S. Did you notice the amazing hot pink desk 

the hubs got me for my birthday?!?!

Found the mid century beauty on Craigslist.

It was already pink, but that was perfect with my color scheme!

I am so in love!

DIY: Creepy Crawly Halloween Wreath

I just love Halloween!

Pretty much as soon as October hits,

 you can bet your bottom that I am scouring the house looking for 

something to spray pain gold or black.

Fall DIY's make me so happy because they give me good reason to 

celebrate the creepy and weird.

As I was cleaning out the boys room the other day,

we landed on a bin of forgotten plastic animals, insects, and dinos.

The boy and I decided that he's outgrown playing with these and we were about to 

dump them all in the donation bin when the DIY light bulb went off.

I pulled out all of the creepy crawly snakes and spiders and set them aside.

We also decided to keep two special dinos 

that were destined for a new paint job as well.

So here is what you will need:

Enough plastic toys to cover your wreath

black spray paint

hot glue gun and glue

Rubbing alcohol

Step One:

First I gave all the plastic toys a good rub down with 

a clean rag and alcohol. 

 I had to remove all those grubby finger prints from years of play.

Then I wrapped the snakes around the wreath and began to glue them down.

I glued the spiders down to fill in the gaps.

Step Two:

I then gave the wreath a

few light coats of flat black paint,
making sure to let the paint drybetween coats.

And that's it.  Easy, up cycled, and spooky!

Enjoy!

Before & After

I found this sweet little foot stool today on a thrifting date with my sweet friend Kelly.

It was right there staring at me when we walked in the door.

I was initially drawn to the beautiful blue fabric.

I knew it would look spectacular with my new rug, picking up some of the blue,

and the slight striations in the fabric were so pretty.

Well then I got a bit cheeky with the stool and flipped up her skirt.

Her legs were to die for! 

Who would cover those beauties up? 

I snipped the stitching on the skirt and carefully pulled it off.

Then I gave the legs a good rub down with Old English.

The stool was perfect.

(pardon all the dog hair! Stella is in dire need of a hair cut and my vacuum took a crap!)

I'd have to say that I think this stool passes the test! 

I'm in love!

How To: the perfect beach wave

So here's the secret! 

To achieve the perfect beach wave,

go to the beach. play. swim. cruise top down in the jeep.

Simple.

Well, actually there was more to it than that.

Step 1:

We actually did spend the morning at the beach playing 

in the waves.  So honestly that was my "base".

And let's face it there is nothing more authentic then actual BEACH waves.

Step 2:

I only wash my hair about every 4-5 days,

and I just washed it yesterday.

But to protect it from damage and dryness and to get the sand out

I gave it a really good scrub with a super moisturizing conditioner.

I am talking scalp, roots, ends. The works.

Using this:

Organix Coconut Milk Conditioner - $6

My favorite, not only does it smell just like summer, 

it absolutely does the trick for this crazy mane.

Now to forewarn you. 

Not everyone can get away with this method.

My hair is very thick, wavy, and well frizz is an understatement...it's more like Fro.

So in this South Florida humidity I need all the moisture and weight I can get.

While in the shower,

I used a pick to comb the conditioner through and actually part 

my hair and place it exactly where I wanted it to dry.

I waited a few minutes and then rinsed.

Step 3:

This is the important part, especially for you other fro-ed out counterparts.

What ever you do DO NOT wrap your hair up in a towel.

With your towel in hand (not on head) 

gently squeeze as much water as you can out of your hair.

(I have also been told to keep frizz down use paper towels instead,

but we barely use paper towels....such a waste.)

Step 4:

I then covered all my hair with 

Bumble and Bumble Tonic Lotion - $20

This is a go to, everyday, must have for my hair.

The uses for this product are endless, and all of the essential oils 

not only smell amazing, but are so soothing on my normally 

sensitive scalp.

Then I emulsified about a nickel sized amount of this

Bumble and Bumble Color Minded UV Styling Balm - $28

in my hands.

Starting from the back of my hair,

I scrunched this into my waves very gently.

It's very important not to jostle them too much.

Step 5:

After not touching at all and letting my hair air dry

 for about 20 minutes,

the boy and I took a top down cruise in the Jeep.

Once it was dry it was pretty much fluff and go!

Viola! 

the perfect beach waves

DIY: Up-cycled Filing Cabinet

I found this busted up beauty last weekend at a yard sale,

and I knew she was going to be the perfect addition to my new office.

All she needed was a fork lift to get her home, 

because she ways a metric shit ton,

some TLC and elbow grease.

See that $10 price tag?

I talked them down to $5 and convinced them to load it into 

my car for me.

The frist step to bringing this cabinet back to life was to remove all of the hardware.

I knew that it was missing pieces and that I was going to have to 

replace all of the handles.

Once every thing was taken apart,

I got super sweaty and dirty giving this giant hunk of 

metal a really good sanding.

Using a medium to coarse grit paper. 

I used circular motions

(think Karate Kid)

and really concentrated my attention

to the areas that were rusty.

After sanding, I used a wet rag to remove all of the dust.

It took a few good wipe downs to really make sure that I got it all,

and the last cleaning I used mineral spirits and a dry rag.

Once all the surfaces were thuroughly cleaned,

I used a spray paint primer to cover the entire cabinet.

I also salvaged the label holders off the front of the drawers and sprayed them flat black.

The original cabinet had spindles that ran inside each drawer, but one was missing.

I opted to just fill the hole with a screw, hex nut, and acorn nut for decorative purposes. 

Lastly I sprayed the cabinet this beautiful and cheery

Marigold color and started calling it my happy cabinet.

After the paint had a full 24 hours to dry,

I put on all the hardware and labels.

This was such an easy project that really brought a dead piece of furniture 

right back to life, and provided so much storage and sunshine in my office.

Project 52

Teach your children young to value the things that you yourself value.

The hubs and I have a passion for bringing "treasures" back to life.

I am so crazy excited that the you ran inside to grab your

goggles and a sheet of sand paper, and rushed

right back out to get your DIY on with me!  

New uses for old things

One of my absolute favorite things about moving is the total blank slate.

I love taking all of my treasures and belongings

and finding not only new homes for them,

but also new uses.

Bookshelves that used to be jam packed with craft supplies

now become storage for all of our "keep sakes".

Kitchen clocks become bedroom clocks.

A table that used to function as a front door catch all

returns to it's original calling as a dressing table.

Even things that used to be hidden away in storage from your childhood

find new homes as added pops of pink!

But one of my favorite new uses for old things so far in this crazy

unpacking and organizing process has got to be

this!

I was given this very sweet little magnetic sewing pin container as a gift 

from a friends mom.

In the old house it had no home. 

No job.

It literally just was tucked away into a box for a rainy day.

Then I realized that not only was she perfect for my great great grandmothers 

dressing table, but she had a secret hidden potential 

to house and organize my bobby pins.

Viola!