Beachy Mantel Details {summer mantel}

Oh, this is just too exciting!  I’m gearing up for my first ever mantel linky party!  When I first started blogging last year, I didn’t know what a linky party was and I didn’t have a mantel.  Since then I’ve done quite a bit of partying and decided I *needed* to install a mantel so I could keep up with the Jonses jump on the band wagon. {To see my mantel installation click here…and to see when I painted the fireplace white click here!}

Please allow me to give you a tour of my mantel, all dressed up for its first ever linky party!!

 My goal was a beach theme with aqua accents…so I was thrilled when I found this wonderfully shaped aqua bottle at Crate and Barrel. And, it was on sale for 50% off!

Next I used a couple of vases I had stashed away from flower deliveries over the years and wrapped them with jute rope {tutorial coming soon}.  I filled them with sand/shells.  I also filled the apothecary jar {which I picked up at World Market with my $10 off coupon} with sand and shells. I got the shells in  a huge bag from Michaels, with my 40% coupon. And finally I topped them with battery operated tea lights from World Market.

Speaking of coupons, did you know you can do a Google search for coupons before you hit the stores?  Well, at least the stores listed above.  I can always find coupons for 30-40% off for Michaels & Jo Ann’s.  Also, World Market usually has a $10 off $30 coupon floating around too.

Moving along…

 This water pitcher is probably 40+ years old. As a child, I can always remember this little guy filled with cold water in our refrigerator. I was lucky enough to inherit it a few years ago and have finally put it to use again! It’s fun to think of my childhood each time I glace over at it.

And the starfish is also from Michaels.  Waaaay cheaper than from Pottery Barn.  Well, I actually should take that back…PB Kids had a set of 4 the other day for under $20…that’s around the same price as this one.

I think this is my favorite find! I just love this jar. I found it at World Market, advertised as a bee catching jar. You are supposed to put something sweet smelling in it and I guess the bees fly in the bottom but can’t get out? Well, for me it was perfect for the mantel! Just look underneath, there is a hole the perfect size for a votive to sit inside {just make sure you use battery powered votives, not the real thing or you could cause a little explosion!}

See the hole in the bottom!

 

I told ya, it’s a wasp trap! But I think it’s too cute for those bad guys!  Plus, it’s aqua tinted….thumpity- thump goes my heart! Can you hear it? 

Next comes the sand dollars I’ve saved for 5 years since a good friend’s wedding. These were used for table assignments at their Hawaiian reception. {Our names are on the other side!}

Three little votive holders I made with jute string…and real candles this time!

Do you recognize this jar?! It’s one of the mason jars I painted myself. If you missed it, see the tutorial here.

Then I just filled it with beach glass which I picked up at Michaels.

{I started to raid my son’s own beach glass collection, which along with the beach rocks could have easily filled this jar…but he protested so it was just another excuse to go to Michaels. Bummer, huh!}

My son started to protest me taking this one out of his room…but when I promised to hang his new Star Wars posters I framed for him in its place {see them here} he quieted right down. This is an old PB Kids piece that I bought on HUGE sale like 6 years ago.

Finally that old pine mirror in the middle.  It’s been under my bed for the last, um, 9 years.  But not just 9 years under my bed…this is the 3rd house in which she’s sat patiently under my bed…just waiting for her chance again.  I’m thinking a very pale coat of turquoise would give her new life…we’ll see what I can come up with in the next couple of months…before it’s time to change this mantel for fall!

Now I’m not sure if you recall the first time I posted my finished mantel after building it, but I had a string of lights hanging from below:

They seemed kinda beachy to me…with their woven rattan look…reminds me of the ones Pottery Barn sells, but I got mine for half the price at World Market.  Here’s PB’s:

They’re cute, huh?  I liked them. But then I decided to take them down.  Why?  Well, I know that I want lights up there at some point during the year.  Christmas for SURE, maybe even Halloween/Thanksgiving….but I wanted the lights to be something extra special, not just an every day thing.  So I decided to take them down for the summer and most likely these exact ones will go up in the fall. What do you think?

So that’s it folks! My mantel’s ready to par-tay!! 

It’s gonna be fun changing it up with the seasons. Smile!

A Little Garden Time

Do you remember my fall garden last year? I decided to pull out all the flowers from the planter box in our front courtyard and replace them with an edible garden.  With a nice winter harvest under our belt thumb {and broccoli rabe coming out our ears}, we were excited to plant a spring/summer garden this weekend. 

 

After 2 failed attempts to buy veggies from big box stores, we ended up at our local nursery where we picked up a cart load of wonderful looking organic fruits and veggies.  {The box stores do not carry organic and their selection is very limited.}

The garden bed was fairly well emptied already…we removed all the old veggies a few months ago and I weed every few days as I walk by.  One thing about having your garden in your front entry is that you’re motivated to keep it looking nice presentable.

So this is the before picture.  We just needed to pull a few more weeds and old plants and sprinkle on a little “Fresh Start” fertilizer and we’re all set. {I wanted to add our own compost to it, but it is not quite ready!  Almost…}

Turning over the dirt is so fun!

We could have done this all afternoon!

But we had to start planting eventually.

And here we are…about 85% finished.  We still have a few plants to add that were started as seeds on our kitchen window sill.

Left to right we have: 6 corn, 6 Swiss chard, 6 spinach, 6 salad greens, 6 arugula, 2 cilantro, 1 yellow squash and 1 basil.  Still to come: carrots, beans, and pumpkin…we’ll transplant those in another week or so…we started those from seeds.

Tomorrow I’ll show you our back garden: also a flower bed turned garden.  It’s filled with strawberries, tomatoes, and all sorts of herbs.  

Are you planting a garden this summer?  Even if it’s in containers it counts! Or just a few herbs on your window sill.  You can do it!  It’s so worth it.  Smile!

Tissue Paper Votive Holders {craft for kids}

Hello friends!  Seems like it’s been a while…probably cause it has!  I’ve been a little lazy super busy lately.  For some reason this week, and month for that matter, have been exceptionally crazy around here.

But today I wanted to share with you a super easy craft you can make with kids of all ages.  I made these with 8 preschoolers a couple of weeks ago.  The kids all gave them to their moms for Mother’s Day.  These are a perfect last minute gift to give any female in your kids’ lives.  I’m thinkin’ they’d be a great homemade teacher gift, too.  

So here’s what you need:
~baby food jars
~multi-colored tissue paper {think: leftovers from all the gift bags you have stashed}
~Mod Podge
~paint brush
 

Ok, the directions are easy peasy chicken lemon squeezy {you can thank twin A for that one}

Step 1:  Tear or cut your tissue paper into small pieces {smaller than the height of the baby food jar}

 
Step 2: Cover jar with Mod Podge using a paint brush.  Then place tissue paper all over jar and cover tissue paper with Mod Podge.

Be sure to cover with a thick layer of Mod Podge on top.  More than you think necessary {if you’ve never used this stuff before.}  They should look very white.  But not to worry, it dries completely clear!  It’s Amazing!  Sorry I don’t have more action shots…but I was making these with 8 preschoolers, so my hands got a little too gooey to take pics!  But here’s what they look like drying:

Be sure to completely cover with tissue paper, the more layers the better.  And then a gloppy coat of Mod Podge and set upside down to dry.

See, it really does dry clear!  But you can see the places where tissue paper was thin or non-existent.  Put on as much tissue paper as you can! 

Then you can place a votive candle inside and voila, it’s that simple!

We light them each night at dinner.  My girls love them and are so proud they made them all by themselves!

And just in case you were wondering about the vase/jar…I posted a tutorial here on how to create your own “vintage” aqua mason jars!

Linking up at a fun for kids party at Smile Monsters!

And the winner is…

…comment #85: Gianna, who would try Freschetta’s 6-Cheese Medley.  Yum!

Thank you to all my loyal readers who {hung in there despite Blogger being down} entered my first ever giveaway.

I look forward to many more giveaways for you guys…

FREE is good!

Have a beautiful week!

 

Oh they joys of technology!

Wasn’t life so much simpler when we didn’t have computers or cell phones?

Ok, don’t answer that….but seriously, we might not have been able to shop for anything in the world 24/7 {if it wasn’t at the local mall it didn’t exist}; we couldn’t price compare between 519 stores on Google shopping {and may have, sit down for this, paid $3 more for a pair of shoes than we needed to}; we might not have been able to research every possible kitchen design in the history of the modern world {but relaxed on the sofa at night, looking at pictures from a handful of glossy magazines}; we couldn’t reach everyone every second of the day {but then again WE couldn’t be reached every second of the day}; we couldn’t fire off emails/texts at lightening speed anytime a thought crossed our mind {we might have had to just sit on a thought for more than a half second, giving it time to digest}; we didn’t know what our old college roommate’s kid said at school today {but then again, we weren’t having to carve out time each day to fit in Facebook/Twitter/email}; we didn’t have all these amazing blogs that stress us out wondering how every other mom/blgoger seems to be able to do it all give us such incredible inspiration on every subject {but then again we didn’t have to worry about our blog’s first giveaway getting derailed half-way through because the server was down- seriously?} 

Ahhhh, life was so much simpler.

My First Give-Away!

UPDATE: Friday, May 13, 2011- I am so sorry, but Blogger has been down for the past two days and needed to erase and repost all posts created after Wed. morning (5/11), which this post was.   When they finally got this post reposted, it was done so without all of the comments/entries that were already made.  So if you made a comment/entry for this giveaway on Wed. 5/11 or Thurs. 5/12, please please re-enter!  Any entries made on Friday 5/13 are all set to go. 

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA®. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey hey! I'm back with another day of excitin' news for me and YOU! 

Welcome to my first ever blog give-away! There are so many milestones we bloggers achieve: our first follower, our second follower, our third follower, the first follower who is someone we DON’T know, our first linky party, our 100th post {this is #96 for me}, our first year anniversary, our first sponsor, our first give-away, our first…..WAIT!! 

This is my first give-away!

Ok, enough of the chatter, let’s get down to business already…

So let’s start out by showing you what the give-away is for, shall we?

This beautiful bamboo cutting board and hors d'oeuvres knives:

DIY Made my day!

I woke up this morning to a spectacular surprise: I was featured on The DIY Showoff!

When you are a newish blogger, being featured on any blog is an honor…heck, just knowing that someone besides those you begged your family are actually reading your blog! But to find out that a very popular blogger has written a surprise feature about you, well that’s something to turn cartwheels over!

Happy Cinco de Mayo {with menu!}

Hola mis amigos!

Besides painting and building stuff, I also like to cook. I love to cook, I love to BBQ and I love to do it with my kids. I am always telling people that I am not a chef, I just love to cook.  I don’t come up with amazing recipes on my own, but I’m really good at looking at 5 recipes for the same thing and adapting them all into my own creation. 

Here’s our little Cinco de Mayo menu:

The Mantel Reveal…aka: Part 3 of While the Cat’s Away

Ok, folks, I know you’ve been on the edge of your seat since my last post…just dying to find out if I finished the fireplace mantel I decided to build. 

In case you missed my last post {see it here} I was just telling everyone how my husband was out of town and that I wanted to do a few little high impact projects to surprise him with when he comes home.  I installed drapery rods/panels on day one.

On tap for day two was painting the flagstone fireplace…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…which turned into: painting the fireplace AND building a mantel!

So that brings us to today’s post: building the mantel.

After spending all morning painting, at 2pm I decided that a mantel would be a nice finishing touch.  {With all the mantel linky parties going on, what’s a mantel-less girl to do?}

So I enlisted the help of my aunt {to play with my kids and give me a woman’s opinion} and my uncle {to help me secure the skill saw and drill holes in mortar} who are always getting roped into helping me so generous with their time.

A quick trip to Home Depot {which ended up being the first of two trips this afternoon} and before you knew it, I was sawing and sanding away. 

 

I am using a leftover board of 100+ year old reclaimed barn oak from when I built my kitchen island {with the same uncle} back in January. I love how it ties the kitchen in with the living room {which are both part of the same “great room”}

On one of my trips to Home Depot, I picked up a pair of iron brackets to hold the mantel:

 

They aren’t the most decorative of brackets in the world {the Depot didn’t have too many options} so I can see them being replaced by a splurge on something from, oh maybe, um, Anthropologie? Just a thought. Like howz about these…

 

oooooo, wouldn’t that be fun?  Wanna know what I love about them? 

~the painted and distressed white iron

~the painted and distressed teal iron

~the whimsical, but not too over-the-top scroll

~did I mention the colors? they match my home perfectly! Love it!

 

A-hem. Ok, anyways…moving right along.  Oh and by the way, I did paint the hex nuts black on the Home Depot bracket…not to worry! {See ugly silver nuts on pic above Anthro pic}

So while I sanded and sanded and sanded…and then did a bit more sanding…my uncle drilled the 4 holes in the flagstone mortar for the bracket. And one sore back later, I proudly announced the board was finished and ready for installation.  Up we propped it onto the brackets, added a couple of screws to secure the wood to the bracket and voila, finished!

And it’s not even 5pm yet!  I said my thank yous and bid farewell to my aunt and uncle {purposely not reminding him of the dining table I’d love to build out of the same wood} and then started to play!

 

 

Grabbed this picture from the hallway…a little too BIG, ya think!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So then I found this mirror hiding under my bed. Now we’re getting closer…though it would look great in distressed turquoise! But for now we’ll go with it…it’s free and I can’t go buy paint at this point ‘cause my kids are all in bed.

 

Remember how my son’s room used to be surf-themed and now it’s evolving into a Star Wars {cringe, ok now smile} theme? So I stole a few things from his room…namely the “Beach this way” sign…and his personal shell collection…& the next morning I picked up a few things from Cost Plus and Michael’s and here we are the next afternoon:

And finally, I couldn’t resist these “beachy” rattan ball lights…I’ve been so mantel deprived that I just wanted to go all out!

Eeeeeee, I’m so excited for my husband to come home from his trip!  Do you think he’ll be surprised?

When he left it looked like this:

And he’s coming home to this:

I’d say a back massage is most definitely in order, wouldn’t you?

Bring on the mantel linky parties!! This girl is ready!

House Goal #3: Paint Fireplace

Welcome to part two of “While the cat’s away the mice will play” aka:

 “Husband is out of town- quick, re-decorate!”

Today I decided to tackle item #3 on my House Goals for 2011: Paint the flagstone fireplace.

If you recall from Part One of “While the Cat’s Away,” I installed drapery rods and panels in the dining room, which was not on my goal sheet…so today I’m back on track. Whew.

Here is a BEFORE the before picture…taken a week before we bought the house:

And here is a before, as in last week it looked like this: