Clay Pot Wreath

Good evening. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was nice both days here so I was able to work a little on some flower beds. I finally cut back the daffodil and tulip leaves. I know you are to leave them but after awhile I just can't stand looking at them anymore.

I wanted to show you a wreath that I made a few years ago. It just starts with a grapevine wreath. You then just use wire--I used rusty so it didn't show as much--and wire little clay pots around the wreath until all of the area is covered. It is way easy to do and I think looks really cute. I have it hanging on the door to our little smokehouse. It is in the header picture. My DH and FIL moved the smokehouse about 13 years ago. It was over on the other side of our property and was starting to rot. I convinced him, how I don't know to move it over to use for a playhouse for the kids. They cut off the rotten part of the bottom and attached it to a skid loader and pulled it across the yard, set in on a new pad of concrete, and fastened it down. The funny part is that the kids never really played in it. It was hot in the summer, stinky from the smoke, and had LOTS of cobwebs. It worked great for storing all of the outside toys they used to have. I have black eyed Susans planted all around it so it looks pretty later in the summer. I will change the picture so you can see it.



I painted my cupboard today and just have to give the front of the doors one more coat. That will be done tomorrow and hopefully I can get it into the house!!!

That is all for tonight. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

~Melissa~

Some Americana and Make-overs

Hello. I hope you had a restful holiday. We didn't do much over the long weekend. Just relaxed and made some homemade ice cream. Yummy--it's officially summer!!! I spent part of Monday working on some projects. I did paint my cupboard but do not like the color. I tried to save some money by buying black paint at Ace instead of my tried and true Olde Century. Well, black is not black and we all think it looks blue or grey depending on the light. So......yesterday I ordered some Olde Century so by next weekend, it should be done.

I painted an old chair that was very weathered. It was white and didn't show up against the garage. I painted it navy and made an Americana display with my white verbena and burgundy barrel.



Next, I painted a little chest I found for $1. It wasn't really much of a make-over as it was just plain with a little Amish couple stenciled on top. (Raise your hand if you had some of these in your home!!) I'm sure most of us did. Don't you wonder if in 10 years we will look back at crows and laugh??!! I painted it navy also and put it on my craft table. It will be nice to hold little things.





Lastly, I painted a little box that began its life with big sunflowers on it. I loved the shape so out came the burgundy paint. I stacked it on top of a TS box. I like the contrast so I didn't paint the bottom one. It is on a stand in our bedroom.







Well, have to go for now. I need to pick the girls up from softball practice and get ready for an academic banquet. They have about an hour to make the transformation. Thanks for stopping by. Take care.

~Melissa~

Post Trouble

Hi. I still have not found out the problem. I can get to other's blogs just not my own to read. I see there are 2 comments but I can't get to them. If you have any advice, please just email me. Thanks.

~Melissa~

Computer/Blog Trouble

Good evening. I think I am having trouble with my blog. When I go to it, my computer says internet explorer can't connect to it or if it connects only part of the page shows up. I didn't know if my posts are going through or not. It started after I posted last night. Please let me know if you are able to view it or not. You can let me know by either posting a comment or by email.

manevalfarms@williams-net.com

Computers are great aren't they??!!

~Melissa~

Twig Trellis

Hi. Just wanted to take a minute and show you what I worked on today. I have a clematis that we used an iron trellis with last year. With the new siding, we didn't want to use that in case it hit the house. So I have been looking for something different. I found an iron one that is a pyramid shape at Lowe's for about $30 but didn't want to pay that much. I remembered that I had seen one made of twigs somewhere so I thought I would give making one a shot.

So off to our woods I went with my new garden lopper (pruner) in hand. DH and the kids gave it to me for Mother's Day. All I had were little pruners and would just about break those trying to cut big things. I found a few trees that were next to big ones and didn't look so great and cut them off. I brought them back to the house and began the task. It didn't take too long. I am glad I wanted it primitive looking because although I started out with the sticks evenly spaced, somewhere along the way they became uneven. I nailed them together and also wrapped all the connecting points with rusty wire. When I finished, I asked my DS what he thought. All he said was not to put it in the wind. What....no confidence in his mother?? I'm hurt. It is very sturdy by the way, so I don't think wind will bother it. At least I hope not. Here it is before I put it next to the clematis.



I added another row of braces at little closer to the top for more stability. The clematis was getting quite big and tangled so I broke some of it off trying to get it through and trained around. I think it wishes I would have just left it alone. Here it is after.



I was happy how it turned out. I did learn a couple of things that would make it easier if I were to make one again. I have no idea how long this will last. Hopefully I can get a couple of summers out of it.

I found a spot for my bird house. It is off our patio. The fence behind it has my bittersweet on it. It is really growing this year. Yeah!! The petunias in the granite bowl are a little slow growing. I hope they take off soon.





I listed a bunch of printer's blocks on eBay today. If you or anyone you know collect them, stop by and check them out. There are some really neat ones.

I'm off for a walk now. It is so beautiful outside. Take care and thanks for stopping by.

~Melissa~

Bird House Re-Do and New Crow

Hi. Just popping in for a minute to show you what I have been working on. Remember last weeks bright red bird house? Well, it has been toned down to fit in with all the primitive decor around here. I painted over it with black just to make sure none of the red came through and then a coat of white on the house and green on the roof. My DD Emily suggested green because she says I paint everything the same and that would be different. I do think it looks neat. I gel stained it, sprayed it with a matte sealer, and topped it off with grapevine and rusty star garland.
Here it is.......




Now I just need to find a spot outside that it won't get too weathered... at least for this year.

I also bought a pattern from Tennessee Ridge Primitives last week. It is her new one. I bought it too soon. She is having a sale this week. Oh, well. Story of my life. It is a crow, star, flag, and banner to be put on a grapevine wreath. I think the crow turned out too big for a wreath at my house so I just stuck him on this old fence I had. I couldn't get the flag or banner to suit me on the fence so I didn't put them on. It is outside but in a protected area so he should be okay.






I started painting the cupboard from way back and a couple of other garage sale finds. When don't I have something sitting around half done? Makes life more interesting that way.

Gotta run for now. Thanks for stopping by. Take care.

~Melissa~

Garage Sale Goodies!!!!

Hi. I just got home not long ago from hitting a few garage sales. You know how you have to go to several that are really bad just to make up for the few that are really good? Well, I've had my share of the bad ones and today I hit a couple of good ones. They weren't even ones I had scoped out in the paper. I just went to town a different way today and saw signs. Lucky me. I was so excited to get home and post what I found. The first thing I found was this old quilt. Now, pink and greeen aren't my favorite colors, but they are light enough and there is enough cream in it that it will fit in okay. It is in kinda tough shape so I haven't decided whether to just fold it so the good side shows or use it as a cutter. I don't have any projects in mind for it right now so I may just display it. I got it for $10. Yeah!!!!!

Here it is....



The next thing I bought were two new, unopened bags of fiberfill for $1.25. I love when I find that so cheap cuz I hate to spend money on something you can't even see!!! Then I found this "lovely" birdhouse. It was screaming at me to take it home and make it over. I just had to help it out. Not sure what colors to make it yet. I will have to think about it.



I am saving the best for last. I just LOVE this. I thought it was just plain when I picked it up. I didn't notice the date right away, but how PERFECT??!! And just how much did I pay for this little beauty? Well......$1. How cool was that? I haven't found a home for it yet, but it will go anywhere. Are you ready?












Well, I need to go put all of my groceries away. They are all over the kitchen right now cuz I just had to show all of you my goodies right away. Thanks for stopping by and until next time, take care.

~Melissa~

Recital Weekend

Hello, everyone. I hope all of you mothers had a great day yesterday. Mine was very good. I woke up to a breakfast casserole made by DH and DS. It was yummy. They all fixed me lunch as well--and did dishes. We visited both of our moms later in the day and had pizza for supper. Does anyone else wish Mother's Day was a monthly celebration???

Our girls had their dance recital this weekend. I took several pictures but never got one with just the two of them. I don't know where my head was. When they were little, they would get all dressed up at home and I would get pictures. Now that they are older, they get dressed at the auditorium. I was backstage for two performances so I could have taken one then but forgot. Once the show starts, they are too busy with costume changes to take any photos. They have such neat costumes I wish I could have shown them all to you, but you will have to settle for what they started the show with. Here they are with their dance teacher. Alex is on the right and her group tap danced to Puttin' on the Ritz-hence the tux. Emily's group danced a lyrical ballet to Great Spirit from the movie Brother Bear. It was a real earthy sounding song so the costume complemented it well. The performances are awesome. Their teacher is friends with a choreographer from LA who comes in and teaches several dances. They are so neat and the girls just love it. Now we are all sad that we have to wait a whole year for them to do it again.



I guess I'll go for now and get busy. I am hoping to get my flowers planted in pots today. I've only had them for about a week now!! I'm only doing the pots because there was a frost advisory last night and possibly again tonight. Ugh!!! Thanks for stopping by. Have a super day.

~Melissa~

Not Getting Done What I Had Planned

Hi, everyone. How many of you are having a day like me? I had so much in mind to get done today and as of right now, not one thing is done. I bought flowers yesterday so I wanted to get them put into pots this morning. Well, the electrician came to hook up some outdoor lights and was working in our basement. All of my pots were down there and I didn't want to seem like I was spying on him, so I thought I would just wait until this afternoon. Well, now it is cloudy and starting to sprinkle. Guess there is always tomorrow. The next project is painting the cupboard I stripped a while back. But now I'm thinking that it too close to the kids getting home from school to start that. You know how hectic that part of the day can be anyway. No sense adding a paint covered grumpy about not getting anything done mom to the mix. It has been a while since I last posted because of being outside getting flower beds cleaned up, so I decided to post.

Now, I haven't exactly done nothing today. In between all the must-dos of the day, I did change around a shelf in my laundry room. There is a plug right below it that I have been wanting to hide like the plugs behind my washer/dryer. (earlier post). I took a towel and hung it on the hook so it trails down to cover the outlet and cord. I changed everything else on the shelf as well. Sorry I forgot to take a before. I always get ahead of myself redoing something. The black candle holder was a garage sale make over that I posted previously. I has been sitting on the floor getting covered in cat hair and dust patiently waiting for its new home. The little whisk broom was a 25 cent garage sale find. Okay, I must be losing it to be buying someone else's old dirty broom. If it had been mine to sell, I probably would have just pitched it thinking no one in their right mind would buy it. Well, I did buy it and promptly gave it a good hot water/bleach bath followed by a couple of days outside drying time.



I also made a batch of muffins using a recipe from my friend Ann.She had posted the recipe a long time back. It is a Weight Watchers recipe, very yummy and easy to make.


Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins

1 yellow cake mix
1 1 oz can of pumpkin
1/2 c water
1/2 bag of Hershey's Cinnamon Chips

Mix together. Bake in mini muffin pan for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Our girls have their dance recital this Thursday-Saturday night. A total of 4 performances. They have a rehearsal tonight so the next few nights will be late ones. They are each in a total of 5 dances so they will be really pooped by Sunday. I will post a picture of them all dressed up.

I will leave you with another picture of our dorky JoJo. I hope you don't get tired of them. She just cracks us up at all the ways she poses. This is how you will look after you have spent the whole night outside partying. She was out like a light. Don't let this happen to you:)




Have a wonderful rest of your day and evening. Thanks for stopping by!!!

~Melissa~