Summer Porch

I'm loving my front yard this summer!  Things are coming together!  I still have a couple of things I want to do, like replace my porch light, but all in all I *heart* it!  Things have been crazy round our house, but I promise to share some recipes and crafty things soon!

The big "canisters" I planted flowers in were old metal food storage containers!  I dumped the 40 year old food out (it was dated 1965) and painted them!  I love the pastel colors and the size of them! 

Vintage Picnic Wedding Pictures!

Eric and I got married on May 25th!  The wedding was fabulous!  I thought I'd share a few pics!  You can see more on facebook if you like.  My awesome neighbors let us use their beautiful backyard, it was perfect!

My dress was custom made by an amazing seamstress.  She has an etsy shop you should totally check out!

I love being married to Eric! *happy*

Vintage Tupperware Planters & Wedding Craziness

I feel like a genius!  These beautiful vintage Tupperware strainers make the BEST planters!  The color is amazing, they already have drainage holes and they're Tupperware so they won't be ruined by water or being outside.  Plus, they don't get hot like metal and they retain the moisture in the dirt well!  I think I may put together more to sell at my next vintage market booth at Fleattitude on June 8th in Pleasant Grove, but these babies are mine for my shabby chic patio!

This small lavender strainer makes a fun planter too!  I bought the flowers from the high school greenhouse.  Nina is in the plants & soil FFA science class this year (according to her, everyone else in the class are rednecks... haha) so I've had the chance to buy poinsettias, flowers and tomato plants from the school greenhouse.  I have been crazy impressed with the quality of the plants.  Even the carnation corsage she made in the class lasted three weeks in my fridge before I finally just threw it away.  I think I'll keep buying from them in years to come.

Along with planting flowers and our garden, I've been neck-deep in wedding plans!  May 25th!!!  Yikes!  It's coming up SO fast!  I've been planning, shopping, decorating and gathering things for it like crazy!  I've got one more week to pull the rest of it together!  Please, let me know if you'd like an invitation!  It's going to be an outdoor vintage picnic.

My friend, Lindsay, is letting me borrow her backyard for the wedding and picnic.  Isn't it pretty?  She just lives a couple of houses down from me, so it's convenient too!  I'm really excited for the wedding, but even more than that, I'm excited for the marriage!  I can't wait to share all my wedding pics with you!  One week...

happy mother's day

Cabbage Salad

I love the warm weather!  Salads and picnics come with warm weather!  Salads are my fave!  We have them a lot in the summertime!  This salad is great for potlucks and gatherings.  It makes a large amount, so you can cut it in half if you so desire.

Cabbage Salad

salad:
2 bags cabbage coleslaw mix
shredded chicken or pork
1 c. chopped nuts
2 pkg uncooked ramen noodles, crumbled (reserve seasoning)

dressing:
1 c. oil
1/3 c. rice vinegar
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp pepper
2 pkg seasoning from the ramen noodles

Mix salad ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add to salad and toss.

Open-faced grilled cheeses go great with a main dish salad, plus they use up extra hamburger buns after a bbq!

Simple Teacher Appreciation Gift

This is a gift I put together for Eric's son's teacher.  He has had a lot of issues with ruining pencils and/or erasers at school, so it is the perfect gift!  The rubber ducky card is a gift card to the Dollar Tree.  Easy Cheesy! 

(Still haven't found my camera.  Still using phone pics. *sigh*)

Fun New Projects with Chalk Paint and Chalkboard Paint

Forgive the phone quality pictures!  My camera is lost at the moment, which isn't surprising since my house looks like a yard sale in progress right now... My purse, yard and car aren't much better.

This weekend is my third vintage market booth in four weeks!  It's been a little (a lot) crazy round these parts.  I've also been selling online, I volunteered at the school three times this week, I've been painting a ton to sell, buying vintage to sell and taking care of kids, a house, two cats, Eric and a partridge in a pear tree.  Ok, not the partridge, but I am trying to grow dumb seeds for my wannabe garden, which is KIND OF like a pear tree, but not really.  But I do HAVE a pear tree which is blossoming nicely, but that's another story.

ANYWAYS... back to my cute little silverware project!  I've been making homemade chalk paint (and chalkboard paint) and having lots of fun with it!  These little cutting boards turned out adorable!  My sister says they're cuter in real life, so *shrugs*.  Cutting boards and silverware can be found for super cheap at yard sales this time of year, so this is an inexpensive but really fun project!  These will be for sale at the flea.o.logy market this weekend.  It will be held at: the Flea.o.logy House: 218 N. Main St. Payson, Utah from 8am-4pm on Saturday, May 11th.  Stop by and say hello!

If you've never made chalk paint, don't be scared!  Chalk paint is all the rage with refinishing furniture right now.  The look is very vintage and very fabulous!  I don't measure mine at all and it comes out great every time!  I simply put a couple of spoonfuls of plaster powder which is really cheap for a big tub at Hobby Lobby ($2.99 regular price, but don't forget to use your 40% off!) into a container and add roughly the equal amount of water and stir well.  Next I add paint. 

I use straight craft paint for small projects or white satin latex (regular house paint) mixed with craft paint for color for bigger projects.  It's super inexpensive and I love the finish.

If you can't tell, I'm really into the vintage light blues/teals at the moment... Of course those colors don't really match my house, but that's the beauty of selling things!  I get to paint the pretty colors and don't have to find a place for the items.

For chalk BOARD paint, as in, you can write on the project with chalk, you stir about 2TBSP unsanded grout powder into like a half cup of whatever paint your heart so desires.  I bought my grout at Home Depot for about $5 for a small tub.  It totally works!  I like to do several coats to make sure it really sticks.  I even painted an old metal pizza pan with chalkboard paint for Alyssa's room and it turned out fabulously!

I like to use the cheapo craft paint so I can get fun colors!  This chalkboard was originally a "welcome" sign with an apple painted on it.  It was totally outdated and the chalkboard paint turned it into a totally cool piece!

Wish me luck in the rest of my painting extravaganzas this week!  I think I will take a month off from doing markets to get caught up around my house!  And probably get married and stuff... more to come on that later... hehehe