A Special Space in My Backyard

May 28, 2018May 27, 2018Leave a comment

Good morning and Happy Memorial Day! Today is the official kick-off to summer! I still have 4 days of school left, but we are definitely all in summer mode. To get prepared for some wonderful summer memories, I fixed up a small backyard space perfect for relaxing and enjoying the nights. I am so excited to share it with you!

Side note: My pictures were also featured by Serena Appiah from Thrift Diving. Here is the link if you want to see some other great yard makeovers. https://www.facebook.com/ThriftDiving/videos/1562465847212403/UzpfSTQxODQyODM4MTYzMDE0MzoxMTQ3OTQ5MzY1MzQ0NzA0/

I have this area in my yard that isn’t really usable for entertaining. It’s around the corner from the patio and is pretty narrow. So this is the perfect fit! First of all I had my husband build me this small structure out of 1 x 2’s. Funny thing- we used the basic idea from the cat hutches he built for the animal shelter! Hey, if it works! We did add a pitched roof on this one though. Here are a few of the pieces I hoped to use inside.

We ‘rescued’ the chair from a backyard at an abandoned house, Steve picked up the small heater at a friends house, the large stump came from a neighbor and the other pieces I already had laying around.

The picket fence actually came from my grandma’s property many years ago. Obviously, it needs some fixing up and refreshing.

For the roof, I used a large curtain I had from a sale many year ago. I believe it was a hospital curtain. The eyelets were only on one side, so I cut another strip of eyelets from another curtain and sewed it to the other side. I used some pieces of rope to attach it to the frame.

Progress! Here is some of the pickets reattached. Now it just needs a fresh coat of paint. I also cleaned out some of the weeds and added the walkway. I would like to add some pretty plants in front of the fence.

I gathered up a bunch of stuff I already had and picked up a few more things at thrift stores. I was originally going for more of a boho look, with lots of colors, but I ended up with turquoise. Big surprise, right?

The vintage brown bike in the first photos got a fresh coat of paint. Doesn’t it look pretty! I love spray paint! I added a faux succulent wreath to the handlebars.

I love the lacy curtain and the green velvet pillow.

I had these solar mason jars at the old house and reused them here. I actually had kind of forgotten I had them. I was cleaning out some cupboards and rediscovered them. They work perfect on the metal planter as a chandelier.

I added the chippy window to the back of the gazebo with piece of fabric over the top.

Ezzy loves the soft pillows!

My neighbor had this stump sitting next to the house and I finally asked him if he wanted to get rid of it. Yep! Sometimes you just have to ask! I found this cool yellow lantern at a thrift store. I love how big it is!

I added a few more green and turquoise items to the small table.

I had to add a pink flamingo!

I would eventually like to add some gravel to the floor, but I had this small scrap of carpet and decided to use it for now.

At dusk, I turn on some of the lights and it looks so pretty.

I can’t wait to be able to enjoy this special space!

That was a lot of photos! Thank you if you made it through them all! Do you have any special spaces in your yard? I would love to hear about them. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Graduation Ideas

May 25, 2018May 24, 2018Leave a comment

Congratulations! Graduation season is upon us and many people are moving onto to bigger and better things. If that means going to high school, college, or your dream job, it’s a huge accomplishment to graduate. And if you need some last minute graduation party ideas, I am here to save the day!

Here are some awesome ideas for decorating for a graduation party. Enjoy!

Large Photo Numbers from Play Party Plan

DIY Graduation Wreath from DIY Beautify

Tissue Paper Numbers from Sugar Bee Crafts

Cute Letter Pressed Card from Eighteen 25

Graduation Cap Topppers by Lil Luna

Black White and Gold Party from Pizzazzerie

DIY Tassels from Style Inked

Memory Jenga from Must Have Mom

Peacock Themed Graduation Party from Home on the Corner

Casual Blue and White Beach Tablescape

May 21, 2018May 16, 20185 Comments

Good morning! I haven’t been here for a few weeks, so it’s good to be back! The end of the year school stuff is wearing me out! But I have a few projects I’m working on so hopefully I can get them done and posted in the next few weeks!

I am really looking forward to summer and my dining room table reflects that. I love the beach look, so I decorated around that theme.

Blue and white are the perfect colors for summer! I use it along with the turquoise that I love so much. Of course, lanterns make an awesome centerpiece, especially filled with pieces of driftwood.

I picked up these little glass votive holders at a thrift store for just .25! I added some sand and glitter around the edge and then placed a candle in a little more sand placed in the bottom.

I love the glass floats and have started a little collection of them.

So many of my items have been picked up from Goodwill, but are Target items. The placemats, napkins and navy blue bags were all purchased at Goodwill. I love that I can get new items for a fraction of the price.

I added a few beach touches to my shelves too. I made the ombre’ starfish canvas a couple of years ago.

The little blue bags are great for gathering together the napkin and flatware.

Are you ready for summer? I am looking forward to having time to relax and time to get some of my long list of projects done! Have a great week!

How to Make a Wreath for $20

May 18, 2018May 17, 2018Leave a comment

Hello! This is a random post that is not a top 10, but it is a re-post. This is the perfect DIY for summer and it’s super easy! For $20 and 2 hours of work, you will get an awesome wreath. Enjoy!

Things you need are a pool noodle, lots of fake flowers, tape, scissors, and some sort of statement decoration. All of these items can be purchased from the Dollar Store, so it makes the wreath even cheaper!

The first thing you need to do it make the pool noodle into a wreath. Just make it a circle and use tape to keep it in place. I had to use packing tape to make sure that it would stay in place.

Then I started placing flowers. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work exactly, but I thought that the easiest way would be to cut the wire to stick in the noodle. So, after a little bit of work trying to figure out the easiest way to cut the flowers, it was able to get started on my wreath.

I went with white, pink, yellow, and orange for my flower choices and filled in the noodle as I went. I didn’t fill in the back of the noodle because I knew that no one would see the back. But, I worked for about 2 hours to fill the wreath.

Now for you decoration of choice. I went with a wooden S since our last name is Smith. I first covered the noodle with a sparkly silver ribbon so that we wouldn’t see the green styrofoam underneath. I painted the S white so it would stand out against the silver ribbon and between all of the flowers.

After a little bit of hot glue, the wreath was complete! And here is the finished project!

First of all, I love how the colors look against mom’s turquoise door. It makes the pinks and yellows really stand out. And I love how it looks! The colors are so bright and pretty and they look great with the S on the wreath as well. This wreath is even better because it only cost me $20 to make! $20 and 2 hours of work to have the beautiful wreath, I think it’s worth it!

If you want to check out the Dollar Tree website, click on the link in the sidebar to find all of your supplies for $1!

If you decide to try this project, please let me know how it goes! And, comment a picture of it below so we can see you beautiful creations as well!

Top 10 Things to Do in Disneyland and California Adventures

May 11, 2018May 11, 20185 Comments

Hello! Happy Friday! We just go back from Disneyland and I thought I would share my top 10 Things we did and enjoyed during our visit.

1. MaxPass

OMG this thing is amazing! If you have not heard of this, you are missing out. For $10 you can get Fastpasses on your phone through the Disney App and you can download the photos from the rides and photographers. How cool is that? You know what else? You can get Fastpasses every hour and a half instead of every two hours! We didn’t use it in California Adventures because we didn’t feel like we would need it. But it was so useful in Disneyland. We got on every ride we wanted plus some we hadn’t been on in years. It was amazing! So is an picture we got from the photographers and were able to download right onto our phones.

2. Pixar Fest

If you are planning on going to Disneyland in the near future (like before October 2018), you will get to experience Pixar Fest. This event is super cool because Disney and Pixar are coming together. So every movie that Disney and Pixar has worked on together is coming to California Adventures. And rides are changing to be more like Pixar, so California Screamin’ is turning into the Incredicoaster. Here are some of the pictures from California Adventures where Pixar was everywhere!

3. Pixar’s Together Forever Event

OK! This event is so cool! Disney has out Disneyed themselves with this. For this awesome event you stand in the middle of Main Street and Disney projects scenes from movies onto the buildings. I had so much nostalgia during this and I will admit that both Haley and I were in tears from happiness from this night. So I won’t give too much away, but here are some pictures of what you can expect.

4. Pixar Parade

Who doesn’t like parades? Well Disneyland has a new one! The new Pixar parade features all of our favorites like Up, Inside Out, Toy Story, and Monsters University. Can I just say that the Kevin and Russel character from the parade is the cutest?

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

Before I get into Guardians of the Galaxy, I have to say that I was disappointed that the Tower of Terror was going to be disappearing. BUT! I did enjoy the new Guardians of the Galaxy. There was a lot more going up and down which was great and it was quite enjoyable. And even though I haven’t seen the Guardian of the Galaxy movies, I was still able to enjoy myself.

6. Electrical Parade

Okay, I will be the first to say that I love anything shiny. So watching the electrical parade was a lot of fun. To see how everything was lit up and bright and shiny. One of our favorites was seeing Mac from Cars. His whole trailer was full of lights and lit up in different patterns! That was really cool.

7. Characters

As Haley and I have gotten older, it hasn’t been as important to see all of the characters at Disneyland. But it’s obviously something fun for kids of all ages. During this trip we took pictures with Minnie Mouse and Mary Poppins and Bert. The cool thing about seeing Minnie Mouse is that she had a photographer with her and we were able to download our picture almost immediately with the MaxPass. You can also use the Disneyland app to see where different characters are going to be in the park.

8. Rides

Of course you have to hit the rides! It doesn’t matter if the ride is Peter Pan or Big Thunder Mountain, all rides are a must. We rode Peter Pan, Roger Rabbit, and Matterhorn for the first time in years. And thanks to the MaxPass we were able to get our Fastpasses and get on even faster. You know what’s even better? Rides like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain where they take your picture, you are able to download right onto your phone right after the ride. Have the 8 digit id code and BOOM! You have all of your screaming faces right in your hand.

9. Food

Try the Grey Stuff? It’s delicious! Don’t believe me ask the dishes!

Yes! There is an actual treat called The Grey Stuff at Disneyland! And it’s so good! It’s at the Red Rose Tavern in Fantasyland. It’s a little tiny cake with lots and lots of frosting sitting atop a shortbread cookie. And boy howdy is it good. The cookie was okay, but the cake and frosting. MMMMMMMMMM! We also tried two new restaurants, The French Market and The Hungry Bear. We really enjoyed The French Market and have already vowed to go back to try the other things on the menu. We had the chicken ceasar salads, french dip, and the pulled pork sandwich. They were so good! The Hungry Bear has your standard burger and fries. But it was still really good.

10. Family Time

Obviously the best thing about Disneyland is getting to spend time with your family. I love being able to experience new things with them and spend quality time with them. Even though we have been to Disneyland numerous times, I will always enjoy going with them yet again. I could go on each ride over and over again and I still wouldn’t get tired of visiting the parks. All in all, the time you spend with your family is priceless and it will always be cherished.