Your New Best Friend for DIY and Gardening

It rained all day yesterday and then about 7:00pm it looked like this...

and this...

Still a bit of haze over the back mountains...

There's no rain in today's forecast, so my best friend and I will be out hauling manure and other glamorous jobs.  Honestly - I should show you my current "work outfit."  It is so amazingly ugly and gross it defies description.   

I've always thought it would be nice to be a Victorian lady type gardener with a big straw hat and a dainty little outfit.  The reality is I have over three acres of gardens to tend to and thousands of daylilies to dig and ship.  No time for dainty.  Our next door neighbor, who is also our pastor and a avid gardener, can go out and work and look absolutely pristine when he finishes.  I look like I've been rolling in the pig pen.  Really!

Who is my best friend?  Glad you asked. 

AVON Silicone Glove hand cream.  All the years I did hair we used a product called Anti-Terge, which is still available through Amazon.  But, whooeeee - it is soooooo expensive now.  I get my Silicone Glove online from a blogger buddies online shop

Here's what Silicone Glove does.  It keeps stuff from sticking to you - like dirt and paint.  I put on a coat, let it dry, and then put on another coat before heading out to the garden.  Wearing gloves doesn't stop my hands from becoming pretty grimy.    I also put it on my feet because even if I'm wearing sneaks my feet get dirty. And ladies - no way am I ever going out in public with cracked dirty looking heels.


I also use it for DIY projects and when I'm working on my art journals.  No heavy scrubbing required to remove paint.  


Best of all?  When they have a special (one is coming up real soon according to the AVON website) you will be able to buy three tubes of this or mix and match for - are you ready????  FIVE DOLLARS!


Here's the disclaimer:  I get absolutely nothing from my blogger buddy or AVON for recommending this product.


Check it out. You won't be sorry...

Finding Storage in Unexpected Places

Candle Storage

Who doesn't love candles?  Many of us tend to stock up when there is a great sale. However, candles aren't always easy to store.  They don't stack well and the different sizes means they take up more than their fair share of shelf space.

I have always loved vintage train cases, but they are becoming harder and harder to find.  Take a gander at the prices on Etsy and ebay.  The  price combined with shipping can get pretty expensive, so keep your eyes peeled at the garage sales this summer.

I use my train cases for candle storage.  They fit neatly under my living room shelves in what would be empty space.  I decoupaged two of them many years ago. One turned out rather cute and the other, well - not so much.  The green one on the left is  "on the list" for a redo.  And the the one on the far right is still in its original  vintage state. All three are crammed full of candles and holders

The stacked baskets hold tapers and the basket second from the right holds my greeting card file. 

My favorite is the black one. I slapped on some black paint, glued on cute cherubs and vintage musical instruments, sealed it really well, and called it a day.  

Love the cherubs on the back in their little carriage...

Each side is different and follows the music theme...

More cherubs on the top...

I'm looking forward to re-doing the green one.  When doing the green one (I have no idea of why I picked that color) I discovered that tissue paper images on a dark color don't work very well.  A real "duh" moment!

How do you store your candles?

Transformation Thursday 

Head over to Shabby Chic Cottage and check out all the great transformations...

Lamp Shade Re-Do

The candlestick lamp in my bedroom is very pretty but the light coming through the white shade was not the best with the new bedroom colors.

So the other night I grabbed a bag full of fabric I had bought to make a different lampshade, my scissors, and my glue gun. In no time at all it was done.  I had some bead trim on the lamp so first I ripped that off.

It quickly became apparent that my original idea of just wrapping the fabric and gluing as I progressed was not going to work. Not to worry. I cut pieces that were slightly larger than each section, glued them, and trimmed off the excess. 

 

I glued trim over the seams and around the top. There were two more packages of the same beads hiding in the bag so I glued a row of beads on the bottom.  The old beads were still attached to the white trim so I glued those right on top of the first row.  Why have one row of beads when you can have two?

 

When the light is on at night it is much softer than the white lamp shade...

Don't forget to head over to Shabby Chic Cottage....