Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My Latest Thrifty Finds

Each day when I take my daughter to work I have the temptation opportunity to stop in at one of our local, smaller (compared to a Goodwill) thrift stores. Yesterday when I stopped in, I found  some treasures that had to come home with me. 102_4771
I’ve always liked apothecaries, but since I’ve been reading so many creative blogs and discovered all the potential they have, I’ve become totally addicted! I can’t leave one behind, no matter how small.
116_0461
I also found two wooden,possibly hand-turned candle holders, that will help feed the pedestal addiction I’ve also developed from blog reading.  I’ve always had and addiction to baskets…I’ve just realized how many addictions that I’ve confessed to here…and I haven’t even mentioned coffee or chocolate….
I tried talking myself out of the round metal “basket”, as it was a little higher than what I like to pay, but it kept calling my name and it wouldn’t take no for answer, so I finally gave in and picked it up. This is one of the few things that I knew EXACTLY what I was going to do with when I got it home!
102_4773
It’s a new home for my decorative balls! (What do you think, Tracy?) They are very happy here as they have lots of room to spread out and they can all be seen. I’d like some opinions, should I change the color of the basket to my other new addiction…Oil Rubbed Bronze?
I didn’t have time to share these finds from Saturday, but I was excited to find them too! Lots of potential in the yellow-framed bead board and who can’t use another bunch of twigs? :)
blog pics 109
What have you found lately?

Passing on an Awesome Blogging Tool

Good morning! The sun is shining and it is warming up quickly in the North Georgia mountains! I am smiling!! I plan to spend a good bit of time outside in the garden today but really wanted to pass this on right away. I haven’t been blogging very long, but have experienced alot of frustrations posting, especially with pictures. Maryann over a Domestically Speaking shared this…”One of my FAV Blogging tips”  the other day and I am SOLD (even though it’s FREE) on this program for writing my blog posts. Check it out, it’s now my all time favorite blog tip!  Thanks Maryann!! Check out her weekly Power of Paint Party while you are there!
powerofpaintbutton
Enjoy your day!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Yummy and Versatile Zucchini Casserole

I’ve had several requests for the recipe for the zucchini casserole that my sister served us for lunch.
blog pics 117 It was so yummy prepared according to the recipe…
Zucchini Casserole
5 cups sliced zucchini
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1Tbl. Parsley
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3 eggs well beaten
2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 tubes crescent rolls
Saute zucchini and onion in butter until tender. Add spices. In bowl combine eggs and cheese, add to zucchini mixture. Press 1 tube of rolls into bottom of casserole dish. Top with zucchini mixture and cover with second tube of crescent rolls. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350F.
… but it seems to be one of those recipes that would be easy to change  and tasty with a few variations.
Use  an Italian Blend Cheese instead of just mozzarella. Throw in some bacon or bacon bits for flavor. To make  this more of a main dish, add leftover chopped ham, turkey or chicken.
I can see this being served a lot around my house this summer when all the zucchini and squash are ready in the garden. I’m also going to try it with yellow squash and cheddar or cheddar/jack blend cheese and bacon…mmmm.

       Sharing this over  at:
TastyTuesday200pix


Monday, March 29, 2010

Easy Dollar Store Easter Candles and Holders

It's cloudy and rainy and COLD again today...so it's a good day for an indoor project. I've become obsessed with putting things on pedestals...the bird, candles, dishes, apothecaries...anything! My original inspiration came from Nikki over at Nikki's Nifty Knacks. She did something similar with a dollar store candle holder. 
I really like it! I've wondered how I could do something with the glass holders that would match my decor.

Last time I was at the Dollar Tree, I found these and I love the shape of the tealight holder! They have these in alot of shapes and colors...LOTS of potential!
Weeelll,  the small galss pedestalcame from the thrift store, and it was only a quarter!
 I glued the glass flower-shaped tealight holder with Gorilla Glue Super Glue ( love that stuff!) 

and got started with the candle. It is interesting...it weighs almost nothing and almost looks hollow? I had the feeling that it wouldn't burn long, so I deicded to try something I had seen done where I  had my daughters' wedding clandles made. I lit it and sure enough it melted quickly, so  I scraped around the edges of the melted area ( after blowing it out, of course) and hollowed out an area large enough to pop a tealight into.



I wrapped scrapbook paper around the candle and stapled and glued it in place. My daughter said it needed ribbon and guess what ribbon was handy? The ribbon that was wrapped around the box with the the tealight holder! I love it when things come together! I put the candle in the holder and surrounded it with small plastic eggs that really look like BIG Jelly beans.  I made another one and put them on the table on either side of my Dollar Tree Lily and Easter Egg bouquet!
                                  
I'm going to share these over at:
       Cottage Instincts                                                     


         Blue Cricket Design
 











It's looking like spring inside...I wish it looked and FELT like spring outside!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Getting Ready to Garden! Make your own Seed Starting Pots

 Next week will be warm with NO rain...a big change here in north Georgia! Today we had thunderstorms and hail!

I am ready to get out in my garden. I love gardening...flower, vegetable, fruit.landscaping...any of it! It's a great stress reliever. I've tried traditional ground gardening, almost complete organic gardening and now I am somewhere in the middle. I have 8 4'x16' raised beds for vegetables. they are made out of 2'x10" rough sawn hemlock boards. They are filled with "topsoil" from a retired cow pasture and then enriched with compost, horse manure, leaves and hay.
They look so sad and lonely...I didn't get to "winterize" my my garden last fall...I'm determined to do it this year!
I have 3 6"x12" beds  for strawberries, rasberries and a blueberry patch. Last year, I formed three beds and a punkin' patch using the "lasagna gardening" method. I started two more but after a car accident I didn't get them finished. I hope to take pictures of them this week while the sun is shining.
The bed above is set up to be covered with plastic during the cold weather and it becomes  my greenhouse! the plastic that covers the bed can be lifted on warm sunny days or if  it needs to be watered. Last year, I was able to plant lettuce, spinach, carrots and radishes in February and March. This year it has been too cold and too wet. :(
I like to start some of my own seeds indoors so that when it is warm enough to plant, they will already be well on their way. Squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and gourds are some of the seedlings that don't like to have their roots disturbed once they start growing, so it's best to start them in something that can be planted right into the ground with the  plant inside. You can buy peat pots ooorrrrr...you can make your own thrifty seed starting pots with these:
Newspaper and/or paper towel or toilet paper tubes!
These little pots  really work and are FREE! They hold the moisture and breakdown when planted. You want to make sure that you don't use the slick or colored paper from the ads. Just regular black and white newspaper. First start with a single page ( half of a double page spread) and fold it in half. Fold it in half length wise and press the fold flat.
Fold it "almost" in half lenght wise again. Press the fold flat again.
Place the vitamin bottle or small cup or anything you have that would give you the right size,  on the newspaper with about an inch or a little less extending off of the bottom of the bottle.
Roll the bottle tightly in the newspaper.

 Press the part of the newspaper that is hanging over the bottom inward, this forms the bottom of the cup.

 Place the newspaper wrapped bottle firmly on a table and press down to compress the bottom.
Finally, pull the bottle out and you have a homemade, biodegradeable and FREE seedling pot!


Some people use empty toilet paper or paper towel tubes for starting seeds. Jusst cut and fill! I haven't used them but plan on giving them a try this year. They are smaller and don't have bottom, so we'll see...
                                       
I put the cups in a metal pan (found at the thrift store of course) and fill them with a seed starting mix. Potting soil doesn't work well for this. I've tried because it's less expensive, but it doesn't hold the moisture and it's too coarse for the seeds. When the pots are all in the pan with their sides touching they support each other and stand up just fine.

I could talk about gardening forever...but I'll stop for now. All that's left to do is insert a seed, and water. Keep moist...you can even drape plasic wrap over the top to help hold in the moisture. Set in a warm place and wait for the little sprouts to appear!
Next time I'd like to share what I do after they sprout  and explain "Lasagna gardening". If you are intrigued by the name  and don't want to wait for me, you can find out more for yourself here and here.

I'm sharing this idea here at:
                                                                

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Do you like HomeGoods??? Here are some Giveaway links!

I hope that I am not too late in posting this for this week! If I am you can still check it out and be ready for next week. There are some exciting Homegoods giveaways starting with:


Monday March 22 –Friday April 30

You will have 6 weeks to participate with a different theme each week. There is a weekly prize of $100.00 HomeGoods gift card and a Flip Mino Camcorder. The Grand Prize is a $5,000.00!!! What an awesome way to welcome spring!! I could get some serious spring…summer…fall and even winter decorating done with this! How about you?


The “Expert Panel of Bloggers” helping to determine the weekly winners are:





Some of these lovely ladies are doing a $50.00 HG gift card giveaway themselves:




Check out their creative blogs and the different ways you can enter. If you don’t already have spring fever….you will!

Have fun and Happy Spring!



Saturday, March 20, 2010

A Wonderful Lunch and Thrifty Finds!

Yesterday I delivered the distressed little birdie to her new home at my sis-in-law Lydia's house. She hosted a spring lunch for my hubby'sisters, his Mom and I. She served us a really yummy zuchinni casserole and then presented us each with an Easter basket! Each one had fun and different things for each sister:



I didn't take this picture til I had gotten home and already eaten some of the good stuff in the basket! I'm still learning to take pictures, 'cause you never know what you might want to share later! I did take this one of everyone eating though!


It was a fun lunch and the baskets were a complete surprise and a special treat! I liked the casserole so much that I made one tonight .
                                  
Yummy Zuchinni Casserole


They went thrifting afterwards, but I had to be back to get my kiddos where they needed to be, so I headed back and stopped at a thrift store on the way home. I found a couple of things. These, which are ceramic, I think, and heavy. I thought they would make good chalk boards. So I grabbed all three:

I think they were orignally meant to write on with a white board marker. I couldn't wait to see if they would paint easily, so here they are with two coats of Krylon 2x white primer.

They covered well, I am so excited! These will be my first chalk board projects! I have the paint and even some other thinks that I planned on making into chalkboards, but these just begged me to take them home and give them a new life! I  couldn't say no...but I ran out of daylight, so they will have to be patient and wait for another day to be finished!

Last week I didn't have the chance to show off my thrift store scores, so I'm going to now! First, I found this:
I found it TWO days after being inspired by Miss Mustard Seed's Toiparay.
You can see her awesome tutorial here.

I never could find any boxwood bushes at Joann's or Hobby Lobby or even Michael's....I guess everyone ran out to get some after the tute and they're still sold out. :) I got something else and will give it a try....soon...that poor topiary definitely needs an updated look!
Lastly, but not leastly, I had the pleasure of thrifting with my buddy Bretta last week too. We didn't find a whole lot of anything but coffee, fun and good company! Here are some of my treasures from that trip:

A mirror(leftover from the '80's complete with duck and heart! lol), a frame( with a 1962 LIFE cover) a letter organizer, a silver tray, two apothecary (wannabe) glass jars, woodenblocks and beads and vine balls, and finally two baskets with handles. I have ideas for most of them! ;) I'll share their transformations as they happen.

Linking these treasures up to Decor Mama's:

Have a great rest of the weekend!