Paint Tips Everyone Should Know

If you are a die-hard DIY'er like this gypsy, you find yourself painting and re-finishing all kinds of things on a fairly regular basis. Here is a link to a list of crazy simple, "why didn't I think of that" tips that I have adopted and made my life easier. (especially the one about elevating chairs and tables, boy-o-boy could I have saved myself some grief!) Happy painting...

http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Painting/Painting-Tips/mess-free-painting-tips

Caution: Addictive DYI Craft Site!

Awesome site, don't blame me if you find yourself sucked in for hours!




http://craftgawker.com

Time To Change The Chalk Boards

The month is ending soon, so it is time to once again change the chalkboards. To my readers who have not idea what on earth I am talking about, I will explain.....

"You can get all A's and still flunk life"

I love chalkboards and have several in my home, either ones that I have made or ones I have found and salvaged through my gypsy travels. (The brown board in the photo is a large picture frame that I turned over, what you see is actually the back of the frame, distressed, stained and decorated with antique hardware. The white board is an old board from a local school, distress by me and decorated with interesting old hardware) Being a lover of the written words and a sometimes teacher, I have a deep seated desire to foster this same love in my family. I dream of them deciphering poetry, memorizing meaningful quotes, and searching out an author, verse, or story that not only speaks to who they are, but inspires them to enhance their sole.
As you can guess, this is basically a pipe dream

"Education is not filling a pail, but lighting a fire"

As a busy mother, I must admit some degree of defeat since my kids are interested in well, kid's stuff and though they do like to read, they predictably roll their eyes at my valiant, usually failing, attempts. As a last ditch effort, I have begun writing thought provoking quotes on the blackboards of my home. I change them by season, holiday or month. The sentiments range from the humorous to the startling, all in the hopes that they will spark some glimmer in the recesses of my families' brains, or at the very least, seep in through osmosis.

And on the bright side, if this does nothing to further the thoughts of my husband and children, I still thoroughly enjoy them, as does, I suspect, the family dog.....

Start a Love Affair With Spray Paint

Can't believe I have not thought of this before! Spray painting curtain rods for a pop of color, imagine what else you can transform with a simply can of spray paint when you start to look around......

Sad......but True

Halloween Printable To Help You Haunt!

Here is a link for some Halloween Printable fun that is more classic, less cheese......

http://www.howtohauntyourhouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=63

Oh how I love the Fall

Fall is my favorite season! Decorating has begun in this Gypsy's household!

Oven Cleaning for a Lazy Gypsy

Quick Tip for A Simplified Life:

I have a confession to make.......I never clean my oven
That's right, never.
I wipe up overflows, etc. but using the self-cleaning option has always irrationally scared me and the thought of buying and using oven cleaner sounds about as fun sliding down a banister naked into a pool of sharp glass and rubbing alcohol.
So when I kept seeing this tip on Pinterest, (follow me at http://pinterest.com/ELMandP/)  I decided to give it a shot, and you should too, because it changed my life! Or at least my oven's life.

All you need is baking soda (got mine from the dollar store)
and white vinegar (got a big bottle of that at the dollar store too)

1. Spread a thick layer of baking soda on the bottom of your oven and on the door
2. Pour enough white vinegar on the baking soda so the entire surface is wet (at this point you can spread some of the paste this will make on to the outside surface around the glass in the door so everything is nice and covered.
3. That's it! Walk away, come back in 20 mins to wipe off the mess making sure to rinse out your cloth with water a couple times until you get it all.

And you are left with a sparkly clean oven! I was so delighted with the results that I felt like dancing and singing and taking a picture for the front of this year's Christmas cards. But I think I will just be satisfied that I no longer need to hang my head in shame when cooking with family and friends during the holidays this year....

Big Gig

Whoo Hoo!
Have Landing a Big Gig for my Marketing & Promotions Company ELM&P
My company will be running the Annual Wilderness Journal Outdoor Expo this winter. For those of you not from around here, The Wilderness Journal is the most watched outdoor show in the Great Lakes Region with viewers from all over the  Midwest. They have an annual trade show "The Wilderness Journal Outdoor Expo" and this year I have been hired to run it. I am staring on my floor plan and master vendor list as we speak. The dates for the Expo are January 18th, 19th and 20th which is a Friday, Saturday, Sunday format and the Expo will be at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant MI. Wish me luck!

Gypsy Tip for a Simplified Life

Having read a great deal on the topic of a simplified life, I feel compelled to add my two cents in. What gives me the authority to dole out such sage advice, you ask? Simple, I am one of those women that you love to hate, my house is clean when folks drop buy, I can always locate me keys and I never forget to buy milk. Feel free to hate on me, but try to glean a bit of wisdom while you are stewing. I have 2 small children, 1 large dog, a husband that works 10 hour days and I own my own businesses. When you throw of the the activities of a busy family of 4 onto that, you can easily see why I take an active approach to keeping my life simple. There are many tips and tricks that my friends and family have asked about and begun to emulate. I warn you, they are not all as easy as they seem, so if you really want to have less mess stress, you need to sack up and get it done.

Tip #1: You kid's bedrooms, otherwise know as the pit of disaster

Here is a photo of my 6 year old daughter's bedroom this morning. I had just completed an "every-couple months purge"

Obviously she does not have a bedroom straight out of a catalogue, but you will notice that it is what? CLEAN! But wait, you say, it was just cleaned, give it a few days and it will be trashed again! To those naysayers, I answer thus: yes there will be dirty clothes on the floor and toys left out and projects in process, but the key to easily taking it back to clean is this: 

Don't Let Your Kids Have More Stuff Then They Have Room To Put It Away!!!

Sounds simple, but I have lost track of the number of parents that freak out about their kid's rooms when there is actually no chance that little Johnny could clean his room if he wanted to! There are however, easy steps to thinning out the mess causers:

     At least every other month, take a handful of garbage bags into your kids rooms and proceed to get rid of as much stuff as possible. I can hear you screaming "but wait! I can't just get rid of stuff! It means so much to my kid!" Snap out of it! It means more to you then it does to your kid. Let it go! I do this cleaning without the help of my kids since they have an amazing ability to see a toy dragged out of some dark corner and claim that even though they have not touched it for 6 month it is their absolute favorite and has to stay. But I can report that in the YEARS that I have been doing these purges, I have never had either of my kids ask for something I have gotten rid of. I have never met a parent that did not have a very accurate idea of what their kids actually played with and really enjoyed and what gathers dust. Get rid of the following:

Anything that came with any kind of kids meal...period

The monster pile of corrected papers and artwork that comes home from school- let them display a few, if they want to put a new one up, take down an old one. Things that mom wants to keep go in a tub that you can store in a location away from their room. Bobbie got an A on a spelling test, great, put it on the fridge for a week then throw it away. Little Susie drew yet another picture of a horse, awesome,admire then recycle all but the one that makes you smile the most. Be ruthless here! This stuff can take over your life, enjoy then move on, don't worry, I won't tell.

Garbage-It never fails to amaze me how much trash is in a kid's room. Broken crayons, filled in work books, broken hair clips, barbie legs, socks with holes, mystery pieces of little plastic things-throw them all away, no one will miss them, I promise!

Clothes that are never worn-I don't care if you are keeping it because it was a gift or if you thought your son would like it, if it does not fit or is never worn, get rid of it! Life is too short! This should be done each season so your kids are not trying to cram a pile of clean laundry into the drawer on top of a stack of clothes than never sees the light of day.

Obsolete Toys-This is a tricky one since I find folks have more attachment to their kid's toys than they do. As our kids age, we buy them new toys they better fit with their ages and abilities, but most folks forget to go into their kid's room to take out the toys they have grown out of. Donate them! Yes even the toys that were bought for Christmas or a birthday and you though your kid would love but in actuality is ignored, get rid of it! It's ok, I promise. 

If you don't regularly weed out your kid's room, you are actually putting them in a no-win situation.

They have more toys and belongings than you have given them space/storage for, so they cannot put everything away in it's proper place if they wanted to. If all the bins and boxes and shelves and drawers of your kid's room are overflowing and there is still stuff on the floor and clothes in the laundry, do yourself and your kids a favor, haul out a couple garbage bags of non-essential to happiness stuff and watch both of your mess stresses go out with the trash....

Dreaming of Venison

Like father, like son

Hail To The Mighty Pallet

Have you noticed that pallets have suddenly become a hot commodity? Folks are looking for them, picking them up on the side of the road and posting endless projects on Pinterest that were build from this humble material. I must admit, I am one of the crazies that is whipping U-turns in the middle of the street, cruising back lots and filling truck beds.
For those of us that love the way re-cycled, up-cycled, one-of-a kind rustic decor, the pallet presents endless possibilities. And they are also.........drum roll please..........completely free!
My husband is currently building a wall of 7 feet tall bookshelves out of pallets for our den. They are constructed of individual boxes that are then screwed together. Each box is unique, some with horizontal back slats, some with vertical back slats and some with no back slates at all. Make sure you vary the spacing between back slats to add to the whimsy and charm. I chose a dark stain to unify all of the boxes and left all the dings, marks, burns and stamps on the wood to add to the character.
Gears, pulleys and wooden dice act as bookends in this example, but anything with some heft will do. So the next time you see a pile of pallets looking for a new home, consider taking them home!

Afternoon Birdhouse

One of my favorite projects is what I like to call The Afternoon Birdhouse. I made this house for my mother, who requested a birdhouse that would match here green and white home. You see these shabby chic up-cycled birdhouses everywhere these days and their price tags can be pretty high, which is why I make my own, and you can too!
Here is how this house was created and some tips for making your own:




1. Collections-as I have said before, gathering items to stockpile is my favorite way to have a variety of things to choose from when the urge to craft hits. The house number on the side of this birdhouse was from a bag of old house numbers I bought for a buck at a yard sale. I had no idea what I was going to use them for but I knew I thought they were need, so I took them home. When you are out and about, pick up things that strike your fancy, you will find a way to use them, believe me.

2. This house was constructed using 2 tools: and screw gun and a chop saw. Chicks that use tools are awesome, but if you are not comfortable, bat your eyes at your husband or son to get them to help you out. All of the wood for this house was scavenged from my husband's garage. You only need a couple pieces of wood and if you garage is anything like mine it will be full of left-over wood from previous projects and barn wood that I like to pick up where ever I can (I often ask owners of falling down wooden fencing if I can take a few boards and I have not gotten a "no" yet)

3. Choose your base first-this will determine the size of your birdhouse since you will want a bit of your base to show around the sides of your house.

4. Cut the sides first-if you would like a sloping roof like the one on this house, cut your side pieces first and save yourself a lot of work. For this house I measured 10 inches from each end of the board and drew a line. This left an "open space" in the middle of the board between the two lines I had drawn. I then drew a diagonal line from the corner of one line to the opposite corner of the other line. (The 3 lines will look like a capital N in the center of your board) When you make the cut along that one diagonal line,(and only cut on that diagonal line, not the straight ones) you end up with the two side of your birdhouse, and the angles for the slope of the roof will be the same on each side.

5. Front and Back-decide how long your front and back slats will need to be based on your base. Then cut a hand full of boards to that length for the front and back of your birdhouse (you will need more for the back since it is taller then the front) You will then be able to screw the boards onto the 2 side pieces, starting with the bottom slat and working your way up. the first board will be tricky, but one you screw it onto the 2 side pieces, it will go faster since it is more sturdy. I used pieces of old barn wood to give an interesting texture to this house.

6. Holes- I chose one hole for this one, but you can have as many as you wish. I used a hold saw that attaches to my cordless drill to put the hole in this one

6. Once you have finished putting the front and back slates on your house you will need to screw on the base (before you put on the top!) Flip you house over so you can screw through the bottom of the base into the walls of your house, then flip your house back over so you can add your roof.

7. This roof was made from a leftover piece of paneling that I found in the garage. I painted it, sanded the edges to give it a worn appearance then screwed down through the roof into the walls of the birdhouse. I dry-brushed the boards of my house with a white paint, but you can leave your the natural color of your wood or choose any color combo you wish.

8. Decorating-the fun part! I make perches out of many things, from door knobs to nails, hardware to dowels, but one of my favorites is a branch from outside. There are so many great shapes to choose from, and I attached my branch with some metal clasps that originally designed to work with a padlock clasp, but I re-purposed as fasteners.

9. Remember-there are no mistakes and no wrong moves! Use your imagination, try different things, you can always swap out decorations and move things around and practice does make perfect.

Getting Ready For Fall

Here is a great shot of my husband Nick and our Son Ian practicing with their bows this week. This year will be Ian's first year bow-hunting for deer (provided he can practice enough to be proficient) I can't wait for deer season to begin! Knowing exactly where your meat comes from, no mystery fillers, no hormones, no extra fat to drip off, is the preferred way to eat in the Lilly household! I know my place in the food chain...do you?

Must..Learn..To...Be...A...Better...Cook

What did women like me do before there were a million amazing tips on the Internet and cookbooks to rescue us from our mediocre cooking skills?! Probably just starve......
Check out the site below for 100 great tips for gals (and guys) like me:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/100-greatest-cooking-tips-of-all-time/index.html