Odds N' Ends

If you are anything like me, you find things when you are out and about (I call it gypsy junkin') that you think are interesting or have an eye catching shape or that you just know would be useful in some way if your were a bit more imaginative. Behold: the answer for my empty jelly jar and metal hose clamp pile (yes I have a pile)! I will be making these not only for each bathroom in my house, but also in different colors to sell at this winter's shows. I plan on using pallet pieces (that I always have) and metal hooks from the dollar store....and I fully encourage you to do the same...

LED Cloud Lights- DYI

Here is a link to tutorial for DIY LED Cloud Lights! Must try this for my daughters room!

http://www.elementalled.com/academy/blog/diy/weekend-lediy-project-led-cloud-lanterns/

Must Remember......

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost,

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by frost....

No Pressure

The latest from Brick Knob Studios:

See that huge antique clamp sitting over there in the corner of that Re-Store table? It looks cool, and old, and interested...and it's marked $4.99. "This is so neat" you think to yourself, "but what would I do with it? Where would I put it?"
Well, if you were this gypsy, you would put it on the base of a pallet birdhouse, glue some moss from the dollar store to it, and bask in the glow of thinking outside the box.....or in this case I guess the birdhouse.....

Who's Afraid Of the Big Bad Chainsaw?

As I stand here looking at what was once my nice, neat front yard, I have cause to wonder if my family is crazy or if everyone else is. My husband and I have no super powers to speak of, no extraordinarily unusual gifts to boast about, and were not born with any additional skills (unless of course you count sarcasm).

So, when the decision was made that several large, dead tree limbs that were precariously perched above our home needed to be removed forthwith, all were in agreement. We have long, hard winters here in Northern Michigan and lake effect snow storms are the boogiemen that we chase each other off to bed with. Removing said limbs before they decided to make themselves comfortable in my upstairs den was a no-brainer. How to go about said task was another matter entirely......

Choice #1: Call up local tree removal/nursery company in our town, invited them to inspect the situation, schedule a time and date and fork over about $400 for them to remove the worst offenders.

Choice #2: Allow my husband to rent a 40 foot tall cherry-picker (still not sure what the technical name for this massive piece of equipment is) borrow some tools, which included a rather intimidating chainsaw on a stick, and take the offending limbs down ourselves for $100.

The question being-as the ultimate DIY'ers, where do we draw the line when it comes to taking on jobs ourselves instead of sending up a flare and screaming for the professionals? Now we are know people that can't seem to mow their own lawns or change a switch-plate without assistance, but I would suggest that even the most die-hard home improver would at least hesitate at the prospect of the four legged, many-switched, bright blue behemoth that squatted in my yard over the weekend. We had never used one before, and we did not invite over someone who has used one before. We simply went over the basics and safety measures with the rental company, hitched it up, and away we went.

Bottom line-success! No injuries to report & no damages to claim. The glow of a job well done has settled over the Lilly house, much to the delight of this gypsy. I was originally doubtful and probably put the most gregarious parrot to shame with my repeated pleas for caution, but the bottom line is still the bottom line, the only way to learn how to do these things is to do them. Who better than 2 able bodied grown men, both familiar with power tools and reasonable confident in their abilities to attempt the wrangling of a large project? I for one am proud of my amazing mate, who has once again shown me that he is the most capable man of my acquaintance, and I am a very lucky gal to have him....

Photootoothis, a daughter diagnosed

Photootoothis (photo-oh-tooth-is) n. 
       A startling condition that is most often observed in small children, usually between the ages of 4 (four) and 7 (seven). In order for Photootoothsis to occur, two criterion must be met:
        1. Said child must be missing at least 2 (two) or more juvenile deciduous (commonly referred to as baby teeth)
        2. Said child must be scheduled to participate in their educational institution's annual photographic recording event (commonly referred to as School Picture Day) the same week as the loss of the baby teeth occurs.
        There are no know cures for Photootoothis, experts strongly recommend cherishing photos as evidence of growing up and extreme cuteness.

Rustic Fall Flower Boxes

If you are anything like me, you are left with naked flower boxes by the time fall rolls around. Fall happens to be this Gypsy's favorite season, so I am always looking for new and interesting ways to decorate for this crisp and colorful time of year.
This year I decided to create my own rustic pumpkins to add color to the front of our home. My first stop was my husband's scrap wood pile where I picked out a pile of thin boards that I thought would make interesting pumpkins. I laid out my 3 "groups" on the ground so I could get a better idea of what would look best: a big square board in front of a tall skinny board, some boards vertical, some horizontal, etc. When I had all my pumpkin boards chosen, I gathered interesting thin scraps to use as stems, again choosing a variety of tall and thin and short and fat.
Making sure you remember which end is the "top" of the pumpkin from your previous layout decision time, use a chop saw (of a handsaw if you are not comfortable with power tools) to cut the top 2 corners off of your boards so they look less square and more "pumpkiny" (I sweet talked my hubby into doing this for me)
Next came the painting, I used orange, red and yellow paint and mixed up several different shades of pumpkin and squash colors, whatever struck my fancy, some very dark and some very light and all the rest somewhere in the middle. I suggest you paint each pumpkin in your groups a different color so they stand out better from each other. I did the same process with green for the stems, making some a darker green and some a lighter green. After lightly painting some faint lines on the pumpkins to suggest shadows from their seams, I screwed the stems onto the backs of the pumpkins with a screwgun and used a staple gun to attach some pieces of grapevine I had left over from another project. (A great way to stockpile cheap grapevine is to buy old Christmas wreathes at garage sales and re-sale shops, I buy them for about a quarter each by the bag full, cut the pieces holding the wreath together and am left with feet and feet of grapevine) and carted them all out to the flower boxes.

My husband screwed some small sticks of wood onto the backs of some of the smaller pumpkins for steaks so they would stand up better, you can do this if you do not have something for your pumpkins to lean against.
After putting the pumpkins into the flower boxes, I added some fake fall flowers and leaves that I picked up at our Goodwill for about $5 and bingo! Pretty fall flower boxes that are rustic, unique and lovely!

A Moment~

In Loving memory of the victims of Sept. 11th, God bless us all...

All Hail The Mighty Crock-Pot!

We will build it a shrine
We will  light candles and dance around it by the light of the full moon
We will sing songs and make it our own
We will name it Empress and serve it's will.....

All Hail The Might Crock-Pot!!


If you have not discovered the magic and life-changing power of the crock-pot you need to jump on in my friend. No other piece of kitchen equipment can provide easy awesome meals with so little effort. As the school year gets rolling and the days get shorter and practices and homework and meetings and everything else conspires to send us running towards the nearest drive-through, try a crock-pot meal instead. Keep a list of your favorite recipes on hand when you make your shopping list. Then in the a.m. you only need to throw a few things in the pot and ***taa daa*** you will have a family dinner ready when you get home. I have come to love and worship my crock pot and it's ability to help me feed my family without suffering mom guilt because all I have is mac and cheese because nothing is thawed. I highly recommend that you join me on the slow cooker side: here are a few links to get you started:


Weight watcher slow cooker recipes from eating well:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/cheap_recipes_for_a_crock_pot?slide=1#leaderboardad

Easy slow cooker recipes from ready set eat:

 http://www.readyseteat.com/recipes/easy-slow-cooker-recipes.do?gclid=CPyFmaTRrbICFYKK4Aod2xkA5Q

DIY Barn Door Track

http://www.babyrabies.com/2012/09/diy-barn-door-track-tutorail/


Here is the link for an awesome DIY for putting a Barn Door on a Track in your home! I have always wanted one of these! I see them all the time in decor magazines or high end homes online and have always though that it was something that could be done by the average DIY Gypsy. Well I have found some easy to follow steps on babyrabies.com and will have to decide which doorway in my home is getting a down-home shabby chic re-do....

Great Furniture Re-Hab Ideas!

A blog after my own heart! Southern Revivals, love, love, love re-doing furniture, make sure you check it out!
http://southernrevivals.blogspot.com

http://southernrevivals.blogspot.com

Country Themed Dollar Store Crafts

Here is a link to a site with some great Dollar Store Craft ideas, defiantly going to be trying some of these for the holiday season!

http://eyeballsbydaycraftsbynight.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/country-themed-dollar-store-crafts/

Forgotten Rack to Cozy Treasure

Further inspiration to always think outside of the box when decorating and accessorizing you home~

For those of us that strive to have one-of-a-kind homes filled with unique and charming objects, the desire to balance form and function is a constant motivator. My home has a large basement family room, full of couches and over sized pillows, a gigantic TV and generally invites one to flop or sprawl as one sees fit. Most of us have rooms like this in our home and I for one am always looking for ways to keep this area cozy but un-cluttered. A constant thorn in my side is the pile of couch blankets, throws and quilts that I keep on hand downstairs for guests to use when they sleep over, family and friends to snuggle up with when watching TV, etc. Since I have 2 kids plus the large and amazing Sleven in the house, finding a way to keep these creature comforts readily available (not tucked in a cupboard) but visually appealing is a daunting one. They are usually haphazardly folded in piles, strewn around the room or they live in heaps on the floor, much to the delight of the afore-mentioned Sleven. Imagine my delight when I discovered in a small local re-sale/antique/sometimes junk store the largest drying rack I have ever set eyes on! Used to dry laundry or, in it's smaller wall-hung manifestation, to hand dish towels on, they hold a certain utilitarian charm for me. The patina on this specimen was beautiful and the price ($15) was too good to pass up. It was mostly hidden under the blankets and pillows the shop had piled on it and I suspect that if they had it displayed stretched out in it's full glory instead of squashed into a tiny space, the rack would not have lasted long enough for me to discover and take home to give it the love it needs. It is now occupying a formerly empty nook in my basement family room, proudly displaying cozy throws and handmade quilts. My delight at adding yet another "where did you get that?" object to my home is only eclipsed by my satisfaction of having one more organized corner to declare complete...

To My Kids On The First Day of School,

 Dear children,

As I send you off to another first day of school, I reflect (as all parents do when faced with such milestones) on the quicksilver movement of time.
Working from home has afforded me a summer season spent with my kids. Fireflies and fights, sticky fingers and sandy toes, road trips and movie nights; all have been crammed into the brief window of bliss we call summer vacation. Now with the inevitable cruel twist mother nature writes into every summer plot, fall has arrived. Books and bedtimes, homework and curfews, classrooms and crunchy leaves replace the freedom that can only be felt by the truly young and burden-less on a warm June night.

 You now face that universally and unforgiving bogey-man of life- the unknown. New classes, new teachers, a new school, a new routine, and new faces that have yet to reveal themselves as friend or foe. As you embark on this right of passage that marks off another year of your childhood, I encourage you to pause and feel this day for what it is; another step on the road to who you will eventually be. Each new school year will help shape you into a warrior that I will eventually release into the world. Lessons you learn today will follow you into adulthood, cherish every moment of this day, including those faint shivers of fear and apprehension, before our day-to-day routine wears the brassy newness down to the dull glow of ordinary. You are only given so many "first days," and as you walk away down the sidewalk, new shoes still shiny, backpack still bright and excitement still sharp, know that your mother secretly watches from behind the curtain, pride and loss welling her eyes for just a moment, before turning to reclaim her house, happy and sad at the same time as only a mother can be.....