Summer for Sale

Until the last few days the weather around here has not exactly felt like summer. Or spring for that matter. It's felt like February. But inside our house I'm pretending it's summer. At least as far as scents go. The smell of summer is coconut and vanilla or coconut and lime. The other day a friend of mine stopped by for a minute and she said my house smelled good, like the beach. I give the credit to this, Bath & Body Works Vanilla Coconut Wallflower.

I love Mary Kay's Coconut Lime Body Care Set.

I had this Island Colada candle from Bath & Body Works burning for weeks before the sun decided to come out.

Here are a couple more bottles of summer from B & B Works.

And of course the bottle of sunshine that takes me back to my teen years. When we would boat all day long, swim across the lake and jump off the rocks. Back before I had any sense at all and wasn't afraid of anything {like skin cancer.}

Do those scents take you back anywhere? I hope you're all getting some sunshine where you live. We have sun for the first time in what seems like forever so I'm heading outside to soak it in!

Blessings.

Ready for Sale

I know I'm not alone when I say I get a little overwhelmed when thinking about putting together a garage sale, yard sale, tag sale, whatever you want to call it. Lucky for me {and you} there are several blogs out there who have recently posted their secrets and tips for a successful sale.

So here you go, a short cut to some fantastic blogs with all the stuff we need to know about sales...

Brown Paper Packages has some good ideas & some little chicks selling juice.

House of Grace is SO unbelievably organized when it comes to a garage sale. Heck she appears to be organized when it comes to EVERYTHING.

I wish I could channel some of her energy. I also wish I could shop her garage sale.

All Things Thrifty has her own tips and some pretty eye catching sign ideas.

There ya go. A few great blogs with several even better tips. Now I need to get to work preparing for my own garage sale.

Blessings.

Farm Chicks

On Sunday my friend Jamie & I went to Farm Chicks Antique Show in Spokane, Washington. This antique show started in 2002 and is full of vintage goods, handmade loveliness and tons of vendors. We found out about it last year and weren't able to go so this year Jamie and I vowed we were going!

So after church she picked me up, we grabbed coffee and were on our way. It was $7 to get in and you could browse and snap pictures all you want. So that's exactly what I did. I didn't have my camera so I had to use my cell phone.

Here's a little peek at a few of my favorite things...

This birds sign had faucet handles for hooks. Super cute for a garage or garden shed.

Jamie loved these lockers! Perfect for a mud room.

I loved the ginormous letters the Vintage Barn had.

This isn't a great picture but these lights were SO cool!!

Tissue poms made from patterns! Brilliant!

I loved the pink and white of this booth. There are ladders holding up the fabric and twinkle lights. Adorable!

If you haven't been to the Farm Chicks Antique Show I'd suggest you check it out next year!

Blessings.

12 Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

Some of you have already started summer vacation. My preschooler had her last day yesterday, but my grade school chicks still have a week left. That means we still have time to put together more teacher appreciation gifts. I thought I'd share some of my favorite gift ideas for the teachers in your life.

The ladies over at Brown Paper Packages are so creative! They have a few ideas that I'd love to replicate.

A Sweet Gift of hot fudge, you can put an end of the year touch by saying something like "I hope you have a 'sweet' summer!"

A simple Thank You jar filled with the teachers favorite treat is super easy!

I love this 4x4 block for pencils & pens.

Eighteen25 shares a cute way to give those coffee cards.

{BTW I've talked to a teacher or two & I hear these are a favorite!}

Ucreate has another back to school gift that can easily be turned to an end of the year gift.

Write "Hope you have a smooth summer!" on the tag.

Lisa Storms had a cute & thirst quenching idea with these lemonade cups.

Here's s'more ideas from Domesticated Lady

This Crayon Initial by Frugal Life Project is super cute!

And here are the teacher appreciation gifts my little chicks and I have put together in the past.

A Gift for Tea-cher

Caramel Corn Jars easily turned into "For a POP-ular Teacher" jars.

Clipboards for Teacher

And my most recent gift for the chick's teachers, a little thank you for helping them grow.

I hope you've found some inspiration on how to show your kiddos teacher's they are appreciated.

Blessings.

Thanks for Helping Me Grow

It's that time of year again. School is almost over so it's time for Mommy to get creative with a teacher appreciation gift. My little chicks have been SO blessed this year with teachers. In the past we've had some... well... uh... not so great teachers. But this year, oh my goodness! Each of these ladies have been absolutely wonderful to my chicks. I would love to go all out and give coffee cards, movie tickets, gift cards for yummy restaurants but when you multiply all that by 3 it equals one broke North West Nest.

I wanted to do something different than last year. You may remember our Clipboards for Teacher. We've also made note pads and signs. The jars of caramel corn and pots of goldwere holiday-ish {seen the "we're gonna be sisters" episode of Hannah Montana?} but you could probably put an end of the year twist on them.

We decided to go with a live plant and a cute little saying. Over the weekend the chicks and I ran to Lowe's {my fave home improvement store} looking for houseplants, pots and potting soil. We saw some cute cactus but I decided they wouldn't be so "cute" to transplant. Then we saw a table of Bromeliads already in a weathered looking terra cotta pot for about $7 a piece.

We thought these would be a great pick because they are a pretty hardy plant that's not going to flower once and die. Bromeliads are also considered an "O2 for you" plant. This means they generate oxygen and will add humidity to a room during dry conditions. So they're low maintenance, requiring only an hour or two of indirect sunlight per day and they purify the air! I think that sounds ideal for a classroom setting!

I used a small foam craft brush to apply a couple thin coats of Valspar's chalkboard paint in a rectangle on one side of the pot. Then used my chalk ink marker to write "Thanks for helping me grow!"

Ta Da! Done!

These will be easy for teachers to keep home during the summer months and bring back for a little color in the fall and winter months. When the Bromeliads grow they'll look like these.

I think they're very pretty and my little chicks are excited to share them with their teachers on the last day of school.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths