Homemade Fireworks

Sounds dangerous, doesn't it? Homemade fireworks. I'm a safety first kind of person so this is the only time you'll hear me suggesting homemade fireworks.

A few weeks ago Tall Man and I were cruising through one of my favorite stores and we saw this great little piece with all the Fourth of July decorations.

We both thought these were great enough to buy but my DIY alarm started ringing and I blurted out "I could so make that." Oops! I didn't just think that, I said it, which means I must show I could in fact make this.

Mine aren't exactly like these, which I like. As usual I was on a "use what you have" budget so I did just that, used what I had. I washed out a few different sized soup, spaghetti sauce and corn cans and sprayed them Dover White. After the paint dried I got creative with some foam brushes and acrylic paint. Colors of choice: Navy Blue and Christmas Red.

My sister gave me a bag of odds and ends wooden shapes a while back and among the odds and ends were these cute little wooden button stars. So I painted them red, white and blue. I tapped a little hole into the top of the can (really the bottom, I flipped them over for this project) with a small nail and hammer. Then I cut some wire and twisted it up for the "fuse."

I used just a touch of hot glue to put the star on the wire and the wire on the can and here is the finished product. Mine aren't as tall and skinny as the ones at the store, but like I told Tall Man, "Tall, skinny fireworks are sissy fireworks. These are MAN fireworks! (enter Tim Taylor grunt.)"

Blessings.

Linking to: Centsational Girl, It's a Blog Party, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths

Top 5 Tuesday: 4th of July

I am so excited for the forth of July this year. I don't have a great big BBQ or neighborhood parade planned, I actually have a mid day shift at work. I'm excited to show my support of our country. We are so blessed to live in America.

I missed last week's Top 5, but there was no way I could miss this week. Here's the top 5 decorations, snacks, etc. for Independence Day that I've stumbled upon recently.

You can't go wrong with red, white & blue flowers in coordinating pots.

I love these pinwheels. What makes them a thousand times better are the galvanized steel buckets & watering can.

This centerpiece is so fun!

Not only is this little girl adorable, but I think the white vinyl stars are great on the red steel tub.

Cherry Cola cake! Enough said... YUM!

Hope you've found something fun & inspiring from my top 5 picks.

Blessings.

Baby's Here and Sleeping

No, there's no baby at my house but my close friend had a beautiful, healthy little girl three weeks ago. You can look back at her baby shower here. I wanted to take her something for her new arrival. So I picked up a super cute flip flops summer outfit and put together a "baby sleeping" sign for the front door.

Yet another quick, easy and inexpensive project. Here's a list of supplies:

• Particle board, measured to 8x8 (already had)
• Scrapbook paper (used leftover paper from the invitations)
• Mod Podge
• Cricut
• Wire & Ribbon

I had Tall Man cut the particle board down to 8 square inches and sanded the edges smooth. Next I traced the board onto my paper and cut it to size. I chose to ink the edges of my paper, this is up to you, it kind of depends on the look you're going for. Once I had my paper inked just so I applied it along with the letters to the board with Mod Podge. Then I drilled my holes, cut and curled the wire, put it in place and I could have been done. I decided to put a coat of polycrylic over the whole thing to protect it from any weather that may blow in while baby is sleeping. I also had some leftover ribbon from the baby shower so I tied it on the wire. Ta da!

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Blessings.

Linking to: Lucky Star Lane, Tip Junkie

S'mores Themed Birthday Party

My oldest daughter turned nine this week and it's been a few years since she had a real good party. So Tall Man and I decided this year we would do something we've never done before, we would host a sleepover party with five of our daughter's friends. That's a total of six 7, 8 and 9 year old little girls. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, surprisingly it went quite well until they woke up the next morning still tired from their late night and honestly a little tired of each other.

Here are a few snapshots from our S'mores Party.

The fixin's.

A few extra toppings.

S'mores tissue paper poms.

Chocolate dipped marshmallows with sprinkles, coconut and graham cracker crumbs.

Blessings.

Front Porch Crate

The 4th of July is coming up quickly so my family decided to display a little patriotism on our front porch. I had everything we needed on hand, so this project was easy to do on a whim. I've had a plain crate on my front porch since fall (you know, the ones from Michael's.) As soon as the crate came home I put some potted plants on top and called it good. I decided for Independence Day I'd turn the crate around and paint a flag.

I spray painted the back of the crate with Dove White and let it dry for about ten minutes. Next I took some Midnight blue and Christmas Red acrylic paint and painted some stripes and made room for stars. Once that dried I used white acrylic paint and a small foam brush to paint stars.

I really like the way it turned out, not perfect by any means, just kind of worn and weathered... perfect in my book. =o)

Blessings.

Linking to: Lucky Star Lane, Tip Junkie, Centsational Girl, It's a Blog Party, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths

Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

Nine years ago I entered a new stage in life, motherhood. I was young, clueless and on my own. Then came along this beautiful little girl, I have no doubt she saved my life. She is truly a gift from God.

Here's to you sweet girl! I love you so much!

Blessings.

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all the dads out there a very happy father's day! I'd like to honor a few of my personal favorites!!

My Tall Man, the best Daddy three little girls could ask for.

My Dad. I discovered I need more pictures of him, this is from 2008.

My fave father-in-law. He's also a pretty awesome Papa.

My Tall Man's grandpa. An amazing father, grandpa & great grandpa.

Blessings.

Chalkboard Pantry Door

For the last two years I have been trying to convince my Tall Man that our pantry door would look great if it were painted with chalkboard paint. He was not thrilled with the idea of two black panels on the door. About a year ago my favorite mother-in-law brought our girls a chalkboard, easel style. It's big, it's bulky, and takes up quite a bit of room in my pretty nice sized pantry. After stubbing a few toes, knocking it over and spilling chalk everywhere, Tall Man was on board with painting the pantry door.

As soon as I got the okay I ran to Lowe's with a 10% off coupon and picked up a can of chalkboard paint. Didn't take long and the door was taped and painted. Woo hoo!

I also picked up a pack of Chalk Ink pens from Michael's (kind of pricey at $12 for 4.)

I love the way it looks now. My girls like being able to doodle close by while we're at work in the kitchen. Here it is!

Blessings.

Linking to: Centsational Girl

Top 5 Tuesday: DIY Father's Day Gifts

Given that Father's Day is this coming Sunday I thought I would share with you some of the super cute home made gifts I found out in blog land.

This Father's Day Board Book is cute by Tip Junkie

Working this poem into a gift would be very sweet. Found it at Rocket Moms.

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so,
He called it ... Dad

You can ALWAYS count on How Does She? to have a great gift idea.

Martha Stewart is right on with these labels. Maybe some home made bbq sauce inside?

Family Fun came up with a cute idea here too.

Blessings.

2x4 Picture Holder

I've been working to get Father's Day gifts put together and have them ready to share before the day is actually here. If you haven't been over to How Does She? you MUST go check them out. These ladies are uber talented and pull off some pretty amazing things with a simple 2x4. For this picture holder I used their 2x4 idea and put my own spin on it.

Here is what I used:

• 2x4 (8 ft long, on sale for about $2)
• scrapbook paper (already had)
• sand sponge (already had)
• Mod Podge (already had)
• ink pad (already had)
• acrylic paint & sponge brushes (already had)
• wire (picked up a big spool of it for about $7 at Lowe's)

First I had the Tall Man cut the board down for me (in a 'no questions asked' manner, of course.) These are 12 inches long. I sanded the edges so they were soft and had a bit of a warn look. Next I painted the back and ends of the 2x4, so it looked like th

is. This picture was taken after it was all put together. :-S

Next I cut my scrapbook paper to size and applied with Mod Podge. I used my Cricut to cut "LOVE YOU" and put those on with Mod Podge as well. Once all the paper was on and the Mod Podge was dry I drilled three holes in the top, the same size as the wire I used. To make the wire into a picture holder I wrapped it around a pair of needle nose pliers, like so.

My last steps were putting just a dot of hot glue on the holes and inserting the wire and adding a little paint to the edges for a more finished look.

Here's the finished product!

Blessings.

In the Works

Father's Day is next week and I am just now getting around to making gifts. My projects are "in the works" right now so I'm sharing my friend, Jamie's gift to her husband. I don't have a tutorial from Jamie, just a few pictures I took when I was there earlier this week.Jamie made this by cutting up a 2x4 and spray painting the sides. With some inked up scrapbook paper and letters cut with a Cricut she mod podged it all together. Add some embellishments and ta da! Super cute and heartfelt Father's Day gift.

Blessings.

A Beautiful Drive

A couple weeks ago, on the Sunday before Memorial Day, my family took a drive to an all class reunion in the town my dad grew up in. It's a few hour drive from our home but it was absolutely beautiful. Thought I'd share a few with you.

I absolutely LOVE barns, so of course I had to snap some pictures on the way.

My great-Aunt and Grandmother. These are close-ups from the picture of their graduating class.

Playing on the playground at the K-12 school. I managed to smile for the camera after being pooped on by a bird. YUCK!!

And finally just a few more random pictures I thought were pretty cool.

Blessings.

"We've got a lot of half finished projects in this house..."

...said my Tall Man. Believe it or not this is the first time he has EVER said anything about my many half finished projects. Blessed, I know. =o) I figured if he was saying something he must be right. So I decided to make a list of my not quite finished projects...

1. Paint the laundry room
2. Laundry room cabinets
3. Birthday board
4. Father's Day gifts x4
5. Birthday wreath
6. 4th of July sign
7. Flag on front porch crate
8. Sleeping baby sign for friends new bundle of joy
9. ..... Ya know I think that's it.
10. Oh wait, I guess we could count the Arbor Vita's we purchased for our front yard that aren't planted yet.

Okay so eight, maybe nine half finished projects. That's not too bad is it? I suppose I better get off my laptop and get those projects finished. You'll be seeing posts about them soon!

Blessings.

Top 5 Tuesday: Outdoor Party Ideas

Summer will officially be here in just a couple of weeks which means it's time for block parties and back yard bbq's! I was cruising Martha's site again and found some great outdoor party ideas. Here are my top five:

Message in a Bottle

I think this whole table setting is darling.

Drink Parasols

Every drink looks better with an umbrella.

Fire and Water Centerpiece

Fire and water are a great combo.

Photo Centerpiece

These would be great for anniversaries, weddings, all sorts of parties.

Outdoor Movie Night
This is my favorite of the bunch.

And one honorable mention...

Frozen Vodka

Blessings.