Goin' Down the Bayou

I've been sort of "off" in my crafty-osity lately. Like, a lot.

For example:

Somehow, in my head, painting the firescreen with high temperature paint in an amazing color was far awesomer than in reality.

But, wait! There's more! Before I decided to go blue, I went orange!

Did you think it couldn't be worse than the blue? My new theory is that the screen needs to be either dark or light, but no medium tones. Like maybe a navy would be better? Maybe.

So that happened and I still haven't painted it back to black again. And it knocked me on my creative keister.

Yesterday, I had another idea that may or may not be awesome. But it was cheap. So I went for it.

At the thrift store I saw a bunch of cheap-o vases in lots of colors. Together they looked pretty cool. See:

They were all less than $2 each. They reminded me of something I had just seen at Disneyland. In the French Quarter section, hanging off the balcony was a series of colorful bottles with twinkle lights tucked inside. I made a mental note to keep my eyes peeled for things I could use to eventually create that in my backyard.

And then, there I was, at the thrift store lookin' right at them. Except that instead of twinkle lights, I decided upon the solar landscaping lights.

A year or so ago I made one of those ubiquitous ball jar sun lamp things. And it worked just fine. Except that my kids opened it and rain got in and I eventually threw it away. But I knew the process.

This is a little different. You need:
Colorful Vases (or you could use that mod podge method of coloring your own)

Clear silicone

Solar landscape lights

I took the lamp part off the body and placed it on the top of the vase. Most of them rested just inside the vase and one was a little too small. I could've bought a bigger lamp, as they come in a few different sizes. But I just put a ring of clear silicone around the narrowest spot, waited for it to dry and used that as a ledge to hold the lamp in place. Then I siliconed around the fixture to both hold it in place and to keep water out of the vase.


Here they are in daytime in my yard:

And

The pink one on the far left is a little weird in daytime, but at night, you can't see the solar deal so it all works out.


Here is the best pic I could get of my yard at night:

The green and blue lights are the brightest. But they all look really pretty and colorful.

I think I need more, lots more. 

Edited to add: The day after I put them out, it rained! Whatevs, southern California! I noticed that the solar panel on my particular lamps tends to let water into the containers. So maybe a small bead of silicone around where the solar panel fits into the metal housing? I'm gonna fix it right after morning drop-off today! 

Show and Tell Friday on My Romantic Home

 The Shabby Creek Cottage

The Thrift Home

Someday Crafts









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Big Plans!

John and I have two garages. One, the original from 1927. It's narrow and can fit one car. One small car. And it has a spot for your oil to drain directly into the soil.

The other garage is from the 60's, I think. It used to have a cantilevered door held in place by two giant springs. One of them popped off, when it was closed, thankfully, and we ended up with a regular roller type. The "big one" as it's called, has a nice cement floor and I think would make a glorious shop for John.

The little one, or "shop" as I call it, because it's a shop, will someday be seduced into becoming a fabulous outdoor dining slash craft slash place to invite my coven for drinks.

Here's what I've been storing away for the day I just start moving everything to the big garage:

I was gonna put a french door on the side, instead of a sliding barn door. But this structure has the same bones as my little guy. You can see the double barn doors on the left of the photograph.

Plywood walls and white ceiling, please!

The Shabby Chic Palace, or The Reason I Wrote This Post. I loved this photo with the vintage pieces and the limed wood walls and the plank floor. John said, "You're turning my outdoor kitchen into a shabby chic palace." Which I am not. It is a Scandinavian Palace. So there.

Here's a plan I threw together to prove to John that I am not usurping his man garden:

To help you get situated, the photo at the top shows the current brown barn doors which face north. To the east is a brick patio. Which will become a Fortress of Manly Cooking and Burning. Right now it is the Resting Place of Old Plastic Toys, so anything is an improvement.

Maybe I have a pic of the whole backyard...maybe...

Nope. Not one that shows both garages. I guess I'll climb on the roof tomorrow so you can see what the heck I'm talking about...

 Two garages..one with purple painted palettes and the other with a brick patio. Taken with the miniature effect because I wasn't gonna clean up the backyard in the rain to take a photo.

What have you done for me lately?

He built a recycled sidewalk!

America's Next Top Models

The photographer sets the shot:

The resulting shot:
Pure joy:
Dad's are the best. They let toddlers play with expensive equipment.

Cuckoo Garden

Ever since my husband cleaned out the garage and found random cans of paint, I have been painting everything. I painted my medicine cabinet, which started out small and became a two day project, and I painted every terra cotta pot in the vicinity. And a duck. And a broken spoon. And an old curtain rod.

 It's pretty amazing that Barkley is still brown and white.

Monsoon Season

We had an interesting day. I was sitting on the couch embroidering a cowbell, (yes, a cowbell), listening to the restful sound of cascading water when I realized that it had been cascading for a while. I was wondering what my neighbor was doing when I looked out my window and saw water shooting out from crack in the asphalt in my driveway. It was running down my driveway, flooding our new backyard. I ran to get my neighbor and we used our random concrete pieces to try to divert the water from running into the garage. It barely worked. As soon as the water people arrived, they shut off the water and started pumping it out,...and into our other driveway. Which leads to the other side of the backyard and our succulent garden. So, again, my neighbor and I had to dig a place for the water to flow so it wouldn't flood our yard. There was a lot more engineering this time because I didn't want all the dirt washed away. So I was building small dams with rocks. This video is shot while I walked from the backyard, where the water was "draining" out, all the way to the source.
It was finally over and now I have no idea where to begin clean-up. And I say "so" a lot.

Bad Photoshop

So, Photoshop and I are not getting along. I was able to figure out how to "paint" a wall, with trees in front of it, but that's about it. Mostly because I can use AutoCAD. So I picked some colors I was thinking about and I think I agree with Lynn. Purple is the way to go.

I wish Pantone had a darker olive:
Blue to match the sky:
Fuschia to match the bougainvilla:

Nobody Rides for Free

I've been dreaming of this day for a long time. Our once weed filled backyard is now carpeted in a thick green shag. We did it all ourselves, pulling up weeds, installing sprinklers, sifting dirt and laying sod. Well, "we" is pretty inaccurate. When I say "we" I mean "John." My job was watching the kids. Which should put me in the realm of "we," but don't think I was sweating in the sun or anything. We started around April so, you know, overnight success!

Big square of weeds and dirt:
Installing drainage for our slightly sloped lot:

After sifting the dirt to remove weeds and rocks:
The planter is built of recycled concrete and will soon house an olive tree:
Now, what to do to the giant, white wall...