It's The Little Things....

It's really the little things in life that make me excited!  Such as these sweet, old-fashioned cannisters on my counter, that have been sitting 'naked' for months while I longed to label them in some cute way.

Today they got labeled!  With "courier" font...my vintage fave right now.  And with green polka dot paper.  I just printed the labels, glued them to the paper, cut them apart, and used clear packing tape to attach them.

This sweet old jar came to me as a gift, bearing homemade granola.  Too cute to put in a cupboard, it become my baking soda jar.  So handy when baking.

This was a spice holder that got used up...now it also holds baking soda and is sooo handy for using as a mild abrasive on dishes or the counter top.  The shake top under the lid is the key.

More little things...my herb garden grew more than the weeds while we were gone last week to a lake house family gathering.  The smells of basil, dill, cilantro, and sage just make me want to eat fresh!  Can't help but walk by and rub a few leaves with my fingers so I can smell those heady aromas.

This little thing is a new Rosemary plant...on clearance for $1 at Walmart.  Yay!

My cinder block gardening is going great.  Asters came up by seed as well as African Daisies, Morning Glories, and the Gladioli bulbs are 18 inches tall.

The square foot garden is also producing well. Picked enough romaine lettuce to make salad for the neighborhood!

Our first baby zucchini!  I'm a happy Mama.

My kitchen calendar page for June is a cottage by a lake...another fun little thing!  We just spent 4 days at an amazing lake house with the whole Hayden clan in the month of June.

I don't have a clothes line, but I can take my drying rack out into the sun.  A happy 'little thing'.

And lastly, another sweet little thing...journals make me feel obligated to write too much, but this little Mary Englebreit daily planner gives me just a few lines to record the highlights of each day.  I love having these little journals to look back at from the past 7 years.

What little things are bringing fun, love, joy, happiness, and sunshine to your days?  Did you see the quote at the top of my journal page for May 9-15?  I love it.

"Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments."

Blessings,

Donna 
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Milk Jug Lego Caddy

Last week I had a great time changing an empty plastic milk jug into a cute little caddy for me!  You can read about it and see a tutorial HERE. When we finished up another jug of milk, I made one for my 13 year old son's Legos.  He's loving it and ready for me to make more!

As seen in the previous caddy tutorial, I cut the jug and cleaned it well.  I would have liked to cut some Lego pics out of one of my son's many Lego magazines.  But, he just couldn't bear it!  So instead we googled "Lego Clip Art" and found some free ones online to print.

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I also typed up the word "LEGO" and printed it out to add to the caddy.  After the Mod Podge dried, he had the fun of loading it up.  He was surprised with how many bricks could fit.

I engaged him to take some of these photos...he came up with this shot himself.  Fun.  :)

We put another pic on the backside of the caddy.  The handle makes it easy to carry the caddy from place to place.

So here it is, on his bookshelf.  Dear son must have thousands of Lego pieces, so dear Mama is very much ready to provide more and more caddies to house this wonderful toy.  Give it a try!  Easy.  Quick (15 minutes?). And free! 

Blessings!

Donna
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I did it!! The Story of Remaking a Dress

I LOVE to wear dresses in the summer.  Cool and comfy and non-binding.  There are very few dresses to purchase, out there, that cover you on top well enough and aren't too short for a late 40's girl like me!  So I snatched up this dress last summer for $8 and was thrilled.  Til hubby saw it on me.  He said it looked like a bag.  No shape to it.  Boo!  : )  Today I put the dress on, found it to be oh so comfy, and decided to make it FIT me!

I used to be afraid to really alter clothes.  I'm a perfectionist.  I didn't like that it wasn't perfect when I was done, and I'm not patient, so I didn't want to spend hours making it perfect.  Blogland has helped me get over that!  Yay!  So the first thing I tackled was the sides...making it have a more fitted waist.

Next I took up the hem about 1.5 inches so it wouldn't be quite as long.  Not too short though b/c I have these skinny birdy legs that don't tan very well.  Ha!

Backing up a bit, after taking up the sides above and below the waist, I cut the extra fabric from the seam so it wouldn't be bunched up.  Then pressed the seam flat on the outside of the dress.

The next problem with this dress besides it being a bit too long and having no shape to it, was the sleeves.  They were kind of 'heavy' looking and droopy on me.  Did nothing for me and weren't cute.  So I decided to alter them.

This summer dress has nice little cap sleeves and it was my inspiration for the redone sleeves of this dress makeover.

I used a dinner plate to give me a nice uniform curve for cutting off the sleeve.  A fabric marking pen quickly made the line for me.

And with a bit of fear and trembling...I cut off the sleeves into a cap sleeve shape.  This next part was THE hardest.  Pressing a little double rolled hem into place and carefully stitching it into place.  Took awhile!  But oh so worth it.

So here's a reminder of the straight, bag dress with the droopy sleeves.

And here she is! The "new" dress!  It's fitted around the waist instead of just hanging on me like a sack.  It's a wee bit shorter.  And the sleeves look soooo much better and feel better too.  I want to make a fabric flower pin for embellishing it, but found that this sweet pin my niece made goes with it quite well!  Add some cute black wedge sandals and I'm ready for dinner at Culvers and alittle Walmart shopping with the family.  

The true test of whether my handiwork was a success?  My husband.  He told me at home that it did indeed look soooo much better on me.  But the best compliment was at Walmart as I sashayed down the aisles with my cart...he was behind me making little comments as we went.  Nice comments!  Hee hee!  So the moral of my story is, give it a try on something that you aren't afraid to experiment on.  I figured if worse came to worse, I'd wear this dress around the house.  Instead, it turned out well, and I can wear it wherever I want.  Thank you Jesus!!!

Blessings!

Donna 
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Trash to Splash...Milk Jug to Cute Caddy

I cut out an idea from a  magazine awhile back showing how to cut a plastic milk jug so that is can be a cute caddy.  I had in mind to make one of these (or ten of these) to help house my son's million Lego pieces.  But when I tried to get him to let me cut 1-2 little Lego pics out of a catalog to use for it, he refused!  So I made this one for me....using sweet old calendars, I found some pics I could use.

Cute, cute, cute.

Of course I forgot to take a pic of how to cut the milk jug but you'll be able to see it in the upcoming photos.  I used dear  ol' Mod Podge to adhere the pics to the jug.

I put the other two pics on the other side of the jug front, so it looks like....

This!  And added a couple little cut-outs at the top to hide little indentions in the jug.

A piece of raffia for a tie on the handle and three overlapped buttons for embellishment.  I glued the raffia to the handle after tying it on.

So, Legos would go in these caddies per-fect-ly!  But since I made one for me, hmmm.  Apples?

A craft project that you wanted to have on-the-go-ready?

How about craft supplies?

Or even baking supplies in your pantry.  So, there you have it, a trash to splash idea.  I LOVE organizing containers, and they are rather pricey to purchase.  So if I can use a milk jug instead, then bravo!  Thank you for visiting, and know that I love your comments and ideas.

Blessings!

Donna 
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5 Minute Homemade Salsa

Once upon a summer, I discovered a wonderful little recipe for homemade salsa in a little cookbook called Desperation Dinners.  It called for a can of diced tomatoes and a few pantry and fridge items.  I tried it.  It spoiled me rotten.  Now I cannot eat store bought salsa...this stuff tastes like really great restaurant style salsa and I make it everytime we eat salsa now.  Here's how:

Empty a can of diced or stewed tomatoes into a blender or a vessel suitable for using a hand blender.  If using diced tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar to it.  I also like to add about 1/3 cup of roughly chopped onion and about 2 knife tips of garlic.  (This is more of a method...not a recipe with exact measurements.  It is very forgiving and flexible so just add more or less of whatever you like!)

A few glugs of lime juice or the juice of half a lime.  Salt to taste (about 1/4 tsp?),

Then we like adding a few jarred jalapenos...to add a bit of heat.  Adding about 5 slices makes it taste 'medium' in heat.

Then I am ready to use my immersion blender.  Love this little gal...quite the kitchen helper.  I pulse it enough times to get the texture I like...just a wee bit chunky still.

My husband and I LOVE cilantro...but if you don't, skip adding it.  I am growing it in my herb garden so was able to use fresh this time.  In the winter I use dried.

Rinse, pat dry, and I put them in whole...stems and all.  Use the immersion blender again til the cilantro is chopped the way I want it.

And there she be!  So delicious.  So easy.  So fresh.

So, dig in!!  Hope you'll give this a try if you don't already have a favorite salsa recipe.  For less than $1 and about 5 minutes of time, you don't have to settle for store bought anymore!  Ole!

Blessings!

Donna 


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