My Welcome Sign

I created a Welcome sign for my front yard. I used paint and stencils that I'd had for years. I used scrap paneling for the sign and trim for the stakes from our camper restoration last year. I set a red vintage milk jug that my daughter Nastasja gave me in the garden near our porch along with my newly made sign.


The paneling, paint, and stencils that I used. I didn't end up using the green stencil paint, it was dried up. I used a green craft paint instead. 

I had painted the paneling white and painted the roses. I brushed on the white and then wiped it off with a rag to give it a white washed look so you could see the wood slightly under the paint.

  
My newly made Welcome sign before my husband added the stakes. I did mess up on the first attempt and the Welcome was too off center. I turned the wood over and redid the other side. Once it was dry I painted the messed up side black.

The red vintage milk jug that my daughter gave me in the garden near our porch along with Welcome sign. I think they looks great together. It’s especially powerful with the red milk jug drawing out the red colors in the Welcome sign.

My Fairy Garden

I made my first purchase for my yard for the season on Tuesday at the Thrift, $12 spent. I got yard decor and stuff to create a Fairy garden. I set everything up for the Fairy garden near my shed along with a few other things that I had. I like the fact that all the houses open. I'm trying to find a few things for each house to put inside, that my grandkids can take out to play with. I have a 6 little figurines inside the Apple house and nothing in the other two yet. I'd like a couple bigger figurines to set near the houses but I'll have to keep looking for now. I made a garden stone to add to yesterday, and I made a second today. I'd been collecting stuff at the Thrift for a year to be able to do the garden stones.

My Tuesday haul at the Thrift for $12

My Fairy Garden so far.

The things that I added to the Fairy garden that I already had.

My supplies set up in the barn.

My first garden stone made.

 















 My garden stones that I made for the Fairy garden. They hadn't dried yet, but first one looks good.

Clutter Busting Challenge April 2018

I'm purging 14 items this month.


My Purge Pile:

April 2018 Reading List

The Blue Ribbon Brides Collection
Requilted with Love by Carrie Fancett Pagels
Seven Medals and a Bride by Angela Breidenbach
A Taste of Honey by Darlene Franklin
Altered Hearts by Gina Welborn
Better with Butter by Jennifer AILee
Driven to Distraction by Becca Whitham
First Comes Pie by Niki Turner
Front Paige Love by Amber Stockton
Competing Hearts by Cynthia Hickey

Zucchini and Carrot Coleslaw

 

2 cups shredded zucchini 

1 cup shredded carrot

1/4 cup low-fat creamy salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip Light)

1 teaspoon white sugar

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place zucchini in a colander and let drain thoroughly, about 30 minutes. Toss with carrot in a large salad bowl; stir in creamy salad dressing and sugar. Chill the coleslaw for 1 hour to blend flavors, stir again, and season with salt and black pepper.

Outdoor Yard Overhaul

It's that time of year to do an Outdoor Overhaul on my yard. I don't usually start working on my yard until Mother's Day weekend but wanted to start early this year. I'll do what I can before then in cold snowy/rainy Ohio. I'll buy about $50 worth of vegetable plants and flowers in May, once it warms up. I don't plan to spend on anything else but will look to see what I can find for free along the way. I wish we could afford to create a large patio or deck with a pergola along the back of the house but it's not in the budget. We had 6 mature trees in our yard and all except 2 have been taken down due to rot. The other 2 trees need removed so we'll ask around to see if we can get them removed for free by someone who wants firewood. I have lawn furniture and decor on the front porch but it needs cleaned up. The lawn furniture for the backyard is stored in the barn for the winter.


Our backyard from the side entrance patio. 

 

The backside of the house and our firepit.
















The weeds need removed around the shed and the squirrel feeder need straightened.

I need to till and clean up my vegetable garden. I need to plant vegetables in mid-May. We collected free bricks last fall from someone giving them away for free. We hope to eventually have enough to build a patio along the back of the house.

  

I had a vegetable garden along the shed for many years but let it grow in the last couple years. I still have a blackberry bush and it needs trimmed and tied up.

My front and side gardens. The perennials that I had planted have been killed off by an invasive ground cover. I need to remove the bulb plants and transplant them to the garden along the front porch. I had clematis on the wire trellises but they didn't come back last year.

The garden on the side of the house. The tree needs removed, it was planted too close to the house.
  
 












 

Our front porch and bulb garden along the porch.

The tree in the front of our house.

Our house from the street taken in October 2014.

Our Living Room Redo

It took us 2 month but it's done! We completed our floor refinishing last night in the living room. We did 3 layers of Shellac and 1 layer of water-based Polyurethane. We finished painting the walls 2 weeks ago. The lighting isn't great but the wall color is called Special White Chocolate. It's the same white we've been using throughout the house. We need to wait a week to move the furniture back. We'll be putting back up the fan blades, curtains, and replacing the light outlets/switch plates too. I need to spray paint the register vents, stencil the hydrangea's on one wall, and paint the wood furniture. That may take me a month or longer.