Herb Garden

Okay, so usually I have no green thumb at all. I love flowers and they look so pretty, but they usually end up dying well before they should - mostly the indoor plants that I forget to water. Oops.

However, I love cooking and always say how nice it would be to open the door and have fresh herbs at my disposal. So, this year I decided I would bite the bullet and make a small, single potted herb garden.

And let me tell you, I am so glad I did. These pictures are a few weeks old, but it is growing like crazy. I've already had to cut it down and preserve some of the herbs twice. The pay off is going to be great.

Here's a list of what I planted:

• Parsley
• Basil
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Dill
• Lavender 
• Cilantro
• Sage
• Chives

 The basil, especially, has been wonderful. I've made so many pasta salads, pesto and sauces already. I love summer cooking so much.

The one thing was, with all the herbs, I wanted a cute way to label them. Let's face it - those little plastic markers that come in the containers when you buy the plants are far from pretty.  I happened to have a bag of skewers and some wine corks, so I wrote the name of the herb on the cork, put the cork on the skewer, and stuck the skewer in the dirt. It was perfect!

 I wanted a nice little table to keep the  box off the ground, but all the ones I liked were too expensive. I did a little searching and I found this table in the attic. Tomorrow's plan is to paint it and put some stones on it. I'll post about it  soon.

The herb garden was such a success that I was inspired to start a vegetable garden as well. I wish I would have taken before and after pictures because the garden is getting way bigger than I had anticipated. It's so big that I'm afraid it may become too crowded!

More on that another time, too...

More Wreaths

My aunt loved the wreaths I've been making lately, so I decided I would make her a summer and winter one as a gift. She was so surprised and loved them.

Last month, a friend of mine had a birthday. Our friend made her the cutest wine glasses I have ever seen. Here's a picture of the one she sent me - isn't it the cutest?! I fell in love and new I had to try to make one for her birthday. After finding out what tool she used, I went out to find one of my own.

It was this really cool Engraving Pen which I found at my local craft store. After I got it home, I realized there was a disclaimer about how it "may cause cancer," so I kind of freaked out and wore I surgical mask when I was engraving. 

My skills are nowhere near as defined as Abby's, but here is my finished attempt. It was a little shaky (it's hard to hold the glass, and the pen with a steady hand all at the same time!), but I was still pleased. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture, but my friend sent me own when she used it for her birthday.

For the other part of Abby's gift, I wanted to make a sign with the quote from Gossip Girl. I tried many times before I finally found a tutorial that worked for me.

First, I typed up the quote in Word, and then cut it out and arranged it how I wanted on the sign.

Then, I took them off of the sign, turned them over and used a pencil to scribble on the back being sure to cover all the ink. 

Oh, and if you are doing this on a white surface, you should probably lay something first. I didn't. I guess I like to live on the edge like that. And, well, it's only pencil. It wiped right off.

Then I taped all of the paper back onto the sign and traced the outline of the letters with a ballpoint pen.

When you take off the paper it will look like this - magical, huh?

Now, I thought about painting the letters, but I didn't trust myself - painting is not my thing. I happened to have an oil based Sharpie Paint Maker, so I used that to go over and outline all the letters. 

And then I was finished - and I was pleased with the outcome. It looks much better than it would if I had attempted to freehand it.

DIY Throwback - Mesh Wreath and Garland

Way back in November, I was getting crafty and made a new Christmas wreath and garland for the fireplace.

The garland was super easy. I found Miss Kopy Kat's tutorial on Pinterest and followed it exactly. It was was easy and worked perfectly.

The wreath was more of a struggle. I followed numerous videos on YouTube and looked up countless tutorials from Pinterest but all I discovered was I wasn't cut to make wreaths. Seriously. All of them were epic fails. Then, randomly one say, I happened across the perfect tutorial - all because YouTube suggested it for me.

Of course - now that I am looking for it - I can't find it. But I am not kidding when I say it's easy. All you do is cut the mesh into long strips and then just keep tying them on the wreath until it's full. I really love how nicely it came out.

Sewing...or, ATTEMPTING to sew...

I've never been very good at sewing. Ever.

I took a sewing class in high school, my grandma taught me some techniques, but I still struggle. However, my friend's mom gave me her old sewing machine and that thing works like a champ. It small and mighty, and way easier to use than the one my mom has.

Here are the two things I made to practice getting back into the swing of things. I didn't use any patterns because I don't remember how to read them, but I'm hoping to work on that. LOL.

My friend wanted and apron...ask and you shall receive!

I love the fabric so much. Actually, I love it so much that I ended up buying all of it, and now I have so much left. I'm not sure what I will do with it, but I'll find something...I hope. ;-)

Secondly, I made a trash bag for my car. I was tired of shoving receipts and straw wrappers in the cup holders. I hung it up with a command strip and it was good to go!

DIY - Minion Wine Stopper

One of my very best friends turned 21 this past week, and she also happens to love minions. So, I knew I had to incorporate that into part of her gift in some way, shape or form. Our friend Abby engraved the cutest minion wine glasses ever. Seriously. It was precious. (And so neat that it inspired me to try my hand at engraving, too. I just love them!) So, if you have a minion wine glass, surely you could use a minion wine stopper!

 What I learned with the project is that: I hate detailed painting...because I am so bad at it! So bad that I made my brother paint the black band and the eye for me. Yes, I will admit it. And painting on a sphere is pretty hard, if you ask me.

Anyways, what I did was, paint the face on the sphere and than spray it with a clear matte finish. (I am seriously in love with that stuff!) and hot glued it to the stopper part. It just so happens that I happened to have that on hand. The top part of one of my wine stoppers broke, and I saved the bottom stopper part because I knew I might need it for something someday. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

... from my super fun deco mesh wreath. I have a few from my stash that I'll have to blog about eventually, but this will hold you over until then.

I'm slowly working my way towards making a wreath for every holiday. Eventually that will happen...I hope.