Garden Plans

Look what my husband brought me from the farm!! A trailer full of old cattle tanks!

Five of them.  Worn, rusty, dented, and just perfect!

About two months ago, I went to a farm auction, and  I saw an old tank up for sale. The light went on that that could be my solution...

...to this site that I want to develop into a fun, casual garden area.  Problem is it's pure sand.  There used to be trees here, but they were growing in the sand.  See this post. We spent a lot of time bringing in soil for our vegetable garden site, and time and money won't permit that here.

So, I'd been thinking raised beds---talk about time consuming....

So, these tanks are my solution for raised beds.  Think my little gals will be of help?  They sure thought it was neat that this trailer of tanks came home.  It's either going to look great or ....not great...You'll see more photos if it turns out like it is in my mind.  If not, I'll be looking for someone to come haul away some cheap cattle tanks.  I'm not thinking Randy will want to haul them back!

BTW, I didn't see the tank sell at the auction as I had to go and didn't have a way to haul it.

Have a great weekend!

"Junk"le Bells in May

The fifth edition of "Junk"le Bells!  I should have a tree full by December!  For once, maybe I'll be ahead that time of year.

So, I have a peanut butter jar of old bib overall metal hardware pieces.  Some kind of rusty...so this was my starting point for my May Junkle Bells project.

I've only made 3 so far, but plan to make more.   I think instead of calling them ornaments, I'll call them tree banners.

These overall pieces are perfect for hangers.

These pieces are like frames.  I used rubber stamps for the 'peace'.

Little bits of vintage fabric, buttons, and machine embroidery.

One of them was too white...so a swim in some left over coffee took care of that.

I made wire hangers for the banners that just had the hardware "frame" on them.  Gotta love baling wire.

If you've got a "Junk"le bells project where you've recycled, upcycled, or converted something old to a Christmas decoration, I'd love for you to link up!

"Junkle" Bells All Year Round Participants

1. Riding along with hubby 'Junk" le Bells

2. Junkin Jane

3. Prior

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And the Winners Are.....

I got this sweet tobacco jar today at the auction I attended.  I was thinking I'd sell it until I got it home and now, I'm pretty sure I'm keeping it.  I don't know what I'll fill it with yet....however, right now it is holding the names from my first giveaway.

My son drew the first winner for the Blessed pendant-------Lorene-----Congratulations!

My 10 year old daughter drew the second winner for the Loved pendant-----BargainHuntingTreasureSeeker---Congratulations to you too!

Rachel from Two Dog Pond has agreed to send out the pendants directly from her studio.  Thanks Rachel!

Come back tomorrow for "Junk"le Bells!!

Filter Paper Posies

As promised here:   the scoop on these lovely paper posies....

 I first saw them on Alice W's blog Thoughts from Alice W.  Then again, in Somerset Life Magazine.  Alice has abbreviated directions on her blog here.  Her blog is so beautiful and these coffee filter paper posies she has made are romantic and vintage looking.  However, romantic and vintage were the last thing Bonnie wanted for her graduation party---emphasis on no vintage!

We strayed from Alice's directions a bit to achieve the look we wanted.  I thought we would use purple and green food coloring in water as Alice did with red food coloring in tea to get her pink look.   Wrong.  The purple separated out in to blue and red in the filters as they dried.  I guess that why it's called food coloring and not called paint.  So, I needed to paint the filters instead of dipping them.  To make that easier, I ironed them flat first.  I could iron 20-30 at a time and it only took a few seconds, so wasn't a big deal.

Then, using lots of water and just a bit of paint, I painted the filters.

You can paint a pile of them at once, just make sure you separate each one out a bit because after they are wet, it's harder to get them apart.  I left lots of variation in the paint (a.k.a. sloppy) so there was dimension to the balls.

I just spread them out on newspapers to dry, overlapping because of space.

We experimented with pinning them on various ways but ended up liking the way Alice did it with three together all gathered up in an individual posy.

Green, purple, and white were the graduation colors.

Then we pinned them on to styrofoam balls with wig pins.  Any big pin will work, but make sure it's big so they stay in.  We hung these with fish line from the ceiling above the kitchen island.  I think they would be beautiful as a topiary on a shelf or even just sitting as a ball on a table or shelf.  As Alice says, you can vary the size by the styrofoam balls and if you buy the filters for a 4 cup coffee maker they will be smaller too.

REMINDER #1:  You can still sign up for my giveaway here!

REMINDER #2: It's "Junk"le Bells in May on Monday, hope you join up! Don't know what "Junk"le Bells is?  Read more here.

My First Giveaway!

Rachel over at Two Dog Pond which is in Seward, NE and just about 45 minutes away from me, is having an online benefit for one of her employee's son, Garrison. He has some significant hearing deficits and is in need of hearing aids.  The insurance isn't covering much of the cost and well, he needs these.  She has made two soldered glass pendants that she is selling with all of the profits going toward Garrison's medical needs.  Actually, she is making LOTS of pendants (I hope!).....two different designs! You can read more about Garrison here.

So, to my giveaway...I have purchased two of the pendants to give away here on my blog and of course if you don't win and want to buy one of your own or for a gift, just hop on over here to her Etsy shop.

Each of these words will speak to different people in a very personal way.

 the back of the blessed pendant

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

(unless you are the winner of this pendant then I will be blessed in giving it, you will be blessed in winning it, Rachel will be blessed in offering it, and Garrison will be blessed in receiving the benefits...)

You are loved.

the back of the loved pendant
 

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

~~:::~~

To enter, just leave a comment.  That's all.  
~~::~~

Be sure to leave me your email address if you don't have a blog where I can find you!  Are you new to my blog...never left a comment before...welcome!...please feel free to enter!
I will draw two winners on Sunday evening May 23rd.

Should you spread the word about this giveaway... it would be appreciated greatly!
 

Whew, Glad the Next Graduation is Three Years Away.

I want to say that  we've been busy. But,  I don't like that word (busy, that is).  I always say it's a four letter word and we shouldn't use it, so I'll say there have been some pressing priorities.

 We've been mulching and power washing, and repairing, and fixing....

Ok.  I definitely can't say that these paper balls were a priority, but come on....aren't they lovely?!  Hopefully, I'll show you more about them later this week.

The back yard all ready for guests.  And, there were a lot.  You just never know how many to plan for or how much food to make. 

Yeah, cloches!

And, banners....made from wallpaper books I bought when they closed a Menards store.  (if you ever get the chance to buy old wallpaper books cheap...do it!) Another non-priority but really fun to make!

Food!  I thought we had a lot, and we did.  But it was all gone by 5:30.  At the end of the night Bonnie (our graduate) was hungry and her boyfriend took her to Casey's for a piece of pizza!

Our happy graduate!  It was really a great day!

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without a Wordle, right?!  She printed this out, framed it, and placed it in her "shrine".  

It is really good to have events to press you to get things done otherwise...well, let's just say it's a good thing.  We had lots of help from family and friends getting ready and on the day.  My sister came to stay for two days and it was so nice to have her here.    We had a few challenges;  one being our refrigerator died the morning of graduation. The other big one was that our new dishwasher we bought and had installed Wed. before graduation didn't work and the part won't be in until next week.  So, the art of washing dishes by hand was revived.  Builds character I say.  Lots of character.

Now, off to buy tomatoes and peppers and seeds!   The garden has been waiting!

...Been Dusting...

I'm still trying to get ready for graduation here--so why am I blogging?!  Yeah, I know....  ANYHooo......this is a shot of part of the display area in our kitchen.  We have a vaulted ceiling with shelf space above all of the cupboards and the pantry.  This is the part with some more of my old suitcases as mentioned here.  There is also a couple of old speakers that Jim had refinished, a radio, a crock, round cheese boxes, and an old window that came from a church that I picked up on the Junk Jaunt last year.  My brother added outlets for us so we could light it up at Christmas time, but now I've added a banker's lamp for anytime.

My banner photo also came from the area in our kitchen above the cupboards.  It's a tricky place to get a photo--requires chairs on counters, straddling counters, and I should have used a tripod, but sheesh...don't have time..(getting ready for graduation you know!)