Gardening with the Konrads...

I have many fond memories of gardening with my mom when I was a little girl.  She had a pretty big vegetable garden and planted flowers in every nook and cranny.  We would eat tomatoes like apples, carrots with dirt on them, and more peas raw than I can remember.  We initiated kids to the neighborhood by showing them our "red celery" AKA rhubarb and some of them even tasted it!  We played baseball in our back yard with ghost runners, and got paid to pick slugs of the potato plants (If I remember it was only a couple cents per slug)!

I've been attempting to garden the past few summers with very little luck.  Container gardening in apartment patios probably works if you are determined.  I wasn't.  The summer I met Matt, I had an awesome tomato plant that grew like crazy, but it frosted before any of the tomatoes turned into actual edible tomatoes.

Well, now that we have our own place, this is something I have wanted to do.  We have a pretty big back yard, although the back 2/3 of it is wilderness (we made a fire pit up there so it feels like we're camping whenever we want!).  Anyway, we put some raised bed garden boxes around the patio today.  Hopefully on a warm summer night, we will get fresh smells of growing plants wafting around our patio as we share a BBQ dinner with friends or family!

Here's what we needed:

• several untreated pieces of wood (no chemicals in this garden)
• screws
• we needed a saw to cut some of the wood, but if you know what you want and don't have one Lowe's will cut wood for you.  Home Depot will not.
• a power drill will come in handy!

Here's what we did:
--We planned to build 3 boxes.  The first at 12 ft x 4 ft.  Another at 16 ft. x 4 ft.  These two will be 12 inches high, so we'll need to double up the sides.  The last at 3 ft. x 3 ft.  This one will be just one layer.
1. Cut wood pieces to desired length.

2. We started by assembling the ends of the boxes.  We drilled the actual exterior panels to a block that works as a stabilizer in the corners of the boxes.  Then we added the sides on.  To make sure that the sides were aligned and stayed in place, we put another stabilizing piece about half way on each long side.  (Sorry there are not pictures of these stages. I was either 1. helping Matt, or 2. attacking the weed patch!)

In all, it took us about 2 hours to build them and set them in place.
 
Now for the DIRT! And a new patio table and chairs!

(Some friendlies!)

Too many utensils, not enough space? Plant flowers...er...silverware!

We have a severe lack of kitchen space and our actual kitchen cabinetry included 1 small drawer.  I refinished an old dresser and book shelf last summer to add some storage.  Then I found another dresser/ hutch and altered it to add more storage.  

Still, we had very little drawer space and I am a chef, so I have many utensils that need happy little homes.  So, after seeing this idea on Pinterest, I decided to give my larger utensils a bit more room to swim and place our silverware their our place to blossom!
Here's what you'll need: 
Small-ish flower pots
spray paint 
cork fabric
buttons
string
scrap paper
hot glue gun!

1. I found flower pots at the dollar store.  They had big, ugly floral decals on them so I chose spray paint in coordinating colors and sprayed away!  You can't even tell they had prints on them!

2. I picked out various buttons of matching colors to put on the rim to give it a little zip!

3. Then I tied the tag I made by stamping the letter of the utensils that belong in this particular pot (s=spoons, f=forks, k=knives) around the rim as well.  I tied a bow.  Really, you could step any extra decorative steps if you wanted, but I like my things to have a little personality!

 4. Then I added a layer of cork to the bottom with hot glue as well.  This is so that the pots don't slip around or stick to the surface of the buffet upon which these beauties will sit.

 Here's the finished product.  I think they turned out CUTE!  Thanks Pinterest!

Remember to bloom where you are planted!

a new table...

Our other table was lovely and huge.  We were able to sit 12 around it comfortable, when we had room to pull out the leaves and set that many chairs around it.  It measured 69x37 inches without the leaves.  We enjoyed it while it lasted, but when we moved to our new house...we downsized and over the past couple weeks, I realized that it had to go.  If anyone was ever in either the kitchen or living room and someone was sitting at the table, the other would be trapped.  So, we posted it on Craigslist and it found a new home.

So, I bought some wood, glue, screws, stain/sealant and some prefab table legs and I have been working on said table.

I have to top and legs constructed but it still needs to be stained.

  

I had 5 pieces of plain white wood.  I paid attention to the grain pattern and texture as I chose the pieces.  I asked the nice man at Lowes to cut them to 56 inches.  I drilled holes in the sides of the planks of wood and placed dowels and glues them together with wood glue.  For each set of planks, I allowed the glue time to dry before attempting to do the other planks.  This step takes patience and focus because if the wood is warped or you drill the holes cadiwampus, you will have a very uneven surface.  After it all dried, I did have a few uneven edges.  I ended up running back to Lowes to purchase a hand-held plainer.  It took a few times to get the feel for it, but it helped significantly in evening out and smoothing the top.  Then I sanded the entire surface outside with my electric sander (round, bought at Big Lots for 1/2 price, works great!).  After that, I drilled three supports to the underside spaced about every 18 inches or so.  This helps it to be more stable and maintain it's form.  It isn't perfect but it looks pretty darn good! It's now 56x31 inches! That's as far as I got!

I am looking forward to the finished product.  A rustic, homey, pine table with mix-matched chairs where we can enjoy an intimate game of Balderdash or Scrabble!

Well, Hello Mr. President...

Over the long weekend, we started many a project and completed a few...

Here's what my "TO DO" list entailed, not in any particular order of importance:
1. Build kitchen table
2. Finish kitchen storage project (for lack of better terminology)
3. Work on wall decor
4. Build garden boxes
5. Attend a Saturday appointment
6. Shop/ buy kitchen chairs (seeking the mix-matched look)
7. Write a letter to a dear old friend

First of all, I want to acknowledge that when it comes to home improvement, one never knows exactly what they are doing.  One may THINK they know what they are doing. They can plan, measure, make lists, etc., but as soon as one commences said project, one realizes that he/she needs just ONE more thing from a local hardware store.  Thus, one makes a trek to the store and purchases said item, and often a few others that deem themselves worthy.  Then, upon returning to reintegrate into said project one realizes...there is still something missing.

What a metaphor!  No matter how much we are prepared, it is quite possible that we are never completely prepared for what life throws our way.  However, we have a choice to make do with what you have (even if that means that things may be done incorrectly or with inadequate supplies), to persevere and push through and make it right, or to give up.  I'd like to think that I am the sojourner that perseveres, but I am sure when times have called that I have fallen into any one of the three.

With that said, I had a list and I love nothing more than to check things off my list, so I pushed through to the best of my ability and we made many a trip to Lowes and/ or Home Depot over the course of our project-filled weekend.  I'll just say that we averaged 2 trips a day and sometimes more!

I will blog about each project independently.  Enjoy our creative vibes!

Valentine's Day--Rose Wreath...

This idea came from Pinterest once again!  I am in love with all of the creative, unique and thrifty ideas that I come across on a daily basis.  This one was particularly fun!

What you will need:

•  wreath form (wire or Styrofoam would work)
•  fabric or burlap (optional)
•  coffee filters
•  dye
•  masking tape
•  glue gun
•  wide ribbon

Here's what I did:

1. I mixed acrylic paints with water to make a solution to dye the coffee filters.  I mixed various shades of pink and made some green and cream ones too.  Then they needed to dry.  Here they are drying on the table!

2. I wrapped my wreath form in a strip of burlap, but you could probably skip this step or use any coordinating strip of fabric or ribbon.

3. Then after the filters dried, you begin making the flowers.  To make larger flowers, you take 3 filters and fold them in half twice.  Cutting out the center in a scalloped pattern.  The you twist the three centers adhering one end to the masking tape.  You are then going to fold the rest into pleats along the masking tape until you have folded all three filters along the tape. 

 

For smaller flowers, just cut the filter into a spiral and begin pleating along the tape. Follow instructions below to form a full flower.

4. Once you have the strip of pleated filter, you will begin rolling it starting with the centers and attempt to make it look like a flower!  Beware: If you wind it too tight, it makes the flower harder to blossom.  If you do it too loose, it doesn't like as much life a flower.  There IS a happy medium that comes as you get the feel for it.

5. Then you begin adhering the flowers to the wreath form in a random order.  I didn't really think too much about this as I did it. I did try to keep the larger flowers spaced out a bit and spaced the same colored flowers out, but I think it came together real nice!

6. Then...you lace the ribbon through and tie a bow at the top so that it can hang!  I got a spool of $1.00 ribbon at Michaels!

This one was pretty time consuming, but I LOVE IT!!!  And I finished it with two days left til Valentine's Day, so we got to enjoy it, but it'll be ready for next year!

Superbowl.

We don't like the Patriots.  We don't particularly care about the Giants either.  However, our dislike of the patriots superseded all things Superbowl related.  Thus, we cheered for the Giants.  So I did crafts!

I made a couple shirts for us to look like fans.  I think they were the extra edge Eli Manning needed in those last few minutes.  I also made a little banner.  Here's the how to:

For my shirt, I just stamped letters in the team colors onto a cheap t-shirt from Old Navy.

For Matt's shirt, I did an iron-on transfer onto a cheap shirt from Fred Meyer.  You find a design, print it on the "iron-on" special paper (found at most craft stores; left over from a different project at my house!), place it on the shirt and carefully iron making sure it adheres completely.

Here we are!

NEXT YEAR: SEAHAWKS BABY!!!

DIY Fabric Strips Wreath

Due to Pinterest, I have recently formed a love affair with wreathes!  And Just for your information, I am one of those people that needs to be busy.  Busy with my hands.  It calms and distracts me. 

While I was at the hospital waiting for my mom to undergo and recover from her recent surgery, I worked on this.  It was the perfect project.  I didn't need a lot of space.  It was methodical and rhythmic--relaxing.

Here's what you will need:

• A wire hanger
• several strips of 1"x7" fabrics of coordinating colors (approx. 150)
• wide ribbon

That's it.  Amazing!

Here's the how to:

1. Unwrap wire hanger and form it into a circular shape.  This takes some manipulating, but eventually it will be right.  I used a bit of tape to secure the connection, but it would have probably stayed if I had just started tying fabric to secure it.

2. Then start tying fabric. Just tied them all in the same direction and spaced them out in a pattern so that the same color wasn't repeated too close.  Kept tying until the wire hanger was completely filled.  Then I tied a few more around just to give it some more body.

3. Loop a wide ribbon around and tie a bow at the point at which you would like it to hang down.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Y'all!