Homemade Spring Wreath

I'm a big wreath fan now and want to have one for every season. It just makes the front door and house look so welcoming.

I'm so in love with the wreath I made for Spring/Easter and had to share!!

I love grape vine wreaths. They are so inexpensive at any craft store. This one was around $4.00 at Michael's. Use the 40% coupons to get them for next to nothing. Sure beats the $30+ premade ones!

I may add some ribbon or something to jazz it up a bit still, but I'm perfectly happy with it as is.

And yes, I made all the felt flowers myself!! I'm obsessed with felt lately.  I'm planning on making some gorgeous hair bands for my daughter with some more of these flowers. It's the easiest craft in the world.

I'll do a post on how to make them in the next few days. Just have to get the pics off my camera first. No small task considering I've been home alone all week with a 9 month old into everything while Daddy was on a training trip. I also have some more Spring/Easter decorations to share. Some of the cutest ones from the Dollar Store!

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Tiffany' Garden: Seedlings

I've really loved having a vegetable garden the past few years. Nothing fancy, mostly tomatoes, peppers, giant squash,  an eggplant and such. I didn't even like tomatoes until I tasted one fresh picked from the garden. You realize how gross and flavorless everything is from the grocery store.

The past few years I've bought plants from the nursery, Lowe's, Home Depot, or Walmart...and they worked out fine. But I've always looked longingly at all the beautiful displays of seeds. Considering my track record with killing countless poor, potted plants, I didn't think I could pull it off.

 I realized that I was letting my fears hold me back from doing something potentially very enjoyable and fulfilling. And fears of what...spending a few dollars on seeds, not getting any to grow, then going out and buying some plants like I usually do anyways??

So I bit the bullet and went for it!

I may have gone a little overboard..I got a little seed-happy considering they are only $0.20 to $1.00 each.  I got them all over the place...Home Depot, Walmart, and a local Garden Center. Walmart had a lot of choices for $0.20, so might be a good place to start.

And...I've got seedlings now!!!

I got a few seed trays at Home Depot. Best place I found for them.. Walmart and the garden center didn't have the ones I wanted, the kind I can use again next year. Although I was there again a week ago and things were already picked over.

I'm trying all kinds of goodies..3 kinds of tomatoes, couple of peppers, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, beans, peas, broccoli. I'm also trying to get some herbs going from seeds: basil, rosemary, tarragon, dill, cilantro, chives. So far everything has sprouted except some lavender. The broccoli is kind of toppled over and not looking so great. I'm also looking to get a raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry plant.

You can see in this picture how all my little guys bend towards the sun. Isn't that so amazing??

I rotate them everyday to try and keep them straight.

I got these "Jiffy Pots" at the garden center. You can plant them directly in the garden. Not reusable, but fairly cheap..$0.10 for the small ones, not much more for the big ones.

Once I saw how good my veggies were doing, I decided to get even crazier and start some Annual flowers from seeds (the pretty kinds you plant every year) and some Perennials (the kind that come back each year). Perennials are usually $5-7 each, so I figure even if I can get one going, it would more than pay for the seeds.

It's hard to see, but I've got little seedlings already. I'll let you know how it works out and if I get anything I can actually use.

You can see I'm putting my scientist skills to good use, keeping a gardening notebook. I've got maps of my planters and notes like when the plants were started and some of the info from the seed packets like how long until harvest, how big the plants are supposed to get, etc. I'm hoping to keep it up so next year I know what works or not.

So you can see, we don't have very a very high-tech operation going on over here. A card table and dog crate. I don't even have seed lights. Maybe next year.

Side note..this is my poor dining room/green house right now. A good "Before" picture. We sold our table set to friends and repainted. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do in there. It's kind of fun being able to start from scratch, but also a little intimidating. I'll be sharing some ideas and the progress I make.

My husband got excited about the garden, so he offered to build me a "raised bed". And boy did I get one! He wanted to make sure it was high enough so the dog doesn't go tearing through (which he totally would).  This should keep him out! :) I love it though.

Even if I get one that I can get one plant to the garden and get one veggie from it, I would consider the work and experience more than worth it. I'll share my garden progress through the season and what I'm learning along the way. I'm planning on trying my hand at canning this year too...maybe try some spaghetti sauce, salsa, or pickles. Keep your fingers crossed that I actually get some things to grow!!

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Recyclebank and ThredUp

I'm in a "Green" mood today, getting my home garden started (I'm trying to grow veggies from seeds this year!), so I thought I'd share these 2 recycling websites that I like.



The first is Recyclebank. I'll be honest that I really just like it for the high value coupons. They occassionally have little games or videos to watch on recycling and such and you get points that you can redeem for the coupons. MoneySavingMom has a instructions on how to get 70 pts. here. Click around, there might be other points available still.

I was cashing in on 7 coupons for Free HappyBaby Products (we love the organic cereal and puffs) for 50 pts..but, bummer, they just changed it to 200 pts.  You can put in your zip code for local deals. Now I'll probably redeem my points for the $5 off a $40/$50 purchase at 2 of my local grocery stores for 30 pts.

Not bad for hardly any work. Plus you might learn something too...did you know that your typical grocery store carrot has to travel around 1,000 miles to get there?? Crazy.




I also wanted to mention an online clothing "swap" called ThredUp.  You can use 30 pts on Recyclebank to save $5 off your first ThredUp purchase, making it around $10 for a box of used childrens' clothing. It's normally $15.95/box...$5/box and $10.95 for shipping.  (I can also send you an email referral for a $5 off coupon if you'd like..shoot me an email or leave a comment).

Here is a link to how it works. Basically you can pick from the listed boxes of clothes in the gender, size, and season you need, and then, in return you list and send away a box of your child's clothes you no longer need. Kind of a neat way to recycle.

I thought I'd give it a try for some basic play clothes for the Summer. I was really happy with the particular box I picked.

I had a discount, so this is what I got for about $11:

8 - onsies: 6 carter's, 1 baby gap, 1 cherokee.
1 carter's long sleeve onsie
4 classic pooh items: 1 jean shorts, 1 jeans, 1 short sleeve button up, 1 long sleeve shirt.
2 just one year items: white shirt with matching green polka dot pants
1 carter's blue shorts
1 baby gap sweater
1 children's place purple short overalls
1 genuine kids jean short overalls
1 KRU denim jumper
2 carter's items: long sleeve hoodie and matching pants
1 carter's long sleeve t shirt

I was a little nervous after I placed the order that I was going to get a box of junk I couldn't use that wasn't even worth the $10, but everything I got in this particular box was really cute and in great condition. I'm really happy and think it was worth it. I can probably get by for the Summer with just these things.

Although, I should mention though that some of the boxes looked like they might be disappointing and probably not worth the money. Some tips: Sort boxes by gender and size. I'd suggest picking a box from a high rated sender and one with a link to a picture (most don't have pictures, just a list...the surprise is supposed to be part of the "fun", but I'm not big on surprises.



Happy Recycling..and couponing and getting cheap used kid's clothes!

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Spa Music at Home

I love the tips in your last posts Brittany on working through negative energy days and breaking the routine.  It's usually the little things that make the biggest difference.

For example, I've started turning the TV off more during the day and spending less time on the computer (as you may have noticed by my absence lately!). Instead we've been listening to relaxing music and it's making a HUGE difference.

I tend to need to have the TV on all day for "background noise". Instead I went out and got this CD player on Amazon:

Remember those?? It's like a MP3 player but you have to put these giant "compact discs" in there that only play like 10 songs at a time...you know me and technology! :)  Although it does come with an MP3 cable if needed. I really like it. I have some older relaxing music Cd's I wanted to be able to play and also went and got some additional Cd's. This was also great to have on our last trip to play our usual lullaby music for the baby when we put her to sleep (in a crib!) in the hotel bathroom!

I wanted to find some "spa music" to play during the day at home. Can you imagine a spa experience without the music?? I think we underestimate and forget how healing and restorative music really is, and I wanted to see if I could bring some of that relaxing, peaceful atmosphere to my home.

I found that Amazon is a great place to find music. You can buy the CD, MP3 album, or individual MP3s. They have samples of just about everything and you can check out user reviews. You may also be able to find some nice MP3s for free!

 I did searches for "spa music" and "relaxation music" and "sound healing". After sorting through the options I ended up getting these:


Sound Healing


Spa Dreams


and Canyon Trilogy

All heavy on the flute with a touch, but not too much New Age-ness, which I discovered I like best.  You may like something totally different..and should be able to find it.

I feel so at peace now working around the house and started spending more time playing with my baby girl. I even got my husband to listen to music in the morning instead of watching the news, which I noticed was causing him to start off his day being upset and angry...which would usually last most of the day. He said he notices the difference already, after only a few days, and I see such great changes in him already. It's just hard to get stressed or worried with relaxing music in the background.

We are even thinking of getting rid of cable for the Summer now. I'm just so sick of zoning out in front of the TV. I love the idea of sitting outside, hanging out with my husband and friends in the evenings, working in the garden with my baby girl during the day. Kind of scary and drastic, but I will let you know if we go through with it!

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Breaking the Routine

I wanted to add something that I find REALLY helps keep me in a good mood. Throwing off the routine a bit. I say "a bit" because I believe routines are a good thing. It keeps us on track and helps get things done. But do you ever feel like you are going through a rut? That every day starts to feel exactly the same?

This was my husband and my night-time routine for a solid two weeks... Make dinner, eat dinner on the couch while watching Scrubs, sit on the couch playing around on our computers while some other random show played on TV, then finally give our full attention to the TV and channel surf until its time for bed.

After about a week of that something started to feel not right. We were totally losing touch with each other and losing touch with myself to be honest. So for the next couple days, we ate dinner at the table... ok I would really love to say I turned the TV off so we could have a nice conversation, but Scrubs is just one of those things I look forward to watching! And during commercials I would turn the TV down and we would talk :) But AFTER dinner is where I cut out the TV. No one needs that much TV in the evenings! Instead Austin and I will try and do something together. One of our favorite things to do is play a competitive video game. Ok I know what you are thinking, video games are still TV. But at least we are interacting, laughing, and having so much fun with it! One of our favorite games is still Mario Kart! I'm thinking about buying some board games to play in the evening as well (if you know any good ones let me know!)

The other night it was absolutely gorgeous out! So we last minute decided to have a bon fire in our backyard on a Tuesday night, called up some of our friends and had a great time! Who says you have to wait until the weekend to do stuff like that? Really helped to break up the week!

So after a week of trying some new routine type stuff, I really noticed a difference in both our moods! And we were definitely more connected with each other.

Again changing your routine doesn't have to be anything drastic (try taking a new route to work) it just something to break up the monotony of life.

Let me know if there are any little routine breakers that you guys come up with!

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My Big Spring Purge!

This month I've been working on (as Tiffany called it) "Spring purging". I'm doing all that I can to clear my mind, body, soul, and house of negative energy and clutter. I'm working to make myself and my surroundings feel lighter and fresher.

One of the things I have been working on is spring cleaning and landscaping and it feel soooooo good! I really believe a clean, un-cluttered house is the key to peace and happiness! My mind feels so much more calm when the house and yard are in order. It is a lot of work, but I always feel really good after a day of yard work or cleaning. Because I know I've worked hard and I can see the results.

Something I have to work on rather regularly is defusing negative energy. Unfortunately negative energy is so strong. I've said this before, but being a happy positive person doesn't always come super natural to me. Fighting negative energy is just something I might have to always battle with. But I'm okay with that, I think being a positive person is worth it! When I feel that negative energy creeping up, there has been some things that I have been doing to try and get rid of it that I would like to share with you all. It seems to have been working for me so maybe it will work for you too, if you struggle with negative energy as I do (and I think it effects all of us from time to time.)

1. I have been taking a lot of B vitamins, the "happy vitamins", and I think I really notice a difference. I feel calmer and more focused. My mind isn't as easily stressed out about all I need to do that day. I've been trying to drink water all day as well.

2. If I happen to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, which happens quite a bit, I will come downstairs and turn on some calming, yet up-lifting music and open the window a crack, even if it's cold out. Then I sit and take a couple deep breathes and fill my mind with thoughts of spring! The music and fresh air really help cleanse the soul.

3. Taking a walk is one of the best things you can do for yourself I think. When I walk now, I try to clear my mind of the days tasks. I try to use my walk as time to clear my head and take in the beauty of the world around me!

4. I know I repeat this a lot, but that's because it is so important! A clean house! I know it isn't always easy to keep a clean house. To be honest mine is rarely squeaky clean. But it is definitely something I am trying to work on this month. Because I notice such a huge difference in my mood when the house is clean!

5. I always give myself something to look forward to. Something short term, like getting the chance to hang out with my husband that night and the fun stuff we could do. Something long term, I always try to have something planned for that weekend. And something long long term, Austin and I are always planning our next trip together! All this really helps keep my mind focused on all the fun positive stuff ahead!

Well these were just a few things that I have been doing lately that I wanted to share. I will be writing more about My Big Spring Purge soon!!!

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DIY: Heirloom White Decorating

I feel like every frugal decorating blog I've visited has mentioned being obsessed with Rustoleum's Heirloom White spray paint. I didn't quite get it.. it's just white spray paint, right??

But I have seem some amazing transformations using it, taking collections of mismatched things, like dishes, frames, candlesticks, etc., painting them all heirloom white and getting amazing results.

Like Centsational Girl using Heirloom white to turn all this:

To THIS in the post here... 

So yeah... I went ahead and picked some up the last time I was with my husband at Home Depot.

I can home and was frantic to find something to paint.

This ugly cheap plastic green flower pot was the first thing I spotted.

By the way, I went out and got this plant (at Home Depot) after much debate over the fake plant I was debating keeping at the end of this post. I decided you just couldn't beat the real thing. It makes me so happy every time I see it, as opposed to the fake one, as nice as it was.

Especially now, after a quick heirloom white makeover....

After seeing the color in person, I totally get why everyone loves it. It looks like an antique white.. something that was originally a bright white that has aged beautifully over time. I am obsessed now and am constantly on the lookout for things around my house to bring back to life with a little spray paint.

I think I may make a trip to the dollar store tomorrow to see it there are any hideous Easter decorations like these:

And use my now beloved heirloom white to turn them into these babies:

I'll share how any other projects turn out!

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