DIY home projects

I love fresh herbs! I really feel like they make most meals taste a million times better. I’ve decided to opt out of planting a vegetable garden this year, but decided I’d at least start a herb garden this spring.

It can be expensive to buy the wilted kind you can get prepackaged at the grocery store, so for me it’s worth going through the effort of making and nurturing a herb garden.I would have saved even more money if I planted them in the ground, but I wanted easy, and didn’t feel up to making a garden from scratch. Not this pregnant chica.

Anyways, the downside is I have to water them more frequently, and they probably won’t grow as big, BUT the upside is I never had to till a garden from scratch, and they sit conveniently right outside my back porch so watering is super easy. I just do it whenever I have to take the dog out, and only if they happen to need it (dry soil = watering time).

Garden Plans

(The arrangement is what I came up with after researching what herbs pot well together. Opinions range from “pair whatever you want together” to very methodical pairings. I went for a mildly methodical approach. As if mildly can even go with methodical! ).

I started with the herbs I most frequently use in cooking: basil (my personal favorite!), parsley, cilantro, rosemary, sage and mint. I recently picked up some thyme and oregano that I want to add in. I use them sometimes, but not as much, so I wasn’t in a rush to buy them, but after repotting the basil, and rosemary, I have some extra room for those extra herbs (plus, I bought four of those massive green tubs).

I originally had all the herbs I bought in the 12″ terra-cotta pots, except for basil, which prefers plastic. I read terra-cotta is the best pot you can grow herbs in (except for basil). They are wonderful little pots, but also very pricey.

The 12″ is fairly affordable (around $7-$12), but once I had to repot the herbs, paying for a 11 gal terra-cotta pot would be more like $30- $50. I’m a little too cheap for now, so I went for my homemade version: $4.58 plastic tubs from walmart, drilled underneath for drainage. Which is also much cheaper than the plastic garden pots (which ranged from $10-$20).

A little drilly-drilly on the bottom of the tubs is all it took to make the tubs into pots. I flipped over an already bought plastic pot, and copied the arrangement of holes onto my homemade kind.

I prayed a little blessing over these herbs. I don’t think I’ve ever asked for my garden to be blessed before, but already they are looking better than my herbs from previous years. Honestly, mine usually look great in the spring…but suffer from the humid summers of North Carolina, but I’m feeling optimistic about this batch, and looking forward to using them! I know my basil looks so ready to be used already!

Are you growing any herbs this year? Do you have any experience with what really grows well together? Any tips and techniques on keeping them alive through the hot summer months? haha…but seriously.

Amanda.

Hahaha, and this is how my baby is utilizing my leftover tubs:

Joy in the everyday: Scripture Chalkboard Art

March 1, 2013

DIY home projects, Joy in the everyday

4 Comments

I came across this verse in one of my quiet times with the Lord. The verses before were talking about teaching His commands…

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you
walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:7-9.

It’s one of my favorite illustrations of teaching “the way of the Lord” to my kids. But it was this bit of the verse: write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, that got me inspired to make some scripture art.

I choose Deuteronomy 6:5, Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and then I combined it with the old adage: “Lord Bless our home.” I love the idea of having scripture on my walls to “impress it on our heart and the heart of our children.”

I do believe in the power of God’s word, and having it on our walls is cool way to bring some light into the home…plus it’s so fun to get creative!

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

I also believe in being intentional about what we have in our home, and protecting it from the unnecessary and harmful. What better way to practice this than by putting God’s word that is active and alive on our walls that’s for the benefit for our family?

Here’s what I came up with.

(It’s inspired from the ever popular chalkboard art.)

For the canvases that read:”Lord Bless Our Home” I free-handed the phrase with chalk, then I went over it with craft white paint and with the smallest paint brush I had.

For the scripture canvas: I used grey carbon paper (I found mine at Michael’s by Martha Stewart), and copied the font onto the canvas with the scripture on it. I filled in the lines very carefully with white craft paint using a fine paint brush.

Before all of this, I painted the three canvases with chalkboard paint. I later added “banners” and “lights” using chalk. Or, in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, I drew the patterned background with chalk after I finished painting the letters.

Super easy, and super fun!

Amanda.

DIY Painted Pillows.

February 12, 2013

Decorating, DIY home projects

6 Comments

This was my first “sewing project” on my new sewing machine. I ordered about 2 yards of blue fabric from Joann’s for about $10. I really wanted to redo some of my sofa pillows and so I thought I’d try to pick out my own fabric and use the good old sewing machine.

Here they are:

My inspiration stemmed from the landscape photo seen above the sofa (taken by my talented brother, David Moodie). I kind of decided awhile ago I’d anchor the rest of the pieces in this room to that photo because I love it so much and it suits our families love for the mountains and being outside.

I also wanted to take a que from my wardrobe (hence the pokadots…I totally love, and would wear!). Sometimes I feel like I have more of a sense toward fashion than I do interior design so I thought my wardrobe taste would be a great place to get ideas from.

I didn’t do a perfect job at sewing the pillows, but it’s a start…

Here’s how I did it:

First, I “youtubed” a video on how to make an envelope pillow cover, and tried to follow the instructions to the best of my ability. But even before that I youtubed a bunch of videos on how to use my Janome sewing machine (wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be!).

For both of the images, I simply found them on bing images and printed them off my computer.

I then used reuseable carbon paper, and traced the image onto the pillow by placing the image on top of the carbon paper and outlining the design with a pen.

Then I painted the images with a fine paint brush, in a medium mixed with a 2:1 ratio of fabric medium and craft paint.

I just followed the fabric mediums instructions, and used low heat on the opposite side of the print to set it (I turned mine inside out). I washed the cover on delicate, with cold water, also inside out.

It was fun, it was easy, and somehow even a little therapeutic (at least when painting the repetitive circles). It brought me back to my younger years where I would draw circles over and over again on a sheet of paper and be perfectly content. A little weird, I know.

It’s neat seeing a little piece of you in everything you make. I think it can beat store-bought pillows, even though there are LOTS of cute throw pillows on the market.

Are you wanting to update your pillows? Any ideas for easy, and cheap methods?

Have an awesome day!

Amanda.

Large/Ugly Thrift Store Art Converted To A Birth Portrait

February 5, 2013

DIY home projects

4 Comments

Hey again, I’ll be linking up with Betsy for TIOT, and with Sarah from the winthrop chronicles. Fun, fun, fun!

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Say hello to this ugly 80′s art I scored from a thrift store. You can see what I did to its sister (the other large frame I bought) here.

Before:

This time I just put a can of dog food beside the photo so you could get a better idea of how big it was ( I know how deceptive photos can be). The total price was 3.00. Yay, for thrift stores!

After:

Close up (very reflective, but I zoomed in so you could see the texture).

Here was the original photo that I had enlarged to 24″ x 36″ through staples for 3.59! You just order it online and you can pick it up at the store. Pretty awesome.

The quality isn’t out of this world (the prints are not meant for photos) but it’s not bad for what you’re paying. Here’s a couple others I did, and here’s redo of one of them. P.s. the wrinkles in mine were because I used water and polymer gloss, but if you wanted a smoother finish you can try spray adhesive. I personally kind of like the aged look for this one.

I loved this moment of Asher and I. This was taken about 11 months ago and he was only a day old…but I remember feeling absolute bliss. It’s always special if you can frame amazing moments.

What I did:

Removed the backing:

Washed the dirt off the glass (back and front) with paper towel and windex.
Wiped down the frame with a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt.
I couldn’t find a way to remove the glass from the frame but I was able to use remove the matted art frame.
I taped the edge of the glass with painters frame to protect the glass when I painted the frame. I used about two widths worth. It’s not a problem if a little paint gets on the glass though, because it wipes off easy.
I painted the frame with chalkboard paint. I did this twice because I missed a couple of spots the first round.
I used the back of the 80′s art to adhere the print. I used polymer gloss, and water, but you can totally use modge podge instead.
I didn’t really wait to paint the blanket blue.
I let the whole thing dry over night, flat so it wouldn’t warp.
Oh, and I never bothered to “re-back” the frame with paper. Who really looks at it anyway?

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My husband wasn’t sure about the painted part, but he likes it now. I like it too!

Amanda.

A Frugal Life: Family Photo Frame

January 15, 2013

A Month of Frugal Living, DIY home projects

5 Comments

Hey everyone, if this is your first day, feel free to click HERE for the beginning of my month-long experiment in frugal living. Today I’ll be linking up with Betsy from Romance on a dime, for Take it on Tuesday.

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On my most recent thrift shopping excursion, I noticed how a lot of fairly large frames like this were for sale:

Have you seen these type around too? Solid frame, wire hanger, heavy, large, casing an ugly-ish piece of art? I was very happy to see them so cheap (we’re talking $3.00!).

I had been shopping for a large frame for a while, but noticed how expensive they were at Michael’s and other stores (don’t let the picture deceive you, it’s 27in x 23in). I knew I wanted some large frames for family photos, just wasn’t sure which one I’d house in this new beauty until I remembered I hadn’t found a home for our most recent family photo:

(Okay, so I couldn’t find the one we actually framed online, so this will just have to stand in for it )

It was fairly easy to convert:

I simply removed the paper backing, board and print that were attached to each other.
I then outlined the glass near the frame with some painters paint (it kind of helped).
I used a mixture of molding paste, and black paint to create a greyish tone for the frame, that I then proceeded to paint onto the frame.
About 90 % of the way through, I didn’t like how it was turning out, so I spray painted it white, and rubbed certain parts down for a distressed look. I love how it looks a little more weathered, and worn.
Once the frame was dry, I was happy to discover the residual spray paint was easy to wipe off the glass with a paper towel and windex.
Before I put our family photo in, I pasted one of my old prints from art school with some adhesion spray on top of the original flower print to create a unique backdrop to the photo.
I taped the backside of our photo onto the print, and placed it back into the frame.

We hang it in our family room above the fireplace:

Because I only paid for the frame, I’m saying the whole project cost a total of $3.00. The spray paint, and acrylic paint were from leftover projects, and the family photo had already been accounted for. It was fun to make and for a dime, you really can’t go wrong!

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Archive

DIY home projects

My Potted Culinary Herb Garden

Garden Plans

Amanda.

Joy in the everyday: Scripture Chalkboard Art

Here’s what I came up with.

Amanda.

DIY Painted Pillows.

Here they are:

Here’s how I did it:

Amanda.

Large/Ugly Thrift Store Art Converted To A Birth Portrait

Before:

After:

What I did:

Amanda.

A Frugal Life: Family Photo Frame

It was fairly easy to convert:

We hang it in our family room above the fireplace:

Amanda.

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