Lily Birthday Gift!!

Lily's birthday gift is 4 months late. Oy vey! When I was visiting, she showed her mom and I a picture of a terra cotta pot with candy in it, like they are flowers. (I'd give credit here, but I don't know where she got it.) So, I was feeling a bit crafty and thought I'd give it a try it.

I was lucky to find such a cute pot! I put floral foam in the pot. I used small wood BBQ skewers to hold the candy. I used a hot glue gun and put it on the skewer and then put the skewer on the candy seam (so you don't see the skewers in the back either). I cut some down with scissors to make them different sizes.

I think it came out cute, if I do say so my self!!

My new favorite things - Ana and Knock-off Wood!

My sister Kate told me about knock-off wood (KOW) in passing and I must say I am glad she did!! It is my new favorite site to visit and I love checking out what everyone has to say on FB. I'm totally addicted. So much so, that I got Steve to show me how to use the circular saw and the miter saw. (See fence post - Steve showed me how to use the circular saw on that!) KOW is a site where Ana White provides FREE plans on all types of furniture. I liked so many things, I just felt compelled to try to make something.

The projects I decided to do first were the tryed tables for my back yard and a bench that I've been wanting for our pool deck. I've been asking Steve to make a bench for forever, and he was more than pleased I was attempting it myself.

The top of the table is not attached because I wanted to stain it first. Since I bought pressure treated wood, the people at orange told me to wait a month to stain... I'm getting impatient to make them look done :)

Below is the bench. I definitely see my mistakes in this, but I'm still pleased with it. Steve asked me to make another bench so it goes to the end of the deck! I thought that was the best compliment :) This will be stained white like the deck.

New Fence!

I've been buggin Steve, an buggin Steve, an buggin Steve (over a year now) to put up a fence on the side of the house. The area is pretty big, but it is my favorite spot in the yard because 1) it is shady and 2) that is where my hammock is. But, that is the same spot where you can see everything on the street. I just wanted a little privacy, but I still wanted to see out and around so I could still see the kids (and all the action that just doesn't happen on our street :).

So we agreed to turn my rock wall, move some trees that Steve really liked that have been next to the screen porch and we agreed what direction we wanted the fence to go in. Whew, a few things we agreed on.

But... we couldn't agree on how we were going to do it. Really, a few weeks more of discussion. My mom was over one day and gave us the best suggestion - to put the fence between our trees! Yeah mom!

Then there was the fence. Vinyl, wood, composite? 4 feet, 6 feet? solid or slats? We finally found one we really liked at a local place! Yeah! But I couldn't live with $165 for one link of fence, then another $125 for one post. UGH!!! So, Steve agreed to make one for me. Great man!! He wanted a stockade look and I wanted the slats. I think at this point he agreed just cause :)

In the pic below, the fence on the left just has standing pieces that aren't attached. There is a gate there too, just for me cause I HAD to have it :).

This is a front (side) view of the fence!
And wouldn't you know it ~ right after I worked on this post, I went out to mulch my front garden bed. Steve worked on his veggie garden and then went out to finish my fence! YEAH! I'll have to take pics of it when it is light out :)