Onwards and Upwards Weekend at Jennifer Grace Creates

What are you doing the weekend of May 10th?  How about joining me for 3 days of cyber fun at Jennifer Grace Creates.  Here is how Jennifer describes it:

The ‘Onwards and Upwards’ weekend will take place right here on Friday 10^th – Sunday 12^th May 2013. Posts will go live every hour from 4pm – 10pm Friday, and then 10am – 10pm Saturday and Sunday (BST), with a mix of giveaways, tutorials, challenges, inspiration, a blog hop, and more! The event graphics above show you a glimpse at some of the projects that will be featured, and the prizes that will be given away. But there will be more, lots more!

The theme for the weekend is loosely inspired by my word of the year ‘Progress’ (see my word of the year layout here). However, ‘Onwards and Upwards’ is about all kinds of things, including: hopes and dreams, resolutions and goals, uplifting quotes and sentiments, travel, trying new things, positive reinforcements, finding direction, or just looking to the skies for subject matter or embellishments (clouds, planes, birds, hot air balloons, and more)!

I hope you’ll be able to join me for the weekend! The giveaways will stay open until Monday (13th May 2013) at 10.59pm BST, so if you’re away for the weekend you’ll have Monday to try and catch up! The challenges will be open until the following Sunday (19th May 2013) too!

There will be a PDF download available after the event, featuring all the highlights from the weekend, so you can keep them all at hand for future reference (the PDF from the last event, Frosty Festivities, is HERE if you missed it!).

The giveaway is open internationally, and will close at 12.00am on the 7th of May 2013. The winner will be announced between then and the start of the event on the 10th.

So, what do you think?  This will be Jennifer's 3rd time to host this amazing weekend party.  I am happy to say that I participated in the last 2 and had so much fun.  You can read about those here and here.

For encouragement, Jennifer is giving away a prize pack of Fancy Pants Trendsetter.  Go here to read more about it.

Hope to see you there!

Spring Blooms

This is our new outdoor project.

Ain't it purty!  There's two grape vines planted on each end.

I think it makes a purty background to these gorgeous blooms.

And speaking of blooms, see how bright and beautiful these blooms really are?  Can you see my frog sitting there?


This is the circle drive behind my house.  Look at all those blooms.

















Here's a closer view.  These were just small plantings last summer.

This is the other side.


















This larger one is a year older than the others.


















These two also.


















First year for my azaleas too.

These look red in the pic, but they are actually a very pretty coral.

The pinks are just starting to bloom.

These just come up on their own.  They are native to this area.

This is a closer view of them.

These too, but they are all too small to try to photograph.

I just wanted to share my beautiful surroundings with you.

Recycled Wreath

Here's another recycle project.  A Spring Wreath.

I actually got the idea from surfing the web, and I honestly don't remember the site I found it on.  Sorry.  If it is yours, just let me know and I will post a link to it.

So, let's get started.  A hanger and plastic bags are all you need.  Oh, and a pair of scissors.

I wish I had kept up with how many bags it took but I forgot.  It was under 10 for sure though.

First, round out your hanger as shown.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does need to be round.  The strips will hide the flaws.  I left the hook part on, but I did bend it down toward the circle some to keep it from showing.

I folded each bag in half, then in half again.  Then I cut strips from it.  I then opened each strip and cut several shorter strips.  They ended up about 1 to 2" wide and 5 to 7" long.  I intentionally cut them different widths and lengths because I thought they would look good that way, but in the end I had to trim it a bit to not look so scraggly.

Each strip then gets tied on individually and mooshed (my word of the day) together.  They are loosely tied, otherwise you stretch them out of shape.  This is 2 days later.

This is the finished product after 6 days of working on it.  As I said before, I had to trim and shape it.

It looks like I used a boa, doesn't it?

This is what it looks like hanging on my living room wall.  It's bright and cheery.








I think I'll try "Walmart" blue next.

Handy Tip #2

I'm back with another handy tip.

These cardboard containers are so neat.

You just pop the top and pour.

Trouble is, the container doesn't empty totally.  It always leaves some liquid behind.

Well, I'll show you my solution for this.

Pull both end pieces loose where they are glued down.

Clip a corner off.  You can do this parallel or adjacent to the top.  It doesn't matter.

Now you can pour the remaining liquid out.  Problem solved.

Doesn't my leek soup look delish. (It was!)

Now, don't just throw that container in the trash as is.  That would take up too much space.  Always reduce when possible.

Lay it on it's side and flatten it down.

It may take a little pressure but the bottom will fold down flat too.

See?  Just think how much more trash can fit into your trash bag now.








I know this idea is common sense but I'm sharing it with you in case you haven't thought of it before.

Oh, and one more thing...you can buy these at the Dollar Tree for only...you guessed it, $1.00.  Or if they are out, as they sometimes are, you can get them from the Dollar General for $1.25.  Either way, that's way better than paying over $2.00 at the grocery stores.  Double tip.   Score!!