My kids know that I love trash to treasure crafts, so when they found a really interesting book about using empty soda bottles to make jewelry, they bought it for me for a great Mother’s Day gift. The name of the book is Magical Butterflies by Donna Manchester. She gives directions (and lots of pictures) on how to use empty plastic soda bottles, paint, wire and beads to make really gorgeous pins. I think that I already have most of the supplies to make some of them myself. I’m looking forward to giving it a try!
Rustic dining table
by Mary AnneOne of my favorite summertime childhood memories involves my parents holding a big crab feast at the cabin. They had a large stone barbecue fireplace that they would fire up and cook the crabs in a HUGE kettle. Then they spread newspapers over the cabin’s rustic dining table and put out potato chips, soda, and all of the boiled crabs you could eat! I never ate a lot of crabs, but I enjoyed the festive feeling of everyone else pounding and cracking the shells. Me, I loaded up on potato chips and soda and I was happy that my parents didn’t pay much attention to how much I wasn’t eating.
Flower boxes
by Mary AnneThis is the time of year when I enjoy going to different nurseries in the area and see what beautiful window boxes they have on display and for sale. One of my favorite ways to make my own house more attractive is by lining the sides of the porch with flower boxes that are filled with blooming annuals.
My favorite way to do that is to take an empty windowbox and put some peastone or gravel in the bottom of it, then take the purchased annuals (still in their flower pots) and set them inside the window box. Pack them as tightly as possible, and then fill in around the pots with cedar mulch. My grandmother taught me this method when I went up to the farm to visit her in the summertime, and every time I prepare the window boxes I am reminded of the good times I had with my grandparents on the farm. This method is quick and easy to do, and by swapping out the annuals as they fade I can keep the porch looking pretty for a very long time.
Silly little toy
by Mary AnneHave you every played with one of those silly little toys that looks like hundreds of dull nails in a perforated board of some kind, with a clear piece of glass or plastic on one side so you can make the nails go up and down in different shapes? I can’t remember when I bought this little toy for my now-adult son; I’m thinking it was probably when he was around ten or so. The toy is one of those things that people will play with for a short period of time and then pack it away forever. Well, yesterday I was sorting through the boxes of “junk” that my son cleaned out from his room. I wanted to see how much was actual “trash” and throw it away before moving the rest of the stuff down into the dark bowels of the house that we call “the basement.”
Well, I came across this silly little toy and for some crazy reason I pulled it aside and put it beside my computer keyboard. Every now and then it catches my attention (it is bright yellow) and I stop and play with it for a couple of minutes. Then I think to myself “what a complete waste of time this is” and put it back down. I can’t decide whether to give it to a thrift store like Goodwill, put it in “the basement” or throw it away. Somehow the pack rat in me keeps whispering in my ear that I should create a toy chest of odds and ends like this so that if and when company comes over with some kids that get bored I can pull it out and let them play with it. I wonder if they would think it was totally lame or if they would like it. What do you think?
The wood gazebo
by Mary AnneI wish that I could explain it, but I’ve always felt that there is a romantic charm intricately linked within a wood gazebo. When I drive by a park that has a gazebo in it, I think of Independence Day celebrations in my past when I would be taken by my parents to the town’s largest park where a band would be sitting in the gazebo, playing uplifting celebratory songs. We would take a picnic with us and spread a blanket out on the grass and eat, while enjoying the music until dark. Then the fireworks would begin. Sometimes I think it would be really great to have a gazebo in my own back yard, as part of a beautiful garden.