Finding that Stud...

When Cole and I got married we got some of the
most amazing dishes and stemware. Oh boy did we get stemware. We had inherited my Grandmas crystal and received a lot of really cool glasses. When we moved into our new house we were psyched to pull out all of our wedding gifts and put them on display. We have lots of cupboard space in our new house, nice tall cupboards. To our surprise though it wasn't enough space. Take a look.....

See those are some full cupboards.

So after I was inspired by all of the open air shelves on Young House Love, I decided I needed one. I also had just the place in mind for my new shelf. We have this big wall next to the fridge with an awkward sized chalkboard. I knew I wanted to do something with the wall but I didn't know what. Here are some pics so you can visualize the wall that needs love. 

Knowing I wanted a new shelf I set out to my local Home Depot. Guess where I headed to first in that grand ol' store? You guessed it the cull bin, and would you believe that I found my shelf board for $0.51. Woop Woop! God I love the cull bin. Now for my not so proud moment. When I went to find the brackets for the shelf they were expensive and they didn't have a great selection. I am not a huge fan of the scroll look which was a few bucks cheaper but I opted for the $9.99 version. Yeah, I paid twenty bucks for the brackets. I guess I rationalized it because I only spent $.51 for the shelf and I had the paint. (Oh yeah the hardware is included with the brackets)

 I added two lovely coats to my shelf and brackets for that semi-gloss finish that I love.

 Then late into the night I solicited the help of Cole to hang the beauty. He was reluctant because he was headed straight to the couch in the family room, beer in hand. Thanks again babe! You are the best. Below you can see Cole struggling with the math. His measurements were not lining up, to our surprise it was because I kept moving the brackets not knowing he was measuring.. Sorry... By the way to all of you instant gratification readers like myself, I have learned that you must find the stud in the wall when hanging things. I have always been a "put a nail in the wall and call it good," kinnda girl. Now that I have Lucy I fear that everything I put on the wall will fall on her sweet head. So I am extra paranoid about finding the stud and making it sturdy. Especially when I am hanging crazy heavy shelves.

 Finding that stud and screwing in the stuff. Looking good Cole. Who knew "we" were so handy.

 Then we hung the shelf and the hardware and I added some finishing touches. Oh yeah "we" re-centered the chalkboard too.

 Done and done. Now we can relax and have a beer... It was ten at night.

 

I couldn't help but decorate the shelf ASAP. I secretly wanted to make sure it could hold the weight of some sturdy things. So I loaded it up with out margarita glasses..(Yum Margaritas..) Side thought entirely, if you know anything about the Pioneer Woman, which I do. She is awesome. She makes these margaritas that look amazing... Check out her site here and buy the book to get the recipe. They would look so good in my glasses. I also added my big bean pot. I love it and it has been hidden way too long. Anyways, we didn't hear any loud crashes last night which told me the shelf held up. We did hear the wind last night. Yuck. But Lucy slept through it. Yeah!

 

 Here is Lucy this morning enjoying Grandmas waffles.. She loves them. Oh and look at that shelf behind her. Looking good.

 I must say I am loving my new shelf. I keep moving different things on and off of it. It also adds life to my chalkboard.

Bringing the Great Outdoors In

                                                                                
I love plants. I love them outside, inside, big, small, you name it. Sometimes I feel like I have missed my calling in life and that I should be a florist not a teacher. Believe it or not, I was voted most likely to be a florist at my 8th grade graduation. I know, pretty awesome. I am also pretty good at keeping the babies alive indoors (yes ladies the tree from college is still alive and well). With the exception of Orchids. I kill them, all of them. I actually no longer buy them because I already know they have a doomed fate in my presence. When I first discovered Pinterest I had a quick infatuation with all of the beautiful terrariums being pinned. I loved them so much that I gave them their own page. So without further adieu I would like to present to you my new house guests... The Terrariums...

                                                  First I started by getting all of my materials together:

I found two cool glass containers: The large Mason jar is actually a growler from our local Fort George Brewery. We have tons of them and I am sure Cole might not appreciate me using his beer vessel. Oh well. I found the other more elegant glass container under my Moms bathroom sink. Thanks mom. So that means they were both free!

Soil (had it)

Succulents ($2 each at The Home Depot)

White rocks (about $4 at Home Depot)

Glass rocks had them

Black Sand ($1.99 at Joann's)

A spoon (from my kitchen)

Then I started by layering. First I added white rocks and on top of that I added the black sand. Which did not look artsy and pretty like I wanted. It looked like an all black layer. If I did it all over again I would skip this step and just add soil, plant the succulents, then add white rocks as the top layer. 

Tada! Here is the finished result. Cool huh?

 This is the front of the growler... Ahhh... Beer sounds great about now. I am finishing this post in Newport, OR (Visiting my Sis and Mom for the weekend, woohoo!) . I just got off of HWY 101 (with an 11 month old) which was overrun with spring break traffic. I deserve a beer.... or 5.

Here is a to scale picture so you get a feel for the size of my terrariums.

Here you have it, my mini piece of the outdoors inside. I decided to put Chickie and White Lightning with them to make them even more festive looking. Pretty much love them and if you have time you should make one. If I could offer any advice it would be to make these outside. Once again I was too lazy to go outside so I made them on my new coffee table and I got soil all over my carpet. Oops. 

 My mission of the weekend is to hit up every antique store I come across in hopes of finding a mini glass Bambi figurine.

My Love of Spray Paint...

After I discovered Pinterest my crafting went through the roof. I wanted to share some crafts that were inspired by Pinterest which in turn inspired, If She Can Do It So Can I. I also would like to make a promise that I will start to document my future crafts better, as requested by my Sis. Pictured below are several beloved mason jars that I taped off with blue painters tape in the ever popular Chevron print. I gave the jars one good coat of white spray paint and presto magnifico... Lovely table decor! Since I made these before Christmas I was in a blingy mood and added a layer of clear glitter by painting on modge podge... Insert a candle and these suckers are beautiful .

I even tried my hand at tinting the jars. I mixed equal parts white glue and water with a couple of drops of food coloring. Then I poured the solution into the jar and coated all the sides. I did this several times over the course of an hour to make the color more vibrant. The extra solution pools at the bottom so just use that the swirl aroud the jar.