up-cycled magazine page floral art

you know how people always say 'let me sleep on it'?
that creative solutions come to them in their dreams?
yeah.... not me. my muses come at night and KEEP me from sleeping.

at the end of the day, i climb into bed, 

nestled up with a cup of tea and a good book to read - or my phone to scroll thru.

my goal is to slow my brain down, stop the flow of thoughts and ideas, so i can fall asleep.

and every once in a while, it actually works.

most of the time, though, i see something online or read a description in a book,

and my brain starts imagining wild creations and designs.

so i haul myself out of my comfy nest of a bed, run across the hall,

go into my studio, and scribble a quick sketch or jot a note to capture the idea

before it vanishes into the ether. 

i was today years old when i finally got SMART!

i decided that i need to have a small notepad and pen on my bedside table instead.

  a quick bit of mixed media art fun resulted - and now i've got a solution i can sleep with.

continue reading to see what inspired the design!

faux painted bamboo mirror

 when we moved into this house four years ago,

our decorating modus operandi was truly 'use what you have'...

more than 90% of the furniture we used came from my mom's old house

(1% came from mine - my grandpa's dresser and my farmhouse table!)

the mirror we have in our entry hall came from the guest room at the last house,

where it matched a dresser with a 'bleached oak' finish.

honestly, i love the mirror here...

it bounces light from the kitchen into an area that is lacking light.

but mercy, the original frame! i just haven't been sure about what to DO to it.

i contemplated a simple black satin stain or paint finish at one point,

but ruled it out as being too dark for this area of our home.

then two days ago, a brainstorm hit, and in just a few hours 

that mirror was made completely new using a faux paint treatment.

continue reading to see more details - including the 'before and after' shot... 

scrap wood tikis

last winter, i created a lot of tropical & tiki decor
as part of our fun 'Happy HULA-days' Christmas theme.

you've seen posts sharing most of it appearing in our current summertime decor,
bringing a tropical vibe to our home and yard for us to enjoy
during this 'staycation' that is lasting a whole lot longer than anyone anticipated.

one of my projects during quarantine has been the front entry of our home...
which isn't a porch but a 'vestibule' - and is really hard to decorate.

i came up with a simple solution using last December's holiday entry decor:

continue reading to see how i re-used my own tikis made from scrap wood!

diy galvanized birdbath

while songbirds love to come and splash in our backyard salvaged galvanized bucket fountain,

i noticed that the tiny wrens and hummingbirds who visit us don't go near it.

perhaps the bubbling water frightens them, or the buckets are too deep for their use...

it seemed to me that a birdbath was called for.

i went looking around the yard and garage to see what we had that i could use to build one,

and found two items that combined perfectly for this project.

continue reading to see how to make a simple and easy birdbath for your garden!