Hiding the AC units

It's pretty hot out right now, but we still manage to head out into the backyard daily (outside might have been Little Man's first word after mama and dada!) We have a nice sized covered patio and several years ago extended the patio area with some pavers too. It's a great space except for one thing.... the view to the left of the porch is of our 2 massive AC units!

We have tried shrubbery and it just never took off enough to really hide them (probably because we did not want to drop several hundred dollars to buy the plants that were already more mature!)

So on a trip to our local Home Depot (aka the Man Store as Little Man likes to say!) I spied a piece of lattice panel for less than $15 and it got me thinking that this would the perfect way to cover our hideous AC units while still letting them function as needed!

Supplies:
1 sheet of lattice panel (ours is 4 foot by 8 foot)
2 fence posts (8 feet tall)
1 piece of Lattice cap molding
Level, Post digger, Screwdriver and screws

First, we (I supervised while hubby did the work!) removed all of the old shrubs, weeds, etc.

Next we measured the location where we wanted the posts. We made sure to keep the lattice 'fence' at least 2 feet away from the units to allow for proper circulation and for access if we need to get to them.

Once we liked the placement, hubby used a super nifty tool to dig the holes for the post. The post-digger (seen to the right of the shovel in the below pic) made this job super fast. We borrowed it from our neighbor but for $35 at Lowe's this would be a no brainer!

We dug the holes 4 feet deep to make sure that the posts were securely in the ground. As we opted to not use concrete, hubby just placed the posts in the holes and using his level made sure they were standing straight and then packed the dirt in around the post using a mallet. Repeat for the second post!

Next, the lattice panel was placed on the posts and screwed into place. Then the Lattice molding piece was placed on top and screwed in as well. What a cute little helper we had!

My husband actually commented that this was the easiest and fastest project I have ever asked him to complete! Thanks so much to him for braving the 100 degree heat in the middle of the day to get this finished!

Now we need to add some vines and plants to the lattice but it is such a huge improvement for less than an hour and $50! Here are the sort of after shots as we still need to get some greenery going on these!

PS. I have been scouring the internet looking for ideas of how to beautify this lattice and literally nothing.... maybe I am missing the brilliant search words or maybe this is uncharted territory! Here are 2 that are pushing me forward and they sparked an interesting idea!

Source: Apartment Therapy, Vertical Soda Bottle Garden

Source: Schoolhouse Mason Jar Spice Garden

A Wonderful Baby Gift Idea

I recently received the sweetest thank you card from one of our dear neighbors who is having twins. And suddenly it occurred to me what a great idea it would be to give personalized note cards as a shower gift! I am typically a fan of buying something from the registry or a gift card since I feel like that's what the mom specifically needs for her baby. But I always have this lingering feeling of that being so impersonal!

So I love the idea of adding in a small pack of personalized note cards to the other gift that is less personal! Here is her thank you card (with the names blurred of course!) and some other adorable ones that I love also!

Paint Dipped Lampshade.... Thanks Pinterest!

I jumped all over the Pinterest Summer Challenge since I really need that extra little push to move from drooling over the pretty pictures to actually seeing a project to completion!

First to do... find the right project to work on! I actually have a list of things to do around the house that goes something like this: finish kids play closet, drum shade for the bar lamp, coffee table re-do, etc, etc! How nice would it be to find a Pinterest pic that would actually let me cross off some of the things on my DIY list?

Well, I finally found it! And yes - I have been like a giddy kid all weekend getting the materials, taking pictures, and getting it completed!

Original Pin for Dipped Version (there seems to be nothing more than image for this one on Pinterest!)
Original Pin for Stained Version

Paint Dipped Lamp Shade

Supplies per shade:
36 Wooden Paint Mixing Sticks
1 Lamp Shade (You could very easily use wooden embroidery hoops as well)
Paint (I used a gallon but a paint sample would be more than enough)
Hot Glue gun

1. The hardest part of this project was gathering the Paint Mixing Sticks. I think that Home Depot and Lowes have smartened up that people are using these for crafts. It took a total of 4 trips to the local stores to get the needed supplies. And yes - I did tell the associate working in the store that they were being used for a craft project and asked how many he would mind if I took. The standard answer? Ten.

2. Start the paint dipping. I started off dipping one at a time.... and quickly moved to doing a triple dip. Once dipped in the paint, I tapped them several times to get the excess paint off and to create a more interesting look!

3. Let the paint sticks dry overnight.

4. Rip the frabric from the lamp shade. I chose to remove the lining as well to be left with a metal shade frame only.

5. Hot glue the paint sticks to the metal frame.

6. Repeat about 35 times!

7. Once all of the sticks were glued and dried, I did another coat of glue to make sure everything was really staying on good.

And for the big reveal.....

This ended up being a really easy project (aside from the acquiring of the paint sticks!) A couple of thoughts.... I opted for a more basic color of paint since I was using it on a bright green glass lamp. I am still loving the super bright neons used in the original example and would love to try it in a kids play room. And back to the paint sticks, Home Depot seems to have the nicest paint sticks made of what seems more like real wood. Lowes and WalMart had the thinner ones that felt more like recycled or pressed wood ones. I used all three of the different ones and I like the variety that it adds. But if you like them to be of more uniform color and shape, stick to one store!

Dairy Free Blueberry Muffins

Its been a pretty lazy weekend here as we are all coming down with the dreaded summertime cold. I am praying that we are on the tail end of it, especially little Fia. She was up most of the night and I just feel so bad that I can't do much to make her feel better. It's a bit easier with the Little Man! If it involves cooking and Lightning McQueen he is a happy camper!

So what better way to use our new Cars muffin papers than to make some delicious blueberry muffins. The only catch? I have been dairy free for the better part of 2 months now thanks to my little lady. She is by no means allergic but she is the most happy and content baby with no dairy so its well worth the sacrifice!

I found a recipe to try and tweaked it just a bit. Here you go! The only thing I might do different next time? Double the recipe! We have 2 muffins left less than 24 hours later!

The Original Recipe thanks to The Kid-Friendly Home

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup almond milk

1 cup berries (fresh or frozen)

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners
• Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl
• Pour the 1/3 cup vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add the egg, fill with enough milk to fill up the 1 cup.
• Pour into the flour mixture, stir and then fold in the berries
• Combine topping ingredients and mash with a fork or pastry knife until it resembles a crumble.
• Sprinkle the topping over the muffins
• Place on the middle rack in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes

Animal Cracker Baby Mobile

As I hinted to a few weeks ago, I have been working on a mobile for Fiona's crib. Since we had custom made crib bedding I was having an impossible time finding anything that I liked, that wasn't obnoxious, and in colors that worked with the room. So what's a girl to do? Of course... do it yourself!

There are tons of adorable DIY mobiles out there but most of them are ceiling mobiles and I wanted something for the crib that played music. Obviously, the frame of the mobile was not something that I would make but the rest sounded like just the right thing!

So when I saw this clearance mobile a few weeks ago at Babies R Us, I grabbed it and ran to the check out! For $16 this would make the perfect 'frame' for the mobile AND Little Man is obsessed with the Cars movie so I figured that he would love to play with the little plush McQueen and friends! A real win-win!

First on the list was to remove all of the cars and the blue coverings. I just cut the ribbons from the cars and the blue covering velcroed right off. Super easy! I was left with a solid white mobile frame in less than 2 minutes!

But what to do with it???? Of course I turned to the internet to get some inspiration... and instantly loved the balloons from Restoration Hardware and the DIY

And loved this DIY version

So I checked the house for any paper that might have similar colors to work in her room and no such luck. I was really intent on getting something up that day (we were mid 12 week growth spurt and I was dying to try anything that might help soothe her!) and desperate! Then it occurred to me that I could use a gift bag. So I found a stripe and polka dot paper bag and got started cutting....

But the patterns were just too much since we have so much going on in her room already! I had already cut out the pieces for the 4 balloons (4 pieces per balloon for 16 total) when I made this decision but decided to just go ahead and put it up with the balloons until I found the perfect mobile idea.

So up it went and she loved it!!! So that night I headed over to Etsy and I knew that I would find something wonderful :) And sure enough I did! I searched and found the perfect thing! A set of 4 felt animal cracker cookies! Instant love! Even better? I messaged the seller and she was willing to change the color of the elephant to go even better with our colors!

Animal Cracker Cookies

I was so happy when I received the cookies (from the UK!!) and could not wait to get them up! So last night, I gathered the needed materials and got to work.

4 felt cookies
4 pieces of lilac ribbon to hang the cookies from the mobile
1 package Satin Blanket Binding (you could use any fabric - this happens to match my crib skirt/colors)
Needle, thread, scissors
Wooden Dowel (or pencil) for turning the binding right side out

1. Knot the one side of the 4 pieces of ribbon. This will help it to stay in the cookies.
2. Open a small section on the top middle of each of the cookies.
3. Thread 1 of the ribbons into 1 of the cookies so that the knot is now inside the cookie
4. Sew the cookie closed making sure to stitch thru the knotted ribbon
5. Repeat for the 3 remaining cookies and ribbons.
6. I chose to add a bow at the top of my ribbons where they attach to the mobile. If you choose to do this, you will need 4 smaller pieces of ribbon too. I tied 4 little bows and then stitched them on to the knotted ribbons. Looking back, it would have been easier to tie the bows and then knot the ribbon around the bows.
7. Feed the cookie ribbons thru the mobile.
8. Next is creating the mobile arm covering, you need twice the length of your mobile arm as a minimum. The more fabric the more gathered (or sheared) it will look. Fold your fabric/binding in half and using either a sewing machine or hand stitch, sew the entire length of it.

9. Once completly sewn and secured, you need to turn the fabric right side out. I have a wooden dowel I use for this. Basically place the fabric over the dowel and start pulling until complete. You should have a large tube of fabric.

10. Place the covering over the arm and you are ready to admire your handiwork! I had a great helper :)

And now for the after shots! Loving this and so is Fia!

Happy 5th of July!

Well, we decided to have a little BBQ to celebrate the 4th.... Burgers, hot dogs, mac N cheese, watermelon... yummy! And of course, I needed to add some sweets to the mix!

Of course, the Chocolate Dipped Sparkler Pretzels are making another appearance and I decided to try out something else too. I happened to have a box of Red Velvet cake mix in the pantry that got my mind churning to find something interesting to make. And here is where it landed:

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

I followed the recipe (aside from adding one extra egg white!) and the turned out great!
Of course, I forgot to snap a pic until they were almost gone! This was such a better idea than cupcakes which are incredibly messy for the kids to eat and this was the perfect size! You can even change the recipe to make different cake varieties. Next time - I am trying yellow cake with chocolate icing! My favorite :)

As for activities - we had a slip n slide, kiddie pool with slide, and a wacky sprinkler! The best part? Our neighbor had a huge tent that we set up over the pool and sprinkler which made the 90+ degree day not quite so bad!

Halloween in July?

I learned the hard way last year that you must count backwards to plant certain vegetables in your garden and have them ripen at the desired time.

And the biggest one for me was a pumpkin! I really wanted to carve a pumpkin that we grew in our backyard! However, making this realization in September does not give you enough time to grow a pumpkin. So I made note of the approximate timing (100 days give or take) and vowed that next year we would grow our own pumpkin.

Well, the time is upon us to get to planting! So we ventured out back and planted several pumpkin seeds in a little planter.

The biggest surprise? The seeds are just pumpkin seeds - like the kind you cook and oil after carving a pumpkin! I should have known what to expect but it was still shocking to open the pumpkin seed package and see one of my favorite autumn time snacks starring back at me! And it got me to thinking.... could I do the same for a watermelon?