Life: {via Instagram}

I really love Instagram. As my collection of images grows, so do my ideas for projects. I think I'll try my hand at iron-on transfers first, to make some fabric for a sewing project or two. Do you use Instagram? Have you made anything with your collection of images??

Creative, Organized, and Inexpensive Jewelry Storage {what to do with a vintage dresser drawer}

I love jewelry. Vintage or brand new, inexpensive... or expensive, real, or "faux." It's all fun!

But--I confess. My jewelry is usually so tucked away that I seldom wear much of it. My other confession? I take off my three daily rings at night, and tend to leave them laying around the house. It drives my husband absolutely crazy.

So I set out to change both of those habits the other day.

I stumbled upon the perfect old dresser drawer {thanks to Kris at Artemis!!}, carried it home, and got to work. The steps were easy:

1. Wipe down or scrub your drawer, depending on the level of, ehem, age? 'patina?'
2. Fill holes that previously secured drawer pulls or hardware.
3. Sand the filled spaces, and anything else that needs a touch-up.
4. Paint, paint, paint! If you're like me, you've got a hearty stash of paint and won't need to visit the store.
5. Locate some hardware {hooks, drawer pulls, etc.} you'd like to use, measure, and pre-drill holes to secure the pieces. I had my hubby do drilling on this one.
6. Raid your house {or go shopping!} for a collection of tea cups, small bowls, and other containers.
7. Organize!

Small cups are great for bracelets and rings, and their edge provides the perfect place to hang earrings {earrings pictured above are from this shop}. The small tin star in the fore-ground of this image {see photo above for a better view} will hold those rings I take off every night.

Because I had most of the supplies on hand, this project cost less than $20 to complete. I'll bet you've got a lot of the supplies on hand as well! Give it a try.

Shared on... Whatever You Want Wednesday

In Our Back Yard: A Mud Pie Kitchen!

When a neighbor had to cut down a dead tree a couple of months back, I didn't waste any time claiming several of the big, beefy chunks of wood. I knew I wanted them for a few different projects around the yard, because, well, they're so darned pretty! 

I've seen so many ideas out there for mud pie kitchens, thanks to Pinterest, but nothing really presented itself that would allow me the opportunity to use some of the pieces from the tree. So I sat out in the yard one day scheming about how I might use the pieces... and this is what came to mind.

The plans almost didn't work out. My husband was so frustrated with the uneven nature of the stumps and was worried about stability. Thanks to a friend with a passion for chain saws, we remedied the issue and were back in business!

We visited our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and look at this red faucet we found! The little guy was so thrilled to bring this home. We also purchased a small porcelain sink, and the window above his sink, "just like mama's!"

I sent my hubby out to the hardware store for a couple of beefy, two-by-eight, pressure-treated boards measuring six feet in length. With the help of a friend, he cut a hole to drop the sink into. He also attached the boards to the stumps at each end with large screws, for stability. 

Providing running water was pretty high on my list of priorities. I hadn't seen many mud pie kitchens with that option, but I knew it would be easy to accomplish. When he went to the hardware store, I had my husband take the red faucet along. He bought two fittings. The first, pictured above, is threaded on one end to fit one side of the faucet water supply. The other end is threaded to fit a garden hose.

The second fitting is simply a cap. This keeps the water from running out the other side of the faucet water supply, since we weren't attaching both hot and cold water supply lines.

Finally, a short {six foot} garden hose attaches to the fitting and runs behind the large tree stump on the left {see the first image in this post} to make hooking up the garden hose a bit easier.

A drain plug allows the sink to be filled. Water from the faucet drains into a bucket placed under the sink {see the first image in this post}, and is then used to water plants around the garden. 

The drain plug has since been attached to the 'counter top' using a screw and that small, metal loop to prevent it from being lost in the yard.

Another thrift store turned up a whole crate full of fun, vintage kitchen supplies. I was careful to choose items made from materials {tin, etc.} that would stand up to lots of use and to being outside for long periods of time.

So far, this kitchen space has been a BIG hit! The most unexpected, but "aha!" use so far has been the toddler-friendly access to running water outdoors. He uses his sink to fill squirt guns, or to rinse his sticky fingers after a Popsicle.