Sunday, March 10, 2013

EASTER CLOCHE from SILO HILL FARM

Hello everybody, Danni here from Silo Hill Farm.  We've had some awesome spring-ish weather here at the farm the last couple of days and it's put me in the mood for some Easterness!  Today I'm going to share this Easter Cloche that I made.  It was so easy and you can always add whatever you have inside.


I should start by saying that cloches are abundant at thrift stores, cleverly disguised as cheese covers.  (I finally had to stop buying them because I don't think I'll need more than five, ever!)  Sometimes they come with a base and sometimes not.  In this case, not, but after scrounging around in the same thrift store, I was able to find several things that they fit quite nicely over.  For this project, I settled on a chunky black wooden pedestal that was probably made to hold a candle.  I spray painted it with just some white primer.


I made this awesome little garden arch last Easter.  You can get all of the details on how to make it HERE, but don't be intimidated by it because it really took me all of about 15 minutes to make.
I covered the inside base of the pedestal as well as the base of the arch with this awesome grass that comes in a mat.  You can just draw on the back and cut out whatever shape you want.


It's called Super Moss and I love it because it's easy to work with and it's always green.  This package is over a year old...still green.  You definitely want to use a newspaper or something to cover your work surface because this stuff is about as bad as glitter...it ends up everywhere.


Now that I had my pedestal and arch covered with moss, it was really just a matter of adding the extras.  A couple of small ceramic bunnies, a rock, a mix of faux flowers and some mini eggs from Hobby Lobby.  I wove some of the flowers through the arch and just clipped and stuck others in the cloche.  (Nothing in the cloche is permanently attached because, well, you know me...I'll be taking it all apart for some summery project later on.)




The flowers on the outside, were just two sprigs of faux flowers that I wired together and then attached with 2 little glue dots.  I really love glue dots for this kind of thing because they come off easily and if they take a little of the paint with them, I'll just hit it with some spray primer the next time I have it out. The center daffodil was attached to the 2 sprigs with a glue dot as well.


So there you have it, a pretty little cloche for the Easter holiday because.....hippity, hoppity Easter's on it's way!
            
Hope yours is so very wonderful,


Linking up to any or all of the fine parties listed HERE, HERE and....






 
   

Fluster Buster


Semi Homemade Mom
Photobucket
Gingerly Made
The 36th AVENUE
Serenity you
It's Overflowing

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Inspiration Cafe Wrap Up Week #8

Well another week seems to have flown by and here's what the Inspiration Cafe girls have been doing on their own blogs lately......


Natalie is part of an awesome facebook group called Bead Soup Cafe 
and you can read about that in her post Bead Soup Party.
She's also been crazy busy this week because those beautiful eyes belong to her son who is turning 8 today.  Eight is a BIG deal and she's throwing him an awesome party!

Mary has dazzled us once again with 2 awesome recipes:
Crazy Cake - no eggs, milk, butter or bowls...seriously, what's not to love about that already? 
My Most Requested Salad Recipe - just go there...you won't regret it!  It's so full of wonderfulness!


Considering that Mel's week started it out with Bunkbed Horrors, she actually finished off quite nicely.  She made some Paper Earrings, by accident and a cute Washer Pendant.  She always cracks us up with her Wet Your Pants Wednesday posts!  Then she put on those amazing hot pink boots and went someplace awesome to finally get an answer to an age old question.   Wanna know where she went and what she found out?  Click HERE!


Danni started out the week with a St. Patrick's Day Challenge from a friend.  She's getting ready to co-host an awesome link party with a few other bloggers whose names you might recognize.  It's called Tongue-in-Cheek Tuesday, where we all poke just a little fun at ourselves and you are all welcome to join in! She finished out the week with some Spring Flowers for a Buck and did a wordless post on making a Spring Candle.    


Heather has a lot going on lately at her blog, first, she's heating things up with some Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting that she made on the stove.  Then she cooled things down by making some Very Low Carb French Vanilla Ice Cream.
 Heather is also running an awesome series on her blog for people who have never quilted but think they might want to start!

You might want to check this whole series out by starting at the very beginning......
and on top of all of that....it was Heather's turn to share something with you here at the Inspiration Cafe......


That's what we've been up to this past week.....
what did you do for fun?

Have a great weekend!!


xxx
 Nat, Mary, Heather, Danni and Mel
 

Inspiration Cafe is looking for guest posters and contributors. If you would like to guest please let us know, we would love to have you. If you would prefer a feature instead, feel free to drop us a line. New or old posts welcome.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

DIY Envelopes - Stone Cottage Adventures

Marci from Stone Cottage Adventures is here at the Inspiration Cafe today to share an awesome idea inspired by an awesome blogger!  Take it away Marci......

Stone Cottage Adventures


You've seen my handmade cards here and there
but I struggle withEnvelopes

PJ has the coolest project EVER for Envelopes at Planned in Pencil !  It's one of those "I should have thought of that" ideas!  The Envelope project is part of a series titled Waste Note Want Not Wednesdays !  A very clever girl, that PJ! 


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Following her advice, I gathered some leftovers and 
whipped up a lil Thank You card. 


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OK!

Get ready for the cool part!  I've never made a nice envelope before! 


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Ta Da!!   PJ's plan worked perfectly!  Even for me!  
So, yeah, I did it again!  Card...


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Envelope!! 


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Squeal!  Laughter!  Hugs for PJ!
'Wanna make the coolest Envelopes EVER?  
Hop over to Planned in Pencil !

(She's having a giveaway right now!)


;-)  -Marci

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Natural Garden Slug Control - Every Day Living



Hey everyone, today Ed from Everyday Living in the Pacific Northwest is  here today to share a tip just in time for Spring....

Natural Garden Slug Control

 Seriously, I just counted 8 slugs that we caught in our simple trap and it is all natural! It can be done in 4 simple steps.
  1. Eat some tuna. Depending on the size of your garden, two or three cans are needed.
  2. Wait! Don’t throw out the tuna cans, just clean them out.
  3. Place empty cans in garden.
  4. Buy beer, drink some beer, then pour some of said beer into the tuna cans.
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All done, now you just sit and wait. The slugs like the beer (cause who doesn’t) so they go for it, fall in the can a drown. Easy as that. No mess, no worries about chemicals. Just replace the beer with fresh stuff now and again and your golden. SO far it has been extremely effective in our garden. Mel’s dahlia went from being half consumed to looking great only after a couple of weeks.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

No green, no problem. How to avoid the pinch this St. Patrick's

st patricks rosette tutorial
Hi, it's Heather from The Beating Hearth and I don't own...well, let me think about it for a sec...yup...anything green.  This is a problem come St. Patrick's Day because my family likes to pinch me for it.  I have a solution.  You've probably seen these fabric rosettes all over the place and I figured they'd be just the thing to keep the pinches away.  I'd never made them before, but dang, are they easy...and fun!  All you need is some fabric and some glue and some way to affix them to your person, whether you attach them to a barrette or make them into a brooch or a bracelet!  Aha!  Take that pinchers!


Here are the easy instructions and the best part is...NO SEWING...unless you make them into a barrette...and even then you could probably glue it.  They will look a bit rustic as you are not fnishing the edges so there may be a bit of fraying.  I'm okay with this.  Remember to customize these beauties to suit your likes.  The rosettes above are what I would call medium.  Here are the instructions for a medium-sized rosette.

1.  Cut a strip of fabric approximately 40" x 2"
2   Fold that piece of fabric in half, lengthwise.  The reason for this is you are going to be twisting the fabric around and around itself...if you didn't fold it in half, half the time you'd see the wrong side of the fabric...not good.  I also like to twist the fabric around itself quite loosely, this gives your rose more definition and gives it the look of individual petals...sort of.  You can twist it tightly, it just looks a bit softer.  Personal preference here.
3.  Tie a knot at one end.
4.  Start twisting the fabric around itself and around the knot.  Gluing every quarter turn, I would say.

When the rosette gets to be the size you want, you have to finish it.  Just make a final twist around the strip of fabric and then fold the remaining tail underneath the rosette and glue this in place.  You will have a bit sticking out (most likely) so just trim it off. Done and done!

I like the look of the roses when I combine two different fabrics.  To do this, just sew two strips of fabric, right sides together....and proceed.  The glue I used is Fabri-Tac...it's like a hot glue gun...without the hot and the gun.  But, as you can see...you might end up with glue finger.

Finished products.  I made myself a brooch.  I would recommend using a brooch pin, instead of the safety pin I used, but it worked.  For My Youngest, I took a length of ribbon and made 3 tiny rosettes and turned them into a bracelet.  For these I cut my fabric 15" X 1" and then glued them onto the ribbon.  Easy.


And you could make a barrette.  I just took a clip, used some embroidery floss and sewed the rose to the barrette.

Now for the outtakes...thanks to my lovely model...Enjoy.


Oh wait...there's more.  Oh, there's more.  I'm not going to say it's a miracle that I got any good shots...but it's a bit of a miracle.  My kids were busy turning my living room into a spider web...right then.  Very bad timing on my part.
Hopefully you enjoy this little tutorial and try making these rosettes.

Thanks for reading!



Heather
 
Shared at this lovely sites:
Cheerios and lattes
Twigg Studios
I should be mopping the floor
Create with Joy
Sew Can Do
A Pinch of Joy
A Round Tuit
sumo's Sweet Stuff
Monday Funday
Alderberry Hill
The Chicken Chick



xxx
 Nat, Mary, Heather, Danni and Mel
 

Inspiration Cafe is looking for guest posters and contributors. If you would like to guest please let us know, we would love to have you. If you would prefer a feature instead, feel free to drop us a line. New or old posts welcome.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Saturday Weekly Wrap Up 7

Yay it's Saturday!!!!

And it's March already! Where is this year going?

Here's what we've been up to this week...


Natalie...NorthShore Days
Beautiful Butterfly Necklace



  Tried & True Tuesday ~ Crock-Pot Barbecue Pineapple Chicken


Heather ...The Beating Hearth
How to choose fabric...from the beginning...making a Table Runner
What's a mother to do?
St. Paddy's supper that doesn't involve Corned Beef and Cabbage!


Danni ...Silo Hill Farm
My Irish Rose Warning
Easter Candy- Easy and Awesome




Have a great weekend everyone


xxx
 Nat, Mary, Heather, Danni and Mel
 

Inspiration Cafe is looking for guest posters and contributors. If you would like to guest please let us know, we would love to have you. If you would prefer a feature instead, feel free to drop us a line. New or old posts welcome.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Chicken Dinner Menu - Call Me PMc

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Hi friends, I'm Paula, but my friends call me PMc. This is my sweet family. They keep me busy. They make me laugh. They drive me crazy at times! I share it all with you at Call Me PMc where I blog about easy to prepare recipes and menus for busy families, time management and exercise tips, with a little crafts and DIY projects. I would love for you to come visit.
I want to thank Danni at Silo Hill Farm for asking me to guest post today. 
I found Danni's blog last summer and loved it.
I'm constantly amazed at her creativity
and her humor!
A couple of weeks ago she introduced me to a fun 'Hey Girl' party.
In life or in cyberspace, I just can't let a fun party pass me by so I joined in the fun.
I have been obsessed with 'Hey Girl' ever since.


I like to put together menus for my readers. This is one of my favorite grilled chicken recipes and a 'go-to' dish when I can't think of anything else. Have you ever stood in your closet and thought, 'have nothing to wear'? I do that in my pantry 'I have nothing to make!' Having pre-planned menus helps me during those un-motivated, un-inspired times.

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For more scrumptious recipes, fun projects, and exciting news, subscribe to Call Me PMc now.