A Bite of Bravo Farms

Last night we had a "date night" to make up for missing last week. I wanted to go to a movie, so of course we went to Bravo Farms in Tulare first. I got the Tomato Basil Pizza, with Pesto and a bit of Balsamic dressings as the sauce. I told them extra basil. I LOVE basil! The crust is super thin and really crispy!

Brandon loves when they have pulled pork, but since they didn't have any, but they had ribs, they were nice enough to make shredded pork from the ribs! The ribs were so tender that the meat just came completely off the bone. He was SO happy! ;) Add in our fries, a shared glass of wine, and cheap movie tickets {you KNOW you can buy your tickets at Bravo for $7.50 right?!} and you've got yourself a great date night!

Hanging Out at Embracing Change!

Happy Weekend!

Today I'm sharing this TV tray makeover with Stacey of Embracing Change!

I also share some of the things I discovered about getting mold off of old furniture!

Gross!!

I hope you'll stop by Embracing Change and look around.  Stacey does an excellent job refinishing old, boring furniture with bright colors! I love her style, not to mention she's sweet as can be!

Here's another peek at my TV tray makeover!

Hope to see you there!

Cheers!

Pallet Planter Revealed!!

I cannot express to you how flipping excited I have been about this project!  I finished it this Tuesday and it's been killing me not to show you! Seriously, I may have given myself an ulcer!

When Jane first asked me to do a piece on sprucing up a fleamarket find, I immediately thought of junk.  Not that you can't find some amazing finds at flea markets, but I thought of all the "junk" pieces people find and turn into cool pieces of art.

So here is my interpretation of fleamarket finds for the Spring Into Spring party!

I got a pair of pallets from my Mom when she had some work done on her house.  As usual, they sat in my garage for a few months before I finally decided what to make with them.

This little flower bed on the front of our house has been an eyesore to me:

It's not really terrible, but the flowers in the back didn't get as tall and wide as we had hoped, so we had to stare at this HUGE, blank, cement wall.  Blech!

So I decided to use this pallet to spruce the area up!

This is the pallet I used to make my planter.  This is the view from the back.  Keep in mind all pallets are a little different, so you might have to make adjustments if you make your own.

I attacked the pallet kinda spur of the moment, so I didn't get any action shots.  Instead I've used my fancy paint thing to show you what to do.

Before you begin, PUT ON GLOVES! I'm finding new blue splinters every day!

When placed horizontally the pallet is too tall for my space.  So I cut off part of the top to shorten it.  I used my jigsaw and cut where the arrows are.

The piece I cut off looked like this.  There was a single, larger board on the back and two smaller boards on the front.  Again, I used my jigsaw and cut where you see the red lines.  This reduced the large back piece into three small boards.  I then used a hammer and knocked the remaining pieces of wood off the two front boards. 

When finished I had the two front pieces, and three smaller back pieces.

I just used a hammer and some nails to attach the three smaller pieces under the top board on the back as seen in the picture above.  This makes the three upper areas like boxes so I can actually plant something.

I then took one of the front pieces and nailed it to the bottom of the pallet.  Again, this creates three lower boxes so I can plant.

I used a custom mix of paint and did a sort of dry brush.  I didn't sand or seal the paint because I want it to naturally chip off.

Now you're ready to put in plastic.

I cut up a large trash bag and put a piece in each compartment.  I then added a little bit of potting soil and trimmed the front of the garbage bag to be flush with the front edge.  I folded the back of the garbage bag over itself so it would be flush with the soil.

Now you plant your beauties!

The green plants are sweet potato vines.  I've been dying to plant some of these!  They cost $4 for a container of two. I love how the green looks with the blue!

I have no idea what the other flowers are, but they're a trailing annual.  I bought two six packs for $2 a pack.  Eventually they'll be spilling over the sides!

I am so stinking in love with this thing!  It really brightens up this flower bed and breaks up the wall!

I love the blue 'cause it matches our blue porch chair!

So far the trailing annuals are doing great - some of them have even bloomed already!  The potato vines are having a harder time adjusting - so I'll keep you updated on how they all hold up!

Hopefully in a few weeks all the plants will be cascading down the pallet!

I hope you've had a chance to check out all the spring inspired projects this week!

Now it's your turn to show off all your awesome spring junk!  I can't wait to see what you've been working on!

Cheers!

DIY Gallery Wrapped Photos $6!

I have wanted some large gallery wrapped prints for a long time, but $75-$100 per print is not in the budget.  I figured out how to do these for about $6 each.  Yep.  $6. 

I even have proof.  Each print is 24x36.  They are $2.99 from Staples.  Get the engineering black and white prints.  They do have larger, but for my space I wanted 24x36.  The Polystyrene sheet was 1/2 inches thick and was about $6.50 and I can get 6 canvases out of one sheet.  Then the spray adhesive was $5.99 at Wal-mart. So if you do the math, it comes out to about $6 per print.  Awesome! 

So now we have some supplies.

Mark and measure the 1/2 inch polystyrene insulation.  I used a T-Square to help make things easier.  Draw your lines on the back side of the insulation.  It is super easy to cut.  I just used my serrated paring knife in a gently sawing motion.  The only downside is the little white styrofoam pieces that inevitably ends up on the floor. I cut mine 22x34 because I wanted to wrap the insulation with the print.  You could paint the edges and make it full size if you wanted.

 Next I measured the print in about one inch.  When I do it again I will place the insulation on top of the print, mark it, then make the folds.  One of them didn't turn out exactly perfect by just measuring in 1 inch.

 Make folds along the marks and cut the corners out.  This will give you a clean corner.

 Dry fit the insulation to the print make any adjustments to the folds.

 Take the insulation outside and spray the plain side.  I followed the manufacturers instructions for a permanent bond.  Carefully place the insulation on the print making sure it fits the folds correctly.

 Next I got out my trusty rolling pin to squish out any air bubbles.  Roll it good and hard.

 Spray the edges and press in place.  I had just enough to wrap the back edge too just a little.  Keep pressing to keep the deges in place. 

I let mine dry overnight with some heavy books on top to keep things flat.  I kept getting interrupted with trivial things like homework, dinner, and bedtime.

 Using my scissors, I cut a small line in the edge of the picture about 6 inches down from the top.  Insert a paperclip with the large side inside the insulation.

 I used heavy upostery thread and strung it through the paperclips.  Since this weighs almost nothing you don't need anything heavy duty to hold the picture up.

 I used my scrapbook ink to ink the edges.  That's totally optional.

Mark where you are going to place your prints and hang.  Super easy!

 I love it.  I so miss Washington.  These were taken at the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse in North Western Washington.  The Olympic Mountains will always be my favorite!