Feathered Friends & A Little Project

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  I've been spending a lot of time out in the yard and have had a chance to do some bird watching.  They've been really active with the nice weather!  And there's a nest in one of our apple trees that is super cool.  Here are a few shots.

My husband actually saw mom feeding the little baby birds.  I was hoping to get a picture of that... but not yet.  Mama is protective!

I'm amazed I actually got this one!... This fella had a hay-day out on the front lawn!

Okay, so now for the project.  I had this old bird feeder and one of the plastic inserts broke in it. 

Nothin that a little spray paint and creativity won't fix!  I simply removed the plastic inserts (they slid right out of the top).  Then I busted out a mixture of brown and black spray paint.  I put a coat of brown on first and let it dry.  Then I used black over the top of that... but before it had a chance to dry I used an old cloth and rubbed some of it off.  Then I added a little extra distressing by lightly sanding off a few areas.

Once that was done, I took the old inserts and used them as a template to create the new ones.  I decided to put chicken wire in where the plastic used to be.  I simply used wire snippers and cut out the rectangles, then assembled them on the inside.  I put a candle in it and voila!

This was so simple!... and FREE!  Plus super fun and cute to use as an accent or centerpiece for an outdoor party.  Have a fabulous week!



Spring Has FINALLY Sprung!

I'm so excited to see the yard starting to take shape!  We had record rainfall here in May so everything is in full bloom.  On the flip side, it was cold most of May too... with temps in like the 50's.  WTF?!  It's supposed to be way warmer than that!  So hopefully we'll get more sunshine!

Here are some cute little areas that I've been working on during the brief breaks in the weather! 

I love this iron spider plant holder... that and the planter were freebies that I won years ago.  And the birdhouse was a $1 thrift store find. 

I found a new home for my Rustic Star... and a second one to pair it with.  Plus this old rustic pot that I've had forever.  I love the finish on it.

Some spring flowers finally starting to bloom.  Seems like they bloom later and later each year.... but they're so beautiful!

Remember that old fire pit I scored at a yard sale for $2?  It makes the perfect planter for the center of the atrium.



And this cool old fencing... I bought this at Restoration Hardware years ago.... and I still love it! 

I just hope that the warmer temps will stick around longer than a day or two.  I'm ready for summer! 

Aged To Perfection

Happy Memorial weekend everyone!  I am so glad to have 3 days off so I can enjoy some time with my guys.  The forecast is looking pretty gloomy, so no spray painting on the agenda.  But I do have a lot of other little things getting done.  Isn't it funny how all the little things add up to bigger things.  If that makes any sense?!  LOL

I love this most recent project so I'm pretty excited to show you.  I picked up this really cool wall hanging that has an ornate carved detail to it.  When I spotted it at the thrift store I knew I had to just grab it right then.  The thing didn't even fit in my cart because it's so big, but I made it work just to get it up to the register.  It had a small hairline crack in it so I asked them if they would take $10 for it rather than the original $15 tag it had.  They said yes!

While I was working on my kitchen hutch project, I decided to put the same dark walnut stain on this as I was using on the hutch.  So I applied a liberal amount of the stain and let it sit on for a couple minutes.  Then I wiped off some of it using an old t-shirt.

 

I wasn't totally happy with how it looked...  so I put some black glaze over the top of the stain using a paint brush to work it onto the surface.  So much better!

 

  

I was a little worried about using glaze over the top of the stain, but it worked out really well!  I just love it :) 

Link back to a party here!