Fourth of July wreath

Last Friday I wrote a post about my front door refresh. I mentioned that now my Fourth of July wreath actually stands out against the black rather than the hideous orangy-red.



You can see the door really does not do my wreath any justice. However now with a black door my wreath pops!



All hail the Fourth of July wreath. On a side note, the wreath wasn't the only thing effected by the hideous door. Last year we planted a crepe myrtle and as much as I wanted a pink one because the blooms are so gorgeous I ended up planting a white one because of the clash of red and pink. Yes, I may have been the only one to have taken note on such but it mattered to me.

Though this is probably the easiest wreath I've ever made it's one of my favorites possibly due to the simplicity.



Just cut the tulle to the length that you want it. Note that the shorter the length the fluffier it looks. My first attempt to a tulle wreath I wanted to make the tulle huge and fluffy like a tutu but unfortunately the tulle ended up falling over and looking a hot mess. Try to get all of your tulle pieces the same length but if it's a smidge off, it's not that big of a deal.


To attach the tulle simply make it into a U-shape and loop it around your foam wreath base. Normally I just try to get all of my tulle on and then I will position it and fluff it.

I did five pieces of white tulle then five red until the wreath was a full as I wanted it to be. Walmart carries foam sparkly letters for cheap so that's what I used to cut the corner on having to paint a wooden letter or even add sparkles. I just attached it with hot glue once I had all of my tulle situated.

Wah-lah! Now you have a cheap and easy Fourth of July wreath that you can use for Memorial Day, Labor Day, and whenever you feel like letting your USA pride shine on your front door! I recently came up with an idea for a wreath base for multiple holidays so once I buy the stuff for it I will make a more I depth tutorial on how to make it.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

This post was inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.
xoxo Haley

House refresh

The past two days I have been hard at it around the house. For months the ugly red door and shutters have been getting on my nerves. It wasn't just that it was red but it was that it was more orangy-red and it was hideous. At first the color wasn't bad when we bought the house but overtime the evening sun did it's damage to make it unbearable. It's kind of hard to see in the above picture which was a picture taken for the house listing.


Our brick has hints of black so there was never a large debate on what color to paint because I immediately knew I wanted to emphasize on the black. I also knew it would give such a refreshing look.





I am beyond happy with the way it turned out. The previous home owners painted the shutters without removing them from the house making the removal process 10x harder than it should have been. They painted over the screws and the screws were stripped out so we ended up having to remove half of the screws with pliers.


Once everything was dry I cringed at the thought of putting the old brassy hardware back on the door. I had Kyle just put the dead bolt on long enough for me to run to Lowes to grab new door hardware which ended up in me replacing all of the exterior door knobs.


I am so happy with how everything turned out and even more happy that now my Fourth of July wreath stands out. You'll get to see it in a later post!
xoxo Haley

Repurposed Chandelier

Yesterday morning I had to get a move on things cause Koby had an appointment with the groomers on the other side of town. Unlike most appointments it was only an appointment for Koby, not Sophie, because with his poodle blood comes poodle maintenance.


I'm pretty sure he's smiling here. His ears were a little messed up from the air vents blowing on him but he was definitely feeling sassy.

Since I was on that side of town I decided to stop by Habitat for Humanity's Restore. If you have a H4H in your town but not a H4H Restore seriously contact them and ask them to put one in your town. If enough interest is shown they may do it! It's like a Goodwill (thrift store) but it's more for house stuff. When people remodel homes or have excess tile, carpeting, etc it all comes here. Anyways since I'm not getting paid to brag about their amazingness and I could go on and on about my love for this place, I'll move on to the subject at hand.



I've been trying to tone down my thrifting lately because I've been needing to have a garage sale of stuff I no longer use/need/want and I want to clean out not pile up. So though I passed up some incredibly cheap floating shelves I did, however, purchase a hideous gold chandelier. Which I seriously need to get better about taking before and after pictures.


I first removed the glass sconces and removed the light bulb attachment so I could have more room for soil. I then placed the sconces back and added a pinch of dirt.




I then added a shake or two of Osmocote, which you can purchase online, Walmart, or Lowes. I swear by this stuff because it feeds your plants for 4 months and it always makes plants grow wonderfully.

I then planted my asparagus ferns and finished them off with soil. Lowes had actually put a ton of their ferns on clearance for only $1.00 making this project, not including soil or food, only $15.00!! I am so happy with the way it turned out.

Have you repurposed something for your garden?
xoxo Haley

Sew it's Sunday

I could pretty much say I've never used a sewing machine a day in my life. Sure, there was that one class in middle school where we sewed a pillow...that was ages ago and I hardly remember a thing! However I do still have my pillow.


It's two peas in a pod. I give you permission to laugh at my failing attempt to sew a straight line but after all I was a middle schooler.

Now that I'm 15 years older I'm actually gaining an interest. Part due to I love all crafting hobbies other part due to I'm cheap and I'd like to make my own goodies for half the price. Seriously, check out these table runners I found via Pinterest







In my head I can envision what corners to fold and sew but my problem? I don't know how to use the machine. I guess this will be one more project on my to-do list. Learn to sew!
xoxo Haley

A clean shave

Last week my mom started telling me about how she's been using coconut oil in replacement for her Clinique facial moisturizer. The idea of it being used as a moisturizer didn't come as such a shock due to hearing about it previously. However my mom has extremely oily skin so hearing that she had joined the bandwagon of people who swear by coconut oil was quite the shock. The other day her and I went to get pedi's together and I was even more so shocked at how clear and smooth her skin looked! Her pores were so much smaller and the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth were so much tighter and hardly noticeable. Not that her wrinkles were even that noticeable in the first place, she's aged very well! Seeing the results my brain started ticking. What else could coconut oil be good for? I've seen it used for hair a multitude of times through Pinterest and Facebook statuses by friends. I'd seen it used as moisturizer as well but what about for shaving?










On a whim I decided to give it a go. I cannot brag enough about how amazingly soft and moisturized my legs are! I have extremely sensitive skin when it comes to shaving my legs. Normally I can't put lotion on right after I shave because it irritates them. Shaving with coconut oil I didn't have to worry about it because the oil did the moisturizing for me!

I just used an all natural pure coconut oil. My oil was actually solid so I just took a tablespoon and put it in a plastic bowl then sat it on the shower ledge away from the water. I went ahead and washed my face and spent some time under the water to make sure my pores were good and opened up. Normally if my shave day fell on a hair wash day I would just wash my hair then shave however today I skipped the hair wash so I just spent a little more time under the hot water. I then just took a big pinch of the oil (which is now softer due to the shower steam) and rubbed it all over my legs and continued with the normal shaving process. I made sure to keep my blade cleaned out because I didn't want the oil to build up. You know the results are good when the hubs comments on my legs :)

Hmm...what to use coconut oil for next...