Glidden Paint Testers

What could be better than paint for a project? FREE PAINT!!

I like to watch forums such as A Full Cup and Hot Coupon World for special deals. Glidden has had several promotional offers where they have given away free paint. In the last 2 offers they gave away enough paint for me to repaint my entire kitchen (OK, so it’s a small kitchen…). This time they gave away two testers.

I am totally sold on Glidden paint. It has great coverage and goes a lot farther.

Here is what I did with my testers:

My husband found this old breadbox at Goodwill for $4. After some major cleaning and some light sanding, I used my tester colors on it. I chose True Turquoise for the outside and Arctic Blue for the door.

Here it is now:

A lot of coverage from those tiny bottles. I still have a little paint left over! What would you do with free paint?

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More Salvaged Junk Mail

A while back, I took a piece of junk mail and saved it from a landfill by turning it into some wall art for my kitchen. Click here to see that post.

A local Japanese restaurant mailed out menus to everyone in town. The menus were made from thick paper and had a nice picture that totally redeemed this piece of junk mail. Normally, something like this would be tossed into the trash without a second thought.

So I cut it out and dressed it up a bit with some ribbon. Then I found a nice matching frame from my stash. And here it is! One less piece of junk mail in a landfill and a new decoration for me!

I know…I’m weird. 😉  Soooo, am I the only one who does this?

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Iced Coffee – A Vietnamese Tradition

I’ve never been much of a coffee enthusiast. However, shortly after marrying my husband I was introduced to Vietnamese Iced coffee and it is now my favorite drink!

Here is a very easy way to make it that doesn’t involve the use of a Vietnamese coffee press (which we don’t happen to own).

First pick your coffee. This is what I used.

Brew about 10 cups of coffee.

Take a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

Fill a standard size food processor with ice. You can use a blender also

Pour the condensed milk over the ice and grind it until it looks like slush

Pour into a pitcher

Pour the coffee over the slush and stir

Serve and enjoy! :o)

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Gitter Done – Redo the Porch!

Edited Post: Donna from Funky Junk Interiors has asked us to share our favorite projects. I would have to say that this one is my favorite right now. 🙂 I first posted this on Donna’s Gitter Done project…now, Linking this to:

Lately, this (below) has been the view of my porch:

That’s right a fold up table, a chair and an old beat up Tonka truck.

Here’s my mailbox…looking a little sad.

I’ve been planning to do something about this for a while, but just couldn’t get motivated. Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors offered just the push I needed.Today she is hosting a day for getting things done!

So, here is what I’ve been up to:

My porch now! Here are the details:

One of my brothers gave me this glider rocker.

A bit worn out…so I spray painted it black and made some new pillows for the back. 

I spray painted my mailbox black, and look…there’s my tropical birhouse!

                           

Here’s my rope lamp on a shelf full of trinkets.

I made a new cushion and pillow for the wicker chair.

A cozy little table to eat breakfast at in the mornings! And no, that is not a hole in my lamp (as my husband suggested) it is a decorative ribbon that I will probably remove. I just don’t feel like re-taking the photos. 😉

Another view. 🙂

OK…Here comes my favorite part!!!

Can you guess what this is? Well…it’s made out of these shutters…

It’s my beautiful new table made for me by my Sweet (and talented) Husband! Isn’t it lovely?! A couple of months ago, a really awesome neighbor crawled under her house and pulled some lovely shutters (a whole stack!). She gave them to me (so generous and sweet)! My husband took one set and made this table for me! =D

He left it so the slats could still open. His explanation was that if there were crumbs on top you could open the slats and let the crumbs fall through. 😉

My new table is a great place to have a cup of tea! 

Here’s a little candle I spruced up to put on my new table.

Ah, my table…

Umm…anyway, here are some more shots of my porch:

I love my new porch! Thanks, Donna for the little push that I needed to “Gitter Done”!

And thanks for stopping by

Goodwill Lamp Transformed

I love lamps! In fact, I have a real “thing” for lamps. Whenever I go to Goodwill I check the lamps. A few weeks ago I found this little beauty for $3.

I knew exactly what I was going to do with it as soon as I saw it! I bought some Jute rope, and got out my hot glue gun.

This was really so easy to do! I just love the result! :o)

Have a great weekend!

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Our Trip to Amish Country

Yay! I’m back!! Did you wonder where I was? Probably not…but that’s OK, I missed you anyway. 😉

This last week my family had the opportunity to go and visit with my relatives in Ohio.I lived part of my life out in Amish country and have relatives who live and work very closely with the Amish.

Our trip was a wonderful experience for the whole family. I have a very large extended family up there and some relatives from other states came up this weekend also. It was like a big family reunion!

Not only did we enjoy the fellowship and company of my relatives, we also got to see some of the sites. This was especially interesting for my husband who has never been around the Amish before.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Cozy looking Amish houses

Some Amish buggys

Close-up of a buggy

A couple of Amish kids pulling a wagon up a steep hill

Amish teens and “Englishers” hanging out together in the Mesopotamia square

Check out this link: The End of the Commons General Store

As a child I spent a lot of time here. My mom would take us to get penny candies and buy her bulk foods. You can still buy both here today. My boys each had a great time picking out $1 worth of penny candies! 

An Amish couple heading into the Commons to buy supplies

This old guy has been a fixture at the Commons since I was a kid. He used to talk, but sadly he no longer works.

Inside the End of the Commons (sorry, it’s a bit blurry…but you get the idea)

Great pottery! Crocks and jugs for everyday use

Amish dolls

Lots of Amish hats for the guys. The three older boys had to try them on

 My uncle was an excellent tour guide. He took us to some of the lesser known (non-tourist) spots. Little stores and shops that primarily only the Amish go to. It was nice to get to talk with one of the ladies in one of the stores we visited. Sorry, out of respect for the Amish  there are no pictures of this part of my trip. 

Very large wooden horse and buggy. The horse alone is 15 feet high and 12 feet long

The boys wanted to climb on it

It was a lot of fun seeing the familiar areas and showing my husband the places I frequented as a child, but the thing we enjoyed the most was our visit with my family members!! :o)

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