My Cloche

I hope everyone is having a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend! We are mostly relaxing and spending time with family. Maybe we will take in the local fireworks display tomorrow. :o)

Today I have something to share that is by no means a new idea. Here is my version of a cloche that fits with my tropical/Asian decor.

First, I found a couple of candle holders at a thrift store for .25 cents apiece.

I also found an old cheese dome for under $3.

I took the little feet off the bottom of the cheese dome.

I spray painted the candle holder and the bottom of the cheese dome.

I flipped the candle holder over and glued the bottom of it to the bottom of the cheese dome. I prefer my hot glue gun as opposed to other types of glue. It adheres well and there is very little wait time while it sets up. I’m just not that patient. 😉

Next, I glued some heavy twine around the outer edges.

All finished! That’s my version of a cloche. I don’t think I’ll keep the little birds in there long, but for now they work for me.

Have a great Fourth of July!!! :o)

Linking to these fun parties:

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!

Linking to these fun parties:

Tropical Bird House

I found an old wooden bird house in the basement a few days ago. Just a plain craft one from the Michael’s store that  had been sitting on my craft shelf forever. I decided to dress it up a bit and use it on my porch. In case you haven’t noticed by now, my husband and I prefer Asian and tropical style decor. So I thought maybe a tropical looking birdhouse would go nicely.

First I primed it. It had a few splotches of red on it from one of my kids. He was going to paint it, but then lost interest.

Then some chocolate brown spray paint.

Next I thatched the roof with some bamboo pieces that I saved after having the blinds in my kitchen cut down to size.  Then I wrapped it in twine. Sorry I didn’t get any photos of this…It was too hard to glue and snap pictures at the same time, especially with my sticky fingers. :o)

I painted the posts red and added a couple of yellow flowers for color.

A little taste of the tropics. :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle


P.S. Don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY

Linking to these fun parties!

Bathroom Luxury on a Budget

Doesn’t everyone want to be pampered a little? Don’t we all want every room in our home to be a place we can relax and unwind in?

Up until recently my bathroom had been sorely overlooked. I mean, it looked OK…it was functional and nothing I was ashamed of, but I felt like it could be better. So I marched into the bathroom and put all the toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, brushes…you know, all the functional, everyday items into the closet (of course, that meant a little re-organizing).

I realized that I don’t have to spend a fortune to get a little luxury for my bathroom.

First, I looked through what I already owned. It’s amazing the things that sit in your house everyday, unnoticed and unused, isn’t it?

I found these:

I inherited the bell-shaped bottle from my grandmother and found the other one when we moved in. If you don’t have anything like this you can usually find them at thrift stores.

Candles are great! They look good just about anywhere and they are cheap and easy to find.

I think interesting soaps are great for decorating in a bathroom! 

Hand made soaps in an old Mason jar.

Or interesting store-bought soaps in a wide mouth vase.

This particular soap is a Chinese brand called Bee & Flower. They are very inexpensive and are sold in most Asian markets.

I found some nice cork-lid jars at Goodwill for .50 cents each and filled them with interesting textures. Bath salts in one, seashells in the other. I wrapped them in twine to add to the texture.

A basket with rolled hand-towels or wash cloths looks nice, too!

It doesn’t have to cost much to look great!

I am linking to:

It’s So Very Cheri