Easter Egg Wreath

This wreath is a fun way to brighten any room this Easter season! And it is so simple to make! 

I bought a flat, wooden, 12 inch wreath frame and wrapped it with white ribbon. Then traced the flat, wooden egg shape onto multiple colors of felt and then cut those out. 

Back of the wreath

A little bit of felt glue and glitter and I had some sparkly Easter eggs. All that was left was using a glue gun to attach them to the wreath frame. So simple! 

Egg detail

Egg detail

Egg detail

It takes a little bit of patience but I think it was fun and definitely suggest you try one for yourself! =)

"Sic 'Em"

A couple of posts ago I blogged about the Habersham YMCA Priceless Gifts Campaign and the "American Spirit" wreath I made and donated to the Silent Auction. I also mentioned that I made a University of Georgia spirit wreath. Well, here is the final result. It's one of my favorite types of wreaths to make, a ribbon wreath. 

The "Sic 'Em" wreath can be hung indoors or outside. However, the longevity of the wreath varies based on the conditions in which you hang it. I made a similar "Boo" wreath for Halloween last year and hung it outside and it held up absolutely fine. 

 

For some final touches I added some white, glitter UGA letters and a big red bow.

UGA detail

The "Sic 'Em" wreath along with the "American Spirit" wreath are up for auction starting this week at the Habersham YMCA. The "Sic 'Em" wreath is valued around $45 and the "American Spirit" wreath starting at $35. If you are interested in purchasing either and supporting a good cause, please swing by and check them out! Each are handcrafted with lots of love, wags, and puppy kisses. 

If you are interested in owning your own handcrafted wreath please contact me and I will be happy to whip one up for you. I can customize your wreath to your specific theme and requests... I will even turn a blind eye to a Florida theme if you so choose. ;) 

It may be March Madness right now... but thinking of all our strong SEC teams is making me itch for the fall and some good, competitive college football! 

Halloween "Boo" Wreath

I found this idea for a really cute, homemade Halloween wreath! So simple! All you need is ribbon, a foam wreath form, a hot glue gun, and whatever little adornments you wish to add!

Basically, all you do is wrap the wreath form in some ribbon and secure it with some hot glue. I used pins to hold it tightly in place while I was wrapping it. 

Then you cut up the other ribbon into 4.5 inch strips. Glue the ends together about an half an inch up so you still can separate the ends.

Then you just hot glue those to the wreath in sections. See so simple! I made a few alterations from the original. I exchanged the original blogger's 31 for the word "boo" and add a spider I purchased from the dollar store. I also used a slightly different color scheme.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out! So much fun! If you're into crafty things I would suggest this as an easy, fun, and inexpensive project! I got most of the necessary materials from the dollar store =)

Plants Need a Place to Stay Too

Miguel and I recently purchased some plants from our local farmers market. The patio is the only part of our yard that gets any sunlight because of the huge live oak trees. So the plants we've already been  accumulating along with the others we bought at the market have been getting placed on the patio floor. I don't like them sitting on the ground, especially with the dogs playing outside... particularly Jack whose favorite past time is eating grass. So I've really wanted a plant rack for our back patio. I wanted one that looks something like this one below:

source

However, most plant racks like this cost anywhere from $100 and upwards. That isn't in our budget right now. So today I perused some furniture thrift shops. I found a couple of options that might work at some of the stores, but the price point was still too high. Then at the last store I found the perfect option! I found a three tiered plant rack/bakers rack for only $18!! Score! It was white and a little rusty but it was the perfect size for the space I wanted to put it in. It folded up and fit it in the backseat of my car.

Obviously I wasn't going to leave it looking like that. So I picked up some Rust-O-Matic spray paint from Home Depot. I chose an antique brown color that has some texture in it. The great thing about this particular paint was that it can be sprayed directly over rust and also helps prevent rust in the future. I'm all for products that let you skip steps! Double Score! I purchased two cans for just a little over $5 each. So in total this project only cost me a couple dollars short of $30! Much better than the online options! Triple score! =)  I gave the rack a good spray and let it dry.

Ugh, I forgot how much spray painting hurts your fingers. I'm also sporting a nice mark on my feet and a now ruined pedicure. =)

After the rack dried in the sun, I filled it up with some potted plants. I'm hoping to get some more herb plants in the near future and move some of the potted flowers, like the mums, somewhere else. But right now I'm extremely happy with the way everything turned out! 

Curb Appeal?

It's been really hard trying to make our lawn look nice. We have a very large live oak tree in our front yard, which we love, but the shade it creates makes it very difficult to grow grass. The heat hasn't helped either. We have big plans for the yard but we are waiting for cooler weather before we attempt a major overhaul. In the meantime, I started looking for an inexpensive way to dress up the dull looking front door. 

I knew that getting some potted plants to flank the door would give the entrance a little more pop and I decided I wanted to go that route. Never having gardened before I thought it'd be best to go to a gardening store and get some advice. Due to the amount of shade and my lack of desire to take care of a high maintenance plant, I took the suggestion from the plant store people who recommended ferns. The ferns at this particular store were very beautiful. They also had a plethora of ceramic planters to choose from. However, when I saw that the small planters started at around 45 bucks a pop, I decided to look somewhere else. At $20 for each fern and two planters on top of that... I really wasn't looking to spend anywhere near $130 just to add a little something to our front door! I ended up leaving and finding ferns at Publix of all places for a little under $6 each. They were hanging baskets, but they were easy enough to replant. I got the planters from Target on sale for $9 each and picked up some potting soil for $3 there as well. I spent around $30 for the whole project. Less money than I would have spent on the ferns alone at the gardening store! I'd say that is a win!

I placed the ferns near the front door and hung up a fall scarecrow my mom had given me in the past! I'm sooo looking forward to fall and he is helping me get in the mood! 

I also hung up Miguel's Georgia Tech flag. It is football season after all. =) Little by little our house is becoming our home!

Well, I'm 'Shocked' To Say...

Well, I'm shocked to say that we got an electric dog fence for our yard. Miguel and I explored lots of fencing options and when it came down to it, an electric fence was the best solution for us. I was against an electric fence from the start because my general perception was that they were cruel. I was also worried that our dogs wouldn't be fazed by the shock and still run out of our yard. Furthermore, I recently read that dog snatching is on the rise and I didn't too much care for the idea of the dogs running around outside where someone could easily take them away. However, after researching options we chose to install an electric dog fence.

The previous owners of our house had some really strange fencing going on in the backyard. First of all our driveway extends past the back of our house by quite a few yards. With the exception of the driveway, the rest of the backyard is fenced. Then there was this really strange fencing going on in the middle of the back yard.  So when Miguel and I bought the house our original plan was to tear down all the fencing and replace it with a tall, wooden privacy fence. However, as it turns out, the current fencing on each side of the yard belongs to three of our different neighbors. So that x-ed out the privacy fence. We thought that would look strange to have it flush up against our neighbors chain linked fence. Next we discussed building an electric gate to span the distance of the driveway and to act as a barrier for the dogs to keep them in the backyard. However, we couldn't agree on a look and decided that if we were going to spend the money on an electric gate we'd rather have it match the surrounding fence and we didn't want a chain link gate. All of this led us to make the decision that an underground, electric dog fence would best suit our needs.

The invisible fence creates no visual clutter, mismatched fencing, or obstacle for our cars when parking. It also proved to be far more economical than building a fence or gate. We ordered the electric dog fence online and had it delivered to our house. As an added perk we were able to install it ourselves, which also saved us some cash. Miguel researched electric dog fences (which I will call "EDF" from now on) and we decided to go with PetSafe's Stubborn Dog In-Ground Fence. This system came with 500 feet of wire, the boundary flags, and one collar. We picked up an extra collar from Home Depot for around $50. This EDF system is good because it has lightning protection as well as for different levels of shock and a vibration only mode.

Emma modeling her new collar

The EDF arrived late last week and Miguel and I tackled the project of installing it over Labor Day Weekend. I say "we" liberally, as Miguel did most of the work! First we had to determine where the boundaries were going to be. We decided that we wanted the dogs contained to the backyard. There is a small part of the front yard where the dogs can go, but they are currently unaware of this. The line crosses over our driveway through an expansion crack. After we laid the line in the expansion crack we filled it up with concrete sealer (I'm sure there is a more exact term to what we used but I have no clue as to what is was) as well as some sand and dirt. For the front yard we used an electric yard tool to dig a small trench to lay the line in and then filled it back in with dirt. In the back yard, Miguel just threaded the line through the existing fence instead of trying to fight the thorn bushes. It's not really noticeable and not even really necessary since there is a physical fence, but the line needed to be a loop. We placed the boundary flags in the yard and we were done!

Once it was all installed it was time to teach the dogs. I was so anxious about this part. You never, ever, ever want to see someone or something you love be in pain. So, of course Miguel and I tested the shock level of the collars on ourselves first. I was relieved to learn that it honestly doesn't hurt. It really is much more just a shock... like a shock you would receive if someone came up behind you and grabbed your shoulders. It's more startling because you weren't expecting it rather than a shock because of a sharp pain. We did everything the EDF training manual said do to. We took both the dogs out on leashes and walked them to the boundary edge line while speaking encouragingly to them. My tender heart almost shattered to pieces the first time Emma got shocked and jumped back! The training is supposed to last a couple of weeks at minimum, but one shock was enough for Emma. She won't even go near the section of driveway that is parallel to the house. She also instantly made the connection that the flags were connected to the shock. She really is one of the smartest dogs I've ever known. And then there is Jack.

We set Jack's collar on training/vibrate mode (Emma's didn't have that since we purchased it separately). Jack was more than willing to walk over the boundary line, let his collar vibrate, and then come back to "Good boy, Jack!" and a treat on the other side. Completely did not faze him. So we upped the ante and set his collar on shock mode. At first he seemed more curious.  It took him a few more times than Emma to realize that crossing over the flag line meant a shock for him. But, luckily, it didn't take him too long to learn not to walk towards the end of the driveway. We made this progress through multiple, short lessons during the day. I think it really helped that there is only one part of the yard that they cannot cross without getting shocked since the rest of the yard is already fenced. I think the training would have taken a lot longer if they had to learn the boundaries of a larger yard with only the flags as their visual markers. 

It has been SO nice to be able to go outside and let the dogs out too without having to leash them or worry about them running away! Miguel and I played volleyball together the other night and the dogs just chased each other around and we didn't have to think twice about where they were. It's also so nice to be able to just open the door to let them out, especially first thing in the morning. And I know I'll appreciate this even more when the weather gets colder. Emma is also much quicker to do her business when she has free roam and is off leash. The dogs are loving it even more than we are! They are just bounding around the yard with the biggest smiles and widest tail wags! They are constantly finding sticks (which Jack always tries to bring in the house) and chasing each other! 

When they play like this I always think of Lion King and the slow motion fight at the end between Scar and Simba!

Unfortunately, Emma's habit of digging holes at the dog park has found its way into our backyard as well! She loves to dig and always does so with such tenacity, determination, and purpose! I know it can be a really bad habit, especially when we get around to landscaping, but she is just so cute to watch dig! Watching Jack explore Emma's work and then attempt to dig too is also just too freaking adorable as well!

The only snag we have come across in this whole process is with the dog who lives in the yard directly behind ours. We share a fence with those neighbors so their dog and our dogs have sniffed each other and have run along the fence with each other in the past. However, they can no longer touch noses due to the EDF. Emma wont get close, but Jack is finding it really hard to resist the urge to bound over to his friend. They also have small children and Jack just can't stand it when they come up to the fence. He goes over to get some pats and just takes the shock I guess. He wags so I assume it doesn't bother him that bad...

Cute dog next door neighbor!

Checking out the neighbor's dog from a safe distance

Jack really wants to get closer!

All in all I'd say I'm very happy with our decision to go with an electric fence! The dogs seem happy and I feel like they are safer than before. While we were at it, we also started to take down that ridiculous half fence too. Miguel did the majority of the work as he had to dig huge holes and wrestle the concrete blocks and poles out of the ground. We still have one little section to take out (see the 'gate' below), but just having the middle section out makes the backyard feel larger and allows the dogs to run around more freely.

I had a little shovel =) 

What we've removed so far

Please keep this gate closed....

Since it leads to an open area....?

I also just want to end this post by quickly saying thank you to my Gramma for the housewarming gift of the EDF and also to my daddy for giving us the yard tools we needed to install it! Yall are the best!

Girly Thank You Basket

A friend was so very kind and watched our dogs and house for us while we were in Montana for over a week. If you have met our dog, Jack, or have been reading this blog you will know that he is a handful. He still has all his puppiness and all the jumping, chewing, and bounciness that comes with that. We are so very thankful to our kind friend who house sat for us. We of course paid her but after a few texts mid-week about Jack going over to the sitter and lifting his leg and uh... "marking" her if you will, we felt we needed to show our appreciation a little more! 

I think this gift basket is a good gift and it is so simple to make. I would definitely encourage you to make one as a thank you gift or for any occasion. I purchased this gift basket set (pictured above) from World Market for only $4! It came with the basket, straw bedding, a gift tag, cellophane wrapping, and twine to tie it all up. Pretty nice for such a small price tag. A bag of straw cost $3 at World Market... so I'd say that the basket set pays off well. 

I filled the basket with various things by just walking around World Market. I ended up going with sort of a pink theme which was determined by the first thing I picked up... Pomegranate Martini mix and matching glass rim sprinkles. After watching our dogs for a week you need a drink! So that was definitely a go! Next I picked up some "Get Gorgeous" organic tea, some bath salts and soap, and finally some purse tissues with a saying that is also appropriate after watching our dogs, "Keep Calm, Carry On". Each item was under $6 each. I also picked up a small martini glass for $2... I just forgot to put it in the photograph... oops! :)

I placed the straw in the basket, followed by all the pink items, wrapped it up and tied on the gift tag (which was signed by all of us). Such a simple to make gift. I hope our house sitter enjoys it and can get some use out of the items! I know I'm tempted to keep some of them for myself... good thing the basket is wrapped up in cellophane! =)