My hubby went through the house and changed all the lightbulbs, and before he could recycle them I said, “Wait, I can use those for this project!” He may have given me that “year, sure” look, but I really had an idea for these little bulbs. I’ve been wanting to create a hanging lightbulb herb vase FORever and now I’ve done it and I love them. I didn’t really want floral vases, I wanted little herb vases. When you pluck a bit of rosemary or sage, the smell is amazing! We have an amazing amount of herbs always available in our yard (our rosemary grows year round) and if we need a bit for cooking, it’s right there. Ready to make one for yourself? Let’s go!

Supplies:

- Old lightbulbs

- Martha Stewart’s Multi-Surface Paint

- Painter’s Tape

- Wire

Directions: 

- First we need to prep the bulbs. Make sure you are wearing protective eyewear and gloves. Prepping the bulbs involves breaking glass, and it seems to fly everywhere! Do this project in a space you’re not worried to find little bits of glass later, cause you will find little bits of glass later. Be safe.

- Use a set of pliers to pry off the little metal disk on the base of the bulb.

- Using pliers or some sort of point, crack apart the glass inside of the bulb. When it’s broken up, pore out the glass. If there are any stuck pieces, use needle nose pliers to pull them out. Break away any extra bits of glass inside the rim. Pour some water in the bulb to swish it around and get any last little teeny bits of glass.

- Wash and completely dry the outside of each bulb. Use your painters tape to set up some fun shapes on the bulb. Tear and adjust the tape to your liking.

- Paint in the spaces you prepped for painting. Let dry completely before removing the tape. TIP: I put a chopstick inside each bulb and propped them up in glasses to dry.

- So, the Martha Stewart paint requires 21 days to cure completely, but I didn’t really wait for that. Since I’m not putting this in a dishwasher, I think it’s probably ok.

- Cut a couple 10 inch sections of wire. Make a “U” shape with one of the wires, and fold up the tips on each end (see photo below) and this will be your handle. Make a rough circle with the other wire piece, loop the tips onto the circle.

- Use some needle nose pliers to twist and tighten the wire on one of the lightbulb ridges and the tips of the “U” handle. Trim the extra bits of wire.

- You’re done! Just needs a bit of wire and some smelltastic herbs.

We hung these lovely vases in our kitchen. I love it.

- Chelsey

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

Our girls are growing and we have been attempting to get our chicken home built before they outgrow their little box in the house. It’s quite the project building a coop without much building knowledge, but I think we’ve got it. OR, I should say my husband has it down. Hopefully we can get this built within a couple of weeks. I can just tell the chicks are ready to get outside.

Speaking of…

Since the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL the past few days, we let the young chickens outside for the FIRST time this weekend. They pretty much LOVED it. They wandered around the yard, but mostly stayed near us. It was so fun having our little chicks wandering around. I ALSO loved that they ate a ton of bugs. Yay! It was pretty adorable watching them chase flies.

Happy Tuesday!

- Chelsey

I’m pretty darn excited. Today I have a DIY in The Portland Mercury, found on the Crafty Wonderland insert. Since many of you aren’t lucky enough to get this awesome local newspaper…. I’m sharing the DIY here! Really excited about this. I’ll have to get a couple copies for myself and take a ton of photos. Ha! Well, here’s what’s going to be in the paper. I love these planters:

I live in a tiny home and I prefer not to cover my limited surfaces with plants. How do I deal with this? Hanging planters, of course! This is a VERY quick and simple project. Perfect for even the non-crafty people. I made these sweet little Doily Plant Holders to put in my little girl’s room. She wanted plants in her room, but I didn’t really want my 3-year-old to have easy access to dirt in her bedroom. Might as well just avoid that situation. Ha! SO, let’s make Lace Hanging Planter Holders.

Supplies:

- 3 lace doilies

- 3 small containers (I used two old jars and a small tea cup)

- Rope (the length depends on how low you’d like your plants to hang, I used about 3 to 4 yards for each hanger)

- 3 small succulents

- 3 scissor snaps

- Needle and thread

- Scissors

Directions:

1. Cut 4 even sections of rope. For my shorter hanging planters I used just under a yard for each section of rope. If you prefer, you can use 3 pieces of rope to hang your planter, but 4 strands is a bit sturdier.

2. Thread the end of one rope strand through a hole on the doily. Tie a secure knot. Repeat this with all of your rope strands, making sure you spread the rope out evenly.

3. Use a needle and thread to sew and secure the knots.

4. Optional: If your doily has a few scallops (like mine) you can stitch the sides of each scallop to it’s neighbor. This will make the doily deeper for your planter.

5. Place your container in the doily and hold it up with your hand, try to make it hang evenly, then tie the strands of rope into a knot.

6. Braid the remaining portion of your rope, leaving about 3 inches at the end.

7. Tie your rope onto one scissor snap (I like these because they twist). Use your needle and thread to secure the knot onto the scissor snap.

8. Plant one small succulent into one container.

9. Hang your doily plant holder somewhere special, and place your planted succulent in the doily.

10. Repeat steps 1 through 9. to make your remaining plant hangers.

11. Enjoy!

- Chelsey

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

We are in the process of organizing our messed up/crazy crammed laundry slash mud room. Actually, we are in the process of organizing our WHOLE home… but the laundry room is getting the most attention at the moment. A first step for our update: adding some storage. I found this metal cupboard at the Restore for $15. I’m not quite sure what this cabinet was in it’s past…. maybe some sort of appliance? No idea, but it’s mine. It needed a little lot of love. See below:

All it took was some primer and paint. I used a high gloss Ivory enamel spray paint. The can recommended 2 or 3 coats… but this little cabinet needed about 6 coats. There were quite a few spots of rust. It’s all good now! A new coat of paint and we added a wood top (the wood was also from the restore) and wood shelf. I’m very happy with how it turned out. For NOoooow, this new piece will hold my giant printer and some of our pans. FOr now.

I think it looks pretty spiffy. I can’t wait until our laundry room is more updated and we can really set up this cabinet to show it off! I think I need a fancy new washer and dryer for the room, but since that’s out of my budget: nope.

What do you think this cabinet was? A stove? Some sort of space age kitchen cabinet?

- Chelsey