Plants Hanging from Ladder

I found this old ladder for a couple bucks at a thrift store. Using plant hooks and wire, I attached it to the ceiling over my bathtub.

The plant hooks are secured with toggle bolts per instructions from package.

In a previous house I used garage bike hooks in the ceiling studs. The toggle bolts make it easier to secure the hooks in a convenient spot. Hardware stores commonly have plant hanging extenders. This is basically a big metal S so that your plants aren't too high. Use caution when selecting your variety of plants for this location. I used to hang my poinsettia (one of my favorites) above my bathtub. I thought it would be a good location so my cats would stop feasting on this poisonous treat. Then I knocked my head on the plant, shaking off some of the leaves into the bath water where my kids were soaking. That bath came to an abrupt end. Old ladders can be fun display tools. I've used this same ladder in another house to hold the hand towels in the guest bath. Ladders can also be used to hold magazines, newspapers, blankets.....I'd love to hear more ideas for old ladders!

Postcard Collection

Since I can remember, I've been collecting postcards. My dad was an airline pilot and flew international flights. He would always send me a post card from some crazy exotic place. And an apple...he always brought me the apple from his food tray. My grandmother was also quite the traveler and sent me numerous postcards from lands afar. Did people send postcards more when I was little? Whenever a friend went on vacation and I babysat their pet hamster or kitten or plant, they always sent me a postcard. Sometimes I even mailed them to myself while on vacations. To: ME I am good. How are you? Occasionally I mailed them to my pets back home. I was an only child driving cross country with my parents in a station wagon....with headphones and a giant tape player in my lap so I could listen to 'Fairy Tales on tape'. My postcard collection began dwindling a good fifteen years ago but I am trying to encourage this lost art. My husband and I drove to Arkansas with our three kids last November and the kids all picked out postcards from each state, wrote their name, and mailed it home. These are very valuable treasures added to my collection which I proudly display in a bowl in my guest room.

Chandelier Makeover

As I was clicking through some blogs I love to peruse, I came across fun chandelier before and after photos. I'm hoping to soon replace my entry way chandelier and repurpose it as a light in my art studio. My plan is to paint it glossy lime green, and the little shades, black. These photos from Design Sponge are a great inspiration for my upcoming project. Now if I could just find a replacement light in my entry way we could get this ball rolling!

(Photos via Design Sponge).

Valentine's Day Thumbprint Hearts

Using red craft paint, friend and photographer Jen Schleicher helped her two little loves create thumbprint hearts for their daddy. After labeling it with names, ages and the date, it is now displayed in a blue frame as a keepsake and Valentine's Day decoration for years to come.

Creative & Personalized Shoulder Straps

Spice up your life! Take off that factory camera bag strap and tie on a fun (sturdy) scarf. The one I use is wide enough to spread out over my shoulder which distributes the weight more comfortably. My laptop bag is a simple padded case from REI with hooks where I tied a fringed gauzy scarf.

Valentine's Day Cards

The photographs of these beautiful children were shot indoors using natural lighting, a tall ladder and white fleece fabric. The photographs were cropped into squares using Photoshop. The E needed a little extra fabric, and so I used the eye dropper tool to match the color, and filled in the extra area using the brush tool at 50% opacity to soften the edges. This same effect can be accomplished using the clone stamp. I worked on a 30 inch square image, brush stroked red, adding each letter as a 5 inch square. Their borders are separate images opened at 6 inch square and colored using the brush tool (100% opacity) using a eye dropper of color off of one of the reds in the photo. I used guide lines throughout to help with placement of letters and border images. The heart is a 13 square inch image with a 14 square inch image of the darker red image layered behind it. I then cropped the final piece using the rectangular marquee tool with a fixed ration of 5x7. It would have probably been easier to open the first large background image at a ratio of 5x7 but I tend to open a giant "canvas" and work from there. It definitely took a couple of hours to create on photoshop, while "watching" the super bowl at my neighbors house...who was playing? Check out some of the other photos I took at their shoot.

Upcycle Plastic Bread Bag Clips: Wine Glass Charms

I've never owned wine glass charms. We just used to play the guessing game at our house until one day I opened up a drawer in my kitchen, saw a bunch of different color bread bag clips and thought, Voila! Wine glass charms!

They come in different colors. They have 365 options for printed dates. They cost nothing. They take up minimal space to store. And the best thing about upcycling plastic bread bag clips as wine glass charms?...

You know where you can easily get more if they break!

Entertaining Weekend Guests: Menu

I'm recovering now from a two night, three day party for fifteen people at my house. We planned for 17 but due to illness only had fifteen show. For the third year in a row my husband and I have hosted a weekend birthday party/reunion for friends from college. Every year we acquire extra guests or extra kids and we have a great time visiting, catching up and reminiscing old times. Between late nights, good wine, and my house that looks like it was hit by a bomb, I'm utterly exhausted and it may take me a couple years to recover. However, I'd like share our menu for the weekend because every big weekend party we host, I learn a little bit about what works and what needs improvement.

Breakfast Items:

Bagels, cream cheese, muffins, and fruit

Lunch Items:

Lunch meats, a tray of cheeses, bread, fruit....all packable items so people could bring it with them to the snow.

Friday Night: Homemade Pizza

Pizza night was fun. I bought 8 bags of pizza dough, sauce, cheese and various toppings. I made a list of pizzas on some scrap cardboard which proved handy later as a menu. Willing guests cut vegetables, spread sauce, sprinkled cheese, and cut pizzas.

Vegetable Pizza

Tomato Sauce, shredded pizza cheese, sliced roasted peppers from

Trader Joes freezer, sliced eggplant and zuccini blend

from Trader Joes freezer

BBQ Chicken Pizza (my favorite)

BBQ sauce, shredded pizza cheese, chopped chicken breast,

green onion, carrots, pine nuts

Jalapeno and Tomato Pizza

Tomato Sauce, shredded pizza cheese,

canned tomatoes (squeezed out), sliced jalapenos

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pizza

Wheat pizza dough, goat cheese, pine nuts

onions and mushrooms saute'd till

caramelized (45 minutes) and goat cheese

Saturday Night: Pulled Pork Sammies

So Saturday around ten, (the time till I wish I could have slept), we put pork (pork sirloin tip roast from Costco) into two slow cookers with water and chicken bouillon and turned it on low till 5:00. After a day of skiing and snowboarding, or shopping while kids all stayed at home with sitters, we came home to a very stinky garage. I always slow cook in the garage cuz I'm not real big on my curtains smelling like meat.

After bringing in the stinky meat (I'm not sure why, but sometimes it smells like arm pit), we drained the water, shredded the meat, and divided it into thirds. Two of the thirds were returned to the slow cookers on low and one into a pot on the stove.

Three types of sauce (bought at Buffalo Wild Wings) were heated and added to the different containers of meat. Honey BBQ was perfect for the kids and as a non spicy alternative. Mango Habanero was a favorite and Spicy Garlic was okay, but a bit salty.

The pulled pork was served next to rolls and a large undressed salad with a variety of vinegars and oils for people to top their lettuce on their plates.

My kitchen table was moved aside to make room for two children's tables and chairs. This room was dedicated to feeding the little guys. I also wrote each child's name onto plastic Valentines cups to be used for the entire weekend. We hired two babysitters to watch the kids from 4 - 7 on Friday night, and because we used them Saturday during the day, we opted to save some moola and watch them ourselves Saturday night.

Ideas for Next Time:

I really like the idea of each family/couple being responsible for one meal. This could be a dinner, breakfast, lunches, or perhaps the clean up of a dinner. Right now a friend (who lives close) and I buy all the food and drinks and put the receipts up on the board in my kitchen and we split it up at the end of the weekend. If everyone was in charge of a different meal, the receipts could be split for the drinks.

Many guests chose to buy lunch and so perhaps the responsibility of a planned lunch could be replaced with providing healthy snacks.

Spreading out the responsibilities of food prep and clean up can make time for healthier, higher protein breakfasts which is a great idea since most guests are taking off for a day in the snow.

Preparing for this party I chose to put a lot of toys up on high shelves in the closets to avoid toy overload and complete chaos. Looking back I wish I had stored more.

...And my number one recommendation for your big weekend party for multiple guests? DON'T HOST IT AT YOUR HOUSE. Rent a vacation house in a convenient and fun location. Or how 'bout camping?

Although in previous years I was all gung-ho about re-hosting this fun filled weekend, I think with seven kids under age seven, it creates more chaos then when they are older and more independent. If this isn't the case, please don't burst my bubble, I have to see a light somewhere.

Please post comments if you have suggestions on entertaining multiple weekend guests! I'd love to hear more ideas.