Tuesday, July 31, 2012

10 Best Blogging Tips From a Newb

 I love blogging!
I had no idea it would be fun and completely addicting.
There are some things that I wish I had known before my daughter and I  clicked the create blog button.
1. Create a test blog
I wish that I had created a test blog before I created my real blog. That way I would have had a place to try out layouts and design features. I could have played with the side widths, fonts, buttons, etc. without subjecting my few readers to abrupt changes. There were a bunch in the first few months.
2. I wish I had known all that would be required to take the best pictures possible before I started blogging. I should have spent a month just practicing photography. 
3. Play with the editing software of a photo editing/hosting site. I use Picasa but there are other ones out there.
I was learning how to blog and take and edit pictures all at the same time. Not to mention doing the projects that I was blogging about.
4 . I wish I had known that I would need a new camera, computer and scanner to get going. I have yet to get the new computer or scanner. This leads to #5.
 5. I wish I had know that I wasn't going to get rich off of monetizing my blog. Which I haven't done because I won't  get rich off of it anyway. :)
6.  I wish that I had spent a month just looking at other blogs and reading what was already out there. 
7. Read, read, read about creating headers, buttons and little cuties for your page.
8. Use what blogger has to offer as far as background paper. I was shocked to find my site was blocked from my virus protection because I was using a free blog background.  I hate to think about those that clicked on my site that day. Warning, warning Will Robinson. (Did I just date myself?)
9. I didn't know about link parties and other ways to promote my blog. I thought that my facebook friends would just pass me on to their friends and I would be a famous blogger.
10.And finally, I wish someone had prepared me for the awkwardness, at least that I feel, when someone mentions that they like my blog. I just write it for fun and to keep me busy. It is therapeutic and it allows me to feel that someone is seeing all the hard work I put into my house. When I hit publish I forget that people I know are actually reading this. 
I will have to get over that if I am to become rich and famous for Let's Add Sprinkles!
Sprinkled with blogging wisdom, (tongue in check)


Monday, July 30, 2012

Industrial Farm Lighting


Bill and I were out antiquing and he picked up two of these industrial farm lights.


For some reason they have languished in the garage for a long time. I think he contemplated giving them away, but I didn't want him to. In the the right setting they would be super cute.
I would love to have them in a farm house kitchen.
Maybe in my 2nd home. :)
I found one on the shelf the other day when I was looking for something. 
It proved to be the inspiration for something for my sunroom.

My sons love these metal light fixtures.


They used them quite a bit in their early band gig days. 
They are affordable, portable and not uber precious. 
I saw some on display at Walmart and  light bulb went off. 
No pun intended.
I went over to the spray paint and picked up a can of green enamel.
I didn't even get the $3.99 brand. 
I went for the $1.49 brand.


Which used to be .99 cents by the way. With all of Walmart's Rolling Back Prices bologna they sure are raising quite a few. (Fabric is what else I  noticed.)
 They don't advertise that!!
Anyway.
I came home and took off the clip and the light bulb socket. 
I sprayed the outside green,


and the inside white.

  
Lighting has been a bit of a problem in a corner of the sunroom. You may have been one of the whopping 61 people that read about my dish dresser  paint job.
If not, feel free to read about it here.
There was no cord over on that side of the room, which drove me nuts!  It is a great place to sit and enjoy the view to the outside. No one could sit there in the evening, however.

 I realized we could use one of those computer cord cover things


and an extension cord. 

Finally light.





I used a fan bulb because the metal on these can get hot.






I can't wait to sit in this spot and work on my crochet.

I thought it would be whimsical to take a crochet class this summer.


The women in the family were going to get scarves for Christmas. I had big plans to crochet scarves for the homeless.


Clearly something just isn't right. No matter how many times I count the stitches it is crooked!!


Oh well. 
Rebekah says I should make them anyway and sit with a straight face when everyone opens cattywampus scarves. 
Maybe.
 Either way I have a cute and cheap light to sit by.
The light was less than $7.00.


How cute would these be spray painted red?
How about extra lighting for a work area or if you needed lighting near a fold out bed? 
How about several of them strung together for a party?



Can I show you the start to my picnic basket collection?



I got the green one during an antiquing weekend at the lake.
I love this green color!
I am going to have to figure out where to put those two other green lights. 
Update: A couple of people have asked me why I haven't used the real farm lights out here. They are pretty big and would be a little over sized for our small sun porch. Plus, they are Bill's frugal find. He is trying to figure out where he would like them. 


Too cute!






Saturday, July 28, 2012

Making the Most out of Grocery Store Flowers

Do you know how to make the most out of grocery story flowers? 
Flowers from the grocery store are not what they used to be. 
I've used them for showers and a wedding. 
Today at Kroger I just happened to find some gorgeous pink roses on sale. 
Two dozen roses for the price of one.
It was too good a deal to pass up.




Grocery store flowers have to be trimmed in order to look good in a vase. 
You can't just stick them in a vase and walk away. 
They have added length that needs to be trimmed away.




The Waterford vase was a Christmas gift. 
The square vase was from one of my darling students. 



 I want the flowers to stick up about 4 inches above the rim of the Waterford vase. 


I cut 4 inches off of the first rose and tested it in the vase. 
It looked okay so I continued to cut each rose to size.
 

Make sure each flower is the same length. 
Measure from the top of the rose to the cut. 




  The part you cut off will not be the same on each flower. 




For some reason the square vase oozes sophistication. 
It pained me to cut so much off of the roses to fit in the vase but the arrangement is worth it.
I lined the vase with leaves from the roses. 
It is a look I copied from floral designers. 




I tucked some asters in and around the roses. 
An aster is a fall blooming flower that looks like a mini daisy.
They will typically last a week or so. 


 
I have found similar square vases at Hobby Lobby in the candle making section. 
They retail for about $2.00 each. 
These are great for showers or parties. 










There were enough roses to make an arrangement for the powder room.





The white milk glass vase came from a thrift store. 
They used to be super affordable and easy to find. 
They are harder and harder to find.
 

I made a little arrangement for the kitchen.  


I got the gorgeous pink (or red) onion scoop in Ruidosa, New Mexico. 
The pattern in the onion pattern. It's not a scoop for onions.
Ask your floral department when they get deliveries. 
Not all the flowers on display will be from the lastest delivery. 
Kroger has an expiration date on their flowers. 
Tom Thumb as a guarantee but I've never return flowers that haven't stayed fresh for the guaranteed period. 
I never bother using the powder that comes with the flowers.
It's never seemed to make that much a difference to me.




I hope you will go out and get some fresh flowers. 
There isn't much blooming here in Texas. 
It is way too hot. 
Stay cool where you are. 
Katie
 
Linking with,
My 1929 Charmer Blog

Friday, July 27, 2012

Summer Under Glass

I am so excited that now my new camera actually will take good pictures of something under glass.


I have a couple of cloches. One isn't really supposed to be a cloche, but I made it one. 
I made mine because cloches were the new, in thing and they were priced exorbitantly.
I was not going to pay 30-40 for glass. 

Mine started life as a clock.
I got a clock just like the one below at a garage sale. 
I think I paid $2.00. These can be good clocks but the one I found was super cheesy, cheap and broken!
(I really wanted one as a new bride but never got one.) 
 I had been looking for a while for one to photograph for a cloche post and found this one in Colorado at an antique shop. They wanted $25.00 for it! It is very fake and blingy looking.

Here is another one I found while on the same trip. 
This one is a much better clock.

Since mine was so cheesy, I had no problem tearing it apart.
I safely set the glass aside and started unscrewing the three screws that held the guts in. It took a little doing but it eventually all came out. I saved the face for crafting and threw the rest of the guts away.
Here it is for...

Christmas


 Winter
 Valentine's Day
 Easter
  and summer. 
        The treasured birthday card is from my dear aunt. 
 Are you as wild about this bathing beauty as I am? 
 She is from Japan and was a souvenir from somewhere in Missouri. I wasn't aware that Missouri had beaches, but whatever. I picked her up in a little shop. I'm not sure whether it was a junk shop or an antique shop but I know I didn't pay much. I love her with the little sand castle from a fish tank.  
 I spent hours and hours one summer looking at mermaids, bathing beauties and fish tank decor on e-bay. Seriously days and days! I'm sure my husband was becoming concerned. I bought only one thing because all the items were so high. 
Finally, I found a few things elsewhere when I wasn't really looking anymore. 
 I got this cloche at a thrift store. It had a very vintage butterfly display in it. I guess it was popular in the 70's to make dried displays with real, dead butterflies. I didn't care to have something dead on display. Poor thing. 
 This little mermaid was $1.00 at my old favorite junk shop.
I think the owner was a storage auction hunter, like those popular t.v. shows. She really found some good stuff. Her husband would get mad when she slipped in little treasures for good deals. But as a frequent shopper, I loved finding a treasure in the midst of the more expensive items she had. This little gem would have been 
much more on e-bay.

The new owner of the shop has it with more pricey antiques, so I never go anymore.
 I bet she was a souvenir or an aquarium ornament as well. She doesn't have a mark on the bottom. 

 Small items like this have more presence under glass. 
So much fun. 
Katie