Quiet Sunday morning....

I just love it when I am up early and the neighborhood is still quiet and the kids are still in bed. It give me time to walk around my garden and take  a few minutes before the hustle and bustle of the day.

 I am not a manicured gardener. I love things to be a little wild and practice interplanting.  I like to let nature do it thing. I think there is a benefit to healthy garden diversity. 

I have a lot of native flowers and when I walk around  in the morning, it smells with the sweetness of the meadow.

 A few years ago this tall yellow flower appeared in my yard on it's own. It's an Evening Primrose and considered a prairie wild flower here. It grows about 5 feet tall and  freely self-sows.

 Every year I get  a few more in different places. The nice thing about it is if it grows in any area I don't want, it gets tall enough and obvious enough to just pull it.

  The other thing I found is it makes a great trap crop. The Japanese beetles LOVE it. They hide in the leaves, have "dates" all over the pace, eat the flowers and poop all over it in joy.

  It sounds completely gross, but it means for the most part they are not doing it on my raspberries. They are so concentrated there it makes it so much easier to go out every night with my soapy water and do some "population control."

 Any one want any pineapple mint? It's beautiful and sweet when flowering and the bees adore it, but I had to do some voracious pulling this year.

I never knew coneflowers had any scent, but when I brought some in the house I noticed that they have the sweetest honey smell. They are  a new favorite summer cutting flower for me for fragrance alone. It makes my house smell like the prairie.

 This cute, little guy popped up on my deck in a crack.

 And my Zinnia's are finally coming up. It's one of my absolute favorite cutting flowers.

 and with all of the rain, the Wisteria has been going bonkers, but it looks so green and lush.

 Okay, here's a secret. I eat almost anything, really.... But I can't stand radishes.

 They do make great companion plants for my cucumbers though, so I let them go to seed and pull them. I read about using radish as a late fall cover crop to feed the soil. I might try it this year in some of my more depleted beds.

 My eggplants are finally setting some fruit. I can't wait until they get big enough the bread and fry!

 The morning dew as gorgeous this morning. It looked like everything was coated in glitter.

The  Fall Gold raspberries are mostly beetle free and are soon going to be ready to pick. I might have to fight off the ants though for them. Or the kids.

 And the Sun Gold cherry tomatoes have been like candy. We've been eating them straight off of the vine and in different salads. I need to plant 2 next year to keep up with us.

I hope you have a restful Sunday!

Jen

gear up for giveaway day...

Do you love giveaways?  I am going to be hosting a giveaway linky day next Wednesday! Do you have something from your Etsy shop or on-line shop you'd like to giveaway?  Your item has to be over $25 in value and cannot be restricted to the continental US.

You can drop me  a note at thecraftyhome atcomcastdotnet  with any questions. I also have some advertising spots open if you're interested.

Can you read that address above? You have to try to spoil things those spammers you know. :) The weird stuff I get sometimes.

Jen

New items for your home....

I have lots of goodies I've been working on for my Etsy shop...

flour sack tea towels

repurposed vintage books into picture frames

and  art pieces ....

 hand poured beeswax candles...

Hand printed drapery....

and one of  a kind decoupaged cake plates.

Stop by if you get  a chance and take a peek!

Jen

P.S. You can still enter the drawing for Jeanne's ruffle bags here.

Win a ruffle purse of your very own...

I know a lot of you commented on my purse  that my good friend, Jeanne Oliver, had made for her spring collection.

She's generously offered to give away both a ruffled purse like I have, and the shorter handled tote to my reader's! 

They are made of  a beautiful blue linen and wear really well. She doesn't sell these in her shop, they are one of  a kind of only  a few that are left!

Leave  a comment on this post to enter. I'll leave it open until Friday when I will pick two winners.

Good luck!

Jen

P.S. Even though many of her bags have sold out right away, she still has a gorgeous Grey twill ruffle bag still in stock and the beautiful Sadie bag.

Michael's super coupons...

It's  hot here today. Flaming hot. It was hot here yesterday with heat indexes of 120 degrees. I normally hate the air conditioning, but today I have to admit, its' my friend.

 My kid's are so hot they are inside playing "doggie's". And yes, they are eating cereal out of bowls on the floors. Sorry it's blurry,  I had to take it quick before they moved. My favorite part is the way the dog is looking at them.

We are going to be staying inside all day today and while perusing on the internet for coupons to buy craft projects; I hit the motherload at Micheal's. They are not paying me or anything, I just  thought I would share the love on a hot day.  They are good till Sat. in the US and Fri. in Canada.

Here's the link. 

Michael's Coupons.

Enjoy. I am going to eat some cereal. At the Table. :)

Stay cool!

Jen

How to Ombre dye drapes...

Thank you all for the great comments for my daughter's room. We are so proud of it. It funny, because she loves everything modern, shiny, glossy and blingy. Totally opposite than me...I am sure she is going to grow up and her house is going to be sleek and minimalistic. :) 

When she said she wanted tye-dye drapes, I knew I didn't want to do the traditional rubber band wrapped projects. I already had some old white cotton panels shoved in the back of the linen closet. But I did see some at Target the other day for $17 for  a pair.

 I had found my Ombre tutorial here. But I wanted something a little more dramatic, so I added a twist with different color dyes.

I apologize for the terrible pictures in advance, it was horrendously sunny out.

 I used light pink, fuchsia and navy.

I followed all of the dye mixing directions and safety directions, but I did  mine in a big plastic storage bin in the yard. It was the biggest thing I had to fit the drapes in.

 After getting the entire panel wet, I dipped the entire thing in the lightest pink first and let it set for about 20 minutes.

 took it out, rinsed it and then did the fuchsia.

 I dipped part of the drape in, for about 10 minutes and then pulled it out enough to just enough to have the bottom still in and let it set for about another 30 minutes to get that faded look.

 I pulled it out into the sun to dry  a bit and then rinsed the entire thing through until the water ran clear.

 I then dipped the navy in the ends the same way.

after I rinsed them one more time, I put them in the sun to dry. Once they dried, I gave them one go around in the regular washer and they were ready to hang. The color didn't fade that much at all!

One packet does make  a lot of dye, so if there are other things you'd like dyed that color like t-shirts or pillow cases, go for it. You might even get  a little crazy. I was looking for things to put in the bin I was having so much fun.

Happy dyeing!

Jen

Dark girl's room to bright and cheery make-over....

Thank you all for being so patient through the power outage!

So, we took a dark and dreary 10 year-old  "hoarder's room" with a mural overload, to something for a girl who's growing up. 

BEFORE

Originally, she wanted pink and purple stripes, but I knew she would quickly out grow it.

AFTER

 She told me "I don't want any of that old stuff you like." So we decided on a more modern flair with blue walls, and navy and raspberry accents. Something that could easily move into her 'tweens and beyond.

I found the modern-ish lamp, frame and fake flowers at Homegoods.

 It worked well knowing I had to keep her same bed coverings and furniture for now. I am thinking about finding something in raspberry and white for the bed skirt though. The rug is a bath mat from Homegoods.

 I found this great pillow at Target to add  a pop of color on the bed; and I had enough of that gorgeous Cabbages and Roses Fabric left to make an accent pillow. It really helped tie the room together.

 For the artwork, I found the raspberry graphic "flowers" at Homegoods. They are placemats! For $1.99 each! 

My MIL is from Britain so we bought a large canvas from Hobby Lobby and made  a play on the design of the British flag. My daughter had a great time using bubble wrap and stencils to "pretty" it up.

  The chair I did a few weeks ago  from the Cabbages and Roses fabric is perfect for her reading nook.  She loves the chair and reads in it every night. I'd love  a mirror there but until I find one I like, a bit of ribbon and clothespins makes a great place to showcase her artwork. For a little bit of color we made  a dolly pillow from blue ticking and pink felt.

Yes. That is an army parachute guy on the left. :)

 She really, really wanted tye-dye pink drapes. How can I say no?  I had some white panels in our over stuffed linen closet and took a chance at playing with dye and Ombre dying them.

 It was fun to do and she actually likes them, so I am glad I took the time to do it.

 Not bad for my first time. I might have to redo the navy at the bottom to even it out a bit.

 We hung a self portrait she did over her dresser earlier this year. The colors were perfect.

 I found these cute knobs for half price at Hobby lobby.

 And since it's a small room I " cheated" the ceiling a bit and added chair rail about  7 inches down on the wall instead of crown molding. I think it raises the ceiling  a bit and make the room look taller and adds character. Since our ceiling lines are so uneven anyway, it takes out the guess work of edging it straight.

I know she loves it and loves having the freedom her her own room. She has surprised me and is actually a pretty neat kid. 

You may be getting to see another room make over in the next few months because now the other two want a "new room."

Jen

Tomorrow...

Finally! Power is back on, fridge is cleaned out, laundry is being caught up on....

I'll be posting the make over to this scary room! 

Jen

Just popping in from Starbucks...

After a huge storm 8 am Monday morning,  we've been with out power for just over  a day now. The Chicago suburbs were hit hard, Hopefully we'll be back on today, but it's so wide spread Com Ed is saying it's  a mulitple day outtage. We've eaten all of the melted ice cream and slushy popsicles and are borrowing parents freezer space. Hopefully I'll be back soon! 

Jen

I love my purse....

Have I told you about my favorite purse? It was made by my good friend Jeanne Oliver. It holds a ton and is cute to boot.

Ignore my haggard self in this picture, just look at the gorgeous bag. ( It was after a fun day in Morris at 3 French Hens ( going on this weekend!).

(Photo by Tracey Leber)

I love my purse. I have to give props to Jeanne. I love it girl. Thank you. She has the most amazing things. She's so talented.

You can find them here.

Jen

P.S. I am working on the bedroom make-over for Monday, but it might be Tuesday. It depends on pool time :)

Almost there...

Paint, spackle, molding, artwork.....

The anticipation is mounting here; every day my daughter  asks when we are moving her bed in, and the floor is still covered in tarps.

You wouldn't  think a 9 x 10 foot room would take that long to paint. But summer break makes everything take just a little bit longer.. you have to have pool time after all!

I hope to have the big girl room reveal for you on Monday!

Jen

Very pinteresting......

Have you searched for your blog yet on Pinterest? While I am  always getting notice e-mails about what people have re-pinned from my pins, it was kind of interesting to see what people liked from my own stuff.

the 3 most reoccurring pins I found were...

 Kitchen eat-in nook

 my girl's bedroom...

And the most popular pin was the thrift-store light over the kitchen sink, which sadly, is still NOT hooked up. It's only been 6 months. I swear the day it works I am blogging about it. It will be one happy day in the Rizzo house.

Jen