What sights in your life make you smile?  The things that you just happen to pass by or notice?  I have a lot and new ones get added every day.  Some are fixed, some are temporary, some pop up out of no where, some are quirky and unexpected, some are all about timing and being at the right place to catch them when they happen.  I’m grateful for every one that my eyes absorb…and once you tune in, you recognize them instantly, you appreciate the trigger and you can’t wait for the next one…..

Here are a few of mine from the past couple days….

visitors on the pond….

caught mabel cuddling up with samantha….TOO cute!

rusty things…

the sign outside my studio…something I rarely do! ::)

making something out of nothing…log slices and recycled chain

moss…the only bright spots of green during autumn

my collection of heads that are scattered here and there…these friendly faces bring a smile every time I pass by….

my daughter and her crazy arrangements…a nail polish line-up and their chocolate chip companions…..

the geese that drop by…some years your pond’s not worthy, some years it is

the pets that stick their nose in everything….always make ya smile….

What sights brought a smile to your face today?  Capture ‘em when you can, or just simply savor the grin.  Remember, it’s the frowns that age you and the smiles are what will keep you young. 

Cheers!  

michele.

The days I feel the most alive and vibrant are the ones where I’m actually able to spend the entire day outside working on things. Ever since I was a kid helping my dad out on the river or my grandpa at his campground….nature-filled days are guaranteed to keep spirits high!  Can’t explain it and not sure if that’s the experience for everyone, but for me personally, it’s a natural, energy-boosting, mood enhancer unlike anything else.  We recently spent the day cutting down fallen trees and replenishing our firewood supply.  During the colder months, our fireplace is going every day so we’re trying to be a little better prepared this year.

We chopped, hauled and stacked and finally got around to creating some stringers to replace the old wooden pallettes.

Madeline had a great time building a hut that enticed a butterfly for a visit, and then we finished off the afternoon with a little fishin’ and paintin’.  

Maddie and Jon threw their poles in the water and I worked on a painting on the dock and watched them.   At the end of the day I had that really productive feeling that can be rather addicting.   We need to spend a couple more days on the firewood task to get the supply where it needs to be, but we got a good jump on things.  The fireplace allows us to keep the thermostat down low, and I love the atmosphere it generates in the house.   We pull out our game trays and usually eat dinner in front of the fire most nights.   Madeline loves to help get it started and then Mabel the cat rushes in to get a front row seat.   Even on the challenging days, it warms the heart and always puts things in perspective. 

Some firewood fun:  

Proof that everything in life can be approached with creative flair….and I’m ashamed to admit it, but I NEVER thought about doing a……woodpile sculpture.

This artist did and you can find out more about his natural masterpiece here:

And some other interesting tidbits:

Leaving a small log pile in the woods or by your garden provides a wildlife habitat and a suitable place for things to hibernate.  

The best wood for burning is Hardwood.

Stacks dry best if they’re no higher than four feet.  

A standard cord of wood has a volume of around 128 cubic feet or a neatly stacked pile that measures 8 feet long by 4 feet wide by 4 feet high. 

An average cord produces the same heat energy as around 5,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.  

1 gallon of propane gas equals about 14 and a half pounds of wood

100 cubic feet of natural gas equals about 14 pounds of wood

Cheers to the  ’hearty’ roar of a fire!

michele.

Halloween is a holiday that celebrates all things spooky, but it doesn’t have to frighten our health, our pocketbooks or the environment…(for the most part, anyway!)::)  Here are some ways to mark the occasion that play up the earthy, imaginative, resourceful side in all of us.  The idea being, we make Halloween less of a commercial affair and more of an environmentally friendly, family affair.

Natural Decor

Be resourceful when it comes to decorating, and play up the simple use of natural elements, rather than relying on all the synthetic paraphernalia from party stores.  Decorate with things like driftwood, cornstalks, leaves, branches, and of course, pumpkins.   These can then get tossed to the compost bin when the big day has passed, so you have nothing to store and nothing goes to waste.  When carving pumpkins, save the seeds to toast and eat, or to plant again for next year.   You can also put some of your recyclables or leftovers into play to create reusable Halloween décor year after year.  Make use of energy efficient lights and use soy-based candles in your jack-o-lanterns.

Costumes

Your most eco-friendly, yet still playful, options when it comes to costumes are to think second hand or to repurpose and make one yourself using items from around the house. It makes great sense to organize costume swaps with friends and neighbors and to shop second hand stores.   Creating costumes yourself is about one of the easiest, do it yourself projects you can take on because it’s all about being creative, it only has to last for a one-time wearing, and it doesn’t have to be perfect…it just has to be FUN!  Search your closets, the kitchen, the garage…all the supplies you need are right there in front of you. Pull things together and then let your child’s imagination go to work.  They’ll have their own ideas on how to configure things and what kind of innovative character they want to create.  Kids love to play dress up all year long, and put on shows, so a costume trunk is always worth the effort.

Homemade Brews

If you need blood, face paint, or other ooey, gooey concoctions, make them yourself. They’re inexpensive and you know exactly what you’re putting on you or your child’s skin.  There are an endless number of recipes that include simple, everyday ingredients from the kitchen.  The online community is an excellent resource for recipes and it’s best to try out a few to see what works best with the ingredients you have available.  For recipes that call for food coloring, explore using natural colorants.

Reusable Treat Bags

For treat bags, create one from scratch that has been made out of materials from around the house, or use one that can then double as a shopping tote for the remainder of the year.  Making a bag is a quick and easy do it yourself project that anyone can handle.  Good materials to use from around the house include pillowcases and cloth napkins.  The kids can then have fun decorating them with paints and stencils for that special Halloween touch.  

Healthy Treats

Fun candy doesn’t have to mean non-healthy candy.  Explore the organic, natural candies that are becoming more and more plentiful, affordable and delicious!  Offer your trick or treater’s sweet treats that aren’t filled with artificial colorings, flavorings and other undesirables.  You could also throw in some playful treats in place of edible ones.  

And the most important tip….it’s not about being perfect with it all or sucking the fun out of things…do what you can and what works for you!   Every thoughtful bit helps and keeps us more aware.

And, in spirit of the upcoming holiday…here’s a link to a few of our old creative quickies if you’d like to take a gander!  

Treat Tree  – To make this project even more eco-friendly, repurpose an old garden pot in place of a plastic caldron, replace the latex spray with a brush on latex, decorate with all natural elements and eliminate the individual treat bags. It’s a great way to repurpose old artificial stems, the driftwood makes it unique and it can be used year after year.   The kids get a kick out of this one! 

Mini Jack-O-Lanterns – Kids have a lot of fun with this one, too!

Free Style Costumes —  Love when kids come to the door wearing ‘original’ costumes they rigged up themselves!

Cheers all!

michele.

OK…so the past few days have been very busy….PICKING BURRS OFF THINGS!!: dogs, cats, clothes, nephew, daughter…. Not just a couple of burrs mind you, but multiple, large, gnarly batches intertwined with every hair and fiber they come in contact with.  Have you ever tried to get them out? Not an easy task, nor a quick one…. especially on any ‘live’ objects; the clothes are much more tolerant than the kids and the dog.  I’m seriously considering sewing some sort of getup for Junie B. the dog, to don before we do any more woodsy adventures, and as far as Madeline and Tyler are concerned….well, no more adventures without hats and please do not wear any sort of veloury, raised fiber type of clothing.  I can’t for the life of me figure out (short of walking through the woods on his head) how my nephew Tyler acquired so many bundles in his hair.  I have used every brush and comb in the house and every product from horse grooming aids, to detanglers and corn starch…and I still can’t honestly say I have a good solution…….and I could really use one. The burs aren’t going away anytime soon, and staying indoors is not an option.

Anyone?…Anything?  I believe the ones I have are off the ragweed and the burr marigold.  

Cheers to finding out more!  (I did learn that burrs were the inspiration to Velcro…..true story!) 

michele.

I was introduced to these beauties several years ago and currently have two in the yard.  At first, they sounded like they were going to be complicated and intimidating to install….couldn’t have been more wrong.  They’re basically a shallow depression dug into the earth strategically positioned to capture the rainfall that runs off of impervious surfaces (impermeable, water-resistant surfaces) like rooftops, driveways, parking lots, etc.  They allow the water to infiltrate back into the earth, and prevent the runoff from rushing off to a storm drain or causing any sort of soil erosion and are a big aid in water quality.  Your depression gets filled back in with a 60/20/20 ratio of top soil, compost and sand, then planted up with native perennials and they have been what you would call…. low, low, low maintenance.  Once installed, they pretty much take care of themselves…maybe a weed or two to pull, and maybe a little thinning out here and there, but overall a no-fuss addition to the yard that brings a smile every time I glance over at them knowing they’re naturally hard at work.  The whole process has also instilled in me a greater appreciation for native plants.  Their resistance, their benefits, the natural harmony that exists was worth learning more about and the more I have learned, the more I go in that direction with other things I plant.  Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything in my yard that isn’t native, it just means that I’m much more conscientious of what I plant where, and why.  

Rain gardens come in many shapes and sizes and can easily be installed in urban areas as well as rural.  If you would like to know more, our friends over at the NRCS have an amazing outlet of information available on their website.  Click here and gather up what you need to get one started in your yard or area.

You can also get a glimpse at the step by step for the one pictured, by clicking here.

Cheers to the natural function and beauty of rain gardens everywhere!

michele.

It’s no secret, if I could live off the land, I’d be doing it…Ever since I was a kid, it’s always fascinated me.  I love country life and everything that goes along with it and an even more sustainable lifestyle is what I’m working towards, but at the same time I’m doing it by working with what I have and doing what I can, as I can to get there.  What does that have to do with dog snacks and a good read, you ask?!  Well, I have a wonderful, resourceful selection of books on the subject of self-reliant living and the like, and one of my favorites is Country Wisdom & Know-How — Everything You Need To Know To Live Off The Land – from the Editors of Storey Books.  Even if you’re a city gal/guy, (because self sufficiency can be practiced in or out of city limits, my friends..it’s just in different ways) …there’s a lot of great content including deliciously simple recipes.  I’ve been whipping up different natural treats for our collie and wanted to share one of them that was quick, easy and Junie B. loves them!  Kids have fun helping out because they can create fun shapes for their pet. 

4 cups whole-wheat flour

2 cups quick cooking oats

2 1/2 cups warm water

1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter (no sugar/no salt added)

1/4 cup carob chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients; mix well.

2.  On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until it is firm.  If the dough is too sticky, add warm water, 1 tablespoon at a time, while continuing to knead.

3.  Roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness.  Cut with the cookie cutter of your choice.  Transfer biscuits to baking sheet.

4.  Bake the biscuits for 40 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let the biscuits stand in the oven until hard, 1 to 2 hours.

Makes a nice size batch.  Your dog will love them, they’re economical to make, and a healthy treat.  Doesn’t get any better than that!  Thanks Country Wisdom — you’ve been an interesting read and a reliable resource for a number of things!

Cheers to doing things yourself and a good read!

michele.

I only wish the home improvement store or lumber yard would have an area in their store that was filled with USED wood. It has so much more character than the brand new planks and slabs. Everything in the newer part of our home is ironically all built using salvaged wood. The baseboards and trim around the windows and doors is a combination of salvaged wood from older homes and fencing. All the bookshelves and closet organizers are reclaimed wood…with the chipped paint and all! The stairs are old barnboards that have been planed down, the cabinet doors in my studio are all made out of reclaimed wood, as are a number of furnishings.
The downside of using reclaimed lumber is that it’s hard to come by…it’s sometimes hard to find enough of the “same” used looking material to complete a room or project, so you may have to creatively intermix other used pieces. The upside is the one of a kind finished look and the instant warmth you get from these pieces that all have a built in story.

Here’s a second look at another writeup I put together quite a while back for our CTC blog (3.08–The New Place To Hang Is In The Closet) followed by a video slideshow (excuse the quality….my diy slideshow skills have improved since then!) ::) Take any of the ideas (or none of them!:) and make them your own, my friends!

a PlaCe fOr EveRyThiNg and eVerYtHing iN Its’ PlAce…yes, that would be nice. The only problem with that is, sometimes we lack the proper space, or we simply have too much stuff. What to do, what to do. Re-organize, get rid of things, or add-on. How about a bit of all three!? I changed our floor plan slightly to carve out a tad more closet space off the bedroom; nothing extravagant, just enough room to store all of our clothes, shoes and accessories in one place. Running from guest room to guest room to find this or that and the mounding laundry baskets scattered about just weren’t doing it for me anymore! My dream of being able to walk into a room and look around to see all my things neatly displayed has finally come to fruition. Now, when most people are faced with a shiny, new room, they tend to fill it with shiny, new things. Not at my house. We chose to fill our shiny new closet with the oldest, most tattered fixings I could find. The design was simple…floor to ceiling shelving and a few hanging bars. Let me just say, that searching for your lumber and hardware at an architectural salvage store (the one here in Des Moines is fab-u-los-o!) is way more exciting than picking out your lumber at the home improvement center. There are no two boards alike, and every one you pull out is interesting and full of character. I headed home with what I thought would be enough to build the shelving and trim out the room, along with a great looking piece of furniture for my shoes (I’m thinking it must have been an old storage unit for screws and bolts.) Wait ‘til my husband sees the beautiful, shabby trimwork he has to work with! (I believe his reaction was one of “I knew we were using reclaimed lumber, but man, this stuff is pretty crappy…and you paid how much for it?!! (unless you’re able to salvage it yourself, you may find that the old stuff isn’t always cheaper…..you may have to pay the same price or even a bit more than new wood, so keep your eye out and grab whatever you can for free as it comes available!) My enthusiastic response was yeah, but look at how colorful it is and all the character it has…you can’t get that just anywhere!) I sketched out the plans and off we went building our shelves. The challenges we faced were: One, I didn’t have quite enough lumber…and, even though everything is fairly mismatched anyway, getting pieces that are equally as mismatched can be hard to find.. BUT, thankfully my brother-in-law just bought a dumpy fixer-upper to renovate and everything he was tearing out, is what I was buying! (a concept that he thought was crazy… “that’s the stuff we normally burn or send to the dump, you know!) Once he saw what we were doing, he started looking at what he was ripping out a bit differently and even donated a few more treasures to the closet cause! I’m pretty sure he still wouldn’t put that kind of stuff in his own closet, but he at least enjoyed watching us use it! Anytime you have the opportunity to reclaim old lumber, do it! It’s unique and it’s hard to find. Every inch of the shelving is created out of it, the trim around the doors and baseboards are also salvaged material.
I wanted to maintain the ‘worn and torn charm’ of the lumber, so I didn’t want to sand it down, but I did want to clean it up, get rid of any loose paint and seal it. All I did was vacuum everything good, scrubbed it with cleaner and water and gave it three coats of shellac. It gives the woodwork a smoother finish and insures that none of the paint will ever chip off. I love the look of the shellac finish, it’s what I used on all of the old lumber and trimwork, as well as the nuts and bolt bin. Also…whenever you’re working with old lumber, you always want to be aware of the possibility of lead paint….so use common sense and any necessary safety precautions like an inexpensive test kit from the home improvement store. For the closet rods, I just bought steel rods from the home improvement store and to knock down the shine and make it look distressed like the lumber, I sanded it and brushed it with some gun bluing liquid (definitely not exactly an eco-friendly product, but a doable solution to distressing metal). Blends right in now!
I also left a small opening at the end of the shelving for a hair and make up station…it’s nice to have an area to sit and get ready and not worry about having a mess out and about for all to see! We tried to maximize every bit of space, so we added a top shelf that goes all the way around the room…makes for a great place to store bags and purses – and I have enough room underneath the shelving to roll in a few pallet boxes. No sense leaving the middle of the room open…let’s add an island! We created a simple 2×4 frame and covered it up with old bead board that came out of the ‘dumpy fixer-upper’ and topped it off with an old narrow door – this offers additional shelving, and a great place to fold and organize clothes or pack a suitcase. I think I’ll hang some hooks on the outside and use it to display my necklaces and scarves.
It’s definitely a room that makes me smile every time I walk in…it’s full of warm character, it was enormous fun to put together, and we did it ourselves in our own unique way. That, in itself, is an awesome feeling. (not to mention, it was WAY LESS EXPENSIVE than using new lumber or traditional closet organizers)
Our only dilemma now is – my husband and I have no clothes to fill it up. When making the move from closet to closet, we realized we were storing a plethora of dated, unfashionable belongings (nothing worth salvaging, there!) and it was time to send them off! A fresh start all the way around.
(It’s no Kimora Lee Simmons closet, but I think it’s a close second! To some of us, Salvage Style is absolutely FABULOUS!)
I leave you with photos to peruse, and quotes to ponder.
Turn it up, so you can enjoy the laid back tune…“LiFe iN a BuCket”.. by our friends The Nadas off their Not a Sound album….a song that suits my life! ::)

Cheers to building with it the second time around….
michele.

My favorite furniture pieces are the ones we’ve done ourselves and are made from salvaged materials.  I will never tire of their style and there aren’t many other things I can say that about!  This desk is a bit of an oldie…but a goodie….I did this project about two years ago and thought it would be fun to share again in light of our ‘better building’ goodness from last weekend’s episode.  All the materials were things we had lying around mixed with a few discards that friends and family were getting ready to toss. It was built in a short amount of time and cost less than $5 to build…which accounted for simply the screws and the shellac.   Take the idea, make your own adaptations if you choose, and run with it, my friends! It’s rewarding, economical and FUNctional!

(pulled from my fRoM tHe LAdiEs rOOm To tHe OffICe blogpost 4.08 www.couragetocreate.com)

or the Mens Room….Just depends on what side of the desk you’re sitting on…literally. As they say, everything is better the second time around…even moldy doors straight from the loo. We purchased a gem of a building next to the studio a while back and to say it just needs a little lovin’ is an understatement. It has obviously had some roofing issues over the years, leaving the interior a bit wet one too many times. And what, my friends does that lead to? A moldy, musty mess. Even amidst the mold, there were a few gems worth salvaging (not many mind you, but a few). The project starts with an old window that my brother in law removed from a house he was renovating and was going to toss. We were getting ready to build a desk, and this window measures about 54 x 42… (and weighs about 200 pounds!!). Perfect size for a desktop…. we could utilize two sides for sitting and working. All we needed was a good, solid base…hmmmmm. How about those bathroom doors from the soppy building next door?! Off and running. Cleaned the doors up with some soap and water followed by a final rubdown of lacquer thinner (not an environmentally friendly choice, but it worked….a less toxic solution for the mold cleanup would be to try an undiluted white vinegar spray) and the speckled mold prints cleaned right off. Cut down the doors for the center base with a circular saw and use the pocket hole jig to secure the four sides from the inside. This base would then sit on a riser (to get us to the 30 inch height we were wanting). We constructed that entirely out of old barnboards and fencing another friend was about to toss onto the burn pile. (it always amazes me the stuff that just gets trashed out there!) We built it larger than the center base (a few inches all the way around) for added stability and a place to rest our feet all the way around. Instead of closing off the top of the base right at the very top, we recessed it slightly, so we could place items under the glass like a shadowbox. We sealed it with a couple coats of shellac and set it in place in the den. (I filled the recessed area a few different ways and decided finally on a drawer filled with old printer blocks—everything else just looked messy in there) We topped it off with the window — the weight of the window keeps it more than securely in place so there’s no need for reinforcement. That sucker won’t tip or slide about. Other than a couple of bucks in screws and shellac, this desk cost us nothing but time, and very little at that!  I absolutely love it! It has a great story, we did it ourselves and it fits our worn, torn personal style, beautifully (or should I say rustic-ly?). Look around and see what you can salvage…it’s great fun, I promise! From moldy to marvelous…

check  out a video slideshow of the process (below) and enjoy a great tune from an artist off the Authentic Records label…..“Me and Agamemnon” by Sharon Docherty off her One Proud Stance Album. 

Cheers to doing it yourself…salvage style!

michele.

Have had a lot of inquiries and comments lately re: where to go for inspiration, how to get that creative spark….what to do when we’re in a creative lull…you know when we’re wanting to do something ourselves and having trouble getting started or just feeling uninspired.   The solution for me personally when this happens is ALWAYS one of two things….

1…Head outside, ALONE.  Wander around, putz around with something, listen to the sounds, observe the sights, collect a thing or two, just sit & BREATHE.   It clears the mind while at the same time invigorates the creative thoughts that we’re struggling to bring to the foreground…EVERYTIME.  Whenever I work, play or just meander around in the yard or garden, I can count on a number of new ideas to come to mind, or an illumination on old thoughts…a clarified ‘coming together’ of sorts, of subconscious views and ways to implement. In short, it WORKS. NATURE inspires and restores.

2…..Do SOMETHING. I force myself to get immersed in something mindless…throw some paint around, organize the studio, rifle through supplies.  Discovering comes from doing, and if we’re not doing, we’re not discovering. Our ideas feed off action.  One thing always leads to another and the action fuels the thoughts.  Ironically, DOING something mindless when you’re unsure of what to DO, what direction to go, where to start….RESTORES.

And I can confidently say that I think these things will work for everyone looking to re-establish that creative connection within.

Cheers to the simple things that are guaranteed to bring it on back!

michele.

Grab your buckets, my friends….the nuts are falling, the nuts are falling! and yes, I’m immaturely laughing to myself as I type that… I love this time of year because there are SO many things to run around and collect: acorns, buckeyes, walnuts, the pods off the locust trees, hedgeapples.  If you’re going to take your kids (or just yourself) out for an invigorating nature walk, now is the time and be sure to give them a BIG bag because the finds will be MANY!  It’s great fun, most of these things are long-lasting and can be used in a number of creative ways.  You can score everything you need to create some naturally beautiful jewelry and ornaments for the holidays. See what YOU can find in your area and put it to good use!  

The smooth, richly colored buckeye is one of my favorites.  Makes lovely jewelry, game pieces and more!

Cheers to what’s falling from your trees! Go get ‘em…..! ::)

michele.