Burlap Planter

Heya!  I've got a very small and simple project to share with you today. I'm a farmer's daughter and have a mother with TWO, yes TWO, green thumbs...so you would think that I too have the magic touch for growing things...while I don't. That's what makes this project so amazing - it's actually still alive! :D


A while back I found this and it was instant love with the burlap and I needed it to be on my porch ASAP. 

Source

I picked up a liner at good old Home Depot for $6 and grabbed some plants while I was there.  

I already had left over burlap from my wreath project and found some ribbon at the bottom of my crafting bin. 

I cut the burlap in a large square around the liner; and added the flowers and potting soil to the liner; final step was to wrap the burlap up around the liner.  If you have a second pair of hands you may want them for this step, otherwise you may struggle like I did;)  It took 4 tries before I was able to properly get the ribbon tied around the burlap.

As we all know, I am terrible with pictures, so here's a few showing off my plant that is STILL ALIVE!!!

It looks super cute on the porch with my other flowers (that are also still alive) - OK I totally rely on my mom coming by each week and picking at them and hope that water does the trick ;)

Total Project Cost - $21!!!!
- $6 for the liner
- $15 for the plants
I already had the burlap, ribbon and potting soil.



What do you think?  I like it! It's simple, cute, easy and effective!


See that chair in the background, I'm thinking of spray painting it, but not sure of the colour, any suggestions?

Happy Victoria Day!

I think we can all agree that this weekend was pretty fantastic - the sun was shining, us Canadians got an extra day and depending on where you live you could catch some fireworks!


Thought I would share with you how I spent my weekend. I'll also use this as a "sneak peek" of my front porch makeover that I have been working on :) 


Here's what I go up to the past 3 days...

FINALLY painted the front door 

did a little gardening

added in some burlap

caught a Jays game 

enjoyed a beverage (or two;))

and caught up on some zzzz's

Don't you just love long weekends?  Makes me wish that every weekend could be a long one. 

What did you get up to?  

 

Burberry Tote Giveaway!

Ok, I am not giving away a Burberry Tote; but I do want one!  I found someone who is hosting a give-a-way - YuppyLady!

Source: YuppieLady

Head on over, check out full contest details and the other fun things she's got going on!  I've entered this one myself so I wish you only a bit of luck ;)

The Rise (and Love) of Pinterest

Move over Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms - Pinterest is here and I think it’s staying; it’s the latest form of social media and it’s generating a lot of buzz!  Lately, Pinterest has been popping up everywhere – blogs and magazines; and now with the integration with Twitter and Facebook it’s even on my news feeds!

For those not familiar with Pinterest it’s an online bulletin board allowing you to collect images of all your favourite things and post them to your boards – I like to refer to my boards for inspiration. When you pin something new your followers will see it; they can like, comment or re-pin to their personal boards.  Depending on the content your pins have the ability to go viral just like a Facebook status or a Tweet.

Does anyone else find themselves pinning all of the time? I pin over coffee, I pin while watching TV, I pin while on the phone and occasionally I pin on my lunch hour – for someone that often wants more hours in the day I seem to be dedicating a lot of my precious little time to this site.  I hope I am not alone…someone please tell me I am not alone!

I read on Mashable.com that Pinterest is actually driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google and LinkedIn combined - that’s insane.  Maybe Pinterest isn’t for all businesses; after all, not everyone sells fancy white dresses and home renovation products ;) but it is something to consider.  Where else do you have this kind of access to this many consumers – consumers who are pinning and researching; consumers who are telling you exactly what they want?  Attention small businesses – get on the bandwagon you are currently missing out on sales!

When I first joined Pinterest; I started with inspiration boards for the wedding; since then I have graduated to the “Hubby, can we do this…???” board(s) – stay tuned to see if any of my pins become a reality during our renovation phase ;)

Here’s a peek at 2 boards I have been building up.

For the Home

My Style

All of these things will eventually be in a house I live in – hopefully sooner rather than later! ;) 

As a budding blogger, DIY’er and somewhat of a domesticated house-wife  Pinterest is a great OK SAVIOUR for inspiration; if it happens to also kill some of my precious little time I am OK with that too.

 

Oh Sweet Sweet Potato

So I literally just made the most delicious soup for Newly Acquired Hubby and I; the pot is now sitting empty on the stove - yes, it's that good!

I picked up this recipe from a colleague - being a big fan of soup I thought I'd try it out; oddly enough we have an over whelming amount of sweet potatoes in the house right now, so it worked out well. 

I wasn't planning on sharing this recipe so I don't have a single photo to post...lesson learned (again) - must.take.pictures! 

Simple Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

- 2 sweet potatoes (2 1/4lb) 

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1 small onion, finely chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 tbsp minced ginger-root, (or 1 tsp of ground ginger)

- 2 tsp mild curry paste

- 4 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock 

Preparation:

Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch (1cm) cubes; set aside

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion, garlic, ginger-root and curry paste, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes or until softened. Add sweet potatoes; stir for 1 minute or until coated. 

Add stock and bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  With immersion blender or in a blender, purée; reheat of necessary. 

I added a few more potatoes than this recipe called for I wanted the soup to be thick and having a few less sweet potatoes in the house is an added bonus ;).  

Like I said, it was delicious the only evidence left is a sink full of dishes and a full tummy.  

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!  Go Giants!

PS: who are you cheering for?

Back to School?!

I’ve been a delinquent and I apologize, I’ve had a lot going on both with work and personally.  I hope to fill you all in over the next couple of posts but in the mean time I am working towards crossing items off of my 5 year “to do” list.  It’s not really a 5 year list; but it feels that way because some of the things on this list just don’t seem to disappear! 

So I did it, I signed up for the dreaded Stats class that is standing between me and finally starting applying for my MBA.  That’s right, I’m going back to school!  Some may be thinking, really that’s all you needed to start your MBA; why haven’t you done this before now?  Let me remind you, I am in Marketing for a reason – I hate dread numbers.  Sure I can manage a budget, make it all work out in the end with some fancy “accounting” but really me and numbers don’t mix.  So this little step is actually more like a giant leap!

I’ll keep you posted with how I do, in the mean time I’m off to pack my knapsack and sharpen my pencils…wish me luck!

Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of other things I’ve been working on!

buttons buttons and more buttons

Viva Las Vegas!

And I got my sewing machine for Christmas...so I am off to the sewing races too...right after I sign up for a lesson ;)

Jasper the Sunflower

A few years back...OK a lot of years back; I was the proud owner of a nice new bright red Pontiac Sunfire.  She featured a front-wheel drive platform, automatic transmission, and a 2.2 litre 4 cylinder engine.  I was in love with her curves, amazing 6 speaker sound system and of course the air conditioning!  She was all mine - I was riding in style. :)  It didn't take me long to name her Jasper b/c she was jazzy and snazzy (I was young, don't judge).    

This is not actually Jasper; but she looked like this

How cool are those side panels - snazzy aren't they? ;) 


We had a lot of great times together; she went to university with me; travelled all over Ontario to various football games and finally was with me on my very first day in the "real world" - yes, I proudly drove her all over.


Typically, my younger sister got my 'hand-me-downs'; Jasper would be no exception!  For the past 5 years she has been kicking around in Jasper the Sunflower (sunflower came from her).  I don't have all of the stories but I am sure they were similar to mine and that she too loved to drive Jasper the Sunflower.  


This car has done very well for our family, she owes us nothing; if anything we owe her!  You have no idea what this car has been through - among other things she's been rear-ended, buried in the snow, hit the ditch, got stuck in the middle of a road during a snow storm, been egged, gone to university AND college and finally, for the grand finale got crumpled up while parked!


Here are a few pics...

Final trip out the driveway

We both had fun kicking around the city and country side with Jasper the Sunflower - and it showed; she had 260,000km's on her all of which were put on by my sister and I.  

While I got a new car a few years back; today my sister traded Jasper the Sunflower in for a fancy new car - just hope the next car is up to the challenge; she's got big shoes to fill!

RIP Jasper the Sunflower; we'll miss you!