DIY Cooking at Home

I recently transformed a wooden toolbox into a planter for our deck. The toolbox wasn't getting much use, other than housing some dead spiders that our daughters found endlessly both gross and fascinating. Meanwhile, I've been needing more bling for our back deck. Enter The Graphics Fairy , and I was inspired to transform this graphic into a label that establishes the date we bought our house, this labor of love that we live in. Here's the before and after shot: And here's how I did it: Toolbox Planter Nap Rating = 3 naps Materials & Supplies Proud note: I had ALL of these supplies--each and every thing--on hand already, so this project cost me nothing except a few dollars for plants. If you're a DIYer, you may get this lucky, too! Wooden toolbox or crate Paint Sandpaper Stain Paintbrush or foam brush Newspaper Power drill Burlap Staple gun Pencil Permanent marker or paint pen (I highly recommend this one because it's permanent and doesn't blee...

Old atlas? Check. Shoe box? Check. Cute storage idea? Yep. Check it out on Design Sponge .

Have you ever thought you'd hit on a great idea, only to see it done somewhere else even better? Bummer. I guess it's true what they say: there are no original ideas. In this case, I wanted to decorate our daughter's third birthday cake with flowers, and since I'm as unskilled with a pastry bag as, well, our three-year-old, I decided to make them out of marshmallows instead of buttercream. I was so sure I'd just hit on an idea that would be pinned all over the place, when I saw the April/May 2012 issue of Taste of Home . Sigh. Well, I don't care IF Taste of Home's are cuter, I'm showing you mine anyway (pictured above...as if I needed to point out which were mine). I just frosted the cake, then cut jumbo marshmallows with wet scissors into four "petals." I then dipped each "petal" in colored sugar so that the sticky part of the marshmallow got coated, and the edges remained outlined in white. Cool trick, huh? Yeah, I thou...

Boy do I wish I had remembered to take pictures of our deck before we started working on it. It was so hilarious. Huge...and utterly empty except for our rusted grill sans grill cover and our nice, but completely unadorned patio set. Now, well, things have improved, but we are still lacking plants and atmosphere. We had the whole thing re-stained, which helped things enormously, and we bought a conversation set. My husband got a new stainless grill. I added a cotton rug that was in our guest room, some pillows I bought last year, and these potted succulents. Except for the umbrella I hope to get, the big ticket items are out of the way now. The rest is just icing... the fun part. Outdoor spaces feel like a luxury to me. They're what you have when you have everything else finished inside... which we don't. They're what you have when you've got lots of leisure time... which we don't. They're what you have when you are the kind of people who "entert...

Brown Paper Packages brings us a unique way to create some patriotic bunting with this simple tutorial. It just so happens that I have some leftover burlap from my framed key project . I hope it's enough to make at least one length of this for above our front door! For more patriotic projects and party ideas, visit my Pinterest board .

Remember my post about decoupaged terra-cotta coasters ? I thought it was a great idea, of course, so I had to try it for myself. And I love the way they turned out! I usually follow the directions provided by the bloggers who have gone before me, but I must admit, this time the process seemed so intuitive that I just went for it based on the picture alone. As always, the craft ideas I share with you are inexpensive, quick and simple... this one is no exception. Decoupaged Terra-Cotta Coasters Nap Rating = 2 naps Materials & Supplies Terra-cotta saucers Decorative paper Decoupage medium (I used Mod Podge in a gloss-finish) Scissors Pencil Paintbrush Spray paint in color of your choice Steps Spray paint the saucers with 2 thin coats and let dry completely Using a pencil, trace the bottom of the coaster onto the back of a decorative sheet of paper Cut out the circle, just inside the pencil line Using a paintbrush, coat the bottom of the inside of the saucer with decoupage med...

It's strawberry season! The kids and I went picking again this year, but instead of experimenting with a bunch of new strawberry recipes like I did last year , I decided just to freeze the lot of 'em. Well, except for a big bowl I saved to eat fresh. If you've never eaten a fresh strawberry, I'd highly recommend it! Here's another thing I'd highly recommend trying: homemade lemonade! It's ridiculously easy, and the kids can help. Buy a big bag of lemons, and show the kids how to roll them back and forth on the counter with their palms to release the juices before you halve and squeeze them. This will keep them occupied while you make the simple syrup. You can certainly drink this straight up, but our youngest daughter had the brilliant suggestion of adding strawberry juice to make it pink. It just so happened we had some leftover strawberries in the fridge from a picnic. They were slightly mushy, not much good for anything anymore. Except this...