Beauty Farming Life

 Clay pot wreath We have no DIY on how to do this, but I'm sure it's out there on the Internet.  I'm posting it because it's just kind of cool looking!  It's a wreath that's made using small, terracotta clay pots.  This would be an awesome garden decor on a fence or gate. Or perhaps for the front of my recent potting shed makeover . Enjoy!

 Mason jars as utensil holders  Easy, simple way to store utensils and give them that "farmhouse flair".  It would be a great solution for those with limited drawer space.  Another good use for something like this is during a dinner party, you can put these out for your guests to use in a sort of buffet line.  Or easily take them outside for alfresco dining. Cool idea that we will DEFINITELY use at the farm.

I think this is such a cute idea, and we are totally going to use this at the farm.  There are a couple of trees on the property that have died in the drought this summer and I was going to have to cut them down at some point anyway.  It always makes me sad to lose a tree, but looking at this, I think it would be a PERFECT use for one of those trees. We think it would be neat to have one right off the front porch, near the PARTY TREE  so that it would be a great conversation piece when company comes over to visit. I love the flowers around this one and the brightly colored signs.  Not sure I'd do the birdhouse at the top, I might have a different idea for that. This could be a project I start on soon.  I can only hope it looks half as good as this one does.  Now I'll just need to figure out what cities/towns/countries to point to!  There is great potential for being goof...

Remember the SILVER TRAY  I found at the thrift store and cleaned up? I got a lot of suggestions on what to put on it and while I still haven't entirely figured it out, I did take these metal tins that were elsewhere in the house, put the two of them together and placed them on the tray.  I think they look nice on there.  They really match the style of the tray, almost the same design and they are even a similar color (though these round tins are not silver or silver plate, LOL).   I'm not sure what to put in them, but as many of you know, in a small house,  any storage space is good storage space.   I'm sure we'll figure out something fun to use them for (suggestions always accepted). As for the little vintage ceramic bunny, she just seemed at home there, at least for now and since we have wild bunnies living around the farm property, it somehow seems appropriate.  So until, or even if, I find something else, little " sunny bunny " can live her ...

We had this blank space on the wall beside the stove.  Being so close to the stove means there would be occasional splatters and steam of course so we couldn't just put anything up there that might be damaged. So the other day I was at Hobby Lobby (it's a craft store that also has decorative home items) and I found this subway style art print and fell in love with it.  It's printed on a slick coated material, kind of like it's laminated.  That means it will wipe up easily if it ever gets dirty. Here is a closeup of the phrases on it, thought you might like to see. It fits us well; we love family recipes, 2nd Man cooks with a pinch of this and a dash of that, we have no dishwasher at the farm so yeah, help with the dishes is always welcome, everything is seasoned with love, skinny chef, um, no comment...and really, isn't the kitchen the heart of all homes? I also found this great wooden sign a couple of weeks back and put it above t...

Quilted stuffed animals These are a couple of stuffed bears that my Mom found once upon a time.  They aren't family heirlooms or anything like that, I think she found one at a tag sale and another at a thrift store, but we like them.  They are on the guest room bed at the farm, which contains a lot of my Mom's favorite pieces of furniture and her favorite colors, pink and yellow.  We were going to get a few pillows but... Farmhouse guest room bed ...every time we look at them on the bed, it makes us think that they seem kind of lonely.  So, w e'd like to add a few more.  I'm sure I could find some on eBay or Etsy but I'm not sure what they call these?  They are handmade of course and made using scraps of fabric just like you would find on a quilt.  Does anyone know what they are called, in general, so that I could find more online?

OK, so for the last almost 16 years, I've saved, for some odd and sentimental reason, every fortune that 2nd Man and I have ever received from our fortune cookies.  Hey, what can I say, we enjoy Chinese food! For awhile, I just dropped them into a small box we had, but after a couple of years, they started to overflow.  So then I started taking them, folded slightly... ...and dropping them through the top of this retro vase with a flower frog wire mesh top. Then I just take the jar, shake it a few times so that they fall down into it and... Jar of fortune cookie fortunes Voila!  15+ years later and we have this jar full of fortunes! Hmm...I wonder how many missed winning lotto numbers are in there? I figure it will make a great crafty project someday, but of course, I don't know what we'll do.  I guess I'll figure out something in time, not that I need to do it now.  I just thought it would be fun to blog ab...

Look what we have... OK, so as most of you know, our house in town is on the market and we currently have an offer pending.  While it was showing, i.e. "open houses", realtor's often suggest you do stuff to "add interest" to bare spots.  Well, we have this large, tall, privacy fence in the backyard.  Our realtor said to get some things that could be focal points on it since the fence is the first thing you see from the back door when going outside.   She suggested some sort of metal artwork for the space.  This might not have been what she had in mind but... I was at the store one day a few weeks back and saw these... STARS!!! Stars we can use at the farm!  You know me, they were on clearance as the store closed out the garden section to get ready for Christmas. This wasn't their final position on the fence, I just took them down and put them all together in one spot for the photo.  The large bronze colored ones are THREE FEET...

Just had to share these wonderful blankets that we found at the store recently. These are the fuzzy "faux" fur kind of blankets that  are super soft and velvety.   Faux cowhide fuzzy blanket The part we loved most about them of course is that they are faux cowhide print!   I know, buying blankets in Summer seems counterintuitive, but they were on sale BECAUSE it was Summer.   We found them at a local Marshall's Homegoods store, $10 each on clearance.  They're a nice size too (50x70) but unfortunately, they only had two and we thought four would be a nice number to have.   So I looked online and... ...found these (eBay)!   Two black and white ones!  Seems only right that the 'herd' on our farm includes at least a couple different breeds, right? LOL! We got them for ourselves of course but also for future company. We were thinking how fun they would be for future chilly nights on the porch. So we folded them a...

So I went to the store recently looking for deals. They had a stack of those old style metal signs, replicas of those that used to hang on barns and gas stations etc.  New of course but made to look rusted and distressed and "vintage".   I looked through the stack and thought to myself "well if they have any that make sense to have, then I'll get them". Behold! Jeep metal sign 2nd Man and I both drive a Jeep.  His is the fourth he has had and mine is the first and I love it too. Having a vintage "JEEP" sign makes perfect sense!  John Deere metal sign And then, um, well, hello?!?!?  For those who follow the blog know that I love my Zen Machine, which of course is a John Deere X320 riding lawn tractor. I guess you could say it was a "sign", LOL! I'm not sure where these will go.  They are large, about 3 feet across.  They might be cool on the porch but I think the John Deere would be neat in the mowe...

Vintage Ball Mason Jar Picked this up at a thrift store about a week ago.  It's a vintage "Ball" canning jar, the bigger, large sized one.  It has the old type metal lid that has discolored with age and has that bluish green tint to the glass.  I put it on the  NEW DESK  but I'm not sure what to put in it? It's too big for paperclips or something like that.  I like it on the desk though, it's something people see when they first walk in. Is there something I could collect on the property that I could keep in there? Any ideas?