Craft. My Candelier!

We recently purchased a new chandelier for our dining room.

The question was, what do we do with our old one? 
That's easy, make it a Candelier!

You will need:

any old chandelier

glass votive holders

E6000

First things first...remove the guts of your chandelier - all the wiring.   Next, using your E6000 (have I mentioned before how much I LOVE this stuff??!!) glue the glass votive holders in the spot where the light bulbs used to sit - I picked mine up from Hobby Lobby but I found these online.

Then....voila!  You have a new "Candelier"!! 

Apologies for the blurry photo...the shutter was wide open and the wind was blowing!!

And I have to tell you how much I love these pulley's! 

They are key to getting my candles lit in my candelier!!

Thanks for looking!!

Linking up to

Debbie Doo's Newbie Party

Craft. $4 DIY Hurricane Candles.

I've seen many versions of this, but I am partial to this one - hee hee.  This is by far the easiest craft I've whipped up - and it was only $4 at Dollar Tree.  LOVE that!! 

All you need is:

Large cylinder vase

Small cylinder vase (to fit inside)

Taper candle holder

Small rocks

E6000

small votive (not pictured).

Take your E6000 and put a thick line around the top of your candle holder.  Then put the large cylinder vase on top.  While this dried I put my kitchen crock on top - you need good pressure.

Once dry, hold the smaller cylinder vase inside and start filing with the small rocks.  In hindsight, I probably would have put some saran wrap over the top of the smaller vase so the rocks wouldn't end up in there!  They were a real pain to get out! 

Once they are all in, pop in your candle and light her up! 

It's beautiful when all the light comes peeking through the rocks.  What's nice is that when the votive burns down, you can follow these instructions to remove the wax and start all over again!! 

Enjoy!!

Linking up to:

Blue Cricket Design Show & Tell Wednesday linky party

Faded Charm White Wednesday linky party

Primp Your Stuff Wednesdays linky party

Savvy Southern Style Wow us Wednesdays linky party

Mrs. Hines Class Show and Tell linky party

The Shady Porch Rock 'N Share linky party

Restore Interiors Restore it Wednesday linky party

Suzie Home Caker link party

Beez Rental Designs Frugal Treasures Tuesday linky party

At Home with K Terrific Under Ten Tuesday linky party

Cap Creations Thrifty Love linky party

Decorating. My Outdoor Space.

I love my outdoor space.  No, really - I love it. 

Slowly through the years I've tried to add a few things to give it that Outside Room feel and I'm happy where we are with it now - the all-weather lamps really give it that home-y feel!

Now when it comes to my decorating style, it's more along the lines of primitive mixed with recycled and new.  Not sure that even makes sense, but that's pretty much how we roll!

My dad picked up the vintage glider and two chairs from an antique shop.  I LOVE the way the paint has worn through the years, giving it that primitive look.  I refuse to paint it!!

(oops...nice sand bucket huh?  lol)

Although...I will need to do something about that rust this year....

This love seat glider was another hand-me-down from dad...I think he picked this up somewhere down South.  (Please ignore the sand all over my cushions.  My 5 year old was cleaning out his sand table and decided it would be fun to dump unto my chairs.  NOT.)

Then this glider he rescued for me from someones garbage!!  The bar was broken, but my brother soldered it up and it's good as new!! 

Isn't it amazing what a few cans of black spray paint and new cushions can do for recycled furniture?

This chair is the MOST comfortable chair I have ever sat in - no joke!  I bought this from a garage sale for $15 and I LOVE it.  It's MY seat - and everyone knows it.  Not to mention I had to drag it to my car and I swear that thing weighs 30 pounds - it's solid steel!!

This chandelier goes perfect - another recycled item - from our dining room!  Want one for yourself?  Check out this post on how I did it!

Next to our covered area, we have our chiminea area....this continues to be a work in progress.

Gee...I wonder why...HAHA...

Then of course the boys sand table - which they BOTH still love!

There is still some work to be done, as well as finishing some spring cleaning back there (um...pink sand bucket anyone?).  But I am very excited to have my deck setup in a way that I can entertain and enjoy as well.

Do you have a favorite outdoor space?

Linking up to:

Overflowing with Creativity

I'm joining the Ultimate Blog Party 2012!

While checking out a few of my favorite blogs, I stumbled across the Ultimate Blog Party 2012 and knew I had to get in on this!!  What a great idea by 5 Minutes for Mom!

If you new to my blog, Welcome!!  My name is Christie and I am a new Blogger.  I am a working Mami of two boys -

And a very patient Husband. 

To read more about me and my family, check out my first blog written a mere six months ago!!

Here's hoping you enjoy your stay at 216Grant!

Seen & Heard. Great Camera gadget - The Strap Buddy.

I saw an article on one of my favorite blogs KevinandAmanda that talked about a camera strap Amanda wanted and this sparked a lot of comments about the best camera straps to have.  I must say it got me curious - I really can't stand my stock Nikon camera strap!  So at my local camera shop I picked this up and I must say so far I love it!! 

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/camera-strap-buddy/

Do you have a favorite camera strap?

Craft. Gumball Machine!

How cute is this??!!  I saw this on my new *favorite* website AndersRuff and just HAD to make one for my own!!

Here's what you need - I picked it all up from Michaels:

1) 10" clay pot
2) matching clay saucer
3) wooden "doll head"
4) spray paint
5) large glass fish bowl
6) hot glue

It was a beautiful day outside when I decided to do this - lucky me!  I was so excited to start I almost forgot to take pictures!  Hee hee.  I painted at least 2 coats on the clay and the doll head.  Once dry, I glued the doll head to the saucer and assembled - easy peasy!! 

Because I did not glue the fish bowl to the pot, I added some velcro for stability (I love that stuff!).  I also did not glue the top because I want to be able to add candy ;-)

Now all I need are the gumballs, jawbreakers, smarties - you name it, but it all sounds yummy.

Happy Easter.

On Easter Day the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.              ~Douglas Horton

Easter 2009..where has the time gone?

Happy Easter to all.

  

Food Craft. Edible Egg Nests.

My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather. ~Terri Guillemets

I had forgotten this old favorite until I found myself in the Asian Food isle of my grocery story and happen to notice that almost ALL of the chow mein noodles were gone!  It then dawned on me why...this Easter classic treat :-)

There are recipes out there for these, but I just threw my own together using this:

1) one bag of large marshmallows (the pic shows mini - either would work)
2) one bag of chow mein noodles
3) two tablespoons of butter
4) something for your "eggs" (not pictured!  I used Cadbury eggs)

In a big pot, I melted the butter under low heat and threw in the bag of marshmallows, stirring until they melted completely.  Then I threw in the bag of chow mein noodles, stirring until completely covered with oooey gooey marshmallow...mmmmm. 

I scooped some mixture onto a silpat covered cookie sheet and some into a sprayed cupcake pan - when I do this again I will only use the cupcake pan.  It gives a more uniform look, which I like better than the free-form that the cookie sheet produced. 

Once they cool a bit, butter up your fingers and press a little "well" into the nest to hold your eggs.  Then put your eggs in there and enjoy! 

Craft. Easter Bunny door hanger!

This is such a cute idea, but unfortunately I did not think of it - that credit goes to Hoosier Homemade for this awesome idea!!

You will need the following things:

1) Foam pipe covers - I chose 1/2"

2) 14 guage wire

3) pink cardstock

4) "Fun Fur" yarn 

5) duct tape

6) white spray paint

There were three pipe covers in the package I purchased.  I took one cover as it and taped into a circle with the duct tape.  For the smaller circle, I eyeballed it but I probably cut about 12" off of the end of the other one and made that into a circle also.  They didn't look exactly like a circle when I first taped it together so with a bit of working with it, it ended up looking pretty good.

At this point, I taped the circles together and spray painted it white.  This gives a nice background to the yarn in case any were to peek through. 

Then I shaped the ears with the wire - again, just eyeballing it.

Once the ears were formed, I spray painted the pink one white, and began wrapping the yard around them, starting at the bottom.  Once this was done, I hot glued the pink cardstock to the back of the ears, then it was on to the body!!  I wrapped the yarn around the body until I couldn't see any white.  I used almost all of both yarns.  Once they were all wrapped, it was assembly time!

Poke the ears in the top, wrap with more yarn, hot glue if needed

 and hang on your front door for all to enjoy!

Hoppy Easter!  Hee hee.

Story. Bathroom fiasco. Finally!!

A man may do an immense deal of good, if he does not care who gets the credit for it. ~Father Strickland, 1863 (Thanks, Garson O'Toole!)

It started as a few loose tiles, and several months later - ta-da!  Our new - although not exactly planned - guest/boys bathroom!!  This was definately a much larger project than we anticipated.....

 but the boys (and me) think its been worth the wait!!  

Before....

And after!!