My Favorite Finds #1

I was shopping at my local grocery store the other day and I noticed they were selling wooden hangers for clothing. I thought to myself those are so much nicer than wire hangers and are probably stronger than the plastic hangers. They would be great for heavy coats. But, because it wasn't something I needed, I passed them on by (and they were even on sale, too). As I was surfing the net, I came across this cute idea to turn plain wooden hangers into art for your closet! These would make the cutest AND unique housewarming gifts! Or you can personalize them for your kids by adding their name! Wouldn't they be nice in your coat closet and when guests visit and hang up their coats, they would see your one-of-a-kind hangers? I think I may be heading back to that store now...........

Decoupage Coat Hanger*

Materials needed:
wooden coat hanger, base paint, decoupage paper, paint brush, decoupage medium or glue, varnish

Instructions:
This project uses the decoupage method. Prepare your wooden coat hanger by sanding it and base painting it. Let dry. Cut out your decoupage paper (you will need small designs to be able to place it onto the hanger). Using your decoupage glue or white wood glue, adhere the little images on to the coat hanger. Once you have all your images glued and the glue has dried, apply a coat of varnish. Let dry.

*Courtesy of: http://www.craftbits.com/

New Series

I love fun DIY (do-it-yourself) projects, cooking, crafting and gardening! I say "fun DIY projects" because I like making useful or decorative things for my home and garden; I'm not referring to DIY projects such as painting walls or putting in a new bathtub! I love to surf the internet to find new ideas and recipes. I have decided to include the treasures I find here in my blog.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do and I would love your feedback and photos of your finished projects!

I'm back!

I've been enjoying the last three weekends getting away from it all. Over Father's Day weekend, my husband and I headed "west" and stayed in a cabin on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. We enjoyed our annual trek to the Mountain Man Rendezvous (Prairie Villa Rendezvous) in Prairie du Chien, WI. We had a great weekend. Only mishap was when we were getting ready to leave, after having breakfast in a very small town, we got into a "fender bender" with a young girl who decided to pull into the parking space next to us as we were backing out. When we called the police, we had to wait for him because "he wasn't on duty yet". Talk about a small town! Then, we found out later, he was the Chief of Police!

The next weekend, we went up north and stayed in my brother's travel trailer in a campground on a lake. Luckily, the weather cooled down enough because the campground's electricity at each campsite was too old to handle running an air conditioner unit! We had dinner several times at "supper clubs" (couldn't find anything that was referred to as a restaurant). We also encountered "wildlife", such as deer, a porcupine that wouldn't get out of the road and an unidentified snake that my fearless husband tried to pick up! Also, I got to see my husband get thrown from a Waverunner! LOL!

The Fourth of July weekend was a stay-at-home weekend. We didn't even go anywhere to watch fireworks (though, I did watch our local fireworks show from my daughter's 2nd floor bedroom window). I did a lot of "putzing" around the house and got a bunch of stuff done.

Now, it's time to get back on track and get into the regular routine again. But it is summer, and when you live in Wisconsin, you want to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, especially since the summer weather had a late start around here.

Happy Summer!