April Showers Bring...

I was finally able to bring bucket-loads of lilacs into the house.

They look gorgeous and dramatic grouped.

They make my heart sing....

Turn a Gumball Machine into a Fishbowl

My husband took part in a carnival for his college.

Do you know those booths with all the fishbowls and you have to loop a ring around the top of a fishbowl and you win a fish?

That's the one he was running.

Guess what he brought home?

Yeah....three fish.

Yay......

I guess the kids have been nagging me about getting them some fish.

I've also been storing an antique gumball machine in the basement, knowing that someday I wanted to turn it into a fishbowl.

This was just the push I needed!

Directions:

Start with an awesome gumball machine.

(Note: not all gumball machines will be built like this one, so you may have to modify this a bit)

The top will have a screw in it.

Unscrew it and take it out.

Once you life off the top, you will be greeted by this thingamajig:

Take it out and this is what you should have:

At this point, you should be able to remove the bowl and get some glass cut.

Go to your local glass cutter with the bowl and ask them to cut a circle for the bottom of the bowl. Make sure to mention that the measurements should be taken from the outside of the bowl, not the inside. You want to be able to set the bowl ON TOP of the glass, not have the glass sit within.

So this is what you should have after removing the bowl.

This mechanism should lift out easily.

There will be a similar mechanism underneath that.

This one lifts out just as easily.

Now you should be left with just the base and the rod.

This is threaded at the bottom, so just twist it off.

But this rod is a double rod. A rod inserted inside of a rod...

...but this enables you to take the entire base off the platform.

This 2nd rod is also threaded. There should be a nut on the bottom securing it in. Turn everything over, take off the nut, then start twisting the rod until it comes off.

Now, that threaded rod is what keeps the bottom from falling off the base, but we needed to rod off so that we could set a fishbowl (with a bottom on it) on top of the base.

So my solution was to put some Mighty Putter around the edges to keep the bottom platform in place. I gently tapped in on with a hammer.

So this is what you should have, and all the parts on the table can be tossed in the garbage.

If you've gotten your bottom fishbowl glass plate back from the glass cutter, you can now secure it to the bottom of this fishbowl.

You can NOT use any silicone. It has to be special aquarium grade.  I had to go to Mighty Pet (a local store, but I'm sure anyone could find it at any specialty pet store....just not Walmart, I tried!) to find it. The staff was very helpful.

This is what it might look like:

Follow the directions on the tube.

Put a generous amount of silicone around the bottom lip of the bowl and carefully put the cut glass on top of it. Wait the directed amount of time.

You might have to go back and add more silicone around the inside part of the bowl, sort of like caulking a tub.

I had a leak the first time, so I had to do this.

I greatly recommend it!

I also added silicone to the base so that the fishbowl would be stuck onto the base. With this fishbowl being top-heavy, I didn't feel it was secure enough just sitting on the base.

After waiting for all the silicone to cure, add your water, bowl decorations, rocks, and of course...your new buddies!

Meet Red, Desmond the Moon Fish, and John!

Framed Map Wall Art

With life being so busy right now, it's terribly hard to roll out projects.

That's why I love quick, simple ones like the one I'm about to show you.

Before I remodeled my living room, there was a large 18x34 collage above the piano. 

I'm starting to fall out of love with pictures in my house.

All my pictures are being retired to photo albums.

I guess it's driving me a little batty that all the photos are from when the kids were younger.

I'm too lazy to keep changing them out.

Anyone else have this same issue?

So I accessed the local library's photo archives and found some maps of my city from 1895. 

One side is a picture of downtown, because I loved the old Gothic lettering on it.

Then I got a zoomed-in map of my neighborhood.

Everything's a bit off-center right now.

The frame is too high (this is where it was prior to the board and batten, so it drives me crazy that it's not an equal distance from the ceiling to the board and batten.)

The frame is centered to the window and the corner of the room, but since the wooden toy box is better placed further from the entertainment center...it looks funny not being centered under the frame.

So I'm moving the frame down and to the right, but to make up for the fact that it's not centered from the window to the corner, I want to add this candle holder from Pottery Barn.

It's one of the most unique things I've ever seen. 

I.....need....it.

Mother's Day is this Sunday. Maybe the hubs will order it for me.

;)

What girl doesn't love shoes?

Maybe it's because I work part-time in a shoe department, but I....love....shoes.

Too bad my budget doesn't love shoes as much as I do.

Good thing I only paid $3.95 after tax for these puppies:

My first pair of shoes that came with it's own shoe bag.

(Squeal!)

You can find these exact shoes at the retailer's website, http://ninashoes.com/falana-gold--14508. Unfortunately, the stone color is discontinued, hence the amazing deal I scored (which I got from Younkers).

They also have them available cheaper on the Younkers website, but again, stone was discontinued.

Okay, though it's fun sharing my awesome deals and finds, I do have a project to show you! I just need to clean the room.....

Maybe tomorrow or Sunday? Yeah, I'm thinking that's the plan.

See you then!

Really, Anthropologie?!

Are you really charging $198 for an old telephone?

I think I just saw one of these for $2 at Goodwill.

Other ridiculousness:

Please please please, tell me no one else would pay $2,100 for this easel.



Now, don't get me wrong, I love Anthropologie as much as the next gal, but sometimes they are just down right crazy.

Here's some not-so-crazy things I'm craving from Anthroplogie:

These unique magnifying sconces priced at $48.

It's not like anything else I've ever seen before.

Simple as that.

This mouse pad priced at only $12.

It's cute and clever.

It would make me giggle every time I saw it.

I've noticed that Anthropologie is a lot like Pottery Barn.

A lot of the stuff is things that you could find at a flea market. Everything is crazy high-priced. A closer look, however, will sometimes reveal quaint little finds, making the search worth it.



Handmade Jewelry



I know most my readers have a passion for antique and/or handmade.

Are you looking for a unique piece of jewelry?

Check out the things that my friend Beth makes:

These are just my favorites.

There are a lot more to see on any one of her sites.

You can find these on her web page, her etsy shop, or her Facebook page.

Can't afford to buy something now but love her work?

Just "fan" her on Facebook, so you can find her in the future!

Got your taxes back and looking for a way to spend it?

Support this local artist and old high school friend of mine by buying some beautiful handmade jewelry.

She has many items with a large range of prices!

Beth's goal is to get over 1000 fans on her Facebook profile, so even if you don't want to buy something, I would love for my readers to show her some support!

This is the new object of my affection:


100% of the proceeds from these cherry blossom earrings will go to the relief in Japan. These weren't on the Etsy website at the time of publication, but you can find it on her regular website http://www.bethmillner.bigcartel.com/product/100-goes-to-japan-cherry-blossom-earrings

What girl doesn't want awesome earrings plus donating to a good cause?
Once I get my taxes back, this will be one of my first purchases!

Closet Progress

I completely forgot to show you the work I had done in my closet before the inspector came.

Sorry!

I took down this row of hooks.

I know it's just a closet, but screwing some hooks into a 1x4 just seems lazy to me.

Like my mom says:

"Do it right the first time or just don't do it at all."

It's solid advice, really.

So I routed the edges, primed and painted it, and reattached the hooks.

I don't have a picture for you. I'm going to wait 'til the closet is fully done.

Then, my oldest helped me out in the shop to build a door.

Those hinges are awesome. They are old cast iron hinges that were in my grandpa's workshop.

I picked them up the day before I took this picture.

What luck, hey?

My grandma is moving out of her house, so we're clearing everything out.

I have some pretty awesome antique tools.

The doorknob was also free. I was looking for something in my workshop, and I ended up finding the little wooden knob.

I still have to paint the door, though.

It's going to be painful to paint. You know how much I love birch grain. I'm going to hate covering up such beauty, but the door would look best white.



I still have a lot of work to do in the closet. However, it probably won't be done until after the Spring semester, in a little less than 2 months.

I was really hoping to knock it all out during Spring Break, but that didn't happen.

I need to buy a whole new box of floor planks, because I'm one plank short.

They don't sell individual pieces, either.

See it in the left corner?

And of course I can't put in the baseboard until that piece of flooring is down. I don't want to paint the door trim (those are primed pieces) until the baseboard is up.

List of closet stuff to do:

-paint the door

-finish the flooring

-put in the baseboard

-wood putty the nail holes and paint all the trim

-put up the wall hooks

-build a light box to cover the fluorescent tube lights

-build a shoe/purse cubby area

I'm also going to be building some utility shelving inside the utility part of the closet for paint cans.

It will be much easier than tripping over everything in our messy basement.

On another note, we had a taste of Spring in our area. Most of the snow was gone, my flowers were poking out of the ground, the birds were chirping.

Then we had a crazy nasty snowstorm.

But we're in full Spring mode anyways.

The snow will melt eventually.

;)

Forcing Branches

Yesterday, shortly after my Birthday Roses post, I received a comment from one of my lovely readers:

Have you met Courtenay yet? If you haven't, visit Signal Hill Interiors.

So, her comment got me thinking, "Why should we have to wait for lilacs?"

I know that forcing blooms is possible, but I've never read about forcing lilacs.

So I did a little research.

Check out this page at BHG.com

If you scroll down to the bottom, it actually says that March is the best time to force lilacs indoors!

On Page 3 of that article, it will give you step-by-step basics to forcing branches.

If you're viewing this on a phone (where navigation can be tricky), here's the direct link to the tutorial:

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/care/forcing-branches-into-bloom/?page=3

I'm (hopefully) going to be giving this a try.

If anyone successfully forces their lilac branches, send me a picture of them in their full glory!

Just click the link "Contact Me" at the top of this page and attach a photo!

Happy bloom forcing everyone!