My Manic Monday Link Party Features

Well co-hosting the Manic Monday Link Party with Melissa from Serendipity and Spice  sure was fun!  It was my first co-hosting experience and I learned a few things!  But....the best part was  seeing everyones awesome projects and now, getting to pick a few of my favorites!  Definitely hard to do because there were so many great ones.

I really love these Crocheted Bracelets from Creative Passage

I'm going to give these cool DIY Photo Canvases from Making Home a try!

This Ugly Plastic Tray Makeover from 4 You With Love was very cool!

These Chocolate Filled Strawberries from 'A Cassarella make the A-List for summer party food!

 These Forest Creature  DIY Images were just a spark of genius from Organized Living Solutions!

Be sure to check  Serendipity and Spice at 3:30 EST today to see Melissa's features and also to pick up your "featured" button!

Thanks Melissa for giving me the experience of co-hosting your awesome party!!  It was fun!

FIREWORKS GIFT CAN

I love fireworks for the 4th of July!  I'm so glad I live in a state where they are legal to shoot year round.  I never get tired of them!

The only thing more fun than shooting them, might be giving them! I made some cute patriotic gift cans to put some fireworks in for a few of my favorite kids.

 

 My niece and nephew are old enough to shoot some fireworks this year and I wanted to give them a few that I know they can handle.  Some of my favorite "kid" fireworks are Snakes, Poppers, Strobe Lights, Spinners, Smoke Bombs, Firecracker Tanks, Bottle Rockets (for the older kids) and of course....Sparklers!  I put some of each in the gift cans along with a few punks for lighting them and I can't wait to give them to the kids!

Yay!

Linking up to these fine parties:  

Bloggers I Admire - Sunny at Life In ReHab

This week on "Bloggers I Admire" I'm featuring someone whose blog I was reading before I even really knew what a blog or blogger was!  I was really nervous to even ask her if I could feature her.  (I don't know why, because she is super nice.)  But in my mind and probably in many, she's a ROCK STAR!  She's been blogging since 2009 and her features are vast....I mean like everywhere!  In the craft blog world, she's an ALL STAR!!  If you don't already know her, please let me tell you, I'm happy and thrilled to introduce you to Sunny, from Life In Rehab!!

If I could pick anyone I wanted to be my neighbor, it would definitely be Sunny.  But then she would probably move, because her yard is so cute, I would never leave and she's so funny, I would always be hanging around waiting to see what she says and does next!  If she went anywhere, I'd be wanting to go along because she can make a trip to Target hilarious!  Yeah, I guess if she lived anywhere near me I would be her stalker. (Just as an example of her great sense of humor....when I commented on how I loved that she wore bright colors as well as used them in her projects, her response was, "I'm a rubber nose short of a clown suit."!!)


I asked Sunny to share her top 3 favorite posts here (to which I've added one or two of her funny lines) and then I'll show you a few of her posts that I adore.  The first post she sent me went viral on Pinterest with over 100,000 views.

How to Make Your Own Decoupage Medium

"We made some! It was either that or skip the next mortgage payment!"

Presenting....The Wall

"Okay, I already had 16 cinder blocks on hand. I'm a little bit redneck, don't ask. I'm sometimes surprised my dog has more than three legs."

Think Outside the Boxes 

"My storage obsession started here with large boxes disguised as Tiffany packages. You didn't need new stuff. You needed a free afternoon."

And now, just a few of my favorites!! (So hard to pick just a few!)


This is one of my all time favorites and I have saved jars forever just for this:
Solar Jar #2

 

To see 2 more versions of this click HERE and HERE

She made a really easy outdoor fountain that I l-o-v-ed:
 Fountainhead Revisited

Sunny does a little cooking too!  I'm making this Yo Quiero Lasagna this weekend!

Her children are so awesome!  They appear in her blog regularly and I'm pretty sure they all have her sense of humor!  She calls them her "minions" and they help her all the time!  If she ever needs a break from them, she can send them right here to me, because I could use some hard-working kids with  a sense of humor!  Here is a pic of them she used for the above lasagna post:

Aren't they the best??  I'm thinking of putting up pictures of them in my house and calling them my "Faux Family"!! Seriously, when my kids were teenagers they would have died before dressing up funny for a blog pic, and at the mere mention of project assistance, they just vaporized!  Sunny, you must be one awesome mom for your kids to want to hang out with you and help you so much!

You have weathered a house fire, hurricanes and illness and blogged through it all! 

You are a ROCKSTAR in my book any day!!

Thank you for all of the inspiration and all of the morning laughs and especially for letting me feature you here on my little blog today!!

Readers, please, go check out Sunny at Life In Rehab and see what kind of humor she's serving up and what awesome projects she has that will inspire you!  I promise, even if you just browse her homepage sidebars, you will laugh!

Inspiration Cafe #4 Blind Date with Quilting

Hi everybody! Thanks for visiting the Inspiration Cafe this week. My name is Heather fromBeating Hearth and I am the contributor who's in charge of inspiring you all to sew. I pretty much do it all, from quilting to crochet to embroidery to pillow cases and clothes. So, hopefully I can inspire you a bit to try one of the stitching arts and get crafty with your bad self.

My Crew

I am the sole non-redhead in the bunch. Yes, you can cry for me. Today I am going to try and get all you folks who are non-committal (and with good reason as getting equipped to quilt can be spendy!!) about quilting, to make a quilt. Come on, I don't want you to fully commit and get married to quilting or anything, but maybe just go on a blind date with quilting. Just see if maybe it's something you might be a bit more interested in. Quilting is quite handsome (or beautiful), and fun, and smart. Maybe a little different from what you've done before, but once you quilt, you'll never go back.

This is what I want you to make...at least it's the beginning of something I want you to make. These little beauties go by many different names, Hexies, hexagons, Grandmother's Garden, English Paper Piecing...but the great thing about them is you don't need much to make them. They're quick and easy to make and darn cute!  I am going to show you all the supplies you need and give you all the tips needed to create a beautiful and simple to make quilt. Please click here to continue reading... 

Manic Monday Link Party

I'm so excited to be co-hosting this party with my friend Melissa from Serendipity and Spice!  She is an awesome blogger and gave me my first feature ever and I don't have to tell you what a boost to the morale for a craft blogger that is!  This is my first time to co-host a link party and I can't wait to see what everyone links up and then I get to choose some of my favorites!  If you don't know Melissa and her blog and party, this is the perfect time to check her out and link up.  So come on all you Silo Hill Farm Followers....join the fun!!

There’s just 3 SIMPLE rules:

1.             Follow Host and Co-Host

Host: Serendipity and Spice

Co-Host: Silo Hill Farm

You can follow each through Facebook, Pinterest, GFC, BlogLovin, RSS, or Email.

2.          Put a Backlink

If you don't know how to put a backlink in your post here's a quick tutorial. 

You can also find out about  Linky Party Etiquette  here.

<br><a href="http://www.serendipityandspice.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q516/SerendipityandSpice/ManicMonday.jpg"/></a><br>

3. Limit yourself to 3 links Make sure you link directly to your post.

Now let's have some FUN!

Do you want to host Manic Monday one week?  Send me an email at SerendipityandSpice@yahoo.com.

Join Me For A Party?

I am so excited!  This afternoon, for the first time, I get to co-host a link party and not just any link party...... I'm co-hosting this fabulous one:

Melissa, from Serendipity and Spice has been one of my blog friends almost from the very beginning.  I'm sure I drove her crazy with my questions about how to link up to a party, how to make my pictures the right size, how to make them right for a thumbnail, etc. Geeze, I'm sure I reminded her of a little kid with all of my questions and she already had a new baby!  But she was so sweet and patient to answer them all. (She still is!)  She also gave me my first feature and I have to say it was a huge boost to my morale while I was feeling so lost in blogland.  
She also does some great blog tutorials like:

How to Write a Guest Post 

If you are new to blogging, this series is especially helpful:

 New Blogger Series

So, obviously I would love it if you came back here at 4:30 CST today and linked up something fabulous, but even if you don't, go check out Serendipity and Spice and get to know Melissa!

Hope to see you here later today!

Old Glory Picket Fence

Sometimes, you just gotta go with what inspires you even if you're not so thrilled with where the inspiration comes from or your not sure where it's going to end up! That's what happened with this project.

 I picked up this little piece of picket fence at a garage sale for $1.00.  I loved it, and I was sure I wanted to use it, maybe more than once.  I kept it out in my craft room where I could look at it and be inspired to know just what to do with it.  Every time I looked at it, I thought it should speak to me.  But no.  It remained silent. Stubbornly silent. As time went by, it's silence became highly annoying to me.  Off to Pinterest I went to see what I could do with a piece of fence for the 4th of July.  This is what I found:

 source

Now if you click on that source link above, you'll find out that it takes you to "Flag Patterned Fence Swag" by none other than Martha Stewart.  I was disappointed in Pinterest.  Really?  All of the great craft blogs out there and you served me up a reliable stand by?  But, I had indeed fallen in love with this look and so, I was going with it.  Of course, I thought I could do it better.  I know, it's brazen of me to think that, and probably some kind of an abomination to even put it in print, but there ya go.

  I was going to do a tutorial on this project but then I thought, "Hey!  With the click of  a button, I can make Martha do it!" So if you want to know how to make this, just click HERE .  Now that is some serious blog power!

I don't guess I'll have my own magazine, TV show or fan club anytime soon......but I've got a blog and some awesome followers and a few ideas of my own.

I may be linking up to any or all of these fine parties:

A Little Patriotic Bling

I love a little sparkle in my projects once in a while and this was the perfect easy project to inject some!

 These little tea light holders were so much fun to make!  Believe it or not, they are completely recyclable.  Let me show you a few more pics before I get to the how-tos!

It's really hard to get a good picture of candles, so if anyone has a tip....please, let me know!

So the adhesive in this project is liquid starch and the colored part is just strips of tissue paper.  You can find the starch in the grocery store where the laundry products are.  To the best of my knowledge, this starch keeps indefinately.  I've had a 1/2 gallon of it for about 5 years.  I only use it for crafting.  (Oh please, you didn't think I was using this stuff to iron with did you?  I would iron, but I can't seem to find a right-handed iron anywhere.  They all seem to be made for the lefties and I'm a right-handed kind of girl.) 

I first showed you how to make a starch candle at Valentines Day.  I love the way the starch makes the tissue paper all see-through.  I'm sure this is some kind of scientific reaction, but I'm just calling it craft magic!

 In fact, instead of me retyping that tutorial, because it's really late and I'm really tired, why don't you just click HERE and all of the directions are waiting for you to put your own creative spin on a cute candle!

Meet Amy from "While Wearing Heels"

You know that on Wednesdays I like to introduce you to some bloggers and blogs I admire.  If you don't already know my friend Amy from "While Wearing Heels" you are really missing some fun! 

 She has a great sense of humor and her blog is one that always makes me laugh, not to mention she has some awesome projects!  I asked her to share a few of them with you as well as a few words about herself:

I'm Amy, from While Wearing Heels, and because I suffer from a severe form of Crafter Attention Deficit Disorder SO does my poor blog.  I find myself doing a lot of tutorials.  What sort of a tutorial really depends on the week {crafts, hair, home decor, how to extract a bento box cup from your dog after she has eaten one}.  I like to share things I think are interesting or helpful and I hope to get that across with a few laughs thrown in. 

I think my favorite posts/projects always evolve and change.  One of my favorite tutorials that I shared when I first started blogging and had about 4 followers was A Rose Is A Rose, a tutorial for making a velvet rose.  I do not have a green thumb so this is as close as I'll ever get to making a beautiful rose :)

Another forgotten about post I love is: Reformed Halloween Grinch it's how I became a reformed Halloween Grinch.  Again, I am sure I had roughly 12 followers so it was sadly ignored.

I know most people think of me as a crafting tutorial blog but really I do try and interject some humor into my blog.  So, yes, I do provide tutorials but I also try and share posts like this:  If Only  in hopes of letting my readers know I do have a personality and that I can make fun of myself.

Now, I have a few things to say about Amy and her blog!  First, I'm really not too sure how we started communicating, but I think she was kind of interested in the fact that I own a pumpkin patch and live on a farm.  Now I found this kind of funny, because while Amy dresses like this:

On any given day, you will likely find me in bluejeans and a T-shirt, workin on my farm girl tan, sweating bullets and wishing I had fingernails!!!  Although Amy wears some snappy heels.....my footwear is waterproof and has the fancy designer name of "Muck"!  But we have found some common ground; blogging, crafting and maintaining our sense of humor.  She just showed you some of her favorite posts, now I would like to show you a few from her blog that caught my eye!

This Timeless Clock Tutorial was one that I loved and may be the first time I saw her blog.  I mean, really, who wouldn't love this?  I'm on the lookout for a vintage-looking clock all the time now!

I really liked this panini sandwich recipe and I really want one right now!

When I read this post Mental Pictures from a Circus Party,

I seriously laughed until I almost cried, really, you should stop reading this and click on the above link and enjoy a laugh right now!

 AND.... I am so making this Punch box for my grandson's 5th birthday party!

I would love it if you would go over and check out Amy and While Wearing Heels.  I promise you won't regret it.  She'll make you smile!  Show her a little comment love and tell her hello from me!  And bonus....if you decide to follow her, you'll be sure to get some morning laughs with that first cup of coffee, not to mention some awesome project inspiration!

Amy, I am so glad to get to know you and I really appreciate you letting me feature you here and share you and your great blog with my readers!  Thank you!

A Candle with Personality

This is my favorite candle.

But she's fickle. 

I've had her for years and you've seen her before.

She started out like this:

At Valentines Day she changed and looked like this:

You can check out the post about how she went for her makeover HERE.

But today, she's feeling very patriotic.

Of course......Halloween is just around the corner and she could change again!

H2Ohhhhhhh!

Glory, glory!! It is raining at Silo Hill Farm today and I swear I can hear my corn growing!  We are so far behind on rain and way ahead on heat and humidity.  Last night after dinner, when we mistakenly thought it would be cooler, we went down in the field and worked on our irrigation system.  Of course, we had help.......

Ya know....if these two would just grow oppositional thumbs, our work time would be cut in half!  Mostly, they just like to get in the way! 

These pictures are a little dark because, well, it was getting dark.  We blew out the pipes with water to make sure they were not obstructed.  We capped off the ends and marked where the water holes were with orange spray paint.  We sorted them out according to size and laid them out in the field.  Once that was done, we began assembling the pipes with connectors, elbow joints and end caps.  Sometimes you have to cut the pipe here and there to make it fit where you want it.

 

Did I mention it was super hot???  Check out the Sam's shirt....we were both just soaked with sweat.  I don't love humidity.  See those storage tanks in the background?  They hold about 900 gallons of water and are continuously refilled by a ram pump that Sam built himself. Sam has a degree in Engineering and an understanding of fluid dynamics.  Me?  I know two things about water....first, it takes the path of least resistance and second, and this is a highly technical fact I learned from my brother-in-law, who is also an engineer....."There's NO trickin' water!"

 A ram pump is a thing of beauty out here at Silo Hill Farm.  It does not require electricity and it's power source is the flow of the creek.   I'm posting my first ever video and I'm seriously hoping it works.  I'm having sound issues, so there may not be sound, but you can get the general idea.  If you are interested in Ram pumps and how they work, you can check out the video below.....maybe!!!

 

 

Anyway, we did get all of the pipe laid out and connected, then we connected it to the water tanks and turned it on.....

 Success!!!  

Of course, now that it's raining today, we obviously don't need to have it on, but we are glad to have it done and ready.

Now to plant these pumpkins in the ground where they can be happy!!

Enjoy your day!  We are taking my father-in-law, who is the very proud father of two engineers, out for breakfast today and I'm looking forward to it!