Thursday, February 16, 2012

Recycled Pallet Compost Bin





Spring is around the corner and I've got an itch for a green thumb. I've wanted to compost for some time, but never spent the time or money getting a system going. Since my husband and I decided to stay at our current house for awhile, I thought we could go ahead and start a compost bin and a garden.

It started at Christmas, when T.J. and I returned a gift we already had at Crate and Barrel. We walk around the store for awhile, saying to each other, what do we need. After getting married, we've received all the necessities and were now looking for something to want. I spotted the compost pail and thought....oh I've been wanting one of these! T.J. agreed on starting this process. We got home and immediately started composting. Only problem was that we hadn't set up anything for all the kitchen scraps to go in.

I did some research and found out you can make a compost bin for little to no money using old wooden pallets. Some blogs suggested to go on Craig's List but that wasn't too helpful. One morning while I was at a work meeting T.J. set off on the adventure to find pallets. He picked up the phone and called Calloways. Low and behold they had tons and they said they would sell them for a dollar a piece! I got home and we put together the four pallets using only 14 gauge wire and some screws! The whole project cost about $6! TJ gets grossed out when dumping the compost from the kitchen into the compost bin outside. We put brown matter in the compost every 2 weeks. This might include paper grocery bags, leaves, weeds, and grass clippings. It's also a good place to put old potting soil.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Handmade Gifts

I have to say, handmade gifts are some of the best gifts. I'm lucky to know such creative people. Cassie got best gift with a quilt made from all her fabric scraps. She also found the bird paper clips at the Deep Ellum Market. My friend Jen made a bag full of t-shirt scarfs, which were all beautiful. Most of them were necklace like. We all got to choose which one we wanted. I loved the red one the most. My new mother in-law embroidered these sweet tea towels. All of us girls got one in our stocking.





Thursday, December 29, 2011

In my studio

I'm excited to go into my studio and see the bunting garlands that we used at the wedding. Almost all of the fabric is my grandmothers, and the rest is from my nephews baby projects. Thanks to my mom, the garlands were finished. I've shared with family and I love going into my sisters studio's and offices and seeing them hanging from the ceiling or wall.




Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Handmade Christmas Tags

I managed to have 2 of about 20 tags that I made for gifts still laying around the house.(again deleting all my photos from Christmas projects) I really really enjoyed making these. You can embellish the stamp into something cuter.

First Christmas

It's my husband and my first Christmas . I wanted to get a growler for him to enjoy on Christmas Eve. The bar at Whole Foods was busy when I went to buy his growler so the bartender suggested to go get the bottle etched. It was free and it only took fifteen minutes. I decided to have, "Cheers to our first Christmas" etched into the growler. I got it filled and he was very happy to have this bottle he can get refilled with IPA's and stouts. We poured the beer in his mothers Christmas glasses with family, cheered, and my husband and I kissed. It's good to be an Edmondson.

Santa Hat Brownies

Made these for a holiday party. They were fun to make and I got to use my new kitchen stand mixer to make cream cheese frosting. 

Yoga bag

  

I made some gift this Christmas, but was a complete idiot and accidentally deleted all my photos on my camera!! So this is what I had. I didn't use a pattern or tutorial, just looked at a yoga bag I have. I used a silky fabric to line it so the mat will slid right in. The button was given to me by my sister from Paris, France. I added a pocket and it was my first time to use the button feature on my machine.

Bib Kerchief



Made one of these for my nephew Everett. He looked super cute in his stripe shirt with the green poka dotted bib kerchief. Babies are hard to take photos of though...more to come after a trip to the fabric store!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Sneak Peak


 
These are 2 of 4 photos I have gotten. I can't wait for more!! Photographer was Tara Welch one of T.J's good friends. We are blessed to have talented friends.