Binkies and Briefcases

SUBSCRIBE

Ok, I changed my mind

By: Stephaniecomment

I like having all my stuff in one place, so I’ll probably just stick with this blog. That should be no big surprise to anyone, I change my mind a lot.

Anyway, I am SUPER excited because I found a new blog last week. It’s written by a stay-at-home mom/carpenter named Ana who builds her own furniture to look like expensive stuff because she lives in Alaska far away from all those stores & it’s really expensive to have stuff shipped to Alaska, I guess. Her site is called Knock-Off Wood. (Get it, like “knock on wood”, except it’s knock-off furniture?)

To say that I have become obsessed with this website would probably be an understatement. Yesterday I convinced Eddie to go with me to buy the wood to build one of the beginner level projects. He was reluctant, seeing as how he had just gotten back from the ER after cutting himself on a saw and everything, but we have the materials now & I am super excited to get started!!!

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Woo-Hoo! I’m a Farmer! (Sort of)

By: Stephaniecomment

Gardening and I have a love/hate relationship. I would love to be able to have a nice, pretty garden, preferably a vegetable or herb garden because I love to cook, but nothing I ever plant does very well. I resent my lack of success in this area and resolve to try again every year. For eight years in a row nothing has grown. Eddie has better luck, so our gardens have historically looked very nice. Except now that he has a longer commute and we have two tiny children, he doesn’t have as much time to do yard work.

So our gardens this year are a mess! I ordered some roses & my aunt, who is an amazing gardener, gave us some hyacinth beans to grow a vine up our lamp post. So far both are growing, but not flowering. They are also amidst a ridiculous pile of weeds that has overtaken the front garden that poor Eddie worked so hard to clear out, edge & hire someone to come grind our 14 stumps from old bushes that died in this year’s record snowstorm.

I also planted a small vegetable garden with Nicholas, but so far everything is just tiny & green so I can’t tell the difference between the weeds & the vegetables.

But today Eddie was mowing the lawn and came in with amazing news! My raspberry bush had berries! 9 of them! Granted, some had rotted. Granted some of its leaves are dead. But it had berries! I’m calling this a success!

Also, I have managed to successfully grow basil & parsley in my kitchen window sill. I also planted rosemary, but that hasn’t done so well.

But still, 3 plants that have survived to produce something is better than none, right?

Does this mean that after years and years of trying my black thumb is turning green? I hope so!

How to Make Glass Apothecary Jars

By: Stephanie3 Comments

How to Make Glass Apothecary Jars out of Things from the Thrift Store

This post contains Amazon affiliate links to the products mentioned for your convenience. 

Normally, I love being creative, but when it comes to decorating my home I’ve become a total copy cat lately and I have to say I kinda love it. Takes the stress out of redoing an entire 2,100 square foot house that hasn’t been updated since 1965. Somebody else has already put thought into it and I know it will look good. But raising a family of four, updating a home, and paying back tons of student loans on one income leaves us on a tight budget. So I’ve been following all kinds of blogs recently like Copy Cat Chic & Knock Off Wood. It’s my new hobby, no, obsession.

Today my sister came over to watch the kids for a few hours so I could run some errands. I was itching to start a new project, but after spending 3+ hours on the blinds the other day, I wanted a quick, easy one. I was also determined to create my own Pottery Barn knock-off. Or several. But this time I was sticking firmly to my $20 budget.

I decided to make these:

Or these:

photo credit: Pottery Barn

Have you been to the Pottery Barn website? Personally, I’ve been stalking it recently to see when those amazing crab melamine plates would come back in stock. (FYI, they’re back, and I ordered mine yesterday. So there, I’m not just a copy cat I’m also an actual consumer. Except I’m a consumer on a $20 budget.) If you’ve been there, you know these vases & apothecary jars sell for anywhere between $20-$60 a piece. Who wants just one jar? Every magazine shows them in groups.

Plus, I figured if I made these hubby would be happy too because while they are technically a home accessory, at least they’re also functional.

So while I was out running errands I stopped by Goodwill. Can you say “Jackpot!?” I scored this entire lot for $13:

Then I stopped by AC Moore & bought this epoxy for less than 5 bucks:

So my materials list consisted of:

1 set of 6 dessert cups
5 vases
1 apothecary jar (I was hoping to score more of these, but it was the only one they had. There were more at AC Moore, but they were more expensive.)
1 tube of epoxy

Total cost: About $18+ tax

First I scraped the price tags off with a Pampered Chef nylon scraper. If you don’t have these, do yourself a favor, and grab some right now! They are cheap and awesome! I guess you could also use a nylon putty tool/scraper, but I like these because they are small enough to get in tight spaces & don’t have the long awkward handle. They are the PERFECT tool for scraping price tags off of just about anything, as well as getting stuck on food off of your dishes. Sometimes you just need to add a little warm water. 


After that, all I did was turn the dessert glasses upside down and epoxy the vases/jar to them. Done! (If you’re not familiar with epoxy, it’s just very stinky glue made specifically for glass & metal) 10 minutes & less than $20 later I had 6, count them 6, for less than the price of 1 at PB. Yay me!


This photo was taken before I scraped the price tags off & epoxied, but you get the idea. I happen to think that if I had professional lighting crews, a high-quality camera, and a set designer mine could look just as nice. Filling them with the seashells we collected at the beach last week will probably also help. ;p

If I remember I’ll post more pics after the epoxy has dried & I have figured out where to put them all.

Hey, for $3 a piece, it’s a 95% savings off of paying $60 for one jar. I’m a happy camper!

P.S. If you have any jar candles that you have burned all the way down, this would be an awesome way to reuse them!

If you liked this tip, I so appreciate your pins and shares! 

And if you liked this post, you may also like: 
Learn how to replace buttons with snaps. This is great for people who have trouble with the dexterity in their fingers and can't button.

What You’re Saying

Latest Posts

ALL I Never Knowed: The Book Is Here!

It’s finally here, in my hands. It has been a loooong time in the making, but our book, All I Never Knowed: Mental Illness, a Mother’s Love, and a Broken System, is available now. The official launch date is next Tuesday, Oct. 5th. But starting now, you can order from all major retailers. Here’s where […]

Save Money with Fetch

Hey everyone! This is Chelsea, Steph’s asistant, back with the simplest app for getting cash back on things you’re already buying! We’ve covered Ibotta, Shopkick, Coupons.com, Swagbucks and we’re all saving hundreds of dollars by now, right? RIGHT!? I’m really hoping you guys have jumped on the rebate app savings train because it’s just so […]

Splendid Spoon Review

I was excited to receive a box of products to try from Splendid Spoon this summer! They invited me to try their line of plant-based, ready-to-eat foods and delivered them right to my door. Check one in the pro column for convenience. I did receive these products free of charge in order to rate them […]

My Networks