Solar garden chandelier

I saw a video of this idea and thought it would be great to have my own solar chandelier  in my garden.
We found an used fixture at our local rehab store for  $7.50 which was perfect as the fittings were able to be unscrewed to change it from shining down to up. The solar lights came from Walmart at $.97 each. So the whole project was less than $20. We had hot glue on hand to attach the lights to the fixture.
It only took an hour to put it all together.
I am loving our new outdoor lighting and can't wait for warmer weather to start living outside again.

Fabric wrapped storage boxes

 Storage boxes

Working on my daughters bedroom. She no longer needed the toddler look and we had to come up with creative ideas on a tight budget.

Keurig k-cup boxes are the perfect size for storage containers for her bookshelf. I cut the flaps off, and chose ah fabric mix that would match her comforter. She wanted the theme to be zig-zag with teal & corral. 

I cut the fabric to cover the outside of the boxes with a 12" overhang top & bottom. The fabric was glued to the boxes in a similar manner to wrapping gifts. 

I finished the edges with ribbon and glued a wide ricrac handle on each box. 

Easy, inexpensive cute and custom storage and an excellent decor piece.

Pants too short??

I seem to strike out more often than I like with pants that shrink in the washer. (They fit perfectly when I buy them)
I decided to upcycle 2 pairs into 1 & love the results.
The Brown pants are still good, just too short. The jeans were worn out. I used the legs & back pockets, some extra fabric for lining and trim.

Inspiration in a wrapper

Has anyone ever noticed the motivation captured on the Halls wrappers?  I discovered it today, it comes at a good time when you feel miserable with a cold, sore throat and coughing. 

"A PEP TALK IN EVERY DROP"

Matthews Farmers Market

Beautiful mural at the Farmers market in Matthews NC. Saturday outing to get some farm fresh foods & were entertained by a local Blue-Grass band.

Holes in the clouds - hole punch or fallstreak hole clouds.

We were in South Carolina today & saw a hole in the clouds over the town of Lancaster. It was such a rare sight & strange feeling to watch this. We took a few pictures before it disappeared.

My research revealed per the Weather Channel:

These rare cloud formations, called "hole-punch clouds", develop in altocumulus cloud layers and are often the result of airplanes passing through the layer of clouds.
So, how does this happen?
The altocumulus cloud layer is composed of small water droplets that are below freezing called supercooled water droplets. If ice crystals can form in the layer of supercooled droplets, they will grow rapidly and shrink or possibly evaporate the droplets completely.

and National Geographic:

Clouds are made of water droplets, and hole punch clouds—also known as fallstreak hole clouds—occur when part of that cloud falls out, leaving behind a hole. That opening in the cloud is the result of an extremely localized snowfall.

Usually, atmospheric water droplets latch on to particles in order to form ice crystals, or snow. This happens on a massive scale during snowstorms. The only way water droplets can spontaneously form ice crystals without those particles is if temperatures fall to roughly -40°F (-40°C). (Learn more about these giant cloud holes.)

In a hole punch cloud, temperatures fall in only a small portion of the cloud, forming a localized snowstorm. When that snow falls, it leaves behind a hole. Refraction of sunlight by the ice crystals results in the rainbow, while the arrangement of those crystals gives us a bright patch of light in the middle called a sun dog. (See pictures of sun dogs and halos.)

The expansion of air as an airplane passes can also produce hole punch clouds by cooling water droplets enough for them to form ice crystals.

Duck-tape Flower Ring

This ring was made in less than 30 minutes. From duck-tape. Tutorial to follow.