Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Watch Out Below, I

So remember when I said I have piles of project laying around my house? Well this was one of them. One windy day a long time ago I came across a beautiful branch. Now you may think why would she think a branch is beautiful? Well that is just my creative insanity speaking. I see some wonderful treasure and can instantly see it transformed into another beautiful object, project, or as my husband would say "crap". The problem is that I bring these treasures home and they sit there while I find the time to transform them.
This particular treasure was a branch and it had been sitting in my back yard for at least a year. My intention was to make it into a light fixture for our family room. It would have (and still can be) perfect. Well....my husband threatened to throw it out, and it wasn't the first time so I knew he was serious, and if I didn't do something quick my treasure would be trash (I forgot to mention that it is about 13 feet long, and I drove it home sticking out the back of my Explorer like a hillbilly). I compromised with my self and took the easy way out. I grabbed a few strands of little white lights wrapped them around the branch (after sawing the ends off to make them pretty), and hung
them from my patio cover. I hung them with some old chandelier chain that was in the garage, no cutting necessary. I just used a pair of pliers to open one of the chain links, hung it over the patio cover, and wrapped it around the branch (about 18" from the end so it could not fall off). Then I wrapped an extension cord up and over the top of the patio cover and ran the cord down the wall to the outlet. We needed more light and this was FREE!
We got the light we needed outside, my husband was happy, and I got to keep and transform my treasure, absolutely Practically Perfect in every way.
Now it's your turn. Go out there and find some fallen branches any create some thing wonderful. I would love to hear about it so post a comment!!!!!!
Oh, and I need some branches to decorate for Christmas so I will have to hunt today too. Can't wait to blog about the next installation of Watch Out Below!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Practically Perfect Solutions

Stubborn wax:
If you have wax on a candlestick or plate don't bother trying to pick it off. Put the candlestick in the freezer few a few hours. When you remove it from the freezer it will pop right off. Don't wait to long if it warms up you will have to freeze it again.