Picnic Plaid Decor

I have been wanting to change up my outdoor decorations for a few weeks....but life has been so busy, that I am just not getting around to it. Sadly, I just took down my spring wreaths last week and replaced them with some fun summery ones made out of an outdoor tablecloth.

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I picked up an oblong Picnic Plaid tablecloth at Walmart on clearance for $4. I learned from my bench redo that tableclothes hold a lot of potential for crafting. I figure the Picnic Plaid one would be big enough to make two wreaths. I was right...and then some.

I made two wreaths, two pillows with ties to keep them in place,

a new garden flag,
a Fun in the Sun sign {a summer version of this}, and I even had enough left over to make four placemats for the table on our back patio {which we still haven't used because it has been raining every afternoon}.

All of that from a $4 tablecloth!
Have you ever made anything fun out of a tablecloth?!?

Chocolate Covered Surprise

These look like regular Chocolate Chip Cookies.

But when you bite into them, you get a little surprise.

Instead of being just plain Chocolate Chip Cookies, they have these inside!

I used my regular Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, but in place of the chips, I added in chocolate covered raisins instead!

Sometimes change is good!

Chocolate Covered Raisin Cookies
1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups chocolate covered raisins

Cream together sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually add in dry ingredients. Mix in the chocolate covered raisins. Bate at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes.

Wordless Wednesday: Playing in the Rain

Pillow and Art Wall Questions.

After I posted pictures of my Entertainment Center turned Bench , I had a ton of people email and comment asking about my pillows.

I picked up my pillows at TJ Maxx, and I found similar ones for my couch at Marshalls. I also just recently discovered that another blogger actually bought the exact same fabric online to make some very pretty curtains.

Judith at Creating Balance did a whole post on finding the fabric {Wilmington-Covington-Multi}and where she bought it.

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I also had a few people ask about the Kid's Art Wall Clothes Line that I have hanging in my hallway for the boys' art.

Jason actually did all the work associated with hanging the clothes line, but I don't mind sharing what he did. Here is a close up of the end of the clothes line.

I think this is called an eye bolt. We decided how big we wanted the clothes line to be, and Jason screwed in two eye bolts on either end. Then he cut some picture hanging wire to the length that we wanted and twisted each end of the wire onto the eye bolts. Super easy to do...at least it looked easy while I was watching him do it!

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P.S. Those were blueberries all over my kitchen floor in the picture from yesterdays post. Fresh blueberries from my parents' yard that Henry and my mom picked. I was just a little sad to have to throw them away.

Miscellany Monday Morning Blues

I made a huge mess on the floor in my kitchen while trying to make myself a snack last week. I ended up throwing away all of the spilled food because Jason had just sprayed for ants {who by the way are completely evil and will take over your house if you leave it unattended for a week}!

Can you tell what I spilled?!?

I'm taking Eli back to the ENT today for a check-up on his ears. I'm hoping everything is okay...he has taken more than a few accidental underwater dips in the pool this summer even though his ears aren't supposed to get wet. Henry is tagging along too for a consult on his tonsils/adenoids. That child snores like a bear...and I didn't realize how bad it was until we all slept in the same hotel room in Atlanta.

I tried on and order my bridesmaids dress for my friend's wedding in September. All I could think about the whole time was the movie 27 Dresses and how ugly and outrageous all the bridesmaid dresses were. Thankfully, the dress my friend picked out is pretty cute:)

Someone tweeted last week that their kiddos started school in 3 1/2 weeks. I thought they were crazy...then I looked at the calendar! We start back in 3 weeks and 4 days from today. It seems like the summer has just flown by...and we still have vacation coming up before school starts back!

Click on the button to check out everyone else's miscellany monday!