What Can You do With Scrabble Pieces–Gift Ideas. Creative Juices Award

Like always, people amaze me. The ideas that come from such creative minds is inspirational! 

This Creative Juices Award is about SCRABBLE pieces and gift ideas!

Tonya’s blog Trey and Lucy gave an amazing and quite easy step by step tutorial on how to make these scrabble piece pendant necklaces.  Really, you just glue on some scrapbook paper and use diamond glaze on top to seal it.  She has all the links where to purchase the stuff to make it yourself.

I think it’s a GREAT gift idea and would be a great craft to do with a bunch of woman.

What about making a Scrabble Coaster??  This could be a good gift even for the GUY in the family.  My father in law LOVES the game of scrabble.  The link will take you to the makers Etsy shop, but with a little craft dissecting, I am sure these would be easy for you to make. (or just buy them pre made!)

Lastly, my friend Heather from Mom4Life made the cutest scrabble art.  She picked up an old game cheap at a garage sale or thrift store and had fun arranging words that described her family, then she glued it down and framed it in a frame used for 12x12 scrapbook layouts!  Easy – huh!

What do you think?  If you have more scrabble craft ideas leave us a link in the comments!  Gift giving season is just around the corner so the more ideas we have the merrier!

Using Planters for Pumpkin Holders - Front Porch Fall Makeover

I know I know, I'm at it again.  Thrift store shopping, spray painting and adding MORE pumpkins. 

Today's "special" were these 2 planters that I got for $3.75 each.  They still had the $24.99 price tag clearly applied to the bottom.  (I LOVE thrift stores!)

 


Of course, my initial thought was to paint them a good dark bronze color, like I ALWAYS do.  But I got to thinking about all of YOU my readers who are probably sick of seeing everything I take home from the thrift store painted the same ol brown color so I decided to SURPRISE you and do a YELLOW.  Yes, this project was done specifically for all my readers.  Dare I say you guys make me a "better" person - hee,hee.  Oh no, I can't say that because I have burnt WAY too many dinners because of you :-)

Step One:
Wipe off dust

Step Two:
Spray paint!

Step Three:
Mix a brown paint with glaze - my portion was around 1 part paint to 3 parts glaze.  Use a brush to apply and a paper towel to wipe off.

Step Four:
ENJOY your handiwork!

Total cost: $11.89 for TWO!
$7.50 for planters
$ 4.39 for yellow paint (I had brown glaze from lots of other projects)

Now was the fun part, deciding exactly where to put these two lovely ladies......

In the back, right next to the door???

Or on the front of the porch, so they can be seen better from the road???

What do you think?

Isn't he cute??  I'm sure my MIL and mom are thinking "Hey, why is the dog in the photos, lets see our grand kids!"  Oh well, he was the only one handy.

 Was yellow a good call?  I was thinking since spray painting is SOOO easy maybe I could even change the color per season?

Of course, if you would like to see some of my favorite spray paint makeovers with oil rubbed bronze come on over and check them out!

Sponsor Love - Check them out!

Mary's Moxee

Baby Snickerdoodle

T. Michael Studio

Top 5 Healthy Pumpkin Recipes - jump into FALL

Alright - let's jump on the  holiday pumpkin recipe bandwagon!!!

(The Healthy Way)

Most of these recipes are set up to be  gluten free and sugar free.  Although, they also work with regular flour and sugar too.

First up my favorite - CROCKPOT Pumpkin Custard

For those that love their crock pot because they seem to lose time instead of gain time during the holidays - this post is for you ;-)  This is easy, moist and a delicious treat.  Don't forget to let this sit in the refrigerator for a while before serving.

Second - Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting.

OK, maybe this is actually my favorite.  These are dense and full of the best pumpkin flavor mixed with a creamy topping.  One thing that is so great about these is you only use 2TBSP of coconut oil for the entire recipe!  It's hard to find a delicious recipe that isn't just loaded with butter or the like.  You will LOVE this, I promise.





Third - Crockpot Apple or Pear Butter.

This has to be the easiest and best tasting apple butter recipe around!  In my last house we had a pear tree and I made this by the gallon!  I can't wait to have a few fruit trees planted here.  Maybe next year?  I have never tried this with pumpkin but since I'm out a pear tree, this might just be my lucky year to try it!!! 

Fourth - Pumpkin Tart with Greek Yogurt Topping

I'm a huge fan of using Apple Juice to replace sugar in my pumpkin deserts or apple pie.  If you have never tired it, give it a shot!

Fifth - MOIST Banana PUMPKIN Bread

Oh boy, your in for a treat with this one.  Super moist and delicious.  (Dairy and Refined Sugar Free)

I have to tell you guys, I found a new favorite healthy cooking blog.  It's A- MA-ZING.  Almost too amazing and I want to make every single one of her recipes.  I'm not possitive this is a good thing.  (ya, I'm trying to cut back on my calories)

Anyway, I HAD to share with you guys - here are a few of KATIE'S covered in chocolate recipes:

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Brownie (RAVE reviews)
Please pin from her site if you want the recipe for this - my pin button automatically goes on every image!



No Bake Pumpkin Cookie



That wraps it up!!! 

You can get ALL these healthy ingredience to make the above recipes at iherb

Use my affiliate code ESE794 for $5.00 off your first order AND free shipping on $20.00 or more.

Who out there is ready for EGGNOG???  OK, I'll wait a while on my Christmas recipe line up! ;-)

Enjoy the Upcoming Holidays my Friends!!!  ~ Selina

Anyone Love Adorable Crochet Items? Come Check Out These New Sponsors!

I would love to introduce to you two new Advertisers/Sponsors of the blog!
(scroll to the end to become part of this fun for 1/2 price!)

We all love seeing the amazing talent of Etsy (and other!) shop owners and I love being able to be a standing board to which I can drawn lots more attention to their shops!  Of course, I always see if they would like to offer my readers a special little promo code......I know you guys love a deal ;-)

My first vendor is Mary's Moxee.  

Mary is a SAHM (stay at home mom) with 4 little munchkins and one on the way.   She has such a passion for making the cutest hats and wraps which some photographers buy by in bulk for photography props because they are so adorable!  I have bought a few for my daughter and can't tell you how many compliments I get when she wears them.  You have to go check them out.....there were so many more photos I wanted to add!

Mary is very excited to be working with Creative Juices Decor and has offered all my readers FREE SHIPPING on any purchase. YEY! (US and Canada)  The code to use upon checkout is:

CJDfreeship (good till November 15th)

My next sponsor is Heather from Baby Snickerdoodle. 

She and her husband (along with 4 kids) have a self - sufficient farm and ranch.  She is also a SAHM and her passion is sewing anything with wool.  Wool covers, nursing pads, skirties, longies, shorties and soakers are just a few of the fun things she makes!

She is offering all my readers as 10% off coupon!

Use code CJD2012 upon checkout. (good till November 15th)

If you are an Etsy shop owner or have a fun website that has thought about advertising on a blog I would love to have you! 

I am offering a HALF PRICE special for those of you who have been debating if you should advertise on a blog.  It will run till Nov 15th for half off all my regular advertising prices. (including a multiple month package) Use code First Special when you sign up.

Feel free to check out my statistics on my advertiser page.

  We all LOVE looking at pretty things so give us an opportunity to see your stuff especially since the holiday season is right around the corner!  Let me show off your talent :-)

  

Reader Submission on DIY Tuscan Door- All About Beautiful Doors!

Look Familiar?

I was so excited when Kelley, one of my readers sent me this photo.  They had emailed me earlier asking where I bought all the iron décor for my door and they used those sources to save tons of money (like I did) on their front door! 

Here is mine….

If anyone new would like to read the full tutorial on how to make your own Tuscan front door just click the link and it will tell you where I bought my iron.

AND since we’re on the topics of fun doors……..enjoy some of these fabulous photos!

CharlotteRomace

Classic and Elegant – I LOVE the symmetrical layout and that door is so unique.

http://charlotteromance.tumblr.com

The mix of the stone and glass is spectacular. 

Tiny White Daisies

This door is just so sweet and inviting.  I love the robins egg blue against the red bricks and greenery. 

There you have it!  I just love receiving emails of projects people have done inspired by a post of mine.  If you have any, please send them my way.  

Till next time

How to Install Your Own Italian Courtyard Fountain

As I was writing my previous post about my new fountain, I realized I’d have to do a Fountain Post Part 2 and put all the “technical how to” on this post. Clogging up all those pretty photos with fountain parts just was NOT cutting it for me!

Here is my Disappearing Water Feature.  (The technical definition!)

First off, you will need to have an electrical outlet for your fountain.  (funny, a fountain has nothing to do with having a faucet near by!) The workers who did our back patio put a white pvc pipe under the pavers so that a cord could be pushed through there and arrive at our outlet without the cord having to be draped across the patio!  If you had your fountain by the side of your home, reaching the outlet inconspicuously may not be a big deal.

Next I needed to buy a basin that could hold the water which the pump would go in.  The largest circle size I found was 48” round.  The bottom of my fountain was 32”.   Looking back, I wish I found one just a little bigger.  The “splash” zone on my fountain goes a good 12” outside of the fountain area.  My fountain is a little over 3’ tall though, so if you had a shorter fountain, this may not be an issue for you.

See how far the water splashes AROUND the rock area?  Oh well, on a hot day it will feel good

I had NO idea that those babies are around 400.00!  The thing I DID like about this basin is it already had a top on it that could hold the weight of a very heavy fountain. 



I also had to buy a pump to push the water from the basin to the top of my fountain.  We did 1900 GPH. 




Here is a great photo on the breakdown of how a fountain works. Once I saw this diagram, I really understood what was going on.

Photo source Pondliner.com

We did buy the tubing off Amazon for the water pump but the gal (not me) who put it together (I know HORRIBLE DIYer here)  said she ended up using her own stuff to attach it and only used one part of the kit we bought.  (She was the gal who was doing all our sprinkler system)



We have a drip line (attached to the sprinkler system)  inside our fountain so it keeps the water inside from going dry (which would ruin our pump).  You can also do this manually, you would just need to check the levels and apply a hose to your basin whenever it got low.  Some people will have an automatic water valve attached to their fountain basin.  That is the BEST way to go, but for some reason, we ended up just with a drip line. 

To turn your fountain on, it just needs to be plugged in, or if you can plan in advanced like we were able to, you can just put your fountain power on a switch inside your house! 

There you  have it!  All the fun technical stuff.  Next time, I can do it myself. 

Did you learn anything you didn't already know about installing a fountain?  If anyone would like to tell about their fountain experiences please leave us a comment!

Please see my disclosure policy if you have any questions regarding links.

My Newest Addition–A Working Italian Fountain!

I was so excited when I found this fountain on Craigslist for only 50 buckaroonies.  Little did I know, it would cost a LOT more to get that thing up and running.  *sigh*

I’m almost too embarrassed to tell you guys how much this frugal gal spent on making it WORK, but…….. I may as well tell you so that when you are jumping up and down for finding “the steal of your life”, unless you plan to use it as a BIRDBATH, you might think twice before buying it!

Hey, using it as a birdbath might be just the thing! 

(Update, this post got too long so the technical information about this fountain is next, part 2)  STAY TUNED!

So now this post will just be some fun photos…….

One thing that I LOVE about my CL fountain find is that it was old so all the rich patina was already there…….just check out that moss and grime – ha, love it!

Having a fountain is also a fun way to attract birds to your yard. 

My neighbors (aka my in-laws)  had the same people who installed our fountain make theirs.  As long as hearing running water doesn’t make you have to go to the bathroom, it’s such a relaxing sound. 

What do you think??

Now I just need to set up the back patio,add flowers and fast forward 10 years to where they are all big and beautiful.  (All the while, I need to NOT age MYSELF)  hee,hee.