We’ve been eating most of our meals outdoors. I decided we needed a place to store all our outdoor dishes and also give us one more surface to serve from, so I made an outdoor buffet cabinet. This was a really fun DIY. I took a couple inexpensive metal cabinets from IKEA, made a custom tiled tray top for it and ta-da, we have a new Outdoor Buffet!

You can see all the step-by-step instructions for this fun project over on ehow today. If you haven’t tried tiling before, I highly recommend it. I had so much fun making this tray top, I’m ready to tile something else, SOON!

And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made these yummy Grapefruit Jalapeno Lime Mocktail Margaritas.  It’s my new, go-to Summer drink! 

I love finding a good deal on furniture, that’s why I thrift and garage sale. But, this might be my best deal to date!  You guys, I found this chair on the side of the road.  Can’t get much better then FREE!

It definitely needed a little love, but with a fresh coat of paint and a new cushion and sheepskin back, it’s looks pretty great.  And it’s the comfiest chair – it rocks and swivels.  You can check out the full makeover and how-to over on ehow today.

Have you ever found furniture on the curb?  What’s the best thing you’ve ever picked up?

Summer and flowers are meant to go together. If you are hosting a party or just want to add a little color to your dining room table, you don’t have to pay big bucks to have a florist arrange flowers for you. You can do this!!!! With some great foliage and flowers and the right tools, you can create a gorgeous arrangement.

I teamed up with my favorite local florist, Amanda of House of Flowers, to teach me some tips and tricks for creating a beautiful summer arrangement.  We used Fiskars Micro Tip Floral Snip and Floral Pruner to make easy work of cutting through thick woody stems and flowers.  Amanda said these cut like butter!

I could watch this little GIF all day. There is something so satisfying to watch this all come together in just seconds. 

We started with a big, wide mouthed vase.  The graphic black and white (from West Elm), was a nice contrast to the wild, unruly arrangement.  Amanda started with a base of leafy stems from a mulberry bush that she foraged from her yard.  These thicker, woodier branches act as an anchor to hold all the other stems in place. Then there is no need to use a floral frog or oasis. These first branches also create the basic shape of the arrangement.

Next she added in lots of greens and whites in varying textures and sizes, many of which grow in folks yards here in California. Green viburnum, pieris japonica, white astilbe (my favorite thing about this arrangement), star of Bethlehem, and hellebores where all used. This filled in the arrangement.

Then she added in the more expensive flowers like the anemones.

And finally, to give the arrangement that wow factor, pops of hot pink ranunculus and spots of black scabiosa were added as a finishing touch.

I can’t wait to play with flowers again soon.

This post is sponsored by Fiskars, thank you for supporting the companies that help make this blog possible. 

We are smack in the middle of Grad season. I love the idea of gifting fresh flowers to graduates, it feels special.  But, it can really get pricey.  So, I’ve made some adorable mini grad bouquets with printable “congrats” paper wraps.  I spent very little on these flowers and actually most of them were from my yard.  And I’m pretty sure any grad would be happy to receive these after receiving their diploma.

You can download the free printable paper wraps in black and white. Simply cut out the two squares of paper and glue or tape them back to back.  Then tie up a mini bouquet of a few flowers and wrap them in the “congrats” paper.

I hope you had a great long weekend.  I spent mine making and working on a whole bunch of projects. I’m really excited to share a whole bunch of fun new DIYs for you. So stay tuned.