Around the Home: Front door sign

Wreaths seem to be the most common front door decoration. When I saw this sign (found at Target), I wanted to put it on the front door, though. Not inside the front door -- on the outside.

(Also, the tone of the colors matched the tone of the paint on the outside of the door very nicely.)

I think a sign on the front door gives guests a better idea of who lives inside. And some, like this sign, can be a positive reminder to anyone. This sign is a good reminder for me every time I leave or return!

Do you like front door signs?

Ways to save money on gifts and cards

I love gift bags. I love them so much that I started saving them way back when I was engaged to my husband. I'd get these nice gifts in gorgeous bags that were too amazing to just throw away. Then the wedding came, and the holidays we spent together, and all those gift bags piled up.

I couldn't keep all those gift bags, so I started reusing the nicest ones to put gifts in that I'd give to family and friends. The gift bags that were a bit wrinkled I'd use to give back food containers (thanks, Mom, that was tasty!), loan out CDs to friends or donate small items to Goodwill, that kind of thing.

Reusing gift bags is a great way to reduce/reuse/recycle -- and it saves money! I rarely need to buy a gift bag to give a gift. See this gift bag here? I put it together for a friend's daughter's birthday using my stash, including a super nice piece of cloth-like tissue paper I had saved.

When it comes to cards, I don't reuse them -- although I know artsy people do cut off the front of cards to create something new from them. I save money on cards by making my own. Some people are expert card makers and put their whole selves into it. Seriously, I have a friend who can spend a month creating one card! I admire those people -- I'm not one of them. I buy a package of blank cards with envelopes from a craft store (around $5-6) and some nice scrapbooking stickers. Then when I need a card, I put a few stickers on the front of a blank card, stamp a message inside, and have a unique card, fast. And cheap. Sometimes for a kid's birthday, I will let my preschooler make the birthday card.

When you consider that gift bags and cards can easily be $3-5 each, well, you can see how it adds to the overall price of a gift. I say spend your money where it counts -- on the gift!

Blog towel

Target is having a sale this week on beach towels -- and it looks like the store is really getting into social media!

Speaking of tech stuff, check out the Target app. It has the weekly flyer and allows you to create a shopping list with a drag-and-drop function. Which, as many Target lovers know, just might help you stay on track and buy only the things on your list. In theory....

Sons in Service flag

Lately, my husband has been spending his free time trolling eBay for historic American flags. And when he lifts his head up from the netbook, he likes to tell me facts about our country's history and tidbits he has learned about the past while searching for flags. I like to tease him that he's getting quirky in his old age -- but really, searching for American flags is a hobby that just might help preserve history.

Within the past week -- just in time for Memorial Day -- my husband won an eBay auction for what's called a "sons in service" flag. I had never heard of this flag before, so he had to educate me. During the first and second world wars, families would hang these small flags in a window or other place where they could be seen from the street. Each blue star on the flag indicated how many sons in the family were in service. This flag my husband bought (with nine stars) was either from a large family or possibly used by a business to show how many employees were actively deployed, as some companies did. My husband is considering getting the flag framed, which we hope will help preserve it. You can see how the flag is tattered and has permanent creases from being stored folded.

When a soldier died in service, a gold star was sewn over the blue star. I'm glad this flag has only blue stars, because I like to think all of those sons, or employees, made it home to their families.

Memorial Day is about remembering those who were given gold stars on sons in service flags -- an in life.

Patio dining

"Dining" might not be the right word here ... once my kids sit down, then get up, then halfway sit down again, then run over to look at a bird in the yard, then pick up a pool noodle, then drop a spoon on the floor, then run inside to use the potty (and forget to come back out to finish their meal).... it's kind of more like "eating and calisthenics."

Rope hammocks vs. fabric hammocks

This is our new hammock.



I picked it up at Target a couple weeks ago when there was a sale. I chose a fabric canvas hammock over a rope hammock because I figured when this one starts to go and rips, I can sew the fabric hammock back together (which you can't do with a rope hammock) and get more life out of it.

I like it, but.... It's not our old hammock.

The first Christmas my husband and I were in our home, I gave him a Pawley's Island rope hammock and a stand for it so the hammock could stay on the covered patio just outside the back door. I sewed a pillow for him that fit the width of the hammock just right and also matched our patio.

It's safe to say that over the past 14 years, my husband, our guests and I wore that hammock out. The South Florida climate didn't help. Several ropes snapped on it last month, creating a gaping hole that made the hammock unsafe.

Our new hammock is colorful and pretty (uh ... ahem ... in a masculine way, of course, dear), but it's slippery. There's no traction to it, and already both of my boys have fallen off the hammock onto the stone patio. The rope hammock had texture and would grip your butt. But in the nicest way.

My advice? If you have little people or are concerned about sliding off, get a rope hammock, which isn't slippery.

Every home should have a hammock!

Reusable coffee cups score

Finding these Copco resusable coffee cups this week was a happy accident. I went into the craft store for one little thing, and came out with these cups as well.

I was inspired by Starbucks' Earth Day offer last week to give free coffee to anyone who brought in their own mug or cup. I already knew Starbucks offered a discount on your drink when you brought in your own mug -- I have just never done it. Bringing in your own drink container prevents the waste of throwing away a paper cup.

But now that I have reusable cups that look like the paper ones that coffee shops use (complete with drink sleeve available in several colors), I'm going to remember to take my own cup in from now on (on those rare times I allow myself the treat of going to Starbucks). I'm going to use the red-sleeved one, and I got the green for my husband for a Father's Day present (shhh, I'm stashing it away!).

Have you ever used your own reusable cup at a coffee shop?

Around the Home: Bird house

This bird house is just for decoration -- it wasn't designed for birds to actually live there -- but it makes a cute addition to the yard. We also have real nesting boxes that the birds enjoy.

Anyone else have decorative bird houses or nesting boxes in the yard?

Inexpensive touches of springtime decor

I like to switch out the decorations around my house with the holidays and seasons. It's not in my genes to do this. Nope, my mother never did this -- it's something I picked up from my husband's mother, who is one of those super decorators whose home always looks like it could be a magazine ad. So because decorating isn't in my blood, I'm not as good as she is (or frankly, not as interested in that level of perfection!), but I do a bit. After the Christmas decorations are gone, I just have to put out something so the house doesn't look so blah and bare.

Anyway.

I found this spring-y sign at Target for $3.99 and had to put it inside my front door.



The kids love window decorations, which I also got at Target, for $2.99 per sheet.



The window clings double as a way to keep birds from flying into my windows and dying. Ugh.



I also have some hand-me-down decorations from -- who else? -- my husband's mother. (I have to say it like that because she's forbidden me from calling her my mother-in-law.)



I think it's also perfectly acceptable to use my kids' craft projects as home decor.



Do you decorate for spring?

Around the Home: Wild iris after the rain

It rained here two days in a row, which was great because we really needed it. In between showers, I swished across the wet grass in the back yard because I saw something white. It turned out to be a few of these irises/lilies. I have found so many different names for this flower, from wild iris to butterfly lily. I am going to call it a wild iris because it just popped up. I know I didn't plant it!

Project: Slipcover a children's couch

Want to see my kids' new couch?



Yeah, don't you love it? Bet you're wondering where you can get a couch like this.



Well, I'll tell you. You can pick it up for free at a local swap or yard sale! What a deal!

Then the fun begins.

Add something cushy for the tushies.



Some foam from the local fabric/craft store works great. Two packages, then you cut to fit.

The next part is tricky. You take some newspaper and trace the different sections of the couch: the back, the seat, the seat back, the sides, the skirt, the arms. Transfer to fun fabric. Cut and sew. Put it back on the couch. Sew some more. Put it back on the couch. Make faces. Swearing is optional. Sew some more. You get the idea.

Eventually, you get this:



The arms are challenging. I left the front open, basted around the edge, and pulled it tightly to make a gathering and close up the hole. Then I sewed on a button like my life depended on it.



Like the button? It belonged to my husband's late grandmother. I think she would like to know I used two of her buttons to make something for her great-grandchildren.

My two sons like having their own little couch, and when it gets dirty, I can take the slipcover off and wash it.



My big couches were a little jealous, but I'm sure eventually they will need to be slipcovered too.