Ballard Design Quatrefoil Latern Knock-off

You are not going to believe what this Ballard Design knock-off is made out of. Choose To Thrive has totally nailed the original, expensive quatrefoil latern for a very, very inexpensive price! You gotta love projects like this that look like a million dollars, but only cost a few quarters to make!!!!

See the Ballard Design Quatrefoil Latern Knock-off.

Summer Kid Activities - Sand Dough, Puffy Paint & Chalk Spray

Hi y'all! I am busy planning my two oldest kids' birthday party. So far, 30 kids have RSVP'd! It's going to be a BIG party!

Since I have "summer kids birthday parties" on my mind this week, I've been looking for fun kid ideas. Here are a couple I've found that I'm not using for their party, but will definitely be doing with my kids!

I love this idea of sand dough found on Hope Studios (originally published by Family Fun Magazine.) She made a mixture made mostly of sand that can be sculpted and will turn hard.



Sand castles and other creations can be made into kids' works of art to display using this sand dough recipe!





Another activity I know my kids will love is getting dirty using puffy paint! Not only is like finger paint, but it is 3-D! Totally cool! Get the puffy paint recipe from Life In The Dub Lane.

Kids love sidewalk chalk. Moms like me don't love how it gets all over their clothes, hands and face! This chalk spray from Infarrantly Creative sounds like a great compromise! I think my kids might actually like chalk spray more since it comes from a spray bottle!!! They love to squirt things.

Spruce Up Your Outdoor Spaces

Not JUST a Housewife recently finished hosting The Outdoor Spaces Event wherein she showed quite a few projects to spruce up an outdoor space. She did these in her backyard and they are ALL so cute! You need to see all these ideas!!!! The last link is an Outdoor Space Link party! There are some AMAZING ideas there too! Have fun looking through all these!

Guest Blogger - Living A Radical Life - Garden Cloche

Hello! I'm Amy from

Living A Radical Life!

I am a wife of 13 years and I am the mother of two, Rori age 6 and Trent age 4.
In January, we began the amazing journey of adoption!

Our third child, a baby girl, from Ethiopia.

About a year ago, I entered the world of blogging, as a follower,
and Someday Crafts was my first stop!

Now a year later, here I am with my own blog, guest blogging for Michelle!
I am so excited to be here today!

Today, I am going to share with you

How to create a Garden Cloche

YOU WILL NEED:

Folding Fence (Hardware store)
Needle nose pliers (I had mine on hand)
Wire Cutters (borrowed from the hubby)
Heavy gage wire (Hardware store)
Crystals (I picked mine up at Walmart in the jewelry making section)

FYI - There is enough fencing to make TWO cloche's.

The first step is to remove the section of fencing we need for this project.

We only need three sides,
so using some needle nose pliers,
pry apart the fencing.

Now you should have three sections of fencing.

Simply reattach the wire to the fence to create a triangle.

It should look like this.

Be sure to use your pliers to pinch the wire together
so the fencing doesn't come apart.

The next step requires you putting a little muscle into it.
To get your triangle shaped into a circle.

I used my feet to push and pull and my arms to smoosh it into shape.

It should look about like this when you are done.

Next I bent the top pieces into the middle
and squeezed the wire to a bit of a point.

Using some heavy gage wire, which you can find at your local hardware store,
I wrapped the wire around the three points to hold them together.

The needle nose pliers come in handy for this too,
they work great for bending and twisting the wire into place.

Using the heavy gage wire.
Cut sections of the wire and attach to the top of the cloche,
filling in the open spaces.

This creates more of a finished look.

Now for the fun part

Making your CLOCHE pretty!

Using the heavy gage wire and your needle nose pliers,
twist the end of a 4-5" piece of wire.

Slide a crystal onto the wire and attach to the top of the cloche.

This creates the finial.

Again, using your heavy gage wire, cut a section of wire,
make it long enough to secure at the top and bottom of the side of the cloche.

Twist the wire, above and below the crystal, so the crystal stays in place.

Now secure the section of wire to the side of your cloche.
I added 6, wire and crystal sections, to the side of my cloche.

The prongs help hold your cloche in place.

Now, place it in your flower pot or in the ground, over a plant.

I made two!

They are a lovely addition to our patio!

I love making everyday things more fancy!


Be sure to check out

Living A Radical Life

for more fun ideas for you and your home!

A few of my most Popular Posts

THANKS, AMY!!!! That garden cloche is radical. I've never seen one before, but it definitely makes a flower planter more beautiful!!! Love it!

Head over to Living A Radical Life to see more exciting and gorgeous ideas!!!!

Turn a Deck into A Pergola and Planter Box

I didn't get around to doing a party highlight post yesterday. Too much to do with the baby and family!

However, I wanted to show off this idea. Blue Babes Create had an old deck that was falling apart. She took the wood from the deck and created a pergola and some garden boxes. I love this idea! I wish I had an old deck to do this to. Even if you don't have an old deck, putting an a pergola is a great idea for a backyard.

See the deck converted into a pergola and garden boxes.

DIY Driftwood Shelf

Projects done using driftwood are gorgeous (in my opinion.) This driftwood shelf is rocking my world today! I absolutely love it! I also love the master bedroom in which it was placed at Growing Up Gardner. My husband will love that next time we go to a lake, I will bring home a pile of driftwood:)

See the driftwood shelving.

Pallet Garden

Life On The Balcony has come up with another stellar idea for pallets. She made a pallet into a mini garden and put it on her balcony! Great idea for aparment and condo dwellers! So cool. I wonder if these could work for an herb garden? At any rate, check this one out!!!

See the pallet garden.

(Found via Centsational Girl.)

AND, don't forget to link up your pillow/pillowcases ideas over at Ladybird Ln. for this months Crafting for a Cause. There are some great prizes and not very many entries yet!!!!

DIY Windowbox and Installation

Just So Lovely has a great tutorial on how to build your own window boxes and how to install them! Windows boxes bring a lot of curb appeal to a home! I love seeing window boxes full of lush greenery or brightly colored flowers.

See the DIY Window box tutorial!

AND, don't forget to link up your pillow/pillowcases ideas over at Ladybird Ln. for this months Crafting for a Cause. There are some great prizes and not very many entries yet!!!!

DIY Above Ground Planters on Wheels

Two Friends. Two Cities. built these above the ground planter/garden boxes on wheels. They can move them around in different shapes to create different looks or move them to new locations quite easily - even when they are full of dirt! What an awesome idea.

See the DIY above ground planters on caster wheels.

PVC Pipe Camp Chairs

Simple Simon & Company has an idea that will save us a lot of money and will get A LOT of use! They created these awesome summer/camp chairs from PVC pipe! It looks so simple and are compact when folded! With so many kids coming over my house to play outside, I will have to make a half dozen of these!

See the PVC pipe summer/camp chairs.

Party Highlights!

Here are some unique and interesting ideas from the Whatever Goes Wednesday Party today!

Turn roman shades into a very interesting looking vase! The texture and lines of it are beautiful. Learn how at Bon Temps Beignet.

This gardening idea from The Dragon's Fairytail is an awesome one! She planted lettuce in a rain gutter. I think this would work for herbs too! It is even attached to her house so it looks like a flower planter. So cool!

I wish there was a lot of driftwood nearby me because I would make a driftwood planter! Learn how to make this at Craftberry Bush!

How cute are these decorative spools made from branches? Totally cute! See these at Homework: Be Inspired.

This idea for sidewalk paint is going in my summer "TO DO" file box! My kids will love this stuff and paint the whole sidewalk! Thanks Stampin' and Craftin'.

If you are LDS, you know the scripture mastery verses. Scripture Mastery are very important verses to which Christians should have quick reference. Download the stickers for each set of scripture (Old Testament, New Testament, BOM and D&C) at Ten Cow Chick!

I love chairs that have been turned into planters - like this at Taking Time To Smell The Flowers. So pretty (and that red just "pops.")

See more links from the Whatever Goes Wednesday party.

Driftwood Lamp

Every once in a while, I find ideas that I love but will probably never do for one reason or another. I call it eye candy!

I absolutely think this lamp made from driftwood is gorgeous! What a spectacular piece Simple Life has made! Definite eye candy!

See the driftwood lamp!

Easy Tiered Planter Garden

Make an EASY tiered planter garden perfect for herbs or flowers or something else. Whenever I've tried planting herbs in my regular garden, they get stomped on or eaten by the deer. This might be the solution to that problem. White Water Crafting shows you how!

See the tiered planter garden.

Stylish Fenced Garden

I grew up having a very LARGE garden. Where we live, there are deer that come and eat our plants:( I'm loving this little garden/sitting area at Tidbits From The Tremaynes. They dug out some grass and now have a beautiful fenced area for some veggies and herbs and whatever else they want. Plus, there is some built in weed control with the bark! The deer and neighborhoods kids can't trample all over it.

See the stylish fenced garden.

Please go vote for me (#111) at Vintage Revivals for the epic room makeover. I need to win it so my baby's room will be decorated before he arrives!!!! You have until midnight to vote!

Painted Carriage Garage Doors!

Forever Decorating wanted the look of carriage garage doors without paying the BIG bucks. (Have checked out the price of those fancy doors? Yikes.) SO she painted her garage doors! How genius is that? VERY!!!!! I can't tell that those doors are not the real thing!

See the painted carriage garage doors.