Bye Bye Birdy Coasters

These coasters were for the birds.

I've had them for close to 20 years, a gift from a cousin. There was nothing wrong with them, and we used them in our cedar porch for most of their almost 20 years, it's just that birds on coasters is not really my deal. So I retired them to a bin of stuff to paint someday.

Some day apparently arrived last week along with a tube of Fusion Mineral Paint in Champlain.

Pine Box Makeover, A Sweet Recipe Holder

Many of my projects are special.

At least to me anyway. 

Skiing Into Christmas

I don't have to type it but I will, 2020 can move on out after Christmas, but wait... I can't keep the new rules straight... is Christmas cancelled? 

It doesn't really matter the "official" rule on this, Christmas is not cancelled in my house or heart, and not at my craft table either.

As if everyone's lives weren't a mess in at least one aspect, be it maneuvering through child care and home schooling, working from home, or not working, or just trying to stay healthy among a million other little worries, inside my walls is an actual mess. 

We started a remodel in February with removing walls, and all the mess that goes with it, and here we are 9 months later and I haven't birthed a new kitchen yet. And you know what? While that mess has gotten old along with me, there are more important things, because in the big picture of where the world is at I don't really care about my kitchen. Well I guess that's a lie - I do care because I have to live among the disarray - but not like it matters much to me since the important things haven't stopped. I'm still able to put meals out, stand around the counter, albeit plywood ones, and I've got a broom and know how to use it to keep remodel rubble at bay.

And skis. I've got skis.

TV Trays To Patio Tables

Last week Daughter #1 sent me a text asking if I wanted some old TV trays, and I don't think she thought I would say yes. She was cleaning out a closet and if she didn't have a use for them why would I?

But her text was timely, and I did have a use for them.

When I was a kid tv trays were made of metal, and in my mind I can still hear my mom's set clanking as they would hit each other on the stand. These days the trays are wood and I don't think they are called trays, the youngsters call them tables, but to me they will always be tv trays.

So a few days after the original text the six tv trays and their stands landed on my front porch.  I knew what I would use them for, and I knew I would paint them but I did have to think on how I wanted them to look.

Dog Feeder Project And Elephant In The Room

Sooooo.....

About that elephant in the room.

It's in my room, your room, big brothers room, all the way to the room of a remote isolated indigenous tribe in the rain forest, so I thought I'd just address that prior to sharing a project.

Bliss Ranch has very loyal, engaged, and sweet readers, and I thank you all.  And based on the amount of email I get, (which I finally checked) when you don't hear from me for an extended time via blog posts or on social media, you worry and ask if I'm alright.  I am.  But are you?

Those instant messages and emails have prompted me to acknowlege the elephant in the room; that ever big, ever present, sort of hazy gray cloud hanging over us all in everything we do right now.

Advent Calendar & Old Sign Stencil Giveaway

WINNER WINNER AND WINNER.....

The generous sponsor of the giveaway, Old Sign Stencils, decided to pick three names, to receive a stencil of their choice. This giveaway is now over. 

Winners are: Sandy at Primitive Skate, Marie at Interior Frugalista, and Linda at Itsy Bitsy Pieces. You'll be contacted shortly to claim your wins!

Many thanks to everyone who entered and visited these wonderful projects!



Have you ever tried your hand at stenciling?  Well don't think you can't do it, you can, and you can make some fun stuff by mixing the stencils up.

And what better way to give you the confidence to try, than to band together with other bloggers who have been around the stencil block a time or two, and who will inspire you with the possibilities.

AND at the end you have a chance to win an Old Sign Stencil of your choice!

Homemade Stenciled Woodsy Gifts

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  The season of bloggers gathering together to showcase talents, twenty to be exact, on this tour of Christmas ideas.

There'll be table-scapes for hosting, porches and decks for boasting, with two gift wrap ideas to be had.

Christmas mantels are glowing, and I will be showing three homemade woodsy gifts out in the snow.

All the links at the bottom, so you can click on 'em, more ideas than your brain can now stow.  It's the most wonderful time of the year.......

It's ok if you're rolling your eyes at my song parody, I never claimed to be a lyricist, only that there would be occasional silliness.

Little Shed Makeover

We've got this little shed in our backyard and I'm going to take you on a 4-season tour of it, with a painted update and a sign.

The shed has lived 26 years in the same place and was moved to that spot from a different house, putting the actual age of the build at about 31.

The wood was hammered together back when men wore short shorts like Richard Simmons, which was the style while they were getting physical and listening to their body talk.

I didn't invent the length of the shorts or that song, but both were popular in the 80's when the little shed was born.  I'm not going to include the picture of my husband wearing that style, his children have already ridiculed him enough.

Thankfully mens shorts have since gotten a makeover, and it's time the little shed did too.

Behold the shed in the glory of early Spring. We took out a large shrub to the left and planted some hostas and grass and that's about the time I got the ambition to finally paint it.

Working right up close to it made me realize how really crappy it actually looked.

Before the Summer miracle that is paint

Step Stool Makeover, October Thrifty Style Team

In September's edition of the Thrifty Style Team,  I gave a vintage enamel bucket a makeover and explained how a local auction house groups things together so if you win the bid you come home with other treasures you may or may not want.

Same scenario for Octobers step stool - it was grouped in the same winning bid as the enamel bucket and sat in the garage til I took a paint brush to it.  A thrifty update to a thrifty castoff.

And speaking of thrifty, this month there are 16 Thrifty Style Team projects to check out, those links come at the end after I'm done blabbing.

Fusion Mineral Paint Front Porch Update

Summer had seemed to be taking it's dear sweet time arriving in my neck of the woods, but I really didn't mind days with temperatures in the 70's.  Considering we received snow in April, those mild temps felt more like the spring we were cheated out of.

The cooler temps also meant that catching up on a few things on the to-do list would be more enjoyable not to be working in the blazing heat.

Now at the end of June our heat has arrived, and I'm glad I got the front door painted before it did.



One chilly day I looked at our brown front door and decided I either had to give it a good scrubbing to remove dirt, webs and bugs, or give it a good scrubbing to remove dirt, webs and bugs then paint it.

I opted for new paint as the end result of the scrubbing.

Painted Stenciled Galvanized Buckets

It's that time of year when I purchase lush, thriving, spring flowers and plants, only to end up in a couple of months questioning my green thumb.

Sure some years I am able to keep flowers alive and looking good, but more times than not it isn't the case.  I have no rhyme or reason to how I betray plants after the promise of a healthy life, it's sort of hit or miss on the type and location of the ones that will pull through.

Projects Of Christmas Past, Present and Future

Jingle bell time is a swell time when you're in good company.

And I'm in good company.  Five bloggers and a few ghosts.

Are you familiar with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol?

It involves that Ebenezer Scrooge guy who is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who knock him down from his crotchety demeanor.

But because I'm fresh out of real Christmas ghosts and I'm not as crotchety as Scrooge, you're about to be visited by the ghosts of projects past, present and future, or more accurately;

A project with old wood....
A sign with lettering....
And a quick and easy project you can do in the future.

The future is any minute from now right?

Thrifty Style Team June Stool Makeover

Thrifty Style.  What exactly is that?

It might be something different to you than it is to me.

Is it simply shopping at thrift stores and garage sales, or is it taking something you find at those places and remaking the item into something better or something that works more for your own taste and style?

Or is it updating an item you already own to keep you out of thrift stores and away from garage sales?

Is it all of those things and then some?

Probably.

Dining Chairs With Old Sign Stencils

Somewhere between the stomach flu and my current head cold, I decided to get rid of a couple 20 something year old chairs.

And then I decided to keep them.