Host: Fall Pinterest Party

The latest phenomena that I was exposed to was a Pinterest party. With pitch-in style dining provided by all guests, it was an easy edible win for those who came hungry. From pumpkin dip, Brie and apple crescent rolls, ham and cheese hawaiian sliders with poppyseed dressing as well as cheesy, tomato artichoke wontons to chocolate chip cookies, chocolate eclair and warm, spiked apple cider. The fun didn't stop there – all guests brought pumpkins for decorating. Paint and gem stickers littered the table where the food stood only moments before. With help from Pinterest (of course), pretty, scary and detailed pumpkins took shape. 

My contributions included the chocolate eclair and the spiced/spiked cider. To make this delectable drink, follow these instructions:

1. Add 3 cups cider for every 1 cup of carmel apple vodka (Smirnoff worked well and ran about $10) into a large pot (I added 9 cups cider/3 cups vodka for this recipe). 
2. Heat on the stove until it becomes warm. Refrain from boiling as the vodka will begin to evaporate.
3. Once warm, pour into pitcher (over 1 sliced apple) and serve with brown sugar rimmed glasses!

To rim the glasses we rubbed sliced apples along the edge. This helps the sugar stick (especially against plastic) better than water.

Viola! Spiced/spiked cider and the brown sugar rimmed glasses. Be sure to slice apples to float on top of your cider for flavor and visual appeal. Don't forget to show off your libation in a glass pitcher!

Here's the delectable spread in all of it's homemade Pinterest glory.

Furthermore, I doubt the pumpkins need explaining. Here is the end product.

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock. Do come back :)

Cara

DIY Edition: Keepsake Ornament

For us, Christmas is our favorite holiday. I knew when we were tying the knot that we would want a little something to drag out every Christmas to remember how thankful we are for one another - even when Christmas has fewer gifts, more traveling or not such blissful circumstances.

I made this ornament with scraps from my wedding dress (after it was altered) and left over materials from our wedding invitations. On our wedding day, we put grass seed from our fist go at helping our lawn to flourish and birdseed from the bag that was thrown on our wedding day. The grass seed will help us remember that all large things begin as something small and take a lot of work. The birdseed will remind us how we felt after our walk down the aisle as husband and wife.

I even made a stand to hold it during pouring out of felt covered styrofoam that I hollowed out to act as a nest. It worked great and looks nice as display if I decide not to hang it on the tree.

If you're looking for an awesome wedding keepsake, this is easy, cheap and unique! If you're looking to give something like this as a gift, here's a little peek at an awesome gift from my aunt. She cut up our wedding invitation, line by line and put it into an ornament just as awesome!

Furthermore, if you find yourself with a whole sheet of extra stickers that you bough just for the numbers, here's a little something that I chose to do with my wrapping to help finish off the rest!

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and looking around; do come back!

Cara

DIY Edition: Paper Wreath

We are less than two months away from our wedding and I still cannot stop crafting. This little beauty of a craft, a paper wreath, caught my eye on Pinterest some time ago. Here's what materials you'll need:

• Ruler, scissors, pencil for marking

• Scrap paper that can be cut into 4"x4" squares and 2"x2" squares.

• Glue gun with extra sticks (I used 3-4 sticks)

• Scrap cardboard (be sure it's sturdy!)

• Ribbon to hot glue to the back for hanging

To secure the petals to the cardboard simply space them apart, add a little glue to the cardboard and press the petal on. As you work farther into your wreath you'll need to glue the paper rather then the cardboard and press it in to the small remaining space.

• Use scrap paper and scrap cardboard

• I splurged and bought a $2  pack of brown paper from the printer paper aisle to add some dimension.

Here's how it's done:
Begin by cutting a circle from cardboard that measures 9 inches in diameter. Mark the cardboard two inches in to serve as your guide for placement.

Cut paper squares for your outer layers (I did three full layers in cream and two in brown) measuring 4"x4".

Cut more paper squares for your inner layers (I did two full layers in cream and one in brown) measuring 2"x2".

To make the petals, hold the piece of paper as a diamond. Grab the left and right corners and pull them in toward one another. Pinch the paper with your fingers and line the outer facing edge with hot glue to seal. Press and hold for 3-5 seconds.

In terms of spacing, I tried to put the newest layer of petals between two petals in the previous row. That way it filled the empty space.

Doing this on the cheap? I only spent ~$2.50.

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and looking around; do come back!
Cara

DIY Edition: Shedding

When we bought our house last fall we stumbled into a house that I'll refer to as "one in a million" even though there are a few others in our 1970's neighborhood that look quite similar. The gentleman who renovated our home knew the meaning of quality and did a spectacular job on the inside. The outside however was certainly in need of some work and after a full winter of itching to get our hands in our backyard, we were chomping at the bit to keep from lacing it with explosives and starting over.

My better half will tell you that I have a habit of exaggerating. So, tell me, when I say this shed was on the brink of spontaneously combusting, can you really disagree?

78 hours of hard work (divvied up among family and friends) produced this beautiful replacement:

So how did we do it?

• Stayed focused. There are 100 other projects we want to get to, but spreading our money out among them would have slowed our shed project down. STAY FOCUSED and handle one task at a time. It's much more gratifying. Since this, we've made a 'Honey-Do' list to support our future focus.

• Admitted we were inexperienced. Our fathers and brothers knew more than us when it came to cutting, measuring, leveraging, building and general carpentry and electrical work. We let them share honest advice so that we could make decisions with the future in mind. 

• Got educated on exterior paint. Sure, we've painted a billion things, but paint can be tricky. We spent an hour at the Home Depot learning from the paint specialist and getting educated on the tools we needed, the paint that best served our project and technique. After it was all said and done the paint tech even gave us a sweet deal just for being so patient, kind and open to learning. We ended up with Valspar Reserve Exterior paint that was a bit more high end, but only took one coat to cover. According to the paint specialist, that's a rare thing to find!

• Collected coupons. One of our family members is a war vet and gets the military discount at Lowes. They came with us to buy our lumber and we got a really really good deal on it. Additionally we saved up some gift cards and coupons before making our planned purchase. That planning alone saved us $300 the day we picked up the lumber. Our grand total for the shed remodel landed somewhere between $500-$600 after we got the locks, electrical modifications, paint, hinges, lumber, caulking and roller brushes. Not bad for a shed that would have cost over $2,000 to replace brand new!

Have you done something similar to this before? What were some of your challenges/successes? 

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and looking around; do come back!

Cara

Perfect Scents

Since I was a little girl I have always taken pride in scent that my mother presented in our home. When I started dating my fiancé, he would constantly comment that my parent's house smelled like Christmas. I knew that once I left apartment life (where some scents are beyond your control) that my home would need to take on a smell all of it's own.

Here are a few of my favorite scent tips to keep your spaces fresh and welcoming!

I purchase drawer and closet sachets (fresh scents) from BedBath&Beyond, Meijer or Target. Shoving them in drawers, sticking them in-between towels and even placing them in the car (good idea, Ryanne) are surefire ways to keep your closed spaces smelling top notch. You can buy them in packs of three or individually. I've found them sold separately on clearance from time to time, but I can usually commit to one scent long enough to buy a package. These little guys last 6 months to a year and I try to keep them from getting on the bottom of a stack of clothes or towels so they can do their job.

Scentsy warmer's may have been a hype for awhile and some may consider them overrated. I don't care if you're using something similar, but I think we all know what product I'm generally referring to here. This warmer has served as one of my favorite methods. Instead of whipping up fresh cookies every time I have guests, I just flip the switch and let the house fill with a warm, luring aroma. I don't purchase the Scentsy refillable wax as I can pick it up from the grocery for much cheaper. When the wax has lost it's scent I use it for my next smelly trick, homemade candles.

Homemade candles are awesome because they're made from recycled wax from the wax warmer. I've alluded to this trick before in DIY Edition: [Jars]. Once the wax burns up from the candle I simply clean the glass and start over!

On my 18th birthday I asked my parents for a cedar chest. They took my request and visited a local Amish woodworker to see what he could put together. This little gem holds nearly every blanket in my possession. After sitting in chest they emerge smelling like a crisp fall day. Hands down, this is my favorite scent staging method.

What are some of your favorite tricks for staging your house with smells? Do you have any tips for getting rid of unwanted smells? Share below!

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and looking around; do come back!
Cara

Host: Yard Sale

To this day my mother refuses to have another garage sale. Partly because it was so much work and it took up an entire Saturday to conduct. But I enjoy a good purge and jump on the opportunity to unload useless items with the hope of a slight financial return. 95% of the year I donate my unused items to friends, Goodwill, and repurpose via crafting. But this weekend, we had our very first garage sale in our new home. Here are my 2¢ on having one of your very own.

The Prep

I spent a cumulative 5-8 hours organizing my sale. I had friends and family bring over their contributions as well - so I had to take time to unload, organize and price their stuff too. Allocate an evening or two to get all of your items corralled and priced.

Do. Not. Skimp. On. The. Marketing.

People need to know about your sale. Make yard signs and put them out one full week in advance. We live in an area with high church and school traffic so you'd better believe we want every mom in a 10 mile radius to know of our sale and put it on their calendars. Additionally, repetition is key. The more they see the sign the more likely they'll be to remember it.

Here is my Craigslist ad

Then, get your neighbors on board and gain hyperlocal support. The more the merrier! Besides, more sales in your area means more interest. Once you have a band of supporters, divvy up the advertising tasks. Put an ad in your local newspaper, drop an ad on Craigslist(repost it a few times), put a blurb out on the most relevant Facebook group for your area (county garage sale sites) and pass out flyers to other neighborhood mailboxes.

Know How to Haggle

I covered this in How To Haggle a few months ago, but seriously, negotiate. Before your sale even starts there will likely be men who show up early looking to snatch up good tools. Know how to speak their language and make a deal. For instance, when you're receptive to their offer come down another $5-$10. When you're not ready to come down you can move just $1-$2 or stay firm on your asking price.

Don't Be Afraid to Bundle

If someone is picking up lots of items to buy you can bundle their items and give them a better deal. For instance, if someone came up during my sale with $20 worth of Christmas items and $30 worth of clothing I may say: "I can do everything for $40." That way, they feel like they're getting a deal and I'm still making money.

Organize!

Gather Best Practices

Before my sale I grilled my friends on their garage sale experiences. The best advice I received was the coding for a multi-person sale. Instead of trying to remember what items belonged to who, the price tags were color coded for easy identification. Additionally, we pulled tags off as items sold and put them onto a giant notepad to tally up later. Talk about easy!

Market

One of my favorite product marketers is Target. That company could sell a box of toothpicks for $10 because of the way they present the product. Be sure that your sale is organized well and things look neat, clean, and are easy to find. For instance, I had sections for Christmas decor, tools, clothing, furniture, games, kitchen items, and formal wear. When someone approaches your sale and sees organization, they know that you know what you have. They also know that they better be prepared to haggle hard because you probably know what it's worth too.

Remember: market! 

Answer Only What You're Asked

NEVER tell the seller why you're getting rid of an item. We had some rocking chairs at our sale. The selling party told the interested buyer that the vintage rockers weren't conducive to over weight guests and they didn't rock well on a porch with wooden boards. Do you think the buyer left with the chairs? She certainly didn't. When you wait all day for the perfect person to show interest in an item so specific, you don't want to let them get away!

The End Result

This year we was the most profitable yet and I hardly have anything left to take to Goodwill. One of our shoppers also told us about a phenomenal group at our local high school that collects dresses for students with disabilities. Did I forget to mention it's a great way to get to know those in your community, have unique conversations, and learn what buyers are looking for? Invaluable information for the next sale!

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and looking around; do come back!

Cara

DIY Edition: Recipe Cards

Recently I went shopping for some good ol' fashioned recipe cards.

Now I know that you can get these online through easy and print your cards at home. I also know that you can head over to your Grandma's house and dig around for some extras, circa 1952. But I can promise you that after hitting two Hobby Lobby stores, two Jo Ann Fabric locations, Wal-Mart, Target, and the Dollar Tree that there were only two sets of cards I was able to find. They were not only ugly, but drastically overpriced at $11 for 20 cards.

My fix: hit Jo Ann Fabrics when they're having their annual paper sale and use their scrapbook paper to make my own cards. At seven sheets for $1 you can't really go wrong, now can you?

I chose two patterns that were within the same color scheme and then a textured backing for my recipe to reside. I strayed away from white since many of my cooking experiences have left books and cards covered in meal remnants.

Jo Ann Fabric offered great selection for this DIY!

These 12x12 sheets provided six 4x6 cards. I bought seven flowered sheets, seven chevron sheets and fourteen tan sheets. That equates to (14x6) 84 cards.

It would be unfair to tell you how quick this option is. I spent a good afternoon just measuring and cutting. But think about it - these will be in your kitchen for the remainder of your cooking career. Do you really want to cut corners? Maybe you do and if so, I recommend checking out those etsy options. I just didn't want to spend even more money adding ink to my printer and buying a whole pack of paper. That gets pricey.

I splurged on a stamp for the back (by splurged, I spent $2.99 - full price!) and drew the instruction lines with a ruler. I dolled up the back with a strip of glitter tape from Meijer (this came from a large roll that I cut down for my needs) and called it a day.

Total cost for these beauties was $5.99 and a little DIY time. And now, I'll be cooking in style!

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and looking around; do come back!

Cara

P.S. - How could these recipe cards be even better?