DIY Rustic Earring Holder

I have a lot of dangle earrings that I just didn't have a good spot to keep. I have a jewelry box to keep rings, and stud earrings in that just didn't have a functional spot for these dangles. I've looked on Pinterest and seen ideas where chicken wire, or screening was used with an old frame. However, I had none of that on hand and didn't want to purchase any. It came to me though that an old picture frame that I had painted awhile back when distressed with twine added would be an excellent way to hang the earrings. 

This is what I started out with:

Forgive ugly rag, it's what I had on hand from my next project!!

This old wooden frame donated by my mom (Thanks mom!) I had spray painted black. I thought it looked "too good" so I took a block sander and distressed the corners and edges, which is hard to see in the photo taken in the dark, dungeon craft room!

After adding twine (also from my mom's old craft stash) by hot gluing ends around flat head tacks and hammering them into the back of the frame, here is the finished project. 

Simple, functional and best of all FREE!! 

What do you have in your home you can re purpose into something useful?

Screen Door Project

In our old home (built in the 40's) I used a screen door out of the basement as a baby gate, keeping little E from venturing out onto the enclosed back porch/pantry. When we moved I couldn't bear the thought of leaving it behind to be destroyed by a renter. It isn't ornate, but beautiful in a simple way. That is my favorite part of older homes, they are beautiful in their simplicity.

After bringing the door to our new home, I measured and it was either too big, or too small for all of the available doorways. This means I needed to find another purpose for it (YAY). I love to re purpose items!

I had already painted one side of the door red. ( I hadn't gotten around to painting the other side before we moved.) For this project I only needed one side painted anyway. If you have ever looked on Pinterest I am sure you have seen the old doors or screen doors turned into entry tables, jewelry holders, etc. I listed all of these wonderful ideas off to my farmer, which he then put the nix on. He was obviously afraid that I would need to buy more jewelry or some such nonsense :) I then thought of all the large empty wall space in our basement and how neat a screen door would look hanging by original hinges on the wall while being used to hold pictures or some such.

This is what it looked like prior to any paint/work

This is actually the back side, Shhh.

I then painted a sunflower in one corner and added a saying and twine for pinning the pictures too.

please pardon the extreme junk pile in my craft/storage room

I attached the twine using flat head tacks.

First I hot glued the ends around the tack and then hammered it into the wood.

Then I cajoled my farmer into hanging it on our basement wall and I think it looks great. After being hung though the words were very hard to read, so I mixed some cornstarch into my paint to thicken it and painted over them again, and I am much happier with how it looks now.

It is kinda glumpy looking in places, 

but I think it adds a bit of imperfection that every piece needs.

Mini clothespins for holding on the pictures!

This projected costed me: $0 at present.

I had all the paint, twine, door and the clothespins I borrowed from picture holding shutter so I will have to buy some eventually. Total time was just a couple of hours, plus the 2+ week wait time for Farmer to hang it!

Going dairy free?

Our sweet little E, has not been so sweet the last few weeks to months now. It's been so long since I had a full night of sleep I can't even remember!! Which she is 19 months old, she should be sleeping through the night!!!!! Right?!? Of course she has always been an "off and on" sleeper. She would go weeks or months sleeping through and then suddenly something would cause and upset. Along with not sleeping she would have HORRIBLE gas, some loose stools, with acid burn rashes,  poor appetite and all around increased crabbiness.  I typically blamed it on teething, as E started teething around 3 months, and hasn't stopped since.

 This last bout has been the worst, not as much rash as she is using the potty during waking hours, and only in diapers during nap and over night. However, she would be up by 1:30 or 2 and not sleep again until 4 or 5, I could do nothing to help her. We tried Tylenol, with no success, and gas drops that help some, but over all the poor girl has been miserable. 

I decided that there had to be something causing this, something is obviously bothering her, but WHAT?!? I have/had this feeling that it wasn't "just a bug." On one call to home, I mentioned to my mother E's symptoms and she stated "sounds like lactose intolerance", to which I scoffed until she mentioned that My grandfather was lactose intolerant, as well as my mother, my niece and my brother ( he outgrew it). So after a call to the nurse to see if she and Doc concurred with this line of thought (which they did) we are now trying to keep E away from as much regular dairy products as possible. THIS is NOT easy!

We have switched her to Lactaid milk only, as we feel this is just lactose intolerance and NOT a milk allergy or sensitivity. Other than that (which was the only suggestion the Doc gave) we are just trying to eliminate dairy intake for a couple of weeks to see if this causes the symptoms to go away. If it does we can try to introduce a little dairy at a time to see how she tolerates it. I'm praying in one way that this is what has been bothering her so that she will feel better, and in another that it isn't, it isn't fair that a little one should have to be so careful on what they eat.

If anyone has tips, or suggestions for recipes, or snack alternatives for yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese in general (all of which E LOVES) please share! I am ready for any advice!