Grab your neighbor's junk to re-think, re-purpose, re-use, re-cycle & re-create for a fun Pink Saturday!

Last week I promised that I would have something that you've probably never seen before...not on Pink Saturday, not in a kitchen, not in a junk yard, not at the zoo, not at a tag sale. What I am sharing with you this week is my sweet, pink kitchen table lamp. My happy, re-cycled, re-purposed pink lamp.

I look at it and I giggle. I turn it on and it warms the atmosphere in my kitchen shining little stars on the ceiling when the day turns into night. It's fun. It's practical. It's useful and it's a true conversation starter...you betcha! It's a great way to re-use castaways, keep them out of a landfill and help to keep our planet clean!


Just take one old meat grinder, one used colander, a lamp kit and there you go! A little kitchen, or family room, or whatever lamp for your home. Don't paint it, leave it rustic and pristine then it will have an industrial look that would fit right into any loft in NYC!
As long as I am showing you my "altered" kitchen goodies, I thought I'd toss in a little cookbook rack made from one of those old, wood magazine holders you would be likely to find in a '70s bathroom. Normally I have a little, embroidered kitchen towel hanging from the dowel but I took it off so you could get a good idea of how you can re-use the most common, often overlooked items you find at yard sales.


I added some wood craft roses, distressed the edges after painting and added a raw umber glaze to a few of the nooks and crannies for a bit of a shabby look. Paint this any color you choose for just about any room you choose. In the bathroom you can fit two rolls of toilet tissue and fill the top with magazines or guest towels. Paint one for your family room and hang it on the wall next to your favorite chair filling the rack with your remote, the latest issue of whatever magazine you like to read (if it's still in print since most are going out of business) or the novel that you've been picking up when you have a spare minute. How about making one for the nursery! Fill it with fresh diapers for practicality, then hang a sweet bonnet, receiving blanket or vintage linen to add whimsy and charm. Again, limitless uses...all good...all fun and best of all, you've re-purposed something that was most likely destined for the trash if you didn't plunk down your dollar to take it home!
I hope this week you had a little fun, grabbed an idea or two and headed out the door to check out a garage or yard sale to see what you can re-use, re-purpose and re-think a few of someone else's castaways!


Check out all of the other folks who are participating in Beverly's PINK SATURDAY over at How Sweet the Sound. See you next week!

Lemon drops 'n daffodils 'n sunshine 'n gum drops 'n baby chicks, all things yellow and all things sweet! Creating my lemony Easter wreath!

I just absolutely, positively MUST MAKE THIS WREATH! I was spending a little time browsing blogs that inspire me and popped over to A Soft Place to Land. There it was, right in front of me, a vision of sunshine, daffodils, lemon drops, forsythia, lemon cupcakes, and happiness. Never mind that my house is primarily pastels and filled with pink. I WANT THIS YELLOW WREATH! (Of course, Kimba's front door is pretty spiffy, too, but I think she would like to keep it.)

Photo courtesy of A Soft Place to Land

Just looking at this round, yellow circle makes me happy, so happy that I want to sing...and that, folks, is dangerous, really dangerous! So today I'll be going over to Walmart to buy my packages of lemon drops and other assorted goodies to put it together and while I'm at it, I think I'll also buy a couple smaller forms so the grandsons and I can make some for their mother and other grandmother for Easter gifts.

Being more practical than I, Kimba, used ping-pong balls for hers. A great variation, but my wreath will be inside so I think I'd like to have the aroma of the lemon to enjoy as I walk by and I know the grandkids would have a much better time with candy, too!

Happy Birthday, Michael, celebrate your day!

Today my grandson, Michael Joseph, will be blowing out seven candles on his birthday cake.

Mike is outgoing and friendly. Inquisitive, sweet and affectionate...all that a little person should be. He's a good brother to Daniel and Samuel and Rachel but not so good that you forget he's a healthy, little boy.

Happy Birthday, sweet Michael, your Mimi wishes she could be with you tonight when you blow out the candles on your cake. Tell Mommy that you should have two pieces of cake to eat...one for you and one for Mimi with an extra scoop of ice cream.

Never did I believe that with two sons I would be blessed seven times over with little babies blown directly from the hand of God. And blessings they are, each and every one of them. They are the little fuzzies that keep my heart warm when the world feels a bit more chilly as I travel through my life.

Orphan baby bunnies & itty-bitty birdies need knit & crochet beds for nests. Please help!

Oh, my goodness, I was just browsing the web looking for a crochet pattern, you know the one, that darned bluebird potholder that still eludes me...darn. Anyway, I came upon a site called Bev's Country Cottage. If you have scrap yarn and know how to knit or crochet there is a lady by the name of Laura who works for her local SPCA Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Group. Those good volunteers need baby bird and baby bunny nests for the little darlings that come into rescue without a mommy to take care of them. These nests are tiny and you could make oodles of them in just a couple of hours. Please, if you have it in your heart, go over to Bev's Country Cottage. You will find the links you need to the patterns and also to the wonderful people who care for these little guys who need tiny beds for their itty-bitty babies.

Or, I just betcha if you contacted your local agency, they may be able to direct you to someone in your area who cares for these little orphans. Spring is in the air and with it tiny babies who get separated from their mommies. We can't find their mommies but we sure could make their start in life a lot easier with a comfy bed. Thanks to everyone who reads this and will help.

"All things bright and beautiful; All creatures great and small; All things wise and wonderful; The Lord God made them all." ~ Cecil F. Alexander

The object of my affection, Mrs. Jumbo and her baby, Dumbo

You'd think that sooner or later I'd be grown up enough to not have a Disney cartoon affect me to the point of tears. But just let Bambi's mother get shot with that little deer running all over the woods calling her name...and she can't come to him...well, I'm a gonner.

Watching Lady get swatted at with a broom by the nanny, all because Lady was protecting the new baby from rats, and she gets tossed out the door...well, I'm a gonner.

I'm a real softie for animals. I share my home with rescues that needed someone to love them fur-ever. I'm especially moved by the love a mother has for her children. The loyalty of dogs when they protect their family is another instance that makes my heart swell.


Worst of all, Mrs. Jumbo is imprisoned and kept from her little baby boy, Dumbo, all because she was protecting him, turns me into a sobbing, wollering mass of humanity. Watching that devoted, loving mother reach through prison bars to rock her little one to sleep makes me want to jump into the cartoon and knock some circus heads together for being so mean.

I read a long time ago that Walt Disney didn't like children very much. Well, he sure made some tear-jerker cartoons to send little kids into their mother's arms for comfort, and me...well, I have to go get a tissue...there is a tear in my eye...shhhh, don't tell. Maybe Walt just liked to see kids (big and little) cry, sob and babble.

This past Pink Saturday I shared my darling Mrs. Jumbo pincushion. That little lady traveled quite a few miles to get to her new fur-ever home and it's in her new home she will stay.