Favorite Things Thursday: Getting Creative at Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

It is time for my Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop Link Up with Katherine's Corner and all her lovely co-hosts.   If you haven't checked out this hop yet, there are some amazing ideas shared every week.    With that in mind, I am going to talk reduce, reuse and recycle today.  After all, with Earth Day this week, it seems like the perfect time to do a Reduce, Reuse and Recycle type blog.

Recycle:

We have all seen these spools. They are everywhere cable and electrical 'stuff' is being laid.   My friend just happened to get his hands on one and dropped it off in my driveway last Friday.   I got to work as quickly as I could on sanding.  Now, this spool was never, ever going to be smooth and perfect.  I put some wood filler on the top to aid it but a little bit worn was part of the charm.   So I sanded, and sanded, and sanded.   Finally, I gave up and decided it was time to turn this spool into my outdoor bar table.  Yep, this one is mine.  It was free after all and so I could do with it whatever I wanted!

And what I wanted was a Texas Rangers Baseball table.  I went to Pinterest for inspiration and found, not a lot but a few pieces that sent me on my way to creating my own.

It was looking very patriotic after I had painted the Rangers colors on the table.  The idea was originally to just do a simple baseball table top but that isn't good enough for me.  

So I decoupaged Texas Rangers logos all around the table.  There are four of them to be exact.  Suddenly it hit me like..a ball to the head.  I should make the top the baseball in the logo.   Now, I have a little, tiny, confession.   I hate doing baseball stiching. I always, always, always think it looks child like and silly when I am done.   Ah well, what the heck, it is a free bar. So I freehanded the big red T in the center and left it to dry.

I really get into my painting by the way.  I crawl all over the floor and contort in odd positions.  My husband can't ever figure out why I am sore and achy after.  Well, I am 44 years old and I get in postions a 3 year old enjoys!   Okay, so in between this, we got the chicks and it took me two days to finish the top.  Freehanding the blue outline....at this point I wanted to quit.  I mean why ruin it with stitiching?  My husband refused to let me.  "You can do this!"  He said. i heart him.

So I added the blast baseball stiching last night and let it dry.   Then I added some Spar Urethane.  This is going to be outside so I need it protected for outside weather.  Spar Urethane seemed to be the best choice.   One coat is on, and there are 3 to go but here is the finished product!

I have to admit, I love it.   It is pretty in that 'Oh so perfect for Laura' sort of way.  

And I even love the baseball stiches.  Not quit perfect but it is hand painted and should it really be?

Reuse:

When we moved into the house we had a hot tub...a broken hot tub.   It was never going to be a hot tub again.  We had two choices, remove it and fill in the deck, thus creating a land fill issue with an old, broken, hot tub, or reuse it.   I suggested a garden would be the perfect solution.  I had wanted an herb garden but hubs, well he planted onions.

So my Cayanne Peppers and Basil are beside the hot tub...that's okay.  I had these pots that weren't being used.

And there was this old, metal tub that was just sitting with weeds in it on a stump.   The previous owner had left it and hubs wanted to throw it out but I said "No!"  Now my Cilantro is happily growing in that pot.

And keeping with the grow your own, this is our garden beyond the fence.  I honestly would have loved to get you a better picture but it's raining again and so you are stuck with my photos from my deck.   So far we have planted tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, jalapeno, cucumber, zucchini and squash.    (This goes with the plum, 3 peach, 2 pear, 1 fig, and 2 pecan trees we planted).

Reduce:

Did I tell you all that I bought a pitch fork last weekend?   Why? Well because what you can't see in my garden photo above is my compost pile.   Yep, we are reducing our waste by composting.  We are putting eggshells, coffee grounds, paper, leaves, veggie refuse and fruit stuff.  Basically, anything that isn't meat/fish because that is a no-no composting but hey, I have dogs!  We have been doing this since we moved in and I went to pitch it this weekend and found a rich lovely compost is forming at the bottom.    

In a side note this is what my husband and I look like now:

source

 Okay, be sure to check out Katherine's Corner for all the great and inspiring blogs this week!

Katherine's Corner