Brooches on Branches : Reusing a previous DIY project

I was delighted to see that a few of my projects have been pinned. One item that was of particular Pinterest to people, was my branch display for Christmas ornaments. Today I am showing you a new use for this display, which I kept up after taking down the Christmas decorations because I liked the way the branches brought a touch of nature to the indoors during the winter. This new way of using the display, to hang jewellery, is not my idea however .. one of the people who pinned it, Krystle Marie, called it a jewellery display. So I decided to run with her idea and hang my collection of flower brooches on it! Now, not only does it bring nature indoors, the flowers hint at spring, which is not too far off. Thank you to everyone who has pinned one of my recipes or DIYs , and to Krystle for this idea!

Safety First : How to Make Reflective Wristbands

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lou-armbands-02b.jpg" alt="" title="lou-armbands-02b" width="640" height="448" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5733">My exercise of choice is walking, particularly speed walking, where you swing your arms above your heart while striding quite forcibly. But let's admit it ... speed walking on the streets of a city might look a little bit dorky. So most of the time I do it in the evening when the fashionable daytime foot-traffic has left the neighbourhood, leaving the streets to local exercisers and dog-walkers. These friends in the 'hood are used to seeing me go racing by! Sometimes I run too, but I limit that to intervals.The reason I'm telling you this is not to give you an image in your head of a maniacal woman on the loose, but rather to talk about the reflective wristbands I recently made. While the weather has been absolutely spring-like this winter, the time the sun sets has not changed. By 6 in the evening it is dark out. I made the wristbands so that cars will see me. I thought about armbands that go further up, however decided wristbands would be more effective, because they move more while walking and would do a good job at alerting motorists that I was there.

Much Love Monday : Pink Sugar and Freshly Ground Coffee

Here is my post for Much Love Monday, a way to start the week off on a positive note, organized by Anna at her blog Much Love. The guidelines are to post a picture with a heart in it somewhere, and a bit about something you love.

Last week I made some pink sugar by adding 4 drops of food colouring to 1/3 cup of white sugar in a jar. Then giving it a really good shake. I left the lid off overnight to dry it out and then gave it another shake to break up any lumps. I wanted pink this time but next time I will try another colour, like red and blue together to make purple.

Thrifting Treasures : Bar Ware

My sister and I went to some thrift stores in her neighbourhood a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time with lots of laughs. And we found some pretty good stuff too!

Though I had not set out to specifically find bar ware, that is what I came away with. I actually only realized the dominant theme in my selections when I got them home and unpacked them onto the table. I must have been thirsty while shopping and subconsciously went for drink items!

Here is what I got ...