Southern Scraps

Hi and welcome. Come on out back and enjoy a summer lunch or late evening meal with me on my newly decorated back porch. I've set the table with some fun and thrifty finds.

The heat has been unbearable this past week. To get through the remainder of the summer, I'm gonna have to make some cool treats. Here are some smoothie recipes that are on my "Must Do" list. Strawberry Pineapple smoothy

I haven't used my Silhouette nearly enough, but this weekend I busted out some vinyl and whipped this up for my back porch table. While out shopping for some other outdoor items a couple of months ago, I picked up this tabletop Off! Citronella candle. First of all, these are a necessity if you want to be outdoors here, and second, a light bulb went off in my head and I thought this would be great for dressing up with some vinyl decals. I decided to monogram two sides with our initial. I used the GE signature font and sized it to 7.53 x 2.92 inches. Obviously 7.53 is way too large, but that was just the dimension of the text box, not the overall letter. I originally had in mind to do some type of flourish, damask, or fleur on the other two sides, but while browsing the Silhouette shop I found the abstract butterfly flourish .  Since I have a lime green butterfly lantern on my porch already, I just had to use this. It ties in elements from the sitting area to the dining

This week Aimee from It's Overflowing shared how to clean an iron with Magic Eraser. I love those things. I wish I'd known this a long time ago. Did you know you can also use them to clean your glass stovetop? Sure can- no scratches! I can't remember where I first found that tip, but you can verify it all over the web. Have a great weekend! Follow me for more Fabulous Friday Finds .

 Napkins or dishtowels provide a cheap   an inexpensive way to make outdoor pillows. I got this idea from In My Own Style . She used dish towels, but you can also use napkins. I was browsing in Tuesday Mornings one day and came across these water repellant outdoor napkins. Perfect for outdoor pillows. And at approximately $8.00, I only have $4.00 invested in each pillow. These were the perfect colors for the color scheme I'm using in my backporch makeover. I also used Diane's idea for making the pillow form from shopping bags. Here is one of my forms (it could be fluffier, but I used all the bags I had for four pillows, so they will do for now.) I used the same adhesive and followed her directions. I'm in love with this method for making pillows. Want to see more of the ideas and crafts I try out? Consider following me. There are a few ways to do so over on the sidebar. I'll be sharing here: Think Pink Sundays * Under the Table and Dream

  It's so much fun to take something old and give it new life. The next time you see a chandelier or candelabra at the thrift store or yard sale, look at it in a new way. Here's a chandelier turned cake stand: by iheartnaptime  Another one with vintage plates. Chandelier dessert stand This one was made into an outdoor candle holder.   My Repurposed Life A bird feeder - ( I found it on Pinterest but the link doesn't go to the original site. I think the same steps would apply but you would use bowls.) Source This one is a candelabra turned desert stand using vintage plates. The plates could be used on the chandeliers too. By Junkin Junky Do you have any other ideas? Share them in the comments!

While I was trying my hand at making my own bobby pins , I decided to make some with some single vintage clip earrings and a button I had in my stash. I had originally planned to use the earrings in my DIY rings , but they just didn't fit on the ring bases well. They worked perfectly for the bobby pins.  I cut a tiny piece of felt and slipped it under the bobby pin and then glued my earrings and button straight to the pin and the felt with some E6000. I'm really pleased with these. All you need to do is remove the earring clip and button shanks with some pliers or jewelers wire cutters and glue them on some pins. Check out my rings from vintage earrings HERE. Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sharing here: Think Pink Sundays ** Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Creative Bloggers Party and Hop * Craftomaniac Monday * Make the Scene Monday * Making the World Cuter * Masterpiece Monday * Motivate Me Monday * Inspire Me Monday * Market Yourself

This is my "Tried it Out Thursday" on Friday. Sometimes life just gets busy. I get to the blog when I can. I'm not going to complain about, we'll just move on. I was inspired by these fabric bobby pins at Anthropologie : So I picked up some of these (I can't find plain gold or silver bobby slides around here, so I got these and I've been wearing the colored ones as is) And some of these barrettes I got some fabric strips and mod podge and wrapped the fabric around the slides and barrettes. There are no magical steps for this and I'm not 100% pleased with the way these turned out. Working with such a small item was very difficult for me. I'm thinking of other ways to do this but I'm not sure. Maybe using a spray adhesive on the top and just laying the strip of fabric over it would work. I'm not sure. Do you have any suggestions? Please share. I'd love to hear any tips you have for making this project better.

When I put out my beach mantel decor , I usually follow suit with a beachy tablescape. At least I did last year and this year. I made some changes this year, as last year I only had a centerpiece. Let's take a look: I purchased a set of white dishes with a Greek key pattern (Ross $19.99). They will be useful for many other tablescapes. I also picked up four of the blue goblets from Dollar Tree. I really wanted some rattan chargers or natural braided placemats, but I decided I had purchased enough and made due with the bamboo placemats. These came from Dollar Tree too and last year I used them to make a runner under the centerpiece. I'm using some fish net from Michael's this year as a runner. A closer look at the place setting: The napkin rings started out like this: 50 cents for the four of them from a thrift store. A little hot glue and some jute twine and now we have these: My favorite part of this is still the centerpiece. I used some

When I first saw the comeback of neon, I thought "oh no- flashback to those early teen years that I do not want to be reminded of." However, it has grown on me and there are a few projects on my "Must Do" list I'd like to try for the summer. For the love of- Neon planters with office supply stickers Bracelets by Wobi Sobi Bracelets by Transient Expression Belts by What I Do Neon confetti gift wrap by Studio DIY   Uses punches but those office dot stickers would work too! Neon necklace by a pair and a spare Chunky necklace by for the love of