~my new potting bench~

I was driving to pick my son up from a birthday party a couple weeks ago, and out of the corner of my eye,
a FREE sign caught my attention. Can you hear my tires squealing?
Check out this bad boy, all 8 feet of it......

Gorgeous right? Super old, super sturdy, and heavy as heck.

I brought it home my husband reluctantly drove over to the strangers house to pick up yet another free thing I had to have. He was super happy it was really light. Wink-wink.

Fast forward a week later and I am out at it again. This time a garage sale that was advertised as vintage treasures. Here is what I hauled home, and yes, this one fit in my car.

I knew when I saw it that it would make a great match for my free bench.
They make a great pair don't they?

So yesterday, I fixed it all up and outfitted it with all my gardening supplies.
And now presenting, way more photos than you probably care to see.

I am so excited to have a place to keep all my gardening stuff together finally! And the whole setup was under $35.00 Can't beat that!

xoxo

~wrist soiree tassel bracelet giveaway~

Thank you for understanding my absence for a few days! I just found out that I am able to share pictures with you all from the TLC Four Weddings shoot here, so be watching my instagram for sneak peaks, and then I will do several posts on it, as Savannah and I took about 600 pictures!

Today though I have a really fun giveaway for ya! This girl makes the coolest, funnest jewelry I think and today she is giving away 2 bracelets to 2 My Sweet Savannah readers.

How would you like to win one of these fun tassel bracelets?

They come in a variety of colors which you can see here.

Super fun right? Ok, here is how you can win. Go to www.wristsoiree.com and then come back here and in the comments section, tell me which color you like.

I will pick 2 random winners on Friday and announce back here. If you would like an extra chance at winning, please follow them on instagram @wristsoiree.

And what the heck, for a third entry you can follow me on instagram, or this blog, either one. Just leave me a comment letting me know if you are a new follower either way! I have a link on the right to my instagram account, or you can search for me @mysweetsavannah.

Just a reminder to be sure and leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!
have a great day!

xoxo

~giveaway postponed until tomorrow~

Sorry for my absence.
I will be back tomorrow with a great giveaway.
TLC filmed the 4 weddings show here this weekend and I am beat!
Thanks for your understanding.
xoxo

~our 4th of July in photos~{& a giveaway winner}

Better late than never on 4th of July pictures right?
We joined our friends in celebrating a 70th birthday extravaganza,
and here are some of the photos from the photographer, at Stehr Steps Photography.
She did a wonderful job at capturing the fun moments we all had!

All photos by Stehr Step photography, {go like them on Facebook!} except for the one by me, that doesn't look quite as good! :)

And, the winner of the Olive Leaf Stencil giveaway is......

THE TEXAS COWGIRL!
{and how did I not see your darling blog sooner?}
CONGRATS! COME BACK EVERY MONDAY FOR MORE GREAT GIVEAWAYS!

xoxo

~thrifty thursday~{& how to paint faux wood grain}

So this week I am making over a cupcake stand that was
picked up at a garage sale for a whopping $10.
This sucker is huge, and I am so sorry,
but the before was just not my cup of tea.

I'm starting with an after shot:

Ready for the before?

Are you blind? Sorry.
Ok, here is how this makeover went down. Mom calls me up and tells me she scored for me at a garage sale! You might be thinking this is a good thing.....
obviously you have not seen some of her "scores"
Luckily she knows I'm pretty handy and can make ugly things pretty.
I had this cupcake stand for 1 whole day before I made it over.
It was that bad. I guess if you like peacocks and purple with turquoise it's not bad,
but I was thinking more of a woodsy feel.

So, with the woodsy feel in mind, I headed off to my local craft store and bought a variety of "wood" scrapbooking papers.

I wanted to cover the center "tubes" in this paper.
I cut them to size on my paper cutter and glued them on with spray adhesive.
Love this stuff!

For the round "discs" or "shelves" I hand painted the faux wood look. I picked up some paints at the craft store that matched the tones in my paper, as well as some brown stain and black paint. I already had the dark wax.

First step was to spray paint each piece white, front and back.

Then I took a small foam brush and randomly added imperfect lines using
the aluminum colored paint. Be random because nothing is nature is perfect or symmetrical.

Then you want to "highlight" those areas with a bit of black and a bit of brown. I used a thinner brush.
The cheaper the brush the better, because it won't be so perfect. Use a kids paint brush that has been beat up if you have one!

It should look similar to this now:

Then you need to add some "knots" These are easy to replicate.
They kinda resemble eyeballs.

Then the real magic happens when you apply the dark wax.

The one on the top has not been waxed, the one on the bottom has.

To finish the edges off I hot glued on rope.

Here it is all done!

Kinda a long process drawn out here, but really, it's very simple. I think it could be used for a variety of things, not just cupcakes!

Also, my friend Emily is doing a giveaway on her blog with one of my favorite candles! Go check it out here!

xoxo