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something new to tackle

I have a little collection of fishing tackle boxes at our family cottage.

Here they are sitting on a children’s chair I have. I love the colours of them.

Particularly the beautiful greeny blue on the bottom one. It’s the colour of water.

But any of the greens are lovely too.

If not pretty, there’s something charming about the rough findings of a well worn tackle box.

I have to admit, I have yet to find a function for my boxes, but here are a few ideas I found…

And so as summer winds to a close, and life becomes more organized, maybe I’ll tackle one of these ideas at the cottage in the fall. Or maybe I’ll just go junk hunting for another hidden gem of a treasure box.

can it!

I snapped this picture right before we were about to leave our cottage for home.

Such a simple thing but it made me happy to leave a little group of ready-made hurricanes for the next group to enjoy (we rent in the summer), without worries of anything precious. I filled any jars we had kicking around the kitchen with sand from our beach and a few finds of shells and rocks and voila - not original but charming none the less. Here are a few other inspirational pictures I found….

The jars don’t have to be special to make an impact. Give new life to regular canning jars you’ve tucked away for when you find time to make grandma’s raspberry jam.

Of course, the old blue jars are more special…

The other thing we did this holiday was buy some wire at the local hardware store and fashion hanging hurricanes to bring home as a gift to my sister-in-law. We thought it was kind of fun and personal that we collected the sand and little finds from our own beach where she has visited and enjoyed.

There’s something so charming about a homemade lantern…

Here’s a cute idea for parties ~ replace hook holders for solar lights with jar lanterns. A real flame to light the way seems so much more special.

Of course hanging lanterns on tree limbs, fences or porch beams always looks rustic and beautiful…

Just be sure to use lots to create a real impression…

One last thing - how cute is this - what a great party idea! I practically have enough of these in my basement to pull this look off with no more cost than the lemonade. This idea’s almost good enough to make you want to plan an end of summer party!

checkers alfresco

I thought I would show you the painting project my kids did with me this summer holiday in PEI.

We did it in an hour or two not including the walk on the beach to collect pebbles for one player and scallop shells for the other. Of course anything local and plentiful would do.

I had a little box left over from something else and it worked perfectly to keep the loose pieces in (don’t forget you need extras to make Kings!). We screwed it down so it stays in place and no doubt it will turn silver like the table by the end of the summer.

When I got home from the cottage I went on google to search for other versions of our table but found very little ~ amazing! I had no idea we were so original .

Let me know if you’ve painted a checkerboard on anything and how it worked out. After we did this, I was thinking we could have painted the entire surface of the table in a checkerboard pattern and then participants could have set up a game on whichever squares they chose ~ one end of the table or the middle. it might even look a bit like a tablecloth. I know, I know…never satisfied.

Here’s the christening game on the table…’check’ it out…

hung out to dry

At our cottage in PEI, we have a clothesline. Here’s a shot of it in the morning…

And here’s a shot of it in the evening…

The wind is always blowing on that wee little island and the lawns are big and flat making for perfect ‘clothesline country’.

I have a book at the cottage that’s all about the clothesline through time…

There’s actually some interesting trivia.

Clotheslines and clothespins came along in the early 1800’s when the idea for using rope to hang clothes was borrowed by an inventive housewife from her seafaring husband. Maybe in PEI, who knows?

Shortly after came clothespins with the push kind coming first…

…and then the spring or clip kind was patented in 1832.

Now of course we have the choice between wood and plastic pins…I like them both…

It’s fun to imagine the changes in clotheslines - where they’ve been hung, and what’s been hung on them - over the past 200 years….

Farm denims and cotton bedding…

50’s aprons and teatowels…

Smirfs, Barney’s and Babybops…

Not to mention the places they’ve been hung…

All over the world…

City and country…

In different styles, like the umbrella…

The t-post…

And if you think you don’t have the posts for it, you can always be inventive like this creative sole who used a shepherd’s hook from the garden store.

Hanging clothes on the line just feels good.

Plain and simple.

gone fishing (still)

This is a cute project for hubby and kids at the cottage (while you read your novel under a shady tree ; ) …