Water Makeover

Monday, April 4, 2016

https://www.pinterest.com/pinkpixieforest/ice-ice-baby/

Before...

After!!

https://www.pinterest.com/pinkpixieforest/ice-ice-baby/

How my Ice Obsession began...
I started making my own ice about two years ago when the icemaker on my "fancy fridge" decided for the last time to just stop working. It was the brand that is known for it's repairmen having nothing to do because their machines never break... RIIIGHT!

Being without my cherished icemaker put me into a sort of panic attack- I was pretty much addicted to holding my glass up to the lever and filling it to the brim with ice in whichever form I desired- cubed, crushed or chipped. After a few weeks, I guess my husband got tired of bringing home bags of ice and one day told me "just make it"!

At first I think I actually got a bit miffed at the thought of making ice! But then when I actually thought about it a bit, I realized that making ice was a lot better than buying it or getting it easily from the fridge door.
By making it, I could make sure that the water used was clean and filtered. I am pretty sure that the ice bought in bags was probably just plain tap water, and who knows how clean or dirty the plant and machines are??
Looking back, I can't even fathom that I actually didn't want to make ice!

I remember as a child always having ice trays in the freezer- the metal ones that had a "Quick release handle"! lol
Back to the pretty Ice Cubes!

https://www.pinterest.com/pinkpixieforest/ice-ice-baby/

Here are some tips on how to make crystal clear ice cubes with beautiful blossoms thanks to Food.com, and beautiful Flower Cube Pics from http://theviewfromgreatisland.com

Ingredients

fresh edible flowers (such as scented geraniums, nasturtiums, violets, rose petals, pansies, lavender, borage, basil, chive)
1 ¹⁄₂ cups water, boiled and cooled
ice cube tray

Directions

Gather and gently rinse all of your pesticide-free blossoms.
Boil water for 2 minutes for all the air trapped in the water to escape. Then leave to cool till room temperature. This will ensure that the ice cubes are crystal clear.
Place each blossom at the base of each individual compartment within an ice tray (or more trays if you have a large party).
Fill each compartment half full with the cooled boiled water and freeze.
After the water is frozen solid, fill each ice cube compartment the rest of the way to the top with the remaining boiled water.
Refreeze and allow it to remain in the freezer until you are ready to use them (store in the freezer in zip lock bags).
NOTE: You can also freeze a large ice ring for the punch bowl, with a variety of blossoms. Don't use the glass punchbowl or it will expand and burst in the freezer. Instead, use a ring-shaped cake tin and fill it with flowers and water. Follow the same procedure as above (filling halfway, then freezing), but you can add additional blossoms to the second layer so that the blossoms are throughout the large ice ring.
Use the ice cubes in pitchers or glasses of lemonade, iced tea, juices, punches and cocktails

https://www.pinterest.com/pinkpixieforest/ice-ice-baby/

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Fun Homes for Houseplant Cuttings!

Friday, April 1, 2016

Hello my sparkly friends!
I thought I would share my way of making use of cloudy antique crystal and growing houseplant cuttings at the same time.
I adore going to yard sales and thrift shops, and many times I find crystal that is gorgeous but a bit cloudy or maybe it has a chip or two which makes it unsuitable for the table. Well, instead of passing them up, I adopt them and fill them with either fresh cut wildflowers or turn them into sparkly mini planters! Here are a few pics

Thank you so much for stopping by, and please leave me a comment to show me how you use your crystal! xoxo Tobi and the Pixies

DIY Copper Vessel Sink

Hello my friends! Here is a post from a few years ago on my other blog. I thought it would fit better here. Hope you enjoy!!

It all started with our house fire back in 2007. Click here for a different post on that.

The house was stripped down to the beams, so I moved walls, vaulted ceilings etc.... don't worry, it was all good!

Anyway, I had to order two sinks for the bathrooms. I ordered one, and thought I had plenty of time to order the other. Boy was I wrong- The contractors needed them both at once of course! The sink I had ordered for the Powder room fit better upstairs so I was left without a sink! I had seen pictures of a tin bucket in a magazine, so when the project manager asked me for the powder room sink, I handed him this bucket and said

"Here ya go!" He looked at me as it I had two heads, but he was finally getting used to my unorthodox decorating style.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, not really wanting to know my answer.

"Oh, just drill a hole in the center that matches the size hole that sinks usually have and install it".

"You can't do that" he said, obviously he was a linear thinker and

I was challenging the core of his being...

"Yes you can, right Giuseppe? " I responded cheerfully, and turned to the contractor who loved my wacky ideas cause he knew that it would look great in his portfolio.

He nodded with approval as he whisked off with my copper pot to drill a hole in it.

So, not only did I get the cool sink I wanted, it cost me only $5 because I had the pot that I had paid a whopping $5 for a bunch of years ago! We did a "Rock Area Rug" from the pebble tiles left over from the upstairs shower, so that cost us nothing because we had to buy them for the shower and if I hadn't used them, they would have been in my garage!

The counter top was made from the peice of wood left over from my fireplace mantel, and a chunk of tree that we had to cut down now lives inside and serves as a leg.

Don't you just love THRIFTY decorating???

Another one of my "decorating things" is to paint the walls TWO different colors. In my powder room, two walls are blue and two walls are green! I started doing this when I couldn't decide which color I liked better, so I decided on both. Who says you HAVE to paint all the walls the same color? Rules schmules I say!

Here is the WATER SHOT for Watery Wednesday!!!