When Procter and Gamble reached out to me asking if I would be interested in sampling some of their products for a post on how to get ready for summer entertaining I thought to myself, “Dudes, do I have a MAJOR JOB for you.”  It’s like they had a crystal ball and knew just how desperate my porch was for a scrub-down.  Over the winter, our back patio turned into a grime-fest to rival the dump truck bumper from Toy Story 3 where Lotso was tied up at the end.  Somehow springtime slipped by so fast that I have not had a chance to get out there and clean up the pollen and dirt and dog hair yet.   So when this box arrived at my doorstep with all these P&G cleaning products, including Mr Clean Outdoor Pro Magic Erasers and Outdoor Pro Cleaner, my inner Virgo started showing and I was chomping at the bit to get start cleaning up my back porch.  

On Friday night my husband got started pressure washing the pool deck while I set to work on cleaning the grill, windowsills and patio furniture.

Magic Erasers are kinda like that Bill Wither’s song from the ‘70’s. 

You just keep on using them until you use them up. 

And that’s exactly what I did to several of these magical pads in the course of a few hours.  I used them right up.  I scrubbed down our patio table and chairs. Then, I tackled the windows.  Check out my windowsills. They were so gross.  And now? Clean as a whistle, baby.

But the true test?  That would be our barbecue grill.  This sucker was NASTY.  It had years of dirt and pollen and grill-caked grossness on it.  I saved this job for Saturday, since I knew it was gonna be a big one.  Check out how bad it was before I started cleaning:

Late Friday night I sat down on facebook and saw that Kim at Sand and Sisal had used this same Outdoor Pro Cleaner on her stainless steel grill and it was GLEAMING.  I got so excited after seeing her post that I was tempted to get out there and start scrub-a-dubbing that night, but I waited til the next morning.  I’m glad I did, because it turned out to be a big, dirty job. 

But it was SO worth it. 

Here is how I got it so clean: I rolled the grill out onto the asphalt driveway ( so it wouldn’t stain the concrete with all the sludge that came off of it during cleaning) and set to work cleaning it. Just sprayed on the Outdoor Pro Cleaner, let it sit for a minute, then wiped off with a magic eraser and rinsed with a hose. Most off the grime came off with that minimal amount of effort, but there were a few really tough stains that needed some extra help. I brought out the steel wool and sprayed more of the Outdoor Pro cleaner on it. With a bit of elbow grease and steel wool, I was able to remove all of the major stains. Then I cleaned the grates and burner covers with a wire brush and more of the Outdoor Pro, being sure to rinse, rinse, rinse with water. I hosed out the interior and removed all the black sludge that was sitting in the bottom. After that I let it air dry completely in the sun before I reassembled it to keep it from rusting on the inside. Then I wiped down the entire outside of the grill with a heavy coating of olive oil and buffed it with a few Bounty paper towels. The results speak for themselves! Pretty impressive!

I took our grill from looking like it was bound for the trash dump to looking nearly brand new. 

Seriously, can you believe that?  There are a few rust spots that aren’t gonna come off no matter how much elbow grease I put into it, but still…  it looks a million times better than it did.  That Mr. Clean really knows his stuff. I was pretty blown away by it!  Talk about the perfect Father’s Day gift.  What better way to show your man that you love him than to give his filthy grill a bath and olive oil massage?

My planters got some fresh flowers from the Lowes garden center.  Hopefully soon the sweet potato vine will be spilling out all the way to the ground and the bougainvillea vines will crawl all the way up the fence.

 
You probably haven’t noticed, but we got a new pool liner earlier in the year.  The original one was WAY past it’s expiration date, and I love how dark blue the new liner is.  Since we switched from Baquacil to chlorine a few summers ago we’ve been buying our pool supplies at Lowes, also.  It’s been a huge money saver for us over the local pool supply store.

 
I’m also a huge fern fan in the summer, and Lowes has a great selection of those.  Check out this pretty one my inlaws gave me for Mother’s Day.  I stuck him inside of my vintage Carnation milk crate on my back steps. 

 
Our back porch is now ready for a party!  Who wants to come over for a cookout and a swim?

If you want to get your back patio ready for outdoor entertaining this summer, too, I have a little surprise to help out with that!  I’m thrilled to announce that Procter and Gamble is giving away a “Summer Done Bright” Prize Package to one of YOU!  This box of goodies will contain:

Mr. Clean Outdoor Pro Spray
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Outdoor Pro
Roll of Bounty Paper Towels
Tide Pods
1 package of Duracell AA Batteries
AND a $100 Lowe’s gift card

How awesome is that?? 

To enter the giveaway, follow the directions in the Rafflecopter below.  Sorry to my friends up north, but this prize package is available for US entries only.  Just in time for the first days of Summer, the giveaway will end Sunday, July 23rd.  Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I had this Spring Cleaning Checklist of all the things that needed to be done out there, so I’ve assembled them into a free printable in case you could use it, too.

Click here to download a Patio Spring Cleaning Checklist.

See? I told you it was a lot!

Procter and Gamble provided me with free product and compensation for this post, but all photos and opinions are my own.

Hellllooooooo out there….

I’m back home from a fun vacation to Niagara Falls and ready to hop back in the saddle after a nice long extended break from the blog.  So far this year we’ve had a nice mild spring and summer but now that the heat has cranked up to near 100 outside I’m ready to head back inside to the air conditioning and the comfort of my laptop.
     

What better way to ease back into regularly scheduled blog posts again than with a summer mantel post?  Let’s just pretend like I actually got around to finishing the painting job on my mantel that I talked about in my Spring mantel WWYD post.  Yeah… I’ve been a little busy.

I’m SOOOOO happy to finally have hydrangeas blooming in my yard again after a few years of being bloom free. 

This morning I went outside and gathered up a few big purple hydrangea blossoms along with the flowers from my hosta, rosemary and lavender and stuck them in a pitcher for a pretty mantel centerpiece.  One bloom made it’s way into my bottle collection.

The big galvanized pots came from a vendor at Petals From the Past Antiques in the Garden this spring.  I wish that I could find some giant boxwood kissing balls to stick in the top of them, but so far I’m striking out.  Maybe I need to DIY some.

The wooden sign is one that I made for myself using the wood salvaged from my Granny and Pop’s house.  The top piece is the threshold from their kitchen.  Love, love, love the fact that I have this treasured piece of my family’s history in my home.  Imagine all of the feet of my forefathers that have crossed that threshold.  Makes me get all sentimental just thinking about it.

My friend Kent made me this CUTE burlap and chevron sign as a gift for letting her use my guest bedroom while she was in Birmingham for an embroidery conference a few weeks back. 

I totally ADORE this sign so much that I cannot bring myself to put it outside and let it get rained on. So for now, it stays on the mantel front and center. If you’d like to order one for yourself, Kent has an etsy shop called Peachy Keen Designs where you can special order one.  Or visit her facebook page and tell her I sent you!

The antique gas fireplace was scored at my local picker’s paradise store for just $35.00!!  I was totally expecting the guy to say $100+ when I asked him how much, but he came back with $35 and I didn’t even have to barter.  LOVE this piece of vintageness as a planter on my fireplace.  I had some ajuga chocolate chip waiting to be planted so I stuck it in there in the meantime until I get the nerve to brave the heat and plant it. The big metal finial that looks like a chess piece came from the new Oak Mountain Emporium.  I’ve got a whole posted lined up to write about that place and all the goodies I found, but it’s a the bottom of my to-do list right now.  Soon, though!

What says summer around my house better than elephant ears?  I have always had success growing elephant ears, so I bundled up a few for today’s photo shoot and stuck them in my galvanized coal scuttle.  Love all their curly edges and fresh green color.

So there ya go!  My Summertime mantel decor for 2013!  Now, I just have to figure out what to do with all the stuff that is sitting around my living room from the deconstruction of my Spring mantel. 

Since some of my blog buddies were discussing the fact that we bloggers only show the pretty pictures and not the ugly ones in our houses, here is a great “Keeping it Real” photo just for you guys. I freely admit it– I don’t finish my painting projects, and I have piles of junk and unfinished business laying all around my house just like everyone else!  Feel free to point and laugh.

Hey guys! Long time, no post. I know. Summertime is kicking my blog’s behind. There is just way more fun stuff going on outside than there is behind this computer screen. I promise I’ll be back in the swing of things soon, but in the mean time, I’ve tag-teamed with Jocie from the awesome blog One Project Closer (The Better Half) to bring you a blog post. She’s going to tell you about painting on glass here on my blog, and you can find my blog post about hosting a swap party over on her blog. Stop by and say hello to her today, please! Welcome, Jocie!

Hi, I’m Jocie (pronounced Jah-see) from OPC’s The Better Half. I live in Baltimore with my hubby, Ethan and two crazy young daughters, Izzie and Lucy. Ethan runs One Project Closer (OPC), a site dedicated to providing free guides to help you DIY like the pros, in addition to giving you the most up-to-date Home Depot discounts, so you can keep on doing the projects you love. OPC’s The Better Half (since I am Ethan’s better half), is all about thrifty and fabulous DIY decor and crafts! Most months I attend a Ladies Craft Night hosted by my in-real-life bloggy friend, Liz from Naptime Decorator. This past month, the theme was glass paint! Surprisingly, I have done very little with glass paint in the past, so I was super excited to give it a try. If you are a glass paint novice like me, here’s the skinny. Glass paint can be bought at your local craft store and online for about $3 – $7 per bottle or paint pen. Several of the big brands sell glass paint, like Martha Stewart and DecoArt. Some paints need to cure for several weeks and others can be cooked prior to use. So, check the bottle! I chose to use Martha Stewart brand glass paint, some of her exclusive glass paint and a little bit of her everywhere paint which can be used on glass, fabric, wood, and plastic. Martha has a great color selection and while slightly more expensive than some other brands, the color choice won out for me! Once I picked my paint, I selected a stencil – not an easy task. There wasn’t a huge selection and wanted a stencil that I could use in different ways to create a variety of looks. I ended up buying a silk screen instead, which is a stencil that has a mesh backing. I ended up LOVING it because it gave an even, thin texture to all of the paint. The silkscreen also washed well for multiple applications. Silkscreens are meant to use a scraper for the application but it costs about $15, so I stuck with the pouncers I already had on hand. Pouncers are awesome for stencils and provide even application without getting paint under the stencil. Finally, I got to work. I like to bring multiple crafts with me because I tend to work quick (even with a glass of wine in my hand, lol). First up was my Dollar Store Vase. Seriously, you can’t beat the Dollar Store – only a dollar for such a pretty, basic vase! After wiping the vase with rubbing alcohol, I removed the back of the silkscreen and firmly stuck it to the vase. I used two different colors and pouncers to carefully apply the paint, then removed the silkscreen while it was still wet. The day after Craft Night, I stopped by Walmart and bought these super pretty flowers for $6 and now they sit on my dining room table! My second glass painting project of the evening was painting coasters. I found unfinished ceramic coasters at Michael’s for $3.99/4! What a deal! I painted a base coat on the coasters using a light gray color (because it was on-hand) and then layered different colors using varying sections of the silkscreen. It turned out so much better than I had thought it would since I was halfway expecting a craft-fail! My third and most time-consuming project of the night was my Dollar Store mug. Sadly, this was the last, lonely mug at the Dollar Store, or I would have made a set. I wish I had some tips, but basically I used a little brush and free-handed the design slowly. For more fun projects and crafts, visit me at The Better Half! You can also connect with me on Facebook and Pinterest. Hope to see you soon!

This past weekend I stumbled upon a treasure trove of vintage Jell-o molds at an antique store liquidation sale.  They were asking $3 each for them, but after some negotiations I got them way, way, WAY down from that price and brought home the entire lot of 40 (FORTY!) Jell-O molds.  I also got them to throw in a bag full of old zinc canning jar lids.   Score! When I got them home I found some of the molds say “Jiffy Jell” which I learned was the precursor to Jell-O that began in 1916! Another mold simply said “Made in England, Nutbrown”  I have no idea what these might be worth (probably nothing), but they came with the lot, so I was excited to get them.

I racked my brain with ideas on how to repurpose these little aluminum goodies.  Since I could picture them in so many different scenarios I knew I could never narrow it down to just one idea.  I decided to dedicate this post to decorating with vintage Jell-O molds for all four seasons.  

Since it’s nearly here, let’s start with summertime. 

These little molds remind me of making sand castles on the beach and they look a little bit like clam shells, so here is a cute vignette with mini-starfish and a pretty blue Ball jar.  Easy breezy.

Squish two Jell-O molds together and you know what you get?  A cute little pumpkin shape!  Perfect for an autumnal arrangement.

Stack layers of different shaped molds into a Christmas tree shape for winter sideboard scene.  The pointy tree toppers?  Those would a pair of vintage salt and pepper shaker lids. 

And finally, spring!  An upside down mold forms the base for another mold to be a pretty egg cup.  Fill the cup with reindeer moss and purple pansies and hydrangeas for a happy springtime scene.

I still have a ton of great ideas to decorate with these cute little guys, but that is a pretty great start! 

Tell me–What would you do with them?  What items are you always on the lookout for when you go to antique and thrift stores?

In 1959 my grandparents bought this small three bedroom house where they lived until they both passed away. My Pop died in 1983, and my Granny in 1999.  Since then my aunt and uncle have owned the house as a rental property.  Recently when they put new siding on the house and updated the inside, they salvaged a lot of the wood from the window and door trim.    For years it’s been on my mind to create a reclaimed wood sign that said “Glory Be!” in honor of my granny’s favorite expression.   “Glory Be!” It was said an exclamation of surprise, or happiness or disgust that she used all the time.  If she saw someone that she hadn’t seen in years…. “Well, Glory Be!”  If she drew a red three while playing Canasta… “Well, Glory Be!”  If I went out on her in Canasta… “Well, Glory Be!” and then she would stick her tongue out at me.  It was one of those all-encompassing phrases where the inflection defined the intent, much like “Bless your heart.”  It’s all in how she said it to you.

When the opportunity presented itself to create a sign using boards from her actual house, Glory Be!  My idea came to fruition pretty easily.  I knew exactly what to do it!  Now let me show you guys how to do what I did with it.

 I started with various widths and lengths of reclaimed lumber that was taken from the walls, door and window trim of my Granny’s old house.  None of the wood was the same size, so I just started laying it out on a big folding table until I found a few color combinations that looked good to me. 

I decided to make a sign for each of my aunts, my mom, my sister and myself to give them for Mother’s Day this year, so I knew I needed to make the wood stretch as far as it would go. I decided to cut them so they made about an 18″x18″ square shape.  I used our compound miter saw to cut the boards and tried not to breathe in any of the lead paint dust.

Then I cut lengths of 1×2 hard maple about 16” long and ran them in the opposite direction from the other boards.   Unfortunately, the first 1×2 split right down the middle when I drilled straight into it, so I had to pre-drill all the holes before I could put a screw into each of the pieces of lumber.  Predrilling kept my boards in tact without splitting them.  I made sure to buy screws that were long enough to go through the 1×2 and bit into the reclaimed wood, but not SO long that they stuck through the front side of the boards.  I found that 2 1/2″ screws worked great.

I used a caulk gun full of PL Premium construction adhesive between each piece of reclaimed wood and on the back of each 1×2 to stick it all together. Every time I ran a bead of glue between those boards I thought about those old Polydent denture commercials, and Glory Be!  That reminded me of my Granny.

 After all the boards were screwed and glued together I left them to sit and dry in my basement for a few days while I worked on the signage part of the project. Then I added a heavy duty hanging kit to the back of each one using D-rings and picture hanging wire.

 Ever since I won the encaustic wax dipped photo of Garrett at an auction a few years back, I have wanted to try to the technique of dipping paper in wax.   I printed out the words “Glory Be!” on regular sheets of vellum paper using the “Freebooter” font.   Then I tore the edges of the paper to help the wax stick to the edges better.

 On my stovetop I placed a pan of water that I heated to a boil, then I sat a square aluminum tray containing plain soy wax into the boiling water which created a double boiler.

  It didn’t take long for the wax to melt down to liquid, and after that I turned the heat down to a simmer.     

 Then I just dipped the vellum into the wax, letting the excess drip off into the pan of wax.  I had another aluminum pan to the side where I could let the wax drip while it cooled.  

 After MULTIPLE dips ( I lost count) I finally started getting that nice thick edge that I was trying to attain on the vellum.  This drippy, ragged edge was my goal, although I don’t think it had as much impact on the plain white vellum as it did on the picture of Garrett from my other piece of artwork.   

Once I got all the signs dipped, I used thumbtacks to attach them to a ragged piece of burlap to “frame” them.  Nothing about these pieces were perfect, so I didn’t try to measure or anything. All of this was simply eyeballed.  

And here is the final result!  One of a kind reclaimed lumber signs from my Granny’s house with her favorite expression on them. The layers of paint and the years of wear are evident on every sign, which is exactly what I wanted.  I love the decades of memories that are etched into every piece of wood. 

 My mom, sister and aunts LOVED their Mother’s Day gifts.   I’m so grateful to my aunt and uncle for taking the time to salvage all that wood and allowing me to chop it up to create these signs. Since the future generations will have no idea where the signs came from, I added a small description to the back of each one that gave my grandparents names, the location of the house and the dates that they owned it.  Hopefully these will be passed down to family members who understand the importance of remembering your roots and honoring your ancestors.  

And also understand that old-fashioned expressions like “Glory Be!” are important Southern semantics that we need to celebrate instead of burying with our Granny’s.

I hope you had an excellent Mother’s Day! 

There are few things in this world I enjoy more than gardening and breathing new life into things that most people would consider old junk bound for the landfill.  When I saw this gorgeous galvanized stacked planter that I saw on Pinterest from the header of The Pink Hammer Blog I KNEW I had to make one of my own.

We have two hundred+ pound labradors that are more like horses than dogs, so I already had a big galvanized tub that we used to use as a puppy hot tub when they were little, and I also had another oblong tub that we used as the dogs water bowl for years.  I found the smaller oblong galvanized bucket at a thrift shop for a dollar and I was in business. 

I drilled holes in all of the buckets using a big drill bit.  A few were for drainage but one was to hold it all together.

We had an old rusty piece of rebar lying around the basement left from the previous owner.  I used my super human strength to bend it a little, then stuck it through all of the buckets to hold them all in place.  The bottom of the rebar is stuck in the ground to anchor it together. 

Then I filled them with garden soil and transplanted some hosta and creeping jenny from my other containers to plant around the base and inside.  I bought the purple moon torenia from Petals from the Past.  It looks great spilling over the bottom container.   All these plants do great in the shade, which is something I have an abundance of at my house.  Training my brain to love shade plants has been a long process, but the transformation is complete.  I love all of these plants! 

My hosta driveway border is looking better than ever thanks to a little bit of sweat and effort. 

So far the deer have left the big hosta alone.  I’d like to think it’s because my dogs are fierce watch dogs, but really I think I’ve just gotten lucky so far.

To be safe, I capped off the end of the border that is closest to the deep woods with a homemade planter of coleus which seems to be a little more deer resistant than the hosta/pasta salad bar. When the previous owners replaced the pool pump he got crafty and cut the pump in half to make two giant planters.  I got J to dig me a hole so this one is buried in the ground a little to take away some of the big grey ugliness of it.

My mama brought me this rustic birdhouse from a trip to NC a few  years ago.   It has a great home in the woods now.  Maybe one day an Appalachian redneck bird family wearing overhauls and no shoes will fly down and lay claim to it.

I am going to get some more spiller plants to go around the rebar in the middle planter but I haven’t made it to the store yet to do that.  I wanted to get it on the blog today since Young House Love and Katie Bower are hosting the Pinterest Challenge.   I’ve been vowing to join in one of their Pinterest challenges for a long time, so here is my chance! Woot!

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately.  How about you?  How is your garden growing?

Hey friends! Welcome to the time of year on the blog when nothing creative seems to be able to emerge from my hands or mouth. That’s right… I’m officially in my annual Springtime blogging funk where I can no longer be trusted to be entertaining, so I am not even going to try. When the weather is perfect and my flower beds start calling my name, I have to answer the call.  I am taking some time away from the computer to actually live my life for a while so that I can come back here and blog about it later.  What a novel idea, huh?

In the meantime, I figured you guys wouldn’t mind if I gave away some REALLY cool stuff to decorate your home, right?

Right.  So, let’s get to it…

Raise your hand if you’re a sucker for gorgeous, hand-painted signs with sayings on them that speak to your heart and spur you into taking some action in your life.   I have been in love with my Beatles quote for a few years now, and it’s still guilts inspires me to try to be a little bit more awesome every time I walk down my staircase and look at it.

So when Tara from Between You and Me offered one of my readers a chance to win one of her gorgeous custom hand painted “Family Rules” signs, I jumped on it. I have admired Tara’s signs for a long time!  In fact, I pinned this sucker a while back hoping to try to DIY one myself, but yeah… that ain’t gonna happen.  Maybe one of my Family Rules should be “Get off Pinterest and actually DO something.” 

These signs are 4 foot wide and 2 feet wide, and they are fully customizable if you order from the Between You and Me Etsy shop. They also have some of my favorite bible verses, lyrics from hymns and just plain old happy sayings in the shop.  Please take a browse and see what I mean.  Imagine what an amazing gift thjs sign would make for Mother’s Day (better hurry!) or Father’s Day?  This week, one lucky person is going to win a Family Rules sign, but the rest of you can take advantage of 10% off in their etsy shop all through May with the coupon code UNSKINNYBOPPY. 

Please enter the Rafflecopter below to be entered to win.  Giveaway will end at Midnight on Tuesday, May 7th, so hurry hurry!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You know how you walk into some fancy home decor boutiques and a delicious smell permeates the whole place you think to yourself, “Man, I wish my house smelled as good as this store!”   Tell me I’m not the only one who does that? Well, I think I have found the answer to all my olfactory wants and wishes.  River City Candle Company has THE most delicious scented candles and tart warmer bricks that not only smell great, but they also come in beautiful packaging AND they are made from 100% natural soy wax, so they burn clean.   

When Kathleen at River City Candles offered to send me her amazing product for me to review and giveaway, she asked me what type of candle scents I liked the best.  I replied back with “Cinnamon/ Vanilla/ Baked Goods/ Holiday smells”.  She totally NAILED it when she sent me a Williamsburg scent, which smells unbelievable.  I wish we had scratch-n-sniff computer screens so you guys could experience this heavenly smell.  It is like walking into a Christmas boutique in the middle of Colonial Williamsburg right after the pretzels and pies and cookies come out of the oven.  Amish sleigh bells might start ring-ting-tingling when you light this candle.  It’s THAT good. 

The two tart warmer wax melts I received are Southern Hospitality and Dreamsicle.  The Dreamsicle one smells exactly like you’d image- a creamy orange Dreamsicle on a hot summer day.  It’s like a time machine that will transport you back to the Ice Cream man’s truck holding a stick of dripping orange ice cream.   Southern Hospitality is another one of those boutique fragrances with hints of brown sugar and pecans.  OMYUM.  Have you ever take the candy factory tour at Preister’s Pecans in Fort Deposit, Alabama?  That is what this candle smells like.  Gooey Pecan pie filling and other deliciousness.

Besides the fact that they arrive in a gorgeous cotton bag with a brown satin ribbon, you might have noticed something else a little different about these candles.  Instead of a wick, River City Candle Company uses a thin stick of wood!  How cool is that?   All candles have wooden wicks that are purchased through a company that practices safe sustainable forestry.

I have never seen a wooden-wicked candle before, so I thought this was very unique!  Plus, they put off more light than a regular wick, and they don’t bend over and get lost in the wax like fabric wicks will.  It took me a few tries to get it lit, but once it was lit it stayed lit for an hour until I blew it out.  Loved this wooden wick!

It’s official, I’m hooked on River City Candle Company and their amazing soy candle scents! I also am proud of the fact that these are made in my home state of Alabama.

Since I love giving a unique candle as a gift, these are perfect for every occasion.  With Mother’s Day coming up, how about filling a gift basket of these pretty candles and wax melts for your mom, mother-in-law or grandmother?  You can order from the River City Candle Etsy shop, or enter the giveaway and hope to win big!  Just be sure to place all orders by May 5th in order to receive them in time for Mother’s Day. 

I’m excited to offer this giveaway to you today from River City Candle Company.  Trust me on this- you’re gonna want to enter this one! The giveaway is open to anyone in the US or Canada age 18 and up. Prizes in the giveaway are to be determined by River City Candle Company but will equal approximately $50 worth of product.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, y’all!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored review and giveaway for River City Candle Company.  All dramatic claims of sleigh bells and ice cream trucks are my own.   These candles will not conjure up any Amish horse and buggies, but they will make your house smell really great.

My front yard is ablaze with color right now.  Pink and fuchsia white and green… the colors of Spring. 

For all of you up North who are still buried under snow, let there be hope in the azaleas.  The first blooms of Spring, the promise of warmth and new life… It’s coming your way. 

Slowly but surely the sunny days will head spread in your direction, opening the buds on your flowers and giving you a renewed sense of happiness after a long bleak winter.   

“Never yet was a Springtime, when the buds forgot to bloom.”  – Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

To download the free azalea quote printable, you can click here.

Save it, print it, wallpaper your house with it. Whatever you do, don’t worry. Be happy!  Spring is here!

 Have you ever had a granola bark that is crispy and crunchy and chewy and perfect that it melts in your mouth with every bite? 

My husband found this little girl named Kayla who sets up a vendor booth at the local farmers market in the summer who makes THE best granola bark.   Every weekend for the past two summers, you could find him loading up our son on early Saturday mornings and heading down to her booth to buy bags of her granola.   Then the summer ends and he starts complaining that he is out of Kayla’s granola.  All winter long, I have to listen to my husband whine that Kayla the granola girl isn’t around.  I’ve been trying to replicate Kayla’s granola to no avail. Finally I started buying Publix granola bark as a semi-decent replacement.  Then, the price of it became pretty ridiculous to justify.  So, I started searching for a good recipe that I could adapt to become my own. When I googled Publix Granola Bark recipe this recipe for  Kathy’s Trail Mix Crunch Chunks came up at the top of the search.   When I made this recipe for the first time, it was the closest I’ve come to what I’ve been searching for.  Now, I’m no Kayla or Publix, but this granola bark is pretty doggone delicious.  After making it and tweaking the recipe for a few months, I feel like I’m finally ready to share it with you here on the blog. 

 I’ve tried several different variations with adding shredded coconut and peanut butter.  I’ve made it without the chocolate and added cherries and walnut instead of raisins.  It’s one of those recipes that you can play around with and adapt to make it your own.   I also like to add protein, flax seed and wheat germ.  These are not required for the recipe, but they do add some nutritional value.  No matter how I tweak it, Garrett and J and I all love it! 

So, without further ado, here is the recipe! 

Chocolate Granola Bark

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

A chewy, crunchy, satisfying granola recipe with a hint of dark chocolate and cinnamon.

Author: Beth Bryan

Recipe type: Snacks

Cuisine: american

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
• ½ cup sunflower seeds
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• ½ cup Craisins
• ¼ cup raisins
• 2 oz dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt sweet dark chocolate)
• Optional: 1 scoop vanilla or chocolate flavored whey protein powder
• Optional: 2 T. flax seed
• Optional: 2 T. wheat germ
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 2 T. Karo syrup (you can substitute honey or agave nectar)
• 1 T. maple syrup
• 5 T. butter
• 2 T. milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, craisins, raisins, chocolate and optional ingredients.
3. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat, then stir in brown sugar, Karo or honey, maple syrup, cinnamon, butter and milk. Bring to a rolling boil, then boil for approximately 1-2 minutes longer.
4. Remove from heat and add vanilla flavoring.
5. Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
6. Spread out onto well-greased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, then cool and store in an airtight container.
8. For regular granola, leave out the chocolate. Add shredded coconut or peanut butter for variations.

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