Hello and happy summer! 
With all the sunny weather we've been having I have been busy setting up our deck once again and planting all of the herbs and flowers we will be enjoying over the summer. I've definitely packed about as much as I can into a very small space but there was one wall in particular that was lacking a certain something. We love the idea of having a little oasis that we can step out into (the deck is just off of our kitchen) so the more green in the space, the better. I have always loved the look of vertical gardens, and I needed to re-home some succulents that were outgrowing their pots so it was the perfect time to make one. It was really easy and so far (about two weeks on) it's doing really well!

What you'll need:

* A box
* Landscape material 
* moss
* Chicken wire or other
* Staple gun (optional as nails would work too)
* Succulent friendly soil
​* Succulents!
* Scissors (Tin cutters are great but are optional- they just make cutting the wire really easy!)

** I went to local craft store Michael's and just picked up two shallow(ish) wooden boxes- they're 3" deep to be exact. If your box doesn't come with hanging hardware already installed make sure you do this before starting as tilting a box full of soil to install mounting hardware is a little difficult (I speak from experience...sigh).

Step 1: Line the box with landscaping material. I used a staple gun to do this, which worked well.

Step 2: Fill the box with succulent appropriate soil
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​Step 3: Place a layer of sphagnum moss on top off soil. 

Step 4: Cut wire slightly larger than the dimensions of your box and staple around the inside edge.

Step 5: Now comes the fun part of placing your succulents. You may need to cut the wire in order for them to fit comfortably.

Step 6: Once you're placed the succulents and are happy with the layout, fill in the bare spots with more Sphagnum moss. I let the box sit, as is, for about a week before mounting it on the wall so the plants would have a chance to root before going vertical. I did find that some of the succulents I transplanted needed a bit of extra support so I just place a wire across them to secure them to the wire mesh and that worked well. Happy planting!

It is truly amazing how quickly time flies. It seems like it was only yesterday that we were bringing Henry home from the hospital and already we are celebrating his first birthday and the little person he has become. 

My sister in law kindly hosted the party so we could celebrate with our friends and family in Vancouver. I decided on a Safari/Jungle theme and despite the logistical nightmare of transporting 8ft palm trees from Victoria and having half of my party supplies not arrive in time, we managed to pull everything together and 'The Walker Watering Hole' looked very jungle-like on the day!

It was a lot of fun making little things to go with the Jungle theme like birthday hats for the 'party animals' and cake bunting and a pin the tail on the Boar game. I'm also so glad we included some personal touches like the Instax photo garland so we could share some of the special moments Henry has experienced in his first year. 

As first birthday's go, Henry's was a success- he had milk tart and carrot cake and played with ribbon and boxes (and sometimes the presents that came in them) and had endless cuddles from the people who love him.

 

One thing I remember very fondly about my childhood is my love of forts. Who doesn't want a cozy hideaway all their own? Admittedly, Henry may be too young to appreciate the fun of forts right now but my nostalgia got the best of me and I couldn't resist making a teepee for him anyway. Until he's ready to play in it his cousins will be more than happy to make good use of it when they come to visit...and as it happens I'm able to squeeze in there too ;)

There are some pretty amazing teepee designs out there and I was definitely inspired to try some larger outdoor versions, but since this one was going to go in Henry's room I had to be mindful of size. Because Henry's room (and every room in our house) is quite small I decided to use 4 dowels instead of 5 to make it a bit more compact as it will probably be moving around the house quite a bit. A really nice feature of this DIY is that even though it looks like it takes up a lot of room, it can be easily folded and stored away!

Materials:

4 x  6' dowels 
9' x 12' canvas drop cloth like this one from Amazon
​Sisal rope 
​6 Grommets with grommet tool
​Leather cord 
Drill and Forstner bit (optional)
​6 screws and washers
​Optional: string lights/ feather garland

Drill a hole about 7" from the top of each dowel, making sure it's large enough to accommodate the width/diameter of the rope.

Feed the rope through the first dowel and secure with a knot. Depending on the rope you're using it may be helpful to burn/melt the end of it to prevent fraying making it easier to put through the holes. Feed the rope through another dowel and wrap it around to secure it. Arrange the dowels in the teepee formation with the front poles slightly wider than the back, as you feed and wrap the remaining two dowels. When you have all 4 poles in position weave the rope over and under and wrap around all poles a couple of times as well. 

I decided to include supports to keep the teepee legs in place, but this isn't necessary. I just didn't want things shifting as kids were clambering in and out, especially since it would probably spend most of it's time on hardwood floors which are slippery. I cut two pieces of wood we had around the house into equal lenghs and drilled 7/8" holes 43" apart. The teepee legs sat nicely in the holes and kept everything in place. I also tied a piece of string between the back two legs (at the top) to prevent them from sliding too far apart and this worked really well. 

Arranging the canvas was a bit awkward at first because the size I ordered was a bit too long.
After ironing out the creases, I draped the material over the frame and had my husband hold it in place while I cut away the excess material which made it much easier to work with. At this point you want to make sure that the fabric closes nicely at the front, before you secure it. ​

To secure the canvas to the frame, I started with one screw (with washer) at the back and then put another screw and washer in the two front poles. When everything was where I wanted it I also put screws in the bottom of each dowel so the material would remain nice and tight when the teepee was fully open. 

To give the teepee a cozier feel I wanted to close the top a little bit. I used three grommets on each side, spaced about 2 inches apart and then tied it up using leather cord. This part is totally optional but I really love the character it gives it as well. If you're looking for more ideas for things to decorate your teepee with check out my feather garland and felt campfire DIYs! String lights are always a great addition too!

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I was trolling Pinterest recently for things I could make to go with Henry's teepee and I came across this adorable felt campfire! It was really easy to make and I can barely sew a straight line, so don't be intimidated if hand sewing is not your forte! 

I used regular felt from the craft store and embroidery floss in complimentary colours. I wanted each flame to be different so I didn't use one template, I just drew the outline for each flame in chalk, cut it out and then traced the bigger flame onto the piece of felt I would use for the smaller/inside flames so I would know the shape they would need to be. Make sure you cut two pieces of each large flame as one will be used for the back.

When I had the 3 shapes for each flame I sewed small flame to the medium and then sewed the medium to the large and then sewed the back onto the large flame leaving a gap so I could stuff it. When the three flames were complete I just sewed them together. 

​The logs were easy too and all three are different. For each, I folded the sheet of brown felt in half lengthwise and drew the shape of the log with chalk and then cut it out so it would have the front and back exactly the same. I then drew the bark designs I wanted and sewed along them with embroidery floss which was the same shade as the felt I would use for the ends of the logs. After this was done I attached the front and back of the log by sewing together both sides, leaving the ends of the log open. 

Next, I needed to make the ends of the logs in the lighter felt. I just turned the sewn log onto its end and traced around the log end to make the right sized circle. Cut out the circle and the sew concentric rings in the matching lighter floss and repeat for the other log-end. 

Sew one log end onto the log and then stuff the log before attaching the second log end. 

I decided to make some rocks for the fire to sit on and these were made exactly the same way and took about 7 min each! 

Don't you love making things that can be used for one application and then repurposed?  This feather garland is the perfect project as it can be used in lots of different ways like décor for weddings, nurseries, parties etc. and best of all, it's so quick and easy to make! I made mine to put around a teepee I'm making for Henry, but until that's finished I've hung it on the mantle in the living room and to be honest, it's so pretty it might just stay there for a while :)

What you'll need:

​Feathers! I found mine at Plumule Feathers on Etsy

​Paint: I just used gold acrylic paint that I already had and it worked well.

Glitter

​String, twine or ribbon....whatever you want to use!

​Glue gun and hairspray (both optional)

Step 1

​I applied the paint to the end of the nude colour feathers with a paintbrush and then used my fingers to "feather" it out toward the middle so it gave a slight ombre look.

Step 2

Gently sprinkle the glitter on the wet paint. Repeat with all feathers and then let dry. I gave them a light spray with hair spray to help secure the glitter but this isn't necessary.

Step 3

​I attached the first feather in the middle of my twine and worked outward spacing them 9 inches apart. I just tied a knot around the stem and secured it with a dollop of hot glue to ensure they weren't going anywhere. And that's it! Enjoy :)

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My husband Scott is a collector of vintage 1977-'85 Star Wars action figures. He's spent many hours trolling eBay for steals and has amassed a pretty sweet collection which he finally admits is *almost* complete- it's just missing the elusive blue Snaggletooth. Since he's on the home stretch, he had been looking for a while for a display case that would be exactly the right dimensions to house his collection of figures. All 101 of them. We looked around but couldn't find any shadow boxes that were the right size so we decided to make one. Determining what materials to use and it's design was definitely an exercise in trial and error, but eventually we got there! Now Scott has a pretty cool place where all his figures can be showcased together. Below is a rundown of how we made it:

Have you ever wanted to make your own soap but, like me, the thought of working with lye put you off a little? A great alternative is the simple melt and pour method. It's so easy, takes very little time and the results are awesome~ you can avoid handling the chemicals and still create amazing handmade soap. 

What you'll need:

Soap base

Silicone mold 

Soap fragrance/ essential oil (optional)

​Crushed lavender (optional)

Recently, good friends of ours had their first baby and I jumped at the opportunity to make another mobile. I decided on a coral reef theme as baby Ryker's mom studied marine biology and I thought the fish would also be really fun and colourful. I did things a little differently this time from the previous mobile (see woodland mobile) and I think it turned out pretty well!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fabulous holiday season! With all the socializing and celebrating this time of year brings it's no surprise that all those seasonal cocktails have inspired this latest blog post. I think you'll all agree that festive mingling is made all the more enjoyable when accompanied by the perfectly mixed drink which made me appreciate the importance of having a well stocked bar cart especially when entertaining at home. Take a peek at what I came up with:

Oh baby it's finished!!!! The nursery is complete and I am so excited to share the results with you! What used to be a spare room with cracked plaster walls and the remnants of 50+ year old wallpaper has become a cozy nest into which we can't wait to welcome our little man...which should be any day now!

My husband Scott is from South Africa and when we found out we were having a boy we intended to do a safari theme but in the end we decided on a general animal theme which we had a lot of fun with- especially finding so many unusual stuffed animals! I'm convinced now that no nursery is complete without a sloth!

What I really loved about creating this space was being able to add so many handmade items including the mobile, squirrel painting and animal planters. Aside from repairing cracked walls, the other big issue I had was scale. If you too are struggling with a small room for your nursery I can't recommend CIL Dove White paint enough. I really wanted the room to feel light and airy (because it is such a tiny space) and this paint colour accomplished that. Once I had established a wall colour (which was harder than you might think!) and accepted I couldn't cram in ALL the cute things but instead had to stick to a general theme, the rest was easy and so much fun! 

| Mobile Frugal in Fairfield DIY |

Interested in adding a personal touch to your nursery? A mobile is an effective (and easy!) way to do just that. And as an added bonus, I discovered making one is also a really great way to pass the time if you're on bed rest and have run out of things to watch on Netflix!

I was in Anthropolgie recently and saw these super cute animal planters and knew they would be the  perfect addition to the animal themed nursery we are planning.
​To make my own I used air-dry clay and acrylic paint and what I loved about this project is that you can make them as realistic or not as you like and they will look great either way. I chose to use small pots inside instead of planting directly in the planter, but if you decide to plant directly inside make sure you use the appropriate clay in order to fire them so that you can water the plants without damaging your beautiful planter. 

What you'll need:
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1. Soy wax. I used a 4lb bag of Artminds Soy Wax Flakes which yielded 12 candles, various sizes.

2. Thermometer. 

3. Votive or jar

6. Wicks. You can use wood wicks or traditional wicks, I used Artminds wood wicks for the larger jars and regular wicks for the smaller ones, both worked well. 

I made a pipe shelving unit recently (check it out here) and had some extra wood left over which was perfect for this next project. Since the shelves were going on the deck to house my veggies, I thought it would be nice to use the same wood in the same space. The off-cuts happened to be the ideal size for hanging shelves and I think they ended up complementing the pipe shelves perfectly! 

Hi guys! I'm really excited to FINALLY share this project with you! I built these shelves to house the herbs and such I've planted out on the patio and I'm so happy with how it turned out. Below are some things I learned along the way that might help you if you're planning on making pipe furniture in the future: