Thoughts of Home on Thursday #25

Welcome to week 25 of Thoughts of Home on Thursday. We love having you share your favorite home projects with us.

Your hostess this week is Laura of Decor to Adore. She recently shared a few ideas for an Easy Summer Party.  The post includes a fun summertime song playlist. 

Here are this week's fabulous and fun features:
Decorating
You have to see the lovely one month backyard makeover H20 Bungalow designed.

Recipes
A Worthey Read  serves up the perfect drink for a hot summer day  the Peach Strawberry Rum Mojito. 

Gardening
Make sure you check out Ramblings of a Southern Girl's Five Clever Way to Display Crepe Myrtles. 

Petticoat Junktion will surely inspire everyone to Hang Onto Your Drawers!

DIY
A truly gorgeous DIY is this Mini Garden Conservatory by Old Things New.

We ask that you please: 

 1. Link back to this post or any of the four hosts websites. 

 Laura of White Spray Paint 

Laura at Decor to Adore

 Jemma of At Home With Jemma 

Stacey of Poofing the Pillows 

 2. Share up to three of your favorite posts, remembering to not link to advertising or shops. By linking up you are providing permission that Thoughts of Home on Thursday can feature your post and accompanying photos on future blog posts or other forms of social media such as Facebook and Instagram. A link back to your blog will always be provided. 

Thank you so very much for gathering with us and we hope to see you each and every week at Thoughts of Home on Thursday. We can’t wait to see what you share.

Thoughts of Home on Thursday #24

Welcome to week 24 of Thoughts of Home on Thursday.

Our hostess this week is Laura from White Spray Paint. 

All of us at Thoughts of Home appreciate your participation and your creativity.

You are all gifted bloggers .

Now to this week's features.

Recipe 

Liz at Eat Move Make shares a recipe for 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Jello Pie that is

as pretty as it sounds delicious.

Decor

Maria at Simple Nature Decor shares her lovely home

from a recent summer home tour.

Inspiration

Leslie at Gwen Moss Blog

inspires us as only she can in a wise post about owning our story.

DIY

Mickey of My Bashful Life shares her wonderful DIY party decor.

Garden

And Amy of Get Busy Gardening shares her suggestions for 15 Colorful Plants for Shade Gardens.

We ask that you please: 

 1. Link back to this post or any of the four hosts websites. 

 Laura of White Spray Paint 

Laura at Decor to Adore

 Jemma of At Home With Jemma 

Stacey of Poofing the Pillows 

 2. Share up to three of your favorite posts, remembering to not link to advertising or shops. By linking up you are providing permission that Thoughts of Home on Thursday can feature your post and accompanying photos on future blog posts or other forms of social media such as Facebook and Instagram. A link back to your blog will always be provided. 

Thank you so very much for gathering with us and we hope to see you each and every week at Thoughts of Home on Thursday. We can’t wait to see what you share.

Give Away!

Loving and Caring for Our Backyard Pond

How do I love the pond...let me count the ways.

Y'all this pond is the best! These days we are all so technology driven but nature is really where it's at and a pond brings nature to you. Even in our small backyard the pond has completely changed the environment.  We are hosts to birds, beneficial insects, lizards, and other critters that come in the night.  Many of you have asked about snakes....snakes are certainly a possibility. The key is to be familiar with the snakes in your area and to know that most are harmless and helpful.

The care and maintenance of the pond is minimal. Our pond has a skimmer that pulls water in and catches floating debris, a UV filter system to help control algae growth, then there's the waterfall which oxygenates the water. We have been using a tiny bit of algaecide once per week because our pond is in full sun. Our goal is to cover half of the water surface with plants. The plants help with all aspects of the habitat. We also add water every few days.

With the pond at our last house, we drained a good bit of the water once per year to clean things up and I suspect we will do the same here.  The filters have to be cleaned at that time too.

The fish are like little puppies that come to us now when we walk to the pond.

The frogs are happily living here and sing out loud every night.

If you've ever thought of building a pond as a DIY project, I urge you to give it a try. It's not as hard as it might seem and the joy you get in return is well worth the effort. Thank you to SmartPond for sponsoring this pond project. If you are interested in trying this yourself, the parts can all be purchased at Lowe's.   I'll buy ya a Diet Coke if you'll pin this. :)

Building a Backyard Pond Part 1 Building a Backyard Pond Part 2 Building a Backyard Pond Part 3 Building a Backyard Pond Part 4 

Thoughts of Home #23

Welcome to Week 23 of Thoughts of Home On Thursday!

We had such an amazing party last week because of each one of you, sharing your time

and talents with us and we thank you ever so much!

Our hostess this week is Jemma and she has been creating a project for the

Sweet Tea fabric challenge using sweet tea charm packs.

Stop by and visit Poofing The Pillows and Decor To Adore too, to see where their creativity

took them in this challenge.

So, here we go with this weeks features!

Decorating

If you have ever wondered how to arrange flowers, search no more.

Barb from The Everyday Home, shows us step by step how to create a stunning

arrangement for your home.

Recipes

Everyday Savvy shared these cute and clever cupcakes with us and some creative

theme parties as well.

Inspiration

When I think of Summer time fun I think of trips!

Sweet Parrish Place shows us how to pack and keep the load light, while not having to

skimp on our wardrobe!

Gardening

Succulents are the new way to garden and they do so well indoors and out.

Love this coffee table succulent Garden that On Sutton Place Shared.

DIY

Patina and Paint, found her deal of the day with these precious pendant lights and her

hubby installed them too.

We ask that you please:

1. Link back to this post or any of the four hosts websites.

Laura of White Spray Paint

Laura at Decor to Adore

Jemma of At Home With Jemma

Stacey of Poofing The Pillows

2. Share up to three of your favorite posts, remembering to not link to advertising or shops.

By linking up you are providing permission that Thoughts of Home on Thursday can feature your post and accompanying photos on future blog posts or other forms of social media such as Facebook and Instagram. A link back to your blog will always be provided. Thank you so very much for gathering with us and we hope to see you each and every week at Thoughts of Home on Thursday. We can’t wait to see what you share.

Three No Sew and Barely Sew Fabric Projects

Hi friends! Recently a group of bloggers gathered together for friendship and creative fun. 

Karianne of Thistlewood Farms joined us and she generously gifted each of us with charm packs of her new Hoffman Fabrics Sweet Tea line.  On that day a challenge was born for each of us to create things from her fabric.  Heart attack time for me because I don't sew!

With a little thought and involvement with my handsome son, we came up with three projects to share with you today.

1.  Fancy & Fashionable Flower

This sweet little flower now serves as an embellishment on my tried and true denim jacket. How did I make this? Four flower petals cut out of fabric with a few hand stitches in the middle.

 I sewed the gem on by hand with just a few stitches too. 

This took about 15 minutes and I love it!

2.  Bookmark

The bookmark is just a pocket sewn with the sewing machine that has cardboard inside. I made the tassel by cutting an embroidery thread packet in half and tying around the loop. This couldn't be any easier and it was fun. :)

3. Decoupage a Monogram

Of course we all love monograms and adding fun fabric to your letter of choice makes a personal statement. My son made this with Mod Podge, scissors, and a pen to trace the letter. Another 15 minute project. 

There are many beautiful colors in the Sweet Tea Fabric line but I was obviously a little bit in love with the navy fabrics. This challenge taught me something - don't let your lack of skills stop you from trying something new!

Thanks Karianne and friends for raising the bar on creativity! Linking with: Show & Share   Tuesdays at Our Home     Share Your Cup    The Inspiration Board   Sizzle into Summer   Talk of the Town   Welcome Home Wednesday Your Inspired Design

Beautifully Contained

Let's just all stop a moment and admire this pearly white beauty of a cookie jar
with a glass doorknob pull.

Isn't she lovely?
I can imagine sticking my hand in for a wonderful homemade chocolate chip cookie.

*This post contains affiliate links for which you will not be charged extra if you make a purchase.

I spotted her awhile back at a friend's house and she's been haunting my dreams!

This led me on a search and I found that Mud Pie makes this wonderful cookie jar along with some other beauties you might want to incorporate into your kitchen.

Isn't the candy dish adorable? I love the spoon.

This veggie bowl is elegant but the spoon adds a whimsical flair.

This salt and pepper set  would be fun in every season.

So what have I gotten? 

My dad gave me a gift certificate a couple of weeks ago and this is what I got.

This canister set is now the crown jewel of my kitchen. :)

Do you have a canister set in your kitchen?

Here's the real question...do you use it?

Linking with: 

Amaze Me Monday   Inspiration Monday   Inspire Me Monday   The Scoop

Make It Pretty Monday   Inspire Me Tuesday   The Inspiration Board   Sizzle Into Summer

Talk of the Town   Welcome Home Wednesday   Share Your Cup   

Share Your Style   Your Inspired Design

There are no words to express the shock and sadness for the loss of our Dallas Police officers. Please pray for everyone involved.