Re-purposed Candle Jar

If you are like me you may have candles that are almost gone or that are empty sitting around your house.  Don't throw them out.  Re-purpose them!  I love the candles and jars from Bath and Body Works.  The jars the candles come in are classic and simple and can be easily re-purposed for many different things.

How to remove candle wax from a glass jar and re-purpose
1.  After you have burned all you can from the candle, put the jar in the freezer for a couple hours or longer
2.  Remove from freezer and the wax should easily come out.  I used a butter knife around the edges and was able to get the wax out in a few pieces, in about 30 seconds.  I pried the wicks off the bottom with the butter knife too.
3.  Remove the labels.  The labels from Bath and Body Works candles peel off very easily and I was able to get the big sticker on the bottom off with a little hot water.  Just a little tip, don't put the cold jar into hot water, it could break from the extreme temperature change.  I was able to remove all the labels within a few minutes.
4.  Wash your jar.  I always hand wash mine and put it through the dishwasher.
5.  Fill with almost anything.  The only thing I wouldn't recommend putting in there is food, just because of what was in there before.  I filled mine with bath salts, q-tips, gauze pads and hair ties, bobby pins, etc.

I think the jars look pretty good on my bathroom shelf, don't you?

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Cheers to Year Six

Chris and I are celebrating six years of marriage today! 

Here's a fun little poem I wrote for him!

What a year

It was sure full of cheer

I am grateful for you

and all that you do

I've never been more happy

I don't want to make this too sappy

Our favorite game is Catan

You are my number one man

We enjoy our Champagne

That one we like, starts with Domaine

This year we made a lot of toasts

I even took a picture of a ghost

You make life so much fun

We sure enjoy our time in the sun

You do all that it takes

We had an awesome time at a few different lakes

Thank you for all your support

Next week we have a date, in court

I love you more and more

and I'm so happy you do not snore

Hope this next year brings us good health

And it wouldn't hurt to have a little more wealth

Husband and wife

Best friends for life

Save your best for your spouse, no one deserves it more!

Cheers to Year Six!

2013 Goals

My 2013 Goals

Things I Want to Work On & Accomplish

1. Continue weekly posts on Thursdays, here on Champagne Thursdays - This was a goal of mine from last year and I'm happy to say that I posted something every Thursday of 2012.
2. Grow and promote my Rodan + Fields business - https://yates.myrandf.com & https://yates.myrandf.biz
3. Cook more often, eat out less
4. Get Organized - 
1. Clean out closets, drawers, etc.
2. Have a Garage Sale
3. Use stuff up
4. Get rid of stuff we don't need anymore - Yesterday, I brought an old car battery to the recycling center, that had been sitting in our garage for over a year and got $8 for it.
5. Go on more dates with my husband
6. Start and finish projects I've been wanting to work on
7. Spend time with my family and friends
8. Go someplace I've never been before

Did any of you set New Year's resolutions or goals for yourself?  Care to share them with us?

Happy Champagne Thursdays!

Happy New Year!

Cheers to a wonderful 2013!

Super Champagne Thursday

I'm excited to share this super-sized bottle (1.5 L) of Champagne with some friends sometime soon.  It was Christmas gift from my aunt!  Santa brought the little personal sized bottle (187 ml) to Chris for Christmas.   

Happy Super-Sized Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Happy Everything!

Wishing each and everyone of you a fabulous holiday season!  

Hope you are all surrounded by the ones you love!

Cheers!

My New Throne

Every girl deserves her own throne, don't you think?  It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but the chair is quite a bit larger than your average chair, that's why I call it my throne.  I found the chair at an estate sale that I helped my mom with last Summer.  In exchange for my help with the sale, I scored this chair and a few other items.  The fabric and padding on the chair were pretty gross, so they both came off before I even left the sale.  

I started by giving it a quick sand, then two coats of spray primer followed by a few coats of Rust-Oleum white spray paint.  I bought some new foam padding at Jo-Ann's Fabric and used a 40% off coupon.  It took me a couple of different trips to Jo-Ann's to find the fabric, were kind of limited on fabric choices here in Missoula, MT.  I wanted something fun and bright and I knew this fabric was perfect, once I finally found it.  I traced an outline of the seat on the foam padding and then cut it out and used a little glue to attach the foam to the seat.  Then came the fun part, I used my staple gun to secure the fabric to the seat.  I lined up the fabric where I wanted it, then stapled each side, pulling it tight and finished with the corners.  I did my best to make the corners look nice and neat, but it wasn't that big of a deal because they were covered up with the posts of the chair.  And lastly, I screwed in the seat to the chair to complete the project.  It's currently hanging out in our guest room, but will normally be in our sitting room.  I moved it temporarily while our Christmas decorations are out.  

I love the lines of the chair and the fun fabric.  Our furniture is pretty neutral, so its fun to add a little something out of my comfort zone into the mix.  And its something that can be changed easily and inexpensively if I get tired of it. 

Before

Fun Fabric

Staple Gun Fun

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Superhero Party

This year has been all about Superheros around our house, so of course we had to go with a Superhero theme for the birthday party.  Since Parker and Ryder's birthdays are only ten days apart, we did a joint birthday party.  I figured I'd only be able to do that one or two times before they each want their own party, so I better take advantage of it now.

Decor

I was able to use a lot of the decor from Parker's room for the party, which was great.  I wrapped some empty boxes in black wrapping paper and added yellow construction paper for windows and had them set up in a few places around the house for some skyline decor.  I found some free superhero printables on Pinterest and made my own cupcake and cake toppers.  The napkins, party favor bags and birthday banner I found on clearance at Walmart a few months ago.

I cut out a cardboard number "1" and "4" and made photo collages of the boys the past year.  They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Games

There were no organized games at the party, but we did give all the boys little Nerf guns and had pictures of Superhero Villains aka "bad guys," hung up around house for them to shoot.  There were also superhero masks, capes and tattoos to wear.  We had a 'guess how many pieces of candy are in the jar' and whoever was closest got the jar of candy.  

I set up a Superhero photo booth to get some fun pictures.  It was pretty much impossible to get a good shot of all the boys.  Imagine that.  I wish we would have gotten a few more pictures with the photo booth, but oh well.

Party Favors

Since it was a Superhero party and all we gave everyone The Avengers DVD and the kiddos got take home their nerf guns, more tattoos, stickers and candy.

Overall it is what you would expect from four year old and one year old's party, complete chaos, but I think everyone had fun!

Superhero Cupcakes

Ryder's Cake

Party Favors

Superhero canvases from Parker's room

Tattoos, masks, glow sticks, Nerf guns and Villains to find around the house

Superhero Villians

Parks and his Grandpas

Parker and Grandma

Parker and his Aunt Suzanna

Ryder and Grandpa

P and his new Batman

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!