Our First Giveaway!

I am so excited to be announcing that the Bird and the Berry will be having its first giveaway next month! Brought to you by my sponsor

I will be giving away a half gallon bottle of citristrip gel.

Which is a powerful, industrial-strength remover. It is easy to use because it stays wet and active for up to 24 hours, allowing stripping of multiple layers in one step. It contains no methylene chloride, is non-caustic and is safe for indoor use. This special orange stripper has a pleasant citrus scent and is also biodegradable. I have used it for many of my projects and have talked about it on the blog before. I am so excited for one lucky reader to be able to try it out! Citristrip products are available for purchase at both The Home Depot and Lowe's and can be purchased online at The Home Depot.

The giveaway will start on April 12th and end on April 17th at midnight. You can secure one entry for this giveaway RIGHT NOW by becoming a follower of this blog (button located in the side bar).

More information on rules and how to gain other entries for this giveaway will be provided in the official contest post on April 12th.

Bake Sale Baby!

I keep forgetting to share this on the blog. Awhile back the Husband and I decided that we wanted to take a trip to Southern California this summer. We had even more incentive since Disney was doing their day of service campaign, where if you signed up to do a day of service with a registered organization you could get free tickets to one of their theme parks. So I got online and signed up for a day of service that sounded right up my alley. A Bake Sale! It is a bake sale with Bake for Hope, which benefits Susan G Komen for the Cure. Anyone can be apart of it and you can make it as big or little a deal as you would like. We are going to be holding ours for our neighborhood and are just going to set-up in the front yard.

I plan on passing these flyers out door to door a couple days before the bake sale and then baking my little heart out and hoping for the best.

I really want the husband to make this for me for the bake sale (I found it online, but can't remember where, sorry). Out-look not so good though. When I told him what my ideas were he just looked at me and said "I might as-well just buy our Disney Land tickets". Which would probably be true if I did everything I wanted to. I just have big visions. Hopefully I can scale back a bit, but still have the cutest Bake Sale the neighborhood has ever seen. Mark my words though one day I will build that. Jayna would love it, and so would I.

Side Note: You have to know how many projects my husband helps with and does. He makes all my visions and dreams come true. We are always teasing each other and anything I say about him is all in good fun. Just wanted you to get the tone I was saying that in.

I plan on mostly making cupcakes.

Then having fun side things like chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles, bags of candied jewels, maybe some cake pops, jars of pre-made cookie mix, etc.

I just hope people come. So come if you would like.

*For information on where and when the bake sale will be, or files for the flyer shown in this post click here.

I Am Ready To Feature Your Projects!

I am finally ready to feature your projects! I am super excite to see what you have to share, and what you have been up-to.

To have your projects featured on the Bird and the Berry simply click on the logo that looks like this on the top portion of the side bar...
Fill out the quick and easy form and your project will be submitted for review to be featured on the Bird and the Berry.

Who knows maybe one day soon I will have one of those link parties.

Knock Off Wood

If you have not heard of the Blog Knock Off Wood you need to get with it. In my opinion it is the biggest thing to hit the DIY Blogging world in a long time.

Ana of Knock Off Wood an Alaskan mommy and wife to a carpenter handy-man took things into her own hands one day when her husband wasn't getting around to fixing some porch steps, and just fixed them herself. Ana has been doing woodworking ever since and now her passion for knocking off high end furniture lines (hmm hmm Pottery Barn hmm hmm) has spilled over into the blog world and is inspiring everyone. Ana has full how to plans for beds, dressers, dining-room tables, office systems and more available on her blog, for get this... FREE!

My list of things to build off her site is a mile long. Starting with all the furniture for my soon to be craft-room of my dreams. However I did see this cute little kids picnic bench on her site and had to build it for Jayna.

It was a great starter project to get my feet wet, and went fairly well. I only needed the Husbands help to cute four pieces, and am sure that what I learned while doing this project will just make me better on the next. It is all about not underestimating yourself or your abilities, and that could be the single reason why Ana's blog is so popular.

I have already ordered my Milk Paint and Exterior Top-Coat in Buttermilk Yellow for the picnic bench, and with the help of Jayna have already distressed it a little. I didn't know a two year old could do such damage banging an old hinge on wood. Oh-well.

I encourage you to check out her blog, but only if you are ready to triple your to do list.

Grass Terrarium

I spotted these grass terrariums over at Monkey See - Monkey Do and just had to post about them. They look so fun and easy to do if I can figure out where to buy the wheat berries. Anyone know where? What a fun spring / easter craft to do with kids, and they only take about 5 days to sprout. I am all about instant gratification, so this is something I can handle. I am afraid I will make tons of these and put them everywhere though. They just look so fresh and beautiful.

For the full how to head over to Yolanda's blog.

The New Addition

This is the new addition to our family that we got yesterday. I am still having mixed feelings about it, because to me it is in-between cute old truck and white trash truck. I am glad it will solve all of our "how do we get this?" and "how do we get rid of this" problems though.

This getting a truck thing started last week when we realized we have no way to get rid of a ton of sand in a huge ghetto sandbox in the backyard to make way for our landscaping projects we want to do this year. So naturally this week we bought a truck. Ridiculous! It was only $1000 and we bought it from a kid who got it from his grandpa and had been fixing it up forever. It is embarrassingly loud with duel exhausts (just like a 20 year old boy would like). I have to admit it is fun to drive and ride in though, and will for-sure add a sense of adventure to all our future Ikea and Home Depot runs.

Don't laugh, but I had to call the fire-department to see if it was even legal to put Jayna in her car-seat in this truck. It was, in-fact they said the older trucks are safer because they have no airbags, although I do not think we will be driving on the free-way with her in this truck anytime soon. So last night we drove to In and Out Burger for dinner no license plates and all and then went to Lowes to look at some things. There is something about driving an old truck to get burgers that is so right and 100% American. It was a blast!

I told Ryan that it was my the Bird and the Berry truck and he got really disgusted and told me "We are not Bird and the Berrying this thing up". I am guessing that means I can not put my blog logo on it or reupholster the bench seat in a print or tweed. But we will see about that.

The Kitchen Pantry: A Brief History

I found this post on the history of pantries over at AT and thought it was really interesting so I just had to repost it. I remember looking at a house for sale once that had a hallway before the kitchen that still had flour and sugar bins in the wall from way back in the day. It was really cool.

The word “pantry” comes from the Old French word “paneterie” meaning from “pain”, the French word for bread. In medieval times food and supplies were stored in specific rooms: meats were stored in a larder, alcohol stored in the buttery and bread was stored in the pantry.

The butler’s pantry was traditionally used to store silver, serving pieces and other kitchen related items. Because the silver was kept under lock and key in the butler’s pantry the butler would actually sleep in the pantry to guard against thievery. Nowadays, modern homes have butler’s pantries usually located off the kitchen or between the kitchen and the formal dining room. Typically you will find countertop space to rest food or to prepare the dishware prior to serving.

In pre-war America smaller homes did not have closets, cabinets or pantries for food and kitchen storage. In the early 1900’s the Hoosier Cabinet, made by the Hoosier Manufacturing Company in Indiana, was created to be an all-in-one pantry and kitchen for the new American home. Most Hoosier Cabinets stood about six feet high, four feet wide and about two feet deep – making it a perfect size for small kitchens. The cabinet was typically sold with built in storage bins and containers for everyday items like flour, sugar, coffee, tea and household spices. Variations of this cabinet can still be found today on sites like Ebay.

In Japan the “Mizuya Tansu” cabinet was created for kitchens. Similar to the Hoosier Cabinet, the tansu had various compartments and work surfaces, and often took advantage of vertical space to make the kitchen more functional. Read more about the elaborate tansu history here.

Pictures: Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

For the Love of Cans

This is the current state of my pantry, and it is driving me crazy. I love my orchard baskets and the few jars and containers I do have, but I for-sure need more to be able to get this mess under control. A ton of my recipes us canned vegetables and or soups, and I love how easy that makes cooking for me, but there is nothing that I enjoy about sifting through can after can to find what I need.

Why can't my pantry look like this?

Well I will tell you why. I am Mormon! Mormons have way more food in their pantries then that. Heck, they have way more food under their beds than that. So I am going to need to organize my pantry to look somewhere in-between this picture and how it currently looks.

So I am now on the hunt for that perfect pantry system, which could prove hard since I have really shallow shelves, but I will not give-up until every last inch of this pantry is organized. For the love of cans I will succeed.

Expensive Accessories Are For The Birds

These cute birds have brought a little feeling of spring to my home, and these birds sing "cheap, cheap, cheap", instead of "chirp, chirp, chirp". At a dollar each from the Dollar Tree you can't beat the impact they make on a table arrangement like this one.

I am crossing my fingers and hoping my bulbs (also from the Dollar Tree) bloom shortly so I can enjoy them in the front room.

What says Spring to you?

Check Out My Sponsors!

I am so excited to have two great sponsors for my blog!

I have been talking and talking about General Finishes and am now so excited to be-able to feature more of their products on my blog in the future. I have heard and seen so much about their milk paints and can not wait to get my hands on some, and see how great it is first hand.

Park City Reservations is a wonderful vacation home rental site that you just have to use if you are coming my way. They have wonderful reservationists that can take care of all your vacationing needs here in Utah, or you can take care of everything yourself on-line.

Does it strike anyone else as funny that both of my sponsors have birds in their logos? I didn't plan it that way, but I do have to say that I love it.

A big THANK YOU to my sponsors. I look forward to our ongoing partnership.

The Craft Room of My Dreams

condo craft room

I have been really lucky to have always had a craft room in all of our homes. When we were living down by BYU in a little duplex as newlyweds I had one of the two bedrooms to spread out my fabrics and organize my craft nick-nacks. Although small it worked out well for my needs at the time. Then when we moved to our condo were we had three bedrooms of which we turned one into a nursery when Jayna Berry came and the other into an office. We never got it fixed up exactly how I would have wanted, but we had the computer in there and a mini ping pong table that I could get out when I needed to sew or do projects.

When we were looking for a new home after selling the condo it was hard to find a house with everything we wanted, but that is always the struggle when looking for a home. Then we found the house we are currently in. It had everything we wanted and much much more than we ever thought we would get out of a home. It was a home I had found online, and I remember walking into it for the first time. It seemed to good to be true, the first floor was so open and it was fresh looking. I walked past the living room and dining room, and then I turned the corner from the family room to see this space off the kitchen dining area.

"Ahhhhhhhh"(in angelic heavenly voices) is what I must have heard. It was the holy grail of craft room spaces right down to the french doors that adorned its entrance. (ignore the mess in there) I wish I could share it with every crafty women who does not have enough space at home, who is crafting at the kitchen table, or working out of a makeshift closet.

We are going to start slowly working on this room, and this is my inspiration. I have already bought the paint. It is going to be the same color blue as the playroom upstairs that we did for Jayna.

I got one of my craft tables for my birthday and will save up my pennies for the other one.

We are going to be building desks that I will paint black to go around the room similar to these Pottery Barn ones, and we will also have some storage bookcases on one of the walls as-well. I am hoping to also put shelving in white around the top of the room like the picture above.

I have big visions for this room and love that it also has a little door to the backyard off of it. I picture kids doing homework, me sewing drapes, and the husband working on the computer at a corner desk. Here are some other craft room inspirations that I love. I will keep you updated on this room as we go. For now we will all dream together.

How To Clean Out Your Dryer

The clothes in my dryer have not been drying like they used to. I have been finding that it is taking me more than one cycle to get things dry even with the lint trap all cleaned out. Today when I started her up it just didn't sound look or smell right and I got worried. I called the husband and work to inform him of the pending housewife dilemma and he said he would work on it when he got home. I know his night is going to be busy though, because he will be attending to his youth church calling like the good man he is. So I jumped online found out what to do and went to work. I documented it on video for everyone so that you can see that it is possible to do on your own with a two year old wondering around. You just might have to hold the tools with an Elmo puppet on your hand that's all.

Iron Man!

No I am not talking about the Iron Man in the movies your husband wants to watch. I am talking about my Iron Man, or at least I want him to be my Iron Man someday.

There is a house in my neighbor-hood that I pass often that always has really pretty wrought iron work, like arbors and trellises in the front yard for sale. I have always wanted to stop and look at them more, and or call the homeowner to find out how much everything is and if they do custom work or not. So the other day when we finally had a sunny afternoon here in Utah Jayna and I went for a walk to that house. I called the Iron Man and left a message and then later talked to him and setup a time for him to come over and give me a quote.

I have a basement entrance on the side of my house that is currently fenced with (cringing) chain link fencing. I have been dreaming of the day that it will be fenced with looping wrought iron and have a cute little gate that has an even more adorable little latch. So I was crossing my fingers that the neighbor-hood Iron Man would be able to come to my rescue.

He is the nicest man, and funny enough ended up being the man who put in our attic insulation last summer. He does all the work and fabrication himself and I love his work. He has this arbor that has a double doored gate that would make any respectable housewife or gardener drool.

So moral of the story is if you are looking for any fun wrought iron work to add to your house, yard or garden this is your guy. He has pot holders he has made, garden boarders etc. Wrought iron is never cheap, but this is your local "Pop" welder that would be great to support and wonderful to work with.

His name is Roger, and you can reach him at 801.372.2460. Tell him Jill sent you, or if you would like you could contact me and I can have him call you. Heck, I need a deal on my work people!

I think Roger needs a new business card though, and I am not sure that I can resist coming up with a logo and making them for him.

Hopefully I can save my pennies and buy his stuff for my yard!

Dinner Menu Dry Erase Board

I have been sick for almost three weeks now and it has not been fun. I was in the middle of refinishing the gun cabinet when "it" hit me, and now that I am starting to feel better I just had to accomplish something from start to finish and quick. So I decided to make this...

I took a $5.00 frame from Walmart...

Added one coat of blue paint...

Applied my favorite glaze with a lint free rag...

Sanded and stained some of the corners with Minwax Dark Walnut...

Bent the little metal things until they fell off...

Hot glue gunned the glass in...

Soaked some strips of ripped muslin that I had stamped in water with tea bags...

Attached the strips to the mirror once dried and ironed...

Put adhesive velcro on a dry-erase pen and the frame...

Hung it on a nail in the kitchen...

and glued an old button to the nail.

Ta Da! A finished project.

I always plan out 7 meals in advanced, and now I will be able to remember the meals I bought food for.

Here is a sneak-peek at the gun cabinet.

It still has a ways to go though... the doors need to be stripped and painted... I need new hardware... a board has to be cut and painted for the bottom... shelves need to go in... the whole thing has to be glazed and have a top coat applied... and molding needs to go on the top. Hopefully I will finish it in the next couple weeks. Don't hold your breath though.