A few weeks ago, I shared my plans for making over our outdoor space. My biggest plan was to inject some color into the area, mainly with the help of this Lulu & Georgia outdoor rug. After what seems like ten years of rain here in Georgia, I finally got a chance to unroll my new rug and set up the new outdoor patio space!

It was really fun to use all warm tones in the design. I usually go for cool tones inside the house, so this was a welcomed change. My original thought was to pull the rust and orange colors out of the rug for table linens, etc. but I saw this adorable pink, red and orange table cloth at Target and fell in love. Warm tones... pattern mixing... it doesn't get much better!

FYI, our patio furniture is pretty ugly, so I did you a favor and left our chairs out of the photos : )

For the table top, I added a jute runner, some pink + orange + red napkins (Target), some silver lanterns (Ikea) and one of my DIY clothespin planters for a splash of green.

The cute little carrot tea towel is from Target.

I love how this rug has inspired me to brighten up what was previously a pretty dismal outdoor space. It's going to be so much fun for entertaining for the rest of the summer!

Psst! I won't be running the Tuesdays at Ten June series tomorrow (momma's at the beach!), but keep on sending me your projects for next week's post. 

Woooo whee. It's been a craaazy week around these parts! I had a couple of big deals to close at work, HDawg was teething like woah and David was out of town for work. Let's just say I am super happy to be waking up to a beautiful, peaceful Friday morning : )

Do you ever have those Saturdays where you just spend a few hours tinkering? That was me, last weekend. David had already left for his business trip and H decided to take a winner marathon nap. So I decided to neglect the pile of dirty dishes and rolling piles of Tucker dog hair on the floor and instead, monopolize on the quiet and spend a few hours tinkering around the house.

I finally taped up some pictures with washi tape on my fridge in the kitchen.

Photos all over the fridge might not be for the anti-clutter peeps out there, but I love it. It's such a cheap, easy, colorful and removable addition to our little renter's kitchen.

I am having some issues with using Command strips here at my rental house. They unstick very easily! I'm not sure if it's the walls or the insane moisture in the air right now, but everything I have put on the wall with Command strips has fallen. Including my vintage Varsity restaurant trash art. So I finally got those rehung with good ol' hammer and nail. Not the best option for a rental house, but we're allowed to put holes in the wall with reason.

Do you remember this vintage printer box/nick nack shelf that hung in the living room at my old house? It's been hanging in our rental house's dining room since we moved in, but it's been empty!

 

I decided to finally fill it up with trinkets. Instead of using all of the colorful items I previously had on the shelf, I decided to keep it only blue and white. And then I realized I need way more blue items. Time to trinket shop, yay-uh!

 

Finally, I decided to hang a gallery wall on one of the big empty walls in our rental house master bedroom. I shared this little sneek peek on Instagram. You guys had lots of helpful tips... but don't worry, I already switched it around : ) Hopefully I'll have some "on the wall" pics to share soon.

 

I love tinkering. It makes me feel like I'm getting a lot done without a lot of effort! What have you tinkered on lately around your house?

For real, guys. Stop it with these amazing projects.

But seriously, don't. Because I love featuring them. Say hello to another round up of Tuesday happy projects!

 adorbs living room (with a whole bunch of DIY projects!) via Fabulously Vintage

DIY towel rack by A Dash of Coco

thrifted (backslash dumpster diving) West Elm headboard from This Sarah Loves

DIY succulent wreath from Lemon Drop Life

super cute DIY chore chart by Home Everyday

Hm. I think I need a mint green piece of furniture in my living room, yeah!?

Share your projects with me via email at tenjuneblog@gmail.com (please put "Tuesdays at Ten June" in the subject line!) or tag them with #tuesdaysattenjune for everyone to see on Instagram.

Back when I first started my blog (like my third or fourth post!), I shared a classic fried green tomato recipe.  But I'm a Southern girl with lots of tricks up my sleeve and I've got more than one way to skin a cat. Er, fry a green tomato.

I call this a "modern" recipe because it varies from the tried and true flour-crusted tomatoes I grew up with. This sounds totally lame, but I take kind of a "respect the tomato" take on the whole thing. I actually really enjoy the acidic, sharp taste of a green tomato, so in this recipe I try not to mask that flavor too much with a ton of breading. For sure, I love me some fried food, but this approach is a little less fried, a little more 'mater. And probably a lot less fat!

INGREDIENTS:

-Japanese panko crumbs

-two large green tomatoes

-one egg

-sea salt

-olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice the tomatoes. I like big, fat slices of the tomatoes. No skimpy slices for me! 

2. Egg wash the tomatoes. Prepare an egg wash by cracking the egg into the bowl and scrambling. Soak each tomato slice in the wash for a few seconds.

3. Coat the tomatoes in batter. Spread out the panko crumbs on a plate and add in a few dashes of sea salt (which I think is the key secret ingredient!). Rub the egg washed tomatoes in the crumbs to coat each side with the batter. I don't worry about coating the sides of each tomato but really focus on covering the top and bottom.

4. Fry 'em up. Fry each tomato in an olive oil coated pan on medium-high heat for about three minutes per side. The cooking time will vary with your heat setttings and the thickness of the tomato slice.

Ohhhhh yeahhhhh. Said in my best Barry White voice.

In the summer time, tomatoes are a staple around my house, so it's a fun little treat to fry a few up every once in awhile. What about you- any fun ways that you fry up your green tomatoes?!

Oh, hey, Tuesday. I love you because you're a) better than Monday and b) the new series day here on the bloggo. So let's dive right in... say hello to this week's awesome feature projects!

super cute vintage washboard laundry room collection by Decor and the Dog

a colorful front porch makeover from A Thoughtful Place

a garage makeover and organization tips from Cleverly Inspired

I mean, seriously? A DIY teepee? Complete with adorable polka dot + flower pattern mixing? That's like my every kid's dream. Y'all's projects are out-of-control good!

Share your projects with me via email at tenjuneblog@gmail.com (please put "Tuesdays at Ten June" in the subject line!) or tag them with #tuesdaysattenjune for everyone to see on Instagram.

This weekend, we had one of those weekends with no plans. Literally, not even one plan on the books. It was kind of amazing. There was lots of sleeping in, going to bed early, taking our time and enjoying life. Like I said, after a crazy work week filled with hustle and bustle, it was kind of amazing.

It has seriously been raining here in Atlanta every day for like, a year. Well, more like the last two weeks, but still. Not weather that I'm used to. I'm ready to enjoy some sunny pool or lake days! In between showers this weekend, we had brunch with my brother-in-law at General Muir, which is a super cute deli in Atlanta.

HDawg finally got to play in some sunshine at the park. He was in heaven!

In between rain showers, I also played with my new Lulu & Georgia outdoor rug that I shared here. Unfortunately the new table cloth I bought for the patio furniture didn't work with the rug, so I'm back to square one. But that rug is flyyyyyyyy. I'll tell you what, I love this thing!

Our neighbors brought us over some tomatoes and peppers from their vine. Hellooo fried green 'maters!

We spent the rest of the weekend doing some shopping for David. He rarely shops, but when he does... phew, it's a process. Cough, picky, cough. HDawg and I fell asleep in more than a few fitting rooms.

Oh and I almost forgot... I spent a good part of the weekend getting my party prep on for HDawg's first birthday party! Believe it or not, that's just around the corner at the end of August. Crazy, right? Here's a sneak peek at his invitations.

Don't forget to submit your #tuesdaysattenjune projects for tomorrow! I've already got a great handful of projects I can't wait to share. You can either email them to me at tenjuneblog@gmail.com (please put "Tuesdays at Ten June" in the subject line!) or tag them with #tuesdaysattenjune for everyone to see on Instagram.

I hope y'all had a great weekend, as well! Happy Monday.

I am so excited to share this sweet little project and tutorial with y'all. For awhile now, I've wanted to create a magnet board for little HDawg. He's in love with the bright and colorful fish in the tank at his school and at his aunt's house, so I thought a fish tank would be the perfect route to go.

So precious, right? And honestly, so easy. Here's the how-to.

What you'll need:

I found a pile of bright felt pieces on sale a few weeks ago (30% off, woot) at Hancock Fabric. They're usually about $0.29 a square anyways, so it's a pretty cheap investment. I actually found the magnets at Home Depot (also pretty cheap, I think $1.99 for an eight pack?). Since I already had the glue gun, thread, spray paint and pillow stuffing, I made out like a bandit with this project under $10.

Step one. Cut your fabric.

I decided to free-hand a few fishies and other aquatic shapes which is pretty easy, right? Wrong. If you're Michelle. Check out my first attempt at a clown fish (sitting next to David's attempt). Yeah, I suck at felt fishies.

At this point, I decided to search Pinterest to see if I could find an aquarium template to help with my ridiculously bad cutting skills. I ran into this divine template from the PurlBee. Sure enough, she had used the template to create a felt magnet aquarium, too! Great minds think alike. So I decided... when in Rome... and used her awesome template to help me create my sea creatures.

Ah, much better.

Make sure you cut out two pieces of each main shape so that you can sew it together eventually.

Step two. Assemble your magnets.

I started off by hot gluing all of the "extra" pieces to the top felt piece (the stripes, polka dots, etc.). Next, I simply hot glued a magnet to what will be the inside of each back felt piece. Since you have two identical felt pieces, one is the top piece (with the decor hot glued onto it) and one is the back piece. You'll eventually sew the two together, so the magnet needs to go on the inside of the back piece.

Next, I hand stiched the two felt pieces together. I could have pulled out my sewing machine (I was all about my sewing projects for awhile!), but I was feeling a little lazy... I didn't want to have to rethread the machine for each thread color or have to worry about moving the machine around the small cut outs. So hand stitched, I did.

I decided to add a very small amount of pillow stuffing to each magnet right before I completed the last few stitches. I wanted the magnets to be a little puffy, if you will. They could easily be completed without any stuffing. Also, I have had no problems with the magnets sticking to the board through the felt and hot glue layer. I didn't want the magnet to be too strong anyways (HDawg is not Hercules) but make sure you get a medium strength magnet for a project like this.

Step three. Create your magnet board.

I'm in love with the fact that it's adorably blue like the water of an aquarium.

That's it, folks! Now we've got a handy, dandy felt magnet aquarium board!

She's ready for some close up shots.

The star fish is David's favorite. I think the jelly fish holds a special place in my heart. But the best part is that HDawg loves it. This was his reaction when we gave him the board to play with for the first time.

Nope, you can't even see his arms he's flapping them with so much excitement! : ) So far, the magnets have stood up to lots of slobber, gumming and rough housing. Hopefully they stay that way! He also loves to sit on the board... maybe he thinks he's on a boat? It's adorable. I'm so glad I made this for him.

Welcoooooooome to the very first installment of Tuesdays at Ten June. In case you missed my little announcement last week, I decided to start a new series where I showcase the amazingness that you guys create on a weekly basis. DIY projects, home decor makeovers, recipes, kid projects... you do it, you share it, I feature it. It's that easy! You can share your projects with me via tenjuneblog@gmail.com (please put "Tuesdays at Ten June" in the subject line) or you can share your projects with the whole Instagram world by tagging your IG pics with #tuesdaysattenjune.

Now. On to the bad a$$ projects that you guys shared this week!

 TV stand to gold-dipped bar cart makeover by The Chronicles of Home

Revolutionary War American flag pallet art by Georgia & Daughter

 hand painted baby advice tags for a boy's baby shower (and more awesome DIY party planning!) by Design Thoughts