From Trash Burner to Fire Pit

Last weekend the weather was nice; and Gerrit and myself both had the weekend off. That doesn't happen very often. We made plans to tackle some outside work over the weekend and I am sure glad we did. A little rain got in our way and slowed us down, so we didn't accomplish as much as we wanted. We did get the gutters cleaned out, oh yeah that is never a fun job. We also demolished the old brick trash burner that was in the middle of our yard and  replaced it with a fire pit. That was a more fun project cause we have been wanting to do that since about last summer.

Here is what the old brick trash burner looked like. (Old picture from when we first bought our house.)

The trash burner was still usable, but some of the bricks were starting to come loose or cave in. And honestly we didn't use it very often. Maybe a few times in the spring or fall to burn sticks and leaves. We don't burn our trash, so we didn't need it for that. 

Gerrit was given a sledge hammer by one of our friends. I guess those are the kinds of gifts men exchange. So, before I was even ready and outside to work, he had to whole things down. It came apart pretty easily and quickly. 

Next we had to pick up all that brick. This was the part that took the longest. We loaded it all in the back of the truck, then unloaded it around some pine trees on the side of the yard so it is out of the way. 

When it was all cleaned up, we were left with a square cement slab that was the foundation of the trash burner. We left that in place and decided it would be easiest to put a pre-made fire pit on top of it. We did discover that under the cement slab there is actually a large hole that has cement sides. This is such a mystery as to what that was there for. We did check it for bodies though, all clear. We had some cement landscaping pavers that we were not using. We actually picked those up for free from someone's house on a Sunday after church. It took me a few minutes and a few tries of how to lay them out, but I figured out something that would work and give a nice edge around the cement. The extra space on the one side of where the fire pit isn't can be used to stack the wood that is waiting to be burned. 

Then we were off to Rural King to get some rock to fill in the empty part and get a fire pit. And then the rain came, and the work stopped until the next day. The next day I used three bags of black lava rock to fill in the space. Some of the cement slab was uneven, so I wedged some rock pieces under the pavers to keep them steady. We assembled the fire pit. Then we were done. 

The spot looks so much better and more up to date without the trash burner.

We were proud of our work. Not to mention the payoff looked something like this. 

Autumn Wreaths

The weather is cooling down and I am waiting for the leaves to start changing. Ready for fall to arrive. Yesterday I put up the fall wreaths. It is September, so it isn't too early for that, right? One wreath I already had and the other was a quick make.

Here is the one that I made last night. It was super easy, quick, and cheap. Those three things go together quite well if you ask me. It only cost me a grand total of $4.00 + tax. All supplies from the Dollar Store. Here is the list of what I used:

• Round foam wreath form, now this is a bit small, I think it was 9", so if you want something bigger you will need to use something else.
• One spool of burlap ribbon, one spool was 3 yrds., and it exactly covered the whole wreath form. If you want a bow or more ribbon, you will need two spools.
• Two bunches of fall flowers, I cut them apart and rearranged them to give them a fuller look. 
• Small piece of leftover ribbon that I already had to make a loop to hang the wreath with. 
• Glue gun to attach the flower and secure the ends of the ribbon. 

There you have it. Wreaths are way overpriced in the store and you can make your own for much cheaper. The decoration that I put on the other door was something that I had made a few years ago, for FREE. I made it when I wanted something autumn decor-ish to put up, but didn't have extra money to buy stuff to make anything.

Here is what I used and how I made it.

• Small sticks that I picked up from the yard. just broke them to make them the right size. Bundled four together and secured them with floral wire. Then glued the bundles together at the corners, like a picture frame.
• Piece of a paper bag. Cut it into the size of square that I needed to fit inside the stick frame. Hand wrote our last name on it and then filled it in with a black sharpie. Glued the paper onto the back side of the sticks.
• Leftover fake fall leaves and a piece of ribbon. Hot glued the leaves to the sticks and the ribbon to the back of the sticks. 

Using leftover materials, it was all FREE!

Happy Fall Crafting!