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Hometalk is where people share and help with everything home & garden

Sondra A

Janesville, WI
23 Followers 216Likes
  • Overview
  • Q&A3
  • Comments310
  • Boards1
  • Clips8
  • Likes9
  • Following7
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My Recent Boards

  • Cool Projects

About Me:

Enjoy Glass fusing, watercolor painting, reading, 4H volunteer, crafts, fixing up the house, family.

Favorite area of home improvement:

Everything. Working on my patio and garden right now. Will be redoing kitchen soon - floor, countertops, strip cabinets and refinish. Need to sand and finish hardwood floors.


Recent Activity


  • How many times have you thrown food away because it spoiled before you ate it?
  • We changed our approach to food and have stretched our savings and food stores by using these few tricks.
  • Buying nuts in bulk is cheaper, but you don't want them to go back.  Separate them into air tight containers until you're ready to use them.
  • We freeze our own beans!  We soak them and divide them into meal size servings and lay them flat to freeze.
  • We portion our meats and freeze them.
  • Just make sure to label the freezer bag with the date and remove as much air as possible.
  • We do this for all our meats - chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, pork loin steaks. 3
  • TIP! Save all your chicken scraps, skin and bones, as well as any vegetable scraps.  I store them in a freezer bag and once the bag is full, I slow cook the scraps into a broth.  I let the broth cool and skim the fat, then store it!
  • For portion control, freeze your cookie dough. We fly through a batch of cookies in a few days.  Roll the dough into small balls and freeze them.
  • Transfer them to a freezer bag with the baking instructions on the outside.  Only take out the number of cookies you want to eat.
  • We make our own granola.  It's so easy, just find your favorite recipe and make. Much cheaper than store bought without all the preservatives. 1
  • One of our biggest money savers is making our own pizza.  We buy frozen dough in bulk.  We've made our own pizza sauce, too.  Each pizza comes to about $2.75! 1
  • Making your own bread may be daunting, but it's really quite easy.  One recipe we use makes two loaves.
  • See 10 more photos

Stretching Your Grocery Budget

I share tips and tricks to stop wasting the food you buy.
Noting Grace
Noting Grace Henderson, NV
48 Comments | Post Comment | 18925 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented 4 days ago
    Marisa Cloessner, that was exactly my comment a little earlier in this post, that shredded ...»
    cheese has cellulose for anti clumping and that can be a mild form of plastic. Not something I care to eat.I have noticed that some foods are ok to freeze but when you go to use them they are not as good as fresh.

  • Share 1.9K
  • Like 157
  • Clip 114
Clipped to:
  • Organization
  • DIY to Try
  • You can see the true color of the walls in this picture- Sherwin Williams Tidewater 6477.
  • a vintage-inspired guest bathroom
  • red and turquoise guest bathroom
  • storage for towels with a wire basket and a hand painted sign that I made
  • baskets above the door for extra storage
  • picture frame moulding with a glass tile border detail
  • vintage bottles for soap
  • after
  • before (I put up the wainscoting a few years back)
  • See 6 more photos

Guest Bathroom Reveal {Vintage Inspired}

I'm so excited to share our guest bathroom makeover that was done with mostly paint and a few vintage-inspired accessories! It's only a 6' x 8' space, so I tried to pack as much ...»
personality and color into the room without going overboard with a theme.

http://www.simplicityinthesouth.com/2013/05...

Tricia @ Simplicity In The South
Tricia @ Simplicity In Th... Greenville, SC
21 Comments | Post Comment | 5104 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented 5 days ago
    Sure brightens up! Love the turquoise color and the towel basket. I have an old Burma Shave ...»
    mug and brush in my bathroom! Beautiful!

  • Share 449
  • Like 30
  • Clip 26
Clipped to:
  • Home design wish li...
  • Decor Ideas
  • Begonia dragon wings
  • New Guinea Impatien
  • Pink fan flower with Creeping Jenny
  • Strobilanthus(purply leaf) and Euphorbia  (white flowers)
  • See 1 more photo

THE IMPATIEN Dilemma

Whether you are a garden novice or a veteran gardener, you may be aware of the sad fact that our shade garden annual favorite is being denied life by the nasty downy mildew that spreads ...»
all across our nation now. Even if you save your own Impatien seed and keep other garden center plants away from your carefully and lovingly tended imps, you are still vulnerable as this is an airborn pathogen that will stay in your soil from one season to the next. It starts on the underside of the plant where you don't always see it. You won't notice until the leaves turn yellow and fall off, the plant withering and dying. There is nothing as of yet that effectively will combat the virulent attack.

This is my list of alternatives to the dilemma of what to plant to give that same heavenly splash of color in the shade garden.

My top picks are

1) Begonia , green wax leaf, tuberous , angel and dragon wing

2) Torenia

3) Browallia

4) New guinea impatien

5) Diascia

6) Fuschia

7) Balsam

8) Shade coleus

9) Lobelia

10) Euphorbia 'diamond frost'

11) Geraniums

12) Ageratum

13) Caladiums

14) Strobilanthes

15) Fan Flower(Scaevola)

There are a bunch more that will take part shade such as Nicotiana, Salvia, and Sweet Williams.

I will miss the sweet sweet impatien, but while the experts search for a cure, it gives us all the opportunity to step out of our garden box and into the wild new territory of DIFFERENT and awesome plants that will put a smile on our garden faces.#itchingforspring

Easy
Donna Dixson
Donna Dixson Buford, GA
110 Comments | Post Comment | 28404 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented 7 days ago
    I have seen so many impatiens for sale here! The local FFA, Salvation Army, and various stores ...»
    and nurseries have quite an array. Such beautiful colors and plants! But I resisted temptation and found other plants. My yard is filling out quite nicely. Now all I have to do is finish planting my garden.

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  • Outdoor Inspiration
  • For the Garden
  • Materials needed, soil, potatoes, and reusable bags.
  • Cut up potatoes and let sit out for 2 days (this prevents disease once planted).
  • Place potatoes eye side up.
  • Cover with soil
  • Roll down sides to allow sun and rain to reach potatoes.
  • 1
  • See 3 more photos

Use Reusable Grocery Bags to Grow Potatoes

When I discovered that the potato grow bags cost $20 each I decided to try using my old reusable grocery bags to grow my potatoes in this year. Add 3" of soil to bottom, add potatoes eye ...»
side up, cover with additional 4" of soil. Once plant is 8" high add more soil. Keep adding soil until bag is full. Once plant starts to die and wilt, stop watering. Wait a couple of weeks and dump bag out. Harvest your home grown potatoes. #MayProjects

2 Little Superheroes
2 Little Superheroes Raleigh, NC
44 Comments | Post Comment | 16005 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented on Apr 30, 2013
    This really looks like good idea. Much easier to harvest.
  • Share 5.5K
  • Like 105
  • Clip 142
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  • Garden Ideas
  • Repurposed
  • The balletic blossom of Magnolia grandiflora "Little Gem."

Why you should plant Magnolia grandiflora "Little Gem"

Because the blossoms smell as good as this one looks. Plus, it's hardy from Long Island to South Florida. Plus, it has a tidy upright habit and is perfectly sized for many peoples' yard. Plus, it's virtually problem-free. What more do you want from a tree?
Douglas Hunt
Douglas Hunt New Smyrna Beach, FL
24 Comments | Post Comment | 2257 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented on Apr 28, 2013
    We had a magnolia tree along the front strip of the house I grew up in and loved the smell! I ...»
    did not realize I could grow any magnolias here in Wisconsin. That would be so awesome!

  • Share 516
  • Like 42
  • Clip 23
Clipped to:
  • OUTSIDE
  • garden & yard
  • free-standing small pet gate
  • free-standing chalkboard/sign for parties, picnics, yardsales
  • Game on! score keeper 1
  • Bookcase pieces were transformed into a gate and attached using hinges. 2
  • See 1 more photo

Bookcase Repurposed: 3 uses!

As part of the HomeTalk Wayfair #DIYChallenge, I repurposed a bookcase to function as a free-standing small pet gate, sign and game score keeper. It's going to get a lot of use!
DIY Show Off
DIY Show Off Pittsburgh, PA
7 Comments | Post Comment | 1652 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented on Apr 28, 2013
    DIY, I need something to keep the dog away from the cat's food and litter box. This has such a ...»
    nice open look to it with the fun of a blackboard attached.. So I wouldn't want to keep the cats out, maybe a small door for them to slide through. Our dog is a pitbull so I would need something with strength to hold her back but still allow the cats to go over, under or through.

  • Share 36
  • Like 20
  • Clip 13
Clipped to:
  • Around the House
  • DIY for Pets
  • Yard art recycling. 17
  • I received an email asking about the water, close up of the beads used to make the water, from Michaels in the section that has the fake plants. These are plastic with a hole in them to string on thin picture hanging wire. 3
  • The head is a old coffee pot with chandelier parts for the eyes and hat 6

Yard Art, Recycling

Keeping junk out of the landfill. So I have finally run out of clay pots and have moved on to the next best thing. Coffee cans, soup cans, paint cans, teapots, chandelier parts and even anchovy cans for the feet. Meet my newest garden helper.

Deb B
Deb B
47 Comments | Post Comment | 22722 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented on Apr 28, 2013
    Love it. Adds a little humour and creativity to your yard. Can't help but smile everytime you ...»
    walk out there.

  • Share 3.4K
  • Like 156
  • Clip 154
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  • Innovative Landscapes
  • DIY
  • The crib springs went to make a towel rack in the kids ocean themed bathroom. Looks like the ladder on a boat, don't you think? 1
  • The sides of the crib went to make magazine racks. This is before I painted them. 2
  • And I used the headboard and the foot board to make a comfy bench for my upcycled carpet display vanity! 2
  • The blanket drawer that went under the crib was turned into a car table for my son.
  • See 1 more photo

My son's upcycled crib.

I couldn't stand getting rid of my baby's crib after he no longer needed it. So I upcycled it!
Lori Choman
Lori Choman Auburn, GA
7 Comments | Post Comment | 4784 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented on Apr 27, 2013
    Way cool ideas. Good creativity.
  • Share 637
  • Like 24
  • Clip 8
Clipped to:
  • Cool Projects
  • Reused/Recy...
  • The solar light was almost the same size as the jar ring
***UPDATE Don't hot glue gems to the outside, they may fall off :(
  • This is after glued flat sided gems around the jar ring and around the little edge on the bottom of the clear part of the light. This little part was where the cylinder and spike were to put the light into the ground.
  • Close up of the gems.

Another Solar Light In A Jar

A big thank you to Melissa @ Keep Calm and Decorate for inspiring me to make solar lights in jar. This is my twist on your ...»
idea, THANKS again for your inspiration

I found solar lights at Walmart that were pretty much the same size as the top of a canning jar. I bought a box of a dozen clear generic canning jars at Walmart. And I bought bags of flat florist gems at the dollar store.

I removed the cylinder with the ground spike from the solar light and put a thin line of clear silicone caulk around the outside of the jar ring then put the light on top. After the caulk dried attach flat florist gems around the jar ring and around the little edge at the bottom of the clear shade of the solar light. Then I threw in about 50 florist gems inside the jar for stability outside along my wall. I wanted to use red gems but they didn't have any. Next trip to the Dollar Store :)

20 Minutes 4.00 Easy
Mary I.
Mary I. Pittsburgh, PA
34 Comments | Post Comment | 14978 Views
  • Sondra A
    Liked on Apr 27, 2013
  • Share 2.8K
  • Like 116
  • Clip 110
Clipped to:
  • outside
  • crafts
  • Striped Ceiling Fan Blades
  • Painting stripes on fan blades using tape and a small brush
  • Cool spinning stripes on a ceiling fan

How to Paint A Ceiling Fan

Tired of your boring old white and brown blades, add some fun and paint them, see how I did them for my son's room here
Kelley Wilson
Kelley Wilson Lilburn, GA
8 Comments | Post Comment | 1067 Views
  • Sondra A
    Commented on Apr 23, 2013
    I do believe I am going to dig through my pile of stencils and see what I have. I usually like ...»
    doing things free hand, but then it takes me longer. Well, who cares what designers think? lol. We need ceiling fans here also, in reverse to blow the heat back down, and forward in the summers. Since I have never been to the south I am not sure of what you deal with but have heard it is quite hot and humid there. I am thinking, the simpler the stencil the better. My kitchen is blue and white with wood cabinets in a chicken theme. While the blades are still it wouldn't matter what I did, but when they are moving it may not look so good.

  • Share 335
  • Like 13
  • Clip 7
Clipped to:
  • Chalk & Faux Painting
  • I <3 DIY
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