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Rainy Days in the Isles

  Although most people dream of having sunny, 85 degree weather everyday, it sure is nice to have a break in the sunny routine with a few days of stormy weather.  I sure do love some sunshine, but a little variety is always welcome!  

  You can usually count on a stormy week in January every year, but we’ve missed out on any good rainfalls in South Maui the last few years.  I love when it rains here because everything turns a vibrant green that just screams life and growth!  The longer we live here, the more I appreciate the beauty of the rain. 

  This last week’s storm brought amazingly huge swells and beautiful rainbows – it was truly one of the most beautiful weeks I think I have ever experienced in my (almost) 10 years of living on Maui.  Here are a few favorite highlights from these rainy days

                                                            Turtle Bay

                                                               Ho'okipa

                                                            Peahi (Jaws)

                                         Rainbow Hale (hale is home in Hawaiian)

                                                            Rainy Day Selfie

                               thoroughly enjoying wearing my rainy weather faves :)

[saltydiy]

No Crease Hair Ties

These little guys are my new favorite thing.  So cute, so functional and actually work!  I have super fine, super straight hair and even if I put my hair up for 5 minutes, I would get a big, ugly dent.  But not anymore! These new no crease hair ties really do leave your hair perfect – I can even sleep with my hair in a ponytail all night and my hair is perfect the next day. Unbelievable! 

   I’m sure you’ve seen them everywhere, as they are super “hip” this season.  Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21… and yes, Salty Kisses and Sandy Toes!  I have a unique line of premium, hand made, no crease hair ties.  Unique color combinations that include fancy glitter and lace ties too!  You can see the whole collection here at my Etsy Store – saltyandsandy.etsy.com

  Make sure you check out my Valentine’s Day collection – Limited Edition 3 packs of my no crease hair ties – they are on special right now where you can purchase and ship a set all for under $10!

Want to check out more items in my shop?  Head on over to my ETSY SHOP to check out more hair accessories, beach decor and antique chalkboards!

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Starfish Beach Decor

 As everyone knows, I have quite the obsession with starfish.  I have starfish all over my house and they are definitely my most favorite thing to create new items with.  I recently got a supply of mini knobby starfish that are just SO CUTE. 

  They add a whimsical and sweet touch to so many projects.�� From re-purposed wood framed starfish to starfish hair clips – I’m having a hard time not hoarding all of these news creations for myself! 

                                    Check out more beachy items in my ETSY SHOP!

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Vintage Linen Beach Blanket

I love re-purposing vintage linens into something functional - here's a fun vintage beach blanket that I made with a combination of new and old fabrics.  The brown and cream geometric print is a vintage bed sheet that I got at a garage sale and the blue and white fabric I purchased here on island  - I liked it because it was kind of a modern take on the traditional Hawaiian print. 

For an easy DIY gift, I just laid these out on the floor and folded and pinned the excess vintage fabric over the blue printed fabric to make a fun border.  Then I just added a little blue accent on the vintage side to tie it all together and make it have a fun little surprise!

Keep your eye out for fun vintage fabrics - You never know when you'll be inspired to create something!

[saltydiy]

DIY Nautical Dresser

This little dresser had been sitting in the garage for over a year waiting for me to get enough inspiration to work on it! Marshall was convinced that I had forgotten about this piece and that it was safe to move it into the crawl space… Of course just a few days later I asked “where did that black dresser go?” Never underestimate my DIY motivation on summer break!

Since I hate sanding, I decided to just paint over the existing black paint with white paint on the drawers and sea foam green on the rest of the dresser. I had initially wanted to try my hand at a herringbone stencil on the drawers BUT after the first coat of white paint I realized that all original plans would need to be… adjusted to say the least! All the paint bubbled underneath and left this ugly, lumpy finish… That’s what I get for skipping sanding :(

New plan! Painted some blue stripes and then sanded the heck out of the whole piece to distress it. It came out this really interesting combo with the stripes and the black coming through… Although it slightly looks like a cow to me! The black and white spots… Did I start a new trend? Nautical Dairy? Well whatever it’s called I love it and I’m so glad to finally have it finished and out if the garage!

Check out the before!

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A Blog is Born

I wanted to make a beach sign for the garage to hang above where we put all our beach towels. I had seen these wooden signs selling for a fortune in “beach” stores with surfboard prints or “this way to the beach” text on it, selling for over $80! YIKES!  I just knew I could recreate it for a fraction of the price.  As usual, I grossly underestimated how long it would take to finish this project, specifically hand painting the letters.  I thought this was going to be a 1 hour project - but it was more like 3-4.  But I just brought the sign up into my living room and watched a few episodes of GLEE while I painted.

  Sidenote, the combination of GLEE and DIY is wonderful - 2 things that put a big smile on my face!  And when they’re combined, they equal a wonderful afternoon! Has anyone seen the GLEE 3D movie? We ordered it through our NETFLIX and I watched it TWICE within 24hrs.  I’m such a dork. I loved every second of it!

I finished this sign the day we had some Canadian guests visit for the weekend, Aaron and Amy Castle.  They are old friends from university and it was so amazing to catch up with them both.  We had a blast together and they gave me the kick in the butt I needed to start this blog.  I had been thinking about starting a DIY blog with all my projects for awhile, but never got around to it.  Aaron and Amy have an amazing food blog - www.thearugulacastle.com - and have starting their own catering company in Calgary.  They encouraged us to start the blog and use the sign as inspiration! Thanks for the encouragement guys - now we can follow each other’s creations!

If you want to buy one of these beauties for yourself, head on over to my ETSY shop where I have them for sale!

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French Provincial Perfection

This dresser was another craigslist score.  I knew it was the exact dresser I was looking for so I quickly emailed the seller and then spent the next hour full of anxiety wondering if it had already sold!  I swear I refreshed the craigslist ad 50 times to make sure it was still for sale!

Luckily I happened to be the first one to email the seller and fate would have it that he was only a few blocks from our house, so we took the truck over and loaded up this beauty!  Now it wasn’t looking so great at first as it had clearly been sitting in the garage for a few years. But I knew this dresser had the bones for something really beautiful! And really it didn’t take much for her to be transformed -   some cleaning, a little sanding and some white paint and look at the difference!  

Just goes to show you how simple transformations really can be if you know what to look for!  I need to finish the gray detailing on the drawers but I’m really pleased with how quickly this piece was transformed into something really special.

Check out the Before!

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Scout Turns 1

Happy Birthday Scout!  Today our hairy baby turns 1!  Oh how much you've changed our lives in just 1 year!  We can't even imagine our home without a dog now - chewed up toys, the smell of kibble, the daily hunt for missing shoes and your exuberant greeting every day!  How we love our PWD!

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Sea Fan and Stripes

My parents were in Barbado’s last year during a tropical storm and they went down to the beach the next morning and it was littered with sea fan’s! ��Oh my, how crazy I would have gone if I was there myself! JACKPOT! Thankfully, my parents know me oh so well and picked out a BEAUTIFUL large sea fan for me.  How they managed to get a 28inch sea fan from Barbados to Hawaii was definitely tricky but they figured it out.  Out of all the projects I’ve done, this one is probably my favourite!  It is so beautiful to me - the fan, the colours, the fact that it cost under $20 to make and most importantly that Marshall and I made everything together... DIY perfection.  Read more for the full DIY.

I knew I wanted it “framed” but didn’t want it behind glass as it would change the texture of the piece. I didn’t feel comfortable displaying it on a shelf since the trade winds howl through our house and frequently knock things over (this is proved by the gigantic hole in our mango tree where a wind tunnel happens to travel through - the whole back end of the tree is barren since its so traumatized by the wind!) Because the sea fan is so large, I knew it would be difficult to match my vision for the piece.

   I did some research online and soon found out that this was definitely a custom job.  But since real wood is always a must for me, I knew that a piece like that would cost a fortune to have built and my frugal self just couldn’t justify $200-300 for a frame! So the sea fan sat in a box for about 6 months before I decided that Marshall and I should try our hands at frame building!  2 pieces of trim, the cheapest slats of wood, a miter box and saw and a few clamps later and we were in business!  We cut all the angled edges, sanded them down to make them smooth and used gorilla glue to put it all together.  

When the frame was built we glued the shadow box frame onto the trim.  I spray painted the frame white and then distressed it with sanding and glaze it. I had originally thought I was going to paint the inside section of the frame a contrasting color, but decided it would look really nice to have a more natural stained wood look.  I LOVE how the white trim and the stained wood contrast each other and it literally took all of 10 minutes to antique/distress the whole frame. When we started the project I thought I was just going to hang the frame, but once it was made, it just didn’t feel complete.  It needed some color.  Hello beachy striped fabric waiting to be used for an awesome project! I’m a huge fan of textures so I have a whole closet full of fabric’s that I’ve fallen in love with and just know that one day I'll have the perfect project for them.  I had found this sea foam green striped canvas on a clearance rack at Joann’s on our last trip back to the mainland.  I had to have it even though I had no use for it at the time, but luckily I have learned well from my brilliant mother-in-law (who is a sewing genius) to buy multiple yards of fabric - since you just never know!  I cut it so size, grabbed my handy dandy staple gun and 5 minutes later the project was complete!

   I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! One of the most spontaneous and unplanned of projects, but possibly the most successful yet. Although I wanted to share it with everyone and put it in a predominant place in the living room - we decided that our bedroom was the right home for this little DIY gem. Out of all the projects I’ve done, this is possibly my most cherished.  It is so beautiful to me - the fan, the colours, the fact that it cost under $20 to make and most importantly that Marshall and I made everything together... DIY perfection.

[saltydiy]

Seabury Hall Craft Fair Sneak Peek

Next week will be my first big craft fair!  I’m so excited and I’ve been busy busy making all of my creations for the big day!  I am loving everything I’m making so much I’m having a hard time think about selling it!  I guess that’s a good sign though... it means every piece is truly unique and created with lots of love!

The theme is “vintage life by the sea” - where every item for sale is vintage and or re-purposed.  From the antique lace appliques made into headbands to re-purposed antique frames displaying sand dollars and sea urchins.   I’m also launching an etsy store at the same time as the fair so keep an eye out for that! Here are a few pictures for a sneak peek into what’s going to be up for sale!

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Scout Goes to Work

Portuguese Water Dogs are considered “working” dogs - and although I knew that meant that Scout would have lots of energy that needed to be honed into something productive… what I didn’t know was that it would mean that she is quite serious about work too!

I recently got Scout a doggie backpack so she can carry some weight on her when we go for hikes and walks. She can carry a few water bottles which will lighten our load and help us tire her out.

We went up to the Haleakala Crater last weekend and we decided to put her new backpack on to give it a test run and let her get used to it What we didn’t expect was that Scout misunderstood this trial run and decided that this was her “work backpack” - she was on a mission! Once that backpack goes on Scout is all business full of purpose! She has this little extra pep in her step and she stands so tall and proud! Its adorable. Look at this proud Portie standing on the top of the mountain! Here we are at 10,000 feet and Scout is certainly enjoying the cool, crisp mountain air!

She got so much attention from all the tourists and even the park rangers up there! We even had a man who rolled down his window and started yelling “poochie poochie poochie” and whistling to try to get Scout’s attention! She is definitely hard to miss with her “can do attitude!”

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DIY IPAD Cover Tutorial

  I’ve been on the hunt for an IPAD case but most don’t look very nice and the one’s that do cost a FORTUNE!  DIY to the rescue!  And once again, I lucked out with another patternless sewing project that turned out really well - that always makes me feel fantastic!

  This is a great project for using up old scrap pieces of fabric.  I just laid the fabric down, put the IPAD on top and cut the fabric 2 inches wider than the IPAD.   I also put an accent fabric on the bottom of mine but you can do it with just 1 piece of fabric too.   I sewed the  right sides together, leaving the top open.  To finish the top,  fold over 2 times and sew your top fabric around the edge to finish it cleanly.

Here’s a picture of my first pattern.

Pretty cute but a little more "rustic"

And now you can see the evolution to my final pattern which is lined with fleece for extra protection and finished with a closure and cute little wooden button. If DIY isn’t really your thing you can head on over to my ETSY PAGE  to choose from all the cute options for sale there!

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20 Minute Transformation

There's really only 1 store on Maui that sells beach inspired furniture and decor - THE NEST.  It is a little pricey but at least it gives us the option to find unique pieces that are not Hawaiian print or bamboo!   Yesterday they had their AMAZING annual sidewalk sale and we scored big time!  We picked up this beautiful table - we've seen tables like this sell for hundreds and we got it for $50! It was on an extra clearance because it has a big crack in the wood.  The crack doesn't affect the structure and I personally think it gives it even more character.

We got it home and it looked a little too "Bali style" for me.  The lines have a little bit more of an Asian flair to them which doesn't really fit with our beach theme.  A simple solution is swapping out the hardware.  Luckily I had stumbled across some really neat pewter sea shell drawer pulls at a random estate sale about a year ago.  It took about 45 minutes for Marshall and I to find them but once we made the swap and decorated the top - Beachy transformation!

I was lucky enough to have bought 3 drawer pulls and also found this really cool pewter crab at the same time.  Marshall laughed at me when I bought it but I knew this little guy would find a perfect spot in our home.   This project just goes to show you that you don't necessarily need to refinish furniture to transform its appearance.  So keep an eye out for unique hardware when you go to thrift stores or garage sales, you never know when they will come in handy!

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Mini Reese’s Cheesecake Bites

Watch out!  These are dangerously addictive and really easy to make!  Unlike most cheesecakes that can take over an hour to bake and hours to cool - these mini cheesecakes can be prepared and baked in less than 1 hour! The recipe is an adapted version from Paula Deen - with a few changes to reduce the sugar content.  That woman loves her sugar and butter!  So yummy and easy to make - make sure you have people around to share them with otherwise you’ll be tempted to eat them all yourself! Luckily I'm hosting a girls night tonight - so lots of friends to share yummy treats with!  Read more for the full recipe.    

CRUST:   

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 TBS sugar

3 TBS melted butter

Mix together and divide between your muffin tins - push into the bottom of each tin and bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. While crust is baking make the filling.   

  FILLING:   

1  package of cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 TBS flour

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or almond extract

1 egg

Mix cream cheese until creamy, then mix in sugar, flour and vanilla.  Beat in egg. Spoon the filling onto the crusts.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Cut up 1 cup of reese’s peanut butter cups (approx. 20 mini cups) and top the warm cheesecakes with them as soon as they are done baking.  The chocolate and peanut butter get all melty on top - so Delicious!  Chill the muffin tin in the fridge for 30 minutes. This makes 12 muffin tin size cakes.  But this last time I doubled the recipe and used my mini muffin tin too!  So cute - ENJOY!

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Put a Bird On It

I love making homemade gifts for people.  They are thoughtful and you can personalize them for whoever and whatever occasion.  One of my favourite things to make recently are bags - beach bags, grocery bags, gym bags - really its just a tote bag but I’ve been using mine for everything these days!  This is a really simple bag to make and they are super cute! So if you just love these bags, I do take custom orders OR you can read more for the full tutorial to see if you can make them on your own!

Pin the straps so they hang down towards the bottom of the bag. Sew ¼ inch from edge to close bag, leaving a 3’ hole to pull the fabric through to make it right side out.  Close up the opening and enjoy! I have been putting little birdie accents on mine because they are so cute.  I just cut them out to whatever size I like with the scraps I have left over.  Has anyone seen that Portlandia episode called Put a Bird on it?  It's hysterical.  "In Portland, you can put a bird on something and just call it art." Watch and enjoy!

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The Story of Our First Place

People often ask us “what is it really like to live in Hawaii?”  It really is amazing - I’m not going to deny that, but the real answer is that it’s full of life’s everyday tasks that are not so glamorous - work, dishes, cooking, laundry... but of course,  we also can walk 5 minutes down to the beach for sunset every night, in fact, this picture is from last night's beach walk! 

  Surfing, hiking, kayaking, diving on the weekends - we're definitely not complaining! These are some of the amazing activities that drew us back to Hawaii.  And thankfully the beach is free because when we first got here, we came with nothing.  We had no family to lean on, no jobs, no home... nothing. So how did we get started? Here’s the story of our first few weeks as newlyweds back in Maui.   We started our lives here in a very small and very hot apartment but it was a 5 minute walk from the beach!  The kitchen was too small to fit counter space AND a fridge so we had this big honkin’ fridge in our living room!  We didn’t ship over any furniture or household items, we simply started from scratch.  We brought our surf boards and clothes and hoped to figure the rest out once we got here! So there we were, in an empty apartment, minus the fridge in the living room of course!  We set up our Costco air mattress and started our new lives together in paradise! We ate our meals picnic style on the living room floor or hung out on our air mattress.  The owners had left a tv in the bedroom, but it was unfortunately bolted to the wall! Nothing says classy more than a cheap motel inspired tv!  What was even funnier than the tv was this crazy air mattress we had which seemed to have a mind of its own!  It started out as a regular queen size mattress that we had bought a memory foam pad for.  Within a few days, we noticed that there was significantly less room to walk around the bed.  A few weeks later and the mattress had grown even more and was now flush from wall to wall.  It just kept getting lower and wider!  We started with about 3 feet at the foot of the bed and within a few weeks Marshall was clambering over the air mattress to get to his side of the bed.   The proof of the air mattresses growth spurt was the mattress pad, which had once fit perfectly and now sat in the middle of the bed looking like a strange little island!  The bed had expanded more than 2 feet on every side!  It was hilarious and was obviously defective.  Thankfully Costco has such an amazing return policy and we were able to return both the air mattress and the pad and put the money towards a real mattress!  The first big purchase in our marriage!  I wish we had taken a picture of this crazy mattress but, of course, at the time we didn’t think of it. We certainly won't forget how funny those first few weeks back on island were because of it!