Cleaning the gunk under the stovetop burners with ease

Over the last year I’ve been making a conscious effort to reduce the number of products in my house.  It started when I realized that I had cleaning products in several different cabinets around the house.  Some I liked, some I didn’t.  The ones I didn’t were just sitting there, as I reached around them and moved them from place to place.  Once day I thought, why?  So I committed to using up the products one by one and decided on my favorites to keep around for good.  I also added a couple homemade multi-taskers like a granite cleaner and laundry soap (which isn’t just good for laundry).  My cupboards were cleaner and things were good.  But then, something came up and I was in the need of a good degreaser.  Actually, it was my husband that wanted it for a tough job.  I tried giving him some Dawn dish detergent (which is on my love list), but he needed more.  So while at Meijer I spotted some Zep Fast 505.  Could 505 be better than 409?  Who knows, but I thought maybe this would help my husband, so I picked it up.  I think it was about $4.

I left it on the kitchen counter for when he came home, and while I was cleaning up the kitchen I looked from the bottle (degreaser) to the stove (greasy).  As a matter of fact, more greasy than normal from a few good cooking sessions followed by some less than enthusiast clean-ups plus under the gas burners there was a build-up of burned gunk that has been building up over time (hey it’s under the burner, who looks there?).  I have a stainless steel stove that I usually only use Weiman’s Stainless cleaner on, one of the winner’s that made it through.  I decided to give it a try and see how it worked.  Below are some pictures of before I cleaned.  
               

All I did was lightly spray the cleaner on and waited for a few minutes (2-3) and wiped off with a dry paper towel. I sprayed it on the stove top as well as the cast iron burner covers.  I was amazed and delighted with the results!  Some of the spots required a second spray, but there really was no scrubbing, which is a no-no on stainless steel.  Everything came off so easily.  Here are the after pictures.  I did have to use my Weiman cleaner after I wiped off the stove since it was a bit cloudy and streaky. 





Looks almost brand new doesn’t it?  I think I have a new product to add in to the “it" list.  I do prefer to use natural products when I can, but there are times when you need that extra strength.  I am very pleased with the ease of removing the gunk with any scrubbing or scratching of my stovetop! 

This is NOT a paid advertisement.  I have NOT been compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own.

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Skull wreath tutorial

When I shared my Halloween Mantel the other day, I showed you the wreath I made out of 8 Dollar Tree skulls.  The wreath was very easy to make.  I started with a grapevine wreath, also available at the Dollar Tree.  I painted it black and wrapped one gauze cloth from the Halloween section around it and fastened with hot glue.  So far, it has cost me $10 in products from the Dollar Tree.  Fair warning these in progress photos have no editing, and no prepping.  This is the easiest way for me to do pictures while I craft, because if you’ve ever crafted with me you know I am a very fast crafter and can’t really be bothered to stop and make the background look pretty.  It just isn’t important or realistic to me. 


My next item came from Micheals.  It was a Halloween Garland and it cost $5.  I simply flipped the wreath over and hot glued the garland to the wreath, making sure to glue it to the outside so that it can be seen from the front. 

The last thing to do is glue the heads around the wreath.  Take care you make sure they are positioned in a way that they will hang nicely.  Eight fit perfectly.  I was going to add some black flowers, but decided it just didn’t need it.  That was it.  I think it makes a nice ghoulish looking decoration, and it really was very easy to make! 

Total cost for project was $15.

See my entire Halloween Mantel HERE

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Halloween Mantel reveal

With less than 2 weeks to the bewitching hour, I figured it was time to bite the bullet and take down my beautiful Fall Mantel and make way for the Halloween mantel.  Not the easiest choice, but with my kids growing up, I might only have a few more years to do this.  My inspiration came from 8 skull heads I found at the Dollar Tree.  I will be sharing a tutorial in the next day or two on how I made this skull wreath. 

My next addition was to use some washi tape as decoration right on the mantel.  Just wasn’t in the mood for another banner this year.  I real like the simple and clean additon of color to the mantel.  I then use a Command strip to hang a sign right in the middle.  It’s an unexpected addition in a unique place.

 

Spiders, spiders everywhere add a nice creep factor to an antique black box covered in Dollar Tree netting and flanked with a couple of rats.  Why not?

A favorite edition is my real antique picture in frame.  Nabbed from my Aunt’s house when she passed away, it screamed Halloween to me!  I’ve enjoyed it every year since then at this time of year.  Thanks Aunt Lena! (I added the bat)

I’ve had a spooktacular time sharing my Halloween Mantel with you! 

See the wreath tutorial HERE.

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The Fall Collection

 

 

Click here

I’m celebrating today because after a lot of long hours, I finally finished creating tabs on the top of my blog.  You can now quickly find all of my old posts with a simple click of a picture!  If you are new to the blog, or even if your not, click on the tabs and see what you may have missed in the past.  I’ve assembled my Fall Collection above, click on the picture or the word “here” to be taken to the page.  Then feel free to click around! Hope you have a fantastic weekend!  Diane  

Farmer’s Market

 

Lately I’ve been feeling like Autumn needs it’s own ‘tis the season.  I wanted to share some pictures from my trip to the farm market this morning.   What a gorgeous display of nature going on here.  The vegetables are expected, and really are beautiful on display as well.  But what catch my eye today was the show  that can only be described as “Harvest”.  God bless the men and women who take their time and effort to not only grow these beautiful creatures, but also cart them up to the farm market to sell.  The passion of it is evident in just talking to them!  

 

The first thing that caught my eye was a table of the most enormous cabbage heads and parsley bunches I’ve ever seen, and at $2 for a head, it was certainly a bargain!

 

Who says Farmer’s don’t have fun? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple, orange and white cauliflower.  Imagine what a pretty salad that would make!

 

Osage oranges?  I’d never heard of them, but they are supposed to be a natural spider repellant that people swear by.  I am going to throw a couple in the camper this fall and see if it works.  They are supposed to have a pleasant lemony smell once they begin to dry.  And they are pretty enough to put in a bowl and display too! 

 

 

Zinnias, Sunflowers, and Asters oh My!  Such pretty bouquets for only $5!

 

 

Fancy corn stalks?  Even the corn has taken it up a notch! 

 

 

You say bokay, I say bouquet.  Doesn’t matter, either way you say it, they are stunning!

 

 

I want my Mummy!  In every color and every size.  Such a treat for the eyes!

Wait a second, I forgot to even get a picture of the pumpkins, and the gourds, and the straw bales, and the tomatoes, oh my!  And the guy smoking up all that bbq meat.  Man, that smelled good!  I suppose I will need to go back next week and do that!  I am so happy farm markets are so cool right now.  What a great way to spend a morning, walking talking, and enjoying the splendor of market.  If you haven’t been in a while, you should go!

Mason Jar Witch

Turns out Humpty Dumpty isn’t the only one that sat on a wall.  Here’s a cute witch who does it quite well.  She didn’t even fall.  Made from a mason Ball jar I painted green, an old Halloween sock for the hat, a black flower from clearance last year, and some pipe cleaners, along with a few other embellishments I found around the house.  Her cat is a wood cut-out from Micheals (.29) painted with puffy paint and a gem for the eye.
 

Even this little guy came out to see her. 

It’s my first Halloween craft of the season!  Thanks for stopping by to check it out!

Diane

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Gourd Topiary - I’m in love <3!

We are in a stretch of gorgeous Fall days here in Michigan.  The nights have been chilly, alright, darn right cold (in the 30’s and 40’s already!) followed by bright sunny days that warm quickly.  It really is so beautiful!  I started my day by headed to the county market farm market.  Seriously, I’ve lived here all my life, and never gone to this market?  What is wrong with me?  Fantastic people, fantastic prices, lovely, fresh produce and flowers.  I was quite smitten.  I’m going back on Saturday with the hubs to pick up some salsa ingredients.  I knew it existed, but went to a painting girls night at a really cool farm house last weekend, and was greeted by a killer stack of gourds.  I had to know where she got them.  The farm market was the answer.
So I picked up a topiary of gourds too while I was there and had a fun time decorating the front porch with them.  This may be my favorite porch EVER!  Barn wood, hydrangea, gourds, moss, horseshoes, grapevines, mums, cabbage, and burlap!  I’m swooning over here, It’s like winning the decorating lottery, only I don’t get any money just something pretty to look at.   So here it is ~ please, enjoy!






And just for fun, here’s the picture I painted at the farm house last weekend.  I’m no Picasso, but I did it all myself!


So thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you enjoyed my porch.

Diane

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Fall Mantel 2013

No better day than today to share my Fall Mantel, it is after all, the first day of Fall.

With a little bit of old and a little bit of new, I created my mantel.  It looks so different with the new color in the room, which is a fantastic Fall accent in itself.

My wreath and my pendant banner are among the reused.  The only thing I did was add a few feathers to the wreath, since they are “in” this fall.

The bunting banner I made last year out of things I had laying around.  Still cute.

My white owl collection is new.  And thanks to a great sale, I spent under $15 for all 3.  The jug is a vintage find, and the spool is from last year too. 

New to me this year, although I found it at an antique store, is this wooden black crate.  It was $12, and I couldn’t pass up it’s rustic appeal.  An acorn on a candlestick, a white pumpkin, and an old horseshoe round out the other end.  And that’s it!  I’m ready for the cooler weather, blankets, sweaters, fresh picked apples, a fantastic color display in the trees and pumpkins galore.  Hoping you take the time to enjoy the season.  Warm regards, Diane

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Fall Vignette

I have a quick share for you today.  I’ve been working over the last week to get my house updated for Fall. It’s officially here on Sunday!  I showed you my summer display in my china cabinet in my Family Room Reveal last week.  Here’s a reminder of what it looked like for summer:

And here’s what it looks like for Fall:

I have such a good time updating it for the seasons.  My son made that sweet little owl a few years ago, and I don’t think I fully appreciated it’s cuteness until this year.  I’m also loving the vintage yellow bowl that was my Grandma’s, and of course bringing back my pears made out of lightbulbs was good too.  Missed those little fellas! 

Here’s a little collage to showcase the contents a little closer.

Have a super weekend!  I think my hubs and I are going to get up extra early and drive an hour and a half to an Antique Festival.  Should be fun, especially since we need to be back home by 1pm for my son’s first flag football game!

diane

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Fabric Pumpkins

I don’t know about you, but this Fall I am Mad about Plaid! That’s why I created this little pumpkin.

Isn’t she just so sophisticated with her little belt?  It’s actually one of those wrap brackets, that just wasn’t for me.  The plaid is from a pair of boys PJ’s that I picked up at Good Will. 

I used a foam pumpkin I already had and wrapped the fabric around it.  The stem is just twine wrapped around and glued.

Here’s another one I made.  Using a little girls dress that had two patterns.  After gluing on the panels I used some ribbon to cover the edges.

This one was much harder, and not my favorite child, but she’s cute in her own special way.

Have you started your Fall décor yet?  It’s getting easier now that the temperatures are dropping. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Enjoy your day!

Diane

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