BLEND
How We’ve Redeemed Our Ground … and Will!
Winter is a unique time of year for those of us who enjoy spending a lot of time outside in our yards. This is a common time for organizing our tools and cleaning things up, but it’s also a great opportunity to reflect over the past year’s projects,…
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Evergreen Cuttings…Underutilized Throughout the Year
Christmas seems like one of the only times of the year when people use evergreen cuttings inside their homes…and when I say evergreen I mean a landscape shrub or tree that stays green all year round…not just from a fir or spruce tree. I guess one of the…
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Bringing the Outside In | Our Great Room Renovation … per Britt
So this is often where you will find me writing. This section of bringing the outside into your home…this is where I thrive. I don’t have the green thumb that my Resident Gardener has, but I sure love the aesthetics of nature and enjoy finding ways to make…
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Bringing the Outside In | Our Great Room Renovation … per Doug
[Lesson learned: Britt and I need to be clearer as to whom is going to write which post – we weren’t when it came to writing about our great room. See Britt’s post below. Since we offered different points of view and some different information, we’re going to…
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Deck the Halls…Scott Family Christmas Traditions
It’s definitely looking a lot like Christmas in our home…and I love it! I just love how our home transforms during this special time of year. In the early morning and late evening, I love sitting and gazing at everything as I reflect on the joy of Christmas! We…
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Last Minute Gift Ideas for Your Ground Redeemer
I once did a post on last minute gift ideas for your ground redeeming friends and family t … and was recently been asked if I was going to do it again. Well … the answer is, “I am.” Today. Right now. So keep reading. (By the way,…
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How to Make Homemade Mulling Spices … the Perfect Teacher Gift or Hostess Gift this Christmas!
Okay…I realize that I re-post this post on homemade mulling spices every year. But I’m not going to apologize…not gonna do it. Because mulling spices really are that good. And they never get old. If you ever stop by casa de Scott during the months of December or January, don’t be surprised to find a…
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Quick & Easy Holiday Gift Embellishments & Décor – Bringing the “Outside In”
Helping families get outside at home more is at the core of what Redeem Your Ground is all about. But unfortunately, during this time of year it seems as if they’re fewer things drawing us outside – the weather is not as inviting, most flowers have stopped blooming,…
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How to Make a Magnolia Leaf Centerpiece
One of my favorite trees that graces our yard is a massive Southern Magnolia. She stands over 100’ tall and speaks to both the history of the South and our home’s previous owners. And not only is she the perfect home for our girls’ treehouse, her branches and…
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Using Cuttings from Your Yard to Bring the “Outside In” this Christmas
Unfortunately many people limit their thoughts on cuttings from their yards to only mean colorful flowers – most of which bloom in the spring and summer. So once the temps turn cold, they put down their pruners and wait for the warmer months to come back around…
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How to Make a Holiday Chandelier
One of the things I love most about this time of year is how warm and inviting our house looks & feels once all of our decorations are up & on display. Yes, the lights add that special glow and each ornament has a story to tell; but…
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DIY Pallet Board Red Ribbon Star
In keeping with our theme of simplifying life, my dear wife suggested that we all bring homemade gifts for our Christmas gift exchange with her extended family this past year. Although I think it took a little bit of convincing for some (they weren’t certain if making something…
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The Burlap Wreath | Year’round Door Decor
Since Doug shared what he made for the family Christmas gift exchange this year (a Pallet Board Red Ribbon Star), I felt sure everyone was dying to know what I made. Well probably not, but I’m going to flatter myself and share what I made with you anyway. …
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What Are Your Coffee Table Books Saying…About You?
Besides an old wooden bread bowl filled with pine cones and a wooden box we use to hide our remote controls, the only other thing on our coffee table is books…coffee table books. A lot of them…like more than 20. So besides saying that we should probably get rid of…
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Our 1960s Ranch Renovation: Interiors #3 | Great Room Remodel
Besides maybe what we did in our kitchen (see upcoming Post #4), the greatest impact from a visual and functional perspective of our 1960s ranch renovation was the transformation of our small den into a Great Room. Super-Size It! As you read in Post # 1 of this…
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Lookin’ for Love…Gifts in Nature
So I have this little rock that sits on my windowsill above my kitchen sink. It’s been sitting there for a couple of years now. It isn’t anything fancy. It’s rough and it’s rugged! But it’s special! It’s special because my girls gave it to me. They found…
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Outdoor Themed Dishtowels
After weeks on end of planning for and celebrating everyone else in the family…I got a little gift for myself this week. And of course I had to share it with you guys as a Fun Friday Find. This Fun Find just makes me smile as they…
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Don’t Miss the Flowers of March
My walk around the yard yesterday and today’s beautiful weather got me out there again this morning…and this time I was struck by the beauty of 3 flowers in particular. One bursting with color – Forsythia. Another dainty and intricate – Loddon Lily. And finally, a graceful addition…
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Upcycled Nesting Box … Transformed into Boot Storage
Ever since we’ve been raising chickens, we’ve been accumulating chicken-themed stuff … ties, books, towels, objects, etc. Some of the chicken-stuff we’ve bought ourselves, but some we’ve received as gifts. And not that we’re turning all cat-lady on you …i n a chicken-kinda-way, but I guess you…
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Easter Egg Birdseed Ornaments
Easter is just around the corner and I’ve got a fun activity you can do with your kids this weekend. If you’ve been following us from the beginning you may remember the Birdseed Ornaments I wrote about at Christmastime. Well this is a twist on those same ornaments…Easter…
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The Southern Rustic Cabin … by Emily Followill
A year or so ago I did a post on coffee table books…and how they tell a story about who you are – or at least, what you’re interested in. Well this week we added The Southern Rustic Cabin by Emily Followill to our coffee table stacks…
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Rebirth: Our 1960s Ranch House Renovation | Transforming the Front Elevation
Curious about our 1960s ranch house renovation? Well we’ve found that our fellow ground redeemers are … because you’ve asked. We also realized that most of our posts featuring what we’ve done with our outdoor spaces have focused on our back yard … where there’s little evidence of…
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5 Great End-of-the-Year Teacher Gifts … RYG Style!
It’s hard to believe…but summer’s almost here. And actually…ours has already begun since Brown and Littlest One got out of school last week…whoop whoop!! That said, odds are if your kids are in grade school you’re probably looking for a thoughtful…yet inexpensive…end-of-the-year teacher gift. So I wanted…
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How to Make a Driftwood Candle Holder
Last summer Doug and I found a really cool piece of driftwood that had washed up on shore at my parents’ lake house. It was a really interesting piece of wood…with its unique curves and beautiful grayed, smooth texture. Given that we found it at my parents’ lake house…
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Crazy Easy & Cheap DIY Outdoor Lighting Project
This was such a cheap and easy project that I don’t really have much to write about. Regardless…we couldn’t be happier with how the DIY outdoor lighting project we did for our pergola turned out. And the really cool thing is, we used mostly materials that we had just lying around. It provides…
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Our 1960s Ranch Renovation: Interiors #1 | The History & Whys for Renovating
When we did our post on the renovation of our front elevation (Rebirth: Our 1960s Ranch House Renovation) we had no idea how many people would ask about the interiors. So we decided to tell the “interior renovation story” through a series of posts. Some may ask how…
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DIY Pallet Board Coffee Table
I’ve finally jumped onto the DIY pallet board bandwagon. Last week I finished up a pallet board coffee table to go in front of the hanging day bed on our pergola. Now…the girls and I did make a wall hanging of sorts for Britt for Mother’s Day a…
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Repurposing Glass Jars to Bring Some Green Inside
My mom is amazing at bringing the outdoors in…what we like to call “BLENDing” here at RYG. She has such a gift and an eye for plants and how to arrange them in such a lovely way. She’s always gathering things from her yard and bringing the beauty…
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Repurposing Glass Jars as Charming Flower Vases
Last weekend I helped host a bridal shower with some friends for our pastor’s daughter. What a fun and special celebration for this young bride! One of my responsibilities as hostess was to bring flowers to brighten up the tables. With all the glass jars on the counter from last…
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BLEND-y Pics on Pinterest
So I was sitting here trying to think of what I should post about next…and I was drawing a blank…nada…nothing! Maybe it’s because I’ve only had a half of cup of coffee today…I don’t know, but my brain is just a bit fuzzy. Then I thought…rather than try…
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How to Dry Hydrangeas…and Now’s a Great Time for Those Late Bloomers!
Alright…it’s confession time. I found out how to dry hydrangeas by accident. I wasn’t trying to create a dried flower arrangement that would grace our home for years to come when I forgot to water it…but that’s what happened. In fact, quite a few of our dried hydrangeas…
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How to Make a Pinecone Garland
One fall-into-winter outdoorsy decoration that has graced our mantel for many years now is a simple pinecone garland. It’s very easy to make and will hardly cost you a thing. And for those of you who don’t think that you’re crafty, I’m confident that you too can so…
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Spotlight on RYG’s Posts on Holiday Crafts & Decor
So this past weekend we were “officially” introduced to our local community at an event hosted by our friends from a really cool local home & garden boutique – the bird and the bee. We really had a great time…and are so appreciative to the bird and the…
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7 Fun Fall Activities … That’ll Get You Outside!
Alright, I’m going to make this one quick…because the weather outside is amazing and I want to get out there and enjoy it with Britt and our girls. But before I do, I wanted to provide you with 7 fun fall activities that you could do with your…
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Thankful Tree…Just in Time for Thanksgiving
For those of you with lots of ideas, but who never seem to get around to doing them… you’re not alone. I took this photo of a precious little Thankful Tree I saw at a friend’s house the year her young daughter made it…in 2007! I remember snapping…
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RYG’s Top 5 Christmas Decorating Posts
For all of you right-after-Thanksgiving-Christmas-decorating-folks…which I am not…I thought I’d provide you with a single place to find our Top 5 Christmas Decorating Posts. So without further ado, here you go… Chicken Wire Lighted Christmas Balls Our lighted Christmas balls made out of chicken wire is by far the…
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