Spring is in full force… birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, the grass is green (and growing fast as ever) and, unfortunately, weeds are popping up left and right – particularly where the bricks meet the driveway and the carport floor meets the asphalt…

Rather than going to the hardware store to buy weed killer, we opted to do a little research in hopes of finding a natural weed killer. After a bit of Google-ing, we found the most popular “natural weed killer” of choice was none other than vinegar. Vinegar is one of our cleaning bucket staples but we hadn’t thought about the possibilities of using it outdoors, much less as a weed killer. Apparently, the acetic acid in vinegar is what dries up and ultimately kills the weeds. Since vinegar is really cheap (only a buck or two per gallon), we figured we should give it a try.

Before we went spraying the entire perimeter of the house with vinegar, we decided to test the method where the carport and driveway come together. Here’s the before:

Before we show the after photo, here’s what we did: Obviously, we went out a bought a gallon of white vinegar. Next, we took an old Round-Up container, pulled off the lid, and rinsed it out thoroughly. Once that was done, we just filled up the container, pumped it up to the proper pressure, and went to town! It was really pretty easy. An old spray bottle would work just as fine.

Now, our results…

Okay. So this isn’t too impressive. There are several things that pop into my head as to what happened here: First, maybe there wasn’t enough sunlight (apparently this is a major factor in vinegar’s effectiveness). Second, maybe we didn’t use enough. The round-up container puts out a very fine mist; maybe we would have been better off just dumping some of our gallon container on the weeds. Third, maybe our climate is too humid for it to work well? Regardless, we’re going to keep testing more combinations and see what really works. We know it should work. It’s just a matter of finding what works for our weeds.

If you are planning on trying this remedy out for yourself, here are a few things to remember:

• The acidic acid in the vinegar is the “killing agent”. This won’t work for pesky weeds in the flower bed because it will probably kill anything the vinegar comes in contact with. Therefore, vinegar is best used as a weed killer in concrete, between pavers, etc.
• If used in direct sunlight, you’ll see the weeds start to brown an wither within just a few minutes. Larger weeds may take a day or so to fully die.
• Yes, vinegar is really smelly. Give it a few minutes and rest assured, the smell will go away (especially on a hot day).

How about you?… Do you have any natural garden/outdoor remedies?

Stationery, envelopes, labels, Christmas cards, stickers, craft projects… Paper Source is my one stop shop for all things paper. Always has been, always will be! Their website is kind of like my own personal happy place and is the Holy Grail of pretty paper. Not only does their website have all sorts of goodies to make a paper lover like myself faint at heart, but it’s also a great place to go for color inspiration. The PS color wheel is fresh, modern, and classic with the perfect touch of whimsy to make things fun.

Last night, while shopping the website for some new wrapping paper, I stumbled across their Colorscope chart. My senior project in college was about how colors in advertising affect the consumer so I’ve always found “color-ology” pretty fascinating. The marriage of Paper Source and “color-ology”… yes, please! To form the Colorscope, PS took their rainbow of signature colors and translated them into personality types. Therefore, the idea is that the color you are most attracted to will describe your personality. Before I get to what our results were, you try it out! Rather than reading the descriptions, just focus on the colors. What color(s) jump out at you?

Here are my and Greg’s top color choices…

Greg’s second color choice was Night and mine was a tie between Pool and Red (hey, it was hard to pick just one!). We were kind of blown away how our color choices accurately described our personalities. We showed this chart to a couple of our family members and their colors described them to a “T” as well! Simply put, the brain is an amazing thing. Who knew the colors we are attracted to could say so much about our individual personalities!

What colors pop out at you? Do you think the description is accurate to your personality? To download the Paper-Source Colorscope, click here.

Images courtesy of Paper Source.

We’re back with another installment of Etsy Thursday! Confession, I was planning on calling this edition “European Finds” because I noticed all of the prices were in Euros… €39,71… €31,77… and so on.  Well, as it turned out, I was actually browsing on http://fr.etsy.com and it switched my regional settings to France. Whoops! So… Welcome to Etsy Thursday: Not As European As Ashley Thought Edition!

First off, we have the Spring Fling Collection by Aedriel Originals. Plates never really rock my boat. I mean, yeah, I appreciate a cute plate here and there, but I’ve never really come across a set of plates where I think, “OMG, I must have these!”. Well, there’s a first time for everything right? In that case… OMG, I must have these! How cute would these plates be for parties or even everyday use? And yes, they are non-toxic and dishwasher safe. Yay!

Something that does normally rock my boat, is antique cameras (hence our Christmas tree this past year). I love, love, love collecting and decorating with antique cameras. At this point, we own about 20-some cameras. We have about every style under the sun, so it’s not very often that we find something that we think is so unique that we label it a “must-have”.  Well, this little guy from Lee Lee’s Closet broke the mold.  We absolutely love this camera for some reason that I can’t explain.  It’s just perfect. Lee Lee’s Closet has a lot of really unique (and affordable!) antiques to offer that are really worth checking out.

This is where art meets photography then runs smack into a big bag of total awesomeness. French photographer Yann Pendaries offers a plethora of amazingly inspiring photographs that would make any space feel instantly chic. He has so many unique photographs from all over the world that it’s hard to pick just one favorite. However, I’m particularly loving this Paris 09 le Trocadero print. I just wish it came in oversized stretched canvas. I could definitely deal with a 50″ x 50″… just sayin. Discount Alert! Right now, you can get 15% off your purchase with the code “ETSYANNIVERSARY” in honor of his 3 years with Etsy.

Secret Safe Books might very well be a bibliophile’s nightmare, but we think they’re really cool (especially Greg). If you need a good place to hide something in plain sight or if you want to store something close at hand, but don’t want it sitting out, these books are a great solution. They would be great storage for cell phone chargers, batteries, and whatnot.

That wraps up this edition of Etsy Thursday! Do you have a favorite Etsy seller or item? Share it with the class in the comment section!