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some of my favorite posts

hornet’s nest shadow box

by Kaylah Stroup
hornets nest shadow box

Last summer hornets built a nice big nest on our house. I got stung once and it was enough to keep me far far away for the rest of the season. We could have sprayed them but honestly, after that sting, it felt risky. Neither my husband nor I wanted to go anywhere near them. Instead, we opted to just leave them be and let Ohio’s winter do the work for us.

This spring, after the weather warmed up and we were more than positive the hornets were long gone, we knocked the nest down. I picked it up, fully intending to take it over to my compost pile but my brain screamed “CRAFT SUPPLY!” Hornets build their nest out of saliva and wood pulp. The result is layers and layers of a beautiful papery material. Truly, when I saw it up close, there was no way I could just toss it on the compost.

So, I did what any rational human would do and brought it inside. I shook the nest upside down, from which a few deceased hornets fell out, and removed the nest cells from inside. While all the hornets were dead, there still seemed to be a large number of other small insects. I have a house filled with taxidermy, and pinned insects so bringing weird little live bugs like that inside is not great. I bagged everything up and popped it into the freezer to kill off anything remaining.

hornets nest

The one craft I knew I wanted to do from the start was to make a shadow box containing nest cells, the hornets and the gorgeous papery nest material. I rehydrated the hornets and posed them as I wanted. I used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the cardboard of my shadow box and then glued the nesting cells to that. It took basically no time at all but was so much fun to make. Not to mention, it makes a rad addition to my collection of ‘oddities’!

pinned hornet
hornet's nest shadow box
hornet's nest shadow box

My two favorite details in this project are both easily overlooked! One is the hornet that died while emerging from its cell. He’s just peeking out! Second is the addition of two tiny insects that I found in the nest cell (literally the reason I threw everything in the freezer to begin with!) When I pulled the cells out of the ziplock bag and shook them out, it rained tiny bugs. It was… gross and further proved that it was a really good idea to freeze everything but now dead, they pose no threat. I felt like it’d be really cool to glue a few into the cells since they were a part of this whole thing as well. They’re quite small but if you look closely at the image below you can spot one in the center of the photo.

â–² Looking to get into pinning insects – check out this blog post I wrote with tons of resources, links + info! â–² Check out my other hornet’s nest project inside the box for my four leaf clover collection!

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FeatherSnap bird feeder review

by Kaylah Stroup
FeatherSnap bird feeder review

this post contains affiliate links.

I recently got my hands on a FeatherSnap bird feeder. It’s a Wi-Fi connected, smart bird feeder that captures pictures and videos of birds at your feeder. You can even watch live!

I thought it was a fun product idea but I think I underestimated just how much I’d enjoy it. For the past few weeks, I think it’s safe to say, this has been the most used app on my phone. Let me tell you a bit more about it…

smart bird feeder review
FeatherSnap smart bird feeder
smart bird feeder with camera

Some product highlights –

â–´ Photo + video, obviously! The feeder snaps three photos and one fifteen-second video per visit. The video even has audio. The camera is only 4MP but it gets the job done, you can clearly see all who visit.

â–´ Solar powered! The roof has a solar panel so you don’t need to worry about changing or charging up batteries. In the month I’ve had mine, I only had to charge it once and that was when it first arrived. The app makes it easy to see your battery percentage, mine has never dropped below 70%!

â–´ Dual seed bin allows you to fill your feeder with two different seed types.

â–´ You get real-time notifications of visitors to your feeder. Go from “who’s texting me now?!” to “who’s at the feeder?!”

â–´ The app offers a ‘bird book‘ which is where you can keep track of all the different visitors you’ve had to your feeder. It also has a built-in AI feature to help you ID those visitors.

Bird ID, FeatherSnap

â–´ Also worth noting is that because of the size and the way it’s mounted, squirrels don’t make a mess of the bird feed! In the past I’ve owned many bird feeders that hang from trees or shepherd’s hooks and squirrels always manage to spill those because they’re trying to balance on them. This feeder has a large platform that squirrels can comfortably sit on therefore they aren’t doing gymnastics trying to eat and don’t spill everywhere. I know not everyone likes squirrels at their feeders so of course, you can sprinkle hot pepper flakes in with your bird feed to keep them away.

Feathersnap bird feeder review
Feathersnap bluejays

A few downsides –

â–´ I don’t feel like it’s made abundantly clear that the birdfeeder requires a monthly subscription to view the photos on your phone. I knew that it offered a subscription but I wrongly assumed that made the AI identification available. Without a subscription, the camera still works and you will receive notifications through the app that you had a visitor at the bird feeder but you will not be able to view those images. It is worth noting though, you can install a mini SD card in the camera and check the photos manually but that defeats the purpose of having an app.

At the time of writing this post, the subscription costs $6.99 per month or $59.99 annually.

â–´ Video isn’t immediately available and must be “requested”. I don’t think I would have a problem with this if it worked every single time but alas, sometimes the video just never shows up.

â–´ No way to remove ‘FeatherSnap’ watermark. Not a huge deal but it feels unnecessary to have it stamped on every single image and video, especially when you’re paying for a service.

Final thoughts –

I love this bird feeder. It has turned me on to a new hobby. I’ve always had bird feeders and enjoyed it when I’d happen to catch one having lunch there but this? This is something different! I LOVE watching the birds now.

Does it stink that there’s a subscription? Yes, of course. Like most folks these days, I’m subscription-ed out, man! Buuut, I do genuinely think this is worth it. Even with my small gripes about the feeder and app, I still think the good outweighs the bad. This has brought a lot of joy into my life. I LOVE checking who is visiting after every notification and whew, the thrill of getting a new type of bird? It’s the best.

For 100% transparency, I was gifted this bird feeder as part of a campaign but this blog post is not part of that. You can check out my sponsored post here.

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DIY toad abode

by Kaylah Stroup

Last spring I picked up a silly little hobby… making toad abodes.

My interest in this started a couple of years back when I had a toad living in a potted plant outside my front door. I posted about how silly it was on my Instagram and the people demanded a home for the little fella! As luck would have it, I spotted the perfect home at the thrift store. It turned into a whole series on my Instagram. We named him Gomez and he brought a lot of people a lot of joy!

Check out some of my favorite posts about Gomez — the day he got his first thrifted home, when he got his name, Gomez getting ready for Halloween.

I knew I wanted to do something toad-related again and to potentially expand on this idea. That’s how I ended up building my own toad abode. I used scrap wood, bark from our woods and my brad nailer. It was super simple, cost next to nothing and was done in no time. Not to mention, it’s the cutest.

toad abode

Obviously, a toad house isn’t a necessity. They’ve been getting on forever without them but I do enjoy the whimsy. There are few things more exciting than going out and spotting that someone is home and using the tiny house I built.

I have two toad abodes in our yard at the moment. One is in my garden which has an abundance of toads who love my damp soil, all the bugs my plants attract, and the cool shade my plants provide. That house is occupied maybe half the time. There are lots of other spots for them to live in my garden where a giant doesn’t disturb them with a camera.

The second toad abode is located in a potted plant outside of my front door. It’s the more popular of the two. I would venture to bet that it’s because of my porch lights. That home is occupied the vast majority of the time.

DIY toad abode

A few tips for drawing toads to your garden & toad abode —
Provide water sources + offer toads a damp environment. (Even near a downspout is good!)
Shady is best!
Your toad abode needs to be placed on dirt and have no bottom. Toads like to burrow into the cool dirt. They have no problem digging in the mulch in my garden but I do try to pull mulch away from the house so they have actual dirt to hang out in.
Avoid pesticides.

DIY toad house made from bark
DIY toad house made from bark
DIY toad abode inspiration
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my four leaf clover collection

by Kaylah Stroup
four leaf clover collection

For about five years now I’ve been collecting four leaf clovers. I didn’t have a specific place to put them after they dried. They’ve been shoved into notepads, lost in books, and floating around my office.

While cleaning out my basement I rediscovered a little green metal box. The tools that came in it are long since missing but the box itself? Just something about it scratched something in my brain. I didn’t want to get rid of it.

I decided to line it with a piece of hornet’s nest that had been on our house last year and fill it with my four leaf clover collection.

I’m using a fine line silver permanent marker to keep track of how many are inside. Just over 100 at the moment.

I love how it turned out. I can’t wait to add more!

four leaf clover collection
upcycled tool box
four leaf clover collection

Find previous four leaf clover content here, like the time I found sixty in one month!

Check out my tips for pressing plants here.

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half bath renovation // part one

by Kaylah Stroup

On a whim, I decided to gut my half bath.

The room I said I would wait until last to even start… I started.

Sometimes having a giant fixer upper house feels wildly overwhelming. There are a handful of big projects that just seem very out of my control. So, sometimes it’s nice to just start something you know you can knock out of the park without too too much of a hassle.

And that’s why on a random week day, midday, I decided to start demo!

This is what I started with.

Its a room Jeff and I barely ever use but our guests generally tend to choose the downstairs bathroom. Because of this the idea has always been that it’d be a massively bold room. I want guests to walk in and just be hit in the face with fun bold choices!

It feels like a fun room to experiment with. Perhaps do things I might not want to try out in a larger room for fear of how it looks. If I paint it a color I think might look rad but hate? No biggie, it’s a small room and not terrible to fix. Although, spoiler alert, I am obsessed with all my choices to far!

This was one of a couple rooms in our house that wasn’t insulated when we bought. The previous owner actually had this section of the home behind a wall and then tarped in. It was definitely a chilly room mid winter! That was why I decided to gut it completely. Otherwise, the drywall that was already hanging wasn’t in too terrible of shape. I could have removed the wallpaper and patched the walls.

BUT obviously I want to do things right! My dad and I installed insulation. It worked out that we had the perfect amount left from when we had to insulate the kitchen (another previously chilly room!)

Demo, insulation + drywall aside, let me give you a peek at the planned details!

I scored a ceiling medallion at Goodwill for a couple of bucks. I wasn’t sure where I’d end up putting it but knew that I couldn’t pass it up for the price!

I had been on the fence about the bathroom mirror that came with the house. It wasn’t love at first sight or anything but I also didn’t hate it. When I saw the roses on the medallion though? I knew I had to keep the mirror and put the medallion in the bathroom. They’re not a perfect match but they do compliment each other and I like that.

I’ve always had it in my mind that I wanted a chandelier for in here. I just love the idea of a bathroom chandelier. Its…silly? I don’t know! Just feels like a fun choice. Lucky for me, someone had removed one that was in the house previously and left it in the basement. It needed rewired but otherwise seemed to be in decent shape.

It cleaned up nicely and rewiring was a neat new skill to learn!

Here’s where I’m at now! Finished drywall, and beadboard paneling up along the bottom of the room. My dad and I made custom trim for both above the beadboard and along the bottom. The chandelier is hung and the ceiling is painted a nice moody shade! Flooring is ready to be installed and wallpaper is on it’s way here. The last thing left to choose is the color I’ll be painting the beadboard and trim.

I can’t believe it’s so far along!

Check out this reel I posted on instagram for another look at the room & everything I’ve done so far!

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what I’ve been reading

by Kaylah Stroup
a house with good bones by t. kingfisher

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher.

‘”Mom seems off.”

Her brother’s words echo in Sam Montgomery’s ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam’s excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.’

I’ve read a couple of books by T. Kingfisher at this point and I think one of the things I love the most about her writing is the world building. I find it so easy to visualize every one and every place in her books and I think that’s just wonderful. A House With Good Bones is a solid horror book that I’d feel comfortable recommending to just about anyone who’d listen!*

Also by T. Kingfisher I really enjoyed The Twisted Ones! I made my husband read it after I did. We both loved it. Since reading it I’ve been on the hunt for similar books and still haven’t found anything that scratched the itch.

*That sounds weird and robotic, right? But what I mean is that I read a lot of really icky, uncomfortable, just plain old triggering horror that I feel like pushes limits. This book feels like something that could be enjoyed by everyone, even folks who don’t necessarily love horror.

Abnormal Statistics by Max Booth III.

Abnormal Statistics is a collection of thirteen stories by author Max Booth III, ten of which are reprints, and three are original to this book including a novella called “Indiana Death Song”. First things first, I had never read anything by Max Booth III prior to this but you guys… a tweet of his showed up on my twitter where if you Paypal-ed him money, he’d send you a signed book. That’s how easy it is to hook me. I’d seen his name floating around before in the horror world so I figured why not.

This book was awful. The good kind of awful! The kind of awful you’re reading horror for! Just absolutely unflinching, uncomfortable horror. This is the kind of horror I’m talking about above, it’s not for everyone but for the people who like that stuff? THIS IS A GOOD ONE!

The first 84 pages start with the aforementioned novella which immediately made me a fan of his writing. It was bleak and heartbreaking. (Even more so when you read the story notes in the back of the book and learn it was based heavily on his own childhood. What!!!)

I tore through this book and hopped online as soon as I was done to order another of his books. I look forward to reading everything I can get my hands on now. I highly recommend this book!

OOZE: Little Bursts of Body Horror edited by Ruth Anna Evans.

This was another twitter find. I honestly just really loved the look of the book. It’s so cute and tiny and pink! Don’t let that fool you though. It is disgusting!

Ooze: Little Bursts of Body Horror is a collection of bite sized stories that plunge you into a world where the boundaries of the human body are stretched and distorted in the most grotesque and imaginative ways. It’s a quick read. I couldn’t put it down and ended up finishing it in one sitting.

We Need to Do Something by Max Booth III.

‘A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.’

I wasn’t really sure what to gather from that very small snippet but after reading Abnormal Statistics I knew I could trust the author to take me on a wild ride. We Need to Do Something is slow-burning and anxiety-inducing.

This book was turned into a movie with the same name in 2021. It has… uh, not the best reviews but, I’ll tell you what, I watched it right after I finished the book and really enjoyed it. I felt like the casting was pretty spot on with what I was imagining too!

I always like when I can watch the movie version right after finishing a book, especially when it’s something like this that I’m still mulling over in my brain.

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel.

‘The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything―and everyone―at a safe distance.

When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. Soon she’s spending more time at Andrea’s remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn’t even mind that her cousin’s wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry―baby fever comes with the territory.

The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city; and the cousins’ increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come…’

When I finished this book and was thinking about what to write about it here the first word that came to mind was ‘predictable’. I know that sounds bad but hear me out, okay? It’s predictable in the way you can absolutely see what’s coming a mile away and there’s nothing you can do to stop any of the events that are about to happen. You just have to buckle up and hold on tight. It was so fantastically stressful. I loved it!

Peruse the ‘books‘ category here on the blog for similar posts. Keep an eye on my instagram stories if you’re looking for even more recommendations!

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my food garden / before + after

by Kaylah Stroup

When we bought our home the yard wasn’t the prettiest. We were absolutely stoked about the land and actually owning property but in the state it was in, it wasn’t much to look at. Adding my massive flower bed made a huge improvement! We also added trails throughout the woods off the main grassy area and most recently, I’ve been working on converting overgrown weed filled areas to something more useful.

Last spring I started the process of clearing out the area beside my garage. Seen below. It was full of weeds that grew taller than my head. Mixed in with that? Trash. Bunches of it. Not even fun old trash, just like… real modern trash. I wish I had gotten more pictures of it before but honestly, it was just an eye sore. It was an area I purposely kept out of frame.

I spent spring of 2022 clearing out the trash, carefully mowing, and ripping out all everything growing. I ended up planting my pumpkins there last year which really worked out because pumpkins are great at taking over. They kept other plants under control while I figured out exactly what I wanted to do with the area.

Check out my pumpkin tunnel from last year here. It was such a massive source of joy!

This year I started with a plan!

I wanted this area to be more food garden focused as opposed to for funsies flowers. I got three 17″ raised beds from Vego Garden. I have two of the 6 in 1 beds and one 9 in 1 bed.

The beds were easy to put together and I was able to fill them quite affordably by using rotting logs, yard waste, cardboard and homemade compost. I LOVE how they look!

My vision was that the two smaller beds would have an arch in between them and that you’d walk through that arch to get to the larger bed. I used 16ft cattle panel from Tractor Supply to make the arch. Luckily my dad has a truck or else it’d have been a real pain in the butt to figure out how to get the panel home since they don’t deliver.

early in the season, May

I planted tomatoes, marigolds, nasturtium, peppers, onions, and peas!

I’ve felt kind meh about it season long though. Honestly, I’m not having the best gardening year. Everything just seemed to be off to a really slow start and SLUGS. My goodness, slugs! I have never had a problem with them before but they won’t leave my stuff alone no matter how many darn egg shells I crush up around my plants. It’s one of those things I’ve just had to kind of ignore so that it doesn’t drive me mad.

BUT! Earlier this week, I walked outside early in the morning and was able to look at everything with fresh eyes. Things finally seem to be taking off. My tomato plants don’t look very pretty but they’re heavy with fruit just beginning to ripen. My peas are finally climbing the arch! I have baby peppers growing slowly but steadily.

I worked my butt off on this area and it’s definitely paying off. Maybe not as quickly as I’d like but wow, what a huge difference from the before photos I shared above.

vego garden beds
vego garden beds review
vego garden beds arch

Doesn’t it look so lovely? I’m quite pleased with my decision to plant clover in between the beds instead of doing mulch or bark. My mower doesn’t fit but it just takes a second to weed whack! I think having the green in there makes such a big impact and kind of extends the yard.

pumpkin tunnel

Also, this year’s pumpkin tunnel? I’M VERY EXCITED! You can definitely expect to see a lot more of that later in the summer! xo

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in the garden // july 2023

by Kaylah Stroup

It’s the third summer in the flower garden of my dreams!

There are so many plants blooming right now. It’s an absolute treat to wander around inside. Every day it seems like something new is exploding with color.

It’s been too hot most recent days to do much of anything out there which works out just fine for me since it’s mostly on autopilot during the summer. The goal has always been that there are enough plants that there just isn’t room for weeds. While I’m not quite there yet, this year’s garden is worlds different than my first-year garden (which I HATED during the summer because it just felt unmanageable!)

This year my flower bed is an absolute delight.

I just wanted to share some recent flower bed pictures. That’s all. xo

Check out this post from June of 2021 to see little peek at how far it’s come!

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remaindered books?! // Book Outlet review

by Kaylah Stroup
Book Outlet review / remaindered books

See all those books up there? Know how much I paid for them? Forty bucks including shipping!! They’re not used either! Forty bucks at the bookstore is getting me two books, maybe not even two if they’re hardcovers! But I was able to grab EIGHT of them for forty dollars.

I love reading and I LOVE collecting books but yikes, it adds up quick!

While reading reviews on Amazon, I came across the word ‘remaindered’. The review wasn’t about the book’s content but the book itself. I hadn’t heard this term before so I hopped over to Google and learned that remaindered books are ones that are already printed and no longer selling well so they’re liquidated. They’ll sometimes be marked by the publisher or bookseller so that they can’t be returned but otherwise, they’re generally in new, unused condition.

Learning this term led to me Book Outlet. They sell remaindered books as well as store returns and special publisher buyouts. All of their books are at least 50% off of retail without any coupons. 50% OFF!!! Sounds too good to be true, right!? Well, spoiler alert, it’s not!

I started browsing their horror section just out of curiosity but soon found myself filling my cart because C’MON how could I resist a deal as good as this?

Book Outlet review / remaindered books
remaindered books

Above are examples of how my books were marked. Out of the eight books in my order, two were completely unmarked and the other six had either a small dot or a line. Seven of the eight looked (aside from tiny marks noted above) and felt brand new. The eighth book has some slight cover damage shown below but honestly, nothing terrible! I would still have purchased it at a bookshop looking like that.

Since the stock is based on books that are remaindered it’s a great place to look for popular books you might not have gotten a chance to grab yet! Some of these were already on my TBR list and others sounded good and had a price I couldn’t resist.

I was so excited about my purchase that I made a second order before the first arrived. All in all, I ended up with fourteen books for eighty dollars which is just bonkers! That’s a little under six bucks per book on average.

I was a bit worried it was too good to be true but all fourteen are something I’d 100% feel comfortable with grabbing from a bookstore in person in the condition they’re in! Aside from the one specifically shown earlier in the post, there was zero visible damage outside of the remaindered mark.

I will one hundred percent be making another purchase… although I’ve already had to tell myself no more browsing for a bit! It’s hard to resist a good deal!

PS! If you purchase through a link in this post you’ll be getting $5 off your first purchase of $25 or more… which makes your books an even better deal. Ahh, how can you resist!?

January 2024 update – Y’all, I STILL love Book Outlet. I’ve made five orders from them thus far and it’s all been lovely! One order was missing a book but they were quick to respond to my email and sent out a replacement immediately. Book Outlet has made building my book collection a breeze. I can’t believe how many great deals I’ve scored.

In all of my orders and time spent on the site, I have realized you can’t hesitate. Books tend to sell out moderately quickly. So, if there’s something you want to read, grab it!

bookoutlet review
book outlet review
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