H like hula hoops

It's Monday again and were starting back with the A to Z Challenge with H, I know there could be lots of items, including hutches  and hinges that could fit this upcycle category but I'm choosing something near and dear to my childhood heart; Hula Hoops.  They were a staple in my childhood, I have many great memories of jumping them, twirling them around and playing crazy games of monster ring toss. But now that I'd matured a bit I can see how they could still be upgraded into some pretty cool items. I scoured Pintrest and now that I have all of these ideas, I'll be running by the dollar store for a couple for me so I'll have them on hand for all of these cute ideas!

I know some of you think that Hula Hoops went out in the 70's and you could be right, but they are making a come back along with something else that went out back then too; Macrame! Don't you remember those owl, towel hangers and of course plant hangers? Well both of these things have had an update and people are using them to create something pretty awesome. Once you see it I think you'll want one too!

Swings! Check out the options and instructions below!

Classy Clutter has worked all of the bugs out for us and gives this great tutorial on what and what not to do when creating your own swing with hoops.

And swings just aren't for us big kids either..

Check out this pattern at Relexlil.com (Hungarian site) I found lots of pictures of this type of item on Etsy but none were still available. 

If you have little ones at home how about a play space or a bed canopy?

This is a great updated tutorial from 2 little hooligans. All you need is some sheets and a bit of time

Check out Apples for Olives take on this easy to make Canopy for your Princess or even for you.

How many times have you heard "Take it outside"? We can do just that here are a couple of ideas for using Hula Hoops in your garden or for your new flock.

Did someone go to tractor supply or your local feed store for bird seed and come back with birds? Need a quick chicken tractor? Check out this ideas from Chicken Coop Tips

This would have been a great idea for us but we ended up using our old trampoline, this takes up way less space and is much more mobile!

Have a vegetable or other plant that vines and needs support, You could use some supports and two hoops like Beth Ramos posted about in her trip to a local community garden. I think this one is using bike tires but you could do this with a hula hoop too. I think it would make the harvesting much easier and take up less room than traditional horizontal trellis ideas.

And the ideas go on and on for hula hoop upcycling, they would be a great solution for your cold crop  covers, add some lighting to your patio or create a mandala for your wall. If you get the hankering for something old to be new again, run out, pick up a couple and let me know what creation you come up with. 

That's it for Monday but it's just the start of week 2, stop by tomorrow to see what we can do with the Letter I!

New Places

I've been trying to become more active, I have a sedentary job and a couple of sedentary hobbies, as well as a sedentary dog..

We started off the year with a First day Hike  walk at Cliffs of the Neuse, I've lived here for 9 years and it is less than 30 minutes away and I had never visited, we've been back a couple of times now and I'm hoping to take full advantage of it as the weather warms up

. My daughter and I braved the bracing cold and took the fuzzy dog for that hike. He's all about walking but we had an issue when we got to the stepping stones across the creek. He was not impressed. It was a bit embarrassing for all of us so I'll just leave that part out..

While the Princess slept in..

I finally got back on track with the walking/Hiking. I had done a lot of it in past years but it got lost in the shuffle of everyday. So in that ideal, The Princess and I have joined a dog walking group recently, it's more fun than it sounds..lol

A local town is working very hard to encourage people to get outside and be more active, in this case they have carved out nice trails, some are even paved, some are wooded and others along existing roads.  This is us with the group in January, before the paving. 

This is the princess after our first  walk..lol

We went a bit further than we had originally expected..she has recovered..lol

We've been to new parks and had a great time meeting new people and dogs. This weekend ironically with the weather being so wonderful for February didn't have a planned walk, (Sorry to all of those who ended up with snow and flooding)  so we ventured to see the newly paved trail near the local hospital and community college.

Nice wide trails

It's really getting green and the weather was in the high 70's, Never fear it will drop off again

Enjoying her Walk, much better than a month ago..

She was so enamored of the little fish in this creek that she would have stayed all day to watch them. There was a little turtle who had ventured out too but we missed getting his picture.

It feels like I should be out planting things but my grandmother always said to be careful of planting until Good Friday. We've started some greens and I'm working away on crafts, but also enjoying these stolen moments of nice weather in the tail end of winter. 

Thanks for stopping by, now get outside and do something fun!