Outdoor lighting...how to create a lot of ambiance for little money

 Now that things have been warming up I have been spending a lot of my time outside, I love being outside.
We planted this large Japanese Lilac last summer during a heat wave thankfully it survived that and our extra harsh winter.
Planting a larger tree is more of an investment but you get so much more for your money and it adds to your property value.
We will add planting beds to the backyard space in time but since we just spent a good deal of money on our fence this year the beds and landscaping will have to wait.
I was inspired to concentrate on night time ambient lighting for this summer. I am in love with all the string lighting...it's magical.
I went to Target and picked up 8 boxes of frosted globe lighting, each strand is 9 feet long. I started closest to the house down the fence around the back and even up our garage...it is amazing at night.

 I also added some lanterns to the fence for candle light and always a few hanging baskets for some color.

 I found two little lanterns in the garage while I was cleaning out for a yard sale we had last weekend, what to do with two tiny lanterns? then I thought what if I hung them from my lilac tree...that would be nice... so that sent me on the hunt for more white lanterns.
I found these simple tin lanterns also at Target with the great punch out designs, they didn't have hangers so I just cut some aluminum wire and made some hangers for them.

 Why did I only buy two of these adorable lanterns???

 I took these photos very early this past Saturday while I set up for a yard sale we were having. I feel so much better having cleared out so much that was just sitting in boxes from our move. We were able to also raise money for the Relay for Life Charity for cancer research.
I have a little yard sale tip for you....several days before the yard sale set up a private invite to your yard sale on Facebook for the people in your area...allowing your friends to get the heads up and dibs on all the good stuff....I had a lot of requests for previews but I resisted the urge to do so , I figured it was more fair to leave it all for Saturday morning and it was a huge success, we raised a lot of money for Relay for Life all in the first 30 min. I even held off on putting up signs until the first hour was over.

So do you love the outdoors in the summer?
Do you have a lot of outdoor lighting?