Merry Belated Christmas!

So at our family Christmas get-together, my brother-in-law feels the need to remind me how long it's been since I updated my blog.   Says they are getting tired of taking the Spring Yard Tour and what's up with that? ha!  (We also had a good laugh reminiscing about the "gag-gift backfire" post from last December.) 

Honestly, time just got the best of me and I could go on and on with excuses (the move, my job, .......) but I suppose it's time to jump back on the bandwagon and make my big comeback!

Here are some really cute garden ornaments I made and displayed on my "garden-nature" tree in our sunroom.   (I had planned on making lots of them and doing some craft shows but that didn't happen either.)




(tea-stained gloves, stuffed with moss with small clay pot and flowers hot-glued)

My mom gave me these little stained-glass candle holders.  (She also moved last year and you should see my basement now!) 

I think they look terrific on top of our entertainment center; I've already found two more at flea markets and thrift stores.

We had so much fun decorating our new home.   Here's my "snowman" village:

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is all psyched for the new year!   I certainly am!   Got me a new job and I'm really looking forward to the reduced stress!

I promise to keep in touch better and already have lots of ideas for future crafts I can't wait to show you and you'll get a peek of my basement workshop!  (Look out! Might give the show "hoarders" a run for its money!!)

Happy New Year!!

Spring Yard Tour!

Hi all!   Saturday was finally a day without rain!   We set a record for rainfall here in Ohio and let me tell you; it's been a ton of rain!  Talk about your April showers!   Now that May is here, we are really hoping for some 'normal' spring weather before it gets too hot!

I wanted to share with you some pics around my new yard; we are loving our new home and all the space!   Here is a bed by the front porch; I just love all the perennials the previous owner put in; it's so pretty!   I need to get some mulch down before the weeds come in.

Here's a bed on the side of the garage.   I'm really anxious for the iris's to bloom!   They are going to be gorgeous!

We have a pretty long driveway and there is a nice turnaround in the front; inside the turnaround are lots of lily-of-the-valleys, vinca and hostas are in the center area.

Out back there is a nice strawberry patch; can't wait for those!!  Yum, yum!

There are also three raised beds that I planted with sunflowers (the big ones!!), other sunflowers and pumpkins.    I've always wanted to grow those mammoth sunflowers and I hope these do well!

How about some asparagus gone wild??!!   We have a nice asparagus field but with all the rain, I wasn't able to harvest it.   Now I have 2-3 foot tall spikes! ha!   (and yes, please ignore all the dried brush from last-years crop;  I'll blame that on the rain too!)

Also out back is a little barn with a covered porch area.   Very nice to sit on the swing and watch the grass grow.  I'm hoping to also enjoy a few sunsets from this point.  And of course you know I'll fill it up with all kinds of garden-junk-stuff.   Hubby has already warned me not to "junk-up" the front of the house.  (ggrrrrrr! it's NOT junk!)

Here's my view from the swing.   Can't wait to see those big sunflowers kissing the sun!

Hope you enjoyed the little tour!   I need to get into the workshop (that's my basement; remember? ha!) and put together my giveaway prize!   I've passed the 50-followers mark and want to celebrate that and the fact that we are moved! yeah!!  So stay-tuned!  

Happy May!

Studio Update, Again

Oh My Gosh Becky, Look At Her Butt Basement!   I like big basements and I cannot lie!  You other brothers can't deny!  ha!  remember that song?!     I'm slowly (very slowly!) getting my workshop/studio in order.   Moving is hard work!  so much to do!  I do want to publicly thank my family, especially my sister and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend and my mom, for helping us!!  They are great!!

Here's a before-shot.   Everything in boxes and on the floor.  I even made 'rows' so I could get to things.  See those empty shelves in the back corner? 

They went from this:

to this!:

To all you folks shopping the thrift stores for pretty colored glass pieces and can't find any, I Apologize!!   I've apparently become a hoarder of colored glass!   I had no idea I had that much, really!    But I'm so glad to have it all in one place and organized.   Now I need to do something with it.

I don't think these two little tubes of GEII are going to cut it; I might need to invest in a good caulking gun for the bigger tubes.

Here's some shots of the rest of the basement; it's huge!   I want to make a woodworking section, a painting section, a "completed items" section, etc.

Well, I need to get some more unpacking and organizing done today.   The weather here has been just crappy lately; lots of rain, storms and flooding.   Way too wet to do anything outside;  (so I have no excuse to not get things done inside, right?  right!)

Have a good one!  And Happy Easter!  

Very-Quick Update

Hi all!!   Yes, I know you've been missing me but we've been super-busy getting moved into our new home!   We are super excited to get unpacked and settled; and I'm really super-excited to get the workshop slash studio up and running!   You should see the basement!   I can't wait to show you pics; but then my hubby packed the camera cord away and I can't download any pictures yet; bummer!    Please stay tuned!  

OK, this photo was already downloaded but I picked-up this old vintage print at a flea market a couple months ago.   It has a water mark on it but I think that adds to its charm; plus it was only a quarter!!   Could use a new frame but I love the muted colors and the overall vintage look!

Well, thanks for hanging in there with me!  I promise it will be worth the wait!  and with a Giveaway!!   Have a great day!

It's 'Garden Thyme'!

OK, well it's almost garden time!   Here's the cute little sign I made the other night with my brand-new bottle of Mod-Podge.   And yes, it felt so good!   Not only using a new bottle of glue but it felt good to actually craft again and get something done even if it was only a small thing.

The background is several different pieces of old wallpaper and some wrapping paper.   I printed the words out on brown paper and cut to fit.  Then mod-podged it all together.

It's still a little early to start spending 'thyme' in the garden but it won't be long!

Feels So Good

Don't you just love the feeling of opening a brand new bottle of Mod-Podge?!   So nice and clean!  Filled all the way to the top!  Not all gunky and messy around the edges!  It feels so good!  

My old bottle wasn't completely empty but I was tired of getting glue on my knuckles just to reach the bottom.   Don't worry; I'll pour the rest of that glue into my new bottle once the volume goes down a bit but I just love the feeling of opening a brand new one, don't you?  

And I'm going to do my best to keep it clean!   Not let glue run around the edges and get all gunky and clean it up when I'm done.  (Well, I can try at least! ha!   Let's see how long it lasts!)

It inspired me to work on a little sign tonight; we haven't moved into the new house yet; still have another week before possession, so we feel like we are in limbo now and I haven't really been in the crafting way for awhile but thought I'd work on a small project tonight.   I'll show it to you when it's done.

Have a good weekend!   We are expecting 1-2 inches of snow!!   Yuck!  

Studio Update (ha)

Yes, I haven't blogged for awhile but with good reason.  I've been keeping a little secret and was afraid I'd let the cat out of the bag before it's time but now the time is here!  We are moving!   Yeah!!  To a bigger, nicer home!!   In fact, it's only a mile down the street but that's ok; we love the area and are happy to stay; just needed a bigger home with room to stretch.   The closing is Friday!!

This house has a full basement!!   I'm going to have my own studio down there!   Can't wait!!  (Sounds so fancy to say 'studio', doesn't it??  or maybe I'll call it my "workshop";  it will just be my crafting area but what the heck; I'm super excited!!)

Started packing up my crafting supplies and other junk; that will be first things to go over, straight to the basement and out of the way.   Look at all this and this isn't even half of it.

My family room is looking more like a storage locker.   (Speaking of: the new Storage Wars was on last night and I fell asleep after 10 minutes!  Wonder if I was snoring? ha)

I didn't sign-up for any craft shows this month or next because I knew I'd be busy and I certainly haven't had time to make anything exciting.   But hopefully it won't be much longer!   I can't wait to get all moved in and fire-up my workshop (or is it a studio?  not sure yet).  

Take care and thanks for visiting!!

It's My 7 Things!!

Finally, I'm getting around to disclosing 7 things about me you may or may not find interesting or didn't know.   I was tagged 'twice' a couple months ago by some bloggin' buddies:  Vintage Sue and another Sue from Junk-It Junction so here goes:

1.  Apparently I snore; a pretty loudly I'm told! ha!   My hubby even recorded me one night and it is hilarious to listen to!   And there are times I swear I'm only half-asleep, still listening to TV and he goes " hey, can you roll over?  You are getting pretty loud."  And I say What??!  No way I was snoring; I was listening to TV!  ha!

2.  Speaking of my husband, we met at a dance-club/bar back in 1986.   I think we went back to that bar maybe one time.   And I can count the numbers of times we've danced together since on two hands.  

3.  In high school, I played the trumpet.   I was actually pretty good; took private lessons and played recitals and solos often.  I continued to play the trumpet in college but only in the marching band; it was a lot of fun!

4.  Even though I'm ONLY 46 (emphasis on 'only'), if I didn't color my hair, I swear I'd be completely gray!   When it starts to grow in, I start to look like a skunk! ha!

5.  One of my favorite snacks is raw chocolate-chip cookie dough!   And my daughter loves it too.   We'll sit on the couch and pass it back/forth with the spoon stuck in it.

6.  My guilty pleasure on TV right now is....... Tosh.O.   This show is so wrong but very funny!   (for those of you not familiar with the show, that is probably a good thing!!  It is on the comedy channel and it's a Talk-Soup version of internet videos being made fun of and other small skits.   Wrong, I tell you; just plain wrong!! ha)

7.  I have never flown.    Wait, does a helicopter count??   I did take a small 10-minute helicopter ride a few years ago in Gatlinburg just so I could say I've flown! ha   It's not that I don't want to, we just never did growing up and when we vacation, we just prefer to drive so we have our own car while there and to save on airfare. 

Well, that's all I care to disclose tonight.  I'm sure you'll be able to sleep better tonight knowing all this.

I've been sorting thru my many craft supplies lately (the family room is even worse!!), lots of boxes sitting around.   I'm really hopeful I'll get a few projects completed soon that I can show you.   Have a great evening and thanks for visiting!!

It's Happening Again!!

Yikes!   Take a look at my family room!  The end tables are completely covered again with more 'stuff'!   (And you can't see but 'stuff' is also under the tables!)  And I was doing so good!   It's all Mary's fault!   She got me hooked on garden whimsies; now I have to buy every friggin' cute teapot I see!   (Love you Mary!!)

And don't get me started on the 'plates'!   Good Lord; it is a sickness, I swear!
What I need to do is start making things with the 'stuff' instead of going out and buying more 'stuff'!   But then I have this argument in my head that the 'stuff' doesn't take up as much space if you can stack it and you can't stack it if you've made something with it; argh!! 

And then there's the second argument that 'well, I had an idea for this but maybe I'd better hold-off in case a better idea comes along."  Ever have that one?   Or there's even the third argument of "well, I don't quite have the perfect piece to go with this piece, so I'd better hold off until I shop some more and maybe find that perfect piece to go with this piece."   Please!!  You can't find something in all that 'stuff' that would work??!!

Does the cycle ever end??

But here's a really cute white wicker small hamper found at Goodwill that will look cute with flowers in it this summer:    The flower sign was a 'find' at the flea market.

 OK, I feel better now.

Garden Memo Board

Hi there!   Cheap bulletin boards are pretty easy to come by these days and can be transformed so easily into something much more easy on the eye and useful.   I picked up this bulletin board for 90 cents at one of our local thrift stores and really liked the smaller size.   Here's the before shot:

I painted the trim and glued-down some pretty drawer-liner paper:

Then I cut some garden fencing down to size but kept the end pieces long.   (Found a big roll of this fencing at an estate sale for $1.00!!! luv it!)

I then drilled holes along the bottom and sides where the fencing pieces are long, then bent the fence wire into the hole and curled up the back to hold it in place.
Added a few cup hooks along the bottom, some clothespins to hold memos, photos, seeds and of course, some thumbtacks.

I think it's just adorable and am anxious to try another one, maybe bigger this time.

Inspiration for this project is courtesy of Becky at Beyond the Picket Fence.   She recently posted about several bulletin board projects and the one using the garden fencing really spoke to me.  

Give her a visit; she is extremely creative and always has loads of great projects to show.   She also holds frequent "linky" parties where other bloggers can post links to their projects, which is fun to check out.

More Flea-Market Finds

Can't seem to get enough of the flea markets lately.  Partly because of the weather; it's too yucky to be outside doing anything yet in the yard, although today was pretty nice!

All these items were 35% off;  this vendor was moving out.   I love the black painted tray!   The colors are gorgeous and it was 35% off of $5.00 original.   (Sorry, no calculator handy! ha)

Check out this large linen kitchen towel.  It appears to be rather old and was only $2.00 less 35%!

It has the cutest little sayings on it too.   Check out what it says about lavender:  for devotion; to soothe tremblings and passions of the heart.

And rosemary is pretty funny too:  "grows well in the house where the mistress is master".

I also found a couple of old farming newspapers, from 1916 and 1925.   I just love all the old gardening ads in them.   Great for crafts.

This one says to send 10 cents in; I've always wanted to try that and see what would happen; think I would get anything??   That reminds me of Hee-Haw.  How many of us dialed BR-549?   I did at my grandma's house once; it started ringing and I quick hung-up before I got in trouble!

Here's a few shots of the flea-market.   This is inside Ceasars Creek near Wilmington, Ohio.   If I went there every weekend, I'd always manage to find something to drag home.  

I usually find a few things in this lady's booth but she doesn't restock enough and I'm getting tired of looking at the same things.

Looks like a lot of tools in this booth but it also has old craft items, holiday items, etc.

This lady actually put together a cute country craft store; a little pricey but some nice stuff.

I'm really anxious for the outside vendors; hopefully it won't be long!  

(For those of you still looking for the Flea-Market Gardens magazine, I saw a big stack tonight at Krogers.)

How about a Quickie?

A quickie makeover, that is!   I bought these two framed pictures at the flea market last month for a quarter a piece.   Wasn't crazy about the pictures or the frame but they were in great shape and a nice size and who can beat that price?

A quick paint job and a beautiful rose print glued in and you now have this:

My original plan was to also add some cute garden sayings and other items to them but I'm liking them just the way they are; very sophisticated looking.   I think I might have to redo my bathroom just so I have a place to hang these beauties.

The rose prints are actually from some file folders I found at the thrift store last year; I'm going to be really sorry when those are all used up!

Flea-Market Garden Magazine!!

Oh my gosh! I am totally in love with this magazine!   This is the premier issue and it combines my two favorite things:  good-ole junk/flea market finds and gardening!  When I first saw it, I literally just wanted to 'transport' myself INTO IT!!

(click on any picture to enlarge it.)
  

It is definitely pricey: $9.95!  But I couldn't help myself.   (What is it with the price of magazines these days??   But this mag. has hardly any advertising in it and that's probably why.)

(Edit 2/10/11: I have received numerous requests on where to find the magazine. I bought mine at a Meijer store in central Ohio.  Good Luck!)


Don'tcha just love those posies tucked in those drawers?!   I'm going to try that this spring.   What I'm wondering:  do you plant directly in the drawer or place a pot in the drawer?   I suppose either way would work but I'd love to hear from those of you that use unusual containers for your posies.

I love rusted metal pieces in the garden that look like they've been there for years.

Check out the above desk!   Looks too good to be outside and have plants in it!   But it is gorgeous!   And that little planted chair is just too cute!

And what about this shed??!   One of these days, I swear I'm going to have my own little garden shed, decorated so cute I won't want to leave!  Just call me when dinner's ready.  Or better yet:  bring it out to me! ha!

And check it out!   Glass totems and plate flowers are becoming very popular!!  (That amber one looks almost identical to one I made about 4 years ago and it's still shining in my flower bed.)

Look:  they even give you instructions on how to make one.

Check out this shoe rack of succulents!   (I apologize for the glares!)

Here are a few more pics for your viewing pleasure!  

This magazine has gotten me so excited for spring.   But honestly, there's just no way I could ever have a beautiful garden like these, and I'm ok with that.   Unless you have 1 or 2 people able to help and can be out there all day long, I just don't see how it's possible.   I don't want my garden to consume me; I want to ENJOY it!   I just need to figure out how to have a great garden but on a smaller, more manageable scale.   If anyone has figured this out, please, do tell!!