Green Gardening

Hello again dear blog, I am writing you today sitting in a room with its windows open, listening to the beautiful sounds of the birds conversing with one another (my bet about how nice the weather finally is!) Ahh, Spring has finally come, and it took a week of snow, sleet and rain for all of us in my area of PA to be blessed with some nice weather. There was not a cloud in the sky today, which I must tell you were the bluest blue! A nice cool breeze was out and the warm sun was just hot enough where you weren't sweating. I spent most of today and yesterday outside, mainly working in the garden and working on some crafts which desperately needed to be done, since my living room was becoming a Michaels with all of the crafty items I was buying and piling in! Yesterday I worked on removing the patches of grass from my garden bed and planting some peonies next to my potting table, which I had potted a few weeks back. I was glad to find the peony, which I had purchased last year at Lowes and thought was dead is shooting up some of its long stems! And to think I was going to throw it into the compost pile or even worse, the garbage! After doing that I took out my bag of moss, grapevine wreaths and pasta strainer ;) and went outside to work on these moss wreath's which I had been thinking of making for the side and front doors. I used the smaller wreath for my kitchen door, and wrapped some green ribbon around it and the larger wreath is now hanging on my front door. I added some foe white cherry blossoms to it to give it some contrast. I ended up loving them, and hopefully they will last all season! As for today I spent my afternoon running some errands and then again removing grass, sweeping the pavement and dividing some gardenia plants which weren't looking too good! As of now I really need to clean my house and do laundry! I always wait until saturday night to do this, dont I?
Anyways in my last post I said I would be talking about Mothers Day, and so here it is: I have been thinking about making my mom a journal full of inspiring quotes and vintage finds and pictures of mothers and children. She is very important to me, and I love her with all my heart, and so I think instead of buying her something, I will make it and pour my heart into it. I still have a few more weeks to work on that, and hopefully I will and I will deffinately show you! As for other topics, tomorrow's Earth Day, so celebrate it by cleaning up local parks and streams, anything that you could possibly do, even if its using one less napkin *(OPRAH) I suggest that you also tune into the full day Marathon of Planet Earth, it has touched my heart. From watching them and all of the other shows that have been on this week, I am going to make a difference, however small it may be, its still a step into a brighter and greener direction for everyones future! I urge and wish you all a Happy Earth Day, and a greener approach to everyday living!

Some of the supplies for my wreaths!

April Showers

Hello again dear blog, yet again I am so sorry for not posting a new post in almost 2 weeks! I have abandoned you, but you did not miss much, just a few shopping adventures and some snow... yep, I said snow in APRIL! I thought it was bad in March, but now April 16th, in Pennsylvania there was snow. April 16th was a very sad day in many ways, firstly it was a friend of mine who passed away last years birthday, with which I attended her birthday mass, and then spent the day with her family. I did not find out about the VT shootings until I came home later that day, and I must say that I am greatly saddened, and I send my prayers to all of those who have been affected in any way, especially those who lost a loved one and those who were injured. It is a true shame that this may have been prevented. On to a better topic, how about that I am posting some new images of some pretty things and salvages. The image above is of two glass containers which I rescued from my grandmothers recycling bin. I couldn't believe that she was throwing them out! Well, they would have been re-used but why not use them in their original state? The taller bottle says Schenley on it, I believe a whiskey company from several decades ago (?) and the other one has no labeling on it, the only problem with that is that it has a small crack in it, but thankfully it does not leak! The images below are of my gardenia plant which is flowering some beautiful and deliciously fragrant blooms and of my fave, Country Living Magazine with a sprig of "cherry blossoms."
I have been really busy lately and have not had much time to create, but I promise that I will hopefully make a new sign for my kitchen door, which as of now says "Potting Shed". I will probably use the same saying, but I want to change the paint and put some paper on it, vintage perhaps? I also wanted to attend a flea market this past Saturday, but I was not sure what time it opened, and it wasn't such a nice day since there was a Noreastern headed our way and they skies were gray and it was chilly. Hopefully this Saturday I will be able to attend another flea market, which I believe opens at 8 am, and I will try to take photos and share some of my finds with you! As of the rest of my week, it consisted of 3 hours of constant spring cleaning, and listening to music. By the way, I am really enjoying Michael Buble,so handsome and talented (self taught!) Listen to "Save the last Dance for Me" or "Sway." I have also fell in love with the Double Tree commercial which has Dinah Washingtons song "Relax Max." Every time it comes on I start dancing around, so I downloaded it and you will find me constantly singing it ;) . As for now thats about it, I have a few other things to say but I dont want to ramble on different topics! Next post, I promise soon, will contain things on Mothers Day and Spring plantings! Wishing you sunny spring weather and time with your families!

Good Friday

Hello again dear blog, I am ashamed at myself for having deserted you this week. I am so very sorry! And last Friday in my last post I said that this week I would be updating more! Once again I apologize, but to give you some hope I did stay up to date on my favorite blogs, which contained some very inspiring spring creations this week! So, lets get back to the usual and tell you about what my week consisted of ( of course only telling you of the semi-interesting days ;) ) On Tuesday my sister and our best friend went to her house and I made blueberry ricotta pancakes (which I saw on Everyday Italian)and they made sausage, home made home fries, and scrambled eggs. Yummy, that was delicious! That night I went to Michael's and bought lots of Spring-inspired items which made me turn into a crafting feen these past couple of days! The image above is of some terra cotta pots I painted white and stuffed with some moss, and foe narcissus bulbs which I bought for just a dollar at Michael's. I saw something similar to them somewhere (maybe Target?) and decided instead of paying 30 dollars for the container of 4, how about I just make a few myself! So for the two it cost me under 3 dollars, but I do plan on making more since they're just too cute! As for the image below that is of some other items I bought such as that adorable tin container which was on sale for three bucks, and some "Kerr" jars which I plan to start some seedlings in on my kitchen windowsill ) perhaps some more lavender?)
Like I stated above, I have really been in an "Easter Mode" these past three days, but yesterday the weather kind of threw me for a loop. For the past couple of weeks we've had some above and below average temperatures such as 82 all the way down to 30. But this week especially, mother nature was out of whack yet again! Monday and Tuesday it was 78 degrees and sunny, Wednesday it was about 55 and raining, and then yesterday it was 30 and snowing! I know I have said many times that I love the cold weather and especially the snow, but I have already made the transition into Spring and I just want to go outside and enjoy the weather and my garden! Off the topic of my "Springtime" blues, yesterday my sister, Karen and I made breakfast yet again. This time it was Apple Fritters, hash browns, broccoli, eggs, and bacon. Wow, we really need to stop eating breakfast and start going to the gym! Lol, but I say enjoy the time and company with the ones who you care about and the ones who make you laugh, every moment that you can! And since this week was filled with a lot of free time for myself, it was the perfect opportunity! As for today, nothing much, just some cleaning that desperately needed to be done, ;) and taking pictures for my blog and flickr. I'm telling ya, my neighbors must think I'm crazy since I'm always going outside or in the bay window putting up different items like the narcissus and tin container. Oh well, who cares right, I'm just taking them for my blog, being a little creative! As for this weekend, tomorrow I may go shopping for an Easter outfit, and Sunday I have plans for Easter lunch and dinner with my family. If I do not speak with you tomorrow, I'm wishing you a fun and family filled Happy Easter!

And a sneak-peek of the thank you card I need to send to Amber, , since I made it last Friday and it's just been sitting here!