Archive for the ‘My Garden’ Category

I’m going to chase a little rabbit here…. this vine always delights me.  I cut it back to the ground and it is almost to the top of the pole.

This is the biggest bloom it has ever produced.  This is a Columbine vine.

I see it every time I drive into my garage.

Ok, on to organization.  I have a front load washer/dryer and I guess I overloaded it today.  It stopped and came up with an error message.

I keep all of the books to the various items we own in a plastic tub with pendaflex folders.

This is a little dark but I went straight to the tub and pulled out the manual and within 5 minutes I found out what I needed to do to get the machine up and running again.

Difference between a woman and a man, we will read directions!   LOL!

Because I love power tools I keep them in a binder in the box.

I have tried a lot of things to keep the manuals and information on the various things organized but this is by far my favorite.  Everything in one place.

Now, I notice there are some manuals in there that we don’t own the items anymore so that means I have another task I need to do….clean out the tub!

First blooms off of my Knock Out roses.

This is the first year this vine has bloomed.  It is growing on a topiary and I’m hoping this year it will cover all of the topiary.

The thing that is unique about this Boston Fern is I got it for $5.00 at Brookshires.

Beautifully full already!

This plant is amazing to me.  It has thorny leaves and after this winters 25 degree weather it looked really bad.

I cut the old stuff off about 2 weeks ago and it went crazy.

Red Japanese Maple!  This tree is such a slow grower. It is a great ornamental tree and it is front of another topiary that has a green back drop.

Underneath the Red Japanese Maple, I planted some lavendar.

Isn’t this a great picture!  I love it when you accidentally get a good one of

Well, it’s official I have the planting bug.  This is a mix of flowers, vines, herbs and vegetable plants.

Since I have a small unfenced yard, I do a lot of gardening in containers.

I’ve had this one for years and I decided it was time to give it a fresh look.  Note, on old resin containers it is not necessary to sand.

I don’t know what happened but this key lime color spoke to me at the store, along with a few other brightly colored pots.

I decided I need to add a little umph to my deck and I went head first into color.

The key lime spray paint took to the resin container without any issues.  Love this color!

I wanted it to look aged so I took some gel stain (that’s what I had on hand) and brushed it on with a light touch.  Remember, start out light and then if you want more you can add it.

Next I bought this pole-pot hanger thing from Canton trade days last year, so I decided I was going to put it up.  Not as easy as the man made it seem.

First, the key lime green pot was too big.  I found a small clay pot in put it in the larger pot and then put the rod inside that pot.

Next you fill it with pea gravel and then there are some horizontal levelers that you put on and finish off with more pea gravel.  It took me two bags and a lot of dirt.

This is a really big pot!

I took the smaller pots and aged them the same way I aged the key lime pot and started arranging them.  At this point my DH and I have had 3 arguments.  Him trying to tell me how to do it and me telling him it is all about tension and the weight of the various pots.

TA DAH!  Here they are all planted.  There is zucchini, yellow squash, Greek oreganos, thyme, cilantro, arugula and basil.  The very top pot has a red trailing flower.

My umbrella is a faded key lime green and my brick is shades of orange and yellows so the teal and burgundy will add a nice accent.   Yeah, yeah the deck needs to be redone…..maybe when we win the lottery.

This is the next project for outside and I’m thinking a nice teal will do the trick or some more key lime with teal, yellow, orange and burgundy fabric pillows.  Hmmmm, my mind never stops.

It is so hot here in Texas (we are in a long string of over 100 degree days) and this is one of the native plants that just thrives in this heat.  The beloved Crete Myrtle, shown here it looks like watermelon pink, but it is actually “Bottle Rocket Red”.  This was taken outside in the bright sun light, but it looks like it was taken at night.  Love these trees that grow up with such beauty and grace and they have beautiful bark on their trunks.  My day started with cleaning out my flowerbeds and pulling out the flowers that had subcumbed to the heat.  One pleasure that I enjoy is working in the flowerbeds and playing in dirt.  I can’t explain it, it is something in my make-up that enjoys gardening.

 The rest of my day was spent with Amber (#2 daughter).  We went shopping and although I feel a little guilty for helping out the economy so much, I did find a lot of things.  There is a town near us called McKinney that has cute shops and restaurants around the square.  We found some super cute stuff and I think some pretty cool deals.

This is is a large wire rack.  It looks like one of those that used to be used to display potato chips.  It is perfect to display the cards I’ve made and haven’t given away and also to display some of those cards I ‘ve received.

 It immediately found it’s new home on a blank wall I had left open for some vinyl words.  However, I’m having a difficult time finding something I want up there and this fits the bill  for now.  I’m also going to use it to display my Christmas Cards I receive at Christmas, I think it will work perfectly for that too.

 I found a couple of other things but I’ll post about them later.  Thanks for looking and be sure and leave me a note.

This is a blue lilly that is just beginning to bloom in my flower bed.  It was a difficult picture to take because the wind was blowing so hard.  So it is just a little fuzzy.

I didn’t have a picture to go along with this post, but thought I would share the talent of an awesome God.  The word says there is not a king that is arrayed with more splendor than the lillies of the field.  To recall the words of the song “Consider the Lillies”, He is not too busy to care about you.

My #1 Daughter’s work had an event where they made cards of encouragement for children that are seriously ill.  Their goal was to make 144 cards to be sent to a Children’s Hospital in NY.  I was invited and between her and my supplies we were able to deck out their conference room with paper, stickers, ink pads, bling, stamps, children’s joke and pages to color.

You know when you get right down to it, it really doesn’t take much to make a card.  The talent in the room flowed from the very simple to the elaborate.  I kept chuckling to myself as I heard the women agonize over how to make a beautiful card and was surprised when the men put three of every sticker available on a single card.

In the end, time was spent sharing a talent or gift that God gave to each of us for those who are going through a hard time.  I’m sure some prayers were being said over those cards as they were being made. Those cards will be the wings that the prays fly on to some children that need some laughs or encouragement.

Thank you Brandy for the opportunity to give back to others.  I left richly blessed.

I knew it was coming but I thought I had a few more weeks before I had to go to work every day.  I was hoping I could ease into it.  But things didn’t work out that way and it is out of the leisure life back into the working life.  I’m hoping it will only be 5-6 hours a day, not a full 8 hours a day.

This is a pink Day Lilly that has started blooming in my flower bed.  It looks to good to be real but it has that beautiful chartreuse throat and the petals are ruffled.  There are so many different kinds of Day Lillies and if I as I find new colors and types I hope to add to my collection.

This is a short post because I haven’t had a chance to work on anything.   However, I need to start thinking about the card I’m making for the July Swap on the Paperwishes MB.  It may take me an entire month to get it made.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll try to get a new card up this week sometime.

Another one of the Day-lilies blooming in my flowerbed.  I’m calling this one Dreamsicle.  I don’t think that is the name that came on the tag but it sure reminds me of that wonderful combination of flavors that remain one of my favorite.

The beauty that God gave us in His unique design of the flowers of the fields never cease to amaze me.  When I look on the flowers in my flowerbeds I’m instantly reminded of His grace.  Exceptional beauty given with all the glory for His beloved creation to enjoy.  I discoverd a long time ago, I didn’t have the vocabulary to express to Him how I truly feel .  That’s “When Words are not Enough”….

Unfortunately, I had a friend that lost her sister to cancer a couple of weeks ago.  The good news (if there can be any) she was ready to go and that in its self gives some comfort.  This is my sympathy card and expression of comfort to her for her loss.

I love the Cuddle Bug (CB) for embossing.  The white CS has been embossed using two folders; Perfectly Pasiley and Swiss Dots.  The Perfectly Pasiley was embossed a little more than 1/2 way down the white CS, then leave about a 2″ gap and emboss the lower part with Swiss Dots.

Tip:  You need to use two embossing folders that have random patterns.  This makes it easier to combine the different designs.

I used my Scor-Pal to score a couple of lines in the 2″ gap to give it a finished look.  The scalloped rectangles were done using Spellbinders scalloped rectangle nestibilites.  Added a dressed up pin and some flowers with a brad.  I used a Prang Brush Pen in gold to go around the scallops on the brown mat.

The handwriting is my own and I dressed it up with three pearls.

Tip: I lightly write what I want to say in pencil, erasing and re-writing until I get it the way I want it.  Then I take a micro – .05 pen and write over the final words.  Let them dry and use a white erase to get rid of the pencil lines.

I kept the inside simple.  The brown mat was embossed using the Swiss Dot Folder, the Pink was embossed using the Perfectly Paisely folder. 

The white mat was inked with Colorbox chalk ink in creamy brown.

Used the Enveloper to make the envelope and cut a small piece of bubble wrap to place over the flower and stick pin.

Tip:  I use pattern paper with white backs to make my envelopes.  I turn the pattern paper to the inside so when the envelope is opened they see the pattern.  Since it has a white back, it makes it perfect to write the address on.

To get a closer look just click on the picture.  Thank you for stopping by and please be sure and leave me a comment.  I enjoy hearing from you.

The DayLillies in my flowerbeds are beginning to bloom.  Even after all the rain, it looks like I’m not going to loose anything.  Whew!!!!!

I love gardening, there is something about getting out and playing in the dirt that I love.  I also love the results of the hard work when they bloom.

I found a new Crochet magazine (I’m always looking for my Mother) and in it was a pin cushion.  I asked Mom if she would make it for me and before I knew it she whipped it out.

I have these decorative pins I purchased from JoAnn’s and bought me a stuff animal to keep them on display.

My girls always thought it was odd to stick pins in a stuffed animal, but I was trying to find something cute to display my pins and be functional (decorative).

I removed the pins from “Duckie” and put them in my new crocheted pin cushion.  The pin cusion does a very nice job and actually gives me more room to see what I have.

Duckie, says “thank you” now would you please pass the Tylenol!

Thanks Mom, for another outstanding piece of work.  Hmmm, I need to see if there is something else I want out of that magazine.

Today is my youngest daughter’s birthday.  It has been a very busy day for us.  Our church had 12 baby dedications today.  We know that dedication services are more about the parents because they have been assigned the task of raising that child.

We left church, picked-up my Mother drove about 30-40 minutes to Amber’s, picked her up and headed to meet the rest of the family at the restaurant.  We ate at a place call “Buca’s” (Italian) and you know the rest of the story we ate too much.

One of the things Amber said she wanted for her birthday was to have help hanging some blinds.  She had mentioned this earlier and I came prepared with my drill/screw driver.  I got one hung, and then because I don’t have a very powerful drill, I could not get the other two hung.  I broke off one drill bit and another is stuck.  Hopefully, we can get that stuck drill bit out and find a more powerful drill (hmmmm, I’m sure I need a professional grade power drill/screwdriver and I also discovered I need a table saw).

My Mother’s air conditioner brace needs replacing, so I decided I could make it myself.  We tried the one they sell at HD but it puts a lot of weight on the window frame and Mother was not comfortable with that.

What you can’t see is this is a rectangle with a middle board for a brace and I have metal corner anchors to keep the corners square.  I’m painting everything white to go with her house.

Finally, these are the two side panels that will go on the inside of the house between the air conditioner and the sides of the windows.  The air conditioner came with plastic expandable panels but they are coming apart.  I’ll place these new white (Masonite) panels then caulk around them.

Right now I have kilz on them and then I’ll finish painting them white.  Yep, we measured nailed, screwed, cut the masionite and painted.  Now we’ll see how well these fit, I’m shooting to get this completely painted and installed next Friday.

The picture at the beginning of this post is an Asparagus Fern that is in the flowerbed as you walk up to my front door.  This fern has been divided and moved numerous times and it is about 5-6 years old.  I love it’s beautiful green color and because it has been in my garden for years it feels like an old friend.

Ok, now that Amber’s birthday is here, I’ll be putting up the information about her card.  Thanks for looking and be sure and leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

These are somethings that grow and have grown in my flowerbeds and pots through the years.