The Birds & the Bees

 With the leftover Crafty Night favors I had on hand--(Mini Lawn in a Can)--, the girls & I decided to give them as Easter/Spring gifts to their teachers this week. I found these adorable little plant stakes in the dollar section of Target to dress up the cans even more.

BUUUUUT, when I came home, I realized that I hadn't purchased enough. So, I scrambled to come up with another cute grass accessory.

Polymer clay to the rescue!

These abstract chubby bees did the trick. I simply twisted black & yellow clay & molded it into an oval shape & attached white wings. I baked them in the oven per the directions on the clay WITH the bamboo skewer attached.

 Snip the skewer to desired height & you're done! I do think I may use a little hot glue to permanently attach the clay bee to its wooden mate though.

There you have it. The birds & the bees.

(And no awkward explanations required!)

♥

Unconventional Vases

It was such a beautiful day today I was able to play with some flowers outside. I picked up one inexpensive bouquet of alstroemeria, but if any white daisies would have been available I would have gladly snatched them up!

I'm not saying these designs are genius, but I wanted to give you some inspiration in thinking OUTSIDE the box. Vases are cool & all, but what if I wanted to plunk some flowers in my daughters pink polka-dotted rain goulashes? Or a vintage tin? Or any other odd shaped vessel that wasn't meant to hold water, such as this solo silo--its barn friend long gone.

This is what all these designs have in common: if I filled the containers with water, there would be leaks & drips & a big wet mess.

The solution is simple. Fill an appropriately sized cup with water & place it INSIDE your chosen container. A vase is born!

I even had this cute pink Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic tissue container in my cupboard. I thought it would make a nice long, low vase.

I turned it upside down. Then, I filled two shallow jars with some water & placed them inside the tissue box.

Fill with flowers & voila! No one would ever guess the container's original purpose!

But this next idea is my absolute FAVORITE!
The supplies you'll need are: wet floral foam (intended for fresh flowers), a knife, a bowl of water, your flowers (of course!) & a sweet little vintage handbag.

First you'll want to cut a piece of foam that will fit inside your purse.

Wet floral foam needs to sit in water & soak up all that liquid so your flowers will have something to drink. Follow the directions on your package for soaking the foam, but it's basically done when it has sunk to the bottom of the bowl.

Place this heavy, wet piece of foam inside a sturdy baggie.

And then carefully place the baggie inside your purse. If you're nervous about damaging your handbag you can double up on the plastic baggies. Of course, don't use your best & most cherished clutches!

Start poking your floral stems into the foam. Just a few stems of the alstroemeria did the trick for me. Random wildflowers, haphazardly arranged in vintage handbags, look the sweetest too!

I used to make & sell these handbag (& vintage shoe) arrangements using artificial flowers, so just use the same concept here, except use dry floral foam--used for dry & artificial flowers.

Oh yeah, I used to be a floral designer by the way. haha! It was pretty frustrating though because no one wanted to hire a newbie fresh out of floral design school without any experience. So, how was I supposed to GET any experience if no one was willing to GIVE me any experience? Though the fresh floral snobs wouldn't have me, I ended up getting a job working with artificial flowers at The Great Indoors in Scottsdale Arizona & it was one of my favorite jobs!

dirt & stuff.

What got into me yesterday? I turned into Super Garden Girl. I really, really, really, really love being outside with my pots & soil & mini shovel & cute garden gloves. But most of the time the stuff I attempt to grow ends up....not growing. The girls & I had so much fun making our yard all cute!

But this is my NOT favorite part. If someone ELSE could clean up the mess, that would great!

I went SO berzerko in the yard that I was ALREADY sore before I sat down to eat dinner.
I potted petunias, pansies & alysum in pots out front... I finally got a plant to put in the most awesomely bright purple planter I spray-painted a few weeks ago... I cleaned up the rest of last Fall's leaves (hee hee)... I noticed some scalloped brick border laying haphazardly in our yard, that's been there since we moved in 14 months ago. (Musta been on our landlord 'to-do' list prior to our arrival.) SO, I "installed" it in-between my neighbor & my duplex.

I paused to take photos of all the worms & other creepy crawlies that my girls & the neighbor kids were collecting. Ew.
I repotted 3 African Violets that I received as a present a few years ago from my grandmother. They were part of the flowers at my grandpa's funeral &, miraculously, I've kept them green & growing. They haven't been repotted since I got them & I'm nervous about their transplant. Hopefully they will survive. I even took a toothbrush & cleaned the dirt off all their leaves. Those little hairy leaves attract everything!
And finally, the girls & I went on a treasure hunt of sorts. Remember those sunflower seeds we planted a few weeks ago? Well, I never marked where we planted them. We were on an urgent mission to find the sprouts before daddy mowed over them on his next lawn adventure. We spotted several, but not all of them. THIS time we marked them with bright pom-poms glued on toothpicks. I'm so proud of us! The seeds are growing!!!

After a yummy BBQ grilled dinner I relaxed with my feet up on the couch while watching Season 3 of 'The Office' & crafting.

I'm afraid to wake up & feel the pain...

Have a happy weekend!

an afternoon at the river.

I thought a warm Spring visit to the river & park might have to wait until this weekend, but yesterday was just too sunny & happy. I couldn't wait. I had to make it my first official visit of the season. Oh, was it perfect! I packed a lunch for me & the girls. Tia & her youngest kidlet joined us for the fun too!

The shoes came off.

And the silliness began.

You know those pictures where some random person in the background tries to sabotage the photo? Tia & I tried to recreate some of our own.

This has to be one of the most randomly bizarre photos of me. And my teeth. And yet I post it here for all to see. It was taken from the underside of a park bench.

We watched a group of Japanese tourists, armed with their point-n-shoots, excitedly taking pictures of squirrels. I ♥ random stuff like that!

Ew. (No boogars were harmed in the making of this photo.) Yay for friends & sun & silly camera antics!

{spring}

The little seedlings emerged from the heavy wet soil, now-hollow seed pods still attached to their newly born leaves. "Hello world," said one sprout, "it's nice to meet you." The other sprout, covered in dirt & feeling itchy, only sneezed.

Faux Adirondack

Me wants.

I was out window shopping yesterday & I found these sturdy plastic adirondack chairs at Big Lots. Only $19 each!! Just looking at them makes me so excited to get my yard all cute. I never made much of a dent last year with all the marvelou$ idea$ & plan$ I had. We have no seating in our backyard, so these would be PERFECT! I think I'd only pick two though. Yellow for sure. And either pink or blue.

P.S. Ok, I changed my mind. I want all 4.

Rainboots.

My girls never get to wear their rain boots 'cause it doesn't rain much around these parts. So, today, we took advantage of the damp weather & had some fun! And I got to thinkin': I want some rainboots!!

Anyway, I don't know anything about growing stuff. The only plants I have living in my house are 3 little African violets I've had for a few years. Really, it's a miracle they're alive. In fact, the hubby gave me a calla lily plant this Valentines Day. It's dying a slow death. So, the girls & I planted some sunflower seeds outside today. (Too early?) I have no idea if they will survive or not. I think we'll do an experiment & start some seeds in little pots INside too. (To see which die first. haha!) Not really.

We just really want Spring to show its face!

Happy Spring!!

'Nuff said.

Haystacks

Yesterday I made this really quick, super sweet, sugary snack. They're called "haystacks", but I made some look like "nests". They'd be cute for Easter treats & you could even incorporate those really sweet pastel candied eggs for a whole Spring themed treat.

Anyway, here's the easy-peasy recipe:

Melt 2/3 CUP peanut butter & one bag (11 or 12 oz.) of butterscotch chips. Then, add 6 oz. crispy chow mein noodles. Drop by the spoonful onto wax (or parchment) paper.

Cleaning: Day 3

Yeah, um, today's agenda for the cleanin' plan is the girls room. It's a tougher job than I thought because we are rearranging their furniture. I remember how fun that was to do when I was a kid! So, tomorrow, we're not adding any more cleaning to the list. I'm just gonna finish catching up on the last bits of leftover stuff.But look at the "after" of my girls art center in the dining room! Click HERE for the "before" post.
Anyway, Wednesdays are usual busy days for me. In fact, I gotta run the girls to their dentist apointments now. I bribed them with ice cream if they are good. Now, does that make sense? At all??

Cleaning: Day 2

This morning was my monthly MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) meeting. We had our once-a-year Spa Day. I got a massage, which felt BEYOND gooooooood. Also available to the moms this morning were: hair cutters, a chiropractor, a nail station, hand waxing, cosmetology, reflexology & yummy foods! We also had our first annual photo contest. (Remember those badges I made last week?) I even won one of the categories! YAY!

Because of my fun-filled morning I admit it's now about 4pm & I haven't even STARTED cleaning my living room/family room/dining room. But, I promise I'll get to it. Weirdly as it sounds, I often like cleaning in the evenings. It's usually a time when the fam is chillin' & I can get a lot done. And look at my girls messy art center in the picture below. (I'll get an "after" shot for ya tomorrow!) It's waiting for me upstairs right now.Also in the clean-up line-up: the game cupboard, the coat closet, some vacuuming & dusting. Not a heavy load. But I confess: I'm not even DONE with the kitchen from yesterday!! It looks so fabulous though. I love it! I still have to clean the junk out of the junk drawer (haha!), straighten up the "Tupperware" cupboard & clean the oven. I've got a lot on my plate so late in the day.

Oh, while beginning my fling with Spring Cleaning yesterday, I noticed all the Mr. Yuk stickers on my cleaning bottles. I LOVE Mr. Yuk! I remember him as a kid & I think it's SUCH a great poison control program. Even though I keep my cleaning supplies up & away in high cupboards, my girls know all about Mr. Yuk. It's a good idea to teach kids about poison prevention. To receive a FREE sheet of Mr. Yuk stickers, send a self-addressed business sized envelope to:

Mr. Yuk Pittsburgh Poison Center

UPMC

200 Lothrop Street

BIR 010701

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Happy Cleaning! Tomorrow's cleaning plan: my kid's rooms!