Garage Sale Finds

I really enjoy going to garage sales - finding things that I can re-make into something useful from someone who is throwing it away.

Or soemthing that I can decorate with, that another person is sick of using.

I haven't had much time to go out yet this year, but I've found a couple things I'm very happy with.

1. Old tins - bought for vitually nothing!

I plan on upcycling them by painting them and storing scrapbooking supplies in them

2. Camping dog dish - cheap - and we actually needed one!

3. New large wooden cutting board - I love this one!

My amazing husband is already sanding and re-staining it for me so it's ready for use.

4. Tea Cups :)

I think the pictures are self-explanatory. So cute!

{love}

Mother's Day Coffee Cozy

Since my mama is actually the best mother in the world (sorry to all other moms), I decided to send her something fun for Mother's Day!
This post is a little late - but I had to wait until she'd received it so that I wouldn't spoil the surprise.

At the special request of her and her workmates in this post, I made them some coffee cozies :) 

The one with the buttons is my favourite! That's for my mama :)

Everything in this post speaks to why I love blogging. 

Love. Create. Celebrate. 

The three things I do best :) 

{xoxo}

13. Compose 100 blog posts - Check!

I DID IT!!! 

Another goal crossed off my 13 of 13 goal list!

I'm very happy that I made it this far, and very shocked that I did it this early! 

I checked the number of posts the other week without thinking about it, and I was at 91 posts, that's when it hit me that I was about to complete another goal I had set out for myself. 

When I made this goal I honestly thought it was a bit daunting, especially considering I've never even reached 70 posts in a year before. 

Somehow I found my groove this year though. 

I created the blog as a way to communicate with the friends and family that I left behind in Ontario (and elsewhere), but I keep writing in it because I truly enjoy have a space to share my creativity. 

Crafting. Baking. Cooking. Celebrating. Living. 

I just enjoy having another outlet.

Hopefully you enjoy reading!  Maybe I'll even get to 200 posts this year! 

Here are some pics of me... just being happy. 

Twirling and enjoying the bliss of having completed 100 posts :) 

(and wearing amazing pants!)

{xoxo}

Gardening Week: The Finale

Thought I would end my gardening adventures with a note about the tulips we grew this year. 

My husband loves tulips and so do I - I think because of the dutch connotation. 

So we planted some last fall and hoped for the best this spring. 

When they started to grow we were so excited! I was very anxious to see the buds come up!

Then the deer came by and munched on some of our tulip buds, so a very upset husband of mine (upset at the deer, not me!) had to put pegs and fence around the tree to keep the tulips safe until they bloomed.

And bloom they did!! So we got to take the fencing down :) Now we have a few days to enjoy them before we have to cut the tops off so that they don't seed for next year. 

And so ends my gardening week. Hope you enjoyed it! There will be planty (haha) more posts too come as the gardens continue to grow and take shape.

{grow}

Gardening Week: Growing Vegetable Garden

Since my last vegetable garden post, we've spent even more time in the garden. 

This time planting green beans, lettuce, & carrots.

Row upon row of green beans & lettuce! 

Gardeners best friends: rake, hoe, and shovel. Pretty sure I had never touched a hoe until this spring...

Garden yoga. 

The board is actually there to flatten down the ground after we raked over the seeds. 

Joop helping :) 

{grow}

Gardening Week: Indoor Plants

Does the word gardening apply to caring for indoor plants too? I don't know... but it does now!

I lived on my own for 6 years before I had any indoor plants that I was able to keep alive.

I had the occasional bouquet of flowers, and a plant here or there that died... but none of my own.

Until I got a home. Then I started getting them as gifts!

You probably know from my previous posts that I have a bit of a black thumb... a killer thumb.

But I've learned some things about these indoor guys too!

Starting with the most obvious - when the soil feels dry, they need water.

Seems obvious right? Well... apparently not to me... lol.

I would just water them willy nilly and hope to keep them alive. Things are going better now!

This plant in the window was almost dead. Mr. A gave it to me when I was sick once.

I managed to revive it with a little love (and some water). It even flowers again now! 

This orchid was a housewarming gift! I would've thrown it away months ago, but my mother-in-law taught be how to check if the leaves are still alive - and they are. She's says it'll come back. I'm still not convinced, but it flowered beautifully once so I'm willing to wait and see.

These shamrocks are from some relatives. But totally invincible. They were my first plants, and although they almost died once, they are still here now, and are thriving!

These two babies were on the verge of being thrown away once too - because I thought they were dead. Are we seeing a theme here?? But they both came back to life. The rose was just a miracle!

Apparently african violets only like water on their feet - not their leaves.... definitely had this plant hating me for the first few months!

And then there's my trusted friend. The bamboo plants. This is as low maintenance as plant owning gets.

My mama bought this with me - my first ever plant!

Alive and doing well :)

And yet another bamboo friend. A housewarming gift that keeps on giving :)

We keep it in the living room where people can see it because it's definitely an interesting centrepiece.

{grow}

Gardening Week: Sunny Flower Garden

All of this crazy gardening started as part of my 13 of 13 goal list to plant and maintain a flower garden!

I'm glad I'm finally doing it, but it's a lot of work (and no where near done yet...). 

This garden (below) is specifically why I made the goal. 

I've never been a fan of the garden since we moved in a year ago. 

Just a ton of red rocks and a miniature tree that needs trimming. 

As you can see, we already ripped out some of the rocks last year to plant some plants we had been given in the garden. 

The garden is not sooo huge that it's intimidating, and it provides such a good backdrop from the deck, it deserves to have flowers in it! 

Here we are removing all the red rocks! 

Taking out the plants and rototilling once again! 

Lots of time was spent pulling out all of the individual weed-looking pieces because according to mom, it's much easier to do it now, than later! lol

The truck in the backyard! Trailer full of rocks, shrubs, and trees!

And then we replanted the plants. MUCH better. Don't you think?! I was actually shocked at how many of my plants lived through the winter! We still plan to put a couple rows of flowers at the front of the garden, around the ring. Maybe not this week though.... 

{grow}

Gardening Week: Shaded Flower Garden

Along with the many other gardening adventures we are starting this year, Mr. A and I decided to rip up the shaded garden under our back deck and make room for some nice flowers!

The gardens at this house were as low maintenance as gardens can get!

Junipers, mulch and rocks. That's it. You don't even need to water them!

This may appeal to some of you, and I can totally understand that, because it was very nice not to have to worry about any gardens when we moved into the house.

But since I have the time to rip them out now, and the wisdom of my mother-in-law, I figured its now or never! So we're turning this shaded region into a flower garden.

We may put other things in there one day, like chives or herbs, but this is step one.

So here's part of the back garden. Note that there is a single Juniper there!

And layers of mulch and rocks underneath.

Here's the whole garden and all of our tools - ready and raring to go!

And there's the lovely pile of rocks and mulch we removed!

We're shoveling it out of the way now - we dropped it off at mom's place later that day.
[ Sidenote: you can really see how shaded the garden is in this pic! ]

Daisy helping with the gardening

The rototilling begins again!

Mr. A cleaning off the edges

Ta-Da! Clean and ready for flowers :)

And HERE are some of the flowers that will go into the garden.
They were planted here first so that they could establish themselves in some soil while we waited for our garden to be ready. Now we just have to wait until they settled a bit before we transplant them again. Don't want them to have TOO much shock!
The main shade plant we have is Lily of the Valley. I can't wait to see them grow!

{grow}