A Neat idea for a Bloom

So there are these blooms at Walmart for cheap but they are in the little egg-crate planters all ready to be planted in your flower garden.  That doesn't help you too much for bringing them inside to decorate with though.  And since potting can get SOOOOO messy and cumbersome I came up with a cutie patootie idea.  Well actually it was a collaboration between an idea of my Mother In Laws (I have the BEST Mother in Law in the world for those of you who were wondering!!!) and the final product that I cam up with to showcase her awesome idea.

First you start by cutting apart the egg-crate container that the flowers cam in (not pictured..sorry)

Next you wrap a plastic sandwich bag around the individual, now cut apart, plant.

Next wrap either a piece of tissue paper or, like my MIL did, a paper napkin (shes a genius!). Use some string or a rubber band to make sure the tissue stays in place.

Finally pick up a cute container for a buck at Target or Dollar Tree and put the now prettily wrapped flower into it.  Oh did I mention that because of the plastic baggie you can now water the plant without fear of leaking???  Lu-AHH-Vv it!!!

Finally display your Spring handy work for your family and guests to enjoy.

Hopefully your shelf wont collect dust as quickly as mine does, the bane of having NO carpet in my home is constant dust.  I think I had dusted these shelves three days before this picture! Oh well you get what you get and you don't throw a fit (a rhyme I use on my kids when they don't think life is being fair). 

Oh and check out my little planter on the top shelf.  It was an old metal bucket I spray painted white.  Then I cut out the sweet "Simplify" on my cricket in the pretty bright yellow vinyl, applied to the front, and there I have a new spring planter that pops.

I hope you found some inspiration for simple and less messy plant potting to bring the outdoors inside your home.

Have a Great Day and God Bless

Flowers of Love

So today has been a wonderful day...ummm wait no that definitely wasn't today!  Excuse me for a minute but I am just going to let you know exactly what kind of day it has been for me and why.  First I woke up sick this morning. Since I am one of those people that sickness forces me to hibernate, I literally could NOT keep my eyes open for a large chunk of the day.  Until finally this afternoon while sitting on my couch listening to my children bicker, fuss, laugh, have fun and generally enjoy a beautiful day play outside through the open windows and screened doors my eyes drifted shut once again. For some reason that nap did the trick.  I finally woke up without the headache, weakness, stomach cramps, and nausea I had experienced all day long. Next I went to find something in the pantry and in disgust with the disorganization started cleaning it out.  This meant that my kitchen was full of pantry stuff.  Then my husband decided to go ahead and take a look at the dryer that quit working over the weekend.  this meant that the entire laundry closet had to be emptied for him to feel sufficiently comfortable enough to pull the dryer into the middle of the kitchen.  Oh didn't I mention that this laundry closet is located at the side of my kitchen??  It is also the place where I store all my un-used quilts, blankets, and comforters, basically all my big bulky bedding items.  they reside folded and stacked in a large laundry hamper, but due to the amount I have of them and the bulk of fabric the stack reaches quite high.  Well my husband decided that he might need to check a junction box he thought was located directly behind this stack...uggghhhh!!  So now all those blankets and quilts are out in my den and kitchen.  Not to mention a few crafty items I had just stashed on top of my dryer to get out of the way, but I wasn't done using so I didn't want to put them away completely, or the mail basket that runneth over with junk mail and school papers the girls have brought home over the last little while that ALL had to be relocated for the dryer repair process.  So right now my den, kitchen, and breakfast nook look like a tornado has hit it and its driving me CRAZY!!!  Finally I think I forgot to mention that my washer started leaking...a LOT and I'm pretty sure that's what messed up the switch thingie on the dryer that now has to be replaced.  The dryer is a cheap fix the washer? Not as cheap, but not as expensive as buying a completely new washer either so yay home repair!!! So to get to the best and most wonderful part of my day today?  It will be easier to show you first

Aren't they beautiful?  All three of my babies picked me great gobs of wild flowers that bloom around the trees in our backyard.  Yes they are weeds wild flowers, but I absolutely adore live flowers of any variety.  I love that my kids know this and try to pick them for me whenever they can.  My kids ROCK!!!  So now they sit in a pretty pink pail on my desk blessing me with their love every time I look at them.  And I do look Reeeeaaalll close at them ever so often just to make sure no little critters came in with them. 

So far no unwanted guests!  Yay!!

Another plus to my day is that I now have an additional shelf in my pantry where there was once just a big empty useless space ( My Hubby is AWESOME!), and I know whats wrong with my dryer and the part is on its way as well as the washer part to fix the leak!!  woo hoo!!!  

So what started out as a rotten day has ended quite nicely, if still very messily (I can NOT wait to reclaim my kitchen from the laundry room stuff and dryer), but that's a job for tomorrow!  I'm too tired to worry with it now!

I hope you had a wonderful Monday and have a great week!

Have a great day and God Bless!!!

Touches of Spring

I love Springtime and since warmth has started creeping into the day with the sun shining bright and flowers blooming prettily I have been trying to bring it indoors with me. So I thought I would share some touches of spring that have sprung up in my den over the past couple of weeks.

First is a funky little vignette I set up on one side of my Mantle (or shelf over my Wood stove... yah whatever! I'm going to pretend its a mantle since its there is some semblance of a fire under it when it gets cold out)

I clipped a few flowering branches from a shrub in my side yard, placed them in a small canning jar, and then placed a painted wooden frame around the whole thing.  then,just to set off the yellow and white, I added that sweet little turquoise-ish blue bird.  I adore it!

Here is the rest of my Mantle just to show it to you in its entirety.

I know the Mantle clock front and center and isn't really spring-ish, but it was my grandmother and grandfathers and I absolutely adore it.  So whatever the season it will remain on my mantle (or until my mother gets completely moved into her house and decides it will once again look fabulous on her mantle).

I hope you enjoyed this small touch of spring and I have a few more touches to share in a post later this week.

I would love to hear how you have been bringing spring and sunshine into your home, so leave me a comment telling me all about it.

Have a great day and God bless!

A Blooming Great Idea!

Ok, well I thinks its a great idea!! This one even impressed my hubby, and that's saying something when he takes notice!!  "What is it?!?!?!" you ask? hang on hang on, I'm getting there! Its simple really, and anyone (I do mean ANYONE) can do this.  Are you ready???

Potting your plants in crazy containers. 

you know things you wouldn't normally stick plants in??? (mind blowing right??)

Recently I purchased some pitiful looking plants from the clearance section at walmart.  I know, why buy those? they are just going to die, like immediately!!... Right???  Well no, maybe not if they are given some TLC. because most of the time the poor little guys have just gotten too big for their little homes, and need a bigger pot (also known as getting root bound).  Anyway, I proceeded to start re-potting.  Then I ran out of pots!  Oh No!! crisis alert!!  I was already in the potting soil up to my elbows, pouring sweat in 98 degree heat, and really wanted to finish up what I had started.  We had just returned from our beach vacation, and there they were, my sweet babies' sand castle buckets sitting out.   So inspiration struck!  I rinsed them out and started potting my plants in them faster than you can say hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle! (why you would be saying that while potting plants is beyond me, but you get the drift)  I then went crazy! I grabbed an old canystriped popcorn bucket, to pot one for my old fashioned ice cream table.  Boy, that looked so cute.  Of course I took pictures, cause as I was admiring my handiwork I thought "I can NOT wait to blog about this!!" but I did, wait that is.  Well that's what happens sometimes.  The thrill passes, and you have to wait to get motivated all over again.  Oh, I almost forgot! If you try this for yourself and your containers dont have any drain holes in the bottom of them be sure to hammer a few nails into the bottom for excess water to drain out (dont leave the nails in of course!  you are nailing them in to make the holes, not leave them there!)

So anywho, here are my wonderful slightly good pictures.  Hope you enjoy my inventive pots, as much as I enjoy seeing them dotted around my patio and porch reminding me of a great summer vacation in a truly unique way. 

If you have tried something like this or think its totally nuts, go ahead and leave me a comment telling me about it.  I'm game for your opinion, and welcome any ideas and tips!

Dont look at the actual table as its due a revamp too!

Plants look pretty good alive too now after all that TLC huh?  Gooooo ME!!  lol