Happy Father's Day - Recycled Wrapping

For as long as I can remember, the kids have been wrapping Paul's presents in newspaper. The sports section (read, of course) and comics are their favorites.  Welcome to our Sunday morning wrap session and photo shoot in Kara's room.  We whipped together a few fun embellishments for him. Publix flyer recycled bow and a sports page flower (they are all the rage).

He loved his grill themed gifts.  Even better, he noticed the little craft details.  He's getting better!  We love him for that.  Here they are still in their pj's.  I may get in trouble for posting this one!  Love you, sweetie. You are the best father these two could ask for. 

 I hope that each of you has a Dad or father figure that you will celebrate or remember today.  Until next time...xoxo.

Quick project for you - Bud vase

Hello! I had the afternoon off from work today, so I came up with a project to do with the girls (Kara and her BFF Sydney).  We altered some small glass bottles to use as bud vases.  We have gorgeous flowers blooming here and need a pretty way to display them all spring and summer.  So, we used these great bottles that I found on clearance at Michael's -

Now, I love the Easter image and kept a few for next year.  But, I was excited to alter these perfect sized bottles with some lace and vintage jewelry.  The girls love to sew. It is easiest to sew layers of lace and fabric if you pin them or even easier....glue them!

We measured the image on the bottle and then cut a page from an old book the same size. The layers of lace were selected and cut down before being glued down with spray adhesive. This will keep them from shifting while the girls sew. You can just make out the three layers - paper, white lace, ecru lace in the picture above. Kara is ready to sew!  You can sew the perimeter or consider doing an "X." Since the lace is transparent, the book page makes a nice background.

Here's the back after the layers have been sewn together. This will be glued directly onto the glass bottle in the next photo.  The book page we selected was a nice aged creamy white on one side and black on the other. 

Here's Kara adding some glue (EX600) directly onto the glass bottle with a paint brush. Yes, it ruins the paintbrush.  I do like how it gives you a nice thin layer of strong adhesive though. I just keep a few inexpensive brushes on hand for applying glue. The last thing to do is apply a vintage earring or brooch to the center. If you don't have any vintage jewelry, consider layering a few buttons for visual interest.  Here is Sydney's finished creation -

 Time to reveal Kara's beautiful little bud vase-

These are the cutest bottles and make great gifts for teachers at the end of the year.  I think we'll be making a few more soon.  Make sure you hit the clearance section this weekend if you are out shopping your local craft stores.  I hope you had a great week. One more day to enter my last giveaway of the month. See the link at the top right side bar.  Have a safe weekend everyone. Keep the tornado victims in your prayers please. xoxo

Is gardening just crafting outside?

My husband had a great idea to sell me on working in the yard. He told me working in the garden is like "crafting" (the only way he knows how to describe what I do) outside.  There is some truth in this.

When selecting what to use in our backyard garden we certainly used some basic art fundamentals like - composition (where should we put things), dominance (creating focal points or "heavy" areas) and aesthetics (will these be visually appealing together).  Before he gave me a speech on lines, color and texture...I just got in the car, and we were on the way to Home Depot. lol

Zoey didn't care about art elements and needed no motivation (only her doggy door) to head out back with us. She was just glad we were out playing in her domain.

Shelby took a moment to show us that the yellow Iris plants feel really good on your back when you walk super slow.  We call this her therapy. 

This is another one of our less demanding garden variety basset hounds.  This one is very low maintenance compared to the other two above!  Let's see what else we can find...

It has taken several weekends to clean things up after the hard freezes this past winter. We've added some fun elements and lots of new pots this year. Let's just hope we can keep up with it when the hot Florida summer days arrive...wait they might already be here. Today was 93.  Wish me luck with my herbs. I'm growing rosemary, basil, thyme and mint in containers. Let's go in on the porch and take a look.

We really love to sit out here at night. Even on the warmest of days, the afternoon thunder showers usually cool things off enough to enjoy our screened patio. I think the patio will help protect the containers a bit from the heat and offer some much needed shade. I grew basil last year successfully. We'll see how things go.

I hope you enjoyed the tour around our backyard and the patio. I hope things are warming up where you are in the world so you can enjoy the outdoors. I know many of my blog friends are still waiting to plant their vegetable and flower gardens due to cold weather. I'm praying none of you are also dealing with flooding or tornadoes this week.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I had a birthday on Sunday and received some fun gifts from my girlfriends. I'll share those in my next post.  Until then...xoxo.  ps - linking up to Cottage Flora at Fishtail Cottage.   Go see all the dreamy garden posts!