A Garden Luncheon ~ Part 1

My sweet mama is turning 70 on Friday.She was born on April 8, 1941.

  Because we now live in the same town for the first time in 18 years, I am hosting a Garden Luncheon in her honor.  Fun!  I'm starting on the preparations today.  This morning I made lemon slice ice cubes to go in our drinks.

I am also making the table favors today.  Thanks to some brilliant gal on a blog which I cannot remember and could not find today, I decided to make old spoon garden stakes!  I found exactly 6 old but beautiful spoons at the flea market for .29 to .50 each.

I looked online for some free flower clip art.  Then decided to check the pretty, old calendars that I have been keeping for a craft.  Sure enough...the pictures on the back of the calendars, showing tiny examples of the pages inside, were the perfect size.

I used my circle punch to cut out pictures of pretty flowers.

Next, I coated the bowl of the spoon with a thin coating of Mod Podge.

Then placed the circle punched flowers and a printed tab of 'bloom' in the center of the spoon bowl.  I let it air dry for about a half hour, then coated the bowl of the spoon completely in Mod Podge again.  Let dry another half hour.

While those dried, I used pink tulle leftover from my niece's bridal shower 4 years ago to make 7x7 inch squares.  Inside each double square I placed 3 Gadioli bulbs, and tied the packet with pink curly ribbon.

I added a green fabric tie with some raffia ties to each spoon, and made a place card to go on the tulle packet of bulbs.  Hurray!  I like them!  Which is always a plus when you are making something for the first time.  :)  The spoons can be used in the ladies' flower beds or in an inside plant.  I plan coat the bowl of each spoon with a thin coating of polyurethane too, to make them weather proof.

 Check back later this week as I make more fun things for my mom's 70th b-day Garden Luncheon.  Thanks for popping by!  And mums the word....don't tell my mom about any of these surprises!  :)

I am linked to http://www.tipjunkie.com
and to http://www.remodelaholic.com 

The day's reward.....

After an afternoon of working in the yard, adding flower beds and gardens, this beautiful southern Indiana sky was such a sweet reward....

I sat on the patio and thought about how comforting it is to watch the neighborhood's yard lamps come on.

The lights coming on one by one, saying "home" and "rest."

The sun setting in the west, with dark tree silhouettes...

The weekend is winding down, and the evening breeze is sweet.

Good night moon...and tree...and yard...and day. 

April Sights, Smells, and Tastes

Today has been a wonderful, sunshiney first Saturday of April in Southern Indiana.  We celebrated by going to our town's Home and Garden show.  I LOVE that down here the H&G Show costs $5 and parking is free....a far cry from the H&G shows in Chicago!

Do you see something in this picture of one of the garden displays that is alive and breathing besides plants?!  He kept coming to this little waterfall and getting a drink...so cute!

Terry Haas of HGTV's Designed to Sell was there!

Have you seen this type of horizontal, skinny tiles?  I like!  For a kitchen backsplash, I think.  I like the different textures and finishes of the tiles.

This gentlemen demonstrated building a Square Foot Garden. 

Love, love, love.  Such a peaceful, pretty little scene.

Yes, I'll take one of each, please.  :)

After 3 hours of walking on cement, we were bushed and thirsty.  Back at home, I mixed up my own version of a Frappuccino...for about .25?  Totally icy and yummy! 

And here is where I sit, basking in the freedom to do nothing for an hour before supper.  Just me, my lappy, and my Frappy.

And enjoy the sweet, sunkissed, April breeze coming in my bedroom window.  Bliss....

Prices Going Up ~ Shopping Plans

Good Morning Friends!  I just spent some time biking indoors and watching Fox News.  The CEO of Walmart has announced that prices are going to go up seriously.  June is the projected time to start seeing this, but I'm seeing it now and I'm sure you are too.  A head of iceberg lettuce at my Walmart has been $1.88 for weeks...that's awful!   Fox News doesn't have an article up about this yet, but here is one I found elsewhere:  Walmart CEO: Inflation Serious Concern

Why is this happening?  The increasing price in gasoline affects the price of the goods being trucked to all the stores.  Plus they said that China and India are having an explosion in their middle class populations.  These families who now can afford more of the 'normal' things of life such as meat, clothing, and paper, are driving up the demand of these items.  Also, the price of cotton is rising, so naturally, clothing is going to increase in price.


What to do?  Here are a couple of the shopping strategies I am using:

1.  I recently replenished our dresser drawers with new underwear and socks for my family.  These things are made of cotton, so I'd prefer to buy them now rather than this summer when they are more expensive.

2.  Grocery shopping for a month's worth of freezer and pantry items at a time.  Today is payday for the month...woohoo!  So within the next few days I'll be shopping for a month's worth of ice cream, meat, canned goods, cereal, popcorn, etc.  I did this last month, which you can read about here.  But I'll be able to do an even better job this month as I now know just how many boxes of cereal and popcorn we actually eat a month.  I'll need more canned tomatoes and ice cream, and less canned chicken, for instance.   I figure that by shopping for a month's worth of these things at Aldi and Walmart, I'm getting good prices and will be a month ahead of any price increases to come.

3.  Watch for good deals on Groupon and other places like Restaurant.com and here in Evansville, IN we have DiningDiscovery.com.  These places allow you to buy restaurant gift certificates at a discount.  We budget just about $20 a week for eating out (a family of 3, one being a teen boy.)  If we buy eat out gift certificates at a discount, this stretches our dining out money significantly.  Last Christmas we took advantage of the deals at Qdoba, Culvers, and other places that were offering a free $5-$10 gift card for every $20 in gift cards purchased.  Rather than giving them all as gifts, we used some of them to stretch our own budget.


4.  We are planting a Square Foot Garden this spring.  This type of gardening takes minimal space, minimal care, and minimal watering.  It will be great to walk out the French doors and pick fresh produce for dinner.  Yay!

I'm sure you have great ideas too, and I'd love to hear about them.  I do use coupons on items such as toiletries and paper goods, but if the store brand is just as good and cheaper, then that's what I do.

Let's encourage each other to be frugal, wise, and resourceful this spring and summer!  Count it as a fun challenge, and it will end up being a blessing.  :)

Bloomin' Pillow

I was ready to embellish the new envelope pillow covers I made for spring/summer.

Watched a tutorial on making fabric rosettes.  Found it easier than I imagined!

I added some aqua colored tulle, leftover from our daughter's beautiful wedding.

I haven't sewn the flowers onto the pillow yet...I like to look at it for a couple days first and make sure I'm happy with it and the placement.  But boy, I'm happy to have that projected started.  :)

Simple Comforts

Sweet little Kalanchoe  blossoms, gracing my kitchen windowsill in an old salt shaker.  Breathes peace into my soul. 

                    

Just sweet.

Quick and Easy Dill Rolls...simple but so comforting.

New fabric from JoAnns!  Made envelope pillow covers for our wintery looking sofa pillows.

My husband isn't too sure about them.  But he's a good sport!  I plan to embellish the pillows and remove that rug for the summer.

With a bit of tissue paper, my mantle branches bloomed.  Happy sigh.  :)

Our little dog Gracie likes the new pillows...she's a girlie girl for sure.  :)Thanks for stopping by to visit!  I hope your weekend includes some simple comforts too.  Blessings!

Linked to: don'twasteyourhomemaking.com
and
tipjunkie.com 

House in Bloom

 We've been sunny and in the 70s for a week here in Southern Indiana!  I've been in heaven.  The smell of fresh cut grass coming in my open windows has been intoxicating.  Sweet!  So I figure it was high time to get my house Spring-i-fied too.  A few posts back, I took a 49 cent flea market plate and glued a 99 cent flea market candle holder to the bottom to make a cake stand or tidbit tray.  It has now found it's home sweet home...a display to bring Spring to our living room.  The little jar contains sand from Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara, CA...our 25th anniversary trip.  I'm crazy about green and aqua together.  So am bringing some aqua into my green living room for the summer.

 Coastal Living magazine fits right in.  The photo is my husband and I having an outdoor lunch in Santa Barbara. 

Little IKEA entry table. 

This is another tidbit tray that I made from a little goblet and a glass plate.  Love the candle ring and candle in the cloche.  The cloche was a cheese plate cover in its former life.  :)

The re-dressed mantle from yesterday, which I am so enjoying...but it needed something above the window.  A friend suggested a bird.  Good idea!

I also found these branches in the backyard that I'd been saving for something.  (You have to understand we live in a newer home with NO trees, so having a couple little branches is something to hang on to!)

I found bird templates on marthastewart.com and using coordinating paper, cut two out.  I love them!  Now, to add some white paper flowers and a couple green leaves to the branches?  That is the question. 

When we finished the chocolate cake I made last week, I decided to use the cake plate for decor too.  Can you believe these little gourds are still firm and flawless from the fall?  They've turned alittle bit yellow, so hey!  They are Springy!  :) 
Thanks for stopping in!  I enjoyed your visit!
Linked to http://www.dontwasteyourhomemaking.com/ 
and 
A Very Merry Vintage Style