basic floral design. April 29, 2009

The flowers are blooming and it is so much fun to be able to cut flowers from your own garden! Here are a few tips to insure success

*Cut your flowers in early morning or in the evening.  When it is still dark is best. The blooms will be nice and closed and will last longer once cut.

*Cut the stems at an angle with very sharp shears. The cleaner the cut the better the flowers will be able to “drink” once placed in water.

*Remove all greenery that would be under the water line on your vase.  Greenery under water encourages bacteria growth and the flowers will not last as long.

* Make sure the stems reach all the way to the bottom of the vase. This will look better and you won’t have to change the water as often.

* Add enough flowers so that the arrangement is at least 1 1/2 times the height of whatever vase or container you are using. A common mistake is to choose a vase that is too large and then just have a few flowers peeking out over the top of the vase.

* Change the water every couple of days, recutting the stems each time.

Enjoy!

house tour. March 10, 2009

So far 2009 has been an unbelievable year for our little family. 2008 was not the greatest, so this is very, very welcome!  Many of you know that we moved a little over a month ago into a home that God has miraculously provided for us to live in.  To make a long story short- we had been praying for months and months that God would bless us in a way that we could not anticipate.  Did he ever! What a relief that God is over all things and he cares for each of us like a mother cares for her young.  Anyway, here is a tour of our new home.

The living room

The dining room

The bathroom

Miles’ Room

Greta’s Room

Bedroom

Kitchen

Basement

We just love how bright and sunny this house is. It is pretty much 10 minutes from anywhere we need to go and we love that it takes less than 5 minutes to get to our church! The back yard is huge and will be great for playing once it warms up. We are incredibly blessed to be able to live in this home!

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. -Psalm 107: 28-29

santa who? December 7, 2008

We do not do Santa at our house.  Yes, we are weirdos.  Growing up, Joe and I both believed in Santa. For me, Santa and the idea of lots and lots of presents definitely overshadowed the real Christmas story;  which of course is the story of Jesus coming to this earth as a baby to redeem our souls. We decided that for our family, we did not want the focus of our Christmas to be anything other than the anticipation and celebration of Christ’s birth.

Anyway, the way that Greta reacts to Santa is has become quite funny. Last year, she saw Santa on some wrapping paper and called him a pirate! To her defense, he did have black boots and a big belt on- I can kind of understand what she was talking about.  A couple of days a week, the kids come with me to work at the flower shop. They have a life sized  Santa that talks and dances if you press the button. Greta is TERRIFIED of him! She literally runs away screaming and crying. At the bank today she told me, “Mommy, I’m scared of the Christmas guy. I don’t like to press the button.”

It’s cute and funny now, but I am really looking forward to explaining to her why we do not use Santa to celebrate Christmas when she is a little older.  To me, Christmas is so much more than simplistic reindeer and elves. In celebration of the birth of Jesus, I have made some ornaments for our tree. My dear friend, Dorene, had the idea of making ornaments with the some of the different names of Jesus. I promptly STOLE that idea Hers turned out so beautiful and classy. Black and silver…so crisp and classic. Mine are—well, “me”.  Sloppy and colorful. We had fun making our ornaments and I love what they add to our tree.  Now when I pass by our tree and see one of the names-  I am reminded of songs and Bible verses. How cool is that?!?!

revamp. September 17, 2008

I have a before and after!

We had 2 framed photos in our basement bathroom that did not match our new shower curtain and rug. Rather than buy new artwork- I chose to make my own art using scrap booking paper. This is an easy and cheap way to make custom artwork to coordinate perfectly with any room!

Before:

After:

robots. June 10, 2008

Here are some photos of Miles’ new room! I made the curtains, revamped the mobile and we put up some robot friends on the walls. It was a bit of a challenge making dark purple walls work for a little boys room, but I think it turned out successfully!

fruity. May 28, 2008

We finally moved Miles into his own room! Since we live in a 2 bedroom home, this means that Joe and I moved our room to the basement. The room had no curtains- so I had a fun project on my hands!  And, of  course, I had to make coordinating pillows We still need to paint and add some finishing touches, but we’ve got a good start. As you can see, we really like color. I’ll post more photos once the room is completed. I’ll also be posting photos of Miles’ room once the….uh…robots arrive. Can you guess what color we will be painting the walls???

aaahhhh! May 19, 2008

Here’s the fabric for my next several projects!!! I can’t wait. Now, I just need to get that sewing machine fixed

basement. February 16, 2008

Here is our basement. Looks pretty nice, right? Just don’t look to the left. There is a big, scary toy explosion. A house, a kitchen, a pony, a zebra (to ride), a shopping cart, a mermaid car, etc, etc, etc…Aren’t 2 year old’s fun? Paint color is Behr “Belgian Sweet”.

kids room. February 15, 2008

We redid the kids room when we found out we were having a boy. We left the walls green and of course kept some pink for our little princess. I found this great sock monkey fabric with blues, greens and chocolate brown as well. For the kids room, I made the curtains, pillow cases, dust ruffle for the crib and bed as well as the pennant style wall hanging that serves as a border. I accidentally bought too much fabric (hey, I was pregnant at the time) and decided to use my leftovers to make a border around the perimeter of the room. I cut a triangle pattern and hand-stitched the triangles to some green grosgrain ribbon. It turned out pretty cute!

home sweet home. February 15, 2008

This is my favorite room in our house. I love the colors and the patterns and it gives me a sense of accomplishment to know that I made a lot of the decorative items. The curtains, pillows, wall art, table runner, roman shades.

This is a photo of the wall art I made. You can do this easily with any 2 coordinating fabrics. I just bought cheap canvases at the art supply store and covered them with the fabric using a staple gun. The great thing about this is you can search for fabrics that coordinate perfectly with the rest of your room.

This is a great shot of the table runner I made with the remnants of fabric from my other projects. Also you can see the wall color that leads into the kitchen. My favorite paint color….ever. And I’ve painted many a room. It is called grape leaves by Behr.