Garden Junk

Since I am sitting here praying for Spring to come, I decided to take a look at one of my favorite garden websites called GardenWeb. They have TONS of forums related to gardens/gardening. My favorite forum on there is Garden Junk. I am always amazed at the cool projects the members on that forum come up with. It is the place where I first learned about decorating bowling balls with colored glass pebbles. (Some people have even covered them with pennies.) They turn out so beautiful, and I love to see the sun shining off of them as they sit among all of the flowers. I made several bowling balls. Out of all of them, my favorites were the blue one (that I gave to Mr. Mister's mother) and the red one, that is still sitting out in my garden now.







It has been several years since I made the bowling balls and the pebbles have started falling off, so I just may have to revisit this project soon and make a few more.

There is also a new project I want to try my hand at. They are now making glass flowers out of dishes. The following pictures are NOT flowers that I have made. The pictures were posted by user name Kirkus and taken from the Garden Junk forum. The first two were from a craft show, where the vendor let them take pictures of her flowers.





This one was taken by Kirkus to show the plates they bought (at a thrift store) to make their own flowers with.



Aren't they just the cutest things? Now, I am going to have to go on the hunt for some really cool glass dishes, ashtrays, and candle holders! From the information given, it would seem that the flowers are attached to a brass rod, with a "flange" and silicone glue. I believe some people are going to use PVC instead of the brass. They are painting the PVC a different color.

Here is a another link with directions on making "Glass Flowers." It also shows a picture of the flowers. They did not glue the flowers to the poles. Instead they drilled holes through all of the dishes, then used a nut and bolt to hold them together.

The members have also made glass totem poles out of bottles and different glass pieces. Some even use lamp parts. They use whatever they find. It's so COOL to see all of them.

This one was posted by user name Luvstocraft:



These were made by Cindee. You can see more on her blog. She also has a "Shoe Garden."



While you are peeking around the different forums at GardenWeb, make sure to take a look at another one of my favorite forums Hypertufa. They make castings with hypertufa or concrete using REAL leaves from plants like gunnera and elephants ears. This picture was taken from the website. (That large leaf is NOT real! It was made from concrete.)



You can read more about how to make a concrete leaf casting here.

I have talked with Mr. Mister about planting a "Moon Garden" around our deck, so that we can sit outside and relax at the end of a busy day. Unfortunately, by the end of the day it's growing too dark outside to really enjoy all of our flowers, so a Moon Garden is the perfect solution for that. A Moon Garden is planted mostly with white or light colored flowers that bloom or can still be seen at night. You can also use plants that have silvery foliage that will help reflect the moonlight off of them. You can read all about them in the Moon Garden forums.

Of course, Moon Gardens are also known as White Gardens. You can search the internet for all kinds of photographs, plant choices, and information on them. One of the most well know White Gardens is found at Sissinghurst Castle. (Scroll down on the page) The garden is breathtaking!

So, since most of us are stuck inside due to the cold weather, maybe dreaming about all of these cool projects for our gardens, will help keep us warm, until we can get back outside and enjoy some beautiful weather!

I am sure you will thank me for adding more things to your "TO DO" lists! HA HA HA! Happy JUNKING!

Snow AGAIN!

This morning we woke up to MORE snow! I am really tired of snow and ice!

They are saying that we have a chance for more on Monday night and Tuesday.

If Spring doesn't get here soon, I think I am going to go BONKERS! I am so ready to see some pretty flowers, and green trees. I want to wake up to the sound of birds chirping and singing outside my window! Please let me see robins in my yard soon! PLEASE!



Shelby absolutely LOVES the snow though! She will go out and play and roll around in it. I guess she is trying to make doggie snow angels! She also likes to eat it. If you are outside shoveling snow she will try to catch it in her mouth when you are throwing it to the side! Crazy dog!



I made a HUGE pot of chicken noodle soup today! Mr. Mister has a cold, and was asking me to make "my" chicken noodle soup for him. With this weather, and him not feeling well, it's a GREAT day for it!

Photos!

I was talking to my boss yesterday, who had just come back from the CHA (Craft & Hobby Assosication) show in California. While she was there, she took a class by Laura Oles, who has published a book called "Digital Photography for Busy Women"

She was really excited about this class (and book) because it covered things you should do AFTER you take all of those pictures.

Being a person who LOVES taking LOTS of photographs, I am often overwhelmed by all of the pictures I have taken, and just dumped onto my computer. Laura Oles, helps you organize those pictures. She tells you how to back up all of your precious photographs, and preserve them by making prints to display around your home. The book looks like it will be filled with a lot of great information.

Also, you HAVE to take a look at the site called "Blurb!" (Thanks to a fellow co-worker for mentioning this on her blog!) This site helps you to create your own books. These books can be blog books, your own photography books, recipe books, or even a story book that you may have written yourself. The possibilities are ENDLESS! You can have the book printed and bound in a softcover, or a hardcover.

I shared the link with my brother, who also takes a lot of photographs, and we are both considering having books made. Of course, ours will be filled with all of our favorite pictures that we have taken.

How fun! To have a book like that, laying on the coffee table! Everyone will think we are famous or something! After all, our photos will be "published" in a HARDCOVERED book! ROFL! (HEY! Sometimes, you just have to stroke your own ego! LOL)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope that your day is filled with sweet memories, and lots of LOVE!

ETA: Mr. Mister and I had a great day! We went out to lunch together, exchanged cards, and he bought me some yummy chocolate covered strawberries! He came home hiding them behind his back! Teasing me, he said "do you want these?" I pounced him! ROFL! They have become a tradition that I get every year. I keep saying that we need to learn to make them ourselves, because every year they cost more money. It's just crazy! But it's so fun to receive them! My tummy is very happy!

Vision Boards

Ever since watching The Secret, I have been thinking about creating a vision board to help me work toward my goals.

I have spent some time researching them on the internet. There is a lot of interesting information, and different ideas on how to go about making your own board. You can see a sample of a vision board here.

One site that I really found helpful was Christine Kane's Blog She really shares some good information (not just about vision boards), and has inspired me to start working on mine.

So, I have spent the afternoon looking for pictures that represent some of the things I want to accomplish. It is actually fun, going through and picking out the pictures. It's such a personal project. No two people will have the exact same vision board. Every person is at a different point in their life. What is important to me, will most likely be totally different than what is important to you. Of course, there will be some similar things that many people are hoping to accomplish. Like getting their finances in order, or buying a house. But, many other things will be on more of a personal level. For instance, I am really wanting to work on having "Inner Peace." I feel like there is always a battle going on inside me. I want to let go of all the stress, anxiety, and worry. I am one of those people that wears her heart on her sleeve. I let everything bother me, until my stomach is a bundle of knots, and I cannot sleep at night. So, I found this picture as one of my things to represent inner peace.



I also know that having a relationship with God will help with my quest to find inner peace. This is the photo I have printed to help me remember this goal.



Mr. Mister and I have been talking about trying to find a church that we feel comfortable in. I do not want to go to a church where people are there just to see who can out dress who, or it's the place to go and catch up on the weekly gossip. I want a place that is relaxed, and not real formal. (I wish we had The Vineyard here, we used to go there in Cincinnati, and LOVED it.)

I have saved many other pictures, and some of them will probably be replaced when I find a better picture, but they will help me visualize the things on my list, and that is a start.

I am not sure if I will go with the "traditional" way of creating a vision board, by adhering my pictures onto a piece of poster board, or if I will put them into a book or journal. I was even thinking about altering a deck of cards with the different pictures. There really are so many different ways you could do this.

What's nice about this project, is that it doesn't have to be completed in a day, or even a week. I am sure that as time goes on, I will be changing things on the board. I will have hopefully realized some of my goals, and also created some new ones. So it will always be evolving along with me.

I would love to hear (or see) any ideas on how other people have created a vision board. So, if any of you, that are reading this have made one, please tell me about it in my comments area.

Not Much Going On!

Yes! I am home!

I have just been a bad blogger and photo taker!

I will "try" to get back on the ball!

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye!

Mr. Mister and I got up early, and walked down to the beach. We were hoping for some sunrise pictures, but it was very cloudy and hazy. This is what we got.





Of course, I had to take some more beach shots. (Even if it was cloudy)



I still cannot believe it's time to leave already! I am SO SAD! We are leaving a forecast like this:

Fort Lauderdale:

Rest Of Today...Partly sunny. A few sprinkles in the morning. Highs in the lower 80s. North winds 5 mph becoming east 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight...Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.

For a forecast like this:

Home:

Today...Partly cloudy. High in the upper 30s. South wind around 10 mph.

Tonight...Partly cloudy. Low in the lower 20s. Light wind.

Back to reality huh? LOL

The Swamp!

We played in the swamp today!



I kept telling Mr. Mister that I wanted to do something unique to this area! So, we decided to go looking for alligators! Yep! We hopped in the car and headed for the Billie Swamp Safari! Here we are at the beginning of our search.




It didn't take long to find some!



This one wasn't afraid of our boat! He was thinking about lunch!



We saw lots of other critters too. Like this bird.



And George, the wild pig that tried to get into our boat!



We also saw this cutie.



These two weren't out in the swamps, they are on display at the reservation.





EWWWWWWWWWW! Snakes give me the WILLIES!