A Baby, Some Monkeys and a Butterfly

Just stopping in to share a couple of photos with you.  I’ve said before that my sister stops by each week to clean my litter box for me since I have a suppressed immune system.  Las week when she stopped by I gave her my monkey Beanie Babies.  She likes monkeys and needed some toys for Landon!

And here’s my favorite little guy with the monkeys in my brand new chair.  He was having a private moment while I was snapping the shots.  Some of the photos turned out pretty funny with his scrunched up red face!

I’ve been looking for a new chair for in my studio for a long time now.  I really need something comfortable in here because I sit on it when I need a sore back break while crafting.  I got a great deal on it.  It even has massage and heat!!!

 

When I took Chloe pup out Sunday morning, I noticed this butterfly in my butterfly bush.  This has happened many times but by the time I run in the house to get my camera, the butterfly is gone.  She stuck around this time.  I just had to share!

I hope you’re having a great week!

Blessings,

Christine

My Fairy Garden

It just dawned on me that I never shared my Fairy Garden here on the blog.

Here it is!!!  I used a birdhouse for the fairy house and painted it in some fun bright colors.  There are a lot of plants, most of them perennials so they will come back year after year.  Some aren’t perennials but they usually live through our Boise winters.

I added some river rocks, a crushed shell path, stones and a fence to line the path.  I covered all the bare dirt areas with bark and more stones.  I’m hoping to find some blue glass/rocks to create a water feature in there as well. 

Thanks for looking.  I’m linking my little fairy garden up to Blue Cricket Designs Show and Tell Linking Party.

Blessings,

Christine

Garden Tour

Warning—this is a long photo heavy post about my garden.  If you’re not interested, I totally understand and you can just move on!

Grab a glass of ice tea please.  I thought I’d take you on a tour of some of the things I have in my garden!  A few weeks ago, I noticed that almost everything was in bloom so I took my camera out for a few shots.

I’ll start with my favorite.  I love this beautiful red rose that I bought on a shopping trip with my mom a few years ago.  We go garden shopping at least once a year!  She bought that same rose.

When I moved into my home there was a bench on the deck and I thought how nice it was for the people to leave it for me.  It came in quite handy while we were painting and working around the inside of the house before moving my things in.  Once I moved in, I put it on the deck for extra seating when people dropped by.

My brother was one of the first people to sit on the bench, well, on the side of the bench and he promptly fell to the ground!  Notice the legs of the bench are built more towards the center so it’s a bit unstable.  That’s when I decided to use it for a plant stand.

Notice the tubing that runs in between the planters.  That was one of my projects this summer.  Since I put in the flower beds, I have had soaker hoses in them for watering, but this year I extended them to some of my pots and to the flower bed in the front of the house.  Since I have a lot of potted flowers, this really saves time.

This butterfly bush is a “volunteer”.  I have another butterfly bush a few feet away from that one but this one blooms earlier and is a different color.  I think maybe the other butterfly bush is a hybrid and this one came off of that one.  It’s the only explanation I can think of.

My favorite spot is right next to my front steps.  When I first built my flowerbeds (4 years ago), I threw a bunch of wildflower seeds in here.  Mostly, just the Love in the Mist comes back each year now.  Next year, or maybe this fall, I’m going to throw another bunch of wildflower seeds in there and see what happens!!! 

By the way, does anyone want some Love in Mist seeds?  I giveaway several each year and I think everyone I know now gives them away to their friends!

There’s also a Shasta Daisy in each front corner and the “mother” butterfly bush is in the upper left.  And behind that you can see my pink climbing rose.  It seems that my yellow climbing rose died this winter.  I haven’t replanted yet in hopes that it will come back next year.

Do you see that little rusty spot in the middle.  That’s a planter I bought several years ago because it looked like my schnauzer, Annabelle.  She’s gone now so that planter has special meaning!  The planter is welded steel pieces that were meant to rust over time.

I love my little peach tree.  I planted this guy last year and he’s doing great!  However, we had such cool weather this spring and a late freeze.  I put a sheet over him a couple of nights but I guess I missed one because I have no little peaches!!!  Hopefully, next year.

I planted a few pots just like this with a geranium in the middle and then some petunias around the edge.  They sit on each of my front steps.

I always plant impatiens in honor of my grandma.  She could grow impatiens anywhere, including in the house.  I’m okay with them on the deck in complete shade but I bring them inside and they just die.  Maybe they’ll keep this year when I bring them in!

You see the pegboard in the background?  That’s headed to my studio!

Well, that’s it for my tour.  I’m sorry you couldn’t stay to see the rest of the garden.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you the Fairy Garden that I’m making.  It’s almost done!

Blessings,

Christine

My Pink Garden on Saturday

Today I would like to share the pink from my garden.

 

The first pink that appeared in my garden was my beautiful bleeding heart that my Mother gave me the first spring after I bought my home.

 

 

And then last weekend the peonies were in full bloom. This is a fairly young plant so I only had about a half of a dozen blooms but the were beautiful.

 

Now and for the rest of the summer, these roses will climb up the lattice next to my deck. I planted them for privacy even though I new it would take a few years for them to climb all the way up the lattice.

 

 

 

I bought a pink rose, a yellow rose, and a white rose. I ended up with the above pink, a brighter pink and a yellow rose.

 

 

I think that next spring I’m going to move the bright pink one to a place all by itself and by another white one (I hope) to put in the middle. I should have taken a picture of the whole lattice but I can’t now because it’s dark outside.

 

 

This is the bunch that I picked to bring in the house. I weeded my front flower bed before going in the house and then my legs were so tired and sore I left them on the counter for a bit . . .

 

 

. . . and they got wilted but I think Tuxie liked them anyway!  Next time I’ll take a pitcher of water out with me.

 

Beverly at How Sweet the Sound hosts Pink Saturday every week. This is a very fun event. Each of us post a picture of something pink on our blog on Saturday and try to visit as many of the other blogs as possible. Big thanks to Beverly for coordinating all the pinkaliciousness!

Happy Pink Saturday,

Christine

Remember This?

 

I posted this picture of my peony bush on Tuesday.  Two short days later, look what I have!!!

 

 

 

Aren’t  they beautiful!!!  Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

I’m home!!!  Yay!!! 

It was 88 degrees in my house so I turned on the air and went outside to take a few pictures and play with my pup.

 

And look what I came home to!  They were just buds when I left and now some of them are past their prime. 

 

 

 

 

Aren’t they beautiful!!!

 

 

 

 

If you look closely, they have a few unwelcome visitors.  I’ll be taking care of that tonight when it cools of a little.

 

When I pulled up in the driveway, I saw my beautiful lupine!  I’d been looking for wildflowers all week and I found them at home!!!

 

 

They also have some unwelcome friends.

 

 

 

 

This little guy came out in an empty pot that I have not watered since last September.  He’s a brave little pansy.

 

My peony bush will be in bloom in just a few days. 

Do you say it pee-a-nee or pe-O-nee?  I’ve lived several places in the United States and I’ve noticed that pronunciation is regional.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my homecoming with you.  I think I will need to get something stamped, colored and made tonight.  It’s been way to long.  All my new goodies are still in the truck; I’m waiting until it gets a little cooler out to bring the stuff in.  I mostly bought paper and ribbon.  Lots of paper!!!

I have the pictures I took during my drives while in Utah on the internal memory of my camera so I’ll have to scare up the cord.  I’ve never used it but I think I know where it is.  I also took the scenic route (on purpose-hehe) this afternoon and have some other pictures to show you.  I’ll probably get them all posted tomorrow.

Blessings,

Christine

Strawberries!

Look! My strawberry plants are coming up!!! Yes, that is a rose vine in there with it. Last year I read (I think on the Univ of Iowa extension website) that strawberries and roses should be planted together because they give each other the nutrients that they need. So, I decided to try it. Hopefully both the strawberries and roses will do very well this year.

Last year, I didn't get very many strawberries and most of the ones I did get were eaten by the squirels. My neighbor always feeds them peanuts so I have a lot of squirels in my yard and a LOT of peanuts buried in my pots and beds. However, she moved so maybe I'll have better luck this year.

I have a trellis on the side of my deck for the roses to climb on. I planted 2 plants 3 years ago and planted one only last year. Let's hope they all grow really well this year and cover the trellis. Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day so I'll be out in the garden most of the day. It gets me motivated to get in the garden when I see something like this.

Blessings,

Flutterby Friendship

It's been quite a busy weekend. My sister and I cleared everything off of my deck. I can't believe how much stuff is on my deck. I have one reclining lawn chair, a vintage white iron table with 4 chairs (ice cream parlor style), a little table, 5 flower pots, an old window that I'm going to do something crafty with, and my bicycle. I thinks that's all. It's all sitting on my back lawn right now.

Then we went to the rental store and rented a pressure washer. We unloaded it from my truck (they are very heavy) and played around with the first one for about an hour but we couldn't get it to work. Called the rental store back and they said to bring it back and trade it for another. We were attempting to get it loaded back into the truck but it was just too heavy for us to lift. Some men were just leaving a neighbors house and asked if we needed help. Thanks goodness there are nice people in the world!!!

We got back and they tested everything with another pressure washer and the nozzle wand thingy was broken. They gave us a different washer and a different hose and wand. Once we got a good washer the job went pretty well. There is a lot of pressure coming from that hose so we switched off so our arms wouldn't get too tired. With all the loose paint off, now I will be able to paint it. We were able to get the second one in the truck because it had handles on both sides so we could lift it easier. It still took everything we had to lift it.

Then that night, I was in bed and at exactly 1:50, I heard a very strange sound like a truck speeding down the road or something. A few seconds later, I heard a huge gust of wind. I heard things blowing around outside and everything. I was really quite scared for awhile. Only a few miles from my house, huge pine trees were blown right off their roots. It was a pretty amazing storm. They said it was just a cold front coming through but it had 55 mile an hour winds. I just live across the freeway from the airport so those were the winds in my neighborhood.

I made this card for Flutter By Wednesday. The challenge was a sketch and also to include a butterfly. Danni is giving away some beautiful blog candy with the challenge this week.

The patterned paper is Basic Grey Porcelain. I usually put the flower on the left side but I put it on the right side today because it would have hidden the butterfly on the paper. It is the Flutterby Challenge after all. I need to start stamping the sentiment before I put the card together. I smudged it a bit when I stamped it.

And there is a little butterfly bead in the center of the flower. I also inked the flowers a bit with some pink chalk ink.

Everybody hope for some nice weather so I can paint the deck and get all the stuff off my lawn.

Blessings to everyone,