Some recent craft projects

Since the craft project of the row of houses was pictured in the gardening post, I thought I'd show where I got the idea, and how the project was completed.  The first photo is the shot from inside the breakfast restaurant in Destin where I saw the houses.  It was actually a coffee cup holder above the coffee station.

And here's our project once it was cut from a piece of wooden closet shelving, and the wooden shims making the roofs had been glued on.  The wood was primed, then I used blue painter's tape to mark the edges of each house.

And here's the finished project.

They say necessity is the mother of invention.  In our bathroom, the shower rod is permanently mounted near the ceiling.  While it does make the 8 foot ceilings seem higher when you hang shower curtains close to the ceiling, this was a challenge in the bathroom because ready-made curtains were not long enough nor wide enough to fit the tub opening.  What to do?  A trip to Tuesday Morning was in order!  Found this pair of polyester extra long and extra wide lined drapes on the 60% off shelf.  Brought them home, sewed them together, sewed 18 buttonholes along the top, and voila - problem solved!  Of course, the waterproof shower liner also hangs from the same hooks as the curtain.  The polyester fabric can get a little wet, but the shower liner keeps them mostly dry.

So, here's one more problem solved using very basic sewing skills.  This is our guest room where, again, the curtain rods are mounted near the ceiling.  We changed out some old roman shades for the bamboo shades and then hung the black and white curtains from Lowe's.  But, they weren't long enough - someone didn't measure correctly!  Yes, it was me.  So, always thinking, my better half says "Why not just buy another curtain, cut some off and sew it to the ones already hanging?"  Of course! And because the print is so busy, no one can see the seam where the piece was added to each curtain.  Here's the finished look:

So long for today!

A Few More Yard Photos

Good Monday Morning,

There are just a few more photos I'd like to add to the gardening post from last week.  This is a shot of our fountain, purchased at a wonderful nursery in Fairhope, Alabama.  Since our yard is small, we needed a smallish fountain, and we both liked the size and shape of this one.  The sound of the splashing water is so delightful, and you can hear it from the patio where we quite often enjoy a glass of wine, and when the weather permits, dinner outside.

Also from our trip to Fairhope, here are some cypress shutters we found in an antiques shop there.  We already had the window frame, and my better half bolted the shutters to the frame, and I stapled the polka dot fabric to the inside of the window (LOVE polka dots!).

Here's another trash to treasure item:  It's actually an old Hibachi barbecue I found in the trash heap down the street.  It looked like a planter to me!  The bottom was rotted out, so I lined it with landscaping fabric so it would hold soil, but would allow the water to drain.  Even this late in the summer, the vinca is blooming.

Last, but not least, here is a shot of a planter given to me by my wonderful sister-in-law, Vicki.  The large clay pot on the bottom has a long section of iron rebar stuck into the drainage hole, then smaller clay pots are stacked and staggered along the rebar.  Again, the plants came from the discount cart at Lowe's, or were cuttings from plants from the yard.

This is our bottle tree.  The story behind the bottle tree is this:  Any evil spirits which may be in your garden will be attracted to the colored bottles, and fly into them and are captured, thus freeing the garden of any such spirits.  The bottle tree was purchased from the City Park Spring Garden Show, and the blue bottles are discarded beer bottles - FREE!

I just had to add this last photo:  it's our Bird of Paradise plant from the front garden.  These are so spectacular!

Garden Before and After

Today's post has been a challenge learning how to get the photos from my phone, to my laptop, to the blog.  But, it finally happened, and so here are a few pics of "before" and "after" in my little piece of heaven yard.  It's been such a joy to work on this transformation.  We just love this tiny piece of real estate, and hopefully, as the years go by, the garden will continue to evolve.  I once read something about how to make a house your own after you move in.  The writer said he (or she, I don't remember) had repainted their newly purchased house in colors they liked and moved in their belongings, but it wasn't until they worked in their yard and really got their hands dirty, that they felt like the house was really theirs.  Somehow, getting in the yard and planting something living and watching it take shape and grow makes you feel bonded to the house.  It's another reflection of you!

Here is the shady side of the backyard before any planting was done.  The oak tree is huge, and not wanting to incur the cost to remove it, we worked with it. 

 Eventually we added 125 Ardesia plants as ground cover around the roots of the tree.  Shortly after the Ardesia was planted, the purple Wandering Jew appeared.  We liked it, it was sort of wild - so it stayed!

Then we added the hanging plants and the stag horns and, finally, the crepe myrtle.  Every Southern garden should have a crepe myrtle!

Here's the side garden on the shady side as it looks now.  Notice our Pallet garden leaning against the fence! My better half cut down a standard pallet found in the Lowe's parking lot to this smaller size, and we raided the reduced-price plant cart for the annuals to fill it.  There's some vinca and other varieties of Wandering Jew - just whatever was seriously marked down - nothing was more than 50 cents!  My lovely neighbor Denny, introduced me to the red honeysuckle which is climbing on the trellis, and there is just a variety of drought tolerant plants spaced along the fence.  Finally, my dad contributed the stag horns which were in his yard, and I separated and re-mounted them.

This area was messy and muddy and got very little direct sunlight, so grass was never going to happen. We considered brick (too expensive to install), concrete (too cold-looking), and decided on this stone look-alike product from Lowe's.

It came out pretty well I think! We added holly ferns, purple fountain grass and a planter with impatiens and ivy - oh, and a summer wreath, to the storage shed.

Here's the view from the sunny side of the yard.  On this side there's firespike, plumbago, and several other sun-loving plants, and we ordered the shutters for the door and window of the storage shed.  We couldn't move it, so we made it a feature!

Here's the sunny side with viburnum and lorapetalum.  We ordered the adirondack chairs from a local vendor at the City Park Spring Garden show, and purchased the 2 bromeliads the same day.  My better half and I made the weed bottle window using beer bottles attached with picture hanging wire.

Last, but not least, here are the views of the left and right sides of the patio with various containers of swedish ivy, spider plants, ground cover, begonias, peace plants, fox tail fern and a few herbs.  The wall art is my take on a similar one seen in a breakfast place in Destin this year.  We made it from a piece of closet shelving and wood shims cut and painted to look like a row of houses.  Outdoor pillows are from K-Mart's end-of-season sale. The mosaic table was salvaged from the trash pickup pile down the street!

Here's my newest garden when it was planted two months ago.  Here in New Orleans our climate is sub-tropical, so there are lots of drought tolerant plants in my yard, including red honeysuckle, New Guinea impatiens, vinca, and even a hydrangea (which is not technically drought-tolerant but every southern garden needs a hydrangea!).

Will post pics of other backyard garden areas once I figure out how to get them uploaded!

Two months

My little yard - then and now

Today I'm excited to blog about my little piece of heaven.  Before moving to Alabama I had planted a few common annuals - petunias, impatiens, vinca, and had a few houseplants, but that was it.  My dear friend, Julie, is a real, true gardener - she knows SO MUCH about design and landscaping, and I caught the gardening bug from her.  Her yard is a paradise! Large and sloping upward, she has a lovely babbling brook water feature which she designed, lots of plant species native to Alabama, several "heritage" plants (plants that have been shared and passed down through family and friends), and hundreds of other interesting things thriving in her landscape. The yard also includes a shady swing and several bird feeders where she plays host to numerous native birds all year and hummingbirds in the late summer. There is also a covered, open deck where they often have dinner in full view of the gorgeous yard.

My own back yard in Alabama sloped downward and was pretty much unusable for gardening.  However, we did add some foundation plantings, and after consulting with Julie we enhanced the front of our house with river birch trees, azaleas and day lilies, and added crepe myrtles and knockout roses to the driveway area. But, I did long for a small, level yard - nothing overwhelming - to dig in. While house hunting in New Orleans, a small piece of real estate for gardening was high on the list of must haves. We did find it - VERY small - the front was already landscaped, but the back yard was almost a blank canvas. Yes!

So here's a little about me...

Born and raised in New Orleans, graduate of The University of New Orleans, B.S. Marketing.  Happily married, two grown sons.  Have ALWAYS loved clothes, shoes, jewelry, crafts and decorating, and most recently, gardening in my tiny little "piece of heaven" yard.  After living in Birmingham, Alabama for 16 years, we have recently come home to the New Orleans area.  My professional background includes 17 years as an Employee Relations Administrator, and while in Alabama, as a Library Specialist for a large municipal library.  Both positions were exciting, fun, challenging and rewarding and required a fair degree of writing.  I've always enjoyed composing various types of communications, both personal and professional, and love sharing ideas and staying in touch via email.


Why this blog, you might ask.  Well, this year I reached a "certain age", and it caused me to take a look back and see how I have changed, and hopefully, grown.  After all, life is about learning, learning about many things - especially about yourself.  To watch television or read magazines, all we see is that youth and beauty equal happiness.  Oh, but there is so much more!  Reaching this milestone birthday was a real eye-opener for me - in a good way.  When I was younger, I knew very little about myself, and now that these years have past, I find I am finally getting to know me, and to like and accept me as I am.  So this blog is another way of digging deep, and finding out more. Also, for this blog to be a true reflection of me, it wouldn't be complete without posts including my family and friends, who are all so much a part of who I am.  I love you all!

So, here we go!

I'm a bargain hunter.  Love the hunt for the perfect piece to complete a look - for fashion and for decorating.  Love to shop anywhere, from Saks to Nordstrom's to Dillard's, to TJ Maxx and Marshall's, Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart and beyond.  Wherever there's a deal, I'm in. This includes scouring discounted "last chance" outlets, wholesale jewelry shows, and off price online sites.  Always try to buy on sale or clearance or with a coupon.  So this blog will include what was purchased, where it was purchased, and why I think it works for my age and body type, or for my home or my yard.

The photo above includes a seriously discounted Liz Claiborne knit peasant top from JCPenney, and a light denim side-zip skirt from Macy's half-off the sale price rack.  I REALLY like side-zip skirts and pants because they don't add bulk across the middle where we lovelies of a certain age carry our weight.  The photo was taken on a very warm Saturday morning in mid-summer at Pepper Place market in Alabama. The outfit was as lightweight and cool as possible!

So exciting!  I know virtually NOTHING about blogging, but have enjoyed writing and journaling, so this is my forum for describing my thoughts and experiences concerning reaching a "certain age" as it relates to fashion, food, decorating and gardening.