Puppy Love!

Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors is honoring her beloved cat of 18 years. We had a scary episode with one of our pets yesterday which just reminds us how very much they mean to our family. Meet our furry 4 legged friends. They are always here to greet and love on us no matter what! They make our lives richer!

Dogs are not our whole lives but they make our lives whole! Roger Caras

Summer flip flops!

I have to share my new favorite flip flops and how I made mine stylish!

These are the best flip flops I have ever owned. The bottoms of them are made out of yoga mats. I actually purchased these at Target for 12.99 (why are flip flops so expensive now?) I originally found these in brown while vacationing in Florida last year and paid twice that price at some surf shop. When I found them at Target this year I quickly grabbed a couple pairs. One to keep plain and one to beautify.

They are AMAZING, and I have already worn them for a couple of months and they are really holding up. It feels like I am walking around on clouds!  I know I am making a big deal about this ladies, but comfort for my feet is serious stuff!

I picked up a colorful piece of fabric from the Hob Lob and I started out with a plan. I was going to wrap the flip flop in a piece of torn fabric and then add a flower but that didn't really turn out like I wanted. So I played and played (and made several different flowers) and finally decided on an idea that was totally different than my initial plan. Good thing I have an open mind! :)

Aren't they cute??? I just love them. I made the flower out of that fabric from above and raided my ribbon stash and found this ribbon I totally forgot I had! (Does that mean I have too much?)

Isn't this the cutest ribbon? It comes like this and it's got a bit of stretchiness to it. They have it in several colors. I love that it repeats the lining of my flip flop. Ok, people get ready for the next photo! I'm just keeping it real!

Ignore that I need a pedicure! I had a sick dog I needed to stay home with today. So what do you think, fashion and style? Love it!!! So do you have a favorite pair of flip flops that you can transform to cuteness? Oh and I didn't do a tutorial but if you need to know how to make these flowers go check it out!

Have a seat!

We had the perfect weather this weekend so I headed out to work on the yard to plant, clean and remove weeds. I have this chair in my yard, nothing special, just a comfy lounging chair.

I picked this up at Big Lots last year and I really like that it has an ottoman but I needed to find a new spot for it in my yard and really needed to give it some personality. I was at JoAnn's and noticed they had several can of spray paint on sale for .97, yep you heard me right. I picked up a can of Fern made by Krylon. Perfect shade of green.

Isn't this inviting? I now have my own little "knook" in our back yard. A place to read and relax and have a nice cold beverage. Simple pillow cover, took me about 10 minutes.

The star of this little corner is this great fabric I found at JoAnn's. It is made by Waverly. They have a new line called Modern Essentials, I think it is outdoor fabric. I love the color combination. (I'm thinking this would look great in my bathroom makeover!) Aren't these colors just perfect???
 

Have you seen these cups at Walmart, my new favorite thing! Check out my little table, a cedar log, luv!!!!

Here is the whole corner. I love having my potting bench where I can access it easily and now I don't have to clean it off to use it.

This is what my husband worked on while I worked on my corner, a nice path to get me to it. I just love this little space, it is shaded by trees and the birds hang out here. I plan to spend some morning watching them play in the bird bath and sing to each other.... ahhhhh how I love summer daze!

Tips on arranging flowers!

This is a post from last year. I thought perhaps there are some moms out there who got flowers today and could use a few tips. I got some beautiful peachy pink roses. I'll post some new pics of mine tomorrow. Hopefully this will hold you over until then. I hope you all have a had a wonderful day. I also want to honor all those who don't have children of their own for I am sure you have mothered someone. Blessings!!!

I am a wedding coordinator, which I love, it's a really cool time to be with families, everyone is so happy!  One of the fringe benefits is that I usually end up with some pretty flowers for my home (and sometimes even delicious cake!).  Today I came home with some roses so I thought I would give you a few tips on how to arrange some fresh flowers.  Now I am not a professional, I have just learned some tricks of the trade along the way and I thought I would share them with you. But firs,t I apologize for the quality of these pics, I started this project in the daytime with better lighting and then my camera battery died ( don't you just love when that happens) and so I had to charge it and that took time and so I finished this project in the evening.

These are beautiful red roses not orange like they look. You may notice they aren't in water, never a good thing, always keep your roses in some water, but I took them out just so you could see them.

You'll need to find a container, be creative, don't just go for the vase, I love to use all kinds of things, and if they won't hold water, or they are metal I  put a mason jar inside.  Always fill your container with water and make sure it doesn't have a leak.  Whenever I get a dozen roses I usually make up at least 3 arrangements so I can enjoy them in different rooms, so look for more than one container to use, all sizes and varieties.

This is what a typical rose looks like, bad petals and usually really tightly closed, right? I always work to get all my roses prepped before I start.

I know, I have not lost my mind! The things I do for you people!!! I am blowing in the rose, it really works, it helps to loosen the petals so they can open.  After I blow I gently put my finger in the center of the rose and loosen it up. They will look beautiful the next day!  If there are any bad petals on the outside of the rose go ahead and remove them. I promise you this works, just try it!!!

You see it was all for a good cause, isn't that much better??? This is the same rose, I promise! (You see the bad coloring of these pictures??? I am not orange!)

Okay, this is one of the pet peeves I have mentioned before.  Remove the leaves of the rose!!!! Did you hear me, remove the leaves of the rose.  They are unattractive and they mess up the water and just droop.  I usually only leave the top leaves on.  Either buy some greenery or just go out in your yard and cut some from a tree or shrub.  Lots of things will work.

It's important to put water in your vase before you get started and be sure to mix in that plant food stuff they give you it will make a world of difference.  Now there are a couple of ways to do this but with this vase I would just layer the greenery.  (If the mouth of your vase is kinda big, get out your scotch tape and tape from one side to the next making a grid or put the tape like you would cut a pizza.) You notice in the picture how I have crossed the branches across each other?  As you put your greenery in you need to layer it across the other stems, this will help it stay up and help your roses too.  Also notice that leaf in the water, not a good thing, they rot, smell and kill your roses.(I removed it after the picture!  (This is where my camera died and I had to retake some pics)

It's hard to see with this angle but see how I kinda put a flower on each side, you want to do the same thing you did with the greenery.  You kinda put the flowers in at a angle so everything crisscrosses itself, it helps it stay in place.  I always work the outside first and then start filling in the inside. And remember I said roses don't like to be without water, well I cut the rose under the faucet with the water running. You'll want to cut it about twice as long as your vase, better to cut it a little long and recut than go too short.  I cut it at an angle and put it right into the vase, if you don't air will get in and then it won't stay pretty.  You ever see those roses that look like they have little broken necks?  That's what happened, they got air in the stem and can't get a drink, kinda heart breaking isn't it???

Here they are without any baby's breathe.  All of these roses are cut the same length and just played with until they are all about the same distance from each other. When you add the baby's breath, cut it, don't use the big wad you get from the store, cut it into pieces you can work with.  It should be below the roses and not cover them up, the red of the roses really pops up against the white of the bb. ( I sound like I'm on HGTV, sorry) (These colors are killing me, my wall is green not grey and my cabinets aren't orange, hope to paint them white soon!)

So this is a more traditional way of aranging them and they are pretty, kinda hard to make red roses look ugly.... well maybe that isn't true.  However, I prefer something a little more untraditional. As I mentioned before look for containers around your house that aren't your usual clear vase.

I love the contrast of metal with flowers, a watering can is a great idea.  An old coffee can with sunflowers and daisies is great or a mason jar and fill the bottom with slices of lemons, oranges, limes, whatever works with your color combo. Go out into your garden and see what else you can add.  I cut some crepe mrtyles and some calidiums, gardenias for greenery and just some other things I don't even know what they are called. I don't know if it will last but there's plenty more where it came from so if it doesn't I can cut some more when I change the water.

Here is a top view. I am loving the roses with the calidiums!!! I hope they hold up well.

And my very fav flower right now is this dragon leaf or angel wing begonia, it looks so sweet with these roses, just dainty the way the petals droop down. I think the begonia will root like this too, so when I am done, I'll have a new plant as well. The last thing I will mention is it's important to change your water, if you arranged criss crossing like I suggested all you will have to do is pull the arrangement straight up and fill the container with fresh water and plop them right back down.  Don't have any flowers???? Go out and buy yourself some right now, you deserve them, they make your house feel so pretty and happy, yep that's it, fresh flowers in the house make me feel happy!

Happy Mother's Day!

"Making the decision to have a child-it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
--Elizabeth Stone 

 I hope you have a wonderful day with those you love!

And then there was 1

I've seen it happen time and time again. We all share our creativity and thriftiness on these blogs and then a day comes where a bit of real life creeps in. We've seen people loose homes, be diagnosed with an illness, loose loved ones, face addiction and so on. While my momentary sadness has got me feeling blue, it is nothing compared to loosing my house, health or someone I love, and for that I am grateful, nevertheless I am still a little sad.
You see my son moved out this weekend. He is my 3rd son so you would think that I would be used to this but it just isn't so! He is 20 and has every right to move out and start a new chapter in his life. After all it is what we have been working on since the day he was born right? Isn't every step they take from that first day a step toward independence? I have been flooded with many emotions these last several days. I am concerned about his plans/situation, not what I would have picked for him, but he is 20 and so my advice.... well lets just say he isn't that concerned about what I am thinking right now. The irony in all of this is that I have dreamt of the day when my children were grown and I would be able to have some freedom and maybe a little time to do the things I never did because they needed me and now I find myself sad, lonely and sitting in a quiet room. Why did this sound so attractive? Here is the deal. I have never been one of those moms who feels her whole self worth is wrapped up in her kids. I have always made some time for myself and have interest of my own, even if it was a late night movie with a friend once the kids were in bed. I have joked for years about all that I would do when this day comes and suddenly I can't remember a bit of it. I am hoping that this is temporary, Just today I realized I can now read a book for enjoyment and no one will need a drink of water or help with homework or for me to break up a fight. That is good isn't it??? The thing is, I used to be on my feet from the time I got home from work taking care of the kids, the house and all that included and now I have one left at home and not so much is needed. I find myself with lots of time. And here is the deal, it isn't just the time that I am struggling with,  it's the change, all of it. I want to go back and have my child hold my hand as we walk thru the mall or see them celebrate as they score a goal, or cuddle up in my lap and read a book. But the fact is those things aren't going to happen. People say all the time that they don't regret a thing and I wonder are they being honest. Because I for the most part worked at being a good mom who was present for my children as much a possible but I regret that I was so busy with the day to day that I didn't figure out a way to really absorb the greatness that they were/are. And yes, some day there will be grandchildren and I will be a part of some of these things again but it isn't ever going to be the same as it was when my children were little and I can honestly say I regret that! So where is this post going? I don't know. It isn't my intent to be a downer. I am doing better really. I had a big old talk with myself yesterday and I have some plans. I will fill up my time and while it will be different it will still be good. But, let me say this to all the moms out there without sounding corny. You may be tired and frustrated, and have self doubt and wonder what happened to you, and who are you, and are you ever going to get thru these tough years, (they're all tough years), but please just enjoy it. Love your babies and savor every moment because one day they are going to take themselves, their stuff and make a life under a different roof. And you, well you will wonder where the time went and what you are going to do with all the time on your hands.
Happy Mother's Day!