With a Dash of Color

Sweet Lavender

2012-07-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hi! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! It is cloudy here with overcast skies and constant drizzling for the last few days, but you won't hear any complaints from me as my yard badly needed some rain this summer. I wanted to share with you some of the lavender crafts I had fun playing with a couple weeks back:

Sweet smelling lavender! I love its heavenly fragrance and the many ways to enjoy its lingering perfume:

"Ladies fair, I bring to you

Lavender with spikes of blue;

Sweeter plant was never found........"

~Carly Battersby

A pocket full of lavender posies from my garden:

I made the tussie mussie cone with an 8 inch paper doily:

I wrapped it with twine and added a button as accent:

Popular during the Victorian era, tussie mussies add wonderful elegance to tabletops and vignettes:

To make the chalkboard garden tags, I simply glued a craft stick to the back of a mini chalkboard frame from Jo Ann craft store:

I dry brushed a coat of gesso on it for some added texture:

Nothing says summer better than a pitcher of cold lavender iced tea:

Served in chilled mason jars:

Jars tied with raffia and sprigs of sweet lavender:

And garnished with fresh garden mint and a slice of lime:

So refreshing on a hot summer day:

Heat 1 quart of water in a saucepan until it begins to simmer:

Remove from heat and add 4 tea bags,

Add one teaspoon of coarsely ground fresh lavender blossoms, cover and steep for five minutes:

Strain into a heat-proof pitcher and let it cool:

I added lemon slices, fresh garden mint, and lavender ice-cubes as garnish for a cool and refreshing drink:

I used an old exterior shutter as a tray to serve the drinks:

For the lavender votives, first I tied the raffia around a clear glass votive:

Then I inserted previously-cut lavender stems through the raffia all around the candle holder:

Top-view:

Click HERE to view the tutorial for these decoupaged French pots:

I love the magical ambiance created by this lavender votives. They look so beautiful at dusk:

They are pretty in the afternoon:

But they look amazing at night:

I hope you enjoyed my lavender crafts. Thanks for your visit and all your encouraging comments. I love reading your sweet notes.

And my thanks to beautiful Yvonne @ Stone Gable for featuring my Map Box Project at her weekly linky party. And to sweet Cynthia @ Cloches and Lavender for nominating me for One Lovely Blog Award. I appreciate it ladies, and I'm so honored. Stop by and say hello to these amazingly creative ladies for a host of wonderful ideas:)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, everyone!

Hugs,Poppy

Linking to:

Stone Gable: Tutorial Tips and Tidbits

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

Sunny Simple Life: Sunny Simple Sunday

My 1929 Charmer: Sunday's Best

The Tablescaper: Seasonal Sundays

Boogieboard Cottage: Masterpiece Monday

Flour Me With Love:Mix it Up Monday

The Dedicated House: Make it Pretty Monday

Between Naps On The Porch: Metamorphosis Monday

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

DIY by Design: Sizzle into Summer

A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday
Faded Charm Cottage: White Wednesday

Very Merry Vintage Style: Share the Love Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

Bunny Jean's Decor and More: Wednesday's Bunny Hop Party

Ivy and Elephants: What's it Wednesday

Share Your Cup Thursday

A Creative Princess

A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday
I Gotta Create: Wildly Original Party
Fishtail Cottage: Cottage Garden Party

The Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home

At The Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage:Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday
Potpourri Friday @ 2805

Stuff and Nonsense: Fridays Unfolded

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt it Friday
Share it One More Time
Fine Craft Guild Party

A Garden Vignette

2012-07-22T06:39:00.003-07:00

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Summer is going by so quickly. It is almost the end of July and the stores are stocking autumn decor. I don't think I'm ready to let go of summer, although it has been a very hot and dry one. The summer blooms in my garden will be dying very soon as the days start getting shorter and chillier.

I planted vinca in this galvanized jug, and it is thriving very well in it, I'm happy to say:

I love using lemons in decor and vignettes. I wish we had the perfect weather to grow my very own lemon tree:

I like planting impatiens in containers as well as in flower beds. They are very easy to grow and bring instant color in any corner:

The impatiens under the apple tree are thriving quite well so far, and the deer have not snacked upon them yet. Cannot say the same for other areas of my garden:

Hanging planter from the tree branches:

This brown metal cloche houses a mossy nest for the little white birdie:

I added a few styrofoam eggs and some greens:

He looks quite happy in his new home:

I love growing herbs, especially rosemary. Their rich aroma is a culinary delight, and the dark green needle shaped leaves also add wonderful texture in decor and landscaping:

Here, I wrapped the pot with a scrap of burlap and tied it with a chiffon ribbon:

I don't know what it is about cloches, but everything under a cloche always looks so pretty, don't you think?

I made this bottle candle holder from an empty wine bottle. Click HERE to view the tutorial for upcycling empty wine bottles.

The top metal part of the candle holder is glued to the cork stopper:

When the candles are lit:

I love how this bottle candle holder turned out. It looks so beautiful in this outdoor vignette:

Summer is short-lived in my neck of the woods, and every moment is so precious:

Mr. Dash made this garden bench from tree trunks and old wooden planks:

It makes a wonderful place to display my summer annuals or simply sit and enjoy quiet summer afternoons:

Sweet Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life is having her annual summer cloche party, and I'm so excited to join her and others for a host of fun and inspiring ideas. Hop over to Marty's wonderful party if you get a chance for beautifully inspiring ideas:)

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me such sweet and inspiring thoughts that inspire my creativity. Always a pleasure to have you here :) Have a wonderful week ahead!

Hugs,Poppy

Linking to:

Stone Gable: Tutorial Tips and Tidbits

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

My 1929 Charmer: Sunday's Best

The Tablescaper: Seasonal Sundays

Boogieboard Cottage: Masterpiece Monday

Flour Me With Love:Mix it Up Monday

The Dedicated House: Make it Pretty Monday

Between Naps On The Porch: Metamorphosis Monday

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

DIY by Design: Sizzle into Summer

A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday

Very Merry Vintage Style: Share the Love Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

Bunny Jean's Decor and More: Wednesday's Bunny Hop Party

Ivy and Elephants: What's it Wednesday

Share Your Cup Thursday

A Creative Princess

A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday
I Gotta Create: Wildly Original Party
Fishtail Cottage: Cottage Garden Party

The Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home

At The Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage:Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday
Potpourri Friday @ 2805

Stuff and Nonsense: Fridays Unfolded

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt it Friday
Fine Craft Guild Party

Sizzlin' Summer

2012-07-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! It has been an exceptionally hot summer so far with very little rain! My lawn has brown patches everywhere, and the annuals and perennial are suffering under this scorching heat.

I love planting snapdragons in containers. However, this summer has been so unusual as they are withering away and dying. I have kept them in a shaded area thinking maybe heat is causing the withering and kept them well watered, but nothing seems to work. The impatiens and rose buds in my garden have become a favorite snack for the deer this year! I had no idea that deer favors impatiens! So far, they seem to leave the geraniums alone, but I'm wary of what they will be feasting on next!

I have been working on a couple of projects around the house. I love the vibrant outdoor fabric available in fabric stores and have been meaning to make some outdoor pillows but never got around to it until recently.

Loving the beautiful summer colors of these outdoor canvas:

This wooden box is covered with a map using mod podge:

I cut around one side of the box after placing it on the map. Leave about half an inch extra all around

for overlap.

There should be four cutouts like the one below for the four sides of the box:

The finished product:

I am loving how it turned out and the multitude of ways it can used. Makes a wonderful planter for the fern:

Another side:

Lazy days of summer:

Soaking in the sunshine:

I found this cute twig tray at our local Salvation Army for $2:

I like the rustic look of the tray, and it's perfect for serving summer beverages:

A slice of summer:

Chilled glasses of flavored water:

Melting cherry ice cube:

This rusty tin pail used to look like this:

A couple of coats of aqua paint transforms it beautifully:

The pink geraniums and and dianthus seem to like the bucket as well:

I love the contrast between the pink and aqua, so summery :)

Summer breeze makes me feel fine:

I'm so glad you stopped by to share a slice of summer with me. I enjoyed the pleasure of your company. Thanks for your visit and hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Also my heartfelt thanks to these gracious hostesses for featuring my decoupaged French pots in their wonderful weekly linky parties:

Honey at 2805

Kathyrn @ The Dedicated House

Christina @ I Gotta Create

Kathy @ A Delightsome Life

The lovely sisters, Heather and Vanessa @ The Picket Fence

Thank you ladies! Your encouragement inspires my creativity and I appreciate it!

Hugs, Poppy

This week partying at:

Adorned from Above

Stone Gable: Tutorial Tips and Tidbits

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

The Tablescaper: Seasonal Sundays

Boogieboard Cottage: Masterpiece Monday

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop

Flour Me With Love:Mix it Up Monday
The Dedicated House: Make it Pretty Monday

Between Naps On The Porch: Metamorphosis Monday

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

DIY by Design: Sizzle into Summer

A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday

Very Merry Vintage Style: Share the Love Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

Bunny Jean's Decor and More: Wednesday's Bunny Hop Party

Ivy and Elephants: What's it Wednesday

Share Your Cup Thursday

A Creative Princess

A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday
I Gotta Create: Wildly Original Party
Fishtail Cottage: Cottage Garden Party

The Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home

At The Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage:Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday
Potpourri Friday @ 2805

Stuff and Nonsense: Fridays Unfolded

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt it Friday
Fine Craft Guild Party

Decoupaged French Pots

2012-06-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Using decoupage as a transfer medium is all over blog-land, and I've been inspired by so many creative bloggers! I wanted to try this method of transferring images onto pottery ever since I saw the beautiful pots done by Laurie @ Heaven's Walk. She has a wonderful tutorial on it that is so easy to follow, and I had so much fun trying this method.
This small clay pot from the Dollar Tree had this yucky green color and I wanted to transform it into something more pleasant to look at:)

I gave it a couple of coats of burnt sienna craft paint:

Then, I applied a coat of white gesso. Rosemary @ Villabarnes has a beautiful blog that will inspire you to use gesso to transform simple, everyday objects into amazingly beautiful things. I just love her work!

After applying a coat of gesso, I simply dabbed on some grey paint using a paper towel.

I had so much fun transforming the clay pot that I raided my garden shed for more terracotta planters to transform. I used the same method on the garden pot below. I flipped the French script on a photo editing site after downloading it from Karen's lovely site @ The Graphics Fairy. Then I applied a coat of mod podge on the graphic side,centered it on the pot and rubbed it on smooth with my fingers to remove all air bubbles. I let it dry overnight (5-6 hours, just like Laurie said). This was the hardest part because I was so tempted to take a peek.

Next morning, I misted the mod-podge graphic with water, let the water soak in for couple of minutes, then slowly rubbed off the paper using my thumb. I had to spray water couple of times to keep the graphic moist as I gently rubbed the paper off.

Close-up on the graphic after misting it with water:

The finished product:

I'm loving the decoupage method of image transfer; it works like a charm and looks amazing:

The paper backing is hardly visible. That's the best part of this method of image transfer and the image is so clear:

The French typography looks absolutely wonderful and I'm loving it. Thank you so much, Karen!

I'm quite happy with these decoupaged pots and am having fun playing with them.

I planted thyme in this one and love how it looks in the pot:

I've kept these pots outdoors for now and will bring them inside once winter sets in:

In the flickering flame of candle light at dusk, they look beautiful:

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today. I'm so glad you stopped by.

And my thanks to Kathryn @ the Dedicated House and the lovely sisters Paula and Patti @ Ivy and Elephants for featuring my Garden Party HERE and HERE. Thank you, ladies! You are so sweet, you make me smile:) Drop by and say hello to them or participate in their weekly parties and share your creativity with others.

Thanks to these wonderful hostesses for the Linky parties:

Stone Gable: Tutorial Tips and Tidbits

The Graphics Fairy: Brag Monday

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

The Tablescaper: Seasonal Sundays

Boogieboard Cottage: Masterpiece Monday

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop

Flour Me With Love:Mix it Up Monday
The Dedicated House: Make it Pretty Monday

Between Naps On The Porch: Metamorphosis Monday

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Fine Craft Guild Link Party

DIY by Design: Sizzle into Summer

A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday

Faded Charm Cottage: White Wednesday

Very Merry Vintage Style: Share the Love Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

Bunny Jean's Decor and More: Wednesday's Bunny Hop Party

Ivy and Elephants: What's it Wednesday

Share Your Cup Thursday

A Creative Princess

A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday
I Gotta Create: Wildly Original Party

The Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home

At The Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage:Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday
Potpourri Friday @ 2805

Stuff and Nonsense: Fridays Unfolded

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt it Friday

A Garden Party

2012-06-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love summer? Short-lived though it may be in this neck of the woods, I enjoy every precious moment. The bright sunny days, the surrounding greenery, blooming flowers, outdoor picnics, and planning summer vacations are enough to lift my spirits and make me smile :) I love outdoor entertaining! Remember the succulent peat pot party favors for my garden party? Well, today I thought I will share with you the outdoor table I had set for my guests:

The elements that went into my impromptu garden tablesetting:

I love succulents, as you can probably tell! Planted in clay saucers, they make beautiful centerpieces for any garden party:

Two different sizes of shallow clay saucers (6" and 8") were stacked after spreading a layer of potting soil in each. Stones and succulents were then added alternately in each saucer:

Stones help improve drainage as well as look pleasant visually:

I added a mini clay pot at the top that acts as a candle holder:

An image of Marie Antoinette from The Graphics Fairy was added as a tag around the candle, and a glass hurricane shade placed over it finishes off my centerpiece nicely:

Love how it turned out:

I found this urn at Michael's. I like the graceful shapes of garden urns. They make wonderful planters for ferns:

These beautiful glasses are from the Dollar Store. I adore the leafy green color of these glasses:

A small cream pitcher holds the spoons:

White luncheon plates with ecru napkins:

This plant stand from Ross is used as a stand for the plates:

I used peat pots to make these candle holders. Click HERE to view how to make these crown peat pots. After painting them with black craft paint I mod-podged a French label from The Graphics Fairy:

It's funny how this one says "rats in the basement." I certainly don't want those rodents in my basement (lol!)

The numbered tags around each of these candles are found from Pinterest HERE. Since I used taper candles, I placed a mini clay pot inside the peat pot to act as a candle holder for safety reasons :

Next, I cut out the number labels and glued them to round metal discs, easy peasy!

While they do look adorable, one word of caution I would like to add here: never leave burning candles unattended. Next time, I am going to use votives or pillar candle candles which burn inward in lieu of taper candles that drip down. As the candle burned, the melting wax kept dripping over the tag (and thread), and, eventually, we had to remove the entire tag as it was a safety hazard....lesson learned!

See what I mean:

The tag had to go. It is cute even without the number tags:

It is important to place the mini clay pot inside the peat pots to catch all the drips from the melting wax:

I hope you enjoyed my garden tablescape:

I'm so glad you stopped by for a visit. I always appreciate your sweet notes and thoughts. They make me smile!

Thank you Terri @ A Creative Princess for featuring my "Beachy" Living room HERE. Stop by and say hello to Terri and be inspired by her many creative projects or take part in her weekly party along with other inspiring crafters.

Linking to:

Fishtail Cottage: Cottage Garden Party

Stone Gable: Tutorial Tips and Tidbits

I Gotta Try That

The Graphics Fairy: Brag Monday

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

The Tablescaper: Seasonal Sundays

Boogieboard Cottage: Masterpiece Monday

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop

Flour Me With Love:Mix it Up Monday
The Dedicated House: Make it Pretty Monday

Between Naps On The Porch: Tablescape Thursday

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Fine Craft Guild Link Party

DIY by Design: Swing into Spring

A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday
The Style Sisters: Centerpiece Wednesday

Faded Charm Cottage: White Wednesday

Very Merry Vintage Style: Share the Love Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

Bunny Jean's Decor and More: Wednesday's Bunny Hop Party

Ivy and Elephants: What's it Wednesday

Share Your Cup Thursday

A Creative Princess

A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday

The Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home

At The Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage:Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday

Stuff and Nonsense: Fridays Unfolded

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt it Friday