Rustic and Natural Christmas

The last couple of years I decorated our Christmas tree in shades of coffee and cream with beautiful glass balls, golden bead garlands and some handmade paper birds complete with real feathers and a garland of ivory and chocolate tulle for a soft play on the lights.  Pretty fancy for me!  But I had always incorporated some natural decor with dried plant pods and plumes,  spray-painted in metallic gold, ivory, or espresso.

2012 is the year of the fully rustic tree at our house.  This is more "me" for sure! I think my favorite ornies so far are my twig snowflakes. Some have pine cones and greens hot-glued on, but my favorite version sports tiny cedar and oak "holeless buttons" I had cut 
back in the summer for use at our daughter's wedding in September.  Love those!

The glow of the mini-lights looks so inviting in these first pics, I just couldn't resist turning off the flash for these.

This snowflake has been dressed with bits cut from a candle wreath rescued from a local thrift store.  Why spend $ on brand new items from the craft supply stores when I can pick up thrift shops that can be repurposed like this.

 

OK - so here are pics with flash - shows detail much better.

 I also crafted a star to set atop the tree....

 and a mini-tree complete with real tiny pinecones gathered from beneath a huge, old evergreen tree located on the grounds of the university where I work.  I spritzed those babies with a light coat of red 
spray-paint to add a punch of color.  The finishing touches area couple of rusty jingle bells and epsom salt mod-podgedat the end of each "branch" to add just a bit of sparkle.

 

Other bits and pieces I used on our tree: raffia for garland, ruby red glass pine cones,  real pine cones in various sizes, oversized rusty skeleton keys.  I'm still looking for ways to utilize more of the cedar buttons - maybe a garland?

Can't wait for tomorrow - my daughters and a couple of grandaughters will be joining me for some serious cookie-baking-decorating and crafting!  We do this every year and always have a grand time!

Backroads

Saturday afternoon, driving back home from a family reunion, 

I decided to take the backroads.  I had planned to stop at a little 

flea market I hadn't been to in a couple of years.  Sadly the sign 

had disappeared from the yard of the little farmhouse, replaced by 

signs of a family-in-residence.  If I couldn't get my fleamarket fix, 

I decided next best would be to visit the little variety shop run 

by the mennonites.  On the way, I was struck by how 

lush and green the fields had become...

Only a few short weeks back these pastures were brown, dry 

and lifeless, and the cattle would have been in search of hay 

rather than contentedly chewing their cud as they 

enjoyed both the sunshine and shade.

 Nearing the crossroads where the shop is located....

And here we are - at the front entrance of this sweet little 

shop where the sign beckons all to come in for books, 

shoes, gifts, cheese and oak furniture!

I made a beeline for the spice room with all it's heavenly 

scents and stocked up on dried chopped onion, and 

sour cream/garlic powder, cinnamon and sliced 

almonds. I had to drag myself away from the candies

 - chocolate covered peanuts, raisins and almonds and 

more.  No time to look through the hundreds of 

old-fashioned children's books and games, or browse 

through the gorgeous glassware or handmade oak 

chairs and chests.  I'll save that for a day when I 

can bring a friend or two who have never had 

the pleasure of visiting here before.

 Then on my way down another backroad, I see what looks 

like a fawn - sure enough, a spotted baby deer....

then more, now in varying light shades of near-white

and then darker shades...

 and then sheep in multi-hues too.

I had hoped to see the fields of sunflowers I

recalled from other sunny September days spent driving these 
backroads, but therewere none to be found.  Maybe the 
drought is responsible, or maybe the farmers simply 
chose to grow a different crop this year.  In spite of 

missing things I thought I would see, there were 
some unexpected little surprises that made it a 

beautiful drive anyway.

Do you ever take backroads?

New Life for an Old Cellar

This is our above-ground cellar.  It's been here a long, long time.  Slowly but surely it is 

losing the battle with rain, wind and time.  And I love it.  And I intend to enjoy it

til either it or I no longer exist! This first picture was taken 3 1/2 years ago in

the heat of summer, with Sunflowers standing tall alongside the little structure

and Morning Glories wrapping themselves shamelessly around

it and everything else within reach.

 Here the cellar is last Friday, March 23rd.  

No flowers to cover her nakedness this time.

The broken and missing pieces are clearly visible. Not as fun as the 

summer shot, but she still has a lot of character, don't you think?  

Now prepare for utter awfulness....let's peek inside....

Um...

 Oh....my.

Obviously there is something terribly wrong here.  

Turns out this sweet little building is a "hoarder"!  

Over the years she has collected old doors, windows, tools, dirt, straw, and an 

unbelievable amount of miscellaneous junk.  Time for an intervention...that's where 

a dear friend comes in.  I shared my dream of transforming this mess into a 

wonderful potting shed filled with my gardening tools, pots, bags of soil and mulch, 

and space to putter to my heart's content.  Where anyone else would have thought 

I was losing it, she got excited and pushed me to go for it.  In fact, she wanted to help.  

She saw the very thought of it overwhelmed me, but she would not be deterred. 

If not for her, I would still be dreaming of this transformation rather than sharing it.

Credit also goes to my daughter and sweet husband who shoveled and 

sweated right alongside me and my friend.

Isn't she beautiful?  Inside as well as out!  I have so much more I want to do - definitely needs a bit of color here and there. A screen for the window in summer and plexiglass for winter - that view is just too pretty to ever cover up completely.  A couple of pots of shade-loving plants will bring some life to her, and as she comes along, I'll share more pics.

Spring Growing

Of course it isn't officially spring - yet - but the flowers, trees, birds and everything else around here is acting as though it is!  I've done a bit of this and that - digging, sowing, weeding, mulching - and wanted to share some pictures of what's growing.

 

My favorite garden food - Green Zebra tomatoes!  I sowed several seeds indoors in a styrofoam bowl and will transplant the best 10-12 into cups after the first true leaves appear.

 

I've never tried starting Snapdragons, Allysum and Petunias indoors before....hoping to have tons of flowers to plant in pots all round my porch.

  

And would you believe this?  One of my little wild-type strawberries has a bloom....yes, a BLOOM!  It's mid-March....still nearly a week away from official Spring...and I might just get a few of these tiny, delectable berries before May! 

 

First blooms ever on my itty-bitty ornamental peach tree!  Just yesterday they were a very pale pink and the day before that it was covered in tight buds, and only a couple had bloomed. Wonder if any of the tiny inedible peaches will grow...

Pansies and Johnny-Jump Ups brighten our front porch in their purple and yellow hues.