Garden beds 2013 FINISHED!

Oh my wonderful garden beds are DONE! Woooooo! Now the fun begins! (I thought building them was fun too, but you only build them once) my husband did an amazing job, of building and improvising. (So far in writing this two sentence blog, I've been asked to get up 5 times by my son, can I get any peace?!? No. )

We put the fence up this past weekend which means I can finally start planting! I have to have a fence around all growing vegetation or my golden retriever will eat it. Bitch.

Woo hoo! Time to start planting!

Happy gardening!

Beautiful dirt

 Finally! The last step to finishing the garden beds has come.... We have dirt!!

We are spending our weekend unloading thanks beautiful soul into my freshly built beds, and I'm SO excited! 

One step closer to being done and planting! Woohoo!

Seedling updates!

Man these little suckers are growing!

 

We were having multiple issues with our lighting throughout the house. I had all the seedlings on top of my 'ghetto gardening' stack in our south facing bedroom. It was great! Until I started running out of sunlight. I started putting a tray of plants in every possible window opening available, some I was moving twice a day to get optimal amounts of sun. Then, the sun 'moved'. My full south windows were getting inches of sunlight throughout the day. The plants towards the inside were starting to look sad and wilty. I wanted the hubs to build me one, but time was of the essence (so dramatic!) and he is remodeling a bathroom.

 

My mom purchased one of these little greenhouses for drying her lavender. I thought it would be perfect for what I needed. I bought one from Lowes and we took off our door leading to the roof deck and set it up right in front. The door faces east and gets amazing morning sun, around noon I figured I'd just take the greenhouse out on the roof deck I for afternoon sun. This has worked out great. Although the green house is a little flimsy, I figure it will do fine for one spring and then we'll (he'll) build me a permanent one. :)

 

Four different types of peppers, tomatoes, onions, eggplants, cilantro and basil.

 

This little sucker got whipped around in some wind before I got the greenhouse. He's making a mighty recovery.

 

Happy gardening!

Fairy garden: newest addition

I have blocked off an area for the fairy garden. We cleared out the grass, laid down landscape fabric and began placing the cinder block walls around it. I'm really excited to get the project rolling but also don't want to rush it. My husband naturally thought this was the silliest idea and didn't understand the point. (That there really isn't one except for self amusement, pleasure and entertainment?) but as I started telling him my ideas and asking for his advice, I could tell he was enjoying himself, just a little. ;0) I liked the idea of containing the garden to a small space so as not to get overwhelmed or out of control. I don't want it to look tacky or trashy. I intend to plant small plants and succulents in the brick tops, and possibly cover the cinder with rock veneer. It's a ways down the road.




My step father gave me an adorable resin fairy door with matching windows and a light for Christmas. (SO CUTE!) I have been anxious to use them but was unsure of the fairy gardens location until recently. So after clearing the area this weekend and prepping it the 'right' way, I was able to put them up......


(See the Easter egg hiding in there? The hunt for Easter eggs was repeated multiple times this weekend. )

I had ordered an adorable dollhouse patio table and chairs to go to the left of the door, but the eBay seller had to cancel my order due to being in the hospital. I'm so bummed! I can't find another one like it! I'm also thinking of making a nice little lamp post/hanger for the light. I'd like it to go above the door.

The tree is a non fruit bearing cherry. It just bloomed its beautiful pink flowers and it made me excited to see it bloom next year with a (possibly) completed fairy garden underneath!

It's got a long way to go, but I'm so happy to be getting started. I love it!

Things I saw on Pinterest and tried #27 strawberry stones

I originally saw a picture on Pinterest of the strawberry stones, but none of the links ever worked for me. Since then I've seen a lot of them popping up, but I could never find any successful stories of them working. Still, it was an easy project with things I already had on hand. So when my son woke up early from nap the other day, we started painting rocks to keep him quiet and from waking the other kids.




He enjoyed himself immensely, and did a fantastic job! It took us a few days to get a few coats on and dried, then I stayed up one night to have some peace to do the 'seeds'. It's impossible to concentrate on details with a three year old. I swear!




Before the clear coat....





And after. I'm really please at their turn out. And I promise to report my findings if I think they really deter birds or not. Otherwise it was a great and easy project to do with my toddler!

Baby Cakes

My hubbys cousin is having her first baby. It's a girl!!!
Because I'm the crafty one in the family, I get suckered in to making the diaper cake. Don't get me wrong, I Looove making diaper cakes! But no one seems to grasp that it costs a lot of money for a good one. About $40 worth of diapers, and $20-40 worth of baby stuff to go on it. And I don't think it's worth my time to make a dinky one. If I'm going to make it, it's going to be awesome!

Well, it was awesome!! And worthy of my time and it's recipient. 

It's got rattles, a bottle with moms favorite candy inside, toy links, teethers, baby soap, baby spoons, shampoo, lotion, nipple cream, diaper cream (all sampler/travel size) socks, washcloths, mittens, and of course, diapers! Considering this cake was made with quality products, and cost close to $80 to make, I'd probably charge $120 for it, which is why I don't even advertise them. Very few will  pay that for a diaper cake. However, I was quite pleased with the end result. And so was mom to be!

But then I started thinking; it's a co-Ed shower! We can't leave dad out! And dad just so happens to be a pilot and co-owns a plane.

 The wheels began turning. 

He needs his own diaper cake, only, a diaper plane!! I wish I would have taken pictures in the process of making it, but I can't ever seem to remember to do that. But I followed a tutorial I found online....here;

http://youtu.be/vEc2G_yiT9Y

 It was fairly simple, I of course tweaked a few things and added my own flare. Made of cardboard, baby blankets, a baby bottle, diapers (of course!)  and chocolate with liquor in them! Yum! 

I used my cricut to cut the propeller, which was actually a bio hazard cut out. 😂 

The baby bottle was full of the chocolate liquor and pushed through the front of the cardboard frame with the propeller hot glued on. The body, wings and back wing/tail were all cardboard wrapped with baby blankets. The wheels are made of diapers and the cockpit was full of them to create a seat for the stuffed monkey. 

Ta da!! 

I was very please with the turn out, and everyone loved it. Success!!! 

I also made baby a crocheted ice cream cone with a rattle inside, and mom a nursing shawl with this fabric...

But again, forgot to take a picture of the final product. 😕

Someday, maybe I'll get better at remembering. Until then, hope you enjoyed this little project of mine! Thank for taking a peak! 

Seedling Update

Oh my beautiful seedlings. How much joy you bring.

I've had to rearrange my ghetto gardening a bit. Too many seeds and not enough sun! I'm thinking we may need to put the big fluorescent light above them to be sure. I also lost track of what some of them were. A whole tray full! I did my best at guessing which were which, guess we' ll see come summer!









The weather has been so beautiful this week. I always think there could not possibly be another frost with weather like this. I guess I am getting wiser though, because I know it's still too soon to plant anything. Ten years ago I'd just go ahead and plant away and then be pissed that all my seedlings died because of the stupid last frost.
Thank goodness I discovered indoor gardening! How would I ever survive the wait? Now with our beautiful sunny weather I only have a few months I between gardening seasons. Last year I was still picking vegetables in November!!! Thank you global warming. (Maybe?? I have a big fear we will run out of water here in our desert)

I just can't wait to get out in that sun every weekend and get my hands in the dirt.

Girls love dirt. ;)


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