'Gardening' Update

You may remember from this post that I decided not to plant any flowers this year, instead opting to go faux.  Why?  Because with two small children I had grown tired of having yet another chore to attend to every day.  

I thought that if I experimented with artificial flowers in my outdoor pots, it would give myself a nice little break and I'd be ready to plant again after awhile.  Well guess what?  I didn't miss the watering or maintenance.  Not. One. Bit.  Instead I found myself looking at the pots each day with happiness that they still looked picture perfect.  And when I remembered that I wouldn't have to water?  Giddy.  I felt giddy :D

So I don't really plan on planting any porch or indoor pots anytime soon.  Maybe not even ever.  Instead I've started imagining the possibilities that fake flowers could provide, and all of the seasonal changes I could make!  But first, I want to start with getting my greens a little more 'filled' out.  When I began this experiment I mostly used what I had available in my supply bins.  Now that I know the materials hold up outside, I want to implement a bit more planning.  

As far as flowers go, I'll work more on that next year.  But for now check out the amazing greenery I have found:

Florals & Greens

I found this large pile of artificial greens and flowers for $2 while treasure hunting.  I didn't care much for the faux iris, but even after tossing them out it was still a great deal.

Greens & Grapes

This huge bundle was another great deal at only $1.  I removed the grapes from the faux vines and used the wonderfully shaped faux grape leaves on their own.

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And now that you have seen the materials, take a look at how the pots are evolving:

Mr Gnome is more at home with this lush backdrop.

The kid's playhouse is much more home-y with better foliage.

(Can we just take a minute to appreciate the miniature toy grill?  It even has charcoal that lights up!)

The pansies look much better tucked into a bed of fuller greenery.

Some of my pots just have greens, or in this case, greens and a rock.  I'm ok with that though.  The mixture of several different greens gives a nice, clean look.

This pot did have red flowers in it when I started out the summer, but they faded pretty badly.  On the upside, I'm starting to be able to tell which kinds of colored artificials hold up to sunlight and which ones don't.

I did swap out the previous daisies for these higher quality sunflowers.  Since they came with the $2 box of greens, I thought why not?  I'm thinking in the future that I'll have sunflower-y and mum types for fall only.

The pink hydrangeas look better with a sprout of foliage as well.

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Remember, if you want to compare, you can click here to see the original faux gardening post.

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I hope you enjoyed my imaginary garden, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Spring 'Gardening' :D

Remember those Photos From the Workroom I posted recently?
Today I am sharing is a little bit of what I was up to......

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Ok so here's the thing; I like flowers (obviously).  They are fun to work with, fun to decorate with and fun to grow...well sometimes they are fun to grow  :D

I like having flowers and plants outside, but I really don't always like maintaining them.  I think it's because of my current life stage with little people to take care of.  It's best to water early morning or evening in order to avoid the heat of the day, but those are the times of day where I'm the busiest.

Let's face it, there is no way I'm getting up any earlier than I absolutely have to, and evening time is quite busy for me.  I'm already feeding kids, cleaning up, bathing kids, cleaning up, etc, etc, etc.  And heading out to water has seemed like just another chore.  Of course Husby helps with anything and everything, but for him the growing season = the hot time of year at work also.  When he gets home he is worn out and I like him to rest ;)

So what to do?  I had all of these empty pots sitting on the porch and absolutely no desire to plant a thing.  I thought to myself, "Too bad I can't just stuff those pots with faux flowers and call it a day.......Heyyyyyyy, maybe I can......"  :D :D :D

And so my newest (and possibly craziest) idea was born.  For about $10 I purchased and 'planted' a whole bunch of flowers.  I also raided a few supply bins looking for greens and any leftover stems.

Guess what?  I'm actually liking how it turned out.  Every single day my flowers are in bloom, and I haven't had to water a single time.  Kids pick the pretties?  No big deal, stick them back in.  Temp gets a little low overnight in early spring?  Who cares!

I think I could really get into this in the future.  This time I just sorta grabbed anything that was bright and pretty, but with a little planning I could really make up a nice patio!

Check out these photos and decide for yourself:

(Photos enhanced with the Vivid filter available in PhotoShop)

Iris & Daffodils

Hydrangea & Roses

Asters & Sunflowers

Pink Asters

Red Asters & Crocus

Crocus

Blue & White Pansies

Pansies


This was a really easy project to accomplish.  I simply left in place the old dirt, decorative stones and marbles from last year and used wire cutters to trim my floral stems to the desired length.  Once cut I stuck them into the soil and called it a day.

*Husby may or may not have been chuckling the entire time :D :D :D

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I hope you enjoyed my latest craziness, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Cute & Easy Teacher Appreciation Gift

You may remember from this earlier post that Baby Girl will be graduating from Kindergarten very soon.  Of course I am proud of how much she has grown this school year, but I am also completely amazed at how much she can now do.  This child is adding, subtracting, multiplying 10's and reading at the second grade level!  That kind of learning doesn't just pop out of nowhere, it is cultivated by a very talented teacher.

 I've been wanting to give my thanks to Ms. Sandberg for some time now.  It was hard to turn over my precious first baby to the school system, but Ms Sandberg cared for her wonderfully!  Since last week was teacher appreciation week at Baby Girl's school, it was the perfect opportunity to say thank you.

 I sifted through Pinterest looking for ideas for teacher thank you gifts.  I saw a lot of floral bouquets and potted plants with tags that read "Thanks for helping me bloom!" I really liked the wording, but I wanted to come up with a gift that would be easier to get home (no vase of water to spill) and didn't need immediate attention (no plant to maintain, water or transplant).  I also wanted it to be a lasting gift that was (at least partially) useful in the classroom.  I came up with this:  A bouquet of flowers (seed packets on pencil 'stems') arranged in a coffee mug vase - perfect! 

Keep reading to see how easy this was to put together.

 Supplies

A ceramic coffee mug, pack of 12 pencils and a dozen seed packets were all we needed to put together this thank you gift.

Side Note:  You could certainly choose any kind of seed you wanted; flower, herb, vegetable.... but I stuck to flowers.  I wanted the arrangement to look like a big bouquet of flowers so I chose my seeds based on their packaging.

Step 1

Simply tape a pencil to the back of a seed packet.

(I left the pencils un-sharpened, the wider base made it easier to keep them in place later on)

Front View

Here is what the seed packet on a 'stem' looks like from the front.

Side Note:  Personally I would have chosen pencils in various shades of green to serve as my stems, but Baby Girl insisted on a pack of orange, red and pink.  Since this was just as much a gift from her I thought her preferences should be honored ;)

Added Sentiment

To make things a bit more special, we took the time to add a little note to the back of each seed packet.

This one was written by Baby Girl herself.  It reads, "Thank you for teaching me math".  Awwww :)

A Dozen Fowers

All lined up and ready to go!  

Whenever possible, I tried to match up my pencil color to the coloring on the seed package.  It's those little details that keep your composition from looking cluttered or thrown together.

Step 2

Add a bit of tissue paper to the coffee mug.  The tissue will serve to hold the pencils in place as you create your bouquet.  We chose blue to complement the pattern of our mug, but any color is fine.

Step 3

Start adding in your 'flowers' by gently inserting a pencil here and there as you see fit.  Continue adding pencils throughout the mug to create a full and round bouquet.

Tip:  If you have enough tissue paper in the mug, your pencils will stay in place nicely.  If your pencils are falling over, you might want to add more tissue.

Side Note:  I drive Baby Girl to school myself and walk her to the door, so I was able to help her carry this arrangement inside.  If your child rides the bus, or otherwise travels on their own, you may want to tape the pencils in place.  Another option would be to nestle the entire arrangement into a gift bag.

Step 4

Add your tag.

Our tag was a simple handwritten note, but you could really get creative here if you wanted to!

The Completed Arrangement

I was very happy with how this appreciation gift turned out; cute, colorful and meaningful!

Not to mention very easy to put together ;)

As always, thanks for stopping by
and...

Thanks for helping ME bloom!!!

I really appreciate all of my readers, all around the world!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Painting Birdhouses! (Spring 2015)

One of our Spring traditions is to paint wooden birdhouses for the backyard.
The kids love the painting and I love having another yearly memory :)

Ready For Color

These are the birdhouses we painted this year.

The larger house in the back belongs to Baby Girl.  I found this one at the end of treasure hunting season last fall.  You can see that parts of the wood are sun faded, but that's ok.  It will be covered with layers and layers of paint any way ;)

The tiny one in the front is the Little Man's very first birdhouse.  It was also $1 and I found it at Wal-Mart.

Finished Houses

Baby Girl painted her house in bright shades of pink, green and blue. The Little Man globbed on Earthy tones of black, green and brown....when he wasn't painting the table that is...:D

**Never mind those little fingers at the bottom. No matter what I am doing, there is usually a pair of busy hands nearby :)

Side View

You can see that Baby Girl got a little fancy with her scalloped roof design, I'm sure the birds are going to love it!

Once painted and dried, I gave each house a coating of varnish to protect them from the weather.
 Now I'm excited to add these birdhouses to the rest of the collection in our backyard! 

What are some of your family's Spring design traditions?  Let me know in the comments section and as always, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Garden Wrap-Up (Fall 2014)

A few months ago I first wrote about my design plans for the backyard garden.

(You can find that post by clicking here)

(You can find the mid-summer garden update by clicking here)

If you remember, I planted Morning Glories with the intention of having them grow up, over and around Baby Girl's playhouse.  Here is what it looked like.............................

...............................In my imagination!  Bahahahahaha!  

Yeah, so I was treasure hunting a few weeks ago when I came upon these faux Morning Glory garlands.  They still had the Hobby Lobby price tags of $9.99 each, but I got all four of them for $1!  I have no idea what I'll do with them, but I could not resist arranging them on top of the playhouse and snapping a picture.  :D :D :D

The playhouse in real life.

Still pretty cute, with lots of foliage, but not even close to the way I dreamed it would be (giggle).  Baby Girl is happy with it, so that's all that matters :)

I actually did get some real life Morning Glory blooms, see!

This whole entire gardening process goes to show why I prefer to work with faux flowers. I just can't seem to get nature to perform as crazy big as my imagination...:D

A Pretty Pumpkin

Of all the flowers, and all the vines, we came away with two pumpkins....and one of those rotted.  Therefore this is my 'prized pumpkin'!  Heeheehee!

This year's stepping stones.

The first time I made these I bought the stepping stone kit from Hobby Lobby for around $15.  I saved the plastic tray and since then have made several more stones by just buying the stepping stone mix, which is about $6.  This time the tray finally started to wear at the edges so it's time for a new one, but with repeated use I was able to save lots of money in the meantime.

I make these up right in the kitchen.  I put a big mixing bowl on the counter and line it with a trash bag.  In goes the powder and water and I carefully start mixing (carefully because you don't want to inhale the dust).  Once the consistency is right, I tie off the bag and carry it to the tray where I make a small opening at one of the bottom corners.  Then I can squeeze out the mix just like a big bag of icing.  (Use a decent trash bag for this or you could end up with a concrete mix explosion all over the place!) Once the tray is full the entire bag goes into the trash and I have a clean kitchen.  Yay!

Then it's time for the kiddos to make their foot prints and start decorating.  After a few days, when the concrete has cured, I use acrylic paint to fill out the prints.  I think it makes things so much prettier!

Pretty Mums

I was at Wal-Mart and saw these for .99 each.  I bought them, stuck them in a pot and took their photo....does that count as gardening?  Probably not so much, but they are pretty!

That concludes this year's adventures in gardening.  I hope you got as many laughs as I did, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014

Garden Update (Summer 2014)

A while back I posted about all of the cute little babies we were getting ready to plant for our summer gardening.  (You can visit that post here)  The garden is doing pretty well so while I'm sitting here eating my watermelon and enjoying the thunder, I thought I would give you all a little garden update.

The 'babies' aren't so little anymore.  One of the tomato plants has gotten so large that Husby had to construct and additional cage for the top of it.

 Lots and lots of green tomatoes.

A few more days and we will have fried green tomatoes with dinner!

We are starting to get a few ripe tomatoes as well.  They are so yummy!

Pumpkin Flowers

So far we have two pumpkins.  I can't wait to see how they turn out because I want to use them as photo props (of course)!

 Herbs: Cilantro, Oregano and Rosemary.

It is nice to be able to reach out of the back door and snip a little flavoring for dinner.

The Cilantro grows really fast and flowers quickly.  If you let it flower then it goes to seed and dies off.  But if you keep cutting it back then it grows continuously throughout the summer.  I put the cuttings in a bowl in the kitchen until they dry out, then I store them in an air tight container with our other herbs and spices.  This way we have fresh Cilantro all during the growing season as well as dried for the winter months.

 The birdhouse collection.

I forgot to mention these in my original garden post.  Each year Baby Girl picks out and paints a birdhouse.  I like to be able to see touches of her artwork in the garden, and this makes for another fun spring project.  Next year Little Man will be old enough to contribute as well.

I thought that planter had blue flowers in it..... 

Still can't remember what they are called though!  :D

The playhouse isn't completely covered but I think it's coming along nicely. There are even a few Morning Glory blooms already.

 A few of the Morning Glory blooms

 That's it for now, I'll update again when we get further into our harvest (and things start looking prettier). Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014

Garden Design (Spring 2014)

Hello and welcome to our backyard!  

It has been a very, very cold spring this year, so we are just now getting around to planting anything.  Usually by this time we have some nicely established plants, but this post will have to focus on the little babies.  With a little imagination you can envision how nice things will look in a few weeks ;)

Thanks to Papa, we received all of these lovely plants for our backyard garden.
This year we have tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers.

 All of the tomatoes and most of the peppers went into deep wooden boxes that Husby constructed a few weeks ago. I used a few flat rocks and a sharpie to make the plant labels.  Our neighborhood is newer, so the trees are tiny and not very good at stopping the crazy winds.  After seeing the idea on Pinterest I thought rock labels were a great idea!

Another Pinterest inspiration is the watering system we created out of used juice containers.  We cut the bottom of the containers off and buried them upside down (without the lids) near where the plants will eventually root.  For now the babies still need to be watered from the top of the soil, but later on this summer watering at the roots will be much better for them.  All we have to do is fill the reservoir and the plants are happy!

The reservoir system also allows more water to be taken in by the plant and prevents waste from runoff or evaporation.  We like that since the water we use for the garden is rain water only.  Husby has a 100 gallon tank that is connected to the gutter system of our house, and while 100 gallons seems like a lot, it can go pretty quickly!

I chose to use brown plastic bottles because they blend in nicely with the soil, but any bottle will do.

 Pumpkins, cucumber and I think  some pretty blue flowers :) 

 I like to decorate my patio pots up a little bit.  First I put down a layer of pretty rocks.  This holds down the soil and keeps it from washing away when watering or during heavy rainfall.  The rocks also keep the soil from drying out as quickly as it would if left in the direct sun.  On top of my rocks I toss a few pretty marbles.  There is no function to these other than I think they are pretty.....and the resident chipmunks think they are a blast to play with ;)

Tucked into the rose bush is Mr. Gnome.  I rescued him from my Granny's house when no one else wanted him :)  His rose bush used to be a lot bigger, but we had a pretty severe winter this year and much of the bush had to be cut away.  Unfortunately my chives (the purple flowering plant) were the only herb to come back as the cold killed off the rest.

 Here is where things start to get fun!  With yet another Pinterest idea, I started making footprint stepping stones each year.  So far we have three for Baby Girl and one for Little Guy.  One day I plan to lay them out in a path through the garden in order by year.  That way when you walk the path you will see the little prints 'grow' over time.  I also alternate which foot I use each year so once laid out it will look as though the children walked through the garden.  Ahhhh, the cuteness!!!

(The pink hand print was a gift from Gramma & Papa)

Last, but not least, is Baby Girls playhouse.  I have one pot of morning glory on the roof, and another large pot below her window.  I have visions of her little house being covered in flowering vines before too long.  You can't see from this picture, but Mr. Gnome is right outside her window as well.  I think it's fun to make childhood a magical experience :)

I'll post an update once everything is blooming a pretty.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014