My Everything Corner

Today is windy, rainy, cold and all around gloomy. So, I thought I'd focus on the brighter side of things, my indoor Easter décor. Have a very Happy Easter everyone!

January has not been kind so far.  I had a flu up until two days ago that had lasted two weeks, and the weather, oh boy the weather!  But it all turned around today, and life looks happy again.  A long walk with my dog, a visit with the sweet chickadees and even a colourful, little bouquet of flowers - a gift from my Sweetheart. Yup, I'm feeling right as rain.

It is the perfect day to get a lot of fall yard work done.  It is also the perfect day to do many other things.  Things that I don't often take the time to do. Go for an early morning stroll with my kids. Wander around the yard gathering interesting seed heads for an arrangement.  Read a book on the sunny deck with a coffee.  Finish up a cute pumpkin experiment which involved roaming around in the trees in the backyard looking for the perfect 'stem'.  Take lunch out to the wheat field and picnic with my husband on the back of the truck. I even snuck in a nap shortly after lunch which truly made it feel like my much needed day of rest. I shared this post HERE at Viewing Nature with Eileen. With an old black and white enamel bucket, my daughter and I wandered around the yard and picked anything that caught our eye.  I just love how it turned out. It sure brought a lot of texture to my front porch! These sunflowers that resemble 'Big Bird...

Over the years, I've always admired any fall display with cotton in it.  I've seen it worked into wreaths, put into vases, and used as a bowl filler.  But alas, I do not have access to cotton plants.  What I do have though, are thistles and plenty of them.    I'm not sure why it took me this long to figure out that they have a similar looking texture to cotton, but yesterday it struck me.  Unfortunately, the little seed heads are too delicate to work into a wreath, but they stay put in a vase.    I used a few dead branches from an old caragana shrub, (I like the texture) to give the arrangement a focal point.  Then, I just went around snipping the seed heads into the vase, and Voila!, I've brought some of the Autumn beauty into my home.   I noticed a few other interesting seed heads forming out there.  I will have to start carrying my snippers around with me on all my strolls.   They look so pretty in the morn...

All winter I dream of flowers, and with my birthday being in March, when my daydreams are at their brightest, I receive the most beautiful bouquets. This one has iris, gerbera daisy, spider mums, alstroemeria and all kinds of unique filler, my favourite being that grass. I'm not sure what it is called, but it brings an exotic, romantic look to the bouquet that received a lot of compliments from my visitors. Now, with Spring just around the corner, my daydreams of flowers can evolve slowly to a reality as all my perennials start to poke their heads out of the ground. Just yesterday, I noticed the first bloom in the garden. Only an inch from the ground, and in the palest of lavenders, was the first viola. In another month, being from the bravest of seeds, she will be the largest viola in the garden, with the most blooms, and if I'm diligent about deadheading, she will continue to bloom well through July. Spring is long overdue in my books, and on chilly, cloudy mornings like thi...

I've been doing this bouquet every October for several years now. I simply carve out a pumpkin, slip in some floral foam, and start arranging. I tidy it up every couple of days, adding fresh water and removing the faded blooms, and once it no longer looks that great, it is very easy to clean up...just toss the whole works into the compost. Just be sure to remove your foam...it definitely is not biodegradable, unless of course, you have discovered the relatively new foam that is. Hopefully this healthier for us and our Earth foam will be become readily available soon. It also doesn't hurt to find out whether or not your florist is into the composting habit. There is a ton of waste in the fresh flower industry, and every little bit helps. My florist even encourages her clients to bring in their own, reusable container for a discount on their next arrangement. Reduce, reuse, recycle and create beautiful dirt whenever possible....