Hens & Chicks Garden

It all started when I found this really cute candle holder at a thrift store.  So many possibilities, and too neat to pass up, but I didn't need another candle holder.

Well, I brought it home and put it in the closet knowing I would find a use for it in the future and then I came across these little terracotta pots I had bought to use on a tablescape. 

Then a "light bulb" came on.....  I had a large planter in my yard full of Hens and Chicks that needed to be replanted and I could use something on a small wicker table I bought for my front porch.  Maybe these little plants planted in these terracotta pots would make a cute Hens & Chicks garden....and they did.

Here's a picture of the wicker table I bought that was originally gold.  I painted it black to match all my other furniture on the porch.

I had a roll of white stripped burlap ribbon I cut into strips and glued with E6000 around the top of the pots. 

....and here's the garden finished.  I love it and it goes perfectly on my front porch. 

Hens and Chicks are very easy to grow...a little water is all they need and they multiply so you can give them to friends.  See the little babies hanging from the larger ones?  You just snip them off, and put on top of moist potting soil.  That's it.  The slight pink at the base of the leaves is so pretty.

I hope you have a beautiful hump day.

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Old Bottles & Irises

One day while exploring through the woods at my mom's house, my husband and I came across a bunch of old jars and bottles buried beneath the leaves. I was sooo excited...what a find.  I picked up as many as I could carry in my arms since  we were pretty far from her house and it was all up hill, but I'm planning on returning to the "gold mine" with something other than my arms to carry bottles.

It took lots of soaking and washing to get them clean, but finally....they were...well, almost clean.  I put them in the window in our pantry/laundry room so I could see and enjoy them when I am doing the laundry.

So, when some of my purple Irises were blooming, I thought they would be pretty in these old bottles sitting on my kitchen counter.  Irises are beautiful, big flowers and these light purple were so pretty.

 

Sometimes, the simple arrangements are the prettiest.  We get to enjoy each flower apart from the others.

I hope you have a super-fantastic weekend.  I'll be coming home from the beach tomorrow... so a little sad, but excited that I have a lot of new ideas to share.

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Pink & Rust

Tonight for dinner with the family we are having cube steak, roasted sweet potatoes and home grown green beans.   I set the table with pink and a few old rusty things.  I found this really cute vase at a thrift store and the flowers on it reminded me of the rose campion growing in my gardens.  So that was my starting point for tonight.

 

I used long ruffled, pink checked napkins with my ivory and pink flower plates. 

As you can tell by my tablescapes, I love to use books on the table.  This lifts vases a little higher and sometimes we talk about what is in the books.   It makes for some interesting conversation.

The evening started out bright and sunny and the conversation going great...when bang, flash, and.....

Oh well, we waited a few minutes enjoying another glass of wine while we waited for the rain to stop.  This is a really nice bottle of wine.  Great flavors. And isn't the label neat and colorful?

Have a great beginning to your week.  I'm at the beach this week, Jekyll Island, with my beautiful family,  and I'll be sharing this island with you on Wednesday, until then...

God bless you.

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Independence Day

It's time to celebrate again, and I love occasions to have a party.   Fireworks, BBQ, family and picnics all add to a lot of excitement for our family.  We love to have a special meal and then to go downtown and see the beautiful display of fireworks.   We take our blankets and sit on an old railroad track.

So let me share with you our 4th of July table.  We'll have BBQ, coleslaw, baked beans and Diet Coke with a little sip of bubbly.  Doesn't it sound yummy?

We will be heading to the beach soon after the 4th so I chose both a red, white and blue theme, as well as a nautical one.  I think they go great together.

The small plates have a lighthouse and beach chairs.  I'm getting ready....

Sparklers in the champagne glasses then bubbly...

Love the seahorses covered in sand.  Can't wait to tickle my toes in the sand.

Have a blessed and beautiful Monday and I hope to see you Wednesday.

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Painted Chair Seats

I'm so excited!  I've just recently purchased a new dining set for my front porch from a neat furniture consignment store, Feather Your Nest.  As soon as I saw it, I instantly fell in love.   It was the perfect size and shape I'd been looking for.  The only problem was the seat cushions were not the color I could use for my porch.

Feather Your Nest Photo

They were however, covered very well.  So...I got this notion that maybe I could paint them.  Why not give it a try?  I was going to recover them anyway.  Maybe it would save me some time and money.  

I mixed 1 part acrylic paint to 5 parts water.  I thought this would allow the paint to kind of "dye" the fabric and let the pattern come through.  I thought it would also leave the fabric softer to sit on...and...it worked.

It took two coats of paint.  I allowed it to dry in between coats and I like how you can see the fabric pattern through the black paint. And, at least for now, I can live with the solid black seats.  

I am also thinking of lightly sanding the top of the table and staining a darker color or maybe painting with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint.   What do you think?  I would love to have some advice to help me decide.  I love the pattern of wood on the top but I'm thinking it needs to be restained or painted.

Thanks for stopping by the porch.  I hope to see you Friday and don't forget to give me some advice in the comments, it would be much appreciated.  Have a fantastic hump day.

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