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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Mushroom Inspiration

I was out walking in the pasture one day this week and noticed something under the beautiful Deodor Cedar tree that caught my eye.  When I got up to the tree this is what I saw.

They stood so grand in the shadows.  They took me to a place of make believe.....fairies and elves, woodland creatures and soft cool places.  I don't know what it is about mushrooms that conjure up these images for me.  Maybe it's because of where they grow, maybe because they are so interesting looking.  Maybe it's because I just finished watching The Hobbit with my son...lol.

Not only did these beautiful little mushrooms (well, actually quite large mushrooms), cause me to daydream, they inspired a new arrangement idea.  I love how nature inspires and connects me with interesting ideas.

So, this is what I did.  I purchased a package of Sculpey clay from Hobby Lobby and made two mushrooms to use in my arrangement.  I shaped the clay and baked per the directions on the package.  I then washed them in watered-down acrylic paint.

This is where you can be creative. After letting the paint wash over the clay I added white polka dots with the end of my paintbrush. 

Next, I dug up some beautiful moss from under a tree. You can keep this moss in your arrangement for about a week.  Just mist daily with water...then put right back under the tree where it came from.

Here's the arrangement.  I found a quiet, little spot on a small secretary beside a reading chair.  I used a clear bowl so I could see and enjoy the moss.

I hope you have a very nice weekend.  Get out there, take a walk, and get inspired.  

I'm Linking To:
No Minimalist Here 
French Country Cottage 
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating 
Common Ground 
A Peek Into My Paradise 
My Romantic Home 
Funky Junk Interiors 
Fishtale Cottage 
Crafts a la Mode 
Craftberry Bush 
The Gunny Sack 
Worthing Court 
The Tablescaper 
Nifty Thrifty Things 
Sunny Simple Life 
That DIY Showoff 
Twigg Studios 
A Cultivated Nest 
Dwellings 
Boogieboard Cottage 
The Dedicated House 
Uncommon Designs 
Between Naps on the Porch 
A Stroll Thru Life 
Coastal Charm 
Lolly Jane
The Gunny Sack 
The Shabby Creek Cottage 
A Delightsome Life 
No Minimalist Here 
Lamberts Lately 

Turnip Bean

Arranging Saturdays - Turnip Bean

Turnip Bean you ask?  Well yes.  Remember the beautiful yellow flowers growing from the turnip greens planted in the garden?  When the flowers were spent and fell off, the entire plant was covered with little tiny beans.  Yes, little beans.

Turnip green flower

Turnip green Bean after flowers have fallen off.

We had some very good friends over last night that we'd not seen in a long time. We sampled a little cheese and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine.  I always like to show you the wine we have because my husband is a wine connoisseur and chooses wonderful wines for us to have and I highly recommend these.

 Our friends brought the cheese, my husband picked the wine and my contribution was to put out a fresh arrangement for us to enjoy.  I loved the look of the turnip green beans so much, I decided we didn't need flowers... just the greens.  Here's a look at what I did.

I love this little old chair I have out at the barn and it was already this beautiful teal color when I bought it.  It also has sweet details.

I am definitely not afraid to use things I find on my walks and it always makes it interesting and a topic of conversation.  I hope you all have a blessed weekend, get lots of rest and I'll see you Monday.

I'm Linking to:             A Stroll Through Life       

Old Treasure

I love old things, furniture, hobnobs, houses, and barns.  There is something so imaginative about these things.  We get to look at them and wonder what they've seen, who's hand has touched them, what was happening long ago.  

I have lots of old things and I seem to have an affinity for them.  Sometimes I want to redo, remake, and repurpose them, and other times I want to leave them as is.  Our old barn is both leave as is and redo.  Just this past weekend, my husband added a little shed roof off of one side for his tractor and lawn mower, so I took a few pictures to share with you.  We plan on leaving as much as possible original, it's in good shape, and use wood and tin roofs from old barns to repurpose ours.

The photo's above are the barn in different seasons, below is my hubby working on the barn this past weekend adding a shed roof for his tractor.

Here are a few of the pictures of the barn.  Our barn is about 80 years old and the wood on it is both beautiful and hard as a rock. 

New, shiney things have their place, and I love them like everyone else,  but nothing touches the beauty of worn, used, aged, and well loved things from the past. 

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