Paper Medallion Bouquet

The end of Preschool was quickly approaching and I didn't have anything special for Cali's teachers. Cali had them for 2 years and they are good friends of mine, so I wanted something really special for them. I found this idea on createcraftlove.com and they turned out super cute for her to give her teachers! The website has all the instructions and they are super fun to make!

 You just take a strip of fun paper and fold it like an accordion and glue it on a stick! Then you take your wooden nickel and add a cute circle of paper on top of that and you're done!

 Cali wanted to make them with me and she did these all by herself! She is such a little artist!

 Here she is with all the flowers for her teachers!

A special thanks to her teachers, Mrs. Lisa and Mrs. Sham, for 2 wonderful years of learning and growing for my sweet baby girl! You ladies are awesome!

Sink Display

I have been trying to decide for a few years now what to display behind my kitchen sink, 'til I found these beautiful turquoise dishes at Tai Pain and fell in love! I LOVE the look it gives my kitchen and the whole space it is in! Especially when my Peonies are in season!

I don't know what it is about this color that just makes me smile :)

Our First Garden

This year, we decided to start our first garden! We cleared the space in the Fall and Paul worked with the dirt and brought in some treated soil (well... what I mean by treated, is...turkey poop, ewe!). We planted our seeds back in April and it's really growing now! Wow! This pic shows the different kinds of lettuce we planted including a Black Seeded something or other, Swiss Chard, and Mesclun. What you can't see is that we recently added some Spinach and Kale that are just comin up. Paul is really into trying everything out this year to see what we like. In the very tippy-top of the pic, you can hardly see, but we also have a row of Peas and a row of Celantro

I thought it was going to be really hard to get a garden to grow and that most things wont even grow your first year....I really had no idea how a garden works! Haha! If you can't tell, Paul is the one with the green thumb in our family. In this picture, you can see in the back there are 2 Blueberry bushes, a Raspberry, and Strawberries, and the middle row includes a Green Pepper and 2 Big Boy Tomato plants. In the front there are 2 rows of Carrots and 2 rows of Onions. Oh ya, and Paul just added some Radish seeds around the tomato plants as well. It's hard to keep track anymore haha!

Here is a view of our garden from the yard. It is in the back corner by our backyard neighbor's garden and we chat and share ideas with them as we work. Love it! What is not shown, is to the right of the garden, we also have a Zuchinni plant and 2 Cherry Tomato plants growing....like I said, it's hard to keep track of everything anymore! We lined the front of our garden with some small boxwood plants to create a nice view from the rest of the yard and created a stone pathway down the middle

We love our garden and have recently decided we want to be farmers! Ha! Just kidding! I have to admit Paul does most all the work on it, but I work just as hard watering it and keeping the kids out of it as he does actually in it! Thanks Paul, for your green thumb and hard work! Love ya babe!

SPRING Wreath Board

This is a super fun and cute Spring craft! I found the idea on thehouseofsmiths.com! It includes a full tutorial! She has a wonderful crafty site I visit often!

I did this craft with a group of girlfriends I live by, and we had a blast making it together! First, I found the board at Michael's and painted it green and sanded the edges. Then, on her tutorial, she paints the edges white, then uses a wet rag to wipe most of it off to leave a great antique look! Love it! We found the same font she used and made the vinly lettering to match (which I don't recommend, unless you use transfer paper, this was pretty much a nightmare with all the small separte pieces). After that, I made sure and sprayed my board with a clear protective coat of spray paint to protect it and keep the lettering from peeling off. The flowers were a little tricky. The tutorial for the flowers was found on her blog here. You just have to work and work and work at them until you get a look of flower you like, then mass-produce them. The best part about this flower is it is made with crepe paper, which alot of people already have on hand from birthday party streamers, so it is soo cheap to make! I also found my wreath at Michael's after I had a hard time finding one 8 in wide, but they had one that was 1/2 inch thick, which made it easier to cover with less flowers! Yes! Finish it off with a ribbon, which I do have, but it is hard to see in this pic. I used a hot pink satin ribbon that I already had on hand, and just glue it all on! I love how it turned out! This is, by far, one of my most favorite projects to display! I will look forward to Spring every year! Thanks to all the girls who made this with me, it was a hootin' good time!