Butterflies in the Yard

I've been on vacation this week. We haven't gone anywhere, but just taken time to do things around the house and farm this week. I was out watering one morning and noticed this butterfly flittering about the flowers. I snapped a few pics with my ipod, then it struck me - go get your good camera. So I did! I had the time and this photogenic butterfly entertained me for a while.

 I didn't start many seeds in my greenhouse this year, but zinnias were among the ones I planted. I know from past experience, the butterflies like zinnias and I like butterflies. I planted the zinnias around the gazebo and front steps where I would be able to see and photograph them.

 All of a sudden, two butterflies came into view!

Recycled JUNK Stuff

I've been working on several custom burlap and lace wedding orders recently, but found the time to create a few new things for my etsy store.  Here are some of my new junk style, recycled, repurposed items.

 Turquiose, aqua, antique white, and brown have been my go to colors recently and the colors were used in all these items. Layers of paint were distressed to create a chippy, peely, shabby chic look. A JUNK burlap banner is the focal point of this wreath, complete with rusty bed springs, vintage lace, and pearls. A perfect wreath for the junker!

I upcycled two wooden spindles with paint and drawer pulls/knobs to create fun Junk Gypsy style jewely holders. 4 turquiose knobs were attached to the base to create a fun way to display your necklaces and bracelets.

I added this heart necklace to my store as well. I found a pair of vintage clip on earrings at an estate sale recently and converted them into necklaces. I have been wearing one of the heart necklaces and listed this one for sale. The vintage heart is on a new 24 inch ball chain.

All items can be found in my etsy store. As part of my Christmas in July sale you can use coupon code CHRISTMASINJULY to save 15% on store items.

Shabby Chic Drop Cloth Curtains

Last week I rearranged my living room and it lead to new curtains! Canvas drop cloth met burlap banner, combined with rusty bed springs for this shabby chic makeover.

Throw a sweet little girl into the mix as well!

 It was ALL this chairs fault! If you remember, the garage sale vintage chair was sitting in the middle of my living room, blocking my view of the tv. Well I started rearranging stuff in my tee tiny little living room and somehow, someway, we found room for the chair, without having to get rid of another chair!

The $5.oo chest of drawers holds movies and magazines and stuff we seldom use, so it's alright that the drawers are partially blocked.

 To create my simple valance curtains, I tore a strip of canvas drop cloth to my desired length. Then I sewed a pocket for the curtain rod to slip through. I cut five triangle pendants from burlap and tied them to a piece of twine, which was in turn tied to each end of the curtain rod.

 Rusty bed springs and additional strips of the drop cloth were tied to the twine rope, adding more dimension and shabby chic flare to the curtains.

I like this curtain much more than the boring brown paisley valance that was here before. That chair sparked a good change in the house! The coffee table and a book shelf got several coats of chippy paint as well, but that's a post for another day.

Tom

Can you spy Tom?

Yep, that's him curled up in my wash tub full of plants!

We looked out one morning to find Tom had claimed the flower pot for his bed.

My Summer Garden

While out watering my yard tonight, I decided to snap a few pictures of the flowers.

First up: Cosmos and Zinnias started from seeds in my greenhouse during late winter. These are by my steps at our front door.


This little grasshopper likes the zinnias a little too much as well.


So what does one do when the rusty wheelbarrow completely falls apart? Use it as art in the flower beds to frame the flowers of course! You didn't think I would throw it away did you? The base was used to prop up zinnias that were falling into the path. No good junk goes to waste!

Sadly, this is the last day lily of the season.

The creeping jenny is cascading over the bundt pan on the vintage bicycle, just like I hoped it would. It seems like everything was covered in an insane amount of dust tonight. We are "suppose" to get rain this week, and I sure hope we do. Its been a few weeks since we got a good rain, but we are so thankful things are not nearly as bad as last year.

I tried a different way to upload my photos tonight... if you noticed any difference, please let me know if they load better, worse, slower, faster, ect. I also played with blog buttons and html code, so here is my first button! Fingers crossed it works right!