These cute-as-a-button cottontails, made from spray-starched square napkins, will energize any Easter table.

Perhaps these adorable napkin folds are not a new idea for you but they were for me and I love them….

The bunny on the pink plate is from Good Housekeeping just click on the link I have created here at Good Housekeeping and find simple step by step instructions with lots of pictures that should make them easy for anyone.  I do have to give Living credit for having the bunny on the yellow plate in this month’s magazine and their website led me to Good Housekeeping.

I hope to try this for my Easter Tables this year.  If you have already completed this project, leave us a comment and let us know if it is as easy as the tutorial says.

I made this terrarium for myself and enjoyed it so much I decided to do one for my son and Debbie.  However my middle daughter Kim came over the weekend and wanted me to make her one with a purple African violet and I could not find another so this terrarium ended up in her house That’s how mommy’s are you know.

This is David’s and the turtle that I got at Hobby Lobby for $2.00 on sale jsut makes this my favorite.  He does have a pose David is familiar with

And this pink African violet is Deb’s.  She is hopefully going to find that forgetting to water for a couple of weeks won’t be too big a problem with a terrarium.  I put a small piece of fern in hers as I love ferns in terrariums.  Her’s also has a small piece of mirror in the center, to look like a lake,  that was impossible to get a good photo of.

This ended up being mine.  I love violets of any color but thought this soft lavender was perfect with the begonia I used.

Easy to do and lots of fun to make, terrariums can be expensive or on a budget, however if you make four you will blow the budget .  I hope you enjoyed my creativity with terrariums and will give it a try for your home.

One way to beat the long winter blahs is to have growing plants indoors.  A suggestion is make a terrarium, time required an hour or less.

What is A Terrarium? A terrarium is a miniature landscape with living plants and even sometimes small animals like lizards or turtles.

A terrarium is a miniature ecosystem which is a complex system of relationships between organisms and resources of different types.  If you have a good balance of plants, soil, nutrients, and water in your terrarium you will be able to seal it up and watch it grow and thrive for very long periods of time – sometimes even years.

It’s quick, easy and doesn’t have to be expensive. To save money, on your terrariums, look around your house for a container or shop discount stores, flea markets or consignment shops to find glass containers, jars or even goldfish bowls. The plants you’ll use are generally small houseplants, which can often be bought for a couple of bucks each, so the whole project, depending on the size of your jars, can be made for well under $20. Terrariums also make wonderful and impressive gifts, even for people who consider themselves plant-challenged.

There are lots of tutorials online to help you along the way, here is one I found that has very specific easy to follow instructions.  Kerry Michael at about.com has a great tutorial with lots of pictures..here is an example of her finished project.

When your done send me a picture and I will post a picture of mine.

Apple Blossom Azalea

What type of bulbs do you have in your garden?  When do you plant them?

I lived outside of Atlanta for a few years and missed Spring bulbs immensely. I found a book at the library on what types of bulbs could be grown in Georgia climate and found it was as easy as in the Midwest.  The secret, I had to refrigerate the bulbs for six weeks in the winter and then place them into the soil in early February and lo and behold I had tulips and jonquils just like I had always enjoyed in my Midwest garden.

If you live in the southern regions of the States or any other part of the world where the temperature never drop low enough to cool the soil try the refrigerator trick and you can have them Spring or Fall.

I have so many spring flowers I love I am going to share a few this week.

Creeping phlox is one of my favorite in early spring…and in the background the crimson azaleas are in the shade and you can barely see the buds ready to burst on the rhododendron.

Magnolia Blooms

Let’s keep looking at these reminders of what we can expect in just a few weeks!!!

What is your favorite season of the year?  Mine has always been Spring.  I love the smell in the air of Spring rain, the beauty of trees that bud and leaf in a matter of days, bulbs that miraculously surface and burst into welcome bloom.

Of course it is a season that has a “to do” list for most of us, so why not get ready now.  It is not too early to begin planning for Spring.  Here in the Midwest early garden planting of peas, onions, potatoes, and lettuce for example normally are planted on or near  St Patrick’s Day.  If your a vegetable gardener make sure the ground is ready, have the seeds on hand and get the hoe and gloves out  you will need them very soon now.

Take inventory of what needs to be done in your lawn and garden both.  What shrubs require Spring pruning, do you have some tree limbs you have been putting off trimming back, do you need to aerate the lawn, clean up garden pots for replanting?

The list can be endless but if you have a list and check it off with some “honey do” or child bribery for a movie night to help along the way it will all be done in time for you to sit back with a smile and watch the early Spring flowers show off.

Don’t forget our feathered friends need us to give their homes a housecleaning too.

My children as grown adults recount some of their most pleasant family memories were in the time we spent preparing garden and flower beds.

Spring IS just around the corner friends.

Reminder:  Leave your comment this week and tell us what is your least favorite chore around your house.  Your comment will enter you in the drawing for this cute embroidered towel.

I was blessed recently to have a lady in Canada want to purchase 15 little girls aprons for favors for the guests at her daughter’s birthday party.  We worked out a special pricing for her based on using 2009 leftover fabrics and remnants to allow me to price them within her budget.  Thought you might like to see what the birthday party girls will be wearing.

This apron was especially made for the birthday girl!  I hope she loves it.

What a great idea for a gift that has so many purposes…I hope each one will wear them and remember the fun they had at the party.  And the birthday girl, well of course I had to make her’s special.  Mom said she is a girly girl so to me that meant ruffles and more ruffles, bright colors and all the trim…I hope she loves it.

It is always my prayer that the person receiving something we have made will sense the love we put into our craft of making something special and unique for them.  I hope that is especially true of these little girls aprons.

Deb and I visit Home Good way too often yet at Christmas I got lucky and found these adorable little plates she had not seen.  It was quite a surprise when she opened them as I think she was confident she knew every item of inventory they had during the holiday season from her many trips.

I visited her house to borrow them for today’s Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. I hope you will stop by Susan’s and see all of the creative tablescapes on display.

These little dessert or salad plates reflect a lot of Deb, hope you like them too.

Chocolate  Girl

When I arrived to take these photos, yes the plate had a piece of chocolate cake!

Cafe Girl

The only thing missing from this plate is Deb’s finger tapping while she is dreaming up the next project…but the cafe fits her perfectly.

Cosmopolitan Girl

If the shoe fits and it does…you see why I knew she would love them.

Wine Girl

Hmmm…I also know she is a one glass of wine before bedtime kind of girl.

I thought these were made especially for me to give to her and was so delighted and even more so when I noticed she keeps them on display and uses them every day as her snack plate..trust me the snack is almost always  chocolate too.

Don’t you love dishes, they make such lifetime gifts…Thanks for stopping by and I am off to check your tablescape now.

Reminder:  Leave your comment this week and tell us what is your least favorite chore around your house.  Your comment will enter you in the drawing for this cute embroidered towel.

Now the final item from my sister’s crocheting you won’t want to miss.

Everyone knows nothing makes us “ooh” and “aah” more than a precious little baby…but take a look at this adorable outfit she made…it is an “ooh” “aah” item for sure.  Can’t you just picture someone’s new baby in this for a photo shoot?  I can.

This little baby blanket and hat are also adorable…what made them very special for her was she used some of Mother’s buttons on the blanket and hat.  What a keepsake for her grandchild to have.

Carol thank you for sharing, we have so enjoyed your crafting and the stories that accompanied them.

“Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.”

As you prepare to celebrate with the special love in your life perhaps you can get some simple inexpensive ideas from the table of love tokens I gathered and added to with minor purchases at Wal-Mart.

I know Valentine’s is usually a day for roses but women love Spring Tulips ($10.00) this time of year and the price; at least half of what roses will cost you.

I used a piece of pink fabric for a table runner, shook Valentine sprinkles everywhere, lit two candles, tied pink bows around the stems of my wine glasses and all on hand no cost.

I purchased a $3.00 chocolate sampler box (after all that is all me and my sweetie need to be eating) and placed in on a plate…my red ones were too big for six pieces of candy

The adorable little puppy, $3.00 and my great-granddaughter will be the sweetheart to end up with him.

Here are more photos, hope they inspire you to look around your home and on a budget of $20.00 or less say “I love you” to someone special in your life.

I think I hear my love at the door and the chocolate is calling me….

Happy Valentine’s everyone..

“Love is the perfect gift and changes us and those we love forever.”

Every year it seems we can hardly wait for Spring….so why wait?  Today I was at Hobby Lobby and their flower stems were on sale 50% off…say no more…$12.00 and I was on my way to a new spring bouquet for my front door.

I had a black wrought iron wall hanger with a pocket in it that measures about 18″ long and was perfect with it’s nice flat back for the project.  Picking out just the flowers I want is always a pleasant and painful task…I want them all so making the choices takes me forever.  I settled on making a pink hydrangea my focal point.  The calla lilies were so pretty I had to have 2 of those and one stem of lilacs, one stem of forsythia, some small purple flowers and some apple blossoms made up my $12.00 purchase.  The hydrangea was $5.00 of that!

I got out moss, styrofoam, ribbon, the glue gun and got to work. Play!!!

In less than an hour I had a new floral arrangement on my front door, the floor swept (I always make a mess with moss) and was wishing I could think of an excuse to hang out in the hallway and admire my work without everybody staring at me!

I had a very sheer ribbon that I tied into a big bow then cut the loops to make a flatter more whispy finished look.

Got the winter blahs?  Making a spring floral arrangement is a great cure!