Spring anyone?

We have been pretty busy around here!!!

Now that Easter has passed and it really IS officially spring,

Tammy and I have been planting so many

wonderful things!

Herbs, ferns, flowers and succulents.

Yesterday the deck was freshened up by new outdoor carpet

until we can get the floor replaced.

What a difference it has made!

New cushions on the chairs make it even better.

You have to plant and pot things here in Georgia

while temperatures are mild because

in about a month it will be pretty hot and steamy!

I just wanted to share a few photos of our beautiful deck!

Dill and basil ~

A beautiful arrangement of potted flowers Tammy put together!

Mint and more flowers.

I love ferns so we have them sprinkled all over.

Rosemary, parsley, oregano and thyme.

Asparagus ferns mixed with sedum. Flower plantings and a fox tail fern!

Chives!

Another gorgeous flower arrangement potted by sweet Tammy.

She does have the touch having been in the floral business for 40 years or so!

A small bed that we planted foxgloves and other flowers.

The plant in front of St. Francis is catnip!

I've hung a handmade wreath on our front screened door,

complete with fake greenery and fake bird's nest.

WELL a little sparrow thought it looked like home

and built her nest right beside the fake one!

We have five little eggs too!!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour around the deck
and that spring has arrived for you as well!

We had better enjoy it this next month before the temps rise!

Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I'm up too,

Hugs and love,

Dawn

Tackling a few projects!

I had been putting off working on my herbarium prints but

finally got back to them!

I purchased cheap dollar store frames and of course, they looked cheap!

Gaps in the corners and crazy gold color. I love more subdued shades.

Here's my first one completed ~

You can see the gap in the corner and they ALL had them in all four corners.

So my solution was to caulk every corner of all fifteen frames.

Using wet fingers and a damp rag it really worked!

Below is one corner that's caulked. I didn't bother terribly much with having it

be perfectly smooth. I figured it would make the frames look older!

My next step was to spray Kilz Complete on all fifteen frames.

That took awhile!

But here they all are dried and ready for my next step.

I happen to have in my stash a beautiful Taupe colored metallic craft paint and it looks

BEAUTIFUL with the tones of my herbarium pages.

I brushed on this coat on all fifteen frames as well.

It's not perfect but I like that! Imperfection adds character.

These are my pages below. Now to finish cutting down the book page scrapbooking paper

I chose to be the backdrop of the pages and finish framing the other fourteen prints.

I'll have a few left over so I'm picking my favorite ones.

This is the look I'm going for except for I will have three rows of five!

Another project I'm in the middle of is framing

three beautiful Luna moths that I've found over the years.

First I have to re-hydrate them, arrange them with foam, pins and waxed paper

then let them dry back out.

Aren't they beautiful??

I've been hoarding this shadow box for a few years now and think

they will just perfect inside!!! I'll share my finished project soon.

And lastly I've been beautifying our front porch!

Four ferns hanging and a few other plants have it looking so pretty.

I even transformed an old fire pit frame into a small herb garden!

I've been a busy girl around here!

I'll be sure to share the herbarium pages as soon as I have them hung ~

Wish me luck!!!

I hope you are doing so very good ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

Remember this?

My yard sale bird bath?? Well, the basin was pretty rough looking....I mean I love shabby chic but this looked just grungy with water in it. It had been painted and all of the paint was gone from where the water had been. I hadn't planted my herbs yet so I decided to use the bird bath as a planter!! I hope that they will do OK, I'll have to wait and see ~ I may have to build the dirt up a bit higher to give them plenty of room for the roots but so far, so good!!!

PS. My son Brent drilled drainage holes through the bottom of the concrete basin to allow for drainage....he left the water inside the basin while he did it to keep the drill bit cool :)

I love having a couple of beautiful ferns hanging on the porch this time of the year ~

And a couple of pots of flowers by the front door ~ they need some ivy trailing down the sides

Have a wonderful Saturday dear friends!
xxoo, Dawn