Learn how to make a small space amazing with a beautiful spring container garden.     Spring is my absolute favorite time of the year!  And my very favorite thing to do is to stroll through the garden or hike through the woods looking for new growth pushing out of the ground.  The air is rife with anticipation and the earth is filled with so much newness that my heart bursts with joy! With that in mind, you're in for a treat! Today I'm going to share all my tips for getting a head start on the gardening season by creating a fabulous small space container … [Read more...]

  Living on the edge of the woods with all that natural beauty inspires me in my Christmas decorating.  This year I purchased a skinny tree and filled it with rustic farmhouse Christmas tree decorations I made.  It's easy and inexpensive to create ornaments using the bounty of nature.   Remember the 31 Days of Handmade Christmas Ornaments that we were so inspired by back in October?  We enjoyed it so much that my friend, Mary Beth and I invited the group back for our First Annual Extraordinary Christmas Trees Tour.  Not everyone could join us, but we have 13 gals for a fabulous 3-Day line … [Read more...]

  Is there anything better than Christmas decor that's free and natural?  I think not!     That's why I'm excited to share with you my simple rustic handmade Christmas ornaments made from birch logs and pine cones.   But, before I do, if you’re here from The How To Home (Didn't Mary Beth create the cutest retro vintage ornament ever?), WELCOME!  This is the 4th stop on our third annual 31 Day Handmade Christmas Ornaments Blog Hop. Just like each year past, you can expect to be inspired by all kinds of lovely Christmas ornaments created by 30 extraordinary bloggers, plus me. … [Read more...]

  Sigh! I just wasted two hours of a perfect day.     The kind of day you wait for because it's sunny and energizing and everything you need to get a lot of work cranked out. You should have seen my goals for the day. I even gave myself permission to take care of all the after breakfast chores at lunchtime today, just so I could knock out my work. But, it didn't happen. Instead, I allowed myself to easily be distracted.       Once I get focused on a project or my day, I can accomplish a huge amount of work. But if I get distracted... … [Read more...]

  I absolutely LOVE using natural elements in my Christmas decorations.  And the best part of using nature's gifts... they're usually free! That's a double win in my book.  Before the leaves even started to fall this year, I knew I wanted to create something beautiful for Christmas with the plethora of oak leaves from the nearby woods and gold spray paint. But, what would that be? I finally settled on making an oak leaf Christmas wreath.     Who knew the humble leaf from a stately oak could become so classy with just a few spritzes of gold spray paint? I had a pretty good … [Read more...]

    This fall I gathered a plethora of acorns on my walks at the local park.  I've never seen such a variety of sizes and styles and browns in acorns.  Of course, I probably never took the time to look before.  This year in my quest to decorate on less than a dime, I turned to Mother Nature.  And oh my... did she provide an abundance. I wanted to create a centerpiece for my Thanksgiving table setting.  I had already made lovely oak leaf chargers, so I did what we all do when we want inspiration, I popped over to Pinterest.  While I was looking at pretty tablescapes, I saw an acorn basket … [Read more...]

 Please … “Pin-it” – Share it on Facebook – Stumble it! My friend mentioned to me that there just had to be something she could do with the garbage can filled with acorns she had just raked up from her yard...aside from starting an oak forest.   You too? Recently, I shared the first of several upcoming ideas for creating home decor with acorns here.     Can you imagine living in a virtual oak forest and never having crafted anything with acorns?  [guilty] This year...I'm making up for lost time.  There's a county park within walking distance and I've filled up a couple of bags of … [Read more...]

Last year I went hunting for acorns.  I walked for what seemed like miles through the woods that rimmed the cornfield, eyes to the ground, carefully searching for those little nuts with cute hats.  After expending all that effort in the hunt, I walked home with a small handful.  That's all! This year I had success and found all the acorns I ever wanted!    Please … “Pin-it” – Share it on Facebook – Stumble it!   You know how you hear that there will be a bad winter when there are lots of acorns? Last winter was the worst I've known, and there were hardly any acorns in my neck of the … [Read more...]

  I played with power tools this weekend. Just two.  But, one, in particular, got me totally excited. I may or may not have posted something about it on Facebook.     One tool was a power miter saw.  That wasn't a big deal.  I used to own one until I allowed some other people to use it and it came back to me in pieces.  That's a story for another day.  Maybe. I've always wanted to use a nail gun.  I can't tell you how fun it was.  It made quick work of assembling the birch branches.  But, you can make a wreath like this without power tools. So just for fun, I put together a simple … [Read more...]

This year I have enjoyed playing with nature's elements. You might remember my pampas grass wreath here, my grapevine wreath decorated with privet berries and colorful leaves here, or my oak leaf branches here. These are all items that get pruned, raked up, composted, or burned.  But for me, they have been a treasure for creating woodland home decor.     Winterberry is my new favorite for Christmas decor. Actually it isn't a new favorite, it's just that Michigan has more wetlands than either New York or Pennsylvania where I lived for the past 13 years, and it's been that long since … [Read more...]

  It's the day after Christmas.       Our friends in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand celebrate Boxing Day today.    If you make your home in one of those beautiful places....Happy Boxing Day! I decided to look up Boxing Day to see what it was all about.  It isn't about the sport of boxing, nor is it about boxing up items.  Instead, this holiday goes back many years when the service of employees would be required on Christmas Day.  The employer would in turn give their employee the day after Christmas off to spend with family and boxes of food and other gifts to take … [Read more...]