Garden Swap

I am participating in the garden swap. I have never done a garden swap before, or any other swap until now.


These things are all ready to be packed up and sent to my garden swapping partner Dolly, of From my Cherry Heart. She lives in Michigan. I didn't want the pictures to give too much away, in case Dolly is looking at my blog.

Last week I finished making a crown for the tiara/crown swap. My partner is Maria from Arizona. Her blog is, The Junk Drawer.

I have to say that making a crown is something I haven't ever done before, except the tiny one that I made for my dress form Isabella Crane.

Now I can add swapping to my list of firsts. It was fun, creative and entertaining. If you haven't done one of the swaps yet, maybe you should try it. I will definitely be excited to see what comes in the mail for me. I will put them on my blog for all of you to see.
Maria and Dolly are really nice ladies. Be sure to check out their blogs sometime, if you haven't already.

Well, I have two swaps done now, so I am an experienced swapper.

Hope you all have a great Wednesday, and happy swapping.
Oh, and thanks to all of the nice ladies who put these swaps together, Holly Doodle, and Bella Enchanted.



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My $10.00 Hutch

As mentioned in a previous post, I picked up this hutch at a
garage sale a couple of weeks ago, for only $10.00.

The picture on the right, is the one, as I was working on it. It had some really ugly fabric in the doors before. I ripped it out, and primed and painted the inside, a sage green color. I did the rest in a cream. I had to replace a few of the glass handles. I added some chicken wire to the upper doors. I thought about glass, but didn't want to pay more for glass, than I did for the whole entire hutch.

I am very excited to be organizing all of my art supplies into one spot.
It's amazing what you can get for $10.00.

I hope you are all having a nice weekend, and a nice Father's Day!
We had brunch in the garden this morning. It was my husband Mark of course, and our daughter Amanda, her fiance Joe and my Mom.
I made broccoli and cheddar quiche, as well as mushroom and cheddar. Fruit salad, bagels, ham, and turkey sausage. We also had cranberry and blueberry teacakes from the Savory Bakery in Ventura. Coffee and mimosas too!

Talk to you all again soon!

Little Corners Of My Yard

I thought you might like a glimpse into the corners of my yard.

I'm sure you know by now, that I love decorating with flea market and garage sale finds. The yard is no exception.

The cute little garden gate came from, where else, the Ventura Flea Market.
It leads down a path to my Secret Garden.


The cute green shutter also came from the Ventura Flea Market.



This tree, is a curly willow that we only planted last May. I love the curly willow. It will eventually grow like a tunnel that you can walk through.

I had to show you, my shabby old chair that I got from one of my walks around the neighborhood. (Someone was actually throwing it out).

Last year we planted this grapevine, and now it has the biggest grape leaf that I have ever seen.

I hope you enjoy seeing a little part of my yard. I love just walking around, or sitting and reading a favorite magazine, and sipping iced tea.
We will be out there on Sunday, having Father's Day brunch.

Have a great afternoon!

Another Birthday!!!

Just thought I would say hi this morning, before my friend Joan picks me up for my Birthday breakfast.

We are eating, instead of walking this morning.

Since today is my Birthday.

Thought you might like to see the beautiful diamond earrings that my husband Mark got me.

They are so pretty, and so me. It's hard to tell from the picture, but take my word for it. They are very antique looking.

Last night my daughter Amanda took me to dinner, and tonight it's off to dinner and a movie with Mark.

Hope you all have a great day!!

Inspiring Hydrangeas

So It's Friday, and I see that Fridays should be inspirational. When I walked outside this morning, I thought these lovely hydrangeas seemed inspiring. Considering that we had unusually cold weather this past winter, at least for Southern California. We thought these flowers were not coming back, but they fooled us.
The fuchsia next to the hydrangea was really frozen, but it's coming along now too.

I also thought that you might like to see my little garden vignette. The cute sign came from the Ventura flea market. The angel statue came from a favorite shop in town. The rusty garden fence came from the Paris Flea Market (Not really in Paris), and the bird house was built by my husband Mark to hide a sprinkler pipe.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

June Birthdays

Two of my friends are having birthdays this month, so I thought I would get really crafty and make them cards.

It's time to start using some of the items that I have recently been collecting. I have started to collect old paper, game pieces, cards, ribbon etc. from flea markets, garage sales and some of my favorite shops.

My daughter Amanda recruited me to make thank you cards for her.

I was practicing with those. She just had a birthday in May, and needed the cards, since she received boat loads of presents from her friends and co workers.

I have been very excited about making these collage type cards. I have always liked being artistic.

I hope you are all having a creative and fun day!

Fun at the Flea Market

Hi all!
Well, yesterday was Flea Market day in Ventura.
Here are some of my great little finds!!
I bought this great green shelf from my friend Karen.
As you can see, I found some great things for my artwork

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, Isabella Crane needed something to wear.
Manuela of The Feathered Nest said"how about a pink tutu??
Much to my amazement, the first thing I found was a pink tutu for $10.00. Now Isabella's ensemble is complete.

I took some pictures for you, at Jennifer Grey's booth. (The Old Painted Cottage)
Check out her website for the new Cottage of the Month, it's really cute. And for those of you who don't know, my house was last September's 2006 Cottage of the Month. If you want to see my house.

I also went to some great local garage sales on Saturday, and hit the jackpot!!
I got a hutch for only $10.00. (I will be redoing it for a future blog post)

I hope you are all having a great Monday!! It is very quiet here this morning. My husband Mark had to go back to work today, after a long week off. Now I have to get back to work in the house. I am behind, but we had a fun week together!