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Monday, May 2, 2011

Inside the Gardener's Cottage

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Can you believe that May has arrived already? I have been spending a lot of my days in the garden but on a damp day I couldn't resist getting our little Gardener's Cottage cleaned up for the season. As some of you know we had this little cottage built in our garden several years ago using recycled materials as much as we could. Last fall my husband and I put pine wainscoting on the walls and insulated it. We did get an undercoat of paint on but someday soon it needs a coat of paint.

Anyway, this is really a bit of a playhouse for me as our children have grown and no longer use it.

So this summer I thought I would decorate it with a pink and white theme-at least for now!

Almost everything in here was given to me or I bought it at Thrift shops or yard sales.

Pretty chintz teapot and cups for our afternoon tea.

I enjoy a cup of tea and being inspired by my Victoria magazines -both old and new,in the peace and quiet of my little retreat.

This is such a peaceful escape- I love to read in here or spend the night on a warm summer evening.

Last week I was in Summerside and I found my' treat of the week' at Coulson's Antiques. This beautiful old teapot was only $2.

I love adding the little details.

Pretty pink chintz plate from Homegoods.

This end of the cottage needs fluffing-it looks so much prettier when the french doors are open and the rose garden is in bloom but still too early yet.

Season's of our cottage.

This was last summer's look and I loved it too but it is fun to have a change. As my sweet Mama says "a change is as good as a rest"!

This was another look last Christmas as some of you may recall.

I still have some improvements to make but I will show them to you later.

When we have our garden tours in the summer my little Gardener's Cottage gets well photographed and often steals the show!

I am joining Cielo today for Show Off Your Cottage Monday at the house in the roses and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

I am also joining Kathy at A Delightsome Life for the Victoria party and also Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for Teatime Tuesday. Now , that is a lot of parties to visit and I know you will enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed a peek into the Gardener's Cottage.

Thank you for visiting,

Carolyn.

Remember this fabulous white settee from Champagne and Chandeliers? Well, it was actually a settee I had covered for the Xavier Fashion Show. I took it to Charlie's Upholstery based out of Qcumberz on 7th Ave. He did an absolutely amazing job and everyone at the fashion show went on and on about how much they loved the settee. It was originally covered in linen and burlap, but we had it redone in a white vinyl. So fresh and fun.

They used it for photos at the fashion show. Don't you love it against the bright pink?

A few cute models sat down for a quick pic...

*(Fashion Show Photographer Duke)

And continued working on their modeling poses for the rest of the afternoon...

So, now it is happily back at the Willows, looking so lovely right when you walk in...

I would love to know... what do you think of it?

Aerating your lawn

After reading Franks book, I was reminded about the need for Aerating a heavily trafficked lawn. And since we park out back in our lane way parking some time, there is definitely a well worn path that needs attending to come Spring. So, Aub and I headed to Home Depot to rent an Aerating machine. But at the rental department the rental ones were gas powered and a bit extreme. So we went to the Gardening section and found a Fiskars manual aerator for $30. I'm not sure why I didn't pick one up before, I always thought they were more expensive than that.

and now my lawn looks like this...

Apart from being good for our lawn, it was pretty darn fun hopping around the hard making pellets. :)

Savannah Rose has been growing like a weed. It's like overnight she grew 1"-2" and the poor girl was in serious need of some new clothes. Now, it is impossible (or just not feasible) for me to hand-make all of my children's clothes. With my etsy shop taking a lot of my sewing energy and projects for the blog, sometimes the girls get the short end of the stick.........but not this Spring! I've taken a little time away from the etsy shop to focus more on my girls.

I was inspired by Jessica from Me Sew Crazy when she came up with a spring wardrobe for her girls. Granted, she handmade all of her collection, but it was the inspiration I needed to get sewing for Miss Savannah. I decided I wanted to give her a boutique style wardrobe, but wanted to re-use and re-purpose a lot of her old clothing that would otherwise be discarded.

So here are some of the old clothing pieces I started out with for the spring wardrobe. Most of these shirts have been so badly stained that I wouldn't consider saving them for Matilda to wear - they were headed to the trash. Now most of these clothes are from Gymboree, which I love, and the thought of throwing them away made me really sad. Not to mention the fact that they were so cute.

As you can tell, I was obviously a naive new mom when I bought this clothing - who puts a 2-3 year old in white? I won't be making that mistake again.....especially now that I'm expecting a boy!

So to accomplish the task of creating a semi-handmade boutique wardrobe, I did what I usually do when I have a lot of sewing to get done. I cut all of my pieces for each of the different items. That includes trim, bias tape, elastic and fabric. If I'm going to use buttons or zippers, I pull those at this time as well. I group all of the pieces that go together and fold them all in a neat pile. I stack them on top of each other and I work from the top of the pile down to the bottom.

Designing and choosing fabrics is a tedious task for me. It is my favorite part, by far, but I definitely take my time picking the right fabrics and coordinates. I find if I do all of the planning and cutting work ahead of time, then the sewing part is really a piece of cake.

So, what do you think? Have any ideas what that pile of fabric, old clothes and trim might turn into? I cannot wait to show you. So dig out some of those old shirts that have been stained or the clothing that got all funny in the wash and let's make it into something new and fabulous.

This is going to be a week long series with a post each day and I'm looking forward to sharing my creations with you. I hope I inspire you to create a semi-handmade wardrobe of your very own. And who knows, if you like it, maybe I'll have to redo Matilda's wardrobe too!

Spring Cleaning - $100 Visa Gift Card AND Libman Spray Mop Giveaway

I know this is going to sound very strange, but I actually like spring cleaning. Do I love the everyday picking up of toys, crumbs and other surprises that my girls leave around?......well, not so much. But I have to admit that a good deep cleaning around this house feels really good (while it lasts, that is).

Click HERE to check out my spring cleaning tips and enter to win $100 Visa Gift Card AND the new Libman Freedom Spray Mop!

Morning Snack, Great Kitchen

A client of mine on the move sent me this in her inspiration pictures and I thought it was an excellent choice!

Link Love No.51!

Over the weekend, our family watched "The Karate Kid"; the one from 80s' and the one that was made a couple years ago. My boys watched the recent one first then, the old version. They LOVE the new version, but when they saw that old one, they were totally into it. Growing up I watched all four of them, and oh how I wished I could do karate and Kung Fu...

Well I guess apples don't fall far from the tree, after watching the old version, my kids were practicing the famous one legged kick, and also, trying to "heal" each other with special hand power used by Miyagi-san in the movie. They were rubbing their hands while walking around the house. Yep, that is one of the parts of my life, when I am not dealing with ruffly, girly stuff. I deal with karate kids and it is fun. :)

I had a hard time picking my favorite five this week! There were so many great links you guys!

Ok, the first one is shared by Two Shade of Pink. She created a very interesting Nest Centerpiece. I love this because of the uniqueness and it is so personal and beautiful.

This Foxy Pillow caught my eye...and I LOVE it! EmmylouBeeDoo created this stylish and fresh looking pillow. I would love to create many of those with different animals for my kids’ room. Wouldn't that be fun?

This is one of the great examples of what Mod Podge can do. The V Spot made over an old chair (her dog had been biting it too!) to a one of a kind beauty! Isn't it gorgeous?

Lemon Tree Creations shared this beauty at Kojo's knock off series, and I fell in love with it! Check out their blog for the great tutorial, and create your own. :)

Then... this one...I have to say, if she was my neighbor, I would be over all the time to just admire the chair. Janet over at The Empty Nest created this beautiful slip over for an old chair and made it in to a gem.

Thank you all for sharing your talents at my party. I hope you will all have a great week!

So far, I've only planted a small handful of bulbs in the yard. Every year I say that I will plant hundreds, yet every year slips by me. This year...

Hopefully, this post will inspire me to follow through. There's nothing lovelier than the elegant welcome of these lovely ladies at our gate. This variety is from Van Bloem Gardens and is called 'Triumph.'

Salvia 'Caradonna' is Grape, But Not Seedless

I was a Grape Nehi addict at an early age. I'd hunt for grape popsicles in my grandmother's big freezer. I'd run out to buy a grape snow cone from the "ice cream man" driving around the neighborhood. Purple treats tasted so good!

The color purple represents happiness to me, so when a variety of purple flowers blooms in sweet synchronization, I'm in gardening heaven.

Grape spires of salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna'

For springtime purple, the spires of s. nemorosa 'Caradonna' mix and mingle with a number of other purple companions.

Although not as popular as salvia 'May Night', 'Caradonna' is a more economical selection as she naturalizes wherever her seeds land, stretching gardening dollars for years and years. It is quite common for the little starts to bloom the first year with the true color and form of the mother plant. This salvia is also easy to transplant (or pull and discard, if you must) as the seedlings are shallow-rooted.

Caradonna is so tough! She's perfect for resisting drought, deer, rabbits and other pests. Suitable for zones 4-8, she can be grown in a variety of garden soils including clay, sandy and the good stuff.

As with other nemorosa varieties, cut this salvia back to the basal foliage after blooming for the hope of repeat blooms and to keep the foliage looking tidy. Of course, if you want free plants, leave a few spires to go to seed. When the seeds dry, you can let them fly with the wind, or strip them off the stem and toss them around the garden. I don't collect and store the seeds for planting, I just disperse them as I go around the garden.

For grape companions, I love to use the spheres of allium 'Purple Sensation'. Salvia 'Caradonna' and allium 'Purple Sensation' bloom at the same time, starting in mid-April here in zone 7b. Allium bulbs should be planted in the autumn to be ready for the spring bloom. Zones 4-7 can grow the allium, and like the salvia, it is deer and rabbit resistant.

But wait, there's more!

'Caradonna' and 'Purple Sensation' grow knee-high—and let's just say that the allium needs something to cover the gangly knees! The ground-covering, glandularia canadensis (verbena) 'Homestead Purple' fills that void.

'Homestead Purple' loves the same growing conditions in zones 6-9 and is sun-loving, drought-tolerant as well as being deer and rabbit resistant. A perfect purple partner.

Top purple: Allium 'Purple Sensation'
Middle purple spires: Salvia 'Caradonna'
Bottom purple: Verbena 'Homestead Purple'

If you're not so fond of all this purple—yellow, white and even orange look great with all three of the purple players. As for my personal taste, I'll savor a bunch of grapes!

Yellow yarrow, orange blanketflower and lavender nepeta
will soon break up the monochromatic purple color scheme.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Simple Fix

Sometimes I really love a project that doesn't require a lot!

Case in point: this vanity bench, which was given to me.

The upholstery was nasty and dirty...

But the legs were actually quite lovely.
They were loose, but nothing a little glue couldn't fix!
I chose not to paint them, but I cleaned them up with Walnut Restore-A-Finish.

I bought a piece of 3" foam for the seat (just over $6) and
sewed a cover with fabric leftover from my living room curtains.

Voila!

So much better!

One more day to enter the giveway! Leave a comment here for a chance to win. Ends May 2.


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I was doing a little photo shoot in my living room a few weeks ago (hence why I had my camera on to catch this situation....) and I turned around to catch Oscar, having pulled himself up on our little table, reaching for tulips. They toppled over and I took them away. Little monkey We are now at a baby proofing stage in our house, which I will show you this week. This photo set was too cute not to use as an intro!