Garden Art

Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011

What started out as a simple comment, "Hey Rox, we can so do this..." after seeing a piece of garden art at the Backwoods Fest last year has turned into somewhat of a small obsession.

These flowers made out of old plates that were stuck to a pole looked super cute and super easy. Thus started an obsession of thrifting and yard sales looking for the coolest yet cheapest plates. A year later -- after buying boxes of "cute" plates, going through many different adhesives, and cajoling Dave to help me engineer the suckers to stick to a pole -- I've succeeded in creating this:








Well this craft project requires way too much input from others to make it work, so I moved on to another type of garden art -- totems. 

It was apparently so inspirational that both of my neighbors created one too:

Bobbie's

Roxanne's

Yard Decorations & Fake Plants

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Last year I was really into gardening. I always did pots of flowers in front of the house:

This year I am not. (I really hate to worry about having to water these things.)  So this year I had a different idea.

First, I wanted to paint the pots green so they stand out and compliment the green shutters.  This literally took about half the summer to complete.

Every year at the Backwoods Fest, I buy Dave a metal fish sculpture that goes into the garden. I had a vision to have the sculpture in a pot with grass so it would look like this:

Instead of spending $7.99 per pot for landscape grass, I bought 5 spiky accent plants for about $1.39.  Great idea I thought -- until it started growing an ear of corn.  Can you see it?

So for the second sculpture, I went to Plan B.  Can you figure it out?

It's filled with 3 fake (read: PLASTIC) fern plants purchased at Michael's for half price.

I'm kind of embarrassed to use fake plants, but it turned out cute and I don't have to worry about watering them.  Sorry, Martha - until I have your staff, it's fake plants for me!

Alicia’s on the Lake

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Sometimes I dream of opening up a restaurant on Buckeye Lake that serves healthy food – not the continuous stream of greasy bar food currently served at various establishments. We’ve even given it a name -- Alicia’s on the Lake.

Well this morning I made a great breakfast and I’ve decided it would be added to the menu of my imaginary restaurant – Cornmeal Waffles with Blueberry Sauce.

The inspiration started with a comment from Dave about the blueberries being “not so sweet”.  So I put them in a saucepan, added about a ½ cup of sugar and some water and let it cook away on the stove.  Since it wasn’t getting as thick as I’d like, I add small slurry of cornstarch.  Then it was perfect.

Then I made the waffles using one of my go-to pantry staples, the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. (I love Jiffy mixes.)

Following the recipe on the box, I made them using my no-name brand waffle maker that I’ve had for at least 15 years. Surprisingly it makes pretty good waffles.

Well  I didn’t know they be as good as they were so I ate them before taking a picture.  Sorry!

Adding some bacon and an egg, Dave should be good to go until lunch. Unfortunately I have no inspirational ideas for lunch. Greasy bar food here we come....

Lake House Remodel

Dave LOVES the lake.  He LOVES it so much that if he isn't there, he's thinking about it. So what happens when you combine a man filled with cabin fever due to a long, snowy winter with a contractor who is in need of some work?

DUST!  Lots and lots of dust!!!



What started as a small project to remove ugly brown panelling in the florida room, turned into removal of the dropped ceiling throughout the entire house, installation of many, many canned lights, replacement of the flooring and interior doors, and assorted other small changes.

We've spent the entire month cleaning EVERYTHING, putting stuff away, and rehanging the multitude of bass decorations.  We are still not completely done but we've made great progress.

BEFORE

AFTER

Here is another view:



More pictures to come!!!

Stewart's Christmas

December 25, 2010

My name is Stewart and I have a special Aunt & Uncle who love me very much. Here I am opening the great christmas gift they gave me.

"humm....what's in here?"

"I think I need to get a better look."

"Cool! What flavor are they?"

"Yup, my favorite flavor - salmon & tuna."

"YUMMY!!!!!"

Thank you Uncle Bruce & Aunt Barbara!!!

Holiday Arrangements

December 24, 2010

I think I secretly want to be a florist.  

I collect vases in hopes of having abundant arrangements of fresh flowers on my table everyday. I study arrangements in magazines and on websites with the thoughts of reproducing them in my own home.  

Alas, I've come to the realization that 1.) I just really lack the flower arranging talent and 2.) I live in an area where beautiful flowers are just not available or are prohibitively expensive.

In the spirit of the holidays, I've dug deep into my creative soul and attempted some arrangements based on some inspiration:

Arrangement in Family Circle magazine:

My attempt:

The greenery was purchased from Strader's for $2.99 a bunch.  I think they were cast off trimmings which explains why the branches go in all different directions.  Both vases, the white milk glass and the silver vase, were purchased at a thrift store.  I even made the glitter ball ornaments - won't even go into the process that took!

I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE reading Eddie Ross' blog.  Here is the picture that inspired me:



Here is what I was able to achieve:


I couldn't find a small enough wreath (needed a 12-inch) to fit the cake stand.  The best part of this arrangement was the wreath only cost me $3.99 and the candle was $1.79 on sale at Michaels's.  I had the hurricane for a previous craft project (and was also bought at a thrift store.)

In the end I had fun trying to be creative but I won't be quitting my day job to become a stylist or florist anytime soon!

Herb Harvest

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Since we are nearing the end of summer, it's time to preserve the bounty of my herb garden.

I used to leave racks and baking sheets full of cut herbs all over the house to dry during the week.  This year I've discovered the quickest and easiest way to dry herbs - a Sweda food dehydrator.

Oregano, thyme, rosemary and mint all dry in about 2 hours.  One extra bonus of this process is that the house smells like fresh herbs!

After they are dried, I painstakingly strip the dry leaves from the stems and place in glass jars.  After three weeks of this process, I've just filled a small spice jar.  I now understand why herbs cost so much.