More Spring Springing

Just a few more fun yard pictures as spring continues to creep in. 

 The thornless raspberry is taking off quite nicely.

 Picked up a neat black gothic trellis today for the center of the garage wall.

And the Hawthorn has started to bud!  I can't wait for its yearly musky white blossom!

First Spring Flowers

 Chimera is back in the back yard, watching over our newly budding lilac. 

 

 The fancy ruffled daffodils given to me by a friend and planted last fall have begun to bloom. 

These tiny wild...what are they, Hyacinth?...are blooming in among the poppies.  I hope I get some profuse poppy blooms this year.  The plants were given to me by a neighbor last year, and should bloom a lovely orange.

 The lilac is starting to bud too.

 After reading up on Hellebore spring care online, I decided to cut back all of the old non-budding growth on the plant.  It was tough to do, because it made it so much smaller, but wow...it really really loves it.  New shoots are popping out of the ground every day now.  This is the prettiest my Hellebore has ever been.

 We also got our back deck repaired/partially replaced.  The wood top is all new, and the existing rails were all taken down, sturdied up, and put back on stronger.  We still have touch-up work to do to the white, and we still have to stain and seal the wood.  Weather hasn't been cooperating with our plans so far.

A good sign for my Hollyhocks this year.  I'll have to thin them out soon, as I learned the hard way  last year when I got Hollyhock rust on them from refusing to thin them out.  I'll do so soon, but for  now it just makes me happy to see them coming up!

Come on, Spring!!!

A Spring Green Living Room

Spring is starting to emerge here in Central Ohio, and I thought it was a good time to spruce up our mantle decor with a bit of color. 

The little tealight cups are from Finder's Keepers, and they glow beautifully when lit!

The moss ribbon I mentioned in a previous post worked out great on the mantel.  This is one of four ribbons I bought.

Our living room is quickly becoming greener and greener.  Thank goodness Tom is so patient with my plantaholic ways.  One of the newest addition is this palm tree in the corner.  Eventually I'd like to get an olive tree for this corner, but until then this tree was a great buy and adds a touch of cheer to a blank space.

See all the green?

Grandma bought me a pansy basket for Easter.  It looks lovely on the table.

Early Spring Productivity

Tom and I took today off work to be at home while we were getting our house professionally power washed.  You might remember the major road construction we had all late summer and fall last year...it left our house dusty and filthy, and we have been eager for spring, and our booked date with the local pressure washing company, to arrive. 

Not only did the siding on the house turn out squeaky clean, but the guys also pressure washed our front stoop and sidewalk, and its never looked better.  That part almost excited me more than the clean siding!

This is a decent shot to show how dirty the siding was before.  Sure, our house is white, but it doesn't look so white against the snow...

And here's a good "before" shot of the sidewalk and front stoop.

Now look at it!

Ahhh, the house breathes a nice clean sigh of relief.

Also unless you're a huge fan of "spot the differences" pictures, you might not have noticed, but we finally got our missing chimney cap replaced.  I hadn't even noticed it was missing, to be honest with you, until a neighbor pointed it out to us last year. 

Finally while we were stuck inside today waiting for the house washing to be done, I got a little project finished that has been on my list.  You remember my front entry design around the archway:

I doodled up an idea in Paintshop that would connect the three designs together into one large one.  It was a simple addition, but I think it finishes off the entire thing.

Tomorrow Chimera (the gargoyle above) is going back outside for the garden's year.  We brought him inside during the harsh winter weather.  I'm not sure if Corvin will miss him or be relieved. 

Mossy Easter

So you know that Pinterest phenomenon when you find instructions for how to do a craft or creative recipe, and you immediately get the bee in your bonnet until you try it for yourself?

Yeah...yesterday I made mossy cupcakes with mom and Grandma over at their house.

I just couldn't help it!  Instructions on how to make edible yummy moss?  With randomly flavored jelly beans on top like Easter eggs? (that part was suggested by my friend Linds)  Totally had to do it.

And then thanks to another blog post from a favorite home dec blog of mine, I bought 4 rolls of moss ribbon this morning from Walmart for $2 a piece!  I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with them, but when Tom asked me, I came up with four or five different possibilities just off the top of my head.  Moss, in ribbon form?  Heck yeah!

The Twelve Dancing Princesses - Sketching Completed

Somethings done.

Something that I've been working on for a long time.

Well, ok, this phase of something is done....

The princesses....they are all sketched and on the wall.  I know the next phase is the hardest one: actually painting them directly on there...but allow me a moment to just soak in the enjoyment of this part being done.

Let me introduce them all to you.  Some you've met, some you haven't.

Princess Willemina

Princess Theodora

Princess Delphina

Princess Julia

Princess Petra

Princesses Gayle and Edith

Princess Jessica

Princess Cheyenne

Princess Adeline

Princess Alexandretta

and Princess Etienne

Princess Etienne close up

If Princess Etienne, the only princess alert and aware of her surroundings, looks familiar...well, she should.  I have always put myself in her shoes when I read the story, so I decided to reward myself for completing the set of twelve by making her a lookalike! 

Green Man on the Fireplace

Thanks to a surprise care package from an awesome friend, one of the Brionys I mentioned in my house tour video, the American one, ;) I was able to add a little extra flourish to our fireplace.

Meet the Green Man, name forthcoming.