Black and White Fall: Blackbird Hoop Art

Yes, I admit it's a touch (maybe even more than a touch) early to be thinking about Fall.  But I can't help but be excited for one of my most favorites times of year.

Do you ever get a particular vision for a season when thinking of your decor?  This year, when I picture my "Fall lineup," I think of black and white.  Yesterday, I decided to get the ball rolling with this creation:

Simple, crisp, even stark.  I love the contrasts. 

The texture of the fabric is great as well, and I love the frayed-edge look.  The beautiful old metal emboidery hoop was in a craft stash given to me by my husband's grandmother.

The blackbird is made of an old woven wallpaper sample.  I traced the silhouette from a pretty crow image from The Graphics Fairy.

Believe it or not, Fall is on its way!

In addition to the parties on my Blog Parties tab, I'm linking to:
Craftomaniac Mondays
Passionately Artistic

Rooting Plants

I have a new (really easy) hobby:  Rooting plants!  Here is one of my windowsills, filled with various vases full of plants that are rooting.

I'm very interested in being as "self-sufficient" (i.e., growing my own food, being DIY) as possible.  Part of this is taking one plant and making two, or "borrowing" a twig from a friend and turning it into a plant of my own.  It's very, very frugal!

And did I meantion easy?

Many plants can root well directly in soil, but I like to start all my clippings in water first.  If gives them a great start.

Here is a clipping of a sweet potato vine (one of my absolute favorites) that I rooted a few weeks ago. 

The best plants to attempt to root are ground covers (like ivy).  I've also found that coleus and basil are fantastic "rooters."

First, use scissors or small garden shears to cut a three- to four-inch section of a plant.  Make sure that the section you choose has at least two "nodes," or point on the plant from where the leaves/flowers grow.

Second, place the clipping in a vase or jar of water, and make sure it gets plenty of sunlight. 

Within 3 days to several weeks, your clipping will look like this:

(sweet potato vine)

(coleus)

(basil)

Then you can dig a hole and gentle place the stalk--and its brand new roots--into the desired location.

Multiply your garden!

"If You Care" Baking Supplies Review and Giveaway!

Today's review and giveaway is for a company I can't wait to tell everyone about.  It's sponsored by the unique and eco-friendly If You Care.

Here is a little about the company:
"The environment is everybody's concern. IF YOU CARE® is committed to providing the consumer with responsible high-quality alternatives to conventional products that are safe for both the environment and human beings by using 100% unbleached or 100% recycled resources."

I received wax paper, aluminum foil, parchment paper, baking cups, and baking twine, which were all of great quality.   The firelighters are 100% natural and will be great for our summer barbeques!  And look at that cute t-shirt!

My favorite products in the line are the paper snack bags (what a GREAT alternative to plastic).  I also used them for storing seeds for next growing season!

I also received their coffee filters, which is great, because we are coffee fiends around here.  You know how you sometimes associate recycled with flimsy?  Not with these products.  These filters are of top-notch quality.

My favorite item, though, is the sponge cloths.  I've never been a big sponge user, because I feel like they are just storage for germs, but laundering dishrags gets tiresome as well.  These cloths, however, are dishwasher safe!  Yes it's true.  They work great, and then you just pop them in along with the dishes.  (They are machine washable as well.)

Not only did I receive awesome products for this review, but the nice folks at If You Care are giving even more stuff away.  So, what do YOU get to win?

A great baking set!

This includes small, medium, and large baking cups, parchment paper roll, and parchment paper sheets.  PLUS, and If You Care t-shirt in small, medium, or large.

TO ENTER:

1. Become a follower of Till Death Do Us Part. (mandatory)

2.  Visit If You Care and tell me an item you expecially love. (mandatory)

Extra Entries:

3.  Follow me on Twitter.

4.  Post about this giveaway on your blog.

5. Tell me YOUR favorite way to conserve resources.

Four ways to win!  This giveaway will end on Sunday, July 24 at 10 p.m. CST.  The winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced HERE on Monday!

Thanks for entering, and good luck!




*Author was supplied with free product to review. All words, statements, and opinions, however, are solely that of the author.

I Have Lots of Stuff

Do you have a lot of "stuff"?

I do!  Most of it isn't displayed, because we have a very small house.  And we may move soon.  And I hate to dust.

I like the idea of having one place to put it all.  A beautiful place to see all my beautiful things.  I need a curio!

Here is a great corner cabinet.

I love this very cottage-style Pulaski curio.

The main thing for me to remember is going to be to keep the door closed, because the cats, well, they go everywhere.

Yikes!

Wildtree Giveaway Winner!

The winner of Amanda's Wildtree giveaway is....

Amy, who said:  "Yum I really want to try the buttermilk pancakes and the blueberry syrup one day!"

Congrats!  Stay tuned later today for another great giveaway!

Is It HOT Where You Are?

Is it absolutely overwhelmingly smolderingly hot where you are?

It is in southern Mississippi! 

Luckily, the zinnias love the heat.  I, however, do not!  As much as I love to garden and be outdoors, I've had to frequently take refuge inside more and more lately.

One thing that has definitely suffered is our outdoor entertaining.  We don't have much of a spring here in the South.  It basically goes from winter weather straight into the 90s!

The good part is that I love summer and the zinnias can take the heat, but the bad news is that outdoor entertaining is out of the question.   We need a bar for home use, like maybe a hide a bar or a folding bar!

 

Or you can do what I just did.....go to the beach and hang out with your husband and neice (and the rest of the fam) for a bit!

Stay cool, friends!

DIY Flower Crate

I love my zinnias in the summer, and I love any creative and beautiful way I can think to display them.  The latest way is in a summer "flower crate."

A few days ago, Lucy at Craftberry Bush created a beautiful Faux French Vegetable Crate, and I fell in love immediately. 

I set out a few days ago to make my own crate of sorts.  This is the first time I've ever "built" anything, and there are definitely a few flaws in the design and final product, but overall, it came out beautifully, even better than I'd hoped!

I started with small poplar planks from Lowe's.  They were only $.94 each.  I cut them to the sizes I needed with a handsaw, and then I sanded and painted each with Valspar's "Luxurious Linen."  After they had dried, I added swipes and smears of Valspar's antiquing glaze to add the distressed look I love.

I then constructed the bottom and "walls" with small black tacs (just a dollor or so at Lowe's).

(I also cheated and used some Gorilla Glue here and there, wink wink!)

Once assembled and filled with flowers in bottles and jars, my crate made me feel like a master carpenter.

It looks like it was simple made for holding zinnias....

....and really, it was!



To see what parties I'm linking to, see my Blog Parties tab! I'm also linking to:
Passionately Artistic