Bits of This and That #5

Happy Sunday! Holy doodle has this ever been a week of weather! We went from sunshine and double digits last Sunday to a foot of snow on the ground and mid-teens of minus degrees! What a quick transition that was! I was so not ready! But, ready or not, time to hunker down for the next six months ; )

In some ways, I am happy for the snow cover though less thrilled about the minus degrees. Is now time to work on other projects, look into sewing, crafting, baking projects for the holidays (perhaps), making plans and putting in seed orders for spring. I will soon be posting my favourite seed houses for you to peruse. Garden related projects, winter or summer, are always my favourites.

I wanted to share these beautiful gifts that I received this week. My lovely friend Terri sent me this sign for the garden cottage. It is rustic wood and blue... two of my favourite things! The sign is from 'Signs by Parris', she has all sorts of signs and can also custom make you one, in case you are looking for Christmas gift ideas.

Check out these awesome smudges and toners from Mint Family Farms! I fell in love with smudging after watching Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brandt on the Rock This Block tv show. Jeremiah is an avid smudger! Whether you smudge with them or use them as organic decor, these are so very beautiful. I will be starting with the calendula for cleansing and healing as my allergies are off the wall once again. The hydrosol toners are new to me, I had not heard of them before! Milder than essential oils, they smell great and can be used in many ways. I love the Clary Sage, have been spritzing my face with it several times a day to help me breathe better.

I have a whole bunch of crafts pinned that I would like to start working on, like this fabulous wall hanging from Salvaged Living. If you'd like to see some of the things that I hope to make, this is my original craft pinboard, I have made some of the things but lots of ideas left to go. This is the new one that I started up this year, in order to not lose the ideas in all the other pins. I find it easier to look at several smaller Pinterest boards than ones with tonnes of pins. I have lots of lovely ideas to work on, whether for the house, the yard, or for gifting, now is just to get it happening.

My sewing/craft room has been used as the dropping off zone for all the things, is in total disarray. If we did not know where to place it, it ended up in this room. Before any kind of sewing or crafting can happen, I will need to really buckle down and do some major organizing.

Decor Bits

Love everything about this beautiful house! It is so charming and homey, looks like home, not a show house. Stunning Suburban Home in Modern Americana Style You Won’t Forget (town-n-country-living.com)

Check out the gorgeous kitchen in this lovely old home. I chickened out of doing up a kitchen in colour. Looking at pics like these has me second guessing myself. I went white and alder, what would you do if you were doing up a new kitchen right now? Neutral and classis to stand the test of time, or are you brave enough to go bold with colour?

My front lawn is tiny, takes about 2 minutes to mow.

Gardening Related

This article about losing the lawn has me wanting to plant up my tiny front lawn. We have a pie shaped lot so most of the front yard is comprised of a double driveway and two rows of shrubs along each side of the wee patch of grass. This would be super simple to plant up. However, it is probably going to have to go to year 3 of my landscaping plan. Don't forget to make yourself a plan, no matter how vague, or call it a wish list of dreams and goals.

Are you looking to build a greenhouse in the near future? Maybe build one now to be ready for spring? Here is a cute one made of recycled windows (you can usually find some on Marketplace or at your local Restore). https://thesamanthaannblog.com/?p=7403

Here is a company that sells the step-by-step directions to diy your own cute greenhouse, similar to the one above. They have several different designs.

Are you interested in more information about preparing for the food crisis? Groceries have gone up between 11% and 30 % these past couple of months and things are just going to get worse. Check out this podcast with Marjory Wildcraft for steps you can take for food security. It is free till the 8th so don't wait too long. There are also a whole bunch of other podcasts in this food summit.

I have several posts in the works that will be coming out over the next few days. This week got a little bit side-lined as we had these cuties come for a visit. Life got very busy all of a sudden. They are off to warmer climes tomorrow though, so life goes back to our quiet normal ; )

Wishing you all a really lovely Sunday and week ahead ~ Tanja