TGIF: Tickle My Fancy

Today I get the pleasure (note my sarcasm) of participating in my school's Sports Day. Picture this......over 300 children screaming on a field, where there they eat donuts, candy and hot dogs, not my idea of a calm Friday activity.

This week has also been quite a stressful one on the home front. My husband is currently interviewing for two different jobs. He has been offered a job at one company, and endured 2 incredibly challenging interviews for the second job. The first job offer would require us to move. Not to move to some bustling exciting locale, but to a small community nestled in the Rocky Mountains, near the Montana and Alberta borders. I have always lived in or near a major city....Vancouver, Edmonton and Washington DC. A move to a small town terrifies me. Next week I get to visit the said town, to help us make a decision. Fingers crossed he gets an offer from the second job  - I secretly want him to get that, because we wouldn't have to move! Life is the ^%$* sometimes.

So this week I say TGIF, screaming it from the rooftops!

Here is what got me excited this week:

Love, love, love this apartment designed by Orlando, Emily Henderson's assistant.

And Kristin from The Hunted Interior knocks it out of the park on this studio suite she re-designed for Room Service Atlanta, a women's shelter. The after is stunning, especially when you see the before!

Kristen from 6th Street Design School has an inspiring series focussing on children's rooms.

A good tip by Emily in how to buy "to the trade" fabrics.

My sweet blog designer, Brittany has been working on designing fonts, check out her newest font - I love it! I have to admit, I am a bit of a font nerd. I was one of those kids that doodled and created letters instead of listening to the teacher.

And a little shout-out to two talented friends, whose incredible talents never cease to amaze me. Once again they are published! I have had the privilege of watching them work their magic!


Any plans for the weekend?




 I am running a 10 km race with my daughter on Sunday. "You are a runner?" you might ask. Well, no.... I used to run quite a bit but since working almost full time, I just manage one or two runs a week, which involves a lot of huffing and puffing. So lets just say I bit off more than I could chew on this one!

XO Barbara

Outdoor Extravaganza Party: Outdoor Decor

So glad you stopped by and joined myself, Carmel from Our Fifth House. Tiffany from Living Savvy, Shauna from Satori Design for Living and Dawn from Inspired Living in our second week of the Outdoor Extravaganza Link Party. We can't wait to see what you have dreamed up and created! The link is below.

Like with holidays, I don't go overboard  decorating our outdoor space. But what I think really adds ambience and a bit of sparkle to an outdoor dining space it candle light. Yesterday I showed you my quick and easy, 5 minute decor tip, using Mason jars and tea lights to create an extra layer of light to my already present lantern collection.

What did you create, decorate, design? Link up below!

5 Minute Decorator: Mason Jar Lights

I have been wracking my brain, trying to come up with some fabulous DIY project for my backyard to wow you all with my outdoor decor panache.

I came up with nothing.

I was thinking of recovering my patio cushions but that required gads of time, something I lack right now. Six weeks of school left baby - then I can recover to my heart's content.

In the meantime, I am going to show you my stupendous outdoor decor trick. Nothing adds instant pizzazz to an outdoor setting than lanterns and candles.

When we  have an outdoor dinner soiree, I pull out all the stops with my decor and whip out several Mason jars, not large ones but the smaller ones. They are the perfect size for tea lights - which I have in the thousands. I kid you not. Long story, but if you need a tea light, you know who to ask.

As a collector of lanterns, I have a few kicking around, but I like to add an extra layer of light with small mason jars. There are a plethora of DIY's with Mason jars floating around the web so I am not going to regurgitate a tutorial, one you have probably seen pinned a thousand times. What I do is simply grab a few Mason jars, pop in a tea light and voila! Instant candle holder/lantern for the outdoor table!

 Less than 5 minutes, easy peasy.

I think eating dinner by cande light makes food taste so much better, don't you?


Don't forget to stop by tomorrow and link up your brilliant outdoor decorating projects for the Outdoor Extravaganza Link Party!

TGIF

Thank goodness it is Friday! I just LOVE Fridays, don't you? This weekend is a long weekend in Canada, as we celebrate Victoria Day (the late Queen Victoria's birthday). It is also a kick-off to summer here, just like Memorial Day is in the US. I am looking forward to an extra day off and am hoping to work on the backyard patio, getting it lounge worthy!


This week I featured my garden tour with a few plant tips, as it is right now, all green with little blooms. This time of year, I find my garden just explodes, almost overnight!

In between gardening, cleaning the house, reading blogs, driving kids to and from track meets, this is what has tickled my fancy this week.

I am positive many of you have seen this amazing DIY but I am floored that this chandelier was a DIY!

An ingenious way to create an outdoor hanging sphere from ivy.

Craigslist tips for finding fabulous vintage furniture.

Love this fabulously chic and homey bedroom that is entered in the Small Cool Contest at Apartment Therapy. The room has a chevron ottoman, what is not to love?

Kelly created an amazing space to lounge in her unused loft space.

Love this porch makeover on Canadian House and Home online television.


I say this evening needs a glass of vino and a good movie. Maybe I can persuade the hubs to go to The Great Gatsby with me. I re-read the novel and am dying to see the movie! Anyone else?

XO Barbara

Gardening Tips: Outdoor Extravaganza Party

Glad you stopped by for the Outdoor Extravaganza Linky Party that is being hosted by myself, Tiffany, Carmel, Shauna and Dawna. 

This week's party is Plants and Flowers!

Link up below to join in the PART-AY, your link will show up on all of our blogs!

My garden is starting to grow like crazy! As a frugal gardener I love using the plants I have by dividing up the various perennials I have. It has been so much fun adding a few small purchases (from Walmart or Superstore) mixed with transplants from my mom and neighbours, and watching them grow and flourish in the garden beds. In case, you missed yesterday's post, where I shared a tour of my garden, here are my must-have perennials!

Here is how taking a small cutting of a hosta plant can eventually grow into a lush green plant with stunning floral blooms!

Hope you won't overlook the perennials in your garden, at your neighbours or at the nursery. They are like the energizer bunny, they just keep on ticking! 

Happy gardening.

Link up down below, your link will link up to all the other 4 blogs! 

Shauna at Satori Design for Living

Tiffany at Living Savvy

Carmel at Our Fifth House

Dawn at Inspired Living

Talk about a partay.

Now it’s your turn! Link up as many outdoor plants & flowers projects as you like- old and new. Your project will show up on all 5 blogs! Please include a backlink to this post, and be sure to take a look around and show some blog love. No items for sale please!

Flowers and Plants Projects.

Frugal Gardening

I like to think I have a pale green thumb, not a full on green thumb, but slight green. Digging in the dirt has always been something I enjoyed. But I really don't have a lot of know-how. I just garden and move plants without much plan. I love watching everything unfold, turn green and flourish.

 My mom is a gardener extraordinaire and I grew up watching and helping in the garden, not always happily, but those years really taught me alot. She was also known for not spending very much but yet her garden was spectacular. The key to her success and now mine, is to use perennials, share with neighbours, divide and fill in bare spots with cheap annuals.

Since we are renting, I have spent very little on our yard. The landlady, who lived in the house a few years before we moved in is a keen gardener, so the yard had some fabulous perennials when we moved in. When we moved in though, the garden was half dead, so many perennials didn't survive. She had a plethora of roses (which I loathe, but kept because she keeps count!) and a few great bulb plants! My mom gave me several perennials from plants she had divided. I have now divided many of those plants several times, spreading the, throughout the front and back flower beds.

I love perennials. They are so easy to care for and can give you such a variety of foliage, colour and height. If you know a bit about bloom times, you can plan your garden to have something blooming throughout the growing season. I love having a variety of foliage for visual interest. Any bare spots I fill in with a flat of petunias or impatiens from Costco. Real cheap and you get great bang for your buck.

So I have been busy dividing up plants and moving them to create a more lush garden this year. Even though we might be moving, it doesn't matter as the plants are free (in my garden) and I can always dig up my favourites, pot them and take them with me!

My garden is just starting to grow like mad. It is turning a lush green and a few plants are starting to bloom. Come late June, it will a gorgeous display of colour.

I'll give you a tour!

My herb garden:

Back garden beds

Peony transplant.

Lily-of-the-valley (these plants smell heavenly and grow like mad!)

Not sure! Got this from a neighbour.

Black-eye-Susan, Tiger lily and carnation transplants. I planted these last week. Hoping the weather holds up and it won't turn cold.

Hosta transplant.

Clematis

I love using boxwoods in tall planters to give a sculpted look to my garden space. I just shape with pruning shears every year to get a "ball".

Front flower beds.

Oriental poppy and Hollyhock.

Black-eyed-Susans.

Lucifer Canna Lily and poppies. Both grow like weeds as well and can take over your garden.

Columbine

Delphinium

See the spikey leaves? That is a Lucifer Canna Lily, love the foliage and the flower is so unique too.

Another peony transplant and Lucifer Canna Lily transplant. Those hostas were grown from a divided hosta plant from my back yard. 

This variegated hosta I got from my mom.

I loathe this part of my garden. The soil is poor, so I just maintain what was growing here and added ground cover, called Woodruff. Love the droopy Solomon Seal plants.

Azalea

Another boxwood, that I have pruned to shape it. I have two planters flanking my garage. My house is not too attractive from the front, so I use these boxwoods to detract the eye from the 90's putrid pink stucco!

What my plant pots look like in the summer.

My vegetable garden in the summer.

I am excited to add some annuals this weekend. Watching the garden grown so rewarding, despite not really knowing exactly what I am doing but just muddling along!

Please stop by tomorrow and link up your latest plant/flower projects. Link up on my blog and you will automatically be linked to 4 other blogs!

Join the fun tomorrow!

XO Barbara