I’ve been pretty desperate to make some cards this school holidays – just because!

So today I did it – I made a card for myself J.

I was totally inspired by this swoon-worthy card, so I decided to join in the Double D challenge too J.

Here is my card – just for me!

And because I knew I would love it so much, I did make a second one at the same time – so this one is ready to go in the mail J.

I have to let you into a little secret…I think I like the sentiment on the outside better – but I didn’t when I stamped it, so my card has it stamped on the inside – but then when I decided to add the tiny pearls, I now like the posting-card better!   Still love my own card though so I am happy!

Been a bit windy down here:

(Fare well Tulips, your colour and beauty has been a true pleasure)

Been a bit cold and windy….and cold!

And did I say, it has been COLD today?!!!

Today we took the kids and my mum on a picnic, in the rain, to a local state forest.  It was a lovely outing and a very yum collection of food!

Of course, we had an ulterior motive ;-) – we were there to collect fire wood – legally of course!  We printed off the firewood collection map and set out on our adventure – and we were all surprised at how easily we found our trailer-load of wood – yay!

Michael was on the chain saw while the rest of us gathered and we now have about half of what we think we will use next winter – so this has the whole summer to dry out.  And yes, we will stack it properly – just as soon as Michael builds the wood shed.

What an amazing few days of hard yakka we have had!  Don’t you just love school holidays for the extra help around the yard?  We do J.

I decided that this holidays the kids would help each day for at least 1 hour in the yard (lucky them, it is for pocket money!) and together, we have achieved a much needed make-over of the orchard.

It is weeded (only where necessary, the rest can compost down where it is – we aint silly!):

Just imagine the before – all that grass pretty much right up to the trees – they sure did need some love.

Today, they got it with a lovely thick layer of mulch:

We are very lucky that our local council mulches up all the garden prunings that are dumped at the tip, lets them compost a while, then anyone can pick it up for free!  Our garden loves it!  And so do we – we’ve been lucky that on the other occasions we have got the mulch, they loaded it with their huge front end loader…today, Michael didn’t have such luck and forked it all in by hand…isn’t he a sweetie?  J

We still need to finish off the other trees, and then add in some of our own home-made compost and some seaweed brew for nutrients – but the trees are well on their way for settling in for summer J. 

Oh, better put the retic back for that!

Update on the tulips.

Yes, I will take a photo on pretty much every opportunity, I don’t want to miss recording my first ever home grown tulips!

And did you notice, that back right one?  It has turned the same pink all over as the rest – instead of the mostly white it was – gorgeous!

Another item we have “updated” for our lounge room make-over is a pottery vase for the re-vamped coffee table (will show you the coffee table soon J).

This is the inspiration vase that Kristine designed into the photo:

Don’t you just love it?  Trendy but not over the top.  Just perfect I think.

It looks to me like it is made with the concrete look – but I very much doubt that I would find it, so I didn’t bother and set out instead to find something in the same shape and use it somehow!

So, you can imagine how pleased I was to find this mission brown vase at the op shop!!

And I knew I could easy paint it – because Kristine has this tutorial on her blog J!

So, the above photo was after I sanded it and gave it a bit of a rinse.  I had to use a rougher wet-and-dry sandpaper than I thought and I was a slightly concerned when I could hear the glaze crackling while it dried in the sun.  But all good, no cracking of the actual pottery.

Now, those of you who have read this blog for a while will know that I don’t claim to be very patient…and spray painting looks best with a patient hand…so the spraying was down to my wonderful Honey.  He used an etch and prime spray paint –  a dull, thickish grey for rust prevention on metal.  It seems to have stuck well on the ceramic and looks fantastic!

And I got him to leave a small wisp of the brown showing on the neck – a little bit of contrast to tie in with the darker wood tones of the room…that was my thought anyway…

The op shop also yielded that spray of genuine fake eucalyptus leaf.  I was always only going to have foliage in the vase, so this is pretty much perfect.

I wish I could show the vase to you in real life, the matt finish is just gorgeous.  And since it cost $7, I will not freak out too much having it on the coffee table with kids running around J.

The tulips are coming along J.

And the bees are buzzing J. 

I so love having flowers in the garden.  We added another two lavenders this last week – gifts for me – how lucky am I?

And it was perennial planting time according to the moon calendar, so they were good to go in the ground.