Blooming Friday - A Pinch of Green

So as today is a very very rainy day with still at least 6 inches of snow on the ground....more if you go along the side walks, I saw this title for the Blooming Friday post over at Roses and Stuff and had to go in search of something green.  Lots to find inside the house but nothing that is living outside shows any hopes of having any green.  Course I didn't feel like taking a rain shower to go check either.  But regardless here is my Pinch of Green.

My seedlings.....small little spots of green

Ok ok so this isn't real.  It's a project I started last night.  Crochet flowers in a pot.  Course there are going to be some spider plant leaves too.

The inspiration behind the craft.  My spider plant.

If the grass can't grow outside why not grow some inside...I mean clovers.

Complete with a clover shaped container and clovers on the sides.

Just way to pretty not to add.  This is my spider plant.  Yup it's a flower.  I have to warn you that this is an extreme close up.   This flower is actually in the picture of the spider plant.....it's just so small you can't see it.





Have a good weekend everyone.

Groundhog day and the winter blue's

Well according to Phil it's 6 weeks till spring.  Well if he says so.  Here is what I see outside today:

 My Greenhouse is hiding in snow.  Those straight panels by the way are 5' tall.  If I stand next to the greenhouse right now they look 3' tall.

 Just look at all that snow on the roof.  Our brand new roof too.

Take a look at the icicles.  That is all from 2 days worth of snow and sleet and rain.

Freezing temps and ice covered snow means the kids don't have school and yet another day with them stuck inside home with me.  So to beet the winter blues it's craft time.

 Blank paper, crayons, pencils, and cookie cutters make for interesting pictures.  

Aiden's hard at work trying to make a valentines card.  

And finally for the rest of you like me dealing with all this crazy snow and ice.  Here is a nice toasty fire you can pretend to curl up too.  

Water bottles

I have had a lot of comments about the coke bottles and the uses.  But most said that they hadn't seen them.  So it got me thinking.  What else can we use that more would have access too?

What I came up with was water bottles.  These also come in various sizes.  Pictured is a small 8oz bottle.  Almost like the Coke bottle's just slimmer.  Given the similar characteristic of the coke bottle these should work quite well.  I would just take the label off first.

So until next time I am off.  Have a good one and look for more idea's soon.

Coke bottle fun

Have you ever gone into Walmart right before a holiday or big event?  Seen the Odd Shaped Coke Bottles?  Like around Super Bowl time....Football shapes, or Ball shaped in December.  Well here is a cool thing you can do.  It combines your garden and crafts.

Potpourri in a bottle:

Make a gift for that special football lover, or an ornament for the tree.  Here is how.

Step 1 - Drink the coke.  Very important step.
Step 0.5 - Buy the bottle - Guess we should do that first huh
Step 2 - Rinse the bottle well and dry out as best as you can
Step 2.5 - Remove lable
Step 3 - ADULTS ONLY FOR THIS STEP PLEASE!!!! Using a knife/scissors/utility knife cut small holes around the bottle.  I did 4 around the middle.  This step allows the smell of what we put in to come out.
Step 4 - Chose the scent - Any nice smelling Herb is good, rose peddles....etc be creative
Step 5 - Add scent to bottle - best to have dried herbs but fresh cut is fine
Step 6 - Replace the cap on top - keeps the mess down...
Step 7 - Add colorful yarn around the neck of the bottle....making sure that it is tight enough to hold the bottle if hung.
Step 8 - Give to recipient....or self

Here are the 2 that I have in th house.  The Snowball Coke Bottles.

Have some lavender?  Add it to a bottle.  Add yarn if you please.  Or like me I just have it sitting on my desk.  Every so often I like to give it a little shake to let a fresh burst of Lavender into the air.

Here we have Cedar Shavings.  They smell great and again shake for a fresh burst of scent.

For the hanging ones I added a ziptie around the neck first and tied the year to that.  But each bottle has 4 hold around it's middle .  I chose the middle because with Herbs after a while shaking will also crush the dried herbs....and you may make a mess.  I am sure that there is a far better way to allow the smells escape but as of yet I don't have one.  

I don't recommend glueing the top onto the bottle so that you can change the herbs out or just change scents. Or add more.  

Granted the guys in your life may not like this but the ladies will.  And it can make for an interesting conversation piece.