Spring in a Box?

Hi Friends!  How are things in your neck of the woods?  We are super high on the pollen count right now.  Whew wee!!!  I hope you are not suffering from allergies like we are around here!  

I just love seeing decorative vignettes in a box, don't you?  Since I had a box that I fixed up for my Initial Outfitters business that I am no longer using, I decided I would create a vignette in it for my back porch.  I reasoned that I could make it inside and just plop it outdoors on the bakers rack later after the large pollen counts go down.  Good idea right?

I thought so too!  So here's how my box looked after I finished it.

I pulled out all sorts of things from all over the house to fill in every little cubby.

I was focused on using all those elements and textures that I just adore.

And since I heard there was a spring cloche party coming up in blogland I decided to add in one of my small cloches too.

This is a real birds nest with eggs that I found abandoned last year.  I have kept it in a baggie to preserve it.  Don't worry, the eggs have small pin holes and are empty.  I just adore that it is the perfect size for this cloche.

Now for the true confessions part!  Speaking of being the perfect size, and after having this BIG box sitting on my coffee table for several weeks now, I have decided I really don't want this great big box taking up so much space on my bakers rack.  Seriously!  I have another box out there already that is an old wine box and have decided I will spiff that one up more this year instead of using this one.  I know, I know, I'm so contrary!  Haha!

Soooo....I disassembled it and decided to use some of those elements elsewhere.

Like here!  I know it's kind of a kooky vignette, but I am lovin it!

I especially love the old sugar bowl sitting all topsy turvy and askew here next to my garden trough.  I set this vignette up thinking about a story I was told from of a sweet friend of mine. 

 She grew up in a very privileged family with four sisters and tells how her mother used to throw the dirty dishes in the bushes outside when company was coming.  No kidding!  She said, they always had a maid so if the maid wasn't working and company came a calling out went the dishes, half of which never made it back inside.  Can you imagine?  Too funny!  

I pulled the small wreath with a spring bow from my vignette box too.

Then I decided to create another spring cloche using the forget-me-nots that were sitting in my little matching creamer.  I also pulled one of the doilies from the box too.  Sweet!

Since I haven't gotten out any of my other Easter decor yet my newest bunny is stealing the show.  

Or maybe stealing something else, because I think he is quite the busy bunny here in my whimsical vignette.  He looks like he is all prepared to gather up a few pretty pieces of china in his basket to me!

LOL!

Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope you enjoyed it too!

I am very happy to be joining Ms.Marty today over at 

A Stroll Through Life

for a very special 

Egg-cellent Spring Cloche Party.

I hope each of you has a wonderful day!

Sharing Irish Blessings

Good Morning!  It's a beautiful sunshiny day, and things are greening up quickly around here!  Well, sorta, kinda....uh,okay,okay, not really, but inside it's pretty green!  And Yesums, I do mean pretty!

In honor of St. Patricks Day and Cuisine Kathleen's party I would like to share an Irish Blessing with you in addition to setting a fun and pretty (if I do say so myself) tablescape.

Sorry ladies, but your going to have to get all the way to the end of the post to receive your blessing okay?  Now don't cheat and jump ahead or ya might miss a few extra blessings along the way.

Blessings like enjoying a few pretty pictures or ideas that may inspire you just a bit.

If it sounds like I am being a bit conceited to you, I assure you I am not.  That's not my style!  I am sharing this because it's so much fun to create these tablescapes.  Really, it is!   I enjoy it so much and believe some of you just might enjoy it too.   I never knew how much fun and how much the simple act of creating these tablescapes would fill that creative void I had until I started blogging.

So if you ever see anything here that inspires you to try it out yourself then I am well pleased.  If I hadn't seen for myself so many other beautiful tablescapes, I would never have gotten into it as much as I do now.  It is a wonderful feeling to know you also share a kindred passion for something with so many others.  So that's what it's all about ladies....sharing,sharing,sharing!

Like I said, the sun is shining here, so I hope you will overlook my poor photography skills once again.   I have to admit though, that sun is not shining nearly as brightly as my smile is this morning!

Why?  Because of these placemats.  They were instant love when I saw them at Marshalls.  They were not expensive either but, (and there's always a but isn't it) there were only three.  So, because I did not want to have an odd number I only bought two.  Oh, but if I ever see two more!  I just adore the embroidery on these and the lovely white boarder with clovers.  So cute!

I just couldn't help myself again, the Ivy dishes just had to come back out.  This week I decided to use the Ivy dinner plate....

...paired with my everyday white salad dishes.

Then I added more Ivy by stacking the bread and butter dishes on top.

For my final piece to the stack I added one of these larger foam clover cutouts I picked up from the DT. Wouldn't these be perfect to use for a party with people names on them for place setting markers?

Surely there must be fields of Ivy mixed in with all those clovers over there in Ireland!

 Out came my lighter green goblets again because I think they really work best here.

Are you ready for another big smile?  I hope so because if you can't smile about these adorable napkins, I just don't know.  Look what I also found at Marshalls!  They were sold in a four pack and my heart literally did a flip flop when I saw them.

Just look at those sweet little clover cut outs.  Oh my goodness!

So precious! I tried to add these gummy stick ons that I saved from last years tablescape to my napkin rings but apparently they don't wanna stick this year.  LOL!

The centerpiece was especially easy this year because I already had a few elements saved from last year and only added a few new things.

Do you remember these little guys from last year?

The green Hydrangeas are from last year too.  

Isn't this little guy just so cute sitting there in a pot of gold?  Okay, so you have to use your imagination a little bit.  Come on, you can do it, there's a wee bit of gold in there!

The addition of the candle was an afterthought.  I just recently purchased this scent from work.  Yes ladies, we sell Yankee Candles at Stein Mart and they are quite a bargain too, I might add.  I just love the smell of this one.  It even smells great unlit with just the lid off.  I can't wait for an afternoon at home when I can light it and enjoy it.

The little scarf was probably what I would deem the deal of the century.  Would you believe I found this adorable scarf at the DT?  I know right!  It's made of a gauzy type of cotton material.  It was the only one and I actually found myself doing a little Irish jig after I picked it up.  Haha!  Seriously!

Finally I sprinkled a few more foam clovers around.  These glittery ones and the lime green ones all came in the same pack, what a bargain.

So what do you think?

 Pretty cute huh?

Maybe not nearly as cute as these....

But all in all pretty cute!  I hope you also enjoyed this setting, let me know if you did, okay?   It was so much fun creating this one for you!

As promised, here's an Irish blessing for you as well.  This is hanging on my oldest sons bedroom wall.  Even though he doesn't live here anymore I wanted to keep it in there.  I know he see's it when he comes home and so will any guests that stay in there too.  

Wonderful words to take to heart.  I do wish this for each of you!

Thank you so much for visiting!

I am joining the following parties with this post;

Tablescape Thursday at BNOTP

and

The 4th Annual St. Patty's Day Blog Crawl

at Cuisine Kathleens

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a little work to do, for a coin or two.

Have a great day everyone!

Many Blessings!

Stuck in LIMBO!

How about you?  Ever feel like your stuck in Limbo?

(Image taken from google linked to;http://laidoffinnyc.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/stuck-in-limbo/ )

Yeah?  So, you have too, great, let's have a party!  You know a good old fashioned pity party, yes mam, that's what I"m talking about.  LOL!  Ooops!  I'm just kidding now yall, don't go getting all scared and go clicking away so fast!

I was just wondering if any of you ever feel stuck in limbo this time of year like I do.  I realize this may be a foreign concept for many of you because I have seen some pretty fabulous "completed" projects.  But for me, it's that time of the year where you want to get so many things done but just can't quite seem to burst forth yet. 

Like these precious buds on my Oak Leaf Hydrangeas.  They have rapidly advanced with this warmer weather and rain ready to burst forth but then we dropped down to 30 last night.  Poor things do not look too happy this morning!

 I am most concerned with my newest babies, these miniature gardenias that I planted last fall between the deck and the retaining wall.  They appear to be very healthy but a few have buds almost ready to open while a few barely have any buds at all.  This crazy weather has them so confused!

This area is one that is just plain stuck in limbo all together.  We still have not put up the lattice under the deck and I have not added any additional plants yet either.  Oh, but I have ideas!  It seems everytime I get some time off to do a little work here the weather does not want to cooperate.  

On a brighter note though, I have several survivors of neglect.  Once again, I failed to get my Kimberly Queens inside for the winter but it appears they are going to be okay.  They certainly will need a little deadheading but I think they are going to make quite a come back.  If you are considering purchasing any ferns this year, I can't recommend this type enough.  They are so tough!  They withstand the heat beautifully and I've been able to over winter them often.

Here are a few other plants that seem to be making a comeback.  I think that's a dahlia plant on the right there.  Hmm???  I hope so!  Those plants on the left are mums.  They had about completely died out and now seem to be coming back.  What's up with that?

My biggest stuck in limbo belly ache is the back porch!  I am so eager to get out here and tidy up but just can't seem to find the right time with the right weather to get things done.  Youngest son finally gave up the other old wicker chair which was sitting in his room collecting dust, unopened school books, clothes and all sorts of other allergens.  LOL!  I have the paint and just cannot wait to transform this chair from black to turquoise blue too.

Now if you ladies will indulge me one more whine please?   I just have to share this with you.  You are not going to believe this!   Last Friday, 3/2/12, we got in a new shipment of indoor/outdoor pillows at work that had seat cushions and matching throw pillows.  There was one pattern that I thought would be perfect for my porch.  I was so excited by these colors yall!  They were there on Saturday when I worked and only a few people were looking through the pillows, probably because we had cooler temps again and very stormy windy weather this weekend.  But.... I was off on Sunday and wouldn't you know the very ones I liked were gone by the time we opened yesterday morning.  Why, oh why didn't I just go ahead and get them?  I am so mad at myself!  I think I may just have to call the other stores today to see if they still have them.  We just got them in for crying out loud!  

That's what happens when you are stuck in limbo ladies!

Ughh!

Finally, take a look at my outdoor bakers rack.  It's stuck in limbo too, quite a disaster zone actually.  Currently, it is a great catch all for all things I want to make their way outside. 

 No worries here though!  I do actually have a wonderful plan for this area.  I've even completed the project that is going here.  Where is it?  It's inside the house because I do not want my display to be covered in pollen as this entire porch is likely to be very soon.  I will be sharing it with you soon though for another linky party.

So....here I am waiting and waiting, learning a few lessons on waiting, but still waiting none the less.

How about you?  Are there with me, stuck in limbo?

I'd love to hear from you if you are!   Here's you chance to whine a little, shake your head a little, smile and realize that this too shall pass.

Come on, let's hear from ya!