Greetings Early February!

 

 

I'm jumping a bit ahead and decorating for spring already!  We are having such a mild winter up north here in Michigan.  Temps are higher than normal around the 40º mark during the day, and not a whole lot of snow!  I can tell the days are getting longer already so that makes me happy!

 

I got some daffodils from Michael's which I thought looked pretty realistic! 

The runner was from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago.

 

The MacKenzie Childs (MC) lantern and candle are new since Christmas and I love the MC cow.  The creamy white pitcher I picked up long ago and has cows on it too.

 

These are MC planters I got on sale and the bunny was a find many years ago.

 

Some more MC on the lower shelf.

And lastely some indoor gardening.  My Amaryllis are still blooming.  

 

The flowers began the end of  December and I've gotten at least 2 shoots off of each bulb so I'm having a 2nd time around with them!  Charley our 10 mos. old Siamese likes to inspect!

 

This one was absolutely huge, called Sofia
 

 

 These were fabulous, a striking color called Neon

And these were also quite beautiful, called Magical Touch
 

The yellow green one is called Yellow Star

 

That's my update for now!

Santos Cage Doll and Amaryllis

Hello!  This is my first post this year.  It seemed to take me longer to get Christmas put away and getting things back to normal, plus we caught that cold that everyone seems to be catching which took a while to get over.  Anyway....

I've had my Santos Cage Doll for many years, she's a re-production doll.  She has been moved around the house a lot and I decided to give her a more prominent spot.  This Santos Doll has removable wings and if you want to read a brief history on them you can do so "here".

 I was looking for something to fill her cage and I finally decided to do it with some deco balls.  They were a bit big to get through the cage area so I was able to unscrew the top of one on the back slats, slid it over and put the deco balls in.  

 I don't remember if I showed you my little dog before.  Currently she is carrying a basket full of ferns.  I thought a pop of greenery was due!  I've been using the stand that the Santos Doll is on for  Christmas displaying but got to thinking why not keep it around.  Then it came to me to put the Santos Doll on it.  

A little unconventional design but I like it!

 I picked up some Amaryllis bulbs at Home Depot after Christmas.  They looked like good healthy bulbs and so I potted them up and this one has three stems.  It's still opening up and I'll enjoy their blooms for a while longer.

 The sun was shining in on them so I captured a few shots.

This is called Red Velvet.  It's a pretty common one and it sure does impress!  

My Thanksgiving Cactus decided to put off a few more flowers too!

So that's my current status!  

Celebrating Holiday Blooms!

Well this Amaryllis is a bit early but I'm enjoying watching it bloom every day!

 This is Amaryllis Alfresco which I ordered on-line.  Why I picked it out was because of the soft green towards the center.  It's a very delicate flower too which I'm grateful to be witnessing!

 Though there are more blooms coming on each stalk I thought I'd capture them today.

I do have to rotate every couple of days since they start leaning towards the window.

 I always have to laugh at myself each year that I plant them because unlike the images shown by the retailers they rarely are the same height and or bloom together evenly.

But still... I love them!

 Down near the pot you can see others that are starting.  Some are side shoots of the Amaryllis that are already blooming.  There are two that are growing super slowly that are called Elvas.  They will also be white with a delicate red accent.  I might order some more so I can have some blooming around Valentine's Day!

Are you growing anything this season?

Celebrating Holiday Blooms!

Brr....and Cracker Barrel White Rooster

Yep we got hit with a lot of snow day after Halloween.  Thankfully it's all melted and though we are experiencing weather in the mid 30º's it's been mostly rain since then.

Today..the Japanese Maples are still hanging on.

I shot these pics through my window.

This is my Thanksgiving Cactus in full bloom.  It was outside all summer in the shade and I brought it in and soon it was budding out. 

I planted my Amaryllis today.  There are three Alfresco and two Elvas bulbs planted.  Hoping they'll bloom at a similar time but either way it will be fun to see them bloom!

Alfresco

                                                                  Elvas

Now the White Rooster

 Lastly Cracker Barrel has the white rooster back in stock.  I've posted my rooster several times which frequently is followed by inquiries of where I got it or if I'd sell mine.  So here ya go!  It's nearly identical.  It has a more modern white glazing and the head is straighter than mine but basically it's the same.

So that's a wrap! 

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

This and That This Week #17

The amaryllis that I planted a while back are starting to bloom.  This one stayed a bit short and the other one is quite a bit taller but hasn't started to flower just yet.

It's been interesting to watch these grow.  I saw another version for sale at Lowe's and they come in a clear package with faux snow sprinkled on them.  They are a great gift idea especially for an office since you don't have to be concerned with watering them.

 

 I found the tin at a local gift shop.  I really enjoyed all of the different little buckets/pails, signage and things like this for seasonal decorating that I found this year.

 We got a lot of snow the other day and I captured a few shots with my cell phone.  I found the Candy Cane Lane sign at the same shop that I got the candle tin.  There's another bucket on the deck right next to the planters with the faux trees as you can see here.  The candy canes came from Lowe's (3 in a box).  They come with little stands to poke them in the ground but with our snow I chose to hang them on the deck railing.  We used large tie-wraps to fasten them with.

 

This is by the back door which we use the most.  I had hubby take these as he was leaving.  I see my mistletoe pail is turned wrong. Probably got moved after some snow shoveling. I've never created a cluster like this before.  I'll have to take some pics at night when it's lit up!  The Christms trees sign came from JoAnn's.  I found the metal wall piece at Michael's and with a coupon got quite a deal on it.  I used the same tree last year which came from Bronner's here in Michigan.

 The plastic jug has pet friendly salt that gets sprinkled often so it stays put there.  The tall plastic candy canes came from a store called Menards. 

 Back inside a little vignette to greet you when you come in.  I got the two wood looking pieces at Zehnders in Frankenmuth years ago. 

 The Merry Christmas piece came from Pottery Barn several years back.   The skate may have come from Kohls a while back too.  

A little nutcracker from last year seemed fitting for this vignette!

 

I think this is a great gift idea.

A friend turned me on to this ladder.  After he fell off a step ladder last year and was injured he set out to find a better one.  These steps are 9" deep so you aren't teetering on the typical 4" deep deep ones. It weighs a bit more (21.5 lb.) but it's rated for up to a 300 lb. person and extremely stable so I believe the weight is worth it.  It's 5.5" deep when closed.  There are little wheels at the backside so you can move it around easily.

These are a links at Lowe's "here" which has a great price on it and Amazon .  It also comes in a 2 step or 4 step version. (I am not compensated- just sharing) 

Wishing you a great weekend!

Amaryllis For The Holidays

This is the time of the year you can get the Amaryllis bulbs and starting growing them for the holidays.

It's dark and overcast outside so I used my manual settings to get lighten things up.  As you can also see in the background my "Thanksgiving" cactus is in full bloom!

We were at Home Depot and I spotted these wax coated Amaryllis that you don't have to water. A couple of years ago I ran across this idea of growing them in a tall glass cylinder at a garden center.  I shared a post of my visit to Terrain in Pennsylvania which you can see "here".  Lots of inspiration for the holidays there!

I thought I'd share the basic info for growing these which as you can see is going to be very easy!

I had two glass cylinder vases that I knew would work.  I decided to dress it up a bit to  so I picked up some gold painted glass chips and reindeer moss (Michael's).

I had some wired ribbon that I figured would give it a bit more of a festive look.  The larger check is new from JoAnn's.  The also have it in a much larger 4" size.   

I used the whole container of gold pieces and made a little indent in the center for the bulb to rest.

The bulb comes with a wire stand so you can set it on any surface to grow.

The bulb is heavy so I layered a bunch of the moss knowing that the bulb would crush it down a bit.

And here they are!  I hope they don't grow too fast!  One thing I never liked about growing Amaryllis is how long the leaves are plus the stem of the flower can get a bit tippy so I hope this will work out well and cure those issues.  If you try this just make sure your cylinder is large enough to place these in.  For reference the inside measurement of my cylinders is 4 1/4" across.  

I love what the ribbon added!

I hope you liked this and find some inspiration from it!

I will be joining:

Dishing It & Digging It
Inspire Me Tuesday
Celebrate Your Story