Thursday Tip

This should have gone with the Flower's post...
The perfect way to water your hanging baskets,
or any other type of potted flower/plant, that is not easily 
watered............... a scoop of ice... the soil absorbs the water as it melts and there is no dripping! It is especially wonderful if one has an ice maker..... from a magazine post a friend, without a blog, sent me. Thank you, Janice! Happy Thursday, everyone!

Flower Update

Remember the Impatiens,

after the horrible hail

storm? My girlfriend, Dianne,

whose husband owns a landscape

company, told me they would come

back. As you can see, she 

was correct. They are looking

great again. By the way,you can

visit Dianne here...she loves tablescaping.

While the Impatiens came back,

my Asters did not. The storm was just too

much for them. Poor things. Had I been out

in the storm being beaten half to death I might have packed it in myself! I replaced them with Marigolds and so far, even though it has poured down rain for three days straight, they are doing well.

This is an overhead view of part of the yard.

There is a deck off of my studio. I took this

picture to show you my Dalia's. If you look closely, you might see a bloom or two, but nothing like I thought it would look like after all these weeks. Yesterday, I finally googled Dalia's to find out what was going on with them! Remember me saying we have had rain for three days straight? Well,once the monsoon season hit,it seems like we have had as much rain as sunshine. My poor Dalia's blossoms are rotting. I wondered why so many blossoms would never open and just looked brown on the ends. Now I know. I told my husband I thought we should go get some tarps to place over them when we know it is going to pour. When we go back to the valley, I intend to dig them all up and transplant them to a flower bed in Gilbert.

You can also see some mums in the above picture. I planted some small white ones in the window box off the deck of my studio.

There is also a peak of the yellow ones I just purchased. 

This was just for fun!

Just look at the size of these mums!!!

Can you believe it?

They are just gorgeous. I refrained myself and only bought five of them! :) They were only $16.99 each. I couldn't help myself. They are just beautiful and still have lots of little buds that will pop out. These we will plant in the ground before we leave. I was assured they will come back year after year. The gardener told me his have been planted for seven years and every year are just as beautiful.

I have them flanking the steps on the front deck, flanking the driveway as you enter from the street and one on a stump of a pine tree that was removed before we bought the house.

Speaking of Pine trees,I did not know this.Our area here has the largest stance of Ponderosa Pines in the world.

I read that on a menu! Smile....

Another view from above.

In between rains, my honey and I took a walk.One of the streets is backed by National Forest. We spotted these wild horses and I could not resist taking a snap of them with my iPhone. 

And what is this doing in a post about flowers?

I have been seeing lots of bottles across the Internet that have been painted on the inside. They look darling. I am going to try this someday....

When I was shopping in Walmart I accidentally saw Marketside Dressings in bottles that look like little milk bottles... SoLd! Didn't even care if the dressing was good or not. I bought two of them... one for Cole Slaw and one Ranch. Not only are the bottles darling but the dressing tastes yummy as well. So, if you are looking for some cute little milk glass bottles, head out to your local Walmart and look next to the packaged salad greens.It was such a fun find...

and

I

think

flowers

would

be

darling

in

them

too!

The below is a blog I love...
She asked her readers to share....
It is the least I can do.....

Funky Junk Interiors

---

My girl Cindy needs your prayers please. Immediately. Posted: 18 Aug 2012 03:25 PM PDT Sorry to take you away from the weekend link party, however some things are just more important. In fact, this is probably the most important post I've ever made. Just recently, my nephew's wife Cindy was diagnosed with cancer. We had NO idea. None. She was admitted last week when the bad news hit. She has choriocarcinoma. If you google it, you will find it's a cancer that has a good success rate. However, Cindy crashed. There were major complications going wrong faster than you could name them, so they couldn't do radiation right away. It was too late.They quite simply had to save her life first. While waiting, the cancer spread. She's in critical condition. I fired up a post on my facebook HERE, requesting to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. And you did just that. You blew me away in fact!  My sister and niece flew out in 2 hours notice to be with her. These were my sister's words this AM after seeing the facebook post by all of you: Donna you are my strength now, this brings tears to my eyes and everyone in this house. It truly did work, there was a thumbs up for chemo when the prayers came our way, uptill then it was very doubtful they could do it. This is so scary, like living a nightmare. Kids are pulling us through this and making us smile and laugh. Hugs and kisses back. Something changed. They were able to administer chemo! (thanks to you) Everyone was elated! And another round was scheduled. Cindy also found your messages and said: "These make my day!!!! Loving all the support, makes everyday easier!" I caught her on FB jokin' around even! She was preparing to lose her hair and mentioned she wanted a pink wig. A friend brought this little number over for her and she was delighted. LOL! But... Something isn't right yet again. This was Cindy's last message on FB moments ago: "Things are getting worse so we are now going hour by hour. Blood count keeps dropping. I'm continuing on with treatment in case I get that one shot that it works out. Fighting hard for my babies. I love and thank everyone for all their support!!!!" I feel so utterly helpless. So posting about this is all I could really think of to do to help. I know numbers in prayer make a difference. So here I am. Cindy is a pure optimist. There isn't much that can get this girl down. She is strong! She's been through a whole lot. She finally got herself into a place with a loving family, a baby girl after a very long wait, a new move to a new home, and now this. If you would pray for Cindy and keep her in your thoughts over the next little while, I can't tell you how much my family and I would appreciate this. Would you consider sharing this post? Pinning, whatever it takes? I'm hoping to spread the prayer chain as much as possible. This is about my girl. I want to see her go home to her family. Thank-you!

Mosaic Table and Chairs

Do you remember this table?

I got it for $20.00 from Saint Vincent D'Paul's thrift store.

I wanted a table for our patio. After doing mosaic on the other little table and the mail box, when I saw this table my mind starting working...

Why Not Do Mosaic?

So I started putting dishes out on the table 

and starting planning a design.

One of the focals I planned to use.

The first design I came up with is below.

Something seemed to be missing though.

I started over.

I decided the top of the table needed a border

around the edge.

I wanted the border to go with all the focals

so I choice an off white embossed china set

for the border.

Since the table was going to be used outside,

I knew I needed to use silicone as my adhesive.

What was I going to do, however, about the china being

different thicknesses. I had not worried about this on the mailbox

since it didn't really matter if it was level or not. A dining table definitely needed to be level.

Enter

I applied Thin-Set Mortar to the thinner pieces of china to make them the same or about the same thickness of the border. The border was about the thickest pieces I was using on the table.

After I had applied the mortar, I added a layer of the silicone and then placed the piece on the table. Once I did this a few times, I sort of got a feel for how much mortar to use on each piece of china.

How did I make sure I was on track?

Enter

the leveler...

I used two lengths, a short one and a longer one.

My pieces were not always perfect. Sometimes the 

bubble was directly centered and sometimes it was as you

see above... a little off. If it was this close, I let it be.

If it was further off, I would remove the piece of china and start over...either adding or taking away mortar, whichever was needed to get that little bubble in the correct place!

This is what the table looked like when I had finished 

with the pattern for the top and it was all glued in place.

It was at this point, I decided I wanted to paint the silver rim 

and the base of the table white. I used newspaper to place over

the mosaic and I used painters tape around the border..well, technically, my husband used the tape. I had him do the taping 

off for me and the spray painting. We used Heirloom White.

I had not used canned spray paint in a long time. I am now used to using chalk paint, with a brush, or using our large paint sprayer. I was surprised at how expensive the cans of paint were... $3.89 a can I think. Of course we had to prime before we used the paint. The primer costs just as much. We were also painting four vintage

fold up chairs to go with the table so we spent some bucks on the paint. I had purchased the chairs on one of my Round Top, TX adventures.

So, next up is the reveal...

Bear with me as I have lots of pictures of the reveal...

I had quite the blister cutting all the china ... finally got smart and put on a glove  :) and I found I could only grout the way I wanted to grout by using my fingers... poor hands...

I think I am going to buy a small plastic scrapper and see if I can work with it for grouting. I have a feeling though, I will be getting my fingers into the action!

The table, painted and grouted.

A closer up view of the table with a peek at one of the chairs.

A close up of the rim of the chair.

I put mosaic on both sides...front and back.

A close up of the side border around the table.

A close up of one of the focals.

This seemed to be every one's favorite dish. I ended up using two dinner plates, and two salad plates of each of four different patterns. There are a total of eight dinner plates around the table.

Remember in my last post about Kim's storage unit I said I was the recipient of some treasures? This center of the table focal is one of those treasures. I think it just looks gorgeous and goes with all the other designs perfectly! Thank you, Miss Kim!

One last picture of the entire set.

I plan to make cushions for the chairs.

Sorry if I sound gushy but

I just love the way it turned out!

Linking up with the following parties!

Wed.

www.savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

www.somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

www.diybydesign.blogspot.com

www.southernlovely.com

  Thurs.

www.houseofhepworths.com

www.delightfulorder.blogspot.com

Fri.

www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

www.fivedaysfiveways.com

www.missmustardseed.com

www.serenitynowblog.com

www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com

www.trulylovelyblog.net

www.redouxinteriors.com

Sat.

www.funkyjunkinteriors.net

Sun.

www.bystephanielynn.com

www.niftythriftythings.com

www.my1929charmer.com

Mon.

www.skiptomylou.org

www.pollywantacrafter.com

www.linesacrossmyface.com

www.betweennapsontheporch.net

www.becolorful.typepad.com

www.keepingitsimple.com

www.craftomaniac.blogspot.com

www.homemakeronadime.com

www.diyshowoff.com

www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

www.dihshp.blogspot.com

www.homesavvyatoz.com

Tues.

www.abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com

www.coastalcharm.blogspot.com

www.thethriftyhome.com

www.notjustahowife.net

www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com

www.craftytexasgirls.com

The Prettiest Storage Shed Around

Here is Kim of Sweet Sage Vintage

hiding behind ??? something wonderful!

When I was in the valley the last time I was

honored to be allowed to go to her

storage shed. No one else has ever

gotten to see it! It was much too fabulous

not to be seen , so I am sharing it with you

today!

When the door was raised, my eyes grew

wide...

I told her all we needed was air conditioning

and I would move right inside.

Seriously, I have never seen a storage 

shed like it and I doubt there is another

one out there to be seen..

Treasure after treasure...

Lace and Beauty

It was hard to take it all in...

Silver and Picture Frames

Sweet nothings ( did I say nothings?) I 

meant to say Somethings!!!!

The sweetest vintage bedroom slippers..

Doilies, of course.. Pink...

Statues and Planters

Dishes and More Dishes

Just look at this sweet plate..

I happened to be fortunate enough ( besides being allowed to ooh and aah ) to receive some lovelies.

One of them became the center of my latest project, which 

I hope will be my next post.

Kim is taking a break from selling right now as she redoes her new cottage abode. It is looking fabulous and I am 

encouraging her to post all about it. I hope someday she will come up for air and grace the blog world again with her beauty.

Until

then

enjoy

this

sneak

at 

her

storage

shed

that

looks

more

like

a

shop!