...a Spring Swap (Part 2)

Remember a while ago I received a gorgeous swap parcel from Cartier?  Well, I was a bit late in sending her swap parcel but it finally got to her safe and sound so now I can tell you what I sent her.

The theme was Spring and it was really up to us what we sent.  I knew she dreamt of being a lady gardener so what better than some gardening goodies to help her dream come true.

A pair of pretty floral gardening gloves and some veggie seeds, I packaged up.

Cartier's favourite colour is white and I thought some of these lovelies would be appreciated.  A white painted wooden frame with a "Keep Calm and Carry On" picture.  A hanging white metal butterfly and a hanging white wooden heart.

A white iron lantern for her garden.  It holds tea light candles and I also sent her a box of citronella candles to keep the beasties away.

 

Everything you need to grow your own sweet peas in a handy pink bag.

An oilcloth covered notebook.  My first attempt at making one was embarrassing.  Thankfully I got the hang of it.  I used four different patterns of oilcloth to make it.  Thought it would be good as a gardening note book.  Wipe clean cover and all.

Also a yummy box of Cadbury's Creme Eggs.  Yum! Yum!  I was very, very tempted to keep the creme eggs for myself, but I was a good girl and resisted.

I also gave her some decorated wooden clothes pegs.  But I don't have a pic for them.  I'd used oilcoth scraps and wrapping paper scraps.

I do love doing swaps.  It's always lovely to receive things in the post but I also do love hunting for little presents, wrapping them up and sending them off.

The lovely tote bag Cartier sent me was used a lot on our hols to York.  It got lots of admiring glances and even stares.  Thank you again Cartier and I hope you have fun with the goodies I sent you.

...Easter nests

I think this post may be a wee bit late for anyone wanting to do something similar.  But I've been away and this is my first day back and since today is Easter Sunday I thought I would share with you the Easter nests the Wee Man made.

So simple to make and a lot of messy fun.

The Wee Man and I tore up a Primark shopping bag, but any brown paper will do.  The Wee Man then squeezed a lot of PVA into a plastic food tub and mixed in some water, to make a watered down PVA solution.

Whist he did that I hunted down some little bowls and wrapped them in cling film.  Then came the messy bit.  It's best to work on a plastic tray or a cling film covered tray.  We threw handfuls of torn paper into the PVA solution and basically smushed them on top of the upturned bowls.  The messier the better so you get a more "natural" nest look.

It took a couple of days for the nests to dry out completely.  When they were dry I gently prised them off the bowls.  They came easily off the cling film.

We've put some chocolate eggs into them and will be taking them round to his little friend and a lovley neighbour later today.

Happy Easter.

...more pretty blossom pictures

They've blossomed!  The trees I've been watching closely have finally blossomed.  And it's been so worth the wait.  The blossoms are gorgeous and are making a simple trip to the shops a delight.  There's blossom everywhere.  Beautiful pinks and whites are decorating the streets of our little town.

...a Spring photo album (Part 2)

Just a quickie post with one beautiful photo for my Spring photo album I took this morning on my way back from dropping the Wee Man off at nursery.

All the trees along the streets of my little town are heavy with blossom.  It's so beautiful, especially with the sunshine and clear blue skies we've been having.

Closeup of a new flower blooming  There are several trees on my street that are just about to bloom into a full on display of their delicate flowers.  I took some photos of the blossom buds.  I think in a day or two all the buds will be open and our little street will be festooned with blossom.  I'm really rather excited about it.

Closeup of a new flower blooming

...a Spring photo album (Part 1)

I love Spring.  It brings the promise of new, fresh and wonderful things.  This year I want to capture all those things that make me love Spring and as you know I've already taken one or two blossom photos.  I found this great Spring Photo Checklist on a lovely blog and I'm going to see how many of the 50 photos I can tick off.

I'll post the pics I take on me blog in the hopes it brings some Spring time loveliness to it.

Thus far I can tick the following off:

A tree in bloom  One of the gorgeous trees that line the streets of our little town.

A tree in bloom 

The outside of my house   We've turned our front garden into a veg garden because it gets full sun all day.  This photo can also double up as garden preparations.  The ground has been turned and is awaiting all the new seedlings.  That's Sam Scarecrow in the background.  The Wee Man and I made him last year using some of his old clothes.  He's in need of a wee bit of repair.

The outside of my house, soil turned and ready for vegetables.

Doing yardwork  The Big Man gave our patio a spring clean with his jetwash.  Oh the muck that came off it was disgusting.  Check out the before and after!

Doing yardwork.  Clean and mucky patio.

Oh, quick a lovely picture needed to offset the yucky patio... How about the most gorgeous flowers ever?

Fresh bouquet of spring flowers  These are the gorgeous daffodils the Wee Man gave me yesterday for Mothers' Day.  Beautiful.

Fresh bouquet of Spring flowers.  Mothers' Day daffs from the Wee Man.

That's me so far.  Looking at the list, some of them will require some lateral thinking. e.g. "bare feet in the green grass"  will have to be something other than actual feet on grass.  I can't stand the feeling of grass under my feet and neither can the Big or Wee Man.  Thinking cap will definitely need to be pulled on.

More to follow.