More Arboretum pics and news!

For your viewing pleasure I have added a few more pictures of the Arboretum again today.
I love this stone gazebo!

The path up to the gazebo.

More pretty pictures of the saucer Magnolia tree.
Notice the bench rocker in the background?

When I first started taking photos I inadvertently had my camera set to "indoor" shots
so the photo above and two below are softer colors than the rest of the pictures.
After I noticed my boo-boo I set it to foliage and got much more vibrant pictures,
but I do like the soft colors in these shots.

Love the pink flowers against the stone wall.

And now for a bit of news....

EXTRA...EXTRA...EXTRA...

Read all about it !!

Blow the trumpets and let it be known throughout the land of blog that
another grandchild is soon to be born to the Boothman household!

 The queen proclaims that said arrival is to be in the eleventh month of the year 2012.
 This addition will be the king and queens 8th grandchild!


{This will also be our daughters fourth child and quite a surprise I might add}
I think she is doing pretty well after she got over the initial shock.  We are hoping for
a girl this time around, but will gladly accept whatever God chooses to send our way.
My daughter has some ongoing health issues, so prayers would be most
 appreciated for mommy and baby-to-be.

Happy Weekend!!

Gifts and creations

I thought I was done showing birthday gifts, but above is another one that my kids bestowed upon me.
A french script ottoman ~
Of course I LOVE IT!  {birthday was 3/10 and it just seems to keep on going, but I think we are
finally done with the gifts. lol}

I have told you before that most times when I watch tv with hubby I can't just sit there and
do nothing. A few nights ago I hauled out the coffee filters again and made these flowers.
Most of it is coffee filters, but then I plopped a fake rose in the center. It just seems to
fit and it hides the center of the filter. I haven't a clue how I will use these, but maybe for
some of the fairy party decor? Time will tell. I also thought about hanging them from ribbon.

More fake roses leftover so I made a wreath as well. These flowers have been around the block so
to speak. We used them for my daughters wedding in 2003 and have since used them in centerpieces
and all kinds of decor. It was time to do something different with them. Again...will probably hang this
somewhere for the fairy party or it may end up at the Goodwill!! :) 

Do you see my new sign?? I LOVE this too. Another gift {from me to me. lol} I had some
money saved up for this and finally made the decision to purchase it. It takes me awhile to
let go of saved funds, but I am glad I purchased this. Paula from Castle and Cottage made
it and she did a wonderful job!!
{I need to figure out a way to hide that obnoxious thermostat. :}

When I was roaming around in my picture file I came across this photo of stars that I made back
before Christmas last year. These are so fun to make...well sometimes frustrating , but most of the
time fun. You can really get some wonky looking stars if you don't fold the paper just right. :)
Love how most of them turned out though.
{You start by folding strips of paper over and over and then push in the sides to make the
 stars puff up. Very easy technique}

My inspiration board made over for spring.

Happy White Wednesday to all my friends in blogland. I am getting to the place where I don't know if it is
fair for me to "play" on WW since my slow internet makes it impossible to visit very many people, but for
today at least I played along again. Enjoy your day!!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Hubby was out working on his RC truck this afternoon and I coaxed him into taking a drive up north a bit
to the Hillsdale College Slayton Arboretum. I have shared pictures of this place with you in the past , but
never this early! Before it was in the month of May to get the same trees budding. yikes. I am dreading
what this early Spring may do to the flowers and flowering trees.

Is this a gorgeous place or what?? I just can't get enough of it and I try to visit it at least once
 a year in the Spring to see everything in flower.  Looks like I almost missed it seeing all the
 petals on the ground, but they are still so beautiful!

I also love the stone building that sits very close to this gorgeous magnolia tree.

Someone there today asked if I was a professional photographer...LOL!! I said no just amateur.
She said she was as well. Hubby was carrying my camera bag so maybe she thought that was
like a caddy carrying a golfers bag?? hee hee Too funny.

I took over 250 pictures! While that sounds like a lot you can snap that many pictures so fast
it isn't even funny!! I will share more with you later, but just had to put a few on today for
you to enjoy. This photo above was not in the arboretum like the rest are, but on the
college campus.

Beautiful close up flowers. I want one of these trees so bad. I would even love my yard to be
filled with them. :)

I hope you enjoyed your little tour of the arboretum today. I sure enjoyed walking it
and taking pictures again this year. Happy Spring!!

{freeze warning here for tomorrow night...I will probably run around and cover my
small lilac bushes that are loaded with buds!}

They're not just for coffee anymore!

I was playing around with coffee filters again yesterday and this morning and I thought I would share
some of my ideas with you.  I really hesitated to do this post because they are so EASY PEASY that
some of you might think I am nuts, but oh well. I guess I qualify for that title. LOL

First, we have a gift card holder shown above. The sky is the limit for embellishing any of these
projects. You could even hand stamp Happy Birthday , Just Because etc. for this one.
{for the sake of saving time I used the same filter for all five projects}

Get yourself a coffee filter and hand stamp it (or embellish it in other ways). When you are done
 with that, fold it like shown in the photo above.

Next, fold it up and when you do that it forms a little pocket in the back.

slip your gift card in and tie some twine or ribbon around it like shown in first photo.

Next, we have a tea bag holder. I love to send tea bags in the mail, but instead of just
putting them in the card, add a little hand stamped filter to it and tie it up with pretty ribbon.
{I love little details...can you tell?}

You just basically wrap this like a gift

After wrapping it up, embellish with a ribbon , twine or vintage lace.

Third is a napkin ring.

I folded my filter in half and then put it around the napkin and folded the sides in like shown in photo
above. Then I wrapped twine around it. I told you...EASY PEASY!! :)

Of course we all know about this one above. Tie it over a candle or jar of homemade goodies and it
will be that much more special when you give it away.

You can also use them as pretty liners in containers.  That is all the ideas for today. I am
sure at some point I will come up with some more , but until I do I would love to hear your
ideas for coffee filters so please share them with me!

{We have an abundance of coffee filters that we don't use anymore because of getting a different
style coffee maker, but they are pretty cheap even if you go buy them just for projects}

Easter Crosses

On the spur of the moment today I decided to do a little creating. I remembered that
I had these crosses and in the spirit of the Easter season that is very near, I
embellished them with some goodies I had laying around. :)

This cross is embellished with a vintage jewelry piece in the center surrounded by a
rhinestone type belt buckle (not sure if it is vintage or not)and a piece of  very old
 lace/tulle. I use this lace very sparingly because I don't have a lot of it.

Two more vintage jewelry pieces used along with cheesecloth.

All my embellished crosses hanging out together.

I also added my favorite white crinkle seam binding ribbon to hang them up with. 

A fun spur of the moment project today. Then I ran around like a mad woman to get all the
crafty things put away so I could go and get my hair chopped. Speaking of...I really, truly
need a new hairstyle...this one is so old, but don't have a clue what I want. Any ideas?? 

Spring has sprung!

I think Spring has sprung in southeast Michigan. I guess time will tell, but for now we
are enjoying the beautiful weather. In the upper 80's today and tomorrow. I just pray
that we don't get a cold snap that will kill off all the sprouting trees. My lilac trees
are covered with huge buds this year!

I had to make a run to town today and I picked up some pretty pink and white tulips.
They just screamed SPRING to me. :)

As usual I got carried away taking photos. {*Smiles*} I purchased this wine country soda
at Home Goods awhile back and sure wish I had some more. I love it!
{non alcoholic for me}
I also love the bottles so I kept them to put flowers in and here they are. :)

One of my pretty white creamers. I think I found this one at the Goodwill for 55 cents.

It is always nice to add a little french touch as well.

I did get another nice gift for my birthday this past weekend that I will share with you soon!
Hoping you are having a wonderful and springy day today!!

Linking up with White Wednesday this week again. Many thanks to Kathleen for continuing
to host it!!