What have I been up to, you ask???

Well,

I've been dying for Easter!

Not dying eggs...

I've been dying coffee filters

for projects.

These went from this...

To this!

and then from this...

To this!

 I made them to decorate for Easter.

 

Here are some photos of some of the other Easter decor around the house.

(sweet little Wendy Addison bunny from my neighbor Sarah)

A little Spring lamb

I love me some sheep!!!!!



Little bouquet of silk tulips



I cut some forsythia to force about ten days ago.

They haven't bloomed in the garden yet.

 I thought these should come in and be decorated

with some pastel mercury balls I acquired a few years ago to

use for Easter decorating.

I got a little carried away and posted a lot of these on the garden blog too.

I really love forsythia for it's early Spring bloom...

even if early Spring isn't so early where I live.

It was 21 degrees last night!!!!!!!!!

(whine)

 I put together a couple of little Easter collages with some of the

decor in my house this holiday.

(except the chicks...they are from last year)

 Today will be spent in the kitchen, in preparation for a little Easter feast tomorrow.

Not many of the children will be home this year, but I will put in a ham,

make some rolls...etc.

I thought I would make cupcakes today
and decorate them all Easter-like

for the children.

Oh it's going to be a good day...the sun is shining,

and the town Easter egg hunt starts in a few minutes,

so I'm out the door.

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Easter too!!!!!

Why seek ye the living among the dead?

He is not here, he is risen.

St Luke: 5-6

A friend's new blog and my new garden blog.

Oh...and some collages too!

I finally learned how to do photo collages.

Well...kindda...

I still have some practicing to do.

These are my first attempts.

I have wanted to do them for a long time, because sometimes I have too many pictures to share

for one post and it's a great way to condense so you aren't having to scroll through a ton of

pictures.

I have rediscovered how much I love photography.

I am terribly out of practice though and

spend a lot of time playing with the settings on the camera and different light sources.

And while I will never do family portraits again or weddings professionally

(hated it) too much pressure and too much time away from my family))

I do love taking pictures of 'things'.

Cool 'things'

Pretty 'things'

I still have so much to learn about digital photography, and am quite a late bloomer in it.

But my desire to have my camera with me all the time is strong,

 so I can capture all the beautiful things

the world has to offer. 

The three collages here are shots I took around the house

of things I thought looked Springy.

 ************************

Now...

I would like to introduce you to one of my face to face friends who has recently started a blog to promote the
 sale of her quilt patterns. I don't know how many of you who read my blog are quilters, but even if you aren't, you will love her designs.

Kay and I have been friends for a L O N G time.

We have children that grew up together.
 Our families spent a lot of time together when our children were young.
So many good memories!

Her youngest son even married one of my daughters!

I don't think either of us ever thought that any of our kids would grow up and marry.

When Season first told me she was seeing Beau I said 'you're kidding, right'.

She wasn't


Kay has so many talents, and quilting is one of them.
I wanted to share a few of her designs here today.

 To see more of her designs, you can visit her blog Applevine Design

or her Etsy shop by the same name.
 This girls got talent!!!!

******************

I have started a garden blog to keep record of the many things that go into keeping a garden.

I needed this blog for me. I often go about things backwards and I'm hoping this 

blog helps me to go at things in a more orderly fashion.

So really this blog is for me personally, but since I am also keeping a record of the garden through pictures  

I thought I would also make it public. 

I will not be enabling the comment setting on it however,

because... 

some days it will be the ramblings of a woman who has had too much sun,

too many ideas rolling around in her head,

too much dirt and grime,

too many tasks to ever be able to tackle in one day,

so it won't always be worth reading.

but...

some days it will be full of beautiful blooms,

interesting gardening tips,

some conversations.(mainly in my head)

Whatever strikes me on any given day.

While my  Laughing With Angels blog is where I like to show the pretty things in my life.
This blog will be a little of everything.

 The blog's title is Grace Gardens.

I think of my garden as an expression of grace,

 so the name seemed appropriate.

This is the little Spring banner I created for it.

I do hope you are all enjoying Spring wherever you live.

The snow is finally gone here except for a patch or two in the backyard.

And I couldn't be happier!

Dreaming of this...

I can't wait to have these blooming in the garden again.

But it will be quite awhile yet. 

This has got to be one of my favorite trees in the garden.

( I have a ton of favorites...as you know)

It is my Red Jade weeping crab apple.

Today I am linking up with Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for her 'Cottage Flora Thursdays'.

Most of you have already seen some of these pictures from last year.

Since my garden is a late bloomer because of where I live in the US I decided to show some

of my favorite views of the 2010 garden.

out by the pasture fence...

Darn that wretched garden hose always spoiling my pictures!

Now that I've said that, you will be sure to notice.

lol!

And notice in the picture below, how I cleverly tried to hide my lawnmower

with a watermark?

Peonies are definitely the show offs of the garden.

One of the biggest joys is when I am able to cut armloads of these to bring into the house.

Here is my pretty Henry Kelsey climbing rose.

The rose in the foreground of this shot is John Cabot...another climber.

This is a view of the front garden from the highway that runs in front of our place.

hmmm...

I wonder if I could get Idaho Power Co. to shorten up those power poles

so they quit spoiling the view?????

I love the rose in the foreground in this picture.

It is a William Baffin rose.

It can be on an arbor or stand on it's own,

as it has very strong canes. This one is not on an arbor.

The rose behind it is the John Cabot,

 and that one is on an arbor.

It is just a little deeper pink than the William Baffin rose.

I have several of both of these roses in the garden.

I can't seem to get my fill of them.

The delphiniums take center stage in about mid July here.

My favorite is Black (or Dark) I can't seem to remember)) Knight.

It grows over 6 foot tall on sturdy stalks.

I place them in many of the beds here to add color and height.

I know many of you have seen some of these photos before, so thank you for humoring me

and allowing me to show them again.

Gardening is truly a joy for me, and so I am very anxious for the work to begin again.
I have so many plans for this year
and can't wait to get started.