Jewels from the garden

Just a little warning about this post...

I had too many favorite photos to choose from here,

so I decided to post too many  photos  : )  !

The color of these little iris really pop in the mostly white color scheme of my living room.

I had to take a picture from every angle possible.

I bought this beautiful vintage necklace last week from a dear friend

who makes such amazing pieces.

I had to have it the minute I saw it. I loved this color much too much to let it stay in her display case.

Leslie creates the loveliest pieces of jewelry from vintage elements she finds in her travels.

Leslie has an on-line store and an Etsy shoppe called Tarnished Lace.

I purchased this piece in Picabo, Idaho where she has a few items on consignment.

Leslie is a sweet face-to-face friend that I see often and lives in a town near me. 

She has been in Oregon visiting family 

so she doesn't know yet that it hangs around my neck now : )

See the pretty little case it is sitting on?

My mother came to visit for Memorial Day and brought it to me. 

Thanks mom!!!!!!!!!!

I love it when my mom gives me the things she no longer wants

and decides to edit out of her life. 

I made a goal early this season that I would spend four hours in the garden and two hours

cleaning the house daily. 

How am I doing???

Good as far as the garden goes.

House, not so much!

My white slipcovers might look white in these photos,

but what you can't see are the little children's dirty footprints from the

past two weekends,

 and little white doggie footprints on the arm of the sofa where he 

watches me when I go outside without him.

I did get my windows washed yesterday.

(that sound you hear is me patting myself on the back)

I was much better keeping my house clean when I was a crazy young mom with
six kids underfoot.

Now I find too many fun things to do when I should be sweeping and dusting.

The lilacs are still blooming and I cut a basin full and thought they would look pretty in the house,
but this many lilacs in close quarters wrecked havoc on my allergies
so out to the front porch they went.

Earlier this week I foofed up the front pergola and hung the curtains out and baskets of 

lilacs for a welcoming feeling.

Dale calls this space 'his office'.

His favorite place...Spring, Summer and Fall.

Landon loves it too. 

He sits out here for a couple hours most evenings in the Summer just

chillin' with his dad.

I hope all of you are enjoying a beautiful season whether it be 

Spring or Fall where you live.

Many hugs till next time!

Lilac time!

I have waited all year for just this time of year.

Lilac time! 

To me the lilac has the prettiest form of all the blooms in the garden.

And the loveliest scent.

But that isn't why I love it so much.

It is the memories that this bloom evokes.

When the scent of lilacs fill the garden it always brings back the days when my family 

would pile in the car and travel the 240 miles to my grandparent's home where we would 

again see many of our cousins and spend days playing in 

my grandmother's garden together.

This past weekend we had all of our children and grandchildren here. 

The lilacs are blooming and so while the children were all out playing in the garden I 

thought of those special times in my own childhood and wondered

if my grandchildren would associate the smell of the lilacs later in their lives

to the memories of their own time spent here with family.

I sure hope so!!!!

You can't believe all  the photos I am taking of them this year.

Many to be shown in my next post and some on the garden blog.

(the link is at the top of my sidebar)

I could literally have bouquets all over the house of them. 

I always wondered why a flower so beautiful should have such a short vase-life : (

Here is a photo of an old swing I found at a favorite shop about a month ago.

I love the green chippy paint.

I had it hung in what I call the Summer House.

It is really another gazebo in my garden, but this one is square

and a perfect place to hang a swing.

And on top of having the lilacs, I have my sweet little lily-of-the-valley

blooming like crazy now too!

This little Cath Kidston cup that my neighbor gave me as a gift 

is the perfect vase for them.

I have this cup sitting on my bedside table

and the intoxicating smell of the little blooms is wonderful to fall to sleep to.

Here are more photos of the blooming trees that are in and around the garden.

Some have now lost their blooms to the strong winds we have had,

but I took the photos just before.

I cut some branches from the crabapples and enjoyed them in the house. 

I set up a little shoot with some pin cushions I ordered

from Peony and Sage and the blossoms from my trees.

I adore the blooms on these trees.

As you can tell by all the pictures I take of them : o

These tress sit behind the house and color up the entire backyard!! !

In the front garden I have several white blooming crabapple trees.

The bees have been working all the trees this past week and I love it when I walk 

under them and can hear the humming as they go about their work.

This little tree is a weeping Red Jade crabapple tree.

My favorite white blooming crabapple in the whole garden!

It's mature size is about fifteen feet and is perfect for a

 small garden. 

The limbs weep almost all the way to the ground and form a beautiful

canopy over the lawn.

No Spring garden could be without the bleeding heart.

I really love this unique little bloom.

 Every day that I walk outside, I am surprised by some new gift the garden 

has unwrapped overnight. 

I think that is what I love most about gardening.

I am so glad I have you to share it with!

winner----winner!!!

I have just won the most beautiful giveaways ever!!!

I won the sweetest little mini bag filled with so many amazing things from 

the beautiful blog Life In My Studio.

Many of you probably know Debi already and her beautiful artwork, but for those
who don't, I have linked back to her site so you can see it too.
She has such an eye for beauty and is always creating.

Debi made this little lacy bag and then loaded it up with such sweet things
and offered it up for us all to win...

and I was the very lucky girl who won it!

You have to know that unwrapping this was a blast!!!

These are all of my favorite colors bundled up in one beautiful package!!!

It is so lovely Debi...thank you so much!

The second win came in this cool burgundy bag.

See what it says on the front.

Can you guess what is inside?

YES!!!

REALLY!!!

Rose covered boots from Victoria Trading Company!!!
And who was it who offered these up for her readers to win???
Do you know Rayanne at A Lovely Thought?
She is a beautiful girl.
I have been getting to know her and what a sweet heart!

Aren't these SO me?
I think they are just so cute!

Thank you so much Rayanne for such an amazing giveaway!

I certainly felt like a winner this month with these packages showing 

 up in the mail.

It is getting to the point that going to the post office is an adventure more than 

just an errand to run : )

Have a wonderful week to all of you who read my blog.

I appreciate the friendship and love I feel from all of you when you come to visit.

I never imagined that such wonderful connections could be made,

but am SO glad that they have. 

You have no idea how much you have added to my life. 

blossoms in the garden

I finally have something in the garden to share and I am loving every second spent working
out in it this Spring.

This is my May Day tree. 

It bloomed on the 1st day of May just like is supposed to.

The first time it ever has!

On a normal year it doesn't bloom until later here, but like most of the country, we are having  

unusual seasonal temperatures.

The fragrance of this bloom is so sweet it's intoxicating.

 

Yesterday was beautiful, but it sprinkled most of the day so 

I was in the studio painting shelves and organizing and enjoying 

the sound of the rain on the tin roof.
It's a wreck in the studio right now and I need to do so much straightening
in it to get inspired to create again.
I was cleaning up and I swear, some of the spiders
were as big as me!
Okay...so maybe I exaggerate a little...but they WERE BIG!

So what else have I been doing lately???

Well,

time with daughters and their children over the past two weekends...

always a wonderful time!!! 

a trip to the thrift store in Hailey, which netted me a new iron bed for the screened porch

and four awesome caned back chairs made by Henredon. (so excited to find these)

Which means more painting. 

and  as I have said before...I HATE to paint. 

(I am looking down at my paint splattered hands from painting the clothesline today as I type this!)

(this is my serviceberry tree in bloom)

(cherry trees blooming)

(Centurion crab apple tree starting to bloom)

I love these trees!!!

There are two in the garden and I would have a whole line of them if I had to space.

They will open to the softest pink color you have ever seen.

Reminds me of cotton candy.

This is a photo of the lilacs yesterday before the rain started.

I'm so excited to see they will be blooming in a couple of days!

A few cherry branches brought in to enjoy.

We may have cherries if I can keep the horses and birds from getting them first.

We are supposed to get a hard frost the next two nights so I am holding my breath

that it won't get as cold as predicted.

I took these pictures last Saturday of the forsythia shrubs down the driveway.

I loved being met by this blast of color when turning into our place for the past two weeks.

I am so thrilled about being asked to be in the latest issue of Artful Blogging.

When one gets and e-mail from Jennifer Jackson Taylor and the subject says
Artful Blogging...well, I can tell you that it is an exhilarating feeling to put it mildly.

Thank you so much Stampington and Artful Blogging for this honor!
I am grateful.

Speaking of grateful, I have won to beautiful giveaways lately
and wanted to show them in this post but haven't had the chance to take photos
yet, so I will be back in a few days to share!!!