Landscaping -- Karen Style

I have mentioned before that I have a handy husband.  This spring he took some bricks and lined our flower beds in the backyard.  They look so much better than the haphazard dirt areas that they were before.  I was so excited envisioning all the lovely things that would grow in those flower beds. 

Here is the problem, though.  Neither my husband nor I have a green thumb.  We both love the outdoors and love nature, but we never really seem to cultivate that on our own. 

So sadly, our beautifully outlined flowerbeds stayed dirt areas all summer long (with the occasional weeds, of course). 

So I was thinking to myself that it would probably look better if we at least filled them in with woodchips.  I like woodchips, but unless you have a shredder and can make your own, they cost money (and I don't really like spending money). 

Then I had a brilliant idea.  Peach pits! We have been eating peaches like crazy lately and we don't usually compost the pits because they take so long to decompose.  So we were just throwing them away (which I hate doing).  I thought, what if I filled the flower beds with peach pits?  This is a good idea, but it would take forever to fill the space, so I expanded my brain-storming. 

Pine cones! Yes! They are everywhere.  They are all over our backyard and around our neighborhood.  So I started gathering them.  One of the neighbor kids saw me and actually joined in on the fun. I have filled one flower bed and I'm working on another.  I decided to throw the peach pits in with the mix because they are just so colorful and a fun addition.  The round balls are avocado pits. 

I am very happy with the way my flowerbeds are looking now.  I may not be a great gardener, but I am an excellent scavenger and collector.  Let's hear it for free landscaping.  Yay!

Confetti

Sometimes I feel the need to make something impractical simply because the materials exist and I think it is fun to do.  An example of this is a paper chain made of Starburst wrappers.  Michael bought a bag of Starburst in the fall and I've been slowly working on this chain.  People keep asking me, "What are you going to do with that chain?"  Who knows?  Who cares?  It is just fun to make so I am making it. 

Along these same lines, I've had a dream for a long time of making confetti.  Whenever I make something with paper, there's always a pile of scraps that seem too pretty to just throw away (and by throw away I obviously mean put in the recycle bin).  But who really needs a bunch of confetti?  I finally decided that I don't care.  It would be fun to make, right?  So I'm making some. I dug out my cool paper punches and went to town on a pile of paper scraps.

And guess what, it is fun! It is so SUPER fun to make confetti.  I love it.  I even dug around in my craft room and found some old foil confetti that I had collected somewhere and added that to the mix.  Then I subbed for the church secretary one morning and I went around to all the hole punchers in the office and collected the dots.  That was fun, too.  It makes me so happy to look in my pail of confetti and see all the pretty colors.  I can't wait to add more to it.

Maybe someday someone will say to me, "Karen, I'm starting a pinata business, and I'd like you to be my confetti supplier."  That would be awesome, but highly unlikely.  Maybe I'll finally open an Esty shop and make loads of money (like a dollar or two) selling confetti. That would be awesome, too.  Although if neither of those things happen, I will still be giddy with happiness punching paper and sprinkling rainbow fun.

P.S. Who invited these two to this party?  This is not a plate of tuna. 

Bottles

I had really good intentions of blogging extensively about my trip to Michigan, such good intentions.  But the weeks keep creeping by and I keep ignoring this blog because those posts are so long.  I think I need to post random stuff and throw in a little Michigan here and there.  I told myself that it is okay if this blog is not chronological.  It's okay. 

So here is random for you:  I love glass bottles.  I love glass in general, I don't really know why.  I think because it is so sturdy and so delicate all at the same time.  I like the way light shines through colored glass.  I also like to collect things.  Michael and Colleen both call me a magpie, and glass bottles are a very cheap thing to collect.  When I lived in Saratoga, I had a nice little glass bottle collection in the corner of my craft room.  Here is a cute picture of Katya with the bottles in the background.

Here is a not cute picture of me with a better view of the bottles (a little blurry, but you get the idea). 

Now I am living in a small apartment, which means not a lot of room for knick knacky things.  I also don't want to spend any money on decorating (even though I LOVE to decorate) because I know this is a temporary dwelling.  So, here is my cheap, fun, decorating in the kitchen. 

I think these Izze bottles are so cool.  I love the big, twinkly, sticker and the bold colors. 

Also, check out our awesome old-school stove. 

Glass bottles = twinkly happiness.  Yay!