A Few of My Favorites

I recently found this little tea cup and saucer at a tag sale. I was so excited to find another treasure for my collection. I have loved violets since childhood and somewhere along the way I started a collection of tea cups with violets on them. Mark gave this bud vase to me as a gift. I use it every summer, and love it.

The floral arrangement also is full of some of my favorites. We have recently had very heavy rain in our area and many of our plants were beaten down. The Madonna lilies are in full bloom right now so they are especially heavy and susceptible to the weight of the rain. The lavender was laying very close to the ground too, so I added a few to this vase. The lilies are very fragrant and that perfume mixed with the lavender scent is DELICIOUS!

The Madonna lilies are special to me because they are from bulbs that my paternal grandpa had. He was a very masculine man and very "old school". As a young child he would allow me to help him water his flowers. Most adults were not allowed into that part of his world. These Madonna lilies are from those days of my childhood. I treasure those memories.

Each time I pass by this bouquet today I will have a lovely fragrance treat.

Happy May Day

Happy May Day from the ladies at I Get My Crafty From My Mama.

My tulips are in bloom and it was well into the 70s in Michigan today!

Trying out my green thumb

It is that time of the year when we all are just itchin' to get outdoors and get our hands into the soil. It is a little early for that in our neck of the woods. So I decided to get crafty and trim back some of the leggy plants in the living room and get them potted up to share with one of our daughters.

Years ago a wise older woman told me that she always put her soil in the oven to kill any bacteria if she was reusing her potting soil. I have found that it works just as well in the microwave. I just put the soil in a microwave save bowl and pop it in for a while. Why buy new soil if you have some left over?

Somewhere along the line I have learned that a marble in the center hole will prevent the soil from oozing out when you water. It is always best to use a clean pot to plant in. This one still needs to be scrubbed.

 This is the plant slip in a  little rooting container. When the original plant got a too leggy, I trimmed back some of the over growth and let it root in a vase of water on the window sill. I was able to keep an eye on it there to make sure that it always had plenty of water.

Planting will always work better if you have good root growth before you pot up the plants. This is really nice growth. The stems of the plants are still strong. If the stem was "mooshey" it wouldn't be a good candidate to pot up.

This Klanchoe is all potted and ready to go to it's new home. They are succulents and this has been a nice houseplant. Now I will try to figure out how to make it bloom.

Fabric Flower

Today I finally got on board and made my first fabric flower! Thankfully it really was as easy to make as it appeared because I was testing this craft out for a group project.

Our church is hosting a "God is Wild About You" ladies spa night in February and I am planning to share this craft with the ladies there. Have you made other fabric flowers? Do you have quick and easy crafts ideas? Feel free to share them!

You have probably seen a BUNCH of tutorials on fabric flowers, I used one I found on Pinterest from Ruffles And Stuff.

Have Courage, Have Strength

This Bleeding Heart was given to my mother by my grandmother. I love that our history is in our garden as opposed to a dusty ole' attic.

Marissa's Green Thumb

Now that the weather in Michigan has been consistently above freezing at night for about two weeks I've enjoyed doing some gardening the last few days.

Today I planted a few hostas that my mother gave me from her garden and, with the help of my husband, lined the front of the flower bed with small native stones.


Front of our apartment.

I planted the tulip bulbs below last fall and was very pleased to see such beautiful flowers with so little maintenance!

Tulips on the back side of our apartment.

And no flower bed would be complete without your favorite! Paul's favorite flowers are lily of the valley and today was the first time we saw our new lily of the valley blooms.

On the back side of our apartment.

Cool Weather Crafts

During the cool weather months I tend to spend most of my time indoors and enjoy passing the time with a few hand crafts. The one I have been enjoying most this year is a simple crochet flower. These will be cute Valentine's gifts for my girlfriends!

Here is the pattern I used:

1. Chain 24 then sc in 6th chain from hook. Chain 3, skip next chain (alternate) then sc/ch 3 to the end. (10 chain spaces made.)
2. Chain 1 turn, sc, ch 2, db 3, ch 2, sc.
3. Chain 2-5 sc, ch 2, dc 4, ch 2, sc.
4. Chain 6-10 sc, ch 2, dc 5, ch 2, sc. Leave 10" to sew together.

Thanks Aunt Chris for the pattern!

Step 1 & 2

Step 3 & 4

Sew together.

Finished, front.

Finished, back.

Wedding Crafts

Hello Everyone,

I'm Marissa, Krista's older sister, Sheryl's daughter, and Helen's granddaughter. As you all know crafting has been both a necessity and pleasure for our family. I was married just three short months ago and kept wedding costs low by making a lot of my own wedding decorations. But wedding crafts aren't only a money saver, they are fun!

In keeping with the tradition of my closest girlfriends I recently hosted my friend Amanda's bridal bouquet making party. It is so much fun to get together with friends, eat pizza, and make crafts and memories. Amanda liked my home made bouquets so much we made hers very similar.

Paul and I on our wedding day!

I saw this idea in a bridal magazine and just HAD to do it. Want to learn?

1. I hot glued a piece of ribbon flat to both sides of the stems.
2. Starting at the bottom of the stems, wrap a long piece of ribbon (I used three feet) from the back to the front of the stems.
3. Twist the two pieces of ribbon together, 180 degrees and run them to the back. Do this all the way up until you reach the top and tie it off. I also secured it with a little bit of hot glue. Volia!

Flat ribbon lining.

Tying the ribbon.

Amanda's bouquet.