Saturday Surprise!

Well, look at this, it’s Friday Fun Day, but on a Saturday! I like to keep things a little mysterious... and the Powerhouse (formerly the Bloom Brigade and the Instant Gardeners, teaming up to share their unstoppably creative superpowers) have made beautiful cards that I've linked up near the end of the post. Stay with us, folks, you won’t want to miss a single link to our designers’ blogs.

Let’s do a photo recap of the week, starting with my new overalls and my hilarious and wonderful giant sunhat, a gift from my husband, who is helping keep my skin from getting sun-kissed. A small plug here for La Croix Limoncello — which is undoubtably the best flavor ever designed — it’s lemony and marshmallowy and a certified quarantine treat.


Last weekend we had glorious warm weather, enhanced by a surprise visit from Jennifer Balcer Aviles, whom many of you might remember as a blogger and former maven at Splitcoast Stampers. She and her husband and daughter were coming through St. Louis and stopped for a socially distanced visit, wherein Jenn and I attempted to recreate the Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. Such fun to meet in person at last and meet her awesome, upbeat family.

Windowboxes were planted with shade-appreciating annuals (Rudy cheered me on by licking my face repeatedly). I tried some new-to-me plants: Caladiums. The whole color scheme is very different from my usual pink-purple-apricot vibe, I was inspired by an article in a 2007 issue Cottage Living, Allan P. Smith had gorgeous window boxes spilling over with a fresh white/green/pink/red scheme: Caladiums, Begonias, Impatiens, spiky and trailing plants ... I went a bit further adding Fuchsia, Bacopa, Dusty Miller, Lantana, and a few others that escape my feeble brain. I will share the completed boxes in an upcoming post, once they’ve filled out a bit! (And once I can bring them back outside... we had a cold snap last night and the windowboxes are currently hanging out in the kitchen).

The garden continues to bloom and grow, colors combining in magical, marvelous ways. I’ve come to truly think about my garden as my canvas. The thought first appeared to me in December, when I was planting bulbs with my auger-bit-clad drill. I’d amassed hundreds of wonderful tulips on sale at the tail end of the season, and needed to figure out where exactly they would go. After printing out photos of what each variety looked like in bloom, I created a schematic on my living room floor. Then I went outside and drilled hole by hole, planting bulb by bulb, with ribbons of tulips weaving through my garden beds. In my mind I envisioned, “This dark purple parrot will stream into the lighter lavender double, accented by dabs of this single apricot!” 

I was pretty into it. Happily planting until well after sunset with my headlamp and heavy coat. In fact, my neighbor, musician Andy Conrad, recently released a song called “She Paints Flowers” with me as an inspiration! (You can listen to it for free on Spotify)

The painterly combinations of flowers and foliage. The colors, the textures, the rhythm of the plantings... I am learning so much, trying new things, and have been so excited at the results. In fact...

I found out this week that I was named “Garden of the Month” by our local garden club! Feels pretty neat to be recognized. I do know that the cheery daffodils, tulips, hellebores, and hostas have provided a touch of beauty to neighbors and passersby, and that’s brought me a lot of joy!

This week I focused primarily on the back garden (#myterrarium), picking out herbs, vegetables, and annuals from the outdoor nursery at the local Ace Hardware (I was one of two people shopping), and doing curbside pick-up at my favorite independent garden shops.

I planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, sweet peas, herbs and lots of annuals late into the night (again, love that headlamp!) and now my completely containerized vegetable garden is ready to roll. Farmer Marcy is not used to planting edible plants aside from herbs, so this should be interesting! Any advice anyone has for a bumper crop would be appreciated in the comments.... Thank you!

And now for the least exciting photo, an in-progress shot of our sad back fence. The treated wood is all wonky and wacky, but it’s now all been painted in a few coats of Summer Pear by Magnolia Home. In the center, a wall fountain will trickle and provide a peaceful sound for our ears, and water for the birdies (incidentally there’s a cardinal nest in that Akebia vine mass on the left! They tweeted irritatingly as I was painting. Sorry, birdies!

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Broadcasting live from THE POWERHOUSE: This week’s flower-filled creations to lift all of our spirits and inspire your creations as you head into the weekend...

Christine Okken | Abundant Petals

Stacy Morgan | Tree Peony digital

Allison Cope | Tea in the Garden

Leslie Miller | Dazzling Display digital

AND: Did you see Julie Koerber’s quick and easy challenge this week? Quick Color!

Julie’s challenge is explained in stepped out detail in her Inspire Me Monday post, come get some great tips for washy, wonderful cardmaking...

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Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s garden tour AND round up of these incredibly special cards. 

Happy Mother’s Day, one and all. Every one of us, regardless of whether we’ve had or raised children, is a nurturing, motherly spirit, and we all deserve some special love this weekend. :) Thank you to the women who came before us, to show us how it’s done. I know I really lucked out with one of the best! 

Big hugs, my friends! xoxo