Gifts of Spring

This amazing book came from my brother Greg and Elizabeth.
He heard about it on NPR and knew I would love it.  I do!

 Not much happened this weekend.  I had a bug, probably from my babygrand.  Penny was really sick with a 103 fever and home for most of the week.  Happily she is feeling much better and getting back to her self.  I started to feel better Saturday, so we used a couple of gift cards we received for Christmas and went shopping.

 Bunnies, bunnies everywhere!  A rhyme my Kristen used to say when she was little.  These are both thrift store finds.  The puzzle we did with Penny last week...one piece was missing.  The chance we take when we buy a second hand puzzle.  The teapot bunnie is so cute.  He will make an appearance later this summer, but that for now is a secret.

 I have been making some big paper flowers.  I bought dies that cut the petals, but the art is making flat paper look like natural petals.

Daisy or Dahlia

Roses

Peony

 It's fun to play and curl and glue.  I am not sure how I am going to use these yet, but we have a special birthday and a shower and then the big day for Mike and Amanda coming up.  They are all the rage on wedding sites and such. I need more practice, but with music in the background and all my supplies close, it's very therapeutic.  Good for the soul. Just paper and patience.

 On Sunday my dearest pulled a muscle and was incapacitated.  Instead of a perfectly good Sunday
going to waste, he relaxed while I puttered.  I was in the basement organizing some boxes and the tree bag that got shoved into the crawl space when our sump pump broke down.  I was so happy to have a crawl space to store my "junk" when we first moved in.  That was 24 years ago.  I was a young woman back then and could scoot around on one of the kids skateboards. ( It's not high enough to stand up in.) Now I prefer to keep my boxes out of the crawlspace where I can easily reach them.

 I am loving the miniature lamb mold.

 Sidewalk chalk eggs.

                                                

Having a love affair with Muscari, 

otherwise known as grape hyacinths

So many pretty silk flowers out there I use over and over, year after year.

We got this cool vintage looking light from the Cracker Barrel.  Mike and Amanda gave us a gift card.  As we were walking around the store, my hubby saw a woman he thought he recognized.  She started to help us with the light.  My honey said, "Do we know each other, you look so familiar..." She said the same thing.  Then she mentioned a place where they both had worked.  Bingo!  Old home week. This happens pretty often.  After a long IT career, it's a small world.  He always knows someone at every event, every customer meeting, even the Jewel or Home Depo.  Mr. Popularity, that's my guy. ;-)

Things are getting gussied up for spring.

Sometimes it's just changing up something in the cloches.

Here is a pretty new vase from Jon and Charlotte.  A Crate and Barrel gift card.

I am really surprised that it took me till March to use these gifts.

This cloche is from my nephew Greg. Pottery Barn gift card.  The handmade bunny from a local thrift many years ago.

Once again reusing some flowers .

All faux plants in this crate.  The shuttered mirror was a birthday gift from Elizabeth.
She wasn't sure I would like it.  If Elizabeth likes it, I will like it and vice versa.

More paper flowers.  These from a kit from Paper Source the last time the 

Midwest Bloggers met in Naperville. 

My mantle in the family room.

A gloomy day today, but it's colorful and has the Penny seal of approval.

She said, and I quote, 'It's so cute!"

Everyone of these bunnies is thrifted or a gift.

I did buy the topiary bunny maybe 20 years ago.

A bunny cake mold.  I have no luck actually making cakes in a mold like this.

That banner was a gift from our friend Audrey.  She came to brunch one Easter and said she thought of me when she saw it in the store.  I love when things have a sweet memory attached, 

and so many of mine do.

You might have noticed the fence.  I saw someone use it on a facebook post.  It's from the dollar store and she sprayed it white.

So I did too.  

It looked like this before.

 Now for the complete picture.  What we have here is a seasonal MESS!

I have a few weeks till our annual Easter brunch.

 Stuff on every table. 

 Bags of flowers, storage boxes.

Yes a strand of Christmas lights.  In my defense, I used them for Valentines Day.
I do have several bags for donations and a basket full of stuff for Kris and Penny.  I might add a clean cabinet with all my candle holders and battery operated candles put away.  A better organized crawl space.  I moved things with a golf club!  The most important thing, a rested hubby, feeling better and he enjoyed watching the seasons change from his comfy chair.

...And the laundry waits!

Thanks so much for visiting and for your kindness.

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Love, Penny