Sunday, June 2, 2013

Music in the Gardens


Many of you have asked for photos of my garden.

With all the rain we've had lately,
everything seems to be happily bursting forth with color and fragrance!
Most plants are budding, pushing their color slowly into the garden ~
while others are dancing and swirling freely in their early summer attire.
There's music in the gardens!

So, grab that cup of coffee, 
slip on your flip flops,
and dance with me through the gardens
here at Heaven's Walk.


The rose bush in my whiskey barrel next to the door
snuggles next to frilly ballerina pink verbena.




A look into the east gardens from the brick path next to the back porch.




Standing in the middle of the east gardens, 
the deep purple lilacs are finished performing
while the white lilacs are quickly fading.
The French lilacs on the right are still blooming beautifully ~
bowing their rain heavy heads toward the earth.




The shady north side gardens are filling in nicely.
My new-last-year arbor will eventually be covered with a cape of soft pink 'New Dawn' roses.
This is the second season in their new home.




The birdbath at the corner of the porch
is a popular pit-stop for a variety of feathered friends.
We've even watched squirrels jump up there for a slurp,
and many times during the winter it will be drained almost dry from the deer sipping from it.




French "Josie" lilacs ~
petite little blossoms that are so full and fragrant.




'Josphine' clematis ~ a large double bloomer that is winding her way up the small arch on the steps of the porch.
The long petals will eventually fall to the ground leaving the zinnia-like centers.




'Nelly Moser' loves her home on the old trellis in the north garden.
She is always a steadfast, happy bloomer towering above the elegant bleeding heart
and dainty sweet woodruff.




Standing in the north gardens.




The plants in my new north garden bed are growing by leaps and bounds.
Hydrangea, roses, hosta, bleeding heart, catmint, 
and a new fir tree.




A female bluebird visits her favorite bath
in the center of the east garden.
I brought the little pale pink cement birdbath home from the antique market a couple months ago
and set it in the middle of the large one.
It created additional space for birds to bath together.

Kind of like a community spa.  :)




Happy hostas pirouette with partying peonies.




Looking toward our barn.
We have plans of renovating it sometime this year before the wood ages too much more.
We don't want to lose this beautiful piece of history which was built long before our farmhouse was.




Sweet, stately foxglove
sprinkled with raindrops.




Crowds of peonies reach toward the sky.







Little Kermit waits for his buddies.
There are 20 of them who join him in the nightly waterfront chorus.




Standing on the outside perimeter of the east garden,
'Zephirine Drouhin' climbs happily over the arbor.
The first bloom made her appearance today.




Her deep pink flowers will soon blanket the arbor and send sweet fragrance throughout the gardens.




'Sarah Bernhardt' peonies tango with 'Walker's Low' catmint.









Dichondra and bacopa spill from a vintage wooden box
next to an old watering can on a wooden bench my husband built for me years ago.




Every time I walk through the gardens, I hear a whisper...

"Abide in Me".

A loving reminder from above
that blesses my soul.




Now....I'm off to prepare Heaven's Walk for a photo shoot with a beloved, nationally known editor.
I'll fill you in on the details later!  :)

Have a joyful week!


~  Be Blessed ~




Linking to the linky parties on the lower right of my sidebar!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Allegan Antique Market Booth

Whew!
The holiday weekend seemed to just fly by...
but what fun!

On Saturday morning, Georgina and I loaded up her truck and my trailer
with as many treasures as physically possible
and made our way to Allegan Fairgrounds...




to set up our booth for the monthly Allegan Antique Market.

We rented a 25'x25' booth which gave us lots of room to spread everything out
and make it look as eye-catching and welcoming as possible.

Once we manhandled our new canopy,
(which is always a good laugh)
all systems were 'GO'!
It was time to play house and create some pretty vignettes.

After everything was set,
of course we had to do a little shopping.
The vendors are always so cordial and fun to chat with!
Some of them were all set up and were kicking back with a glass of wine
while other vendors, like us, did a little treasure hunting.
I did nab a few beauties that I'll share with you later.  :)

Sunday dawned chilly, but sunny ~
(I was up at 5am and in our booth by 7am)
and it warmed up nicely during the afternoon.

We received many compliments on how cute our booth looked.
Thank you, everyone!




Here are some vignettes I created for our booth.


This table I painted sold right away.


The hand woven table runner is still for sale!  ($30)

The Victorian desk and dining chair also sold later in the day ~ after numerous people ooohed and ahhhhed over them.  


The "Be Bold" and "Laugh" signs are still for sale ($20 each).


I discovered another vintage grain sack while packing for the market.  It could be yours for $50!


My dream catchers ~ fluttering in the springtime breeze ~
caught everyone's attention,
and I sold quite a few of them.


Happy day!




My Jardin bench ~ one of the very first pieces I ever painted.


This little table was the second piece I ever painted with ASCP.  It sold late morning.




I got some use out of my old ruffled bed skirt by using it as a table cover.
I could have sold it 10 times.
lol!







It was such a fun day!

We loved people-watching all day long
and met so many nice customers.
The crowds were incredible!

Numerous close friends and family members wandered in to see how sales were going.

Two of my cousins stopped in to see me which was such a blessing!
One of them took home a Prairie Girl dream catcher with her.
Thank you, Carol!

I met a fellow blog friend, Shirley Wing
who is just the happiest, sweetest gal ever! 
She purchased one of my Prairie Girl dream catchers, too.
Thank you, Shirley!

And of course,
I had to spend some time with my sweet sister-from-another-mother,
Michelle from {re}imagined Just For You,
who vendors a beautiful booth at the market every month.
She creates beautiful ASCP patinas on vintage furniture that she and her husband travel near and far
to bring home to transform into artful creations.
She's simply amazing and incredibly talented.
(And don't get me started on how fabulous her children are!)
[Love ya to bits, Victoria!  *wink*]

Thank you to everyone who helped make our day fun and successful!


~  Blessings  ~



Linking to the linky parties on the lower right of my sidebar!