My Mom's Gardens

My parents live on 10 beautiful acres that they devote a great deal of time to maintaining. Their effort is worth it though as their property is a tree and flower filled retreat that explodes into bloom at this time of year. Visiting one evening this week I just had to take some pictures to share with you. Today I wanted to feature some of my Mom's lovely gardens and planters. She manages to create arrangements that are both natural and whimsical at the same time.

I love this arrangement the most. The little blue jay sitting in his pot on a weather beaten wooden chair. The muted colours blend so well into nature and the weathering on everything makes it seem as though it was always there in the grass.

My favourite part of my Mom's gardens is her gorgeous peonie bush. Peonies are such beautiful flowers - it's just too bad the ants love them so much because I'm afraid to bring any inside!

Hopefully you're as impressed with her work as I am. It's a gorgeous day for gardening here so I'm off to tend to my beds. Tell me, how does your garden grow?

DIY Planters

Here in Canada the weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer and the flowers are in full bloom.  We have a flower garden in our front yard and a vegetable garden out back but we've got nothing like these awesome DIY planters!

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Love that these are made with such ordinary objects that you probably have the materials to make one of your own tomorrow. Happy weekend, everyone!

Celebrating Mom

As you all know, yesterday was Mother's Day so I wanted to show you how I celebrated my Mom and my Nana this year.

First, I made my Mom a card. I cut the "Mom' and the heart out with my Silhouette. The sticker and the flower tag are from K & Company.

Next I painted coffee cans and potted beautiful pink and yellow dalias in them for my Nana. This is a really cute and easy way to reuse cans. You can leave them plain, paint designs or write on them with markers like I did.

We gave my Mom a lilac tree. Since I couldn't really wrap it I just tied on a big bow and then made a sign using my Silhouette (seriously, I love that thing!). I can't wait to visit my parents' house later in the spring when the tree starts to bloom - I love the smell of lilacs!

I hope all you moms had a special day of your own!

By the Batch - Gardening Edition

So the truth is that I didn't bake at all this weekend because I spent my time outside in the sun planting flowers in our front garden instead. I planted a lot of bulbs that won't come up until later in the summer so I added some pansies and violas to give us some colour while we wait. I'm so happy with the results and I can't wait for everything to bloom!

For those of you not interested in gardening, I do have some baking inspiration for you - floral cookies that are easy enough that you can make them without having a ton of artistic talent.

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Here's hoping that April showers are bringing May flowers to you!