End of Winter Window Box

I put this arrangement together for a dear friend this past weekend...and thought I should share. So easy! And such a pick-me-up as we wait for the first day of Spring to get here! A trip to buy the flowers is the first step....and so much fun to see what looks good together and gives your heart a lift. I was drawn to these sunny yellow primroses and cheerful daffodils......:)

and the periwinkle primroses added such a beautiful fresh punch!

I had an old pine box--reminiscent of a outdoor window box--that I thought would be perfect for the container. I recycled a plastic Target back to act as my liner....

Easy as pie....just some snips around the outside, and stretch and staple the bag to the inside of the box...and then you have protected the wood and your furniture from drips and moisture from the potted plants.

Next, before putting the plants in place, you want to remove any spent blooms (known as "dead heading") so that the plant will continue to push new blooms up. You can do this by simply pinching the stem underneath the old bloom, thereby removing it. At this time you will also want to remove the colorful plastic outer pots or wrapping so that everything around the base of the plants can visually recede....

Now we can begin to place the plants in the box, and work out an arrangement that we like.

For this window box, I used two Daffodil pots and six Primrose pots...lovely!!  Feel free to squeeze the pots in tightly to give you a nice full looking arrangement.

After the plants are in place, the dirt and black pots will still be visible. The finishing touch is to use green sheet moss to cover all of this up and further add to the feeling of a lush, mini springtime garden.

Floral pins can be used to secure it in place.

Break pieces of the moss off  and tuck around the base of the pots, and soften the edge of the box...

Makes me so happy just to think about it!.....

and then you have your final product...a lovely window box that helps bring Spring to your home a few weeks early!

Enjoy!

There's A New Sheriff In Town

Getting rid of clutter is harder for some than others...but not to worry. I am always there to gently nudge, kindly persuade... Even still, there can be resistance...

This isn't the motivational technique I usually use, I SWEAR...but , darn it! Now there are pictures to be used as evidence!

...made even worse when your husband gets a hold of the pictures, and has a little time on his hands at work...

(honey, couldn't you at least photoshop in a badge?!?? Or a ten gallon hat?? I mean, c'mon...)

Well, we here at The Rattlesnake Saloon hope you are kicking The Clutter Outlaws to the curb...and having a laugh while you do it!

(disclamer: I promise no hoarders were injured in the making of this ezine. Thank you to my assistant Jo Ann for making the find of an old 22 even more fun while we were decluttering...)

Signs of Spring

These cute Snowdrops looked so proud to have their picture taken. There are signs that Spring is coming everywhere...especially since our winter has been so mild.

As I went on my morning walk today, I heard all kinds of birdsong and saw all kinds of critter activity--everybody is excited for Spring! Busy! Busy! Busy!

This is the time of year when we all start to dream...bountiful vegetable gardens, forever blooming flower beds, hours to enjoy the outdoors...anything seems possible. What are you dreaming of with the days getting longer??

You Can Do This In 15 Minutes!!

What is the thing in your house that is most bugging you right now?  

A cluttered desk?

A kitchen drawer that is so jammed full of stuff that it is hard to open, and even harder to close?

Piles of clothes that haven't made it from the laundry basket to the drawer?

OR how about a refrigerator that contains sour milk & left-overs from The First Thanksgiving shoved to the back....?

It is easy when faced with these annoyances, to throw up our hands and feel powerless. We get disgusted with ourselves, question how we let it get so bad in the first place,  tell ourselves we don't have the time or energy to deal with it, and subsequently make the situation much more difficult by picturing it as a big hill to climb, a huge problem to conquer.

But it isn't....

YOUR WEEKEND HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:

1. Recognize, without judgement, that something is out of whack in whatever room you choose. Make it something that has been getting under your skin for a while...
2. Set a timer. Just 15 minutes.
3. Become the picture of calm determination.
4. Straighten, toss, put away until the timer tells you to stop.

Victory! Feel the power! YOU GO!  Employing the Do It Now Principle, you have just made it better...not perfect....but oh so much better. 

Perfect us is so overrated anyways...and it was what was keeping you from dealing with the problem at all in the first place.

I'm off now....I've got to go set my timer.

image via Etsy

Won't You Be My Vintage Valentine?

These sweet old Valentines were given to my mother when she was in grade school in the late 1940's-early 1950's. She had saved every one she had ever gotten, I think. :) I have had them set aside for years...just my most favorite ones I just couldn't part with... and I am so glad that I have them to share with you. My daughter was so upset because her class had voted NOT to exchange Valentines this year...you would have thought they had cancelled Christmas. She still very dutifully filled out one for each of her classmates last night, and muttered incredulously every few minutes about how she didn't know how SOME PEOPLE would choose NOT to give Valentines!!...

I can't wait to show these to her when she gets home from school today. So neat to see something that is from your grandmother's life when she was a girl just your age...

Happy Valentine's Day to you! Here's to a day filled with love and sweetness.....and chocolate!