Life is a garden...even in January

Today has been a great day so far.  I just got done working in the garden for the first time this year  (and its not even February yet).  I bought some cold hardy plants from the garden store this weekend and planted them in my planters today.  It was chilly outside but this dry weather we've been having gave me the itch to get outside and play in the dirt.

 This is the first batch of plants I bought.  I had intended on putting them all in the same container but my eyes were bigger than my memory and they didn't all fit.  Which was fine with me, that just means I could buy more plants to fill another pot :)  I bought two double flowering helleborus, three cyclemen and three english daisies. 

 Here is my planter after I planted them.  It turned out pretty nice I think.

 It was nice enough that even the bunnies came outside for awhile and played in the dirt.  Last year we constructed a bunny pen in the shaded corner of our yard with chicken wire.  We had to make it high enough so Cocoa couldn't jump over it.  I tried using a nicer looking rabbit fencing that had larger holes, but Cocoa can jump right through it. 

Oreo behind a tree

 After I finished my first planter I headed back to the garden center to get more flowers and a shepard's hook for my large green pot.  My plan this summer is to grow flowers to attract birds and bees to the yard.  So with my giant green pot I put a shepard's hook and hung a hummingbird feeder on one side and on the other I will put a hanging basket with flowers hummingbirds like to visit.  For spring, I am going to plant flowers and vines that will attract the hummingbirds inside the pot and make a hummingbird "station".  Plants like trailing nasturtium, cape fushia, foxglove, and trumpet honeysuckle.  The honeysuckle is a vine and I want it to grow up the shepard's hook and fill in the space between the pot and hanging feeder/basket.  Right now I just have some pretty daffodils, cyclamen, pansies, left over english daisies and oxalis.  I also put another bird bath on the porch hoping to get some birds up close.

 Peeking from behind the log

 I used last year's dirt that I had used in a potato pot.  I switched out the dirt so I can use fresh soil for potatoes this year.  While I was digging out the other pot I found three large acorn nuts that the squirrels had hidden inside.

Pretty Spring flowers

New Blogs!

Schmidt's Garden Center, the wonderful business I am apart of just jumped on the Blogging boat.  I have a separate blog from this one that is more about gardening and the wonderful things going on at the store.  Any crafty things I work on over there will probably be posted on this site as well.  If you want to check out my new blog, or anyone else at Schmidt's go to http://schmidtsgardencenter.com/  On the homepage scroll down and click on the person's blog you want to see and it will redirect you to the new gardening blogs.

Thanks for checking it out!

Headbands

I just finished making a ton of headbands and hairclips.  I just love these.  I made them using felt and buttons.  They are for sale on my etsy shop. I've posted pictures below of some of them.  Go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/bunnygirl7 to check the rest out.

Backyard Birding

Over the holidays my dad brought with him a really nice canon EOS 30D camera with tons of lens and accessories.  We've been testing it out in the backyard and have been capturing lots of bird activity in the yard.  Here are some of the awesome pictures we've taken so far.


This little birdy is an Anna's Hummingbird. Thanks to gardening all year long in the Willamette Valley, these little guys winter over in this area. Thats why its important not to take your feeders down, so that these guys can survive the winter. See how bright his fushia marking is?  I've never seen a hummingbird this striking.

Anna's Hummingbird

 This forsythia bush doesn't usually bloom until February/March but since we had a cold snap early on and the tempertures have been pretty mild lately it has tricked itself into blooming early in December

Forsythia bud at night in December

Another Anna's hummingbird.  This one is a female and has been coming to the feeder everyday this winter.

This Junco was hanging out on the roof of this bird feeder.  Juncos migrate to the Willamette Valley for the fall and winter months and then leave during Spring and Summer.

A lesser goldfinch at a nyjer thistle sock feeder

This cute log cabin bird feeder was a Christmas present from Oz's brother and sister in law.  I love it so much.  Soon I am going to make a pole to set it on and create an elaborate feeder station.  This bird feeder has inspired many other creative bird feeding ideas for this Spring.

This Junco is already putting his new feeder to good use.

My favorite gnomie, Albus (yes, I named my gnome after a Harry Potter character)

Christmas photos

I know its a few days after Christmas but since my dad is in town I haven't had much time to blog about what I've been up to lately.  So here are a few pictures of Christmas and a few decorations.  I didn't do much decorating this year but it was a great Holiday season none the less.

Below are some pictures from the Christmas Eve party at Oz's cousin's house.

Notice that his hat has lights on it!  My grandma made this sweatshirt years ago.  I love the puff paint santas.

My dad and I

 A few of the nephews while opening presents from Santa

Here are pictures of our table top tree.  I found a metal bucket and filled it with rocks to keep the tree in place.  It turned out to be really cute.  We didn't add many decorations only because I was unwilling to dig through the storage unit to find our Christmas decorations  (lazy me...)  It still turned out pretty adorable.  After the New Year I want to place the tree outside and cover it with birdseed pinecone treats for the birds.

Table top tree

My favorite ornament this year

I love this owl tree topper

My new curtains from Ikea

These pictures are from Christmas morning after the destruction.  The bunnies had a blast running under and through all the paper and boxes.  They found some Christmas treats hidden within the mess of wrapping paper.

Cocoa and Oreo found some treats

I love my little bunny boy

She's so curious

Todd the Tim Rex

Tim wearing is new dinosaur apron

Last weekend was our staff party. Every year we do a secret santa gift exchange.  For my gift  I made a custom dinosaur apron for my boss's husband Tim.  I named the apron Todd the Tim Rex.  I guess I should give you a background story on how Todd was born. 

At work the day of our open house we were instructed to put on new, clean aprons.  Susan (our boss) tried to get her husband Tim to wear an apron.  Tim does not like to wear aprons, instead he usually wears a shirt with dinoaurs on it.

So I said, "would you wear an apron if it had a dinosaur on it?" 

"Perhaps....I shouldn't have said that,"  -Tim

And then my mind got to working on how I could make him a dinoaur apron, bought some fabric, used an old apron as a guide, and there you have it, the story of how Todd was born.


Below are some highlights of past Christmas parties

2008 we dressed as a fireplace (me), a Christmas present (Kaite), and a Christmas tree (Megan)

2009 we dressed as a gnome (me again), an elf (Amy), and Ms. Clause (Megan)

As a side note, our store has an on going joke about the elves invading the gnomes territory during the holiay season.  We thought it would be funny to show up to the party as a gnome that got hog tied by a Christmas elf and was dragged to the restaurant....There were a lot of funny looks from other tables in the restaurant.

December so far

Its been a very busy month so far.  I haven't had any time to work on projects worth blogging about.  Currently I am working on a secret santa present for our staff party tomorrow night.  I should be done tonight and post another blog. 

Tomorrow morning my dad flies in from Mexico.  I haven't seen him since graduation 2 1/2 years ago.  I can't wait to see him.  After picking him up we're going to IKEA.  Love it!  And then I'm dragging him to the Chtristmas party tomorrow night.

Other than that I've just been getting ready for Chirstmas and buying the last few gifts.  I've also been cleaning like mad the last few days and thats about it.  Not too exciting around these parts.  Right now I am looking out the window and watching all the bird action in the yard.  There are three little hummingbirds that are wintering over.  They are so fast.  My dad is bringing some pretty nice cameras with him...hopefully I can get some good shots of the birds with it.  There is one that has the most striking hood. 

Any hoot, thats about all for now.  I'll have more craft projects soon!