How to Decorate and Re-Purpose a Mason Jar... or any Jar

Hello and Happy Friday!

It's a good day for working outside so that's what I did this morning.

I am in watering gear. It's a little early this year by about two to three weeks.

Spring here in the mountains is not the loveliest place but one has much hope 

when you add water and wait on the sun to work it's magic.

 Soon you see green wonders popping up everywhere!

I want to go out every morning to check on them all.

Today I wanted to show you an easy project. If you have mason jars or any 

other kind of jar sitting around, you may not want to get rid of them.

They can easily be used to make a vase or they can be used in place of gift bags

to hold those special items that you want to give to someone!

They can also be used as desk top containers for 

paint brushes, markers, pens, or cooking utensils in the kitchen.

I'm sure you could come up with other uses as well.

Acrylic paint works really well!

Choose your color and then apply two coats as you follow

the directions on the container for drying time. 

If you like the distressed look, take a piece of sand paper and

gently go over the places you would like to distress.

Then comes the fun part of embellishing in any style 

or theme that you want!

You could use sea shells, paper crafting cutouts or paper flowers. 

The possibilities are endless. 

Just have fun being creative! The materials for this 

project are very inexpensive and it's a simple project.
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What have you been doing?

Besides, working on cleaning up and de-cluttering, I made 

some whole wheat bread.

I will share my recipe sometime.

 We've had some very beautiful sunrises lately!

 This is over looking our little town in the early morning hours.

Jeff and I have been watching the crown. A very inspirational and interesting

series on Netflix. It's about the life of the current Queen Elizabeth. 

I highly recommend it if you enjoy history.




Thank you so much for coming by.

I appreciate you all so much.

 I wish you a very lovely weekend~

Tamara xo

She Wanted to be a Forest Angel~

It's a beautiful day here at our mountain home.

It's time to water and think of all the good things that

 warm weather brings even though last week 

I was taking walks in the snow.

We are so very thankful for all of the wonderful moisture.

Our thirsty ground just soaks it up.

*************

She first came to be in the thoughts of the 

keeper of the gypsy camp.

There was a fluttering of wings and a whisper

that said, "I love sweet flowers and the soft green mosses

that grow in the cool of the tall trees on the forest floor." 

And so the keeper of the Gypsy Camp began to 

envision her in her heart. 

Her mind took over and her hands began to 

gather all that she would

begin to use to bring this delicate,

 and magical angel to life.

She thought that a soft pink would suit 

for the season and the 

rich greens of spring in the 

forest would be perfect~

Soon her hands began to fly and after many hours 

of thought and work....

Flora the Forest Angel was

 ready to find her way 

into the world of the 

Keeper of the Gypsy Camp 

 and down the shady, forest path. 

Here she will meet many new friends and find 

many wonders as the 

magic and mysteries of 

her new life unfold.

She glitters and sparkles with happiness and

her wish is to spread her happiness all around.

***********

Thank you so much for coming by and 

please come again for more adventures 

in the life of Flora!

Blessings to you and may you 

find that you have angels in your midst~

Tamara xo

An Ordinary Matchbox Altered For Spring

Happy day everyone!

I hope that your week is going well.

I have been absent again! 

I'm not sure where the time goes but I am determined...

to figure this out!

And I'm actually praying about letting it go for awhile.

I love it but I'm not sure if I can make it fit with 

the other things that I've added this year.

I need to simplify my posts.

I joke with my husband (though it's very true!)

about how I am SO good at complicating things.

But I am learning to turn that around.

YAY!

The magic and beauty of spring can be found 

all around. I have been walking about and finding lovely surprises 

all over the yard. The most wonderful have been the two peonies

that I marked off of my list of survivors from last year's plantings.

I am so happy and excited about seeing them come up and am anxiously

waiting for them to grow!

I want to share just a little project with you today.

It's an altered matchbox.

I love taking something ordinary and making it pretty.

Do you like to do that?

I apologize for the photos.

They aren't very creative or even good.

 I  covered it with some pretty, spring paper and gathered some embellishments.

Ferns are one of one of my favorite plants.

So I picked some to use.

 Boxes are so fun to decorate for gifts, craft storage or for decorations. 

And the possibilities for decorating are endless!

This one is pretty simple. I do love losing myself in creating with details though.

***********

I have been so very busy with family outings.

This last week I had a spontaneous shopping trip

with my youngest daughter, a visit over breakfast with two of my daughters and

granddaughters. Thursday, we took five of our grandkids to 

see Beauty and the Beast.

Family outings are so special and celebrating

those relationship often and having fun

makes lasting memories that we'll always treasure.

This evening there's a girls night out eating dessert and going

to the movie to celebrate a daughter's birthday

and then.....

tomorrow dinner with our oldest daughter and SIL to

celebrate their anniversary..

WHICH WAS IN NOVEMBER!

HAHA! ;)

With a (very) large family, and packed schedules, 

it sometimes takes months to squeeze those special outings in!

 Having girl time with Liberty is something I try to do once a week. 

That probably sounds a little odd, but she's getting older and 

she is a good, kind dog. She deserves special 

attention and I love doting on her.

It's always a good time to work on adding a little color or 

something new to add some cheer to my home.

There's something warm and wonderful that happens to a room

when you add something new. I can imagine it smiling.

A bit like getting a new scarf or pair of earrings! 

This floral cheer came from a flea-market.

I loved the colors and it was only a dollar! I was so surprised....

I bought a pile of pieces to bring home and sew into pillows or something.

I have been reading the most wonderful book!

It is packed with inspiration and wisdom.

I will share it with you soon.

(I need to get busy on my posts!)

The excitement of what I'm learning in my personal life or

through my reading sometimes bubbles over and keeps me up late

journalling and drawing.

Do you ever have thoughts or ideas that you want to get onto

paper before you go to sleep at night because you know it will be vanish

while you sleep?

I loved this entry.. it came from the devotional:

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

I have to remind myself of this often and so it really spoke to me.

What speaks to you?

Well dear ones..

Here's wishing you a lovely new week!

Thank you for coming by. 

I hope you were able to take away something

with you that was encouraging or inspiring!

Blessings and hugs...

Tamara