Pillow from scrap fabric

When no longer needed, I think baby blankets make useful fabric pieces to make into other things and this fuzzy blue giraffe blanket just begged to be made into a soft pillow.  First, I embellished one side with some left over brown satin ribbon from the stash pile of fabric and findings that accumulates each time I do a clear-out of a closet or drawer.  I used brown ribbon as this blue pillow was to be paired with another pillow, also brown.  Putting right sides together, I then stitched three and a half sides, leaving half a side open for later insertion of the pillow stuffing.  After turning to right side out, I squeezed in the pillow stuffing (acquired on sale at in Walmart), then hand-stitched the opening and lo and behold, had another cute pillow for my son's bed. This project took hardly any time at all as I did the laundry at the same time, making for a very productive Monday morning.

Flower arranging vase using several plastic bottles

I got this idea from a library book about upcycling where the guy took
a bunch of used plastic bottles of varying sizes, glued them together, spray painted it and then stuck flowers in it.  Instead of putting five of those little plastic shampoo, pill and lotion bottles into the recycle bin, I glued them together with that super duper E6000 glue -- that I got in Walmart for less than $5 and can be used to stick anything together -- then spray painted the cluster of little bottles when the glue had dried (overnight). I probably put on two coats of paint before deciding it was green enough, letting each layer dry overnight. I then stuck and glued some salvaged fake yellow flowers onto straws (you will probably recognize this re-use of green Starbucks straws) and placed them into the bottles which arranges them for you. This ended up being another cute item in my basement living room.  P.S. I just recalled the library book where I got this idea among others: it was "Upcycling: create beautiful things with the stuff you already have," by Danny Seo and has great illustrations and artsy crafty tips on how to do stuff that isn't too complicated and doesn't require a lot of tools and know-how.

Amazing Amaryllis Flowers Again in BloomingdaleDC House!

Amaryllis blooms again, maybe slightly smaller

I was stunned to see yet another flower stem starting from my $9.99 Walmart amaryllis bulb after it had previously flowered. We'd enjoyed a blaze of color during Advent and once the flowers died I cut all the stalks down. But Lo and Behold, this giant bulb shot out another stalk and this week, the first week of January 2012, I am enjoying yet another lovely blazing red blooming of amaryllis. I did not know these bulbs could generate two heads of flowers in one season. All I'm giving it is water and a lot of light and it's giving us glory. Hmm.... Wonderful! Amazing! Lovely!

Stupendous Amaryllis Blooms in Bloomingdale Kitchen!

The first blossom opens

Amaryllis almost fully opened

About three weeks ago I bought a very large amaryllis bulb for $9.99 in Walmart. The bulb was huge: about 4.5 inches in diameter and 3 inches thick. I stuck it in soil per the instructions and lightly watered it for a while and watched a lot of green shoots growing up quite quickly. I hoped it would bloom at Christmas, since the package said it would be a big red flower. This week, it has budded and at least one of the flowers has opened.  There are still three buds to open yet and there's a second flower stem as well which might open into another classic 4-flower head. In fact, there may even be another flower stem sprouting. So it's in the kitchen and I said to my husband, "Have you seen the amaryllis flower I've been growing in the kitchen? It's flowering." I should mention as an aside here that Hubster often doesn't notice things that I've changed in the house -- like the curtains, or a string of Christmas lights I've hung up, or a new wreath on the front door, but that's a guy for you -- anyway, back to the amaryllis. So off he trundled into the kitchen and gasped when he saw it, calling out "It's stupendous!"  Well, I agree, it's the largest one I've ever grown. And this is just the first flower! What a wondrous thing a flower bulb is!