The Rosy Life: spring

Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

A (diy) happy SPRING bouquet!

Good morning friends! Are you warm and well? Last week was cold and even snowed randomly and oh, so grey outside. It felt like it was close to night-time all day long. That combined with a headache a day or two had me almost desperate for something colorful and creative. I was browsing Pinterest (my fave) and suddenly an idea began to take root in my mind for a happy, spring bouquet. I pictured colorful flowers, things like butterflies tucked in for extra whimsy, and tiny, fabric flags standing tall in celebration of spring. I simply couldn't put the idea to rest until I'd seen it come to life with my own two hands!

The best part? The bouquet won't wilt if the watering is forgotten.

The girls and I headed to Hobby Lobby, where floral stems were half-off.

I started arranging a few yellow and pink stems in hand, tucking in a few extra treasures throughout the store, like the butterflies and bows.

Once home I made some yarn pom-poms (just search "yarn pom poms" on Pinterest) and attached them to colorful straws and kitchen skewers. I also cut some tiny, fabric flags and hot-glued them to skewers as well.

Once I had all my bouquet components ready I began to do the arranging. My favorite part!

I used a clean, recycled jar and put the bigger flowers in first, tucking yellow next to pink, and alternating between tall and short stems.

Last I added in the pom poms, butterflies, and fabric flags.

To make the jar a bit fancier I added two rows of ribbon and one of washi tape (the black and white stripes you see). I also hot-glued my last polka dot bow right in the middle of the ribbon.

The bouquet now sits on my dining room table and the word that comes to mind every time I see it is "happy".

We could all use a bit more happy, don't you think?

*Hint-this would be such a joyful gift for a friend!*

Don't just look. See.

I often get pegged as the "head in the clouds", super cheerful, always rosy kinda gal. The one who has a cliche' happy quote for literally any situation. This is actually entirely not true. Yes, I'm typically a "glass is half full" kinda gal. But I also struggle with being down in the dumps just like anyone else does. Maybe even more than you do. So when I meet someone or have a conversation where it feels like I'm being viewed as "cute" because I'm just so darn happy I'm always secretly thinking "Don't you need this as much as I do?" This rosy view on the world isn't a mission to draw a crowd. It's my real-life beckoning to worship, to counteract the discouragement and hard stuff of life. To put it quite simply, when I seek what I call "the rosy", I'm essentially seeking the fruits of the spirit in real life-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) This viewpoint isn't a social media campaign but instead as necessary to me as coffee, food, my family, and sleep.

The real truth is that life is both beautiful and very messy. And sometimes? Achingly sad. But you know what else life is? Jesus. He's the reason for it, my hope when I rise and when I fall, the whisper that urges me to slow down and not just look, but really see. Jesus is the roar that reminds me how mighty He is to save.

Around here we believe whole-heartedly in days or at least hours with "nothing" to do. Time where we can just simply be each week and decide what we'd like to do, whether that be go for a walk, paint by the creek, or play freely in the yard. One morning this week we weren't headed anywhere and I quickly glanced outside to see it was a pretty morning. I could have stopped there, with the pretty morning thought. But then this and that began to catch my eye and I excitedly threw my boots on, calling out to the girls and asking who wanted to experience this gorgeous morning with me. Betsy Grace threw her boots on too and romped through the pasture with me.

All of this was our reward.

Today, don't just look. See.

Our 2016 garden

Each year we try our hand at gardening. For us it's about more than just growing our own food. It's about gathering together around an activity, a rhythm if you will, that has meaning and purpose. There's almost no place I'd rather be than in the garden with dirt on my hands. In the art room with paint on my fingers is a close second.

We've lived in our home for five years. We started a garden in the backyard about 4 years ago I believe. But don't take my word for it, I really don't remember! We started with a garden half the size we have now.

Some years certain things grow beautifully and you are left with baskets and baskets of produce all needing your attention before it's too late. Other years the bugs or just bad luck has left us somewhat empty-handed when it comes to some vegetable types. Yet you can always count on at least a few things growing well, and tasting beautifully.

The girls are tremendous helpers in the garden and they wouldn't have it any other way. We don't "make" them help, they simply beg to all on their own! We try to give very good directions and do more showing than just talking. It's harder for a kid (or me!) to hear "Don't step on the vegetables" if you don't know what the vegetables look like. So for now it's lots and lots of showing. I can tell you one thing though, our girls are very schooled in all things "garden".

They also really like the taste of all these growing greens too. We currently have: radish, green onion, mustard greens, kale, and lettuce ready to eat. We've also planted eggplant, squash and zucchini, and tomatoes. We'll finish up with some peppers and see how this gardening season will go.

Putting my trusty black boots on is like stepping into an old friend. My best adventures have happened with these boots on my feet.

Seeing as I'm quite terrible at remembering what's what, this year I painted some garden markers and wrote the names of things on them with Sharpie.

It's also very handy for us that the girls' playhouse happens to be right behind the garden. That way if the girls get tired of helping they can scamper off to play and I can still hear them. I like that.

Of course after all that hard garden work we are often ready to sit, have a salad, and relax. Our back deck is our favorite spot to do that! We have thrifted finds, picked flowers from the farm, and string lights from Target. At night, this is such a happy little spot!

If you want a taste of what life is really like in the garden with the four of us, take a look below:

How about you? Do you garden or have any tips for us?

down at the creek

We have a magical creek on the farm. It gurgles and bustles with activity, especially when the girls send a homemade boat down, sunshine sparkling along the way.

The creek is my favorite spot to pray and simply breathe deep. It is my hiding place, our adventure spot, and the best ever in spring.

Take a virtual dip in the creek with this video!

DIY foraged wreath

This time of year is simply my favorite for so many different reasons. Mostly because our lives on the farm are very much dictated by the seasons and we are also very much outdoor people. In fact, I can't imagine not being an outdoor person. Gardening, eating outside, farming, roaming, foraging...these are the things our dreams are made of. It's no secret I adore gathering whatever I can find on the farm, whether it be wildflowers, vines of leaves, dried plants, or feathers. There is something so deeply satisfying about making something from seemingly nothing. I imagine I'll have quite a few blog ideas for using flowers and foraged finds this spring and summer! Today I want to start with this little time-lapse video I did of making a wreath from leaves and dogwoods.

If you follow along on IG you know I'm a work-in-process when it comes to video (well and in all ways really, lol). So here's my somewhat wonky, less-than-perfect video of how I put together this lovely wreath.

The final result!

You can see the first natural wreath I made already hanging on the bed. I made it the week of Easter and it has since then dried but still looks lovely!