Picture Hanging Made Easy

For several years I've had this painting hanging in the upstairs hallway (bridge).  It's a nice enough painting, but always looked a tad lonely to me.  Unsure what else to put up there, I let it stay and just kind of ignored it.

Over the weekend I was in one of my favorite little shops in Winston-Salem, NC and I was drawn to a grouping they had displayed on the wall.  It had a lot of my favorite things in it.  Like ...

Bird's Nests and Butterflies

Antique elements and ...

lots of gardeny goodness.

The only problem was that in their display there were a lot of items.  Way more than I would be able to use, but yet the overall appearance was a look I thought might work well to replace my lonely painting.

So, I asked if I could talk to the lady who assembled the display in the store and she shared several helpful hints with me.  Her ideas worked so well for me that I thought I'd share them with you too.  For instance, she suggested that I look for different shapes and textures to include in my grouping.  She said that she often goes around her house looking for things.  Once the items have been collected, she suggested laying them all out on the floor to find a pleasing arrangement.

I came home and did just that, moving things around until I got them just the way I wanted them.

Her next suggestion was to trace around the items onto paper and then tape the papers onto the wall (I used painter's tape).  After I did this I went downstairs to see how it looked.  A few things needed to be shifted left or right, up or down.  This was so much easier than multiple nail holes.  Once Brett and I agreed that the placement was good, we measured where the hooks on the back of the items were and drew a little mark on the paper in that location.  We then hammered the nail through the paper, removed the paper from the wall and hung the item.

I have to say this was the smoothest hanging job we've ever done and there were no mistakes to correct afterward.  Hooray for that :).

I'm liking this look much better than my lonely little painting.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but the walls are painted a buttery yellow.

If you find yourself needing to hang a grouping of pictures, you may want to give this method a try.

Play Time

I'm taking a break from my Easter decorating to visit with you for a few minutes.  First and foremost, I want to extend a big Thank You to all of you that stopped by to visit on Note Card Party day.  It was so much fun to meet so many new people and I'm slowly making my way to your blogs.  If you didn't get a chance to participate this time, there will be another one next month so you may want to check it out at Vee's blog.

If you've been around here for very long, you know that I have a love for vintage children's books.  Most of them are in that secret hiding place in the guest room.  However, when I was assembling a little Easter vignette today I decided to bring one of the books out of hiding.

It seemed to be the thing that was needed to pull the vignette together.  I remember having this book as a child.  It has the sweetest pictures. 

While out thrifting one day I found this cube shaped display case.  It was a natural wood color.  Hubby took it all apart and I spray painted the wood white.  Hubby put it all back together (I don't care for that part :) and voila another place to play. 

Speaking of playing, I hope you find some time for play this weekend.

Vee's Note Card Party

I'm joining the Note Card Party hosted by Vee at A Haven for Vee.

Vee asked us to select four photos from our blogs that we would like to turn into note cards.

This proved to be a fun challenge.  I originally thought four note cards would be one for each season, but as I pored through my photos I changed that thinking to four flower photos from my garden.

~~ Early Summer Hydrangea ~~

 

~~ First Rose of the Morning ~~

~~  Morning Glory, Glory Hallelujah ~~

~~ An Autumn Visitor ~~

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Vee for hosting the party.

Monday Morning Musings

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

Was your weekend a good one?

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

We celebrated it a day late.  I've been making the corned beef and cabbage dinner ever since my boys were little guys.  This year they were busy on the 17th, but still wanted the traditional meal, so we had it yesterday instead.  I did something different this time with the Irish Soda Bread.  I follow Betty Crocker's recipe, but this year I added some orange zest and it was yummy.  A subtle yet delicious change which I will do from now on.

In my last post I was anticipating the first bloom on my tulip plants.

It turns out I didn't have to wait long.

Yesterday morning I looked outside and saw them popping out.

A Kodak moment if ever I saw one ;-).

I don't know about you, but I have a deeper appreciation for my flowers since I entered the land of blog.  Prior to blogging I would have thought they were pretty and might have taken a picture or maybe not.

But there's something about taking a multitude of pictures in hopes of ending up with one that looks good.  I guess after getting down to the flower's level and really looking at them I gain a whole new appreciation for every beautiful detail.

It's a perfect opportunity to really take time to smell the flowers.

In my pre-blogging days I rarely took pictures.  I find that hard to believe now.  In fact I don't think I even know that person any more :-). 

Speaking of picture taking ...

have you heard about the Note Card party at Vee's?

In a nutshell, we are to pick out 4 note card worthy photos from our multitudes collections and do a post about them and then we get to visit all of the other participating blogs to enjoy everybody else's favorite photos.  This is all happening on Wednesday, March 21st.  I'm so glad I don't have to work that day ;-).  More time to party blog hop. 

You can read more about Vee's party by clicking the link on my sidebar.  It sounds like a fun and inspiring way to kick off the spring season.  Although, it is feeling more like the start of the summer season in a lot of the USA.  How's the weather in your "neck of the woods?"  We're headed for 82 degrees today.  From what I read in the paper this morning a lot of the Midwestern states are going to be in the 70s and 80s too.  This is March, isn't it??  Does anybody still have snow?

Well, I'm off to do a little Easter decorating now.

Despite what the temperature reads, when the tulips are blooming I know that Easter can't be far behind.



Tulip Time

My wooden shoes and I are ready and waiting...

for just the right time to head outside and ...

love on the tulips!!

Looks like we won't have to wait too much longer.

I'm so glad I remembered to plant them last fall.

;-)

While Waiting for the Birds to Bathe . . .

This morning I spent a little time in the garden.

Every day there's something new happening out there ... flowers popping out of the earth, trees going from bud to bloom in the wink of an eye, fresh air blowing and birdies singing their little hearts out.  I don't want to miss any of it so I try to get out there for a little walkabout to see what's new on a daily basis. 

Today after my little walk, I filled the birdbath for the first time since last fall and then went in the house to do some work.

It wasn't long until I saw a lot of activity outside at the birdbath.

I watched robins followed by a blue jay, a cardinal, more robins and then a huge blackbird all splashing around in there.  I tried to take some pictures through the window, but decided I'd probably get better ones if I went back outside.

So I headed back out and sat on the patio ... very, very quietly.

I waited and I waited and didn't see a single bird bather.

I was getting a bit bored so I tiptoed back into the house to fetch a few tiny vases and a pair of scissors.



This wee little vase is the perfect size for a few pansies.

A week or two ago this plant had 3 blossoms on it.

I fed it with liquid fertilizer once, trimmed the dead leaves off and it is covered in blooms now.



My sister and I bought this vase at an antique shop in Michigan.

It was in the early spring and we were at our wits end with the long winter.  The shopkeeper had it sitting by the cash register with a few pansies in it.  We named it Pansy Man.

Once Pansy Man was filled with pansies, I checked out the birdbath.  Nary a bird in sight so I tiptoed back into the house and prepared a cup of hazelnut coffee.



While enjoying my coffee, I filled the other little vase with some rosemary and tete a tete daffodils.

Time for another birdbath check ...

not a one to be found ... I guess I scared them away or maybe they are just shy.

Either way, it was time for me to get back in and get to work.

On the way back in I noticed a pansy in a place that I hadn't planted it and thought it was so pretty.



Wouldn't you agree?