A Beautiful Difference..

I don't know if most really stop to consider what a difference flowers planted outside your home makes.  I put out my pots, with my red white and blue flowers that'll take me from Memorial Day through the 4th and it looks so pretty!  I had to buy new Boston ferns, my others died, so I re-potted them in the hanging baskets and it gives such a great pop of green to the porch.  Those go perfect with our style home.  These guys are still babies yet, the biggies are about 20 bucks each so I just spent the 8 each for these, and when they grow big and wide they look fantastic!  Sometimes I get lazy and aren't as diligent with the watering, but I need to stay on top of it because it makes just a gorgeous finish on an already pretty house.  I also potted a new azalea that has pretty coral colored flowers when it blossoms.  That I keep at the top of the steps. 

This past weekend was so beautiful, I whipped up a batch of beignets from the mix that I bought at Cafe DuMond's store when I was in New Orleans and some of their chickory coffee and the hubs and I relaxed on the porch just enjoying.  It really lends itself to that sort of vibe!  Here are some pics of just how nice it looks out there-

I 've also been working on a swap hosted by Sondra over at Memory Makers.  Handmade flower embellishments.  I love it!  I just love flowers, so I am looking forward to getting a slew of em in the mail.  That is why I love swaps so much.  You get goodies to use for scrapping and all it costs is the postage for the most part.  Us scrappers usually have so much in our stash, we rarely have to buy things for the swaps.  Here's some pics of those-

The 1st one is without the pearl or stickles, adorned, and then with some bending and rounding with a toothpick to shape the petals a bit more.  I inked the edges with a gray ink for some pop.  The paper I've had for a few years.  It was in a pack I got from costco and it's all handmade paper.  Hope everyone likes them.  They aren't small, they're about 3", and I cut them with my BigShot die.