A Happy Weekend To You!

I can't believe another week has flown by - so here we are again - ready to enjoy another beautiful weekend. We will be sitting up shop at our local Art in the Alley Festival. Should be loads of fun - always is - live music, food, happy people, talented artisans - all roaming up and down this quaint lil' alley in our small town. KUDOS to our local Arts Council for doing such a fantastic job!!

Here are a couple of pictures I thought I'd share with you - in case you are in the mood for a lil' plantin'. You know how I love to plant in anything other than a traditional flower pot - well, here are some sweet children's boots and a tricycle with a pretty red basket attached to it all filled with bright, happy flowers! Now in case you have something like your child's old tricycle or bike and you can't seem to part with - this would be a great way to bring it out of storage and enjoy it. Simply find a basket, either wicker or wire, attach with zip ties, and plant to your heart's content. Now these lil' boots came from a sale, 'cause I couldn't bear to plant in my son's first pair of lil' "frog" rubber boots. But I have to say, these yellow waders are tooooooo cute filled with marigolds and tied together with grosgrain ribbon for stability.

So have a fun, happy, and safe weekend!
Happy Plantin'
Cathy Cobblestone

Pretty Lil' Pillows

Well, this was my project for the last couple of days(along with peddlin' flowers and working on some orders). These are a few of the pillows I made for the "ART IN THE ALLEY" festival this weekend - held locally. It is such a wonderful event - so many gifted artisans there - which I do NOT consider myself - so I'm tickled to even be in their company. I'm so looking forward to having a wonderful time mingling with all the people who come from all over to walk up and down the alley in our beautiful historic town. If anyone is close, please come, you'll love it. Live music, delicious food and great finds.

I'm really trying hard to get lots of goodies made up - simply not enough hours in the day - but I thought I'd share a picture or two with you of this fun and easy project.

Simple instructions:
*Paint on a piece of canvas in a size that compliments your pillow - I actually used napkins - so there was hardly any measuring or cutting at all.
*Sew on machine or hand stitch canvas to front side of pillow
*Add buttons or any other type of embellishment you like
*Sew two sides together - I didn't turn mine inside out because I liked the frayed edges of the napkins
*Stuff and hand stitch opening left for filling
*I added a grosgrain bow because I just looooove ribbon - but you don't have to use a thing.

Fun, easy and oh so cute - perfect on a porch swing - or as an accent pillow anywhere. You could paint a monogram on the canvas or how cute would it be to put a baby's name, birth date and all those memorable details on there. It would be the perfect gift in colors to match a nursery.

Happy Creating friends!!!
Cathy Cobblestone

Working in the Fields Today

On this Memorial Day, the hay fields were calling. My better half is a "TRUE" farmer at heart - he has a real love of the land - and when he can be home and see a job through - he's happy - therefore I'm happy. We were fortunate today to have lots of help - raking, rolling, and bailing however, we couldn't beat Mother Nature. If we'd had one more hour without rain - we would have finished. But, Lord willing, there will be another dry day and we will start again. I'm thankful for having the opportunity to work, for being with family and for our safety.

And in case your wonderin', this farm girl was picking up square bales when I wasn't taking pictures! I had a GREAT day - hope you all did too!

I'm off to the cabin to listen to the rain on the roof!

Cathy Cobblestone

Wishing you a Safe and Blessed Memorial Day!

Just wanted to wish all my friends a beautiful, safe, and happy holiday weekend!
I'd like to send a HUGE thank you to all those who serve and have served our country in the military. Their sacrifice and that of their families does not go unrecognized or unappreciated. And especially remembering all those who have paid the ultimate price to defend our great country.

Blessings to you all!
Cathy Cobblestone

Thank You So Much

For all of you who have called, posted, sent e-mails - THANK YOU! I truly appreciate all your prayers and concern and it means a great deal to my mom to. She is doing better - it scared us all to death until we found out what exactly was wrong. She will be having laser surgery next week and the Dr. feels like he can correct the problem and she will regain her vision completely. Wonderful News and an Answered Prayer! I'm so grateful that she will be better soon and I'm thankful for my friends. Thanks again - so very much.

Cathy Cobblestone

Asking for Prayers

As many of you all know, my family is my strength. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful and loving family - but days like today, makes me realize just how quickly life can change. My mom has had something happen to her that I'm hoping she can recover from with the help of the Doctors. My mom is not in good health due to her diabetes and has "temporarily", we hope, lost her vision. I know I have a lot of "faithful" readers who are women of faith. So I'm asking for you to please remember my sweet mother, Brenda, in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

Cathy
- cherish each day -

First Pickin's

FRESH STRAWBERRIES - FROM FARM TO TABLE

My in-laws brought us the "sweetest" treat today - a bucket full of fresh strawberries right out of the patch. This was the first pickin' of the season from their vines. YUMMMMY!

So after a full day of garden work (after church that is) this was the perfect ending to the day. The delicious strawberries were made even a lil' better with a tad of sugar and drizzled over some vanilla ice cream and a fluffy biscuit. MMM...MMM!
Thanks MiMi and Poppa!

If you can, go find some fresh berries at a "u-pick" farm or maybe visit your local farmers market. Better yet, you might be lucky enough to have some of your very own.

Wishing you a great start to your week!
Cathy Cobblestone

Weekend Wishes

Wishing you all a beautiful weekend!

Cathy Cobblestone

All about the Shutters

First off friends, forgive me for not posting this week - in what lil' spare time I had, I was working on some projects for an article coming out soon - I'll fill you in on the "when and where" as soon as it's ready. There will also be two REALLY simple and fun garden projects you might want to try - I hope you like it - I'm so excited.

O.K. - on to today's story. I thought I'd share with you a way to incorporate shutters inside your home. I have to admit, one of my favorite things to decorate with is SHUTTERS. I have them hanging alone on walls, I used bi-fold shutters for part of a window treatment, I've made awnings out of them, shelves and the list goes on. They are just striking in their own right, I think.

As I've mentioned before, my farmhouse is really small - love it, I dearly do, but I like to find ways to make my home's features appear taller and larger than they really are. My windows are just standard size so, I hung all of my curtains and/or shutters on the outside of the window frame - trying to increase the width of the window. Nothing fancy, just a lil' something I like to do.

You can find shutters at your local salvage yard, garage sales, where older homes are being torn down, and sometimes free on the curbside (that's the best kind). Here is a snapshot or two of the shutters I found (4 for $40.00), I painted them black, whitewashed them a lil' bit and gave them a new home in my living room.

Happy Creating friends!!
Cathy Cobblestone

More Pretty Planters

I've told you all about how I love to plant in anything "non-traditional" - well, here is another idea - a coal bucket. I've had this one for years - it was painted this pretty gardener's green when I bought it and I finally decided to part with it. It caught the eye of one of my sweet customers, Rhonda, and she gave it a NEW, happy home.

The second snapshot is of an old enamelware rectangular pan - not for sure of it's original purpose - but it is much prettier filled with lush blooms of dianthus, verbena, phlox and geraniums.

Always encouraging you to "THINK OUTSIDE THE POT". Happy Plantin' dear friends!!!

Cathy Cobblestone

For My Mom

There is no greater gift than family - those that you love whole-heartidly and those who love you back unconditionally. I have been so incredibly blessed with a family that is close, giving, happy and so unselfish. I can not begin to express my gratitude to them - there are simply no words. Since it is Mother's Day this weekend, I must send a huge hug and mountains of love to my Mom. She's undeniably one of the kindest souls one could ever meet - generous, loving, always willing to help and a Christian woman. It is her desire in life to ease the burden of someone else or to simply lend a hand wanting no recognition in return. I treasure her, respect her, admire her and dearly LOVE her.

I also am grateful for the blessing of being a mother to my sweet son. He is what makes my life fun, happy and completely fullfilled. I strive to be the mother to him that my mom has been to me.

I thought I'd share a couple of pictures with you - one is of me, my mom and Casen when he was little. Sorry, I had to take a picture of a picture - it was the only one I had of us all together. The other is of my sweet lil' man - Casen.

Wishing you all a Happy and Beautiful Mother's Day weekend. Blessings to you all! Cathy

Thinking Outside the "POT"

Just a fun lil' project today - oh so EASY and very inexpensive - Can you get much better than that? Please forgive my pictures - I know they are a lil' dark - not enough hours in the day right now - during greenhouse season - so I snapped a few quick pics this evening just before sundown.

As I'm sure many of you do as well, I like to plant in anything other than the traditional "flower pot". Some of my favorites are old enamelware, buckets-rusty or painted, crates, wheelbarrows, sinks, you name it - if it is suppose to have another purpose, I like to try and stick a flower in it. So that's what this lil' post is all about - Thinking Outside the "POT".

These cans are from our local school lunchroom - which start the day filled with corn and green beans - but end up the day filled with pretty flowers and tied up with a ribbon. As you can see in one picture, I painted them - and attached them to an old bench (that wasn't safe for sittin') filled 'em with some vibrant color and placed them in front of my son's play area. The other picture, I left them plain (I like the way they rust)and tied some nice grosgrain ribbon around them. HOW CUTE!!

Last year, I helped with flowers for two weddings and we used these cans to decorate their tables. One wedding used lavenders and pinks, the other fuchsia, lime green and yellow flowers. All tied with coordinating ribbon and had a monogrammed key tag hanging from them. Both were outdoor weddings, casual but had RUSTIC ELEGANCE!!!

This is a great recycling project and so much fun to do - just don't cut your fingers! The cans are free - they just require a lil' cleaning!!! Happy Planting friends! Cathy Cobblestone

Tootin' The Horn of yet Another Friend!

As you all know, I love talking about my good friends - people that are so talented and soooooo kind!!! I always like to TOOT THEIR HORN and brag on them a lil' bit - 'cause they so deserve it!!!!

Well this last Saturday, Derby Day, is usually one of the busiest days of the year for us - this is because everybody thinks it is safe to plant flowers and a garden after Derby Day. Thankfully, we were very busy and we are so grateful for that - but that usually means no lunch breaks, actually no breaks of ANY kind. So surprise, surprise - one of my customers brought us some delicious homemade potato soup with shredded cheese and yummy hickory smoked bacon to top it all off. Now, how sweet was that!!!! Thank You Susie!

So as we were loading up Susie's flowers, she shows me this incredible birdhouse she had made - her first construction project I might add. It is so big - I don't know if you all can tell in the picture - but it was made of old wooden siding, rusty tin for the roof, old knobs and handles for the perches - well, it just stole my heart!!!! This should inspire us all to make one of these!! Can't you just see it on your front porch or on a big column in your landscape - it would look absolutely perfect anywhere - indoors or out!!!

So this post is for you Susie, thanks so much for your kindness - you made our day! And when you get your lovely bed and breakfast open - I'll toot your horn some more!!!

Have a blessed day Everybody and Happy Creating!!

Cathy Cobblestone

Wishing You A Basket Full of Happiness

Here's hoping you all have a beautiful and HAPPY weekend! It's Derby time here in Kentucky - which means watching the greatest horse race of all - "The Kentucky Derby", plus it usually means that it is safe to plant our pretty flowers. Even though we had frost two days this week - I'm SOOOO hoping the cold is over. I'm READY to do some plantin' - ARE YOU?

Whatever you are doing this first weekend in May - Be Safe and Be Blessed!!!

Cathy Cobblestone