• Blog - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: Winter garden edition

    Welcome to a chilly edition of T stands for Tuesday!

    T stands for Tuesday

    All summer I had been giving you garden updates so today I thought I’d show you my winter garden. Maybe I should rephrase that….my garden in winter.

    Last week before the temps dropped into the negative°F, we had a little snow that gave everything a lovely coat of white. Since I had to go out to shovel anyway, I grabbed the camera for a little photo tour.

    winter garden

    You can see my rosemary, sage and horseradish covered in snow. I have no idea of the herbs will make it but I’m not terribly concerned. I harvested a bunch for smudge sticks late in the season.
    winter garden

    I love how the snow rests on the fencing and flags.

    winter garden

    I decided to leave the flags up this year as they are quite faded and worn. I want to replace them next summer.

    winter garden

    winter garden
    How do you think the worms are doing in their tower? I hope they dug deep enough to survive the winter. Only time will tell.

    winter garden tea

    As for me…I’m drinking lots of hot tea trying to keep warm. The cocoa is for Mr. G…he’s taking a vacation day. Good day to do it too when it’s so dang cold! Especially since he works both inside and out.

    What are you doing today?

  • Art - Blog

    Order in Chaos

    I’m giving a new challenge a whirl today. Perhaps I’ll make a habit of it.

    tiot1 copy (1)

    Try it on Tuesday has the theme of Letters and Numbers for the first challenge of 2016.

    Order in chaos | Halle's Hobbies

    I will admit this is not my favorite page but it does reflect the chaos in my quote. I believe that I got carried away with the sprays. I should have stopped several squirts earlier.

    Order in chaos | Halle's Hobbies

    I was able to use up a bunch of number stickers that I thought would never get used.

    I have another idea in mind…if it ever warms up enough to hang out in my basement art space.

  • Blog - Crafts

    After Christmas crafts

    On Wednesday I was on a mission to get all of my errands complete before the snow then wicked cold snap was to hit. I went 11 places in just under 4 hours. Shockingly I didn’t spend a bunch of money either. I was hitting all the loss leader deals at various stores while still getting the essentials to last into next week. I wasn’t even planning on going to Michael’s but since I was just down the street from it I decided to check out the 80% off all Christmas deals.  I picked up the needed supplies to make a couple of wreaths.

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    Since we are putting away all of our Christmas decor today, it was now or never next year for wreath making. So I gathered my supplies and set to work.

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    I also had to find a video tutorial on the process of creating a deco mesh wreath.

    This one worked for me.

    What I didn’t comprehend was just how huge this was going to be!

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    It became painfully obvious that the scale of the elements I had purchased would be completely wrong.

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    I added some ribbon…and what appears to be a nice bow in the photo. Nope…just shoved the rest of the ribbon in there for storage until I can find someone to help me with the bow. Did I mention how much I suck at making bows!?! I called my crafty neighbor for help and evidently she lacks that skill as well. I’m thinking with the addition of a proper bow and perhaps some plastic Christmas balls this would work for an outdoor wreath.

    Next I set to work on a winter themed wreath. Something to take you through until Easter.

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    Did you notice the price sticker on the deco mesh…? Goodwill $2.99 and I used a 25% off coupon so it was really $2.24, sweet! The wreath base was purchased previously when I made my burlap wreath. I started out and realized that the green wire base was showing through in a very unflattering way. First I doubled the number of pipe cleaners on the base but the green still showed through. It needed to be white.

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    Lucky for me, the temps were hovering around freezing yesterday so I was able to give the base a quick shot of paint in the garage.  Honestly, I’m surprised at how quickly it dried. I was really worried since the can said not to use below 55°F.

    Isn’t it pretty!?!

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    I was making it for a gift but it looks so good on my front door that I think I’m keeping it. Shhh…

    Deco mesh wreaths | Halle's Hobbies

    I love the iridescent shimmer in the mesh. Perfect match to a cold winter day.

    Do you decorate for “winter” to carry through until St. Patrick’s Day or perhaps Easter?