Grasshopper find. A real live one in south Florida!

Found at Fairchild Gardens in Miami this past Saturday. I've been looking for one (and a praying mantis too). This guy looked like a mighty warrior with his tough exterior. I loved his color! 

A walk at the beach

This morning my friend, Karen and I went to Juno Beach (Florida) on the Atlantic Ocean, with her doggy, Link Link.  We got there just after 7am and the sun was just above the horizon.

Here is a view toward the Juno pier.

The sun was rising to the east and we turned around and look what was in the west sky! The moon!!!! Pretty cool.

Shells and seaweed everywhere.

Here are some seed pods I found down in the surf. My I.D. book has a picture of what looks like these same 3 dark colored balls and if I am correct they look like Laurelwoods. And a sea almond (in front)

A view toward the ocean through the canopy of Sea Grapes. Can you see all the grape clusters?

Here is a close up.

This was so pretty, and delicate I just had to take a picture. My book shows it as a Beach naupaka. So sweet.

Here is Linky playing in the puddle of the showers there.  He is a merle Pomeranian. His momma gave him a summer cut so he isn't as fluffy as usual, but looks like a cute teddy bear.

I have no idea what this is. Any ideas? We did not find it at the beach, but outside at the place about 3 miles west for breakfast! If any ideas, please let me know. We both took cuttings and I am trying to root it in water.

Here is my cutting (which is much perkier now), seed pods and a couple of coconut palm seeds I picked up.

Here is my I.D.'ing book.  I found it at John MacArthur beach park (on Singer Island, Florida) in the nature store there.  I have also seen them at other parks around the state.  I love this book. It covers beach plants, shells, birds, and much more.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the beach and my great finds.  Such fun, I tell ya.  We do not get to the beach enough, and tomorrow we plan on going again, and I will also take Doozey!

xoxo-Julie

New old kitchen knobs and pulls

My DIL moved into an apartment, and needed to find new hardware for her kitchen drawers and cabinets.  The cost can be very high, and a friend of mine (Thanks Karen) came up with the idea of painting the ones that were there.  It turned out to be a brilliant idea!  Here you see the old coloration on the knob on the left, and on the right is one that has been scrubbed with soap and steel wool and brushed with detergent.

Here they all are ( as you can see a sort of hodgepodge had been replaced in the old kitchen) after soaking in vinegar about 6 hours and after being scrubbed one last time with detergent and a toothbrush.  You can see they are not real brass, as some of the plating came off.  Some even had remnants of red paint or fingernail polish (I'm guessing) in the crevices.

Here they are after their first spray (upside down) with glossy black Rustoleum paint.

And now, they are all united with their new black paint job.  For some reason you cannot see the gloss on these so well, but they are really shiny!  More like the picture above. It was just what my daughter in law wanted.  She loves black!!! They have a real vintage (hey, they probably are) look to them!!!  Sweet!

Cupcake fantasy!!!

A few days ago my friend and daughter and I visited a beautiful place called Cupcake Couture, in downtown Delray Beach, Florida.  Man, the cupcakes were to die for and the shop is so adorable.  Here are a few we sat down to eat (with cappuccinos), or take home. All of the cupcakes were named after designers, and I can't remember all the names, except for the one I had, which was the pink and green one below.

Coconut:

Key Lime (named Lily Pulitzer):

Multi pack of small ones:

Red Velvet:

A few shots of the inside of the store:

Mural on the wall:

This tabletop looks like a shiny print under the glass, but it is actual jaw breaker candies in there!

I wish I could visit every day and try every flavor.  Some will be seasonal, like the one I really wanted, but they didn't have yet, ...with Apple cake and Caramel icing!  I'm definitely going back for that one.  They said probably October or November.  Too long to wait since I am already in a fall mood, and I really NEED THIS!!!!  LOL.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the cupcakes and shoppe.  So sweet!

Pony # 2

Here is Applejack. Will be used in my lampshade recover!

Embroidery lessons learned...

Well, I got a hair brained idea to try to embroider on a large old lampshade of mine.  Just for fun.  Make it My Little Ponies, for Emmie.  OK.  No problem.  She has about a thousand coloring book pages to make a pattern and embroider for my own personal use.  So I start to attempt to sew on this big hard to hold shade.  After 20 minutes, I feel my fingers are going numb and very sore.  I stop sewing because I need to get a thimble or three.  Next day I run out to get a beautiful leather finger cover by Clover brand, but instead I see a really cute orange silicone finger cover with a metal tip at end of finger to punch the needle through the darn lampshade with (same brand, Clover).  I decided this is the thing for me.  Wrong.  I get home, and soon discover that I do not push the needle through with the tip of my finger, but the pad of my finger.  So that one got returned.  Thanks to Micheal's, who took it back without a receipt and gave me store credit.  By this time I have decided NOT TO EMBROIDER DIRECTLY ONTO LAMPSHADE any more.  Another reason for this is because I had to sit with the lampshade to where I could direct light down inside while trying to find where my needle tip was on the other side (the inside of lampshade).  Rarely would I have the location correct due to the shadow on the needle!!!  All the more agony for my damn fingers!!!!!

Here is what I started that I won't finish now:

So bottom line is that I then started watching YouTube videos on how to make a new lampshade (which I figured I could do all the embroidery on prior to actually putting the fabric on the rings to remake the shade), but then saw a woman who decoupaged lampshades.  That gave my big silly brain something else to think about.  Now I have in mind to cover with different fabrics representative of each Pony, and have the embroidered one on each piece of fabric to end up covering the entire lampshade.
Here is my first complete pony, shaded with colored pencils.  I think she turned out kinda cool.

  Heck, we may just decoupage so she can help.  That would be real fun for her.  Knowing me (much more of a crafter, than seamstress), I bet I will decide to make it a fun, gluey mess.  Probably.  Should we add glitter too?  I'm thinking YES!!!!

Jungle Gardening!

A new style of gardening has just emerged at my house! I had moved all my shade loving, more tender plants from the shelves on my front porch to clean, and sat them around down under the shade of my 7 ft. high hibiscus row by the front door. Next thing I know they are THRIVING down there!!! They get enough sun even through the hibiscus, get only water from rain lately, and oh wow.....major discovery! They DON'T NEED ME AT ALL!!!!! Wonderful!!!

Since the hibiscus row is 23 years old, they are thinning a bit at the bottom....especially the side facing the front door! Great. Not so pretty. Well, when I sat those plants down there with a variety of leaf shapes and colors.....I liked it!!!! 

So today, while at Lowes for some totally unrelated item, I picked up three new plants to add! A very cute, lush spider plant, a lovely fall colors croton, and a gorgeous overhanging Hoya!!!! Well, bless my heart, joy has come back to me in the plant world. 

See if you can see all my hiding beauties! There is a pink tipped bromeliad, a succulent plant or two, and another small variegated Hoya, and two different types of pothos.I have always loved Hoyas, but they have NEVER been happy where I have had them before!

So welcome to my little jungle garden!!!!

This is fun!!!!!!

Still looking forward to cool, dry air here in south Florida! Waiting for fall.

What do you think of my little jungle garden? Where is your most interesting garden area? Would love to have you leave me a link to photos of your favorite areas!

Xoxo-Julie

New life to old cabinet

I found a perfect small hutch at the thrift store for my daughter in law yesterday. It fits perfectly into her dining area for a cute extra pantry. She loves animal print, so look what a did. Tacked leftover leopard print fabric into the frame around the inside of the glass panels.....so nobody can see inside ugly pantry storage area. I think it turned out perfectly and I made it a total surprise for her when she got home from work! I told her if she DIDNT like it, I would take it. So far, she seems to like it. The pull out drawer was made into a "junk" drawer, and the bottom storage is still open for whatever she chooses! How fun!