Quote of the Week: Home

“My heart found its home long ago in the beauty, mystery, order and disorder of the flowering earth.” 

~Lady Bird Johnson

Photo credit: "V", by Lee Peiling

Handmade Birdie Baby Shower!

So my sister's baby shower was this past Saturday, seeing months of planning come to happy fruition! My sister is due at the end of July, and I am SOOO excited to meet her baby girl! :)

We decided on a handmade bird-flower theme for this garden baby shower, and scoured the internet for ideas and Etsy for shops that could help us bring the theme to life. I came across this great shop, lilsproutgreetings, for an invitation, sold as a digital file that we could print ourselves for the cost of printing a regular photo (I used Shutterfly). Here's the design I chose, and the wonderful way Amanda customized it for us (pink one)! Isn't it so sweet? :D





As shower favors, we decided on little packets of wildflower seeds with a little felt bird pin. I found some adorable mini plush birdie magnets on Etsy that I just fell in love with, from of Ella of ellaenchantedshop. She agreed to make a batch for us without the magnet in customized colors and came up with an adorable design, which we glued pins to! I divided a hummingbird-butterfly wildflower mixture into little glassine envelopes and fastened them with glue and a sticker with planting instructions. We wrapped them with pink baker's twine and paired them with a birdie.







The shower was held outdoors, and the tables were decorated with fresh flowers in pink and white. Lunch was fresh salads of all kinds, yummy drinks, and homemade cookies to match the pink and white deocrations. I contributed fruit salad to the garden brunch. I mixed watermelon, pineapple, red grapes, and clementines and sprinkled tiny little purple and yellow violas (from the plant I am growing) on top to make it pretty.





My sister loved the shower, and the favors and my salad were a big hit! :) Yay!

Pittsburgh Out Loud: The Orchids at Phipps Conservatory

Orchids are this ethereal, magical, mysterious species of plant that pull me in and enrapture me. Along with their tantalizing beauty come remarkable ways of adapting and thriving in even the most life-unfriendly habitats. I have two orchid plants (a Phalaeonopsis and a Cattleya) that are several years old. They are healthy, green and strong with new baby leaves every growing season, but no flowers whatsoever to speak of! Two others died, and two more I gave away to a friend who has a green thumb with orchids (they flowered for her within months- doh!). So I settle for trips to Phipps Conservatory to feed my desire to experience orchid-amazingess and the healing quietude of their beauty ... Here are some of my faves there...

Leisurely: Blossoms of Summer

A leisurely walk through my neighborhood turned up a plethora of brilliant summer blooms...