Back in October I planted up tons of bulbs; tulips and daffodils in big pots and crocus, tiny narcissus and grape hyacinths in smaller tubs. I planted pansies in the big pots to give a bit of interest over winter, which despite it being quite a lot colder this winter than last, have had flowers all through. We had one mild week recently causing the bulbs to shoot up and I discovered some crocus starting to flower, and the pansies have put on lots more flowers. A sunny day the other day actually made me grab my camera to take some pics of the crocus as they only open up when it is sunny.
I've also been doing some crafty stuff - decorating terracotta plant pots and saucers for houseplant use. These plain pots are much cheaper than buying decorated cache pots and so long as you have the colour paint you want (or can mix it), you get the colours of your choice too! It hasn't really been going out or walking weather much so it's good to have something to do, especially as I enjoy it. I've just ordered some crafting supplies to try my hand at decoupage as well.
We have booked to go on four day trips with Birding Languedoc but they are not until April and May - preferable really due to hopefully warmer weather 😀, but the earlier dates are places we have been to already. Due to Covid restrictions we can only have a group of six maximum (at the moment), so with the organiser, the pro birder and us two, there will only be two other people allowed. In a way that's great as we can spend even more time grilling Karline, the pro, about her bird knowledge! I just hope we don't have to go back to full lockdown......
Right, on to the pots!
I inherited these terracotta pots (and many others) with the house. I also inherited a pot full of bulbs which turned out to be Tete a Tete narcissus and grape hyacinths so I have mixed them up with the crocus. I think there may have been some other things but they were jam packed and they probably didn't all flower. There's something in the middle of the pot above which I'm not sure what it is - time will tell!
Some of the daffies are up already with visible buds, but for the moment I'm happy just with the colourful pansies. I was given a couple of free punnets of 10 plants when I bought two punnets - the lady running the place said as we were regulars it was a gift. We'd only been there twice before!
The solar lamps are still lighting up this area at nighttime, though the light is weaker than it is during summer. The little pot is the one that had the Tete a Tetes in it, and is pretty. It's been painted to look like rust round the edges.
Onto my plant pots indoors. I've done some stencilling on some but many of the stencils I bought have very small holes which are difficult to get paint into without it bleeding underneath - like this tiny text. I don't care though as who is going to inspect it up close apart from me? 😁
These next pots are in our bedroom.
I decorated the photo frame as well - that's me about 20 years ago!
The painting on the wall Keith bought me about 20 years ago and it reminds me very much of Les Baux de Provence. I just love the colours which go with the duck egg of the bedroom. I lime waxed the frame. Keith made the mirror frame many moons ago and the Camargue horses photo came from Mum's neigbour who used to sell her photos. The white furniture here and in the photo below were inherited with the house. The Mother in Law's Tongue plant was long and straggly and I bought it home from Mum's house - since then it suddenly had four new shoots which surprisingly have a different pattern on the leaves, which are also much shorter and wider than the old ones - its the old part of the plant hanging off to the right that you can see. I repotted it but it already needs repotting again!
We have always had wooden furniture and wood effect wardrobes before but thought it might make a nice change to have the white. We used to have hot autumnal colours in our bedroom; these are now in the spare bedroom downstairs. There's a second corner wardrobe as well as matching bedside tables - we did quite well buying this house. 👍😀
A view of the bedroom. One day I'm going to strip the wallpaper but repaint with duck egg blue in a more bluey tone (I already have the paint!). The colours are a bit odd in the photo as the throw and cushion on the chair look dark but they are much lighter in reality, and the duvet set, which I thought was duck egg in the photo online, is actually grey 😒, though in reality it does go better with the duck egg than it looks in the photo! By the way the reason the bed looks lumpy is that we finally decided to have separate single duvets - the best decision we ever took as there's no more tugging the duvet or cold drafts down the back of your neck! I also have a much thicker duvet in mine than Keith does (as well as an electric blanket, haha!).
These pots are in the office. I did the black image on tin can last winter - it's a very cheap way to make plant pot containers for small plants, or as pen containers for a desk, etc. The image on the left is my first attempt at using waterslide decals and the moth was just printed out and glued on. I've done several pots (and lampshade bases) with the sisal string. I didn't even have to buy it, it was knocking around the house already!
Who can name the moth? (Caroline 😀)
This blue one is in the living room where I have a lot of blue accent colours. It's Keith's favourite of the pots that I have decorated, and I'm very pleased as we discovered the copper acrylic paint in amongst all our tons of painting paraphenalia, no idea when he or I bought it but it covers really well straight onto terracotta!
Where am I getting my ideas from? Pinterest! It's an absolutely brilliant online resource for all things crafty, plus any number of other subjects. I have gained inspiration for room decorating and ideas for making some decorative objects for the garden. The only downside is that we no longer have loads of bits of scrap wood after our barn fire at the last place, so I need Keith to buy me some wood for ideas that I have for the garden.... this kind of decoration requires less hard work than looking after plants! Though I will of course have a few more shrubs and plants in the garden in due course.
Here's a link to my Pinterest account if you are interested in following me there. I have quite a few pins.... 😁
Finally a view of my crafting space in the garage. It's chilly in there so I wear an old jacket, which is already covered in paint. 😂😁 I have a gardening/potting up space up the other end of the garage.
You can see how long our garage is, which has been handy for all our 'stuff', despite having lost about 60% of our 'stuff' in the barn fire. Where does it all come from?!!!
Hope you are all surviving lockdown/curfew/whatever restrictions you may have in your country. I know it's tougher in the winter but spring is very much on the way. Take care xx
