I spent Friday afternoon crafting in the cottage! I had a couple wedding gifts to make!

One of my favorite gifts to give at a wedding is to frame the wedding invitation. I have been doing this for probably 20 years. A friend of mine framed my wedding invitation for me =)

The above wedding invitation is for one of my nieces. It was fun to create a card to match! I wish I was going to get to go to their wedding... it is on a ranch, with cowboy boots... LOVE!

This one is for a friend who is getting married in September, it was really hard to photograph with the darker paper behind it.

The little white flowers are one of my favorite decorations to use for weddings, they are a shimmery white, I add a little rhinestone in the center. Simple and elegant.

Another cute little card to match!

 Yesterday the hubby and I dropped all the old fixtures from the bathroom renovation and all the other items we have replaced in the last year and a half at ReStore. It was quite a few boxes... all the old outdoor lights, all the doorknobs, bath fixtures from ALL three bathrooms, even an old metal stand that held wood. We couldn't just drop off and not go in! I came home with 2 old wooden strawberry baskets $1.00 for the one on the right and $3.00 for the one on the left. An old wooden frame $2.00 and three pieces of wood (for more signs) for $.75 cents each.

 We ran into a little problem yesterday with the contractor... somehow he misunderstood the beadboard we wanted to use in the bathroom. It's all good now, but boy it was a little stressful yesterday. The contractor showed up today, as planned, materials all ready to go. The hubby had a couple flying gigs so off he went...

 I divided my time between yard work (remember that rose garden I talked about?) and creating in the craft cottage. After the contractor said his goodbyes for the evening I ran to get my camera to snap some pics of the beadboard, but wanted to cry when I saw how it looked.

 I almost didn't even want to post about it. It was a huge disappointment. I felt like I had made a huge design mistake! The bathroom was so beautiful before the beadboard...

then I grabbed a starfish, placed in on the little ledge and I knew it would all be okay in the end! It will be exactly what I wanted it to look like, just like my inspiration pictures!

 The grout in the bathroom is DONE!

 I am in LOVE with how it turned out!

 Just as I pictured...

 Victor did an amazing job!

 Now we are just waiting for our contractor to come back in and finish... he will be finishing out the cabinets, adding trim around the door and window, and beadboard on three walls. He should be here Friday. I was hoping to be DONE Friday, but not gonna happen =(

The plumber will come in next week to finish installing fixtures, tub, toilet etc. The shower surround will be installed Tuesday too! Then I can start adding the finishing touches =) The fun stuff!

While I was snapping pictures of the bathroom, I noticed the last rhododendron was finally beginning to bloom. Want a closer look?

I think the color may be my favorite, a pretty peachy color.

 We have soo many projects going on right now it's hard to keep track! Remember when I did a little updating in the laundry room? Well I removed some of the cabinet doors...

 The cabinet doors have just been hanging around for about a year now!

 I knew what I wanted to do with them... I took the hardware off and painted them.

 Loving this color... I think it is called Strawberry Field by Valspar. I am making the cupboards into chalkboards! I forgot to take pics of the others, I will post when I am done with them!

 I picked up four of these "drawer fronts (?)" from ReStore the last time I was there for .50 cents each. I thought they would be perfect for  a couple of signs! This one is getting painted the Strawberry Field color. I am thinking of having it say Strawberry patch... for the garden ;)

 I have primed all the trim for the contractor. It is sanded and ready for him to install.

The hubby has been busy too! He is revamping the fireplace! Wait till you see it now! What? You don't remember what it looked like before?

 Before I remind you of what the fireplace looked like before, I found these pics of the bathroom, before we moved in!

 Wow, eh?!?

Here is a pic of the fireplace, before we moved in. Ya, remember? The small hill and bushes are gone now too!

 A walk through the yard June 10, 2012.

 The garden is almost done! Above is the little herb box near the house. It contains parsley, chives, cilantro, peppermint and spearmint.

 I bought this on Saturday at the Farmers Market, yes I probably could have made one... but it was only $15.00 and for the price of the boot(s) and the strawberries, I figured it was worth the money =) Yes, those are strawberries!

 I am going to try growing some dahlias, fell in love with the color of this one, it's called Red Flame.

 I will plant them in the new garden box near the front of the garden with the transplanted climbing rose.

 I had some rusted metal chicken waterers in the chicken coop, I thought they would make fun planters. (I use plastic buckets in the chicken coop for them to drink from). I put 2 kinds of lavender and a pretty pale yellow chrysanthemum in each one. I placed one near the garden herb garden.

 The garden herb garden, so far, contains rosemary, basil, lavender, a transplanted herb that smells like lemons... any ideas? And lastly transplanted chives.

 The other chicken waterer with an old camp pot and an old copper container that the previous owners of the house left behind. The copper container contains a cherry tomato and more transplanted chives, the old camp pot contains more chrysanthemum and a succulent.

 This bed contains broccoli, cauliflower, bush beans and peas.

 This bed contains cucumber, corn and pumpkins.

 This bed contains tomatoes, jalapenos and eggplant.

 And finally the zucchini! The only thing I have left to do in the garden is to put down hazelnut shells in between the raised beds, I ordered them at the Farmers Market on Saturday and will pick them up next Saturday at the Farmers Market. The hubs still needs to build the gate too ;)
 I had planned on planting potatoes, which need to be weeded, again

 the asparagus...

 and the artichokes into the fenced garden area next spring, but I guess I don't have room! Ha! Oh well, they seem to be pretty happy where they are =)

 This is my next project area... meet my soon to be rose garden =) but I gotta finish a few other projects first! We are still working on laying new gravel on all the walks, laying river rock along the driveway and cleaning around the main pond.

We have apples on all three trees!

And plums on the plum tree I gave the hubby last year for his birthday!