My Style | Love, Laughter, and Life

October 5, 2024
by Angie 6 Comments

2024 Pumpkin Report

Despite the disappointing beginning of repeated plantings, low number of sprouting seeds, and nibbling of sprouts by bird and pest alike, we had quite a successful pumpkin harvest. And I say bring on fall! I love pumpkins and I love autumn! Decorating with homegrown pumpkins is so rewarding.

Read to the bottom for the final count. The photo above shows the “big” pumpkins from the garden. In the carving world, they really are medium sized to small, but in my garden, they are the big ones. Also notice the random yellow squash. I harvested 2. I replanted zucchini and yellow squash multiple times. The end results were zucchini: 0. Yellow squash: 2.

The table above was one of our distribution points. Pumpkins available for adoption were placed on the lovely garden table made earlier this year by my honey.

Above is yet another adoption table, covered with the big pumpkins. This table was also made by my honey, but a few years back, so it has lovely weathered wood.

Above is the first harvest of the minis. So cute and adorable, and perfect for every nook and cranny. I will definitely plant these again. They are so much fun, and pretty aggressive climbers. We watched them creep up sunflowers, pine trees, and any other item taller than themselves. Note, this is another table made by the honey. This one is fresh and needs weathering.

The hand belongs to my grand, Donavyn. He is the one who arranged the minis by color. I loved that! Donavyn and Autumn were thrilled to help with the pumpkin hunt and retrieval.

This is the final harvest from the new planting box out in the pasture. Whoa! A surprising number of big and small pumpkins. Plus, I had tossed in sprouting potatoes and other compost at the “fill the box with stuff and dirt stage,” not thinking what might happen. Potatoes happened! I pulled out the “weeds,” and potatoes were attached to the bottom! How fun is that! That’s why I like experimenting in the garden.

Drum roll please. The final totals for pumpkins harvested this year are:

Big pumpkins: 42

Mini pumpkins: 87

Thankful for a great harvest! Bring on fall.

September 21, 2024
by Angie 6 Comments

History of the Garden Arbor

It’s fun to go back and look at pictures to see how things have changed over time. Our garden area is constantly changing.

The garden started with three simple garden beds placed in the pasture, which used to be mostly dirt and weeds. As you can see, it was already looking good with “greens” growing.

Frequent feathered guests foraged in the pasture and wide-open garden beds. Which transitioned into even more visitors, of the furry and voracious garden eating variety. The chickens were fine with me, but when bunnies ate down all of my plants, something had to be done.

My honey put a low fence around the whole lot. The main purpose was to keep the bunnies out. It worked great! Actually, the fence is so short, most of us can easily step over it. But the bunnies were befuddled and my plants could grow free.

And then. I found one of those old metal chain-link fence gates while visiting my buddy in Seattle. One of those “free yard sale” treasures! Guaranteed to make my honey whisk his eyebrows up when I drove into the yard with my little Mazda packed to the gills. Gate included. So, we added an easy access gate. By we, I mean him. 😉

And then. I really wanted an arbor. Over that awesome gate. We had this other piece of metal junk hanging in our shaded car park area. Just an old rusted metal grate of some sort. I think it was left on the property from the previous owner. And ta-dah! Instant unique arbor! Instant for me. A bit of hard work for my honey and Taylor.

I might add how HEAVY that thing is! And I am blessed to have 2 strong guys to let me come up these wild ideas and they make it happen. Oh, and it’s rusty. One of my favorite garden colors and textures.

My honey bought me a honeysuckle plant for Mother’s Day. You can see it above just starting out. Below, you can see I’ve been working on training it up. It’s nearly reached the top!

And here we are today. I just took this picture. It smells so good! Last week I stood and watched a hummingbird feast on the fragrant blooms, for so long that I wandered off before it did. That is my kind of garden.

Ahhhh. The garden continues to grow and change.

What about you? Any big changes in your garden or yard over the years? Any cool rusty items??

Sunday Thoughts

September 15, 2024 by Angie Leave a comment

August 23, 2024
by Angie 8 Comments

Free Yard Sales, Wood Scraps, and Homemade Table (Kevin’s Woodshop)

Welcome to another issue of Kevin’s Woodshop. In today’s story, we will hear how free yard sales, repurposed wood, and a little elbow grease contributed to this lovely weathered outdoor dining area.

FREE YARD SALES

Recently I visited “free yard sales” with my friend and fellow thrifter, Alyson. We love the thrill of the hunt. Free is an awesome word! My prize for the day is pictured above. Four solid metal framed wood outdoor chairs. Friends, that is what we call a SCORE. At this point in the “free yard saling,” I was cut off. No more stuff. Well. We only had her small car. Tetris in the car is the name of the game. And the limit to the thrifting.

I was so excited to haul these babies home. One of my favorite sights when I pull in the driveway after being away is to watch my honey’s face. My car is small, a Mazda four-door. BUT it works big! Like a truck. I call it my truck. I can get huge items in my little white truck. But not a gun safe. That is a hard limit. That’s a different story, but we did try.

I follow my husband’s eyes as I back around so we can unload my haul. Heh-heh. It’s almost more fun than scoring the “treasure” from yard sales or thrift shops.

He shakes his head. In wonder, I’m sure, amazed at how thrifty I am.

And proceeds to help me figure out how to reverse the process of filling my little “truck” with stuff. What. A. Guy.

REPURPOSED WOOD

We’ve been weathering our deck wood for a few years, always considering when it would be done to our satisfaction and what project required the updating of the deck so we could use the old wood.

Ta-dah! A taller patio table was needed to match the lovely free yard sale chairs. Time to rip off the deck wood.

Perfectly aged to that gray beachy tone. Some people work in clay, watercolor, textiles. My honey works in wood scraps. The older the better. The wood imperfections create challenges, sure, but the results are unique and wonderful.

HOMEMADE TABLE

Woodworker Kev got right to it. As I mentioned, aged wood often requires ingenuity and rethinking. That was certainly true with this table project. Some pieces were warped, so the framing had to be redone. He is so good though. Just look at that beautiful table! My style for sure.

Now we can dine al fresco (as long as the weather holds). Though we have to first wipe off the sunflower shells and debris from our guest goldfinches, sparrows, and red-winged blackbirds. After that, it’s sit and chill time. Ahhhh.

And so concludes another issue of Kevin’s Woodshop. Readers, do you enjoy old wood? Free yard sales? Thrifting? Dining al fresco?

Do tell.

July 18, 2024
by Angie 7 Comments

Homemade Tables Using Wood Scraps

My honey LOVES using up scrap wood to make garden tables. Mostly for me. 🙂 But he has gifted them to others.

Here are two of the newest projects. The small table used 2 slates from an old outdoor table and wood scraps from other projects. We always use the tables he makes outside and let them weather naturally. But this baby is inside Huckleberry Hutch, sitting perfectly beside my reading chair. Already topped with books. I might have to sneak it out sometimes to get some weathering going on.

Monet approves of this table. Actually, she approves of both tables.

The second table is also composed of wood scraps. It is solid! I love the long length and the design. This will stay outside where the elements will weather it to a lovely gray. We are using this one on the patio just outside the abode. Perfect!

I love the new additions to my Huckleberry and garden. Save those wood scraps and you can make awesome creations as well! Thanks, my love.

Sunday Joy

June 9, 2024 by Angie Leave a comment

May 31, 2024
by Angie Leave a comment

Haiku Moment

hot melty day means

shade magnet, but first admire

sun hula hooping

by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley

May 9, 2024
by Angie 8 Comments

Flower Hammering & Mixed Media

Here is what happened in round 2 of flower hammering. I tell you, pansies make great prints! I don’t have much else of substance blooming yet in the garden, but I’ll keep experimenting as the season goes along.

This is what the cover paper looks like after hammering.

I tried hammering this batch of flowers on paper I’d already added color to. It turned out very nice by the end, and the flower prints give great texture. But I was a bit disappointed that the prints did not turn out as well as I had hoped. At least the yellow/orange ones did not. You can barely see the stem I tried, and darker bits where I added leaves.

The poor smashed flowers.

Here is try number 2. You can see where the prints on the previous page soaked through, which is cool. There is some beneath my arranged flowers as well. The bleed through is at least 2 pages worth. This page is all white except for some bleed through. I crammed the flowers, leaves, and stem with the hope of getting plenty of color.

This is how the back of the cover sheet looks after hammering. Things tend to move around a bit. I start out with the cover paper straight, but by the end, it’s all twisted. It’s hard to hold it still and not hammer your fingers!

Oooooh, yes! This is where I’m getting results. Just look at those pretty pansy faces on the white background! You have to gently peel off the petals, or in some cases, just let them dry and rub them off. Bonus: The cover page also has wonderful colors! I’m saving that for another project.

I LOVE this! I haven’t done anything else with this flower hammering page, but the ideas are brewing. Growing? Smashing? ;0

I did go back to the green background page and finished that mixed media project. I LOVE how it turned out! This is one of my favorites so far. The smashed flowers really add texture and the greens tie in so nicely. I saw another creator (several actually) who added circles to their art. So I played with some gold glitter acrylic paint. Wow! Perfect touch. You can see the other materials I used on this page.

Et voila! Stamp pads, rubber stamps, hammered flowers, chalks, washi tape, acrylic paint, colored pencils. Plus a stick for painting and an empty tape-dispenser plastic disc for the circles.

Have you tried flower hammering? Or creating of any kind? What is your favorite trick?

February 16, 2024
by Angie 4 Comments

Let’s Talk Hobbies

Hey, friends. If you’ve been checking out my blog for any length of time, you may know a few of my hobbies. Gardening. Photography. Books. Reading. Cats. Tote bags. Grands (though they are not this far down the actual list, were I naming things in order of importance). Bible. More books. Art. Chocolate. Travel. Exploring. Seahawks. Oh, wait. I don’t post about the Hawks. But I LOVE watching them. (And it’s a LONG time until football season.) RV living. Hiking. Heart rocks. Beach time. Food. Thrifting. Reading. And books.

Let’s not forget-rubber stamping-the topic of this post.

Last year was an anomaly for rubber stamping. Because of surgeries (2), planning for and enjoying a lovely trip to Europe, taking my grand to the beach when he turned 10 (a Nana tradition for the grands), work, writing, and so many other things, my rubber stamping time was cut to the quick. My stash of handmade greeting cards is in the red. My creative muscles did not get much exercise.

Friends, it’s already the middle of February! This year will probably go as fast as last year, but I hope to exercise those creative muscles much more in 2024. Time to get this hobby in shape!

To kick off the year, I spent a part of last Saturday making a huge mess with my stamping supplies. Those rubber stamping muscles are so rusty! It took me quite a bit to get going. And I have to admit, I create better in the company of fellow creatives-the stamping buddies. Hobbies with friends is best.

But I persevered. I managed to make 8 cards. The struggle was real!

We watched the Super Bowl. I continued my personal Super Bowl of stamping by creating as I watched the game. Ended up with another 20 cards. All one basic design, but I will count each one as a win. My honey uses my cards in his job as chaplain and celebrant. Due to lack of rubber stamping exercise last year, even HIS stash is super low!

I wasn’t going to make valentines. But then I was inspired with one more idea as I was playing with a set of stamps I recently found at a thrift store (see above list of hobbies: thrifting). For one, I’m so proud of myself for actually USING a new/old set! For two, I made 12 more cards!

The mess is real. It’s still spread hither and yon. All worth it.

What hobbies do you enjoy? Let’s hear about it. Maybe I will find a new hobby!

February 5, 2024
by Angie 6 Comments

The Birthday Girl = Breakfast and Thrift Stores

Happy birthday to this beauty! Jamie Lee!

My annual tradition is to take my grands on a birthday date. We enjoyed breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This year I decided I wanted to take my adult children out on a birthday date as well. Because. Well, they are pretty important to me and we never get the chance to just visit. Plus. Heh-heh. I get them all to myself!

We kicked off our date with a delicious breakfast at the White House Cafe in Yakima. I’m telling you, the special touches were so adorable! The whole house is currently decked out with hearts. And all things white. So many sights to see and enjoy.

Even the water glasses were delightful. Look at those little heart-shaped cranberry ice cubes with a wedge of cucumber. Mmm.

Of course we went for breakfast. Because of their tasty hashbrowns (among other treats). We had to have the special, which had so much food, we were glad we followed the advice of our server and split the meal. Some of everything. Plus half of a ginormous cinnamon roll! Which we could not finish. Scrumptious.

Don’t worry. I didn’t just take food pictures. I was there. Enjoying the company and ambiance.

Just look at those old windows and lights! They were everywhere. Perfectly my style.

I’d love to show you pictures from the rest of the day, but we were too busy treasure hunting through many thrift stores, a fabric/craft store, and even an estate of sorts. We wore ourselves out. But you will be happy to know that several treasures were rescued to go home with us.