Cottage Green on the Lake

In the Cottage Greenhouse…Setting Up a Flower Apothecary

As I looked around the greenhouse, my idea began to grow; my warm, little hovel filled with plants, paintings, antique glassware, forgotten bird nests, flower frogs, and lichen covered bark, would be a delightful place for mixing potpourri…an apothecary of sorts.

During this time of the year, “all is calm, all is quiet” on the lake and it’s a lovely time of year for playing in the cottage greenhouse. Not only did my plants need watering, but I had come out to the greenhouse to check on the roses and statice I’d left hanging upside down from the greenhouse rafters to dry.

Thanksgiving Favors…Adorable Candy Corn-ucopia’s

You know I love making favors for every celebration, and Thanksgiving is an especially endearing time to send your guests and family home with a token of the special day you’ve spent together. These “Candy Corn-ucopia’s” are perfect favors for Thanksgiving, but they could also be used as unique place cards on your Thanksgiving table with the names or initials of your guests written on the tag of each candy corn-ucopia…and just think how adorable these would look placed around the “kids table!”

Autumn and Pumpkin Nights

I wanted to wander inside to see if there were any toadstools that we could sit upon and enjoy two cups of Darjeeling tea.

One of our favorite things we try to do each autumn is to go to Silver Dollar City in Branson for “Pumpkin Nights.” Every corner of the park is filled with autumnal magic and displays of pumpkins. Come along with me as the afternoon shadows lengthen, the night slowly creeps in, and the park glows under neon lights and carved pumpkin luminaries.

DIY Halloween Banner – Quick & Easy Craft

I love the nostalgic and rustic appeal of this Halloween banner. It’s so easy to make, the only hard part will be deciding where to hang it.

“Trick or treat, bag of sweetsA, ghosts are walking down the street.”
Author unknown

Antique & Flea Market Finds

Last year after I wrote about our antique and flea market trips, many of you wrote in the comment section and in letters, that you enjoyed reading about our shopping trips and seeing the treasures we found. We’ve been on several shopping adventures since then and I’ve been saving some of my favorite finds to share with you!

I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.
Louisa May Alcott

Cottage Green on the Lake…Summer Re-Cap 2023

..this was wild and beautiful, unlike the beaches of Florida we were accustomed to seeing. We drove down lanes covered with sand, past groves of orange trees in sunny fields, then our pathway would wind back under the shade of trees covered with moss. I was amazed to see beautiful palmetto palms and ferns growing wild everywhere I looked. The writer within me loved the mystic appeal and charm of it all.

Our summer days are always so busy, I never seem to get a chance to write on my blog until the new school year has begun. Today, before I can embrace September and begin writing about all things autumn, I’m writing about our summer. Wanderlust and floating on the lake days…watermelon and homemade ice cream days…lots of red, white, and blue days…hammock and firework days…sandy toes and sunburned nose days. Summer days that were forged in a blaze of heat that faded into sultry evenings and the beautiful blue of twilight would descend upon the lake and the fireflies would flick on, one by one.

Ah, but after sundown, that’s when those brilliant flirts, the fireflies come out.
Vivian Swift

Spring in the Cottage Greenhouse…Part 1

“I set up a tea tray…an “Alice in Wonderland” kind of tea tray with a dash of woodland whimsy that seemed perfect for tea that was being served in a greenhouse tearoom, with the sky for our ceiling and a pea gravel floor.

Easter Place Cards and Favors-DIY Mini Flower Pots

Ready for Easter and perched on a stack of plates in the cupboard, this little planter would look fitting in Old Mrs. Rabbit’s shop alongside her… “rabbit-wool mittens and muffatees…her herbs, and rosemary tea, and rabbit-tobacco (which is what we call lavender.)”

It’s hard to believe it’s time to celebrate another glorious Easter! Here’s a fun and easy DIY favor that is so whimsical and garden-esque, even Peter Rabbit would happily forgo marauding Mr. McGregor’s garden patch to come sit at your Easter table! These little flowerpots, covered in chippy white paint and decoupaged labels, have twiggy handles adorning their tops and look like rustic, little baskets! Guest’s names are written on the back and the flowerpots serve double-duty as charming “place cards” (showing every bunny where to sit) and can also be given as favors, and a sweet remembrance of the day.

Part 2 Spring in the Cottage Greenhouse…DIY Whimsical Spring Arrangements

…the wild iris kept waving and beckoning me to come over. Finally, worn down by their flirting and persistence, I stopped working and went into the cottage greenhouse to fetch my trowel.

Dainty wood violets, wild irises, perky daffodils, fragrant hyacinth’s, azaleas in all shades of pink, creamy white Lady Banks roses, and woodland ferns are making their spring debut at Cottage Green!

Our Season Bright and The 12 Days of Christmas

On the “12th day of Christmas” Richard and I finished our morning coffee, then got busy storing away our Christmas decorations. I began packing Christmas treasures and memories…music boxes…wooden pyramids from Germany…feather trees…and angels, while Richard went outside and took the Christmas wreaths from the windows…stored away our manger scene…and carefully put Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus away for another year.

	Spring in the Cottag… on Part 2 Spring in the Cottage G…
	Spring in the Cottag… on In the Cottage Greenhouse…
	Spring in the Cottag… on Springtime in the Cottage Gree…
	Spring in the Cottag… on Winter at Cottage Green…
	Spring in the Cottag… on Christmas in the Greenhou…

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