Feature Fridays! Sneezy Detour...

Well....it is a little later in the day than I had initially planned on posting, but today is Friday, and time for the Friday Feature!  This week I want to feature a blog that is also local to my area, Sneezy Detour.   As you may remember, Tracy at Sneezy Detour, was super sweet and gave me my very first blog award, the Liebster Award.  I was super excited, not only to learn I had received this award, but to find another local blogger with such a great site.

Sneezy Detour's tagline is "Embracing high pollen-count in Eugene, OR", which I must say has been hitting many folks hard.  But her blog is more about her travels in Oregon, her impressions of living in Eugene, and interesting visuals she comes across.  I love going to her blog to see places I have been, as well as those that I have yet to travel.  All of which inspire me to go check them out.

Here are a few of my favorite pics and posts....

Smith Family Books...a wonderful used book store in Eugene and her thoughts....

Maybe my favorite post....What this City Needs....which talks about Eugene looking at allowing farm animals in city limits...hehe

These barely scratch the surface.  She is a wonderful photographer, and I could spend hours looking at the great visuals she creates with her camera.  Go check her out!

Happy Friday!

Ash

First Feature Friday....Paper Elephant Designs!

It is here!  I am excited to announce my first in the Friday series of features blogs that I suggest folks check out if they have yet to do so!

My first one, is a dear friend who is super talented and super ambitious!  Her blog is Paper Elephant Designs.  Her blog covers things from recipes to hairstyles to beautifully crafted items.  Here are a few of my favs...

Her newly sewn, oversized, stripey shower curtain tutorial....

Or how about this cute dress refresh?

She has a page just with her tutorials, which she is great at explaining.  

Hope you will check her blog out! There is much, much more to check out, and I am hoping to do a shared post with her sometime in the near future, so keep an eye out for that!

Thanks for checking out the first Feature Friday!

Ash

Coming soon....Feature Fridays

Hi there!

I have been recently thinking about all the super talented people out there with awesome blogs, and I have decided that every Friday I would try and feature one of these great blogs to share with you all.  It is something new and fun I'd love to try, and it has been great for my own personal blogger growth, as I am now learning how to make my own buttons.  (I am still mastering it, but my first successful try can be seen on the side bar!  Yay!  It needs a little more work I think, but still exciting!)

Anyway....I am just teasing today, but next week, look for a featured blog!  And if you think there is a blog that I definitely need to check out, please let me know!

Visiting the raptors

We recently went to visit our local raptor center for the first time....and man, was it awesome!  I have to share some of the pics we got of the beautiful birds!

Isn't the bald eagle awesome!?

And as you can tell from this and the following pics...I love owls!  Totally going to use these as inspiration for  future crafting.

Aren't these little guys above cute?

Above is a golden eagle...they are HUGE!    Below is my favorite owl...the burrow owl!  Where I lived in Arizona, we had these little guys in the ditches, and are so cute!!

This guy below was getting fed, which was awesome to watch!

And this is a huge owl!  It was seriously like 3ft tall!  

So interesting!  I would suggest that if you have access to a raptor rescue center like this, go check it out!

Ash

Upcycling in the garden...

Since the chickens last massacred the garden, I have had to become more creative in my gardening.  As I mentioned a few posts ago, it has become all about containers for me.  I love letting my chickens roam free in the backyard too much, thus, I have basically sacrificed the back to the chicken gods, leaving me ornamental plants, and the few other plants that they won't eat, like rosemary, horseradish, dill, and several other herbs.  Hmmm....actually as I type this out, I think I now know what is going in the old vegi bed!  I will try an array of herbs and see what makes it through! hehe

Anyway, we recently made a trip to our local ReStore - BRING Recycling - and I found a few more fun things for my gardening.  One thing I really needed was a new trellis for my pretty-vining-pink-flower-plant (no idea what it is...lol) and while we were there we found an old ladder.  Perfect!!  Doesn't matter to me that you can't use it to stand on!

I draped the vine over the new 'trellis' and then added a few shelved for potted plants!  Viola!  I absolutley love it!

I have also been going through belongings trying to think of new uses.  As you might notice above, the green waste basket has a new purpose as a planter for some yummy arugula.

The other thing I found at BRING was a few lamp fixtures shade things.  Turn them over and poof!  Instant pot!

This cute white one has holes in the 'bottom' all ready for drainage where you would attach it to the light.  Set a little piece of broken pottery in the bottom to make sure all the soil stays in, then plan in style!  Here I have a cherry tomato plant and some cilantro!  MMM!

I bought one more lamp fixture shade thing, but have yet to decide what it will have planted inside.  It is more decorative with a smaller 'mouth' so I am thinking it might be ready for some flowers.

Just remember to think outside the pot when gardening!  

Ash