Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Beauty Of DIY & Gardening

It's been a while since I attended to my garden. Well I hardly talk about anything else other than my arts and crafts so today as promised in my last post, I thought I would blab about my other interest: gardening! Creating a garden is a form of art work I would say. With my hectic routine and school break recently I never get the chance to give proper life to my plants and flowers on the lawn and in sad looking terracotta pots. Poor thing! Naughty weeds I never like grew speedily after torrential raindrops in several days way back in May after the dry spell the last few months. With non-stop water from the dull grey sky, I can't help but watch the lawn filled up with different kind of weeds. One of them was pudica plant that crawls all over. The sharp spines are just so annoying and the only way to eliminate pudica is by pulling up roots with clamps. Sounds interesting eh...well not really, lol.

The first thing I wanted to do was shaping the topiaries in the back row as well as getting rid off the weeds. Trimming the trees are never a big deal to me but killing the weeds seems to be a huge task. Since I just came back from holidays and needed to clear up the travel bags, I decided to hire someone to kill the weeds instead with acid spray according to him. I wasn't quite convincing at first but after bombarding the guy with tons of questions, he agreed to give a special price for the job. He assured me the weeds will die in five days and even guaranteed they will not come back. I'll see to that I thought but so far so good. The weeds turn to brown some three hours after he left. After five days, my heart felt at ease. The next task was to clear up the now looking brown lawn of weeds. The lawn is spacious and would take days to clear up but decided to give it a go nevertheless so it was one step at a time until finish no matter how long it takes. This is a serious diy project as I have a landscaping plan in mind but I don't mind taking my time to do it no matter how long it takes so long the weeds worst enemies don't grow again. No fun!


The way I shaped up the trees today differ from the ones I did in 2012. I guess with some spare time spent at admiring topiaries and people's gardens in Pinterest inspire me to make changes from time to time on my own little paradise. Why do I like topiary you may ask? Thanks to Edward Scissorhand! I thought it was super cool to watch Johnny Depp Edward I mean trim the trees within minutes...chuckle. Also my love for topiary existed in my childhood days from watching fairy tales theaters and documentaries about beautiful garden. 
{A diy lover}

Here is the lawn after killing the weeds...
and the trees before trim off.
Here is how it looks after bit by bit clear it up...
I also worked on the front lawn. It was such a big mess where crawling weeds invaded the grass we planted in small patches soon after we moved into our house five years ago.
 This corner was mixed up with weeds that have taken over the grass. I removed them in the end with a hue. No mixed feelings and easy done then said works the trick!
Here's how it look after 20 minutes.
 I was a happy camper! Ready to built a tent, lol.
 This front lawn on the right side of the porch is still in progress a day after I removed the weeds. At this point it was time to trim off the grass and patiently pull out uninvited weeds trying to make a living...not a chance ever since gardening mojo kicks in...smile...
As of writing, I have cleared up that island of long living grass...and working on the left side of the front lawn by the porch (picture below): 
I can't wait to get this lawn cleared up so I can make a pathway from bricks...
...and hoping to make a landscape like my drawing below:
I know this is not going to be a smooth sailing project considering that Ramadan {fasting month} is fast approaching in the next few days as well as dry spell has started again. I shall do what I can and when I can. Nevertheless I can't wait to share in a month or so of what have taken place in my garden.

I want to thank you all for stopping by and reading my long post of gardening this time. As you can tell I sure take a long break from any paper craft work since end of May until this very moment except for my dt job for DigiStamps4Joy. Please don't miss out the new digi images to be released this Sunday. Stay tune. I shall bring you my creations pretty soon.

Have nice moments and happy gardening.

Hugs and smiles,

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

DigiStamps4Joy Mid-Challenge Reminder - Flowers

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I last wrote. I was away during the two weeks school break (mid-term) spending the first week at my Mother's and the later at my own house. It was such fun travelling home back and forth; helped Mom in her garden rearranging pots and pruning plants. Back at my house, the children and I painted the girls' room. I tried to spring cleaning before they return to school but my husband often take us out for seafood dinner and sight-seeing so there goes my plan most of the time. Nevertheless it was fun-filled holidays, well spent! I shall tell more about it in a different post.

Today I bring you a mid-challenge reminder from DigiStamps4Joy. The theme is every girls' favorite - Add Flowers! This challenge is brought to you by my fellow teammate Charlene Bell. Take a look at DS4J blog for more inspirations.

My stepper card used Flower Frame image. The sentiment is available at Ginger's House.
I would love to take this card into these challenges:
1. Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper : Patterned Paper
2. Addicted To Stamps : Outdoors
3. Designs by Lisa Somerville : Flowers
4. Just For Fun : Here Comes Summer
5. Crafting Musketeers : Stamped Image
6. 613 Avenue : Anything Goes
7. Corrosive Challenges : Crop It or Cut It (1/3)
8. Crafting At The Weekend : Anything Goes
9. Color Me Creative : Anything Goes (1/3)

I am so glad you stop by and made my day special. 
Till the morning after. Have nice moments always.

Hugs and smiles,