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Pinterest Addiction
There is this thing that I do if I am sitting with my phone, its pin, and pin, and pin, for me, for friends, for clients. I pin, and pin,  and pin. Check out my Pinterest pages. Maybe you will be inspired too.
https://www.pinterest.com/carolmcard/


Some of my favorite work is there too!
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Home Brew

Home brew in January and have a great St Patrick day, green food coloring not required, but not restricted ether!!!

FORCING SPRING

      Getting spring to come early here in the North East is a passion of mine.
I have spent many years forcing branches and bulbs for flower shows and for my self.
Here are a few tips for forcing bulbs.

Plan ahead! Make sure you keep your bulbs in a dark and cold(35 degrees) place for the minimum time, daffodils need a good 6 weeks of cold.

Pot them up with good potting soil and come compost and a table spoon of bone meat for an 8 inch pot.

Keep the bulbs at the surface of the pot so the roots have all the room, and crowed then in next to each other so you will get a full pot of blooms.

Keep them watered but never soggy! Bulbs will rot easily if they don't have a chance to dry out each week.

When plants start to sprout move your bulbs to a full sun window, or the growth will get leggy, week and flop if the plants are not getting enough light.

In no time you will have flowers and fragrance that sooth the winter blues.

VIVA LA THROW PILLOW!

WHY DO MEN HATE THROW PILLOWS?
   In my experience most men hate throw pillows (most men, not all). It seems there is a need for comfort on the part of women that men don't require. My husband can sleep on a bus station bench all night if need be, and has on occasion. I have no scientific evidence for this dichotomy of the sexes, but, based strictly on the anecdotal evidence, men don't need to "nest" the way women do.

Well here is a project that might make men come round to the throw pillow.........
.......maybe..........DIY French patriot  pile........Hipster bean bag.......or whatever you want to call it. 

I'm a bit of a Francophile, so this was an attractive idea to me. You could also use a British Union Jack which is very popular right now or an Americal flag seems obvious, or run with your own nationality or symbol. Design-wise, these flags have a strong graphic, almost pop art quality. Any time you bring a strong graphic symbol into interior design it can have an edgy, urban or industrial feel, like advertising as art, and even convey a sense of irony, which permeates so much of design and art today. 

I started with 18 French flags about a foot long, printed on a smooth cotton.

I stitches up this pile of French flags that were already closed on three sides so I just filled them with foam, pinned them closed,  and hand stitched them up.

 I used the filler foam from this bean bag chair and then topped it with the pillows.

   I haven't seen my man lounging on this yet but it looks like a good place to drink a beer, watch the game or at least have a pillow fight!!!

VIVA LA DIFERENCE !!!! 

1 PALLET:15 THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH IT! Insallment 1

Here are some uses for a free pallet......
1) VERTICAL GARDEN

Client and friend, Patrick Cahn, used his free pallet he got from Harvard University dining commons to grow kale, swiss chard and salad greens this summer in his Summerville, MA yard.

He said his two daughters Lila and Sofie helped him plant and harvest their greens, the girls like the kale the best.

He used strips of landscape fabric to cover the sides, he simply stapled them down.

Then he covered the openings on both front and back with a piece of plywood and poured in a planting mix, composed of compost and planting soil (Coast of Maine products and my first choice and what he used here).

Then he wet it down well to make sure the soil would adhere to itself and the pallet.

Then he could remove the plywood. The whole pallet needs to lean back about  5% from vertical and face full sun so the soil wouldn't fall out and your vertical garden is ready for planting.

Patrick said the hardest part was keeping the planter watered!!!

If you are  an organic gardener like I am you might want to make sure that the pallet that you use has not been exposed to industrial usage, sometimes materials get spilled so knowing your source of  is important.