Winter Rose....

What a fabulously warm winter it has been so far!

Some of the roses are still flowering... 

 And there are still a few bees around gathering pollen!

This red rose is called a 'Flower Carpet Rose'.

'Laundry' Sign....

You can buy all sorts of quirky Laundry signs nowadays...

But I wanted to hand-craft one to match the blue of my laundry walls.

Plus , hand-crafting is so much more fun than walking into a shop and just buying it!

This is how I made my laundry sign.... 

First of all I cut an MDF board to the desired size, and then painted it white.

 Using free lettering from the Net, I printed them using my home printer onto white paper, and then block coloured the letters in blue acrylic paint.

Once they were dry, cut out each of the letter shapes

I roughly hand-tore the edges of three squares of pretty contrasting scrapbook paper.

Glued the squares onto the board first,

 then the lettering spaced over the squares.

I did this freehand.

But if you prefer, you can use a ruler to get perfect spacing.

Using permanent black stamping ink and desired stamps, 

stamp an edging design around the board.

 Once the stamping ink is dry, use a black Sharpie pen to outline the lettering.

When dry, lightly and quickly, so as not smudge the inks,

 coat the entire board with a sealer.

(I used 'Mod Podge').

And here's the end result!

I'm really happy with how it looks with the blue walls!

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Drought Blues....

Oh how I wish it would rain...

Poor old Mia Bella Gardens is looking sooooo sad!

Rain has been elusive for many months now, apart from a mere millimetre here and there. 

The heat has been unbearable, and the garden is starting to suffer.

Sadly my five finger tree is dying, and so is my beautiful 3 metre tall Brugmansia shrub.

The dahlias however are LOVING it!

 Unbelievable but true...

they have stood tall like soldiers in the heat and dryness.

Water restrictions have meant hand held hose watering 

(NO sprinklers allowed).

This takes me three hours every second or third evening!!  

(Perhaps a glass of Chardonnay in one hand would help...)

The monarch butterflies LOVE the dahlias too....

sucking the delicious nectar from deep within the flowers.

It is Autumn now, but it still feels like summer.

I'm so looking forward to those cooler days and the end of this terrible drought,

so I can start to prune, feed, and aid the recovery of Mia Bella Gardens.