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Monday, May 23, 2016

Inspired and Uplifted!

Venice Beach


Hello Tribe!  

I just got back from my trip down to SW Florida, and I have to say it was pretty amazing!

Stump Pass Beach.   Englewood, FL


It was amazing for many reasons, one being the fact that my husband and I got to go ALONE, and amazing because every where I looked down there I found beauty and inspiration that refilled this Mama's cup so far up, that it is still spilling over!!!
 
I am so full of thoughts and ideas from the trip, I had a hard time figuring out where to begin writing today.  I knew I had to write something or my head just may in fact explode!  I decided to focus not on the trip but something I did at home yesterday in my own backyard. 
My masterpiece!


I wanted to make my outdoor areas of my place as pretty as I thought Florida was, so I pulled out my window boxes that my Hubby made for me when we first moved in,  and immediately knew what to do. 
Inspiration house in Punta Gorda, FL!

Just look at that color!!!
As we were walking around the Historic Downtown Punta Gorda, FL we came upon this little treasure of a house!  It was sunny and cute as a button AND it had recycled glass bottles in the window boxes that were so striking in the sunlight.  I just had to stop and take a picture.  I couldn't resist doing  something like this at our home! 
 I thought this was a brilliant idea because for one, as Mama of three I don't have a lot of time to water flower boxes and you can't kill glass bottles!  For two, I love color that doesn't fade away depending on the weather.  For third, you know I love upcycling and thought this was the perfect way to adorn our home.  And just maybe some fairy will come and make my empty bottles of wine and spirits grow into more wine and spirits!!!  ( A girls can dream, can't she?)
 I pulled together all the empty bottles around the house that I could find.  I didn't have many colorful bottles and I especially didn't have all one color to go on, so I pulled clear glass bottles, a few dark wine bottles, and a couple of vintage bottles that we had found in the dirt in the yard a while back.  Oh!  I also used a vase too.  There are no "rules" here so if you want to do this too just trust you inner artist and go for it.


 Just take the bottles and give them a good cleaning.  I filled the clear ones all the way to the top and added a few drops of food coloring.  I chose to use blue and green.  Make sure you have a top on there so the water doesn't get all gross.  I went down to the local greenhouse and bought some annuals suited for where my boxes were going to be in terms of sun and just picked 3 different textures, color, and heights.  I bought snapdragons, vinca vine, and dusty miller.

More brilliant color in the Historic District.
 I added some potting soil and first arranged the bottles, then moving on to the plants.  I added some more soil and gave them a little drink.  That's it!  I just love how they turned out.  Even if my plants do less than stellar there, the bottles will remain beautiful and vibrant!
Upcycled mermaid table at the tiny house we rented in Englewood, Fl.



Venice Beach.  Venice, FL.

Another pop of color inspiration in Punta Gorda. 

Dream neighborhood!



Hubbs, checking out the hood.  We are kinda in LOVE with this place.


 If you are inspired to do some window boxes of your own, please feel free to tag me on Instagram with #jamminwindowboxes or post your pics to my Facebook page!

    
Also, just a side note about this book that I picked on my my travels!  Finally after thirty some-odd years, I have not only realized,  but openly talk about,  and have accepted the fact that I am a six-sensory person.  All the dreams, odd coincidences, deja vu episodes, that whispering voice that guides your and gives your warning (and sometimes that whisper isn't a whisper at all...it is a thunder clap of a noise in my head!)   Those were all tools that you have when you are a six-sensory person and I now realize that is what it is.  When I saw this book at Funkie Junkies in Punta Gorda, it basically flew off the shelf at me.  Needless to say, I am really digging it.  I am also digging that colorful handmade afghan that I scored at Goodwill this weekend for $4.99!  I love a good thrift store find and here are two right in this pic. 

Hope you have been inspired to try a bottle window box, upcycle something, read a good book, go thrift store hunting,  or at the very least, been mildly entertained while reading this.  

Jam on,
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