little things with big excitement

i'm finally getting it with the paper flowers. using floral tape was huge. next i will start using crepe instead of newspaper. it is really fun finishing one of these, but dang it's a lot of work. at least for this flower it was (but it is supposedly one of the hardest flowers in the book). there were SO many petals to cut out and attach. i didn't even actually do this flower the same as the book. it should have had a pip center with crepe fringe in the middle of all of that string. i also stopped short on the petals. i think it was supposed to have around twenty more in slightly larger sizes. sigh. BUT i am excited at how pretty it turned out. my dreams of making lots of these for my sisters wedding have been squashed, but it will be fun to make some more to decorate my home here and there.

one of my dream goals for the summer is to finally learn to play the guitar. that is the guitar that my dad gave me when i was in high school. it is the same guitar that he always played while i was growing up. it means a lot to me to have it now. all of my friends that can play are always a bit surprised at how beautiful this guitar sounds (many of them don't recognize the brand). my friends are also always surprised when they go to tune it and realize that i restrung it backwards. ha! the strings are in the right order but i wrapped them backwards around the tuning pegs (completely on accident... i had no idea!). i have been dabbling a bit here and a bit there though. if i can just keep up with that dabbling i think i might get somewhere.

also...

that plant... it's another thing that i have wanted for a long time... a fiddle leaf fig tree.  i stumbled upon one in a walmart of all unexpected places, and it looked a bit unhappy to be there (could you blame it?) so i immediately purchased it and brought it home. have you seen what they look like when they get big? so cool. take a look here or here. 

farm animals love to play house, and eat marbles for breakfast, but you knew that right? my favorite part is that they have actually been using seashells for dishes. brilliant!

i have also been purchasing flowers like mad. i am so excited to get them all in the ground. one of these years i want to have summer perennials popping up all over this patch of land. this is my big start towards that crazy dream. oh summer, i have so many big plans for your few short months.