Adventure Passes

There is nothing I like better than something that is free, especially when we are on a budget. Here in the Twin Cities we have museum adventure passes that give free passes to museums through the library system.  This year we have been trying to go to several of these, since it is the last year for the passes.  Recently we went to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.  The garden is free, but with the museum pass one can get a free guidebook which has descriptions and drawings of all the plants at the garden.

The best part for me was that I was able to identify a plant that is in the woods around my house.  The plant looks similar to sumac but it isn't quite right.  I happily found out that it is Red Elderberry, a flowering woodland shrub.

We also happened to be there when the showy lady slippers were blooming, what a treat!  My daughter loved the flowers.  I've added links to the Museum Adventure Pass and Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden below.

http://www.melsa.org/MuseumAdventurePass/index.cfm

http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=1355

Colorful Gender Neutral Nursery

Here is the finished nursery.  We already had the dresser, which has been in the family for quite some time.  The crib and the changing table we bought at a garage sale.  The pictures above the dresser were from an old calendar and I framed them in Ikea frames. 

 

I really love the cabinet above the changing table. I had it left over from when I switched out the vanity mirror in the bathroom. It works great to store baby medicine, lotions and diaper cream.  I love the rocking chair and I'm thinking about how I can fit it into my living room now that she's older.

 My friend Beth cross-stitched this picture and it is hanging next to the floating shelf.

The ceiling is vaulted, so we bought this hanging light from Ikea which works great.  My daughter loved looking at it when she was young.

DIY Baby Mobile

I made this cute mobile for my daughter's nursery.  The spheres were made by using a round scrapbooking punch with scalloped edges and cutting out scrapbooking cardstock.  Each sphere used six of these and they were folded in half and taped together with double sided tape.  I used blue ribbon to connect the spheres to the mobile.  Then used two different sized embroidery hoops and painted them the same color as the blue on the nursery walls.  I connected the hoops and hung the mobile with fishing line.  

Front Flower Garden: Before and After

We bought our house 3 years ago and this is what the front flower garden looked like at the time.  It seemed a little bare to me, so I've been adding more flowers and I've filled it out a bit. 

Before

 


Before

Before 

 
I moved the viburnum bush out of the garden, planted several lilies, some irises, daffodils, bee balm and divided several plants.  It was a bit difficult to get to the hose so I built some steps out of stone, and I added a walking path out of stone.  I restained the fence last year and I really like the way the sedum looks growing against it.  Currently the coreopsis, lilies and bee balm are blooming.



After

After



After



After