DIY Flower beds

Dear Readers,

Spring is here! At least in this part of the world and therefore, flowers are also blooming in Sweet Berry Valley. 

Inspired by Mimi´s wonderful blog I decided to make some flower beds to  decorate my villager´s front yards  and this is the final result.

The flower beds are made out air-dry clay and I decorated them with some plastic leaves and flowers.

The first flower bed looks darker tan the last one because the clay wasn´t dry yet. Once it is dry the colour looks much lighter.

I also made some paper flowers using these punchers and a tiny bit of yellow play dough.

For the round flower bed I used a lid.

I used an empty box of cheese portions to make the semi circle and the corner shaped flower beds.

It was an easy and fun craft activity that I enjoyed sharing with my seven year old daughter. She even made and decorated some of the flowers.

By the way, grass is also growing on the sides of the paths!

For the path I used  a piece of cork and light green foliage clusters.I´m quite glad with the result.

Sorry I didn´t take any pictures of my Sylvanians this time.

Today, I just meant to share this tittle projects I made for their village.

For a full tutorial and a much nicer flower bed you can follow this

link.


Thanks for reading!

Lots of love

An anniversary to remember

Dear Readers,

I wrote this story more than a year ago.I saved it as a draft and it´s been waiting  all this time to be published. Today I decided to post it. 

Hope you enjoy  this story about my dalmatian family, "The Kennelworths". 

Every morning, The Kennelworths  leave home together.The school is on the way to Monty´s carpentry workshop and both Monty and Dorothy like to walk their children to school.

Each morning they kiss goodbye at the school door. "Wish me luck dad,we have a maths test today" Rufus asked his father who gave him a big hug. "You´ll be fine.Do your best son! 

Once the kids are already at school it´s time for Monty and Dorothy to kiss goodbye  too but today´s kiss has a special meaning for both of them. Even though it feels like any other day today is their wedding anniversary. They´ve been happily married for fifteen years.
" Dottie, I´m going to take you to a special place this evening" Monty said.
Dorothy smiled widely. " That sounds lovely! but what about the children?"
"Don´t you worry, I told my brother to mind the kids and he accepted gladly. The children adore him, you know." "I´ll get home a bit later than usual. I have to run some errands after work but as soon as I get home we´ll be together to celebrate our anniversary."

"Have a nice day, darling! Monty wished his wife.
"The same to you!. I´m looking forward to this evening" Dorothy said excited.
"Me too!" Monty replied. He seemed to be very happy.

 

Monty headed to the workshop where he and his twin brother work as carpenters.
Dorothy walked into town.

First,she went to the supermarket to buy some food.

Then, she stopped at the country market to buy some toiletries and have a look at the  window display.

 Daisy Buttercup entered the store as loud and cheerful as usual. "Moorning everyone" she shouted. It was her birthday and she dropped by to enjoy a lovely cup of her favourite tea in the tea room.

"Will you join me, Dorothy? Come on, just a quick cup of tea. I have breaking news to tell you"
Daisy always had something or someone to talk or gossip about.  

Daisy and Dorothy were very different but they got along and Daisy insisted so much that she finally accepted her invitation and they enjoyed a friendly chat over a nice cup of tea.

After doing the shopping Dorothy made her way home .  On her way home she passed by the nursery. Baby Mark doesn´t go to the nursery. Dorothy doesn´t work outside the home so she can take care of him but he loves to play with other babies.

So as soon as he heard the hustle and bustle of the playground he tried to climb down from his push chair.

Dorothy and Lucy are close friends and while baby Mark has a good time playing they can chat away for a while.

As she was walking back home something grabbed her attention and made her stop suddenly.

"Are you ok?" Sheila Springer asked. She was walking just a few steps back and she saw Dorothy´s reaction.
 "Yes! I´m fine. It´s just that I´ve seen this house for sale for such a long time and all of a sudden I see it´s sold." Dorothy explained. "I wonder who will be the new owners" she asked. The truth is deep inside she dreamed of owning a three story house like this one day.

"I´ve heard there are some new families coming to leave here so probably  the house will belong to one of them."
"You must be right" Dorothy remarked. " This morning Daisy Buttercup told me about it"
 

Back at home Dorothy fed Mark.

 She cleaned the house.

She did the laundry.

and made the beds .

Finally, she cooked herself some lunch while Mark was having a nap. Dorothy was relieved to have some time for herself but it didn´t last too long. 

Dorothy meant to have a quiet lunch but the smell of food  woke Mark up and he seemed eager to share his mum´s lunch. She couldnt wait to this evening. "Just some time for Monty and me, just  for the two of us" she talked to herself.

Shortly after finishing her lunch it was time to pick up the children from school.

When they got home, Clara and Rufus did their homework and Dorothy prepared some dinner for them . Then, suddenly Clara turned to her mother and asked "Mum, how did dad propose to you? and Dorothy told her about it.

"Before getting married I worked in a laundry and your father used to take his clothes to wash there.  I remember the day I checked his pants pockets to make sure there were empty before putting then into the washing machine and I found a note that said: "Dear Dorothy, I love you. Will you marry me? Love, Monty"

 

"How sweet of dad! And what did you do then, mum? Clara was eager to know.
"I waited for a few days and eventually I decided to reply.
And...? Clara said. "And then I left a note in his pocket pants that said "I will. Love, Dottie"
Aww, mum! Clara sighed.

"Your dad always says that when he read my note he started jumping up and down his bed shouting "She loves me, she loves me, she´ll marry me, Yippee!!"

And it was true.The day Dorothy agreed to marry Monty he was over the moon.  Monty was head over heels in love with Dorothy. That hearted shape spot on her right ear has driven him crazy since the first time he bumped into her.

That´s why today after work he wanted to have everything ready to plan a perfect way to celebrate their anniversary. Flowers couldn´t be left out so first of all he went to the flower shop.

"Hi Monty! How can I help you?"
"I´m looking for a nice flower pot for Dorothy" 

 

"What about the one with the white and red flower?. I think it really suits Dorothy´s style." Rebecca suggested.

"I think you´re right Rebecca. Simple and beautiful like Dorothy" Monty said satisfied with the choice.

Then he went to the supermarket.As soon as he entered Fliss commented on the nice  flower. "It´s for Dorothy, today is our fifteenth wedding anniversary" Monty explained."Oh! Congratulations, Monty! Fliss wished.

Monty wanted to buy a bottle of champagne. Fifteen years of happy marriage well deserve a toast with a bottle of good champagne.

"Enjoy yourselves!" said Fliss and Wilbur who walked Monty to the door.
"Of course, we will" Monty said with a smile. He still had to get some things ready before going home so he´d better hurry up.

Next stop was the Chocolates´ cake shop.

Monty wanted to treat Dorothy to something sweet. He knew cream waffles were her favourites.

"How are you going to carry all theses things, you´ve only got two hands Monty!" Teri exclaimed when she handed him the box with sweets.
"Why don´t you borrow my bike?" Frasier offered him.

"Oh! I really  aprecciate it , Frasier." Monty thanked.
"That´s what friends are for" Frasier replied glad to be of some help. Creme wasn´t of the same opinion. She was a bit reluctant to get off her father´s bike.

Thank you Frasier! Monty said waving good-bye.
Have fun! Enjoy your evening! Frasier waved back.

  
"I must hurry up. Dorothy must be wondering why I´m taking so long to get home" he thought himself when he arrived at his last stop, the Blackurrant Café take away.

He was lucky Frasier lent him his bike, otherwise it would have been diffcult to carry so many things.

"I´m nearly done. Just a few more minutes and I´ll be home" he talked to himself riding as fast as he could.

As usual,when Monty got home his family welcomed him warmly.

"Sorry for being a bit late. I´ll have a quick shower and as soon as we´re ready we´ll go out, my brother will be here very soon" Monty told Dorothy who was glad to see her husband and felt all excited about their evening out.

Dorothy just put a bit a perfume, a hint of red on her lips and wore her bag for special occasions .

"You look beatiful, Dottie!" Let´s go, my brother is already here so we can go out."

"Rufus, thank you very much for staying with the children" Dorothy told his brother in law. "I´ve already prepared some dinner, just need to be reheated and please, make sure Mark goes to bed  early.He finds it very hard to sleep when he is too tired and it´s hard to stop his crying" .Dorothy wasn´t used to going out without her children so even though she was looking forward to it she had a strange feeling.
"Dorothy, don´t you worry! he´ll be fine. Just enjoy yourself and have a break, you deserve it " Rufus said. He was a wonderful brother in- law.

At last they were on their own ready to celebrate their special day. Dorothy was wondering were Monty was going to take her. They passed the Macavities´pizza shop, the Blackurrant Café, the Osborne´s tea room, the Harvester Restaurant, the Renard Foxes´ pub... and it seemed Monty didn´t have any of these places in mind to spend the evening.
Dorothy was so curious that couldn´t wait to know where they were going .
"Monty, would you mind telling me where are you taking me? We´ve been walking for a while and we´re getting away from downtown " Dorothy sounded a bit anxious.

"We´re nearly there and I promised you won´t be dissappointed" he tried to reassure his wife.

They kept walking for a few more minutes. Dorothy was telling Monty about the new families moving into Sweet Berry Valley. "Did you know this house has been sold? Sheila Springfield  and Daisy Buttercup told me there are new families moving to live here.
Monty listened to his wife attentively , then he disagreed with something she said " I don´t think Sheila and Daisy are right about this house. I know who bought the house and it´s someone who´s been living here for years"
"How come do you know about that? Dorothy asked.
Monty said nothing. He just took something from his pocket but it wasn´t a love note this time. 
 

Monty! You have the key of this house! Dorothy exclaimed.
Where did you get it from? Dorothy didn´t know what was going on.

"Just turn  back and wait, ok? don´t look until I say so!" Monty ordered softly.
Dorothy´s heart was bumping as fast as the day she found the love note in Monty´s pants.

"You can look back now, darling!"
"Home is where the heart is" she read what was written on the doormat in a whisper.

 "So, that means...what it seems... ?" Dorothy asked shyly.She found it hard to believe.

 "It means welcome to our new home" and holding his wife´s hand they both came inside the house.

Dorothy thought she was dreaming. She couldn´t believe her luck.
"Oh! Monty I love this house so much" She said about to cry with joy. 
Monty hugged her tightly and smiled. He felt really proud of himself. He had worked really hard for years to save enough money to move to a house of their own.The place they were living now it was a small rented apartment.
 

"How are we going to afford living in a place like this." Dorothy asked looking around the spacious room.  Compared to their rented apartment this house was like a palace for her. 
"I made enough money for the downpayement and we´ll have to do a monthly payment just a little bit higher than what we pay now for the apartment so it´s worth it Dorothy."
"Oh Monty! Tell me I´m not dreaming! You even bought a flower!You´re so thoughtful! I´m already picturing this room in my mind. Can we wallpaper it in red and white?" Dorothy asked. "Whatever you like, love," Monty said willing to please his wife.

 

They had a look around the house. Monty had already built some furniture: tables, chairs, beds for the children..."I´ve nearly finished our bed Dottie, and as soon as I finish it I´ll start working on a bedside table, what do you think? Monty asked

"I think you´re the best husband in the world" Dorothy said feeling the luckiest woman on Earth.

 

"Isn´t it great to have a balcony?" Dorothy was more than thrilled.

"Enjoy the views from the balcony. I´m just going to do something downstairs. I´ll be back in  a sec." As he was going down the stairs he couldnt help fixing his eyes on that hearted shape spot that Dorothy has on her right ear that still drives him crazy.

"Let´s see...plates, glasses,sandwiches, waffles, chocolates and champagne" Monty was checking he had everything he nedded in the basket.

 All set for a picnic in the back garden of their new home.

"Will you come with me?" Monty said holding Dorothy´s hand in a very gentle way.

"Oh Monty! You know how much I love picnics! You´ve thought of everything!" I can´t believe we´re going to have a garden. The children are going to love it." Dorothy was elated. She didn´t remember being so overjoyed apart from the day their children were born and the day she got married.

So they enjoyed the sandwiches. "Mmm, they´re tasty"

As usual, the cream waffles were delicious too

and so was the champagne. They made a toast "For the two of us and for many more years of love and happiness in our new home" Cheers!

"Happy anniversary"

And that´s how Monty and Dorothy celebrated their anniversary.
I hope they show us their home when Monty finishes the furniture and Dorothy decorates it.( The house is already finished more than a year a ago. I decorated it when I wrote this story so I´ll show it to you very soon).
They´re such a lovable couple! What do you think?

Thank you for reading and for your comments!

Lots of love 💕