I am a Victorian Soul, live in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion, with my Hubby Joe, who is a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am LOVING Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot
George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Summer Tree in the Craft Room, Ice Cream Cones and a Garden Update








 

 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
Just a reminder, I will be posting on Wednesdays and Sundays every week so be sure to check back on those days to see a new post......  

 As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....
 
 
 Today, I will be sharing how I decorated the Tree that stays up in my Craft Room year round for the Summer, along with a few ornaments I made for it and a garden update......
 

In my last post, I shared rest of my Kitchen decorated in my Late Summer Apple and Sunflower theme....
 







 Click HERE if you missed this post.....
 
 
And now for a few Personal Notes...
 

 Food of the Week....

This week's Reheat and Eat Dinners from the WB Scranton Penguins Food Service.....

Chicken Cordon Bleu ( Breaded Chicken Breast stuffed with Ham & Swiss Cheese )  with Dijon Cream Sauce/ Herb Roasted Potatoes & Grilled Seasonal Vegetables
 

  Philly Cheesesteak Stromboli (  Sliced ribeye topped with mozzarella peppers & onions wrapped in dough )  with Garlic Bread & Sweet Marinara
 

 
Joe had Chef Steve make a stromboli without onions and peppers for Joey....
 
His is the top one and slightly smaller....
 
 
 Sunday morning, I made 3 more loaves of zucchini bread.....
 
 
 And a Tomato Zucchini Cheese Bake that I threw together after looking at numerous posts on Pinterest....



I ate this for my dinner on Monday.....


Also on Sunday, we had a Price Chopper pizza topped with bacon....
 
It was loaded with so much cheese and bacon that I had to scrape it off from around the edges of the pan.....



Not bad for a mere $10!!
 

 And quite filling as I could barely eat 2 slices....



On Monday, I made up some sausage links, both hot and mild, also from Price Chopper, on the Georgie...
 

 
Joe ate a few links cut up and dipped in Ketchup before he went to work where Joey had them on a bun with melted cheese on top and BBQ sauce.... 


Joey also had 2 bowls of soup because I made some chicken bone broth as I felt it was finally cool enough to make some....


I used the bones from 2 of the Sam's Club rotisserie chickens for the soup....
 
 
 Last week, I made the decision to cut back the Monster marigolds in the front of the house!!!

This is what they looked like before I cut them back.....
 
 
 




Yep! They were taller than the porch railing!!!

Here is how it looks after I gave them a trimming!!



I planted this tiered pot so that the middle plant, which I replaced begonias that I planted initially with a coleus, would be taller than the surrounding marigolds....


Now the coleus is taller....


You can tell I took these pictures after I soaked them when watering...


I have been fighting to keep them alive in the ungodly heat and tropical humidity we had this Summer....


The geraniums did fairly well....


Now the marigolds are not as tall as the porch railing...


Better, I think, don't you????


Same thing with this tiered pot....the coleus is now taller than the marigolds....


You can now see they are lower than the railing....
 


The flower bed under the Living Room window is looking good....


This is the time in the Summer when the impatiens start to look a bit straggly and the leaves start to yellow....


So far so good in the front of the house....

You may remember that I only planted 4 coleus plants in each of these flower boxes.....


Look at them now!!!


I had to remove my elevated solar lights from the flower boxes and put them elsewhere because they got lost in the coleus!!


Even though our last full day of rain was May 15th, the azaleas that I trimmed way back last year have seemed to come back with a vengeance..


I had to trim them back too!!



This one looked like it doubled in size so it got a haircut!


So did this one!



I also trimmed the marigolds in the large pot....


I gave the 2 azaleas here a bit of a trim too...


 
 If the marigolds do not do well after I cut them back, I will replace them with mums for the fall.....
 
 
 I also was finally able to get out and weed my neighbor Ed's slope after I landscaped it in the beginning of the Summer.....

 
I thought it would be worse but I did put a good coating of Preen down......


 
And we didn't have too much rain either so the weeds were kept to a minimum....

 
Most of the perennials that I tried to save did survive....




And yes, I did climb the slope to weed!!!

Never thought I would ever be able to do that again, especially at my age!!!

Ed is happy with the way it looks....
 
 
 
 I keep up several Trees in the house year round....

And NO!

They are not Christmas Trees!!

They are Seasonal Trees and not decorated for Christmas year round....

I change them for different Holidays and Seasons and they are only considered Christmas Trees at Christmas!!!

Just wanted to clarify that!!!

I bought this 6 foot slim Tree at a yard sale many years ago for $5!!

It stays up in my Craft Room year round....

This is what it looked like at Christmas, decorated as a Christmas Tree....




In February, after I changed the rooms downstairs to Winter and Valentine's decorations , I start to work taking down Christmas decorations in the upstairs....

I pretty much strip down this Tree to just lights and garlands....

I then add roses, from an old light set, to the existing LED lights on the Tree....

I have made some ornaments too over the years for this year.....






This is how it looked when I first re-decorated....
 

 



I had in mind a few new ornaments that I wanted to make for this Tree...

So I dd a bit of crafting yesterday....

I recently saw some really cute hand made ice cream cones on Pinterest and on a few blogs....

So I decided to look in my stash and see what I could come up with....

I had a bunch of paper mache cones that I had ordered on Ebay when I was doing Victorian crafts and selling them....
 
I used the cones to make Tussie Mussies....
 
I painted the cones first, combining 2 paints to come up with a color that looked like an ice cream cone.....
 


I then painted 4 styrofoam  balls....2 pink and 2 purple....
 

 
I sprinkled some sprinkles on them after the last coat of paint so they would dry on the tops of the cones...
 
I then glued 3 different ruffled laces around the tops of the cones and glued the styrofoam balls into the cones...



I added them to the Tree.....

 
This Summer Tree is decorated with Birds and Butterflies,,,,,

 
 
 
 
 
Tea Pots and Tea Cups because there are Garden Tea Parties in the Summer!!

 
Cupcakes too as they are served with tea!!


Popsicles and Ice Cream Cones....







 
I kept the Christmas Spider on the Tree....



 
I tucked big pink Roses into the Tree....
 
 
 
The Tea Pot photo frame ornaments with my Dad holding my son Jimmy remain on the Tree.....


 
And one with my Dad holding my son, Joey....



 Along with one of the last pictures taken of my Mom before she passed away....



Victorian Ladies in pretty Summer Hats...


And now, all lit up!!!

 
You can see that is is right by my Craft Table so I can enjoy it while crafting!!!







 
At the base of the Tree, 2 friends sitting on a park bench in the Summer....




This Tree will stay this way until October when I decorate it and the rest of the Craft Room for Christmas.....
 
I hope you enjoyed seeing it!!

In my next post, I will be continuing my Series of What's in Your Hutch/Curio?....

I will be sharing what is in my Living Room Curio.....






And also what is inside the Living Room Hutch....



So I hope you will stop by to visit again on Sunday !!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


I am linking up to these parties:
 
 
 



Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!

13 comments:

  1. I love your summer tree, Debbie! It has a little bit of all things fun, sentimental and nostalgic! And your newly crafted ice cream cone ornaments are too cute and adorable - especially the purple ones, of course!

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  2. Monster marigolds! Too funny! If you wanted them big, they probably would be small…😂….the coleus are so pretty. You always amaze me with your creativity. I love the new ice cream cones and the tree looks so pink and pretty, with all the personal touches, it’s so sweet. . The food makes me hungry!….and now I would love to have some zucchini bread! Do you have an easy recipe? Have a happy day, rest and relax after all that hard work….enjoy your lovely home and garden. Thank you, V.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. V.,
      Last year, Joe mistakenly bought mini marigolds and they were too small, This year, I have no idea what kind of marigolds i bought but they grew just too tall...Maybe next year, I will get it right!! LOL!! The cones were sort of an afterthought and a way to use up more of my craft stash...I am happy with how they came out though! Here is a link to a post I wrote that includes the recipe I use for my zucchini bread...Enjoy and let me know what you think of it when you make it...Thanks so much for stopping by!!
      https://debbie-dabbleblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/2-zucchini-recipes.html
      Hugs,
      Deb

      Delete
  3. Your ice cream cones are just adorable!! The teapots with photos are precious. The perfect touch for the summer tree. The flowers look amazing for August heat! Actually they look totally amazing. Those meals! So jealous!

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  4. Your gardens are looking wonderful. Love soup, and eat it all year, but more in the cooler weather.

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  5. Those ice cream cones are cute and that garlic bread looks to die for. Of course your porch/yard is always pretty!

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  6. Your summer tree is so cute and those ice cream cones are just adorable! I can't remember the last time we've had a good soaking of rain either and all my outdoor plants are really struggling. It doesn't help that my potted plants all got mites and I've been fighting them back each week with a good soaking of neem oil... but since they thrive in heat and drought it's been an ongoing battle.

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  7. Totally losing it in the best possible way over these ice cream ornaments - they are so stinking cute! I love how your entire tree came together as you know I have a soft spot for pink. It rains nearly every afternoon in Florida. While I'm thankful for the rain I could definitely do without the thunder and lightening as it causes poor Piper to bark for HOURS. Even with the thundercoat she really struggles. Hope your weekend is a fun one, CoCo

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  8. Oh my goodness, those ice cream ornaments are amazing!! What a cool tree...for a hot summer!! Always fun to catch up with you!! Enjoy the weekend!

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  9. Your flowers did well this year! I keep hearing that many places in the US have had droughts this summer. It is raining as I type and has rained every day for the past two weeks. Since May it has rained 3-5 days a week down here on the Gulf Coast. It's so crazy! I hope we're producing a lot of food down here because there was already going to be a food shortage, but with a drought it's going to be so much worse. So many food plants are mysteriously burning down as well. We've been praying for more rain across the country! Your sweets tree is so cute and the ice cream cones are so clever. I like that you included the extra big picture because I was able to see the whole tree really well! Thanks for sharing with us on Crafty Creators!

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  10. YES to ice cream cones, especially in the summer!

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  11. Your ice cream cones are just lovely, perfect for your pretty tree. I love those tea pot frames too, I'm a big tea drinker! I like the fact that those lovely frames have such precious photos in them.
    The plants have really thrived in the heat you've had by the look of it, you've done well just keeping them alive. We've had some very hot dry weather here in the UK too this summer and my red geraniums are thriving but most other things are struggling a little. I may need to rethink what I try to grow if our summers are going to be like this going forward.
    Thanks for sharing all your goings on at Handmade Monday :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. The ice cream cones are a cute motif for your summertime tree. And, your container plants look really good for the end of summer. My container plants are looking pretty ragged right about now.
    Thank you for participating in Talent-Sharing Tuesdays Link-Up 30.
    Carol
    www.scribblingboomer.com

    ReplyDelete

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