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Simple Spring Wreath

I’m ready for spring.

Winter – thankfully – didn’t hit us hard this year in the North Country of NY, but I’m still ready for warm + sunny weather to once again appear.

To welcome the coming change of season, I wanted to adorn my door with something new. Typically when April hits, I change over the front porch for Spring and kick-off-the-season by hanging my beloved forsythia wreath. This year I wanted something new…

The past weeks have been incredibly busy with little spare time to create + DIY, but last weekend, I squeezed in a few quiet moments to make a new wreath.

Quick + Simple, AND pretty.  A new wreath to adorn my door…

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

I adore my yellow forsythia wreath – my go to for Spring – but I was wanting something lighter + brighter to give contrast to the apple green painted front door.

After food shopping last week, I popped into AC Moore and saw so many vibrant + colorful faux flowers for Spring.  Their whole collection was on sale, so I picked up 3 bunches – about $15 total – in soft colors of white, greens, and a pop of pink.

I was excited to get started…

TUTORIAL FOR A SIMPLE 10-MINUTE SPRING WREATH

I started off with an 18″ grapevine wreath that I had on hand – but you can find them at most craft stores (even Walmart has them) for around $5.

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

And my 3 bunches of Spring flowers.

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

Using snips, I broke apart the flower cluster and was left with individual stems, which gives the flexibility + freedom to place the stems where they look best to give a real-looking result.

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

Once all the stems are separated, start weaving them into the wreath.  Secure with floral wire if needed.

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

In about 5-8 minutes, I was done and had a new wreath to adorn my door.

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

And here it is… hung and pretty!

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

Well unfortunately I think I jinxed myself.  Spring was on it’s way, but over the coming days it’s supposed to feel like winter again.  Ugh.  Soon.  I know it’ll be here soon.

For now, this new wreath will keep me going to send Spring vibes our way.

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

SPRING WREATH: A simple + easy 10-minute creation to adorn the front door. It couldn't be easier to make and a lot less expensive than buying. Easy-to-follow tutorial @ www.JennaBurger.com

Want to make something similar for your door, here’s a quick recap of how to make it.  I swear, it is simple.  Anyone can tackle this in a cinch!

Sprng Wreath Collage

Want to see more wreaths I’ve made?  Check out my DIY wreath page with lots of easy-to-follow tutorials.

Happy Spring.

Soon.

Spring + Summer Front Porch

I can not be more excited that the warm weather is here!  Over the last few weeks, it’s been hot.  Spring skipped right over us this year, but after that brutal winter, who cares.  As I’ve mentioned once or twice, we’ve been working hard on vamping up the outdoors for the warmer days ahead.

A lot of work has gone into the front of our home this year… curb appeal at it’s finest.  The porch got quite a few updates.  Here is this years Spring-right-into-Summer Front Porch…

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

I feel lucky to have so many spots around our homestead to chill + put our feet up (the patio / the deck), but the one spot (which is by far the smallest of all) our clan of 5 always seems to choose to relax is the front porch.  Maybe it’s because the kids are often riding their bikes on the road or playing basketball in the driveway, but even when we’re playing a game of Uno, all of us pretty much always choose the front porch.

It certainly is quaint + cozy…

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

…with lots of color + texture.

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Pillows on the porch: Blue Multi / White Medallion / Bird

Carpet @ chairs: $5 polypropylene mats from Five Below

Mat @ front door: Target – similar to this

Pouf: Lowe’s

Front Door color: Valspar Crushed Oregano in semi-gloss

A few upgrades from when we first moved in – enlarging the columns, adding the vertical pallet, installing the new front door – have all made a big impact to the entry of our home. psst, another fairly easy DIY project with a big impact look coming your way next week.

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

EASY DO-IT-YOURSELF PROJECT

Dress up your house numbers…

Using a board from an old pallet, I brushed on a light coat of white paint.  I installed the house numbers (that used to be attached to the house) on the board about 3/4 up from the bottom. Then I took jute cord and wrapped it around to create an interesting design. Simple & not a penny spent!

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com[The stone edging at the garden beds are a new addition this year. Check out the tutorial on creating the perfect border for your beds]

And pretty flowers do make a BIG difference.  This porch looked far from how it does now only a few short weeks ago…

All of my flowers for this years porch came from Lowe’s.  They always have such a great variety of flowers + plants!

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Not much is new; most of the furniture and layers on this years Spring + Summer front porch we’ve had for years.  With some little updates, it’s amazing how old can look new in a snap.

The side chairs are inexpensive teak bought about 8 years ago from the Christmas Tree store.  I thought about getting rid of them many times, but last year I added new cushions + a few vibrant pillows from Lowe’s and all of a sudden, they looked great again.

The lutchens bench used to be stained, but then I got my hands on a can of turquoise spray paint and it took on a new life!

The vertical garden pallet is a DIY creation from a few years back and it’s still a show-stopper on the porch.

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

It is such a wonderful way to add height to a vertical space (and height = drama!).  From herbs to succulents to vines, I’ve hung many different types of plants on this vertical pallet over the years!  For this Spring season, I chose to plant Variegated Vinca Vines in the smaller pots and Fuchsia in the larger pots – they are both shade annuals.

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Fuchsia is also what I chose for the hanging plant over the porch since this side of the house gets no sun.

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Ferns are another great shade choice and I have that hanging from a tall hook next to the porch.  It’s such a beautiful, hardy Summer staple.

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Can you see why this spot is our favorite to spend those long dog days of Summer?  Do you blame us?!

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Lastly, I love seeing + sharing how our front facade has evolved over the years…

Spring + Summer Front Porch: A small space filled with lots of colors and layers that create a welcoming entry.  See the rest of this porch + how it's evolved over the years! www.jennaburger.com

Crazy, right?  All this TLC has been tackled with our own hands!

Thanks for taking the tour of our favorite Summer Space!  And by the way, did you catch anything different about this years porch from years past – if you’ve been following along with me for over the years, you might have noticed.  Well if not, I’ll give you a hint… we jazzed up the ugly foundation with new stone veneer.  More on that + a tutorial on how we installed it coming up next week.

Cheers to a fantastic summer! 

So tell me, are you more of a front porch sitter or a back deck lounger?

DISCLOSURE: I am part of the Lowe’s Creative Team and was provided with a Lowe’s gift card to purchase items for my project.  I was also compensated for my time to use the products.  No one told me what to create, what to buy, how to use the product, or what to write.  All opinions are 100% mine!

The Perfect Border for your Beds

As I mentioned last week while sharing ideas on creating an outdoor oasis, we’ve been fast + furious over the past few weeks on sprucing up the outdoors of our humble abode.

It’s what’s happening around our little ole’ homestead in the North Country and I am excited to share the updates we’ve been making!  First up, the garden beds in the front yard…

Granted the front beds have received a whole lotta TLC over the 5 years we’ve lived here, but I still felt like there needed to be more definition between the grass and the gardens.  After cleaning out the beds and before laying the mulch, I installed a stone garden edge that not only defines the line between the grass & garden, but gives character and texture…

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

This is the garden bed that is against the front of our home and it looks much different than when we moved in a few years ago.  It’s had quite the transformation…

Garden before

Without giving too much away (the full ‘tour’ of this years Spring porch coming later this week), this is how the front of the house looks now…

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

One of the many reasons I love having a blog is documenting the evolution of our home. It’s wonderful to look back and see how much we’ve done!

So back to…

CREATING A GARDEN EDGE USING STONE

I found these edging stones at Lowe’s for $1.28 each.

Stone to edge garden beds

These stones are a trapezoid shape – about 7″ long on one side, about 5″ long on the other side.  Because of the stones shape, they can be layed in a straight line (by changing the direction with each one) OR on a curve (tight curve or gradual curve) to border a garden.  One row high is just enough (that’s what I did) or these inexpensive stones can be stacked (staggering the joint) to create a taller garden border or retaining wall.  They can also be used to create a firepit.

The best part about these stones aside from the price is that there is truly no installation!  You simply set it & forget it (I sound like an infomercial, but it’s really that easy).

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

The garden beds bordering the front of the house & in the yard had a natural trench at the edge, so I followed the line and layed the stones in place.  A few tweaks needed to be in some spots to create a nicer curve but in all it took minutes to lay them all.

BEFORE & AFTER

Just a few weeks ago before the flowers started coming to life & before the mulch was added, I snapped the before picture.  Now look how the new stones define the garden…

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

Once the stone edge was set, I planted a few annuals amongst the growing perennials and filled in the garden with mulch.

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

And it was complete…

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

It’s far from an award-winning garden, but it’s ours that we created.

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

Each day the flowers show more of their beauty.

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.com

I’ll admit, because I am a bit Type A & love instant gratification, gardening isn’t top on my list of favorite things to do.  I often get frustrated & annoyed each Spring season not knowing what will bloom again. Thankfully looking back on old pictures, I am able to truly appreciate all the hard work we’ve put into creating a home we love.  What an incredible lesson of patience, right?!

This stone edge was truly a simple + high impact DIY project to jazz up the front of our home.  I am thrilled that it was inexpensive + easy to do – how much better does it get?!

The Perfect Border for your Beds: Defining a gardens edge with inexpensive stone that fit any shape or size garden bed.  Details @ www.jennaburger.comThe front facade of our home also got another big upgrade.  More on that coming soon…  In the meantime, if you have garden beds that merge into the grass, adding a stone edge will surely create the definition needed to add character & texture to your landscaping beds!

DISCLOSURE: I am part of the Lowe’s Creative Team and was provided with a Lowe’s gift card to purchase items for my project.  I was also compensated for my time to use the products.  No one told me what to create, what to buy, how to use the product, or what to write.  All opinions are 100% mine!

Gardening Made Easy

Flower Collage

Spring is shining and that means gardening season is upon us.  With that comes excitement and a bit of angst.  As one who doesn’t have the greenest thumb on the block, I love & dread  the thought of growing flowers.  I always try to put my best foot forward, but somehow my foot often ends up behind me kicking my butt – okay, that just sounds a bit funny… Anyway, depending on where you live, some of you may already have pretty flowers growing on the grounds of your homestead, but for others (like me waving my hand high in the North Country), the bitter temps of Winter are just passing and teeny buds are finally starting to sprout – yay!

Seasonal flowers in the garden

Each year as May and June roll around, I love walking the endless aisles of the flower section to pick up a few new perennials for the gardens + pretty, perky annuals for the pots.  Once I get home, I transplant them either into the ground or into planters, but then I’m typically at a lost for what to do next… water now?  water later? add feed daily? add feed once a week? add fertilizer?  The questions that brew in my brain are endless with trying to make these beauties thrive the best they can.

Gardening Made Easy with Miracle-Gro Universal Feeder where you can water + feed in one step!  So easy + fast.

Well, I now have the answer and it’s foolproof…  Miracle-Gro® has a brand new product to help make gardening success even easier called the Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder, which allows you to feed your plants just the right amount of nutrients while you water.  How great + easy is that?!  Water + Feed at the same time.

Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder HOW IT WORKS.

Simply attach the feeder to your spigot (which will then remain on the spigot).  Insert the LiquaFeed® bottle by removing the cap and twisting it into the LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder.  Turn on the water at your spigot and flip the switch to “Feed”, then switch it back to water when you want. You can feed using any watering device – a soaker hose, sprinkler, watering wand, hand sprayer, etc. That’s it! How It works: Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder

A few facts about this fabulous feeder:

> Feeding is as easy as watering

> You can turn any hose connection into a feeder with the flip of a switch

> Apply the feeder every other week to grow bigger, more beautiful plants + flowers

> It’s so easy, the kids can help!

Important gardening tips I’ve learned along the way: 

> Create a garden to fit your lifestyle.  Not every garden has to be award-winning filled with roses and orchids.  If you are a busy family (like my clan of 5) that likes to travel or has daily commitments, create a garden that fits your lifestyle & what you can manage.  Creating a long term plan for your garden is a great way to start, then each year expand to what you can handle + care for.  Using this water + feed in one will make maintaining the garden that much easier!

> Purchase new flowers at different times of the season.  If you want to have a blooming garden throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall months, shop for flowers at different times during the season so you can see what is in bloom when.  If you buy all your flowers at one time, you may be left colorless by September.

> Transplant potted plants.  Leaving potted plants or flowers in their original plastic pot that you buy at the gardening center does not give them the space needed to grow.  After purchasing a plant or flower that you plan on keeping potted, transfer it into something larger (about twice the size of the plant) so it has room for its roots to expand.

> Read the plant tag.  Finding a plant or flower that fits your climate & growing conditions is important to achieve a successful bloom.  It’s very important to find the right flower / plant that matches your setting, so read the label!

Reading the plant tag is key to planting successvia BHG

To take it a step further, create a gardening scrapbook to add your plant tags to each season + to document the success of your flowers + plants.

Create a planting scrapbook to document the success of your plants + flowersvia Reader’s Digest

I’ve learned a few things along the way and am crossing my fingers for a successful gardening season to come.  With some planning + a plan-of-action for maintaining, I am hoping for lots of beautiful blooms & pretty petals!  At least now watering + feeding them will be a breeze.

disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Miracle-Gro, a company I have used many times in the past and highly value!  All opinions + words are 100% my own.

If it waters, now it feeds with Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder. It’s a great tool to help you reach your gardening goals by providing the essential nutrients your plants need to thrive all season long. This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro®. The opinions and text are all mine.