I just love it when spring happens and the perfect weather sails in. But since this is only early February, I have a ways to wait before that happens. But who says we have to wait until then to enjoy beautiful flowers? You can force spring in your home by making these bulbs bloom indoors.

Many

[...CLICK for more article goodness!---->] Forcing Spring

I just love it when spring happens and the perfect weather sails in. But since this is only early February, I have a ways to wait before that happens. But who says we have to wait until then to enjoy beautiful flowers? You can force spring in your home by making these bulbs bloom indoors.

Many people are blogging about this now, but I first learned about this years ago when I was watching a Martha Stewart show. She was showing the different types of bulbs that you could force indoors. That was the first day I had even heard of paperwhites – and I loved them instantly! I told myself that I would have some for myself for the next year, but never bought them. Fast forward about 8 years later, and I finally got my first paperwhites!

Can I say two more things about these flowers?

1. I didn’t force these myself. We were shopping at Trader Joe’s last night and they had soooo many flowers on sale! Anyways, to learn more about forcing bulbs on your own, click HERE.

2. Paperwhites are so pretty, but they shoooooooooooooooooooo’ nuff do smell FUNKY!! Yeah, I’m not quite sure what to describe that sniff-sniff as. It’s not quite yucky, but it’s not quite lovely, either. However, the beautiful flowers make up for the funk (in my opinion).

Let’s make this 3 things:

3. Did you notice that several of their centers naturally created a heart? How perfect is that? <3 it!

Oh! And one more:

4.   I. Still. Want. A. GOOD. Snow. Day. First!

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Take a look at THIS:

These are some beautiful faux tulips that I am planning on using in a creative project. But I’m not here to talk about that right now. I just posted this picture of them so you won’t be inundated with totally yucky

[...CLICK for more article goodness!---->] All Natural Gnat Catch Let’s start off this not-so-pleasant post with something a little more…pleasing.

Take a look at THIS:

These are some beautiful faux tulips that I am planning on using in a creative project. But I’m not here to talk about that right now. I just posted this picture of them so you won’t be inundated with totally yucky stuff here. When you see the pics below, think back and remember this something beautiful.

Now, let’s begin.

It’s that time of the year where you are gathering yummies from your fruit trees and vegetable plants and bringing them to the kitchen to await tasty cookups. Some of this stuff attracts nasties, though, and we’ve gotta deal with it without spraying down your kitchen in harmful pesticides!

First, get an old jar that you were about to recycle and make sure it is washed clean. Screw the lid on tight.

Now punch in tiny holes all over the lid. I just used my paper piercer that came with some scrapbooking tools. If you happen to have one of those lying around, use it because it is perfect for the job! Otherwise, find anything sharp with a small point to it. And um, do be careful, okay? We don’t want any bloody fingers…or dirrrrrrrty diapers…(does anyone else remember that stupid ghost story from their childhood?).

Take the lid back off. Grab some good apple cider vinegar and pour in a good bit. For this size jar, I filled it up about 1/3 of the way full.

Now set your homemade jar trap somewhere in your kitchen where the little critters like to hang out. I chose to put mine beside my sink.

If you were to step back a little and watch, you will see the suckers drawn straight up to it. They can’t get enough of the stuff! It’s like one big Drink Fest and they think they are really living it up. Little do they know how bad this really is for ‘em! HA!

Thankfully, gnats are not the sharpest knives in the shed – wait…what? Anyway, they aren’t too smart, so what happens here is they crawl in to the party but they can not remember how to crawl back out. Thus, they fly and crawl around inside until it drives them crazy and then – I guess – get too tired, fall into the drink and die. You will see all the dead gnats floating around in the vinegar in several hours.

Try it! It truly works! Now that we are finished with that grody stuff…let’s go back and think about something pretty:

Ah yes! Beautiful flowers in my gnat-free kitchen! Glad we could end this thing on a happy note! <3