Feeling Cagey Part I

Click here to enter and win this beautiful bird cage cloche

It is summer time and we are “feeling cagey” over here at Ivy & Elephants.  We may not have any feathered friends, but since Patti and I are birds of a feather and love to flock together we feather our nests with beautiful collections of bird cages.

This asian import sits atop my secretary desk. That butterfly thinks it's a butterfly cage and not a bird cage.

This little number was imported all the way from my local Home Goods Store. The bromeliad adds wonderful color to the entry way.

These Golden Globes look wonderful in a beautiful bird cage, even on a rainy day such as this one.

While out shopping one day I saw this little bird cage that is used for jewelry. See the holes in the leaves? Those are for earrings, and the hooks are for necklaces. Then I remembered that I had a collection of miniature porcelain tea sets and well, voila. Talk about thinking outside the box, I mean cage. This bird cage sits in my bathroom window.

This bird cage came from a local antique shop and has the most beautiful flowers and leaves around the rim. It is the perfect place for my orchids.

There you have it, a bird’s eye view of how I use bird cages in and outside of my home. Don’t fly too far because you are in for a real treat. Stay tuned for Feeling Cagey Part II with Patti.


Share with us what great things you do with your bird cages.

We are spreading our wings and partying with the following chickadees:

Feathered Nest Friday
Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special
Mosaic Monday

Inspiration Friday

Open House Party

Show and Tell Friday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Please join Us!

We were recently  awarded the Stylish  Blogger Award by two fabulous ladies: Rosemary at Villabarnes and Honey at 2805.    

We are first to reveal 7 things about ourselves (Patti & Paula)

Well here we go.

1. Grateful to God for all that He continues to bless us with
2. We have been neighbors 3 times
3. We love antiquing (Okay y’all knew that already)
4. Both of us are mother’s of one child (Patti has a daughter and Paula has a son)
5. Great books are our passion
6. We love to garden once a year, and we mean ONCE a year
7. We both want to write books

We are truly grateful for this award because we are new bloggers and old blog voyeurs. Upon receiving this award we are to choose 7 recipients for the same award. Now this is a hard one because there are about 700 blogs we would choose. Drum roll please...

French Kissed

Dream In Cream

Delusions of Grandeur

Dear Lillie

D Reyne's

Dusty Lu

Ms. Gracie's House

(Be sure to click on the links and visit each one of these fabulous blogs)

Summer Sites

Hello, and welcome to my outdoor space. I'm joining Kim at Savvy Southern Style for the summer porch and patio party and Jenna at SAS Interiors for her summer spaces party.

This is my teeny little patio.

It’s just big enough for a couple of chairs to sit and watch the world go by.

There’s lots of rusty crusty wrought iron, yum!

My plants: some hanging

My jade plant

Some in planters

(Aren’t they gorgeous?)

And of course, in the yard.

Even my succulents in the birdcages have a sunny outlook!

Birdcages…

Love them!

But that’s for another post.

See ya on the porch!

Patti

 Thanks to Kim & Jenna for hosting us.
Pop on over and join the fun!

You can also find us on A Southern Dreamer

Time for Summer Fun

It’s a Summer Block Blog Party

I am joining Vanessa from At The Picket Fence and sharing a cool summer project that can be done with big and little children that involves plants. At the end of the project, the adult supervising the project gets a pretty cool project to keep or share as a gift for the home and/or garden. Most importantly, just have fun!!! ~ Paula

My three year old son, Sebastian, will show you how to display fabulous succulents in wonderful silver.

Sebastian visits a local plant nursery and choses his favorite succulents

Summertime yields many opportunities for children to become involved with plants, gardens, or just plain being outdoors and appreciating nature. We visit our national, state, and community parks, as well as local botanical gardens and nurseries.

I actually polished them but Sebastian wiped them down afterwards :-)  

I collect silver and silver plated objects from various antique stores. I also followed Vanna’s, from Delusions of Grandeur, sage advice and started hitting local Goodwill stores. OMG...Jackpot! I cannot believe people just give a way these things because they are tarnished. Thank you fabulous folks! I have paid no more then $4.00 at the Goodwill.

We just found a little area in the backyard and set up the materials that we needed.

Silver Objects (i.e. bowl, creamer, dish, tray)

Gravel

Planting Soil

Small Garden Hand shovel

Succulents 

(Orchids and Cactus would be great too)

1) Add a little gravel to the bottom of the silver object of your choice

2) Add soil to plant your succulents

Sebastian Chooses which succulent he wants to use

3) Plant the succulent in the soil (Since Sebastian is only three, it was best I do that part)

4) Add a wee bit of gravel carefully under the petals of the succulent

Sebastian is super excited about his project. He decides to give it to his grandmother. Maybe, I will get one next time.  :-)

We presented the gift in a beautiful gift bag with flowers, added a picture of Sebastian with the succulent in silver in a silver frame, and included several pictures showing each step Sebastian took in creating this gift for grandmother.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Show some love and leave us your thoughtful comments.

Thank you Vanessa for hosting this wonderful summer blog party!