New York Botanical Garden - with kids!

The New York Botanical Garden invited me to explore their gardens so this past weekend I took up the opportunity and went with my husband and 3 little girls for our first visit to it in the Bronx. A first of many visits for certain!

Elegant autumn toned dahlias grew in the seasonal walk

I could not contain my excitement and I think it rubbed off on my girls as we excitedly went from garden to garden. As we walked up to the conservatory, my husband saw the sign "A world of Plants" and knew without words that I would want a picture in front of it.

 so many lovely green textures.

I really enjoyed the different hanging baskets of Apocynaceae plants native to Indonesia and Malaysia:

 

riding on the tram!

 The flowering 'sweet autumn clematis' were a sight to see:

Naturally, we spent the most time in the Everett Children's Adventure Garden. My girls loved seeing the massive critters designed using different plantings.

They also enjoyed a scavenger hunt that had them searching for medicinal plants. They even got to plant and take home their own medicinal plant to put on mosquito bites. At the time, I missed what seed it was that they were planting, but we will find out once they start to sprout!

 

overflowing hydrangeas

The garden grounds were so much larger than I expected! For any horty like me, I would recommend spending a full day at the gardens to fully enjoy each area without feeling rushed. There are many things I would love to go back and discover more about that we did not have time to see, especially the Mertz Library. It is one of the world's largest and most important botanical and horticultural research libraries, with over one million items such as books, journals, original art and illustration, seed and nursery catalogs, architectural plans of glass houses, scientific reprints, and photographs. I think that alone would take a whole day for me to enjoy.

As for my girls, they loved it and asked the next morning "when can we go back?!".

walking the high line, nyc

We took an afternoon as a family in the city and walked the High Line! I have been wanting to do it for ages and I don't  know why it took so long to go. It was gorgeous, very windy, but oh so worth it. The High Line is a modern park made from the old, elevated New York Central Railroad on the lower west side of Manhattan.

Peekaboo empire state building:

 

The old rail lines have been repurposed into an ever growing luscious flowering wonderland in the bustle of the city. Recycling at its best. I love how they kept some of the rail lines intact though and planted in and amongst them.

 It's neat to walk elevated through all of the buildings while still in a park that is a mile and a half long.

 

If you are planning a trip to NYC anytime soon, I highly recommend walking the High Line! It was great to walk with kids too. My girls loved looking at the flowers, climbing on the benches and just plain old people watching. We can't wait to go back!

ps- if you are planning on going with kids, check out this book, The Curious Garden by Peter Brown and read it before you go. It is a children's book inspired by the High Line and now one of our favorites.

happy (winter wonderland) halloween

photos from my weekend.

Snowtober is what they are calling it. The freak storm that pummeled us, ruined halloween, canceled schools, took out almost everyone's power and postponed trick or treating until friday in these parts of jersey. We bundled up, watched the snow fall, trees snap, sipped hot cocoa and made a little ghost craft I think we will remember and cherish for (hopefully warmer) halloweens to come.

Happy Halloween!


check back soon for an awesome giveaway from one of my sponsors

magic blankie ride

a very special stop motion video i think you'll enjoy made by yours truly, my sister annie and her hubs on a rainy day while they were visiting. Starring my little Penélope and her cute cousin Evangeline. It was so much fun to make.

photos to canvas

i've been contemplating for a while about getting a photo to canvas done of my girls. I made this clock when Camila was a newborn and now with the birth of Penélope, my photo wall was no longer complete! So while my sister was visiting, she took this gorgeous photo of my girls. I went with Easy Canvas Prints who put your photos to canvas. I loooove the outcome. It fits perfectly in with my black and white photo wall and I am happy with the exquisite quality of the canvas too.

They have a great deal going on now... if you 'like' them on facebook you get 50% off your next order and free shipping!

-christina

blossom buddies

my girls fight over this book blossom buddies by Elsa Mora all of the time. She has taken natural elements and made them into different characters and photographed them. My four year old Raquel especially loves giving each blossom buddy a name and a story.

Elsa was inspired to make this book while working with her autistic son who was fascinated with plants and nature. A previous post with more of Elsa's papercutting work is here.

my new shiny penny

The birth announcement I made for my new little one! Don't you love how snuggly newborns are? That's all for today from me... back to snuggling :)

she's here!

Beautiful Penèlope Eve joined our world July 6th, 2011. All 7lbs 2oz of her. She is so snuggly and lovely and the reason why my blog is unplugged for a bit. I will be back in a little!!!
-christina

found friday: tree blocks

My girls and I went to a National local Swam refuge a few weeks ago with some friends. They loved looking for wildlife on the paths and playing with toys in the discovery center. My 2 year old Mila especially loved stacking and playing with the tree blocks. I'm happy to say I've found some handmade ones on etsy! Monkeys on the Roof makes them from fallen trees and finished them by hand with a natural beeswax. What a great gift they would make. Find them here!

mila stackin away

Happy weekend!
-Christina

felt and fabric rosettes

Recently I've become obsessed with making fabric and felt flowers. My sister just had a baby girl so I sent her these (above) that I made. And funny thing, she was on the same wavelength, yet again, and sent me a fabric flower necklace for my birthday and some flower clips she made for my baby!!

I've also made lots for my girls and for my new baby girl on the way too (im now 31 weeks hooray!). They are very fun to make.

I ordered my wool felt (not the same kind of felt you buy at the craft store but sturdier) for the baby flowers from giant dwarf and the elastic for the headbands from jasmineashley.
The thick white band on the bottom headband is actually made from a white knee-high I cut and glued together. I the found vintage fabrics and things while thrifting.

my little girl sporting a yellow rosette I made

Here are some great DIY tutorials that I got my inspiration from!!
cherry street cottage: fabric flower tutorial
my sparkle: Rolled Fabric Flowers
little miss momma: pom fabric flowers
make it and love it: wool felt flowers for baby

for more tutorials visit my DIY board on pinterest and get making some rosettes! Don't have a baby girl? Make some rosettes for your shoes, a necklace or your own hair!

im signing off for the busy weekend I will be having making a million floral arrangements and then traveling to Virginia. Happy mother's day dear friends!

dino plants

lets face it. there are tons of cute and frilly things out there for little girls. I know this cause I have (almost) 3. Poor little boys always seem to get jipped. But these! I love these! How cute are they for a boy's room? Dino planters made out of repurposed toys found at plaidpigeon. A great way to get boys interested in plants and caring for them. My girls love the new show dino dan so I think these could work great for girls too, especially in pink.