Posted on May 21, 2010 under wreaths | Comments are off
The big decision’s been made to sell your home. Now you’re concerned with the impression your home will have on prospective buyers, if your home will even sell, how long it will take for the sale to happen and whether or not your purchase price will be met. In order to compete with the competition and have your home look better than all those other homes, it is essential that your home appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers. Especially with the real estate market’s ups and downs, those first impressions are critical!
It’s time to stage your home.
Home staging focuses on making your home more attractive and appealing in order to show its very best to the largest number of potential buyers. One of the smartest decisions a seller can make, staging one’s home can turn a boring, unattractive property into a warm and inviting residence. Staged homes sell faster, get higher offers, look better in MLS and advertising photos, have an edge over competing properties and often sway a final purchase decision. Silk flower arrangements, plants, trees and wreaths are a beautiful, inexpensive and low maintenance way of adding realism, warmth and color to your home’s interior or make an outside area look more inviting.The Silk Garden offers a wide variety of premium quality, designer silk flowers and arrangements, silk plants, artificial trees and silk wreaths to meet all your staging, home enhancement and interior design requirements. Complement your interior spaces and outdoor environment with silk flowers, plants and trees that are so realistic, you won’t know the difference!Some Placement Ideas for Silk Flowers, Plants, Trees & Wreaths 1. Add plants and potted flowers to patios and decks. 2. Add a flowering vine to a garden trellis. 3. Mix bulb-type flowers in planter boxes with real flowers. 4. Flank a front door with silk trees and/or topiary. 5. Add flowers and potted plants to the front porch or steps. 6. A wreath on the front door says “welcome!” 7. Add beautiful silk flower arrangements to kitchen counters, dining tables, bedside, occasional or living room tables. 8. Group plants on the floor to make a dynamic room display. Use plants with different heights, put some on stands or small tables or group three large plants together in a triangle. 9. Add smaller plants or floral arrangements to shelves or on tables next to lamps. 10. Add hanging ferns or flowers to entertainment centers or bookcases. 11. Place tropical plants and flowers on bathroom counters, near the bathtub or on the rims of a Jacuzzi. 12. Add flower arrangements in colors that complement the existing room colors.
Realtors, home stagers, home sellers and interior designers: visit The Silk Garden at www.the-silk-garden.com for information on Save with Six discount purchasing.
Posted on May 14, 2010 under wreaths | Comments are off
Often times when selling a home, one gets so caught up in the details of staging that they forget to allow some of the individual character of the home to shine through. The once colorful walls now reflect the same hue from room to room, and yes as much as that creates a blank canvas for potential buyers, the house may lose some of its warmth. After all, this piece of merchandise is also a family home.An effective way to accentuate a home’s individuality and also welcome future owners is to change the decor with the seasons. Especially in today’s market, many listings are taking longer to sell, which can result in a home going through multiple seasonal changes. There is nothing wrong with sprucing up the home for the holidays, however, there is a balance between bouncing inflatable lawn ornaments, and tasteful autumn or Halloween decorations. Here are some ideas for indoor and outdoor decorations that are not only tasteful, but eye catching and will convey the warmth of the season.Outdoor:Nothing says autumn like a colorful wreath hanging from the front door. Let nature be your inspiration as you adorn your canvas with items that reflect the changing of the seasons. Begin with a foam or grapevine wreath and glue silk or preserved leaves in varying fall colors. If you use a foam base, first cover it completely with sheet moss to give your leaves a mossy background. Using a grapevine wreath, glue leaves on the bottom half and add small gourds or pumpkins. Top it off with some twigs with berries and a bright orange bow. Glue nuts of varying types to the front of a wreath form against a leafy background. A dried flower wreath is timeless and elegant. Begin with a background of bay leaf or eucalyptus. Build on it by adding layers of sage, goldenrod, and finally small tufts of mums, asters or daisies.Get small containers of flowers and insert them in hollowed out small pumpkins. They look gorgeous along a wall or lining a walkway.Get a basket, bushel or old wooden wheelbarrow and fill it to overflowing with the bounties of the season. Use gourds, pumpkins, Indian corn, twigs, and accessorize with some gardening gloves and a shovel. Build an autumn container using ornamental grass in the center, ornamental kale, delicate pansies, and some flowing ivy. Alternate pumpkins and containers of mums on your front steps and along the walkway to greet visitors. Indoors:Create vases for the table and mantle using gourds and pumpkins. Find a long neck gourd that stands upright, cut off the end and dig into it with a slender knife. Insert a bunch of bright mums or sunflowers. Take delicate covered jars or other clear containers and display tiny gourds, berry covered branches, or blossoms. Take a selection of gourds and spray them with gold paint. Display on a fancy plate or in a crystal bowl. Scoop out ornamental gourds and use as candy bowls. Create candle holders by taking small ornamental pumpkins and gourds, glue leaves to their base, and drill out a hole to insert a candle. It looks great with both tall candles, or small wide ones that lie flush with the top of the pumpkin. String vines of cranberry among the candle holders once in place on the table.
Posted on May 07, 2010 under wreaths | Comments are off
This is a very simple decorating idea for that garden window of yours that screams out for attention. Use a lovely resin berry wreath, accented with a stunning heart shaped ornament, and accessorize around it with other some other eye catching décor for a conversation generating Valentines Day decorating idea.
Step 1 – For this project, you will need to position a large suction cup hook to the garden window determining the height that your wreath will hang from. Next, begin by wrapping multi-colored red and white satin ribbon to the top of the resin berry wreath creating a pretty bow. For this step take the silver heart shaped ornament and hang it on to the suction cup. Once your bow is secured in place, position your wreath on the suction hook with the bow at the top.
Step 2 – On the base of your garden window, set a desert serving tray (we used a brown metal one). Take a small glass cake stand (we used a pink scalloped one), and flip it over so that the stand it facing up and position it on top of your desert serving tray. This now becomes a display stand to showcase some of your favorite decorative kitchen items that you can incorporate in to your Valentine vignette display. For this project we also used a red beaded heart shaped ornament to rest on the top of the cake stand, a vintage red and white ceramic rooster, 1 strand of clear glass shaped grapes, and a small silver heart shaped ornament to set the stage at the base of the upside down cake stand.
Step 3 – When doing a grouping, it’s always best to work with odd numbers. So in this case, to tie the wreath and serving tray together, a third piece was added to balance the look of the display. We used a small outdoor ceramic cranberry colored pot. Next using pink sheered wire ribbon, tie a bow around the pot and fill with 3 small artificial golden colored pears. Then, insert a decorative store bought Valentine pick. To soften the window, try adding a red fabric knit by draping it around the base of your window.
www.suspendedintime.com Suspended In Time® Inc. is a floral preservation business with dealers across the US. We offer a dried flowers business opportunity to florists, as well as an in home floral preservation business opportunity. The start up cost for our flower preservation business opportunity is very affordable. Our method of flower preservation provides superior results over freeze dry methods. Create dried flower decor keepsakes by preserving wedding bouquet flowers, funeral tribute floral sprays, and other special occasion floral arrangements.
Posted on Apr 07, 2010 under dried flowers | Comments are off
”Bless This Home” poem is inscribed
Measures 3 3/8” diameter x 5 1/4” high
Product Description A spring green candle, blooming with pressed flowers and warm sentiments. ”Bless This Home” poem is inscribed. 3 3/8” diameter x 5 1/4” high…. More >>
Posted on Mar 21, 2010 under dried foliage | Comments are off
It has been weeks, maybe months – sometimes years – since you first started your home herb garden. You toiled and slaved to make them flourish, you experienced the thrill of seeing the first sprout grow, and the heartache of seeing them whilt away. You learned the ropes; you made everything work despite your ‘ungreen thumb’ and you became somewhat of an herb expert in the local sapling club of your town. Now, after all you’ve accomplished, a question hangs…What do you do with your herbs?Harvesting herbs is the next step in your herb garden journey. Having a home herb garden is pretty much like having your own health food grocery store. Herbs are extremely useful, and each has their own uses. But to harvest them isn’t as simple as plucking the leaves out whenever you feel like it. You can do it of course, but only if you intend to use your plants just once. But if you plan to harvest your home herb garden regularly, timing is crucial. The best time to harvest your herbs is on a calm, dry midsummer morning because wind and heat have the tendency to disperse the herb’s essential oils. On extremely wet days, herbs produce less oils, so harvesting herbs after the dew has dries and before the flowers open is strongly suggested. When harvesting, you should be conscious not to take more than one-third of the foliage. Harvesting the whole plant obviously is not a good idea. The plants need foliage to re-grow well. Be sure also to check the plant and leaves for insects, diseases and damaged leaves before harvesting, and to take the proper steps to remove them if found. Once you harvest your home herb garden, it doesn’t mean you would have to use them right away. You can always store and preserve your harvest for later use. There are three ways people use employ when preserving herbs for later use; drying, freezing and preserving them in salt or vinegar (much like pickling). To start preserving, begin by bundling six to twelve stems together making sure to remove the foliage at the base of the stems. Secure them using string or special bundling cords for plants that are available in your local gardening store. Hang the bundles in a cool place away from sunlight. Drying individual leaves, placing them in a screen or special rack is best. Be sure to turn the leaves or bundles regularly to ensure a proper and balanced drying process. To make the most of their home herb garden some people who resort to using microwaves or ovens to speed up the drying process, but these methods tend to yield unsatisfactory results. Freezing herbs is a more simple process of preservation. You cut your herbs into 1.4 inch pieces, put them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, and put them in a freezer. Once frozen, you can bundle them into plastic bags and place in the freezer again to save space. The third way is via a certain medium like salt or vinegar. Chopped herbs like mint, basil or tarragon can be covered with vinegar and it will be preserved for several months. You can also use salt by alternating layers between the salt and the herbs. When it is dry, you can then separate the salt from the herbs and store them in an airtight container. But what if you wish to use them straight from home herb garden? First, you should clean the herbs carefully before using in any recipe. Cleaning them requires you to place them in a bowl filled with water. If the herbs are too many to fit in a bowl, the sink can suffice. Then put two tablespoonfuls of salt in the water. The salt will drive away whatever insects are in the herbs without damaging the plants. Once clean, remove the herbs and dry them in a salad spinner, or you can toss them by hand if you don’t have a salad spinner. Remember, different herbs require different approaches. What is mentioned above is generally true for all, but to be sure, know what kind of herb you wish to harvest and prepare and learn all you can about it. Caring for a home herb garden is both beneficial & rewarding and reaping what you sow is good, but learn how to reap them properly lest you lose them.
Posted on Mar 20, 2010 under dried foliage | Comments are off
You have learned how to grow your own home herb garden and are happy with the results. You have managed to produce some good healthy plants and now it is time to start using them. The following are some tips on how to use the beautiful herbs that you have managed to grow.
The first thing you will need to do is harvest them. Timing here is very important as wind and heat can dissipate the herbs essential oils. Since the herbs produce fewer oils on wet days, you should pick a calm, dry day. Mid summer is a good time for this. You also want to harvest the herbs after the dew has dried and just prior to the flowers opening.
Before you begin to harvest the herbs it is important to first check for insects and damaged leaves. It is important to remember that you do not want to remove the entire plant. You just want to take an amount that you want to use. A good rule of thumb is to take no more than one third of the plants foliage. The plant needs to keep the rest of its foliage for continued growth. You can harvest more than you need for later use if you want, as they can be preserved.
The three most common methods for preserving herbs are freezing, drying, or preserving them in an element such as vinegar or salt. Drying is a popular method that requires bundling stems together, removing any foliage from the base and bounding with string. Next they need to hang in a cool spot. Individual leaves can be dried if desired by putting them on a screen. It is important to turn them frequently or they will not dry appropriately. Although not as effective, appliances such as ovens and dehydrators can be used to dry your herbs. An easy way to preserve your herbs is by freezing them. Simply place small pieces onto a baking sheet with wax paper and once frozen, put them in a bag and store them in your freezer. Preserving herbs in an element might be the way you want to go. There are many ways to do this and everyone has their own favorites. One possibility is to make a flavored salt to preserve your herbs with. Another idea is to cover your herbs with vinegar. Try some different things and find the method that you like best. Preserving your herbs is great but there is nothing like fresh herbs straight from your home herb garden. It is important to clean them before use. The best way to clean them is to put them into a bowl of cool water with two tablespoons of salt. Salt works great for removing any insects from the plant without damaging it. Once cleaned they can be dryed in a salad spinner. Herbs are a lot of fun to grow and they have so many uses. They also require different care from growing conditions to harvesting. Make sure you learn about the particular herbs you are interested in growing in your home herb garden. That way you can enjoy the process as well as understand how to use them correctly.
Posted on Mar 19, 2010 under dried foliage | Comments are off
Making use of home herb garden You have planted the herbs and watched them grow and flourish. They are extremely useful in so many ways. But, using herbs from a home herb garden requires a little bit of work first.
In order to use the herbs you will need to harvest them first. Timing is a factor that cannot be ignored. The heat and the wind could break up the necessary oils of the herbs. You need to pick a dry and calm morning to harvest your herbs during midsummer. Lesser oils are yielded by the herb on days that are highly wet. The herbs need to be harvested after the dew dries form the leaves prior to the flowers opening. Removing the entire plant is not necessary when harvesting the herb. Upon reaching this point, you are just removing some amount of growth to be used. The herbs that you are harvesting aren’t necessary for use at the time that you pick them. You can preserve them for later use. Be careful to remove not more than a third of the plant’s foliage at a time. For the plant to re-grow well, it will need a good amount of foliage. Before you harvest it, you need to make certain to inspect the plant for insects and impaired leaves.
In preserving herbs, typically there are three ways for use later; drying, freezing or preserving them in salt or vinegar, which you have in your kitchen. To succeed in properly drying herbs, you will need twelve stems to bundle together and spruce away any foliage close to the base of the stems. You can use a string to securely bundle them with. In a cool location away from sunlight, there you can hang the bundle. You can use a screen or a rack if you are looking to dry leaves individually there, you can place them on. Do not forget to flip them constantly in order for them to properly dry. Few people have resorted to utilizing appliances like microwaves, dehydrators or ovens to dry herbs as well although these are ways that offer results that is less satisfactory. Freezing herbs is a quite simple way to evenly preserve herbs. Using wax paper to line with cut the herbs into ¼ inch pieces and place on a baking sheet. Once the herbs are frozen, you can put them all together in a bag and place them inside the freezer until use.
Through a medium is another (third) way you can use to preserve herbs. For example, you could cover herbs like basil, chopped mint or tarragon with vinegar and for several months it will be preserved. Or by making flavored salt, you can preserve herbs by alternating layers of fresh herbs between salt. When dry completely divide the brown herb from the flavored salt and set it aside in a container that is airtight.
Sure, people use herbs often fresh right out of the garden. Use caution cleaning and preparing the herbs prior to being placed fresh in recipes. Using a bowl filled with cool water, clean the fresh herbs. You can use the sink if there is a large quantity of herbs. In the water, put around two tablespoons of salt. The salt in the water will repel away insects without causing damaging to the herb plant. Take the herbs away from the water and dry them in a salad spinner.
Various kinds of herbs are used for much variety of uses. Each different kinds of herb have their own list of instructions on how to use, harvest and chop. Make certain to research the particular type of herb you are using for correct use. .
Posted on Mar 19, 2010 under silk flowers | Comments are off
Artificial flowers and plants are mainly for decorating purpose. Artificial flowers and plants are low maintenance, carefree, as real or natural plants. Artificial flowers are no need to watering and placed in sun light, these are untroubled plant for decorates your homes. There are many types of products that are used in manufacturing in artificial flowers like; silk flowers, plastic flowers, glass flowers, clay flowers, paper flowers cloth flowers, & much more. These are totally carefree and less maintenance flowers for decorating your homes and offices. In recent times, it has been experiential that demand for artificial flowers has been increased. It’s very simple to distinguish the real flowers and artificial flowers like plastic flowers or silk flowers. There are many reasons for people to interact towards artificial flowers. Because artificial flowers are long lasting than real flowers as after little time they will not become dull and withered. They remain beautiful even after 8 month or one year, but real flowers become dull and withered after 2 or 3 days. There is only one thing to do about is dusting from artificial flowers within a week or month. After that it looks imitations of real flowers. Artificial flowers and plants are cheaper than real flowers Artificial flowers are much cheaper than real flowers. One can save more than 50% of money by purchasing artificial flowers. Due to increasing popularity and low price, people start using them in parties and events as well for decoration purpose. Artificial Plant India are available all over in market place of decorating shops but it may be expensive and you should have to bargain from retailers. Now, there is better option for buying Artificial flowers in India through online services. There are many online artificial flowers sites which provide artificial flowers and plants to India. Just log on to online and get the most beautiful and charming artificial flowers for your homes and offices.
