Home Decor & Nature

Cottonwood Court is in the country in an area surrounded by (you guessed it) cottonwood trees, olive trees, salt cedar trees, and other shrubs and bushes. So….living in such a natural environment, I do a lot of decorating with natural elements. I enjoy searching for interesting bits of twigs, bark, bird nests, dried plants, driftwood, etc. that I can get a little “artsy” with.

The photo, top left, is of a piece of wood my husband had put in our tub to burn in the fireplace. I just had to salvage it before it met it’s end. It stood up perfectly (glad to be rescued), I added the dry flowers and Boom! it is a sculpture!

The photo on the top right is and old dipper I found that is perfect to put a bird nest with eggs in. I found the bird nest on the ground in my back yard. Guess it had blown out of the willow tree and the mother never came back as it was on the ground.

The two nests I have together are one a hummingbird nest and the other I’m not sure of.

A couple of years ago, I grew some giant sunflowers and used them to dry and decorate with dried flowers. I coated the sunflower center with an acrylic clear sealer to keep the seeds from falling out.

I bought a VERY old wood feeding try at a place called Jackalope. It has a lot of character and probably lots of stories to tell. It sits on an ornate iron stand and I use it for a coffee table. In the large jar are three types of acorns. The smallest ones I picked from oak brush (they are on the very bottom of the jar). The nuts from red ones are carved from a redwood, and put in natural caps. The really large ones are my pride and joy, they are among the largest acorns there are. I happened across these just after the trees had dropped them and grabbed then up as people gather these and hoard them (like me).

I get out in nature as often as I can to do my photography, scavenge my goodies, breath fresh air, listen to the birds, breeze in the trees, and refresh my mind. It’s a win win for me. My favorite shopping mall is the woods! Mother Nature provides the best products. Oh, yes, at NO COST, NO SHIPPING!