1HappyCorner.com - Gift Blog

This post was submitted by one of our Guest Contributors: Cindy Magee. You can read her blog at http://mageebaby.blogspot.com  

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Mother’s Day is coming soon – May 11th in fact! It can be tough to figure out what token of affection to bestow upon my two mom’s each year to celebrate and show appreciation for all their love. So last month, when I got a small catalog in the mail from Spring Hill Nurseries I was delighted and relieved! Whew! Flowers to the rescue!

The mailing included several flyers highlighting different varieties of plants as part of the One Cent Sale. Sorry folks, they aren’t giving them away but almost. For example, purchase one Crazy Daisy plant for $6.99 and get one more for just one cent! This particular plant is shipped in a 3” pot so if playing in the dirt isn’t Mom’s thing, then just purchase a pretty container at a local gardening center, plant your flower of choice, and fancy it up with a big bow. Voila – a beautiful lasting gift for Mom at an affordable price!

Gardeners everywhere are starting to salivate. At least, I was when I started flipping through all the different choices available in the One Cent Sale. My top picks are the Crazy Daisy, Sensation Lilacs, Matsukaze Toad Lily, Tenor Tall Phlox or the Golden Marguerite Daisy. I’m daydreaming about planting all of these in my yard… who needs a lawn, or a house for that matter, bring on the flowers!!!

Now the only difficult part is picking out just the right flower for each of my Mom’s. They are both very unique women with distinct taste. For my husband’s Mom I’m thinking the Golden Marguerite Daisy. They are lemon yellow blossoms and look like sun impersonators on tall green sticks. For my Mom, maybe the fluffy looking Crazy Daisy which is sure to put a smile on anyone’s face! I can picture Mom working in her flowerbeds and plucking off one of the blossoms to put behind her ear for décor.

One thing generally all women share in common is a love of receiving flowers. It’s like we are reminded of spring when the buds start to appear, that winter is over and it’s time in life to enjoy the sunshine again. To give your Mom a little bit of sunshine, visit http://springhillnursery.com  and for the One Cent Sale click on http://springhillnursery.com/search.asp?ss=one+cent+sale .

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About our Guest Contributor: Cindy Magee is an artist and a soon to be stay at home mom. Her blog can be viewed at http://mageebaby.blogspot.com  and her artwork can be seen at http://clou.websiteanimal.com

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If you are like me, you love to do creative things and give them as gifts. I consider myself artsy and I have made this Beta Plant craft as gifts for many of my friends, who all loved it. It is so simple to do, and inexpensive. The items you are going to need are: 1 beta fish, a clear glass vase, a plastic cup or saucer (can be purchased at most garden stores), small decorative rocks or glass, a plant, beta food (tropical fish food) and 1 gallon of drinking water. The plant you choose can be peace lily, photos, or philodendrons.

     1st thing you do is choose a beta fish, I like to pick out the color of fish I want so I can match it with my plants and rocks. Once you get home with all your supplies, you need to clean the vase and rocks in water. You also need to clean the plant and the roots, you can do this with a water hose outside or in the sink once you have knocked off all excess dirt. After this is done, you will most likely have to split the plant into pieces to ensure a proper fit into the vase. So you could make more with the remaining halves of the plant, if you wanted.

     Now all the cleaning is done, here comes the fun part. Cut a small hole in the bottom of the saucer. You need the hole big enough for the roots to fit through and still allow air into the bottom. Now place the roots through the hole in the saucer and place saucer into the neck of the vase to make sure it fits properly. If needed, for personal preference, you can trim the roots to make them look neater.

     Carefully, remove the saucer with plant so you can finish up. Add about an inch and a half of rocks or glass to the bottom of the vase. Make sure your water is room temperature and add it to the vase, leave about an inch below the neck of the vase to provide air for the fish. Yes, beta’s are air breathers…imagine, that .

     Gently pour the fish into the vase filled with water. I always give him some food now, just to keep him happy and calm from the move. You should only have to feed him once a week. Now, place the saucer with plant back into the neck of the vase. Check to make sure everything looks fine and there is enough room for the beta to swim around with the roots.

     If you are happy with the way it all looks, add some rocks to the saucer to help keep the saucer and plant in place, and to make it look prettier . Leave room for a small straw to poke through lid, to allow for feeding the beta. Now you are all done. Add ribbons or bows around the neck of the vase and you have your gift!

–image belongs to  www.prettypetalsplus.com

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 Ever since antiquity, flowers have been a symbol of Love, tenderness and romance. They may be a classic choice for a gift but they always put a smile on some-one’s face and touch the heart!

Here are a few online resources you might want to check out. And because they are ALL fabulous, complex and offer a lot of choices (same day delivery, message with product, shop by occasion), I only mention what sets them apart. They are in alphabetical order. This list will be updated once in a while.

• Dutch Gardens If your sweetheart loves to grow flowers, to create and design her own garden, then this is the right choice! Dutch Gardens sells the finest bulbs in a huge variety of colors! On their website you can read articles about gardening, garden design, etc and you can request a free catalog. The bulbs are grown in Holland. My favorite article on their website is: Create Your Dream Garden
• is an International Network of florists serving 150 countries. Their website is very flexible: you can shop by flower, by occasion, by gift and more! What I really enjoyed on this website, besides the elegant floral arrangements, bouquets and gift choices, was the information(articles) on flower symbology and flower meanings. What I also noticed was that they offer airline miles and reward points for the Hilton family hotels.
• Flower.com - absolutely gorgeous! They have a comprehensive (I mean COMPREHENSIVE!) collection of fresh flowers, plants, stylish floral arrangements and gift baskets. You can search by occasion. A nice feature: you can add balloons, chocolate, cookies and teddy bears during check-out. The fresh flowers are delivered by a local florist. Flower.com offers same day delivery on select products. I think my favorite products are the Love Flowers
• - another favorite of mine! Gorgeous flowers, gifts, arrangements and bouquets! Some of the features that I find very convenient: future shipping date, gift card (it can be e-mailed to the recipient or just printed and given personally); shop by price. My favorites are probably the Just Because Flowers. On their website I enjoyed the article about color meanings in flowers.
• FromYouFlowers.com - offers wonderful flower and gift basket choices! You can choose by color, price, occasion. You also have the choice of sending a personalized message with every product. A variety of cakes, fruit baskets, chocolate baskets, wine baskets and spa baskets are available to choose from. Same day delivery is available on select products. It is hard to choose your favorite, but if I were to choose one type of flower arrangement from their website, I would probably choose the Lilies Collection…
• 1-800-FLOWERS.COM- is probably one of the most popular flower websites out there! The website offers not only gorgeous flowers, floral arrangements and plants but also gourmet gift baskets, wine and cheese gift baskets, cookies and cakes, fruit gift baskets, chocolate gift baskets and much more! It could be your one-stop gift store. What I found very convenient was their Gift Reminder system (they call it subscription) that allows you to set your important dates or just e-mail others asking for their birthdays. They deliver in over 47 countries. It’s definitely worth checking!

If you want to save some money on flowers at any of these stores, please check-out our COUPONS page! Remember to always check the Merchant’s Policies before you purchase anything.

If you have had any shopping experience with any of these stores, please leave me a message. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Looking for gifts? Browse our GIFT STORE! Also, check out the COUPONS page for savings at the best online gift stores!