Over the past year I have been obsessed with perfecting our little balcony.

I don’t know that I’m quite there yet- but adding a few bits here and there- and finally finding some plants that will stay alive- has really spruced up our outlook.

We’re super lucky to have large trees and an established garden underneath us, so a few clustered pot-plants have made our balcony look lush and green.

Our balcony doesn’t have any walls, just a glass railing, so I’ve had to come up with a few nifty ideas for going vertical.

The first is my garden pot-plant stool and then my vertical pallet garden. I hope you like them!

So first I bought an Ikea Bekvam step stool in a flat-pack for about $15 and then a sample pot of orange acrylic paint for about $9.

A few coats of paint and now I have this lovely stool to stack my pot-plants on :) Orange is an accent colour in my house. I think it looks great in the garden against the green.

My second project is this pallet garden. I bought some little cutlery tubs, drilled small drainage holes in the bottom, and hung them with S hooks to the sections in the pallet. I then tied the whole pallet back to the railing with some rope.

I filled them partially before I dropped them in to the slots, and then topped them up and gave them all a really good water once they were in. I finished my set up with solar-powered lights and a candle panel.

The past few weeks at work have been pretty hectic. Lots of late nights, early mornings, brainstorming sessions, editing and organisation- but at the end of it, I am so proud to announce that the MixFM blogging section is now (finally) live across the whole network!

That means fans of 97.3 in Brisbane, 106.3 in Canberra, 101.1 in Melbourne, 102.3 in Adelaide and, of course, 106.5 in Sydney, will all be getting a fresh stream of blogs every week.

I cannot tell you what a coup it is for Mix to get our first 3 official bloggers on board- edgy and hilarious Eden Riley (of Eden Land), effervescent and bright Julie Anne Longano (of All or Nothing) and experienced go-getter Marina Go (of Women’s Agenda). Working with these very different women to publish engaging and real blog posts is already proving to be a great success- after just one week.

And I’ve saved the most exciting bit for last- I have been given the amazing opportunity to really highlight The Nookbook as a living and DIY blogger! I’m so excited to be able to give The Nookbookl the attention it deserves and to share some fun and very different projects with even more readers.

Thanks for the support!

 
Thanks for reading The Nookbook.

I wanted to add a special touch to my Mother’s Day gift- and knowing that my mother is OBSESSED with shells, I thought a shell gift tag would be perfect!

This is really simple to make and will complement the DIY crochet soap dish that I made for her perfectly.

Have a beautiful Mother’s Day.

Start with a beautiful shell. It’s best not to take these from the beach, so you can buy them at craft stores or (like I did) save one from a seafood dish! (just make sure you give it a good clean and gloss it up with a little bit of Vaseline)

Place the shell face down on an old sponge and using a very small drill bit slowly drill through the top of the shell- this will be where you thread the ribbon. If you don’t have a drill at home, don’t try nailing a hole through it- the shell will break! Just attach it using double sided tape or slide it under the ribbon.

Cut an office label in half and cover the inside of the shell for your message.

Thread the ribbon through the shell to top off a beautiful wrapped gift- and you’re done!

Thanks for reading The Nookbook.