I’ve been spending plenty of time in my little garden the last week. The weather inspires me, and it’s starting to look real nice, but there’s still plenty of project to take on of course. I don’t mind though, I love all these projects, and I love planting flowers, planning new herb gardens and such things. It’s relaxing and fun, and this is honestly the best thing with having a house instead of an apartment.

I’m planning several projects to make my home and garden even more cozy and beautiful, and as I love our address plaques I’d really like to use them in some way. I don’t have an address plaque at home yet, but I hope to have one soon. I’m just trying to figure out what I’d like it to say. I think these signs are absolutely amazing. Just look at the Metropolitan plaque above. I’d love to have one of those! Maybe on my fence, with my family name and street address, or maybe on my terrace, with a beautiful quote on…. I could even picture it inside, with my son’s names on, and their birth years in the middle. Wouldn’t that be a nice idea?

How would you use a sign like this? As an address sign, or in some other creative way? Maybe you can give me some inspiration

Another thing that I really like is our enamel signs. I think all of them are gorgeous, and all of them are unique in their own ways.

With this in mind, I thought it was great when I found a photo over at Coastal Cottage Dreams, which combines my love for turquoise with my love for our signs. Kelly, the blog owner, won it over at BJ’s blog last year, and I think she did an excellent choice. The Highlander number plaque looks great on her front porch, and I have to say that I love her porch! We don’t have many turquoise front doors here in Sweden, but I could definitely see myself paint mine in this colour. I love the result! It makes the entire porch unique, and it looks so very welcoming! Terrific

What does your front porch look like? Maybe you’d like to share a photo as well?

And what does that mean exactly? To make the most of this season? For me it’s quite simple actually. Flower plays a major part here. I always try to bring in fresh wildflowers according to season. Early in the spring it can be daffodils and such, now I’m waiting eagerly for the lily of the valley to start blooming. It’s the most beautiful flower I can think of, and I love to bring it inside. I love the look of it, not to mention the scent. That’s summer if you ask me!

Except from bringing flowers inside I also love to spend time in the garden, planting new flowers, making a herb garden and plant strawberries and other great things. That’s one of the things I love most about summer, and this summer will be a great one, I’m sure!

Do you have any plans for the summer? Any particular gardening project, or home decor project? I’m waiting eagerly to hear all about it!

I love her choice of sign, and I think it looks amazingly good with this black sign on the black door, and the flowers below the sign makes the whole picture even better. Debbie made a great decision, don’t you think?

So, tell me something… Debbie did choose this black house number, but what sign would you choose if you could have anything from our shop? A house number? An address plaque? A name plate? A blue and white? Or maybe a green…? And what would it say? I’m really curious, so feel free to comment below!

So what can you win this time? An enamel sign from Ramsign of course, and it’s up to the winner is he or she wants a house number or a name sign. The winner will be able to choose between all our 5 designs, and name plaques and house numbers of all available sizes and shapes will be available for choice.

Isn’t this great? I love the fact that I’ll be able to give one of our fans a customized house number/name sign, and I hope you’d all like to enter! There are so many ways to use a sign like that. You can, of course, choose to have your house number or your name on the sign, but you can also use your creativity to find other alternatives. You can make it a sign to put in the stable, with the name and birthyear of your horse, or maybe a sign with the date of your wedding, or with the name and birthdate of your first born. Or a sign to put in the garden, maybe on a pergola or something like that. Think about it… I’m sure you can come up with plenty of ideas, right?

May is also a busy month for all house owners, as there’s plenty of things to do in the garden. This is a great time for sowing, and to plant out various plants that you’ve had in pots inside during winter. There’s a bunch of tasks to handle, and here you can find a short list with some of the things I find most important during this month. Feel free to add your own priorities to the list to make it complete!

• The danger of frosty nights should be a problem of the past. It’s time to plant out dahlias and other flowers.

• It’s time to deadhead daffodils, and you can also divide clumps of daffodils when they’ve flowered.

• Do you have pelargonium or fuchsia at home? This is the perfect time to take softwood cuttings. Plant them and wait for them to grow. By doing that you’ll be able to have beautiful flowers later this summer as well.

• Have you decided to sow sweet peas this year? That’s great! They’re tasty and good for your health. Just remember to tie them up, in order to provide support while growing.

• Check all your beddings, pots and containers. Is it time to remove the spring plants to make room for the summer plants?

• Watch out for snails in the garden!

There are plenty of things to do inside as well. Even though you might want to spend most of the summer outside, it’s still great to make some home improvements while you get much light. Paint the rooms to get a more bright and airy touch, bring in fresh flowers into the house, in order to make the place welcoming to guests and family. Replace the textiles with new ones in other colors, and make room for the summer in every possible way.

The winner will get the beautiful wooden sign above, and I hope it’ll look just great in your home! The winner of this give-away is….

TRINE

Congratulations! I’m happy for you, and I hope you’ll like the sign. I’ll contact you by e-mail to get your delivery details.

I’m working on a post with things to do in May, so that’s what you can expect in my next post. Oh, and we’ve now reached 1000 likes on Facebook, so a new give-away will take place soon. I’ll keep you informed!

Take a close look at the photo above! Isn’t it amazing? Can you see what it’s made of? Yes! That’s right! This beautiful piece of art is made of leaves, and I think it’s gorgeous! The artist is from Spain, and his name is Lorenzo Duran. I really think you should visit his website to see some more of his artworks.

So how does he accomplish a great result like the one above? Well, first he washes the leaf and dries it, then he uses a combination of cutting techniques to cut out segments of the leaf in order to create the piece of art.

I think this is totally amazing, and I think it’s such a creative idea! Have you ever seen something like this before? Or maybe some other creative type of art? Please share it with us, I’m sure the readers would be as happy as I to see all the samples

Oh, and don’t forget to enter the give-away! There’s still a little time left if you haven’t entered already.

Personally I see social networks as a great combination of both. It’s possible to find so many nice things, great shops, nice people and inspiring photos on those networks, but it’s also a great marketing tools to use in a wise way.

The most fascinating thing is that new sites appear all the time, and it seems to me that I’ve just seen the top of the mountain so far. I’m trying to explore as many networks and media channels as possible, as I think it’s really educating to try as many of them as possible, but I’m still very much a novice.

I found the popular network StumbleUpon today, and I’ve recently registered for an account, and I’m still learning how to use it, but I’m very fascinated by it. Did you see the beautiful photo above? I found it on StumbleUpon, and it’s from the gorgeous website Ultra Home, which I’ve never seen before. Yet another thing to be thankful for! I’m sure I will find so many inspiring persons and sites thanks to this new network, and I think it will be very useful as soon as I’ve learned how to use it in the best possible way. The photo by the way shows a very cool underwater bedroom which can be found in the Maldives. It looks amazing, don’t you think? Would be great to get the chance to spend a few weeks there!

So, what is my purpose with writing this post? Well, I just wanted to share my thoughts regarding social media, and I’m also a bit curious… How do you use social media? Are you a member of every network, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Wanelo and so on, or have you just picked a few? Which one do you think is the best? Please tell me your thoughts on this topic, maybe we can help each other out, and of course find each other on various networks You’ve already found me on Facebook and Twitter, right? It’s countdown time on Facebook if you haven’t noticed. Just a very few likes left before we reach the magic 1000!

I love this wooden sign, and think it would be a true asset in any home. You can put it on the front door if you want, but you can also put it on a door inside, on a hook on a wall, on a door knob in the kitchen or more or less anywhere you’d like. It’s a bit coastal and I think it’s real cute, don’t you think?

Well, the wooden sign can be yours within a few weeks. The only thing you need to do is to enter the give-away, and then keep your fingers crossed that you’ll be the lucky winner. You can take up to 4 entries, but only the first one is mandatory. The other ones are optional. Let’s get this started, shall we?

1 entry – Leave a comment and tell what you like most about May.

1 entry – Share this give-away on your blog, Facebook or Twitter.

1 entry – Follow Highlander’s Cottage by e-mail or Google +. Both options can be found in the side bar.

1 entry – Like Ramsign on Facebook and help us reach 1000 even faster.

Please leave a separate comment for every entry, to make it easier for me to see how many entries you’d like to get.

The give-away is open until May 6^th, and as I said it’s just the first step in the celebratory week. Next step will come as soon as we’ve reached the amazing 1000 on Facebook, so help us get there real soon!