Saturday, May 11, 2013

Spring is in the Air

As predicted, I have been spending more time outside than in. This year I am doing better at balancing time though, and have managed to complete a few projects a long the way. Soon I will be ready to list a batch of jewelry on my etsy store, and that will be a milestone...

My garden is slowly filling in, getting better each year. This has been a spectacular year for flowers. Here are some scenes from yesterday morning in the garden...


Come through the garden gate with me...


I call these peppermint roses. It is an ancient vine that climbs up the trellis over the gate. In the fall it is full of the most wonderful rose hips. Last winter I brewed tea out of them and instantly felt healthier!


Vegetable gardening has never been my strong suit, and here, between the moles, gophers, deer and crummy soil, it is really frustrating. This year I am container gardening veggies. My cherry tomato already has baby fruit. I have some peas and beans in containers out front of the bus where they get full sun and am converting my garden area to herbs and flowers just for the joy of it. As you will see, it is coming along nicely.


The iris's are spectacular this year. Some wonderful yellow ones opened today, but I have not taken pictures of them. I received a bag of rhizomes last year and stuck them here and here. It turns out they are all different colors, and oh so beautiful.


Need I say more?


I keep as many things in the garden as I do plants. Decorating life is one of my favorite things. 


Last year I made a short bed border out of half buried bottles. This year they became little terrariums!


This is the view into my garden from my 'bedroom' window. Since we live in a bus it is all one room, but up front, where we sleep overlooks the garden. If you look close you can see part of the bed border I put in with different plates. Its kind of fun. 


Last fall I transplanted a bunch of strawberries and they are kicking. I ate the first ripe one today. There are about 25 plants and they are all full. Hopefully the birds and rodents will save a few for the girlies and me.


Our bus is behind this breathtaking rose vine. The blooms start out a sweet pink and turn a lovely lavender as they fade away. It only blooms for a couple of weeks a year, but is certainly worth the wait!


The structure in back with the slide is the home of our future chicken coop. Our landlady has purchased nine chickens and my husband is in the process of converting an old play structure into a chicken coop with a large wired-in yard all around. The slide is going away...



I am on chick duty this weekend. They have gone from little balls of fluff to this in a matter of weeks. In a couple of more they will be ready to move to the coop and in six months should be blessing us with eggs. Life doesn't get much better!

In between gardening and creating I managed to give a minor face lift to our bathroom. We are in the process of remodeling everything so anything I do is temporary. It works for me. I used the staple gun to put up the map 'wallpaper' and elmers to cover the old dresser. I looks much better than it did!



In April my little granddaughter Melanie had her ninth birthday. She is on a horse kick and wanted all horse stuff, and her own tools. She likes working with my husband in his shop. So we put together a tool kit for her and I covered a carrier to keep them in, and made her a horse poster collage to hang above her bed...





Being of the Orthodox persuasion, we just celebrated our Easter, or Pascha, the first weekend in May. Here are some eggs I managed to get together for my five grandchildren. They have a little tree they hang their egg collection on. These filled it out nicely.



During Lent this year I decided to spend much less time on Pinterest. I do love it so, and have gotten so many incredible ideas out there, but was spending way too much time looking and far too little time doing. I have piles and piles of mending and vowed to spend the time I would on Pinterest sewing on buttons and patching holes, some of which I did do...but I also did some altering of clothes just for the fun of it. 



This sweater looks better on and was so much fun to put together. Our Pascha celebration begins at 11 at night and it is always chilly, so it was perfect to wear on that special night.


This vest was made for a cardigan. I really liked the color and stitching but it was too big so I cut off the sleeves (and made leg warmers out of them) and added  trim and the two big pockets because in my opinion clothes without pockets are worthless. 


I made myself these earrings our of copper sheet, rusty dresser lock plates and old clock hands. They go good with my new vest and one of the green feather necklaces I made.


The next few pictures are of a couple of mobiles I made this spring and have listed on my etsy site. I have a third one completed but have not photographed it yet...




And here is my newest passion...tin


Just this week I finished these three 'medals' that I am going to list for sale. They are made from vintage tins and embellished with a variety of treasures. The inspiration came from none other than Pinterest, but as with all my creations, are given my own spin.

Today I started my next project, a tin circus necklace with bottle cap bezels. It should be cheery and fun when done...


I guess I have been accomplishing more than I thought!  I feel like I never have enough time at my studio...but now that I see my blog I realize I have been more productive, and that is a good thing.




Until next time I wish you  happy creating...

2 comments:

  1. I just love your way of decorating and your style! You have such a gift. You also take great pictures! Your new little nest looks great - I really like the container planting and the way you mix the art with it.

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  2. It's very nice to meet u and read how interesting you are as well as how interested u r in the most wonderful in life, the simple things, moreover the most important things in My opinion. I hope to see more ideas and original art as well as pockets in the near future. Ann

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