I had to share some really cute and neat winter related Instructables that I found on their website this week. check them out.
Make a cheap backyard ice-skating rink - More DIY How To Projects
Solar Heater - More DIY How To Projects
Grow vegetables indoors over winter - More DIY How To Projects
If you are a blogger, don't forget to enter to win in the One World One Heart Giveaway.
Latest Birdbaths
I just wanted to share pictures of my latest projects that have been listed on Etsy. Both birdbaths are made from 11-1/2" terracotta saucers and have been sealed with three coats of a penetrating matte sealer.
You can view the etsy listing here.
You can view the etsy listing here.
If you are a blogger, don't forget to enter to win a mosaic heart mirror, set of blank note cards and a $10 credit towards any item in my etsy shop.
One World One Heart
Comments are now closed for this topic. Thanks to all that entered and visited my blog.
I'm excited to announce that I am participating in this year's One World One Heart Giveaway. This event was started by Lisa from A Whimsical Bohemian in 2007, where it has grown from less than 100 participants to nearly 1000 in 2009. I can only imagine that this year's event will be even bigger.
If you've never heard of this blogger event, you can find out all the details on what it's about and how you can participate, here. You have until February 14th to enter and winners of each blog giveaway will be announced on February 15th. I recommend signing up as soon as possible if you want to give away something on your blog. The earlier you sign up, the more exposure your blog will get.
In preparation for this event, I tried to streamline the blog so that it will load as quickly as possible, but if you have problems, refreshing the page should help.
If you've never been to my blog before, than welcome. I love gardening and making things for my garden, so my blog is primarily about these two subjects. I do a lot of crafting outside the garden as well and love turning junk into something special. I hope to meet others who enjoy the outdoors and turning trash into treasure.
Now on to my giveaway!
Leave a comment for a chance to win this beautiful mosaic heart mirror (valued at $30), a set of four photo note cards (valued at $10), and a $10 credit towards any item in my Etsy shop. This mirror was made especially for this giveaway. Just look into the mirror and imagine yourself anywhere you want to be on this magic carpet ride we call "One World One Heart".
The Rules:
1. One entry per person. Simply leave a comment on this post to enter.
2. You must have an active blog to participate. An e-mail address must be attached to the log-in name you use to leave a comment so that I can contact you if you win. I don't spam, so your e-mail addresses will never be used for that purpose.
3. Open to all International bloggers. Yes, you read that right, anyone in the world can enter as long as you have an active blog. This is the only International giveaway I participate in.
4. You must leave a comment by 10pm on February 14, 2010 Eastern Standard Time to be eligible. Thread will be locked at that time.
That's it. Good luck to everyone, and I look forward to visiting the blogs of the people who enter my giveaway. Remember, leave a comment on this post and this post only to enter the OWOH giveaway.
15 Ways Gardeners Can Stay Busy This Winter
By the end of the growing season, I usually am tired of gardening and need a rest, but after about a month, I am antsy and ready to get my hands dirty. I decided to sit down and think of a list of things I can do to keep busy.
1. Craft things for the garden. Create garden art or make trellises. Plan projects you'd like to get finished when weather is better outside.
2. Make plans for a garden re-do. Most gardeners want to rework parts of the garden. It never fails. Something may have died or you might need more plants blooming at a particular time. Use this time to make a plan for the changes.
3. Catch up on your gardening magazines. I rarely have time to read my magazines in the summer months. I always say I'd like to sit in my hammock chair on a lazy afternoon and read up, but that never seems to happen. Waiting until the off season allows me to really read and enjoy every page.
4. Visit online gardening forums. Interact with other gardeners and share pictures of your flowers during the growing season. There are a list of places I hang out on the side bar of this blog.
5. Take a gardening class. Many adult education centers or colleges have garden related classes over the winter months or in early spring at reasonable prices. Take advantage of a propagation class or how to sow seeds if you are not good in those areas. Some nurseries have classes too and are open all winter long. That's how I learned how to make hypertufa troughs.
6. Join a local gardening club. Contact your local library, nursery, community center, or search online for gardening clubs in your area. Most meet once a month and sometimes sponsor field trips. Make connections and meet people who have the same interests as you.
7. Spend a day at a nursery or conservatory. We have several nurseries in our area that are open all winter because they grow all their own plants. Someone has to be there every day to care for them, so they have decided they might as well be open to the public. Pack a bagged lunch, bring a camera and a magazine and spend the day. You may want to check with them first and make sure they have a sitting area if you've never been there before.
8. Watch for sales and stock up on the cheap. In late fall many stores mark down their fertilizers, bagged compost and mulch and other gardening items. These same stores also offer even deeper discounts in late winter and early spring on all the items they may not have sold in the fall. Stock up on what you use the most often. Bagged, compost, soil and mulch can be stored on a pallet under a tarp outside without any problems if you don't have a place inside to store them.
9. Organize your garden shed or greenhouse. My work area can become a mess in the summer, so I use this time to straighten things up, clean all my tools and get rid of items I no longer need or want.
10. Prune trees and shrubs in late winter. Stay away from spring bloomers, unless you want to force some blooms from pussy willows or forsythia, but in general, later winter is a great time to bloom summer and fall bloomers.
11. Try wintersowing. If you've never been good at sowing seeds, try this technique. You can read all about it on our website here, but basically, it's a way to sow seeds in containers that have clear lids attached to them. You leave the containers outdoors all winter and they sprout on their own when the weather gets warm enough. You'll be re-potting seedlings as soon as your last frost date passes.
12. Get a head start on winter clean-up. Whenever you get a nice day or have a lot of snow melt, get out there and pick up twigs, cut down dead foliage and rake up any leaves that are not needed for mulch. Check to make sure you don't have any plants heaving out of the ground, and if so, push them back in and mulch them heavily.
13. Clean and repair birdhouses and put up new ones before the scouts come in late winter and early spring.
14. Take an inventory of some of your favorite recipes and see if you can grow some of the fruits and vegetables in your garden. This will help save money and most likely make your recipes taste even better because you'll be using the freshest ingredients possible.
15. Go through your seed catalogs and order your seeds early. Many seed companies don't stock as many seeds as they used to, so it's really important to order early to get the best selection. I try to have my orders in by the end of January at the latest.
So, did I miss anything? What kinds of things do you do over the winter months?
1. Craft things for the garden. Create garden art or make trellises. Plan projects you'd like to get finished when weather is better outside.
2. Make plans for a garden re-do. Most gardeners want to rework parts of the garden. It never fails. Something may have died or you might need more plants blooming at a particular time. Use this time to make a plan for the changes.
3. Catch up on your gardening magazines. I rarely have time to read my magazines in the summer months. I always say I'd like to sit in my hammock chair on a lazy afternoon and read up, but that never seems to happen. Waiting until the off season allows me to really read and enjoy every page.
4. Visit online gardening forums. Interact with other gardeners and share pictures of your flowers during the growing season. There are a list of places I hang out on the side bar of this blog.
5. Take a gardening class. Many adult education centers or colleges have garden related classes over the winter months or in early spring at reasonable prices. Take advantage of a propagation class or how to sow seeds if you are not good in those areas. Some nurseries have classes too and are open all winter long. That's how I learned how to make hypertufa troughs.
6. Join a local gardening club. Contact your local library, nursery, community center, or search online for gardening clubs in your area. Most meet once a month and sometimes sponsor field trips. Make connections and meet people who have the same interests as you.
7. Spend a day at a nursery or conservatory. We have several nurseries in our area that are open all winter because they grow all their own plants. Someone has to be there every day to care for them, so they have decided they might as well be open to the public. Pack a bagged lunch, bring a camera and a magazine and spend the day. You may want to check with them first and make sure they have a sitting area if you've never been there before.
8. Watch for sales and stock up on the cheap. In late fall many stores mark down their fertilizers, bagged compost and mulch and other gardening items. These same stores also offer even deeper discounts in late winter and early spring on all the items they may not have sold in the fall. Stock up on what you use the most often. Bagged, compost, soil and mulch can be stored on a pallet under a tarp outside without any problems if you don't have a place inside to store them.
9. Organize your garden shed or greenhouse. My work area can become a mess in the summer, so I use this time to straighten things up, clean all my tools and get rid of items I no longer need or want.
10. Prune trees and shrubs in late winter. Stay away from spring bloomers, unless you want to force some blooms from pussy willows or forsythia, but in general, later winter is a great time to bloom summer and fall bloomers.
11. Try wintersowing. If you've never been good at sowing seeds, try this technique. You can read all about it on our website here, but basically, it's a way to sow seeds in containers that have clear lids attached to them. You leave the containers outdoors all winter and they sprout on their own when the weather gets warm enough. You'll be re-potting seedlings as soon as your last frost date passes.
12. Get a head start on winter clean-up. Whenever you get a nice day or have a lot of snow melt, get out there and pick up twigs, cut down dead foliage and rake up any leaves that are not needed for mulch. Check to make sure you don't have any plants heaving out of the ground, and if so, push them back in and mulch them heavily.
13. Clean and repair birdhouses and put up new ones before the scouts come in late winter and early spring.
14. Take an inventory of some of your favorite recipes and see if you can grow some of the fruits and vegetables in your garden. This will help save money and most likely make your recipes taste even better because you'll be using the freshest ingredients possible.
15. Go through your seed catalogs and order your seeds early. Many seed companies don't stock as many seeds as they used to, so it's really important to order early to get the best selection. I try to have my orders in by the end of January at the latest.
So, did I miss anything? What kinds of things do you do over the winter months?
Birds and Blooms
We also have another leaf casting project on our website, which was the inspiration for this article. I plan on selling a lot more leaf castings in our Etsy shop this summer and I hope to create a few surprising twists to add to the pieces.
Birthday Gifts
Yesterday was my birthday. We celebrated by going out to breakfast and then having an early dinner at one of our favorite new places to eat, The CopperTop Tavern in North Syracuse.
When I woke up, Gary surprised me with a beautiful card and some lovely rooting jars. This past fall, we went to a Harvest party and the host of the party had some pretty jars hanging in front of her bay window and I made a comment on how I'd like to have some someday (Obviously I need to be careful what I say, because he IS listening afterall...LOL). These are much more ornate than hers and I love all the pretty colors. I don't really have a good place to hang them in the house, but I'm hoping to find a sunny window for at least one and the others can glisten in the sun in a greenhouse window.
After breakfast, we stopped at a gift shop and I saw this sign that I just had to have. I love birds, as you all know, but what some of you, may not know is that my husband and I met online thru a "dating" website in 2000. To make a long story short, I joined the site, with a co-worker so she wouldn't be on there alone. I was not taking it seriously...not one bit. I dated a couple of people and was writing Gary for a few months before we met. We met in June of 2000 and married in June of 2001. I never thought I'd meet my soul mate online. It's been the most perfect relationship and I am one lucky girl. Technology is wonderful!
After the gift shop, we stopped at a flea market and I found this lovely glazed pot. I have several pieces of pottery that have these similar colors and I think it will be perfect for the Christmas Cactus I will need to re-pot this spring. I'll put the cactus in a plastic pot and sit the pot inside this ceramic one on a bed of stones so it has good drainage.
I also purchased a cobalt blue bottle to go in the garden, but it is already out in the greenhouse, and I forgot to get a picture of it first. I will post a picture of it later on.
We rested for a while and puttered around the house before setting out to have an early dinner at the CopperTop. We started out with the Avocado Egg Rolls, as per usual...they are so darn good. And he had the pizza and I had Chicken Parm. That Chicken Parm was enough to feed 3 or 4 people, so we'll be sharing that tonight along with the rest of the pizza and a salad. I was a bad girl and got desert.
We got home just in time to watch the NY Jets win!! Go Jets! Next week will be tough, but they can do it.
When I woke up, Gary surprised me with a beautiful card and some lovely rooting jars. This past fall, we went to a Harvest party and the host of the party had some pretty jars hanging in front of her bay window and I made a comment on how I'd like to have some someday (Obviously I need to be careful what I say, because he IS listening afterall...LOL). These are much more ornate than hers and I love all the pretty colors. I don't really have a good place to hang them in the house, but I'm hoping to find a sunny window for at least one and the others can glisten in the sun in a greenhouse window.
After the gift shop, we stopped at a flea market and I found this lovely glazed pot. I have several pieces of pottery that have these similar colors and I think it will be perfect for the Christmas Cactus I will need to re-pot this spring. I'll put the cactus in a plastic pot and sit the pot inside this ceramic one on a bed of stones so it has good drainage.
I also purchased a cobalt blue bottle to go in the garden, but it is already out in the greenhouse, and I forgot to get a picture of it first. I will post a picture of it later on.
We rested for a while and puttered around the house before setting out to have an early dinner at the CopperTop. We started out with the Avocado Egg Rolls, as per usual...they are so darn good. And he had the pizza and I had Chicken Parm. That Chicken Parm was enough to feed 3 or 4 people, so we'll be sharing that tonight along with the rest of the pizza and a salad. I was a bad girl and got desert.
We got home just in time to watch the NY Jets win!! Go Jets! Next week will be tough, but they can do it.
Featured Etsy Artists
I've begun tweeting about some of the cool things I find on Etsy, but then I got to thinking, I should be posting them here too. There are so many talented people out there, so here are my favorites for this week.
OV Gillies Designs has some gorgeous jewelry in her shop and has been featured on the front page of Etsy.
I'm partial to earth tones, so this one is my favorite from her shop.
I love tote bags and especially love the ones in Shaggy Baggy's shop because many are recycled burlap bags. Rugged and stylish and perfect for a day at the Farmer's Market. This one is particularly fun!
Bear Paw Rustics has a lot of eclectic items in their shop from birdhouses to walking sticks to cribbage boards and original art. I must say I am especially drawn to their birdhouses, naturally! You can view the one I've featured here.
If you've never seen our Etsy shop. I invite you to take a look here. Thanks for visiting and supporting Etsy Artists!
I'm partial to earth tones, so this one is my favorite from her shop.
I love tote bags and especially love the ones in Shaggy Baggy's shop because many are recycled burlap bags. Rugged and stylish and perfect for a day at the Farmer's Market. This one is particularly fun!
If you've never seen our Etsy shop. I invite you to take a look here. Thanks for visiting and supporting Etsy Artists!
Instructables
If you've visited my blog for any length of time, you know how much I love the Instructables.com website. It's a place where people write tutorials on how to do a variety of things. Here are some of my favorites from this week.
Making jewelry out of paper.
Make a RECYCLED PAPER BEAD Bracelet! - More DIY How To Projects
How to build an arch out of snow.
Snow Arch - More DIY How To Projects
Natural wood raised garden bed.
Natural Wood Raised Garden - More DIY How To Projects
Making jewelry out of paper.
Make a RECYCLED PAPER BEAD Bracelet! - More DIY How To Projects
How to build an arch out of snow.
Snow Arch - More DIY How To Projects
Natural wood raised garden bed.
Natural Wood Raised Garden - More DIY How To Projects
Turtle Birdbath
Random Musings
I've been struggling since the new year to find meaningful things to write about. My heart just isn't in it, for some reason. Maybe it's because I've been writing hard for eHow and to get more articles up on the website, I don't know. But I feel like I am really neglecting what few readers I have.
So, today I am just going to write about what comes to mind and hopefully it will be an entertaining read. In case you'd like to see what I've been doing over at eHow, check out my list of articles here. I've redesigned the home page of the website over the past couple of weeks, and that can be viewed here. There are links to my latest articles under the What's New section.
Though I've been scheduling my days at home, I feel like I am not getting enough done. Not getting enough articles or blog posts written, not getting enough crafts made, not getting enough of the things around the house done, and not keeping up with my Twitter account. I wonder if I should dedicate each day to one purpose rather than trying to do a little of each thing, each day. Something always comes up and something gets neglected each day, but I guess if I dedicate each day to one particular task, maybe I will get ahead for once....LOL. I read recently that you should organize our day in such a way that you should do what makes you money first, but that is sometimes easier said than done. Maybe I need to work harder at that.
I've also been trying to retake all my pictures for the Etsy shop, but it's been hard with the weather being so cold and snowy. Last night we got down to -12 degrees below 0. Brrr....the furnace has not stopped running since yesterday morning. I've been taking the pictures in the greenhouse, which is not something I was expecting to be able to do. Natural light is the best for picture taking and I purchased some colored poster board to use as the backgrounds. It's working out well and I think I'll invest in some more colors. I've been using green and white so far, but the green has really worked out the best, but I don't want my shop to look boring with the same background color on very single photo. If you'd like to see how it's working out, my Etsy shop can be found here.
I've bored you enough for today. I already have ideas flowing for posts for the next few days, so I think I'll get started on them while I'm into it.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this from time to time. What do you do to help get out of a creative slump like this?
So, today I am just going to write about what comes to mind and hopefully it will be an entertaining read. In case you'd like to see what I've been doing over at eHow, check out my list of articles here. I've redesigned the home page of the website over the past couple of weeks, and that can be viewed here. There are links to my latest articles under the What's New section.
Though I've been scheduling my days at home, I feel like I am not getting enough done. Not getting enough articles or blog posts written, not getting enough crafts made, not getting enough of the things around the house done, and not keeping up with my Twitter account. I wonder if I should dedicate each day to one purpose rather than trying to do a little of each thing, each day. Something always comes up and something gets neglected each day, but I guess if I dedicate each day to one particular task, maybe I will get ahead for once....LOL. I read recently that you should organize our day in such a way that you should do what makes you money first, but that is sometimes easier said than done. Maybe I need to work harder at that.
I've also been trying to retake all my pictures for the Etsy shop, but it's been hard with the weather being so cold and snowy. Last night we got down to -12 degrees below 0. Brrr....the furnace has not stopped running since yesterday morning. I've been taking the pictures in the greenhouse, which is not something I was expecting to be able to do. Natural light is the best for picture taking and I purchased some colored poster board to use as the backgrounds. It's working out well and I think I'll invest in some more colors. I've been using green and white so far, but the green has really worked out the best, but I don't want my shop to look boring with the same background color on very single photo. If you'd like to see how it's working out, my Etsy shop can be found here.
I've bored you enough for today. I already have ideas flowing for posts for the next few days, so I think I'll get started on them while I'm into it.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this from time to time. What do you do to help get out of a creative slump like this?
Baby, it's Cold Outside...
I actually like living in Upstate New York because we have four definite seasons. I usually need a break from gardening by the time October rolls around, but the winters last a little too long and I wish the Spring wasn't so wet and cold. Once in a while, we'll luck out and we'll have a nice warm spring with normal amounts of rain, but generally it's cool and very wet until May.
This first picture was taken in the comfort of my dining room. I just couldn't bring myself to go out in the cold. The snow is really pretty clinging to the pussywillows and the seed heads of the Siberian Iris. You can hardly tell that's a tea kettle tipsy tower to the right it's so covered in snow.
The one thing about all this snow is that I'm getting in my exercise without having to workout. We have a snow blower, but we've been shoveling the snow for exercise instead. I suppose if we got over a foot in a short amount of time, we'd have to break out the hard artillery, but for now, we've been able to keep up with the shoveling. I do think I'll do a kettlebell workout today though...it's just so darn fun!
Happy New Year
Another decade has come and gone and I am excited and a little nervous about the year to come. This decade was pretty good to me (I found and married the love of my life) and I can only hope and pray that good things will continue to come our way.
With recent changes in my work situation, I am nervous about the financial aspect of our life. I don't know whether to jump right back into the workforce or to go back to school and learn a new career. The only courses that really interest me right now are the web design courses I've been looking at. But though I really enjoy working on my own website and want to know more about it all, I'm just not sure if I want to do that for a living; designing for other people.
I'm often asked, as we probably all are, what my New Year's Resolutions are. I really haven't been one to make these types of promises to myself, because in all honesty, do we ever really try to keep them? That being said, I am a list maker because I feel it makes me more focused on my goals or in the everyday tasks that are at hand, so I will be making a list of things I want to accomplish in the new year.
1. Decide on a new career path.
2. Pay off three credit cards.
3. Write more consistently for eHow (at least 10 articles a week).
4. Write at least 5 articles a week for my own website.
5. Continue to promote our Etsy shop so that it has consistent weekly sales by the end of the year.
6. Continue on this course of a healthier lifestyle, exercising regularly, eating well and reaching my goal weight by 12-31-10.
7. Be more consistent with blog posts for both this blog and our weight loss blog.
8. Plan date nights with hubby at least twice a month.
9. Complete at least four new projects each month to be listed on Etsy.
10. Come up with a new item that will be smaller and less expensive to ship but still have the garden related theme.
There you have it....a short list of my goals for the coming year. I'm sure I'll think of more as the days and weeks progress, but isn't that what we are supposed to do? Learn and grow each day of our life?
What are your resolutions for the year?
With recent changes in my work situation, I am nervous about the financial aspect of our life. I don't know whether to jump right back into the workforce or to go back to school and learn a new career. The only courses that really interest me right now are the web design courses I've been looking at. But though I really enjoy working on my own website and want to know more about it all, I'm just not sure if I want to do that for a living; designing for other people.
I'm often asked, as we probably all are, what my New Year's Resolutions are. I really haven't been one to make these types of promises to myself, because in all honesty, do we ever really try to keep them? That being said, I am a list maker because I feel it makes me more focused on my goals or in the everyday tasks that are at hand, so I will be making a list of things I want to accomplish in the new year.
1. Decide on a new career path.
2. Pay off three credit cards.
3. Write more consistently for eHow (at least 10 articles a week).
4. Write at least 5 articles a week for my own website.
5. Continue to promote our Etsy shop so that it has consistent weekly sales by the end of the year.
6. Continue on this course of a healthier lifestyle, exercising regularly, eating well and reaching my goal weight by 12-31-10.
7. Be more consistent with blog posts for both this blog and our weight loss blog.
8. Plan date nights with hubby at least twice a month.
9. Complete at least four new projects each month to be listed on Etsy.
10. Come up with a new item that will be smaller and less expensive to ship but still have the garden related theme.
There you have it....a short list of my goals for the coming year. I'm sure I'll think of more as the days and weeks progress, but isn't that what we are supposed to do? Learn and grow each day of our life?
What are your resolutions for the year?
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