April 25, 2010

New Work This Weekend



This weekend I began some new work! The above piece was made using handmade paper, pencil, watercolor, lace and jute twine. This piece will be auctioned during the DE Greenways Gala.

I also made blank thank you cards! These are what I hope to sell in my Etsy shop, when I have time to set it up. I've been drastically side tracked with wedding planning and new responsibilities at my job. I really enjoyed making these and totally feel that thank you cards are great things to send for any small reason!


I've also began garden mosaics!


I started small with a flower pot that I will soon use for herbs. I have a grand idea to make a mosaic walkway on the side of our house. What a great outdoor summer project that would be!

April 13, 2010

Garden Politics

It's not easy being Green!



As future hubby and I are realizing it is not easy being "green". We love to garden but there have been some very tough days working out in the sun.

Vegetable gardening has begun! So far my spinach, soybean and spaghetti squash are in the ground. My peppers,cucumbers and assorted herbs (all from seeds) are in my portable greenhouse. I am awaiting the arrival of my asparagus crowns and sweet potato plants. Hopefully, by the end of this weekend my garden beans, mesclun and gourds (all seeds) will be in the ground as well!

Future hubby and I are very busy this year because it is our first year in the house and there are so many improvements that need to be made. The house, shed and deck (front and back) need a fresh coat of paint, the garden fence needs to be established and there are still numerous inside projects we are tackling.

GARDEN POLITICS

A little silliness (but it made our weekend great) was the garden politics between us and our garden gnome. (Disclaimer: I can't take all the credit for this story...Luke started it and we collaboratively evolved it).

This is our seed protector/watcher/manager gnome, Jerome.



He is in charge of watching over every new seed and/or plant. Well, this past week future hubby and I purchased/transplanted many new seeds and plants. After we planted two beds of spinach, a double-sized bed of soybeans, 6-7 peony plants, 3 hibiscus bushes, pepper seeds and cucumber seeds, future hubby informed me that Jerome filed a grievance with the gnome union. He felt as though we were giving him an unreasonable amount of plants to manage and noted that Frog (from a few posts ago) was not pulling his weight. Frog came with the house and his seniority was making him lazy (according to jerome and future hubby).

"Well...", I said, "There is an easy solution. We need more garden gnomes!"
May I introduce Gnute and Gnorman, the two new additions to our garden team!

Gnute


Gnorman


So far, Jerome is pleased. These are top quality gnomes. Diligently watchful, made of high quality wood and take a great deal of pride in being gnomes.

FELINE HOUSE GUEST

Beauie had his first overnight-stay at the new place last night. He survived but was did not know what to do with himself the whole night. He ended up sleeping on my pillow (leaving me a small corner) half of the night!

He did, however, love the back deck!




Bugs on the deck are the best!

April 4, 2010

Spring is Here!

Spring is finally here! The weather over the past few days was absolutely beautiful. This week and weekend there were so many exciting events.

The Down Jersey Folklife Center at WheatonArts hosted an exhibition opening for Cambodian Traditions: Wedding and Court Dance. "The exhibition features costumes, accessories and masks which are part of two major traditions of the Cambodian culture-Khmer classical dance and Khmer traditional wedding. Both reflect the myths and structures of Cambodian society and are perceived as embodiments of the cultural belief system as well as a unique complex of artistic expressions. All the exhibition items are works of the Cambodian master artist Chamroeun Yin."

As part of the opening Chamoreun danced a traditional Cambodian dance.



WheatonArts hosted the fabrication for the Design a Glass Rabbit Competition, which I organize. It is a great opportunity for children to be a part of the hot glass creative process. Children submit their designs and watch as the glass artist create their design using hot glass.



This week was also a great time for yard work!

Luke and I finally put the lock on our shed.



We bought a fire pit and had a fire!



We pressure washed the bottom portion of our house.



We began to put up our picket garden fence (not an easy task to say the least).






We bought a suet holder for the birds.



And I assembled my portable greenhouse shelf system for seed starting!





It was a great week!