Finally!!

Squeeeeee!!!  Berkeley, here I come!!!!  

My boys are waiting for me...

Hugs,

Dliiiing! Dliiiing!

Hey Sweet Friends...check out my new wheels!! Yay!! It even has a basket and a bell... dliiiing!! dliiiing!! 

This girl is ready for spring!!

Hugs,

Fairy Gardening at The Secret Garden

Hello, Sweet Friends!  

The other day I had the unique opportunity to create a fairy garden for a local garden store called The Secret Garden.  Jennifer had seen my fairy garden here on the blog, and asked me to come over to play.  How could I possibly turn down an opportunity to create, free of any expense to me, with unlimited use of all the adorable fairy garden accessories that she offers in her beautiful store??  

Yep.  I jumped at the chance.

We decided to do a three-tiered fairy garden.  (Squeeeee!!!)

Would you like a little tour?!

Jennifer has so many beautiful succulents at her store, we thought it would be great to make use of them in the fairy garden.  I had never used succulents in a fairy garden... I really like how it turned out!  Succulents are available in so many hues and shapes.  They were so fun to work with, and will be super easy to care for. 

I love the little cottage-- isn't it sweet?!  (Please feel free to click on the images to see more detail of everything going on here.)  There's so many sweet details throughout this garden... a tiny lantern, dry creek, pond, clothes line, and...

... a little kitchen garden!  Every fairy cottage needs a wee garden, don't you think?  I think this might just be my favorite "handmade" feature in this little pot!  It was so easy to create... I just picked some "babies" from the existing plants.  All you need to do is stick them in the soil, and they will eventually take root.  How easy is that?!

These fairies like to entertain in the evenings, so an outdoor fireplace was required in the creation of this area of the fairy garden.  It was fun to experiment with various sizes of gravel to create different textures.  The gravel also helps to keep the soil from drying out so fast.

Now, on to the largest pot... this one was soooo fun to create!  I've always wanted to install a small fountain in a fairy garden, so when Victor and Jennifer were able to provide the fountain I was absolutely thrilled!  This fountain is solar powered.  

A little helpful hint:  to help the fountain remain small, drill the holes in the spout to a larger size.  (Thank you, Victor-- you're brilliant!) 

I couldn't resist creating a bunting for the tree.  It's made with washi tape and hemp twine.  The tire swing was created with a tire we pulled off of a toy truck purchased at a thrift store.  Aren't those dragonfly stepping stones fun?  I also love the little bench, wood arbor and the terracotta pots!  

Please, please, click on these photos to view more detail.  (I apologize for these terrible photos... the light was difficult to work with at the time.  The sun was so bright, I couldn't see what I was shooting on the screen of my little point-n-shoot camera!  Someday I'll have a nice camera... someday...sigh.)  

I had so much fun creating this fairy garden.  As you can see, Jennifer has an amazing variety of fairy garden accessories at her store... the inspiration was endless!  The Secret Garden carries everything that you need to build a fairy garden... a huge variety of pots, plants, fountains, gravel, and accessories.  If you are ever in the Sacramento area, please do stop by their lovely store.  You will be so happy that you did!

The Secret Garden

(So much more than a garden store!)

8450 W Stockton Blvd  Elk Grove, CA 95758

(916) 682-6839  

Jennifer, Victor, and their girls were so helpful and enthusiastic during the creation of this garden...they made this experience pure playtime for me!  (And I returned home with some wonderful gifts too-- thank you sooo much! xox)   

Hugs,

Superbowl Snacky Time

Happy Super Sunday!  I'm about to run out the door to watch the Super Bowl football game, but I thought that I would show you what I made for the party before I leave.  I thought that I would try my hand at royal icing... yikes.  I know that there must be a learning curve.  This is the only cookie that turned out half decent. The rest just look like turds. 

Soooo... I'm redeeming myself with my yummy guacamole!  

GO FORTY-NINERS!!!

OXO,

Hellooooo, Sweet Friends~

I made a card.  My close friends know what a big deal this is.  My paper crafting mojo has been gone for soooo long... but good things are happening in my life now, and this resurgence of creativity is bringing me so much joy.

My break from blogging has been quite trans-formative.  So much has happened in these past six months.  So many good things are happening in my life right now.  I feel so very blessed.

Several months ago, I cleaned out my studio-- with the help and encouragement from a dear friend.  It has lifted my heart.  (I had no idea that absurd amounts of ribbon and crap stuff could weigh me down so much.)  I've been able to have my friends over several times to play, and it's been so fun!  

My studio is my playroom again... and this girl is ready to play.

OXO,

PS:  Jami, if you're reading this... this was your Christmas card!  It was returned to me because I used your old address.  Next year's card will get to you safely... I promise!

Blooms... And A Garden Tour

 Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I know that most of my posts have been garden related lately, but I really love this time of the year.  My garden is planted and things are starting to bloom around here!  I thought it was time that I took you on a tour of my little wonky-willy-nilly garden.

 I have been so excited to show off these canterbury bells!  I remember the first time I saw canterbury bells-- I was working at a florist shop.  (Many, many years ago!)  I thought that these flowers looked like something straight out of a fairy tale or a Mary Engelbreit picture!  I've missed growing them and decided it was well past time to grow some at this house.  I'm so glad I did!

 My garden is kind of spread out... some of it's in pots, some of it is in a garden box, and some of it is planted in the side border next to the house. 

I like a bit of whimsy in my garden, and this year I added these fun skeleton lampshades into the mix.  I love them so much!  I found them at a vintage fair being sold by my-favorite-garden-art-people-of-all-time, Old Soul Studios. 

 Many of the plants that I grow are from heirloom seedlings that I purchased from a lady in my neighborhood.  She sets up her little heirloom plant stand on the sidewalk in front of her house, like a lemonade stand.  Don't you love that?!!  Her adorable little daughter helps her cultivate and sell the plants. This plant growing on the lampshade is some kind of an heirloom purple/scarlet bean.  I can't remember the name, and I've lost the marker.  It's just starting to bloom.  I've never grown these before, so I'm excited to try them.

It's crazy fun how fast things start to grow when they get to a certain point.  These are the purple beans, red and yellow peppers, sugar snap peas, herbs, and flowers.

 I like to mix flowers in with the veggies.  I try to companion plant where I can.  (Another link about companion planting here.)  Keeps everything happy and colorful.

Lots of herbs... I think that I really take them for granted.  I don't use them as much as I should, but when I do use them... yum!

 These peppers were starting to bloom here...

...and not long after, they looked like this!  These bell peppers will grow and turn yellow.  I'm not a huge fan of green bell peppers, but I do love the red and yellow!

 The sugar snap peas are starting to bloom here...

...and poof!  Seems like they turn into pods overnight!  These sugar snaps rarely make it into the house-- I love to eat them right off the vine.

  Every morning, usually in my pajamas, I go out to water and putz around in the garden.  This happy guy follows me everywhere.  It's kind of our ritual, and my favorite way to start the day.

 This garden box was already here when I purchased my house.  I've got about four heirloom tomatoes, a lemon cucumber, a dragon's egg cucumber, petunias, zinnias, sunflowers, and sweet alyssum growing in here.  The nasturtiums are from last year, so I let them stay and hang out with the others.  Oh, and there's a mystery plant.  I bought it from the plant stand. I know that it's "suppose to be good for the garden", but I cannot-for-the-life-of-me remember what it is.  Don't worry, it looks legal. (Ahem.)

The larger plant is a "Mortgage Lifter" tomato, and the one next to it is a "Purple Cherokee".  Do you see the chicken wire to the right?  I put it there so Hagrid wouldn't get in there and play "rototiller" like he did the day after I planted the garden last year.  Yep, he did.  The soil looked gorgeous-- so gorgeous-- but he dug up the entire box.  Seriously, the entire box.  Why couldn't he have done that before I planted?! Silly boy.

These two tomato plants are "Green Grape" and "Hawaiian Pineapple Stripe".  They're growing sooooo slow, and not doing as well.  I amended the soil before planting them, but some thing's off.  The nasturtiums are blooming like crazy and that's a sign.  Nasturtiums bloom well in bad soil.  I might also be over watering the plant on the right.  Any pointers, friends?  Although I've been gardening for a while, I'm still always learning.  I hope that I never stop learning.  I think that's part of the fun of gardening! 

I know, this ohm chime is kind of random.  I've had it for years and I love it.  I bought it at a Hare Krishna llama festival.  Yes, I did.   

 These are the lemon and dragon's egg cucumbers.  The dragon's egg cukes are new for me this year.  I'm kind of curious about trying them.

Nasturtiums... they're edible and taste kind of spicy, like a radish.  I love putting the blossoms and leaves in salad, especially my favorite tomato salad.

I had extra sunflower seeds leftover, so I threw a variety of them in here.  I'm so glad the birds didn't eat them before they germinated.  (I think they got to some of them in the box.)  The small pot has bee balm.  It comes back every year and I love the blooms.  So do the bees!

This is the first year that I've cultivated this border along the side of the house.  Everything looked so small when I took this photo.

This is what it looks like today.  That's a "One Ball Summer Squash" there.  C'mon, (nudge, nudge) I know you want to laugh at that name.

 The shasta daisies have been taking their sweet time.  I'm eagerly awaiting the first bloom.  Hurry up, shasta daisy!  How is it that some things seem to bloom overnight and others take forever?  Gardening teaches me patience every year.  It's all good.

 The summer squash blooms are huge and abundant!  (Watch out neighbors... someone could accidentally leave a bag of squash on your porch.  I have no idea who...)

Hello, cosmos.

 This "Dinosaur Kale" came from the plant stand.  I kept the original marker.  The plant lady's daughter drew a tiny dinosaur on it and I love it.  It makes me smile everytime I notice it.  This plant was teeny, here when I bought it, and has taken it's own sweet time to grow to a whoppin' five inches or so.  Right now it's struggling with a hungry pest of some kind.

Well, here I am.  After hunting for quite a while, I purchased a vintage lounger this year at the Sacramento Antique Fair. At the end of each day I try to spend some time out in the garden lounging and decompressing.  Hagrid looks for squirrels, visits (through the fence) with the neighbor dogs, plays with his toys, explores the garden, and lays around. 

Well, if you're still reading, thank you for hanging in there.  I hope that you've enjoyed this little tour.   It's a funky, wonky garden...but I love it.  It's my little piece of this big planet.  It's where I work out my stress and anxieties-- and find my calm and happy.  It's my happy place.

Hugs,

Itty Bitty Harvest

Mmmm...nom nom.

Hugs,