Champagne Anniversary!!

Mark and I were married 29 years ago, today!! 

My sister Marcy stood up for me, and Mark's brother Larry stood up for him!!

Mark and I in his parent's backyard with my Grandpa!!

Recycled Cardboard and Plastic Basket Weaving Step by Step.......

A few months ago I was asked to teach a workshop to some elementary school aged children. I searched online for an idea for something using recycled materials. I could not find anything suitable, so developed this basket. I used cardboard from boxes I retrieved from our hardware stores garbage shed, and the plastic is shrink wrap that our local grocery store was kind enough to save from the shipments they got in.

The photos should be fairly self explanatory, but if you need any other info please feel free to contact me. For this project the cardboard strips were about 24" long.

sometimes yellow isn't mellow....

One of my treasuries graced the front page of Etsy again today!! My sunshiney yellow collection, it is a beauty!

Always a thrill!

Photo Backdrops??

Earlier this week, someone messaged me on Etsy, about how dark my photos are. It devastated me. I thought that my colour was perfect, well on my monitor it is. That is one thing we tend to forget, how our photos look on all monitors...

I do like taking photos of my jewelry on wood best. My jewelry is not girly girly, I like to think of it as natural feminine. To me the wood showed that. This week I have been trying out different backdrops, using plain tablecloths, of pale neutral colours. It worked, i do know I had tried a couple of weeks ago to take photos of a series of earrings I had just made. I could not get the colour right on any of them on the wood. The colour came out right, using the cloths. 

Today I was searching for something.. something that would make me feel happier about my photos. I came across a collection of my late Gram's cookbooks, and some handwritten recipes, voila!! Perfect, I can combine my craft with my love of cooking...

My newest earrings, displayed on my Grams' pastry recipe!! My Grandparents used to run a restaurant many many years ago, so this is special to me.

smudged.......

Whoohoo for another front page treasury!! Always such a thrill!!

A nice treat on a gloomy sad day.

Things With Wings!

A couple of weeks ago, I had a string of treasuries on Etsy grace the front page. I was contacted by one of Etsy admin, asking if I would be interested in making a collection for Etsy Finds. Very exciting, and an honour in my opinion!!

Mark and I were about to leave for vacation, so I did it once we were back home again. The collection is called "Things With Wings". There were so many bugs out on the Island, and it is spring, and so many birds are singing. I was lucky enough to hear the sandhill cranes conking, as I call it, every day while we were there. They seemed to be nesting in every direction from camp.

Morels!!

Finally after searching for a week, Mark found enough morels to have with our dinner. He found a few yesterday, and we had those sauteed with our scrambled eggs this morning. This afternoon on his walk with the dogs, he found quite a few more. I sauteed them, in a mixture of butter and olive oil, and some minced garlic. 

We will have to go back out tomorrow to see if we can find some more. They are out two weeks later this year than last  year.

Close up of morels, prepped ready to cook!

my back garden

I took some photos of our back yard through a screened upstairs window.

We are still in work mode getting the gardens weeded and planted.

Rock patio, dog kennel, raspberry patch...

Crooked view of rock patio, rock planter....

Brick patio and greenhouse....

Greenhouse, back garden, sidewalk, and side flower beds, these flower beds wrap around the house.

Greenhouse, copper planters, flower beds......

you're the cream in my coffee

Much to my excitement another of my treasuries on Etsy made it on to the front page this morning. 

Six items from the collection sold while it was on the front page. Pretty cool!!