Gardening

I have found that I'm much better at gardening when it's indoors. Perhaps it's the table and chair and the ability to put the plant up where I can reach it without bending down. The kids and I have been enjoying inside gardening. They love to pick up new seeds every time we go to the store and we have a large variety of vegetables growing now - broccoli, tomatoes, basil, zucchini, pumpkins, cauliflower, cantaloupe, sunflowers, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, cabbage, lettuce and of course, beans!

Beans are my favorite to grow... so easy. We've been experimenting with different ways of growing them (in glass with a paper towel, in plastic containers in soil, using peat moss pots, etc.). So it's been fun to watch. The two pictures below are one day - the first was taken in the morning and the second was taken in the early evening. Crazy!

I made some wire stands to help them stand up until we transplant them. They seem to be working great... if they work up until I transplant them, then I'll share how I made them. For now though, they are still in the testing phase.

In addition to all the seed planting, I've been redesigning our backyard. We've tried the grass for five years now and have finally admitted that it's not for us (we are great at growing weeds though). I let the kids have one last hurrah in the weeds before their dad cut them down. As an adult, all I can think of is all the bugs that are in there... but as kids, they had a great time. Of course, I kept my feelings to myself.

The new backyard will have raised planter beds and stones for walking. That's about it (we have a small backyard). It'll be a functional backyard. I'm hoping this one will work for us. I've planned it out in four phases, with the majority of it being completed by the fall. I'll try to share our progress here.

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Teacher Gifts - Phase 1

I'm back! (I hope). It's been very hectic this year with two children who have end of the year school activities. I'm anxious for them both to be at the same school. But today marked my daughter's last day of preschool.

This means... teacher gifts! I spend a lot of time making a special banner for one of the teachers at the school how has decided to stop teaching for a bit to spend more time with her kids. We had the kids decorate flowers and some parents and kids signed the bottom (dirt). I didn't make it to the presentation of this gift so I only have before pictures... and no after pictures. It was a really fun project. Each flower is made from a scrap piece of cotton on top of a tshirt scrap. I finished the edges of the tshirt to give each flower a wavy, petal look.

For my daughter's teachers, we made garden markers. I needed a project that she could help with... and she's still too young to help with sewing. And she LOVES to paint. So I had my husband drill some holes into wood disks, had her paint them and I them sealed them. We hung them from some bent wire. She was so proud of them and happy with the way they turned out. She chose some seed packets to go with them.

I have a tutorial for a similar garden marker in the works. I hope to have it done by the end of the week.

I'm thankful that my son's last day of school isn't for another two weeks. So I have a week or so to figure out what I'll be doing for his teacher. The ideas I've given so far have not been well received with my son. But I think it's important to give handmade gifts... I really think it shows my appreciation for the time they spend with my kids. Not that I haven't gone and bought a gift certificate in the past when I didn't have time to make something... but I am trying to make a rule that teachers get a little more thought put into their gifts. After all, where would we be without them?

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Mother's Day Weekend

I know, I know, it's been a week since Mother's Day weekend. But it seems like after every show that I help organize, it takes a week to recover. This show was no different. I'm happy to report that we had another successful show!

So, here are a few highlights from the show and my Mother's Day weekend...

One of the first customers through the door was this adorable little girl. Does her dress look familiar? Yep, that's one of my dresses. In fact, it's the one that I blogged about! Seeing her definitely started my weekend off on the right foot.

This show I introduced my new patches/appliques. I didn't sell any... but I also didn't put any thought into how to display them and so they were just sitting in a few baskets and a bit hard to see... and recognize as to what they were. It's on my list of things to work on. I hope to have a few of these listed in the shop soon.

My husband even bought me something from the show! I got this adorable little bunny necklace from LaRu. Her things are soooo cute, you have to check them out. Each piece has an original hand drawn picture that has been sealed in resin on a clay pendant. CUTE!

And my Mother's Day gift from my son. I love him. He made me wall decorations. See the lines he drew around each of the illustrations? That's the line that I'm supposed to cut on. He made me many different themes (the ones pictured are only a quarter of the ones he made). He has holiday ones, Star Wars - of course, garden themed, you name it... he had it). I love them. I love that he came up with his own idea of a handmade gift for me.

We shared a nice Mother's Day with my husband's mom... so it was extra special. I think my favorite moment was when my son was coming to give me the gift he made me from school... but then asked me if it would be okay if he gave it to his Nana instead. So sweet - he's such a thoughtful little boy and I'm happy to share all of the handmade treasures that the kids create.

A week late, but I hope all the moms out there had a great Mother's Day weekend. We deserve it, don't you think?

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