Ten Snaps: A Little of This, and a Little of That

My focus lately has been all over the place.  A little of this and a little of that with a bunch of sewing mixed in.  So, with that in mind I thought it would be fun to dump ten snaps from my camera to see what I've been doing. 

A little puppy watching.  She did have her eyes closed... but somehow she always knows when I'm stalking her with the camera.

I have to laugh at my clean desk photo because it sure doesn't look like this today.

We have been soaking in as much outdoor time and sunshine as possible.  And Sammy is still trying to eat every stick in the yard.

On a walk I saw this little bit of moss and rocks and it makes me think this is the perfect quilt background for the mushroom scene I have brewing in my head.

Walks and hikes with the dogs have just been glorious!

The lake melts all my stresses away.  And it's so funny to see it this time of year with no ice. 

We woke up last week to this... winter appearing from no where.  And honestly... we loved it! 

Snow isn't always fun to drive in, but it sure makes for a pretty drive... doesn't it?

Spring fever is nibbling at me in a serious way.  With the warmer than normal weather I am just dying to get my hands in some dirt.  Little plants and flowers are doing their best to do to hold me over a bit longer as I just have to remember that gardening is just around the corner!

And this is Sammy again.  Looking at all these photos I remember that she really has been the primary focus of my attention of late.  You see, she is in the rebellious phase of things which is fine, but I forgot how much work it is. 

And yes there are days where I feel like a broken record... no bite, give me that shoe, no jumping, leave it, slow down, stop barking, don't pull on Katie's collar, enough water, you have to pee... again?  My little white squishy dog.  She is really shaping up to be a fantastic pup, but she is sure testing me along the way!

Hope you are off to a brilliant start to the week!

Here's What's Going On...

Has anyone else (like me) just blinked and realized that it's nearly mid-December already?  My brain is still telling me that it should be Halloween time.  Heck, we just broke open the last of our pumpkins in the woods yesterday.  I guess it was getting funny to see pumpkins on the stoop with a backdrop of Christmas lights.

> We woke to a tiny coating of snow last week which is serving as a reminder of the month we are in.  So pretty as it coated all the tree limbs and wood pile!

> I have been sewing like frantic to finish off some cool gifts and am making a lot of progress.  I am also giving a demo at tomorrows art quilt guild meeting.  I'm so excited, but need to finish my demo piece tonight. 

> I am spending most of my down time outdoors with the mister and pups trying to soak in any available sunlight... or just plain day light for that matter.  It's helping beat back the winter blahs.  It's been fun to take my camera with me too!

> I love the frost crystals on the moss. 

> I am amazed at how green the moss looks.  Makes me wonder if it's always this green, or if I am just noticing now because everything else is so gray?

> I got a henna tattoo last week.  You know the kind of temporary tattoos that originated in India?  It was my first one... and it's been so much fun to have! 

> Having a henna is making me want to pick up the dye paste and try it again on myself.  The designs are limitless and it was so darn quick/easy.

> I am amazed at the crispy-frosty edges on the leaves and how they all get so much texture when they are coated like this.

> I am head-over-heels in love with this girl.  She's a silly as she is beautiful and I wouldn't mind spending every minute hanging out with her.

> Meanwhile, this one is reminding me what it is like to be puppy to the max.  Everything is being hunted, tissues and shoes aren't safe, and running circles through the house is great entertainment.  For every moment I am cross with her, there are fifteen that I want to cuddle and adore her.  She's not quite ready for prime time yet, but we made it through puppy school and I can tell she is a great dog in progress!

> And as if the season and time of year aren't confused enough... I walked through my garden to find these flowers in bloom... despite the snow fallen around them.  I also saw other plants and bulbs like the crocus budding and thinking of blooming too. 

Sorry to be quiet for so long, but hoping to get back into the routine this week with blogging and show you some of the things I am working on... even if some have to be kept secret. 

Cheers to a great start to the week!

Hands in the Dirt: from Aquarium to Terrarium

At one point we kept a fish tank.  Well actually we have two fish tanks.  I don't talk about them much ... and that's probably a good thing since all the fish in our large tank have passed on to fishie heaven.  We thought about starting the tank up again, it was a tough call after having one fish live with us for almost three years, but we decided not to.

So, what to do with a 29 gallon tank and stand?

First of all... I drained the water.  It was full to the top, I luckily remembered to take this picture mid-draining.

Then, I flattened out the rocks and cleaned the glass. 

I added about one inch of sphagnum moss (was surprised to find it at Home Depot of all places fairly cheap!) on top of the rocks.  Then, a bunch of potting soil.  Then, I started planting little indoor plants.  I also put the fish rocks and decor back in between some of the plants for added drama.

And voila!!

Here you can see (from left to right):

"Creeping Fig" Ficus, "Silver Tree" Pilea, Polka Dot plant, and Spider plant in the back right

On the left side we have (from left to right):

"Magenta" Dracaena, African Violet, and I have a bit of Christmas Cactus behind the horse 

After everything was planted I gave it a generous watering until I could start to see some of the water making it's way down to the rocks. 

I really think this is going to be a great transition for me to indoor gardening over the winter. 

I know, it's only August... I shouldn't be talking about winter.  But I am.  This should make those cold winter months more manageable.  I hope.

I am going to see how these plants make out for a bit.  Hoping they are all hardy and low light enough to thrive.  I was also thinking about adding a few aromatic plants like mint or oregano. 

And there you have it!  I now get to tend to my very own little terrarium -- we are only on day three, I'll be sure to let you know how it fairs.

Also, here is a shopping list in case you also have an old aquarium laying around that you want to set up as a terrarium:

• old aquarium - I used my old aquarium... doesn't mean a new one wouldn't work.  You can also look for other containers.  Really the sky is the limit on what can become a terrarium.small rocks/pebbles
• small rocks/pebbles - these are also used for drainage.  If you had a fish aquarium, then by all means use the same fish rocks.
• small indoor plants - I found "Angel Plants" to be good ones for low-medium light and the bonus is they purify air too!!  These ran me about $2-3 a plant.  I also looked around at my current house plants and clipped a few pieces of the spider plant and Christmas cactus to include.
• potting soil/dirt
• Sphagnum moss - this is optional; but seems to really help the plants from getting too dry.  I managed to cover the whole surface for about $4.
• decor - anything goes for this too.  I used a plastic horse, fish rocks from the aquarium I had previously kept, and that rad skull which also came from the aquarium.

 Do you keep a terrarium?  I'd love to hear about it!!  And if you set up a new one, I'd love to hear about your experiences as well! 

Let's go garden!! 





I will be adding to these parties:

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Creative Tuesday: Purple

It's Creative Tuesday!  Do a little dance, shake all around!  It's that time of the week where I open my sketch pad -- or do I? -- and see what comes out for the theme over at Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday's assignment!

This week's theme was Purple. yes. As in the color.  As in the creative we come up with should be mostly purple.  I have to admit I was totally stumped.  I mean I could think of purple things like grapes and flowers.  I also thought of drawing something random like a hippo and coloring her purple.

But, in the end I took a totally different direction and even went away from my safe and comfortable color pencils.  It was all spurred by this... a bird house!

Yup, Katie gave me a hand crafted, one of a kind, bird house for Mother's Day!  Isn't she talented!  I'm sure, the mister helped her a little.  I was smitten!!  Been wanting my very own bird house for sometime now!

So, I gathered up my paints.  It's been a long time.. oh how I missed thee Paints!!

And I started to apply purples.  Purples mixed with pink, purples that were mostly blue, purples mixed with orange.. serious.  Check it out!  This unit even comes with blooming tulip gardens!

 I couldn't resist being my spunky self and adoring the front of the house with "Home, Tweet Home!"  And the back with "No Twig, like home"  (likened to No Place, like home)  Fun, right?

Then a large wash with Mod Podge.   Yummy!

And because that wasn't funky enough...out came the fake spanish moss to finish the job!

And there you have it.  A one of a kind, purple infused, ready to move in, freshly painted Purple Love Shack!

Mr. Toast, your incredible sir!  Thank you for the challenging them and I already say YES! to accepting your next challenge! 

I had so much fun unleashing my creative through this process, hope you consider joining in this or the next assignment (and I hope you do) feel free to check out other artists in the community here.

日本のための多くの愛
Much love for Japan