A New Garden Spot

I have been planning a new garden spot all winter. Now that I am a WAHM  I have a little more time to spend on a garden and I really want to grow some of the food items that end up on our table. So this weekend I was so excited when my Husband said that he would build my raised beds for me. Well I wanted to share them with you today and I hope to begin to track my progress each Monday. This new series will be titled Gardening Monday. I have had gardens in the past but once I started working full time I found it very hard to keep up with it in the early stages when it needs the most attention. I hope this year that I will be and I will be incorporating life science lessons for the girls during this project. They are excited about this and we will be making newspaper pots this week to start our seeds in. We will be deciding on the seeds and what we want to grow this week also. I know that Anastasia is very interested in having a butterfly garden in one of the beds.

Each of the beds have an interior measurement of 4 foot by 8 foot. This will make it easy to reach the center of the beds without compressing the soil.I am planning on plating onion sets down the center of the beds because once they are planted they will not really have to be bothered with much. 

We started bringing some of the rich soil from our horse paddocks and from the compost pile that my husband has going.. One of the best things that I have going for me it I have a large supply of rich compost and free fertilizer. A couple of years ago I took 25 gallon barrels and used the soil from the pens to grow sweet potatoes and we ended up with a bumper crop.

Later this week He will be building me a smaller bed for me to plant garlic and herb plants. I am so excited about growing my own garlic and herbs. I use garlic in everything and I would love to try some of homegrown garlic. I will be starting out with some organic garlic bulbs that I have on hand to get the bed started.

Next Monday: Building a better garden bed one layer at a time.

I hope you will come back next Monday to see how it has progressed. And remember to come back on Thursday for the Link Up Party and Friday we will have a new giveaway.

Friday Free for All

We woke up this morning to storms, lots of rain, thunder and lighting. It is gray and dreary outside to we will be staying home all day and I hope that I will be able to get a few projects finished.

I finished a bunch of lanyards and a dress last night. I even made an outfit for my daughter’s doll. She was so excited. I let her pick the fabrics, and made a skirt and peasant shirt for it.

I made this in a size 6-9mo. I really need a cute model to really show how it looks. I love the way it turned out.

When I make doll clothes I just use what ever color thread that is in the machine. I really like they way they colors turned out.  A gray day really makes it hard to get a good picture. Maybe later.

Thursday link up

This week the public schools have been out and the girls normal routines have been altered so that they can enjoy playing with their friends, School days have been flip-flopped so that they do more work at night and in the early parts of the day instead of in one long stretch. So this means that my time has been flipped upside down also. I have been worked more on the computer and planning projects as well and sorting supplies so that I will have everything ready to start sewing again today and tomorrow. On Monday we took a trip to the Yellow River Game Ranch and then had a picnic lunch at Stone Mountain. It was a fun day and the pictures in this post are from there.

Now for the Linky Party
The Rules:

1. Follow with GFC
   
2. Link up to your blog post not your main blog page.
   
3. Link back here if possible.
   
4. You can link any Family Friendly post, Etsy Shop, or Giveaway

I look forward to see what you have created. There is no special theme to this party just link up to 3 items Per Person.

February Digital Kit

This months digital kit is live now in the Etsy Shop.

This months kit is very textural and has a green and blue color scheme with the addition of magenta flowers and is fun and full of exciting textures. I love how this kit turned out I added a sheet of words and two sheets of journaling spots for you to add to your pages or art work.

Each Kit will include
4 – 8x10” digital image sheets
2 sheet of Journaling Spots
1 Sheet of Words for Collage

Each the images in this kit are from original mixed media art that I have created. Each one if a HQ digital image of the original painting.
I have been working for the past few months to create a large portfolio of work to be able to debut my line of Digital Downloads. These images can be used for Scrapbooks, art journals, collage, and so much more. Each of the images in the collections will include my original designs and paintings.
I have them in a format that you can download and either used them in your digital scrapbooks as backgrounds or print them out and use them for art journals, collage or in a traditional scrapbook.
You will receive:
1 - PDF file with all kit items
4 - 8x10 digital image sheets as a JPEG file
2 - 8x10 sheet of journal spots as a JPEG file
1 - 8x10 sheet of Words for collage as a JPEG file

Each sheet can be printed out and cut up to use in various ways. Print then out on various surfaces such as paper, canvas, full sheet labels, Ink jet fabric. Then you can use it for scrapbook paper, mixed media projects, collage, art journal pages...the possibilities are endless.
You will not receive a hard copy of the files, you will just receive the digital files

This months digital kit is live now in the Etsy Shop.

Monday Monday Views from My Sketchbook

My Current Giveaway can be found here. Come back on Thursday for Show and Tell Thursday Linky Party

Flower Pin/Hair Clip Giveaway

Would you like to win this flower pin/hair clip? It was handmade by me from an upcycled vintage shirt. So it is unique and one of a kind. all you have to do is follow the instructions from RaffleCopter . It is that easy. The giveaway will end on Thursday, Febuary 23, 2012 at Midnight EST. The Winner will be notified by email and have 24 hours to reply or I will pick another winner. GOOD LUCK Open to USA addresses only. I will have an international contest soon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Show and Tell Thursday

This is one of two journals that I have made with some of my hand painted texture papers, I corrdinated it with some K&Co.double sided cardstock that I have laying around as well as various pieces of Reflections cardstock. I used my Bind-it-all machine to bind it. It is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches in size. It is now listed in my Etsy Shop.
Now for the Linky Party
The Rules:

1. Follow with GFC
   
2. Link up to your blog post not your main blog page.
   
3. Link back here if possible.
   
4. You can link any Family Friendly post, Etsy Shop, or Giveaway

I look forward to see what you have created.

Sponsor Shout Outs

The Fat Quarter Shop is a great site to find all your modern and traditional quilting fabrics as will as a great selection of notions. They offer same day shipping on orders placed before 3pm CST. They have a wonderful blog the Jolly Jabber that showcases interviews with designers as well as coordinating fabric ideas. if you are looking for the perfect fabric for your next project go check out The Fat Quarter Shop. 

They are offering  20% off and free shipping.  In addition to that, all order over $60 can get a free 8”x10” canvas added to your order how cool it that. I love the idea of Free Stuff. So go check them out and let me know what you think.

Stand out in a crowd with NEW MOO MiniCards - 100 unique mini-calling cards with new some great new features! These are the cutest Business cards that I have ever seen. They are the perfect size to make them standout from the mix.

Are you in the mood for great art supplies at a super savings? Then wait no longer all you have to so is try out these great sponsors.

Check out BLICK ART MATERIALS' Winter Deals and Free Offers through February 15th, 2012!

Last Chance! Clearance at Delphi Glass

Wordless Wednesday

Studio Organization

I have been on a kick lately when I am in my studio space that I really want to organize everything. Well today I am going to share my tip for taking your embroidery floss from a mess to beautiful organization. My oldest daughter has started making “Friendship Bracelets” and my floss was really looking like a mess. I normally buy it in bulk packages and keep them in the packages until I want to use some and then I don’t have to search for the color I want.

Well this is what my floss looked like before I started to work.

After a quick trip to my local Hobby Lobby and a couple of dollars later. I bought this

All you have to do is place it in your floss box and secure the floss bobbin with a small dowel and it really makes quick work out of the mess.

Once you have it secure you can get ready to start winding. (Be careful with the little dowel that holds the bobbins. It can fly. I learned from experience, I had to hunt it on my hands and knees under the back of my table)

Secure your thread in one of the slots and your are ready for wind.

It’s that easy and then you can have a beautifully organized collection of embroidery floss.

Happy Monday

I feel like I have neglected my readers over the past couple of weeks. I have been trying to spend more time creating and less time online. I really want to share a new item that I am making.

This idea came to me while I was shopping with my BFF and she found a fabric lanyard from a well know designer but could not find a bright print that she liked because most of the prints were very simlar. Well long story short she didn’t make a purchase so with her birthday this past weekend I decided to make her one with all the bright colors that she really loved. Needless to say the present was a hit.

All it took was a very small amount of fabric, some interfacing, a couple of burnt fingers (trying to iron something this small is very hard) and a small swivel lobsters clasp, and I had a perfect thin fabric lanyard. I added a small split ring key ring just incase a key was needed to be kept handy. I am planning on having a few in my Etsy Shop later this week, but first I have a make a larger order, thanks to my BFF wearing it to work this morning, for her office.

Show and Tell Thursday # 4

Today I would like to share a few of my fave Pinterest finds for this week. I have been cooking so much that and cleaning my studio that I really haven't been all that creative, but now the studio is clean cleaner I think tomorrow will be a day creativity so I am posting this early this week.

Source: amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com via Rhonda on Pinterest

Source: ultimatedanielfast.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: reluctantentertainer.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: thetrufflehoney.com via Katie on Pinterest

So here it the Linky Party: 

The Rules:

1. Follow with GFC
2. Link up to your blog post not your main blog page.
3. Link back here if possible. 
4. You can link any Family Friendly post, Etsy Shop, or Giveaway

What I Have Been Up To

This past week had been a very busy week. Both girls at the dentist and then I decided to pressure wash the front walk and driveway. I think I bit off more that I can chew with that one. I have been sore ever since. On the creative side I have been busy as well. I have been working on a project that I gave you a peek at in Thursday’s post. My Etsy Shop is stocked and ready for sales , I still have a few more items to photograph and then It will be fully stocked. I am looking in to a few venues to have booths for the spring and summer. The First Saturday festivals in Savannah are really looking like I might do at least one weekend.

Show and Tell Thursday # 3

Welcome to this weeks edition of Show and Tell Thursday. I have been really busy this week working on a very exciting project, that I want to share but I have to keep it under wraps for now. I can give you a peek but that is all, just a little teaser of what is to come.

Feel Free to add your link to the party here
The Rules

• Please follow us with Google Friend Connect up on the left.
  
• Link to your post not your main blog page
  
• Link back here so that everyone can find us
  
• You can also link your etsy shop and giveaways.
  
• Leave a comment on the person before you and after you (Everyone Loves comments)
  
• Come Back next week to see who is featured and for a new button for the features