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I just listed my first Moss Brooch in the shop (do you remember I mentioned in this post that I would have one when I got my camera back?)! The listing also features a photo of the new hang tags:
I've also started photographing some of my items in my hand so that you can get a better idea of size:
Okay, all for now, but I'll be posting more new stuff and sharing it here soon!
Happy Thursday!
Yes, I finally got my camera back (fortunately, the repair was free because of a defective part)! So, I thought my first post after the return would be about my new hang tags for the items in my shop - I've been so anxious to share them with you:
They are pretty simple visually, but it took an incredible amount of time to gather the materials I wanted - it was one of those situations where you know what you want, you can visualize it, but it's tricky to find the materials necessary to make it. Well, they are finally done and here's a little about each element of these tags:
I have a lot of scrap printmaking paper that I saved from college (I knew it would come in handy), so I figured that the paper would be great for tags. The other great thing about the paper is that it can be soaked in water (or tea in this instance) and not be damaged because it is coated in sizing.
Do you remember the green tea experiment? Well, that was for these tags; I thought it would be great to have a green version also, but the black tea-stain works really well, and it's nice to keep things simple. I drink a lot of tea, and I after I brewed each cup, I set aside the tea bag to dry and then collected them to make a huge batch for dyeing - this is great because I didn't need to use any new tea bags for this project!
I'm really in love with the scalloped edge that I have been painting on my cork teapot and cork teacup brooches, so I thought that it would be a lovely edge for my tags; I found this dye-cutter in a local boutique.
The text was the trickiest part of this scavenger hunt. I knew I wanted something that looked a little old to go with the tea-stain of the tags, and even though I usually LOVE the mix of old and new, this just seemed to be right. Since I was using scrap paper for this project, I couldn't just find the appropriate font and print them off on my printer, so a rubber stamp needed to be found. At first, I tried to find individual letters, but I could only either find a font I liked, but in the wrong size or vice versa. I finally found a rolling stamp that did the trick (and what fond memories from childhood and local libraries). I also like that the stamp lends itself to unevenness and imperfections.
I think these tags look like old apothecary tags or somesuch; perfect for little moss and lichen specimens, and pretty cute on the cork pieces too!
I'm working on photographing some pieces for the shop with these new hang tags and I'll share them soon!
The common name for this plant is "baby toes." I have two of these plants and my newest one is blooming!:
As you can see, my son was pretty thrilled about the flower too!
I'm excited to see this plant blooming for two reasons - the obvious reason is that it's pretty, but the other reason is that now I know which species of Fenestraria I have. Fenestraria rhopalophylla has yellow flowers (this one) and Fenestraria pulchra has pink flowers (according to Wikipedia); I'm only slightly confused because the backs of the petals are a peachy color, but the inside is yellow enough!
Fenestraria are native to southern Africa and the transparent tips allow for photosynthesis. They have strong roots that pull the plant downward when it's sunny and hot and they lengthen in the winter (this is dramatic when I transfer my plants outdoors after being inside for the winter; they shorten quickly in the sun).
This poor little plant must have been watered overhead before I got it, as it has hard water spots all over it! I also took this picture with my partner's camera on his phone, so it's not the best. However, according to my tracking number, my camera will arrive today!!!
I just listed three new hair accessories in the shop for the Lichen Collection! If you recall, I used my dad's camera while my parents were visiting and I mentioned that I took a few shots of finished product. Well, I finally got them listed (my partner did a whole re-vamping of our computer systems and we've been getting all of that under control)! Here's a look:
Lichen Barrette (medium) 1
Lichen Barrette (large) 1
Lichen Bobby Pin 3
Speaking of camera, I got an email yesterday that my camera has finally been shipped! Finally - whew!
Happy Sunday!
My son and I went to my friend Teddie's house yesterday for lunch and visiting. Teddie made an incredible, yet simple lunch and I thought I would share it with you. It was essentially a salad, but with some extras. The base was greens that Teddie picked from her garden with a little Italian dressing on top (a vinaigrette would work very nicely). Atop the greens was a pasta salad, here's a recipe that I came up with (after asking Teddie about how she made it):
- boil enough pasta (penne, shells...something like that) for two (my son had other things to eat)
- add a few tbs of diced onion into the pasta water so that it's cooked when added to the salad
- dump a can of tuna (I use the line-caught canned tuna) into your colander that you will use to drain your pasta
- when the pasta/onions are cooked, pour it over the tuna in the colander
- put the pasta/onions/tuna in a bowl and add some olive oil and salt to taste
- add, oh, 1/2 c. fresh peas (frozen would work, so add them to the pasta water to cook also)
- add about 1/4 c. pine nuts
- cut up some lemon basil (regular basil would work fine, and you can squeeze a little lemon on top if you like) and add to taste
This pasta salad was added to the greens (and the acidity of the dressing on the greens was lovely with the pasta salad).
Also on the salad was a deviled egg that was done in a way that was really nice for presentation - Teddie cut just enough of the top of the hard-boiled egg off to get the yolk out, made the filling and then added the mix to the hollowed-out egg and put the top next to it on the salad, with some chopped herb on the top (I'm not sure which kind, maybe parsely?) - very pretty.
It was a lovely visit and my son and I got to spend some time perusing Teddie's garden which is amazing and inspiring!
Now for the soup recommendation. My friend Jenny turned me on to these soups while having lunch at her house awhile back - Pacific brand soups (they come in a soymilk-like container and I've had the soymilk before, so I was familiar with the brand). I'm "drinking" (it's convenient to just use a mug or teacup) the "Creamy Butternut Squash" soup for lunch and it is so good!:
It has a little bit of ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon in it and that really makes it!
Also good are: "Cashew Carrot Ginger," "Buttery Sweet Corn," and "Creamy Tomato," but I haven't tried them all yet! They're great to have around for emergencies too!
Happy Wednesday!
Comments are now closed for this giveaway! Thank you to all that left comments! I will be posting the winner shortly...
I hit a milestone in my Etsy shop today, 1000 hearts!:
I also, removed those three sachets from my shop that were on sale (partially due to the new renaming). Since these happened at about the same time, and one of the sachets isn't spoken for (the others are gifts), I thought I would do a giveaway! Here's the one that I'm giving away:
Formerly Moss Clove Sachet 1
Also, I've been thinking about gardening lately, particularly what my dream garden would entail (especially after that NWF post and the "for my dream garden" post), even though I don't have a yard. This garden would include a gray water/rain water system, a rich compost pile, an herb garden, a veggie garden and a shade garden - just for starters. Some plants I'm thinking about are: honeysuckle, jasmine, a fig tree, heirloom roses, shade violets (that's what I call them, you know, the delicate ones), moss, nasturtiums, strawberries, blueberries, all kinds of varieties of mint (check out the ones in thepapergal's Etsy shop), scented geranium, succulents (I favor the non-cactus variety) - I'm definitely going to need different zones!
So, here's the scoop on this giveaway - Leave a comment to this post with your garden recommendation(s): varieties, blogs, tools, seed suppliers (organic please) and such - I'd love to hear about your favorite garden things! And even thought I don't have a garden currently, I'm fairly savy...if that helps. Then, one week from today (Monday morning-ish), I will go through the comments that have been left at that point (and check for repeats and such - no, this won't disqualify you, you'll just be counted once), write down a number for each on little pieces of paper, put them in a "hat" and have my son pick a number. The lucky winner will be notified by email so that I can get a mailing address to send the sachet!
I happened to be up in the middle of the night and I got a treasury on Etsy. I've been thinking about gardening a lot lately and what my dream garden would look like, so that is what the treasury is about. This also foreshadows the next post. Here's a look at the treasury:
Happy Monday!
According to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), birds are very much affected by global warming. However, there are three things you can do to help: buy organic shade-grown coffee, buy shade-grown chocolate and create a backyard wildlife habitat! There is a bit to learn about getting your yard certified, but here are the steps: offer food (I know many of us tend to think of feeders, but native plants are really important), water, cover, places to raise young, and sustainable gardening. Then once you have covered all these areas (and do the online certification), you can order a nice yard sign so that others learn about this program:
There are many more tips on the NWF website to help wildlife; check it out!
If you haven't noticed by my taste in architecture, I'm into functionality. So, I've decided to change the names of my sachets to pincushions. Mmmm...scented pincushions! You can have a peppermint pincushion to keep you alert or a lavender pincushion to relax you while you sew! Of course, these pincushions can still be used as sachets, but I really wanted to stress that they can be more utilitarian (note: Since the clove sachets could not be used as pincushions, I have removed them from the shop; however, if you would like me to make you one as a sachet, please email me or convo me through Etsy). So here's how one of them looks with it's new name:
In other news, still no camera...seriously. :( Work is still going on as usual however! Also, the Lemon Balm has dried and I may make some Lemon Balm Pincushions! The scent is more subtle than the other herbs I have used (lavender, peppermint, and clove), but it can still be used as a pincushion! See, function is important!
Happy Friday! Yay!
