SPRING TUTORIAL CHALLENGE hosted by Artist Reborne

SPRING FLING TUTORIAL

Hosted by Dawn Rice - http://www.artistreborne.typepad.com/

For me, spring is all about the garden and getting back outside (and the nice weather and longer daylight and beautiful flowers blooming). I can’t wait to get my hands in the dirt! Here are some tips on getting ready to plant this spring:


1. Choose Your Seeds: Whether your passion is flowers, vegetables or both, choose your seeds early. A friend of mine leant me a catalog that sells certified organic seeds. It’s called Seeds of Change and you can check out their website at: http://www.seedsofchange.com/. They have awesome products.





The thing I like best about their seed packets is that they are re-sealable, and for me, that means no more rolling the edge of the packets down, stapling them, and putting them in Ziploc bags (note the seal on top of the yellow packet above).

I used to buy young plants at one of the local nurseries to transplant, but found that it was costly (when I could buy a packet of seeds from between 45-90 cents), plus I didn’t know where their seeds had originated from. Also, about half of my transplants would die due to diseases that weren’t obvious when I purchased them. I’ve decided that from now on, I will only plant seeds that have been certified organic, not only do they yield more health benefits, but they are much heartier plants as well.

2. Start Your Seeds Indoors: I find it best to start my seeds indoors using a setup like the Germination Station in the picture below:

A germination station with seed plugs is a great was to get those seeds hearty and ready for transplanting. Make sure though, if you are going to start your seeds indoors, you don’t put them by a window for their daily supply of vitamin A (sunlight). This will create thin, spindly sprouts that will lean to one side (even if you rotate them) and will eventually collapse. Either put them under a grow light or cover them with a plastic lid and put them outdoors during the time you have the most sun (but don’t forget to bring them in before the sun goes down). I recently discovered a great article on this topic at:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/ornamentals/seedlings/seedlings.html

If, like me, you don’t always have the money to buy systems like the Germination Station, you can always use the Styrofoam cup method. For this method, cut about an inch off the top of a Styrofoam cup, punch several small holes in the bottom for drainage, and place it on a plate or tray. I recommend putting no more than 1 to 3 seeds per cup. If you have a grow light, again that’s the best lighting method, but if not, cover each cup using plastic wrap and a rubber band and put them out in the sun for part of the day.

Try not to plant seeds using dirt from the ground if you can help it. It is best to start them in a planting medium, i.e., your basic potting soil mix from your local garden center or, if they’re available to you, seed plugs.

3. Know your Zone: Wherever you live, there is a recommended, beneficial time to plant for your area. Most seed catalogs will include a planting guide or chart like this:
If you don’t have a seed catalog, ride the internet to http://www.dogpile.com/ and do a search for planting guides. Dogpile.com is a meta search engine and will search all of the other search engines out there, greatly widening your results. Make sure to find the zone that’s specifically right for your area or all of your hard work will be for nothing.

4. Planting: When it’s finally time to plant (I’m usually chomping at the bit at the first sign of nice weather), make sure your planting beds are tilled and plowed, incorporating mulch and/or any other planting medium you wish to use. Delicate new roots do not enjoy pushing through rock-hard dirt and will most likely perish. By loosening the soil and adding nutrients you double your chances for success.

5. Bed Design: I am an avid vegetable and herb gardener, but I also like to make my beds as pleasing to the eye as possible. One thing I do for presentation as well as bug-resistance is to plant orange and yellow Marigolds between each bed or every couple of rows of vegetables. They are beautiful as well as beneficial. I also plant as many other varieties of flowers as I can around my vegetables, not only for their beauty, but also because they attract bees and butterflies, the insects that aid in propagation.

6. Herbs: These days I grow my herbs in pots inside the house. I live in the desert and I find that herbs don’t seem to like the extreme heat from the sun here. Now, they simply thrive in the kitchen, and when I feel the urge to make the best pesto recipe in the southwest, I just go into the kitchen, snip the leaves from several basil plants, and get to work. 7. Pests: If you haven’t yet discovered it, Hot Pepper Wax Insect Repellant is awesome!!! I buy mine online at: http://www.gcspecials.com/. This keeps your garden pesticide free and won’t taint those certified organic seedlings. I spray it into the soil to fend off grub worms and sow bugs, two of which plague me every year. I find it even wards off rabbits. Apparently they’re not into hot and spicy veggies.

There’s nothing better than looking forward to grazing in my organic, home-grown garden, to kick off the spring season.

For a look at some other great Spring tutorials, check out these artists:

http://hubpages.com/hub/polymer-clay-tutorials-photo-transfer-beads-77

http://chelise.typepad.com/zne/2008/03/spring-fling-tu.html

http://backporchartessa.blogspot.com/2008/02/clay-bubble-charms.html

SUN ANGEL

Last night I was going through my collection of collectibles and decided that I wanted to do something to use up my endless collection of "unwanted" cd's (the one's you get in the mail, begging you to buy their online services). I've been saving them in hopes that I would find something to use them for one day, so I decided to make a sun angel to represent the coming of summer and light (not so much the extreme heat).

It isn't too obvious from the pictures, but the wings are emobssed in crystal Kaleidescope translucent embossing powder and they're really sparkly. I embossed the CD on both sides with a thick layer silver metallic embossing powder on top of black ink. The gold item in the middle is a button that I glued on to cover the hole and three black buttons say "love" "dream" "hope". I think I'll work on a spring angel and maybe one for the fall and Winter also, so I have a set.

MEMORY MONDAY - FIRST JOB

My first job was at a restaurant called The Galley, in Anchor Bay, California. I was either 12 or 13 and I got the be the dishwasher, which was before the time of automatic dishwashers. I worked on the weekends and occasionally after school when I was needed. I remember this large pair of black, rubber gloves and how they were so long I almost drown in them (oy). I think there were three sink basins and one sink was soapy water, one was the rinsing water and the third was a sanitizing rinse (I didn't know I remembered that - this is a good exercise in memory boosting - LOL). The water was extremely hot. Oh, and little by little I got to do food chores, like butter the toast, make milkshakes (while sneaking scoops of ice cream for myself) and some light prep work. Eventually I worked my way up to breakfast cook and did that for several years through high school. We had some real characters working there. I remember they always to shock me because I was the young and innocent one. They would come and tell me the dirtiest jokes, and being young an innocent, I blushed every time. I think that was the desired effect. It's funny now, but I used to hate them teasing me like that. We had this one waitress named Paula. She used to walk by me and say, "Drop your load on a giant toad." To this day, I don't know what she meant by that or why she said it to me, like, all the time, but I do remember she used to crack herself up each time. It was definitely an eye-opening, character-building experience and one that I would not trade for the world.

NEW IDEA

Due to a problem with lack of storage space in my house, I figured out a way to scrapbook, without having to keep up with so many albums. I make an 8-1/2"x 11" scrapbook page and then shrink it down on the computer to a 4"x6" photograph. I then put them into an album that holds 300 photographs and voila, easy storage. Plus, I put the original piece of art in a frame and, in this case, will give it to my mom (on the far left) as a gift. I was very proud of my faux postcard. I have this stamp set that allows you to create them, but this was my first stab at it. I stamped it on a piece of white cardstock that I treated with wet coffe grounds. I'm so proud, since I haven't done anything artistic like this in a long while.

WEDNESDAY STAMPER'S BOOKMARK CHALLENGE

It was so much fun making this bookmark for Wednesday Stamper's challenge. I decided to stray from the traditional flat, stuff-in-the-book, bookmark and make a clip that can clip one, or several pages at a time. I found these super large paper clips at WalMart and a friend of mine had made a similar one for a stamping project. In the middle I used a rubber stamp of a word bubble that I had in a set. The front and back are identical so it doesn't matter which way it's turned. Very fun project.

New Banner

Well, I've worked on it all morning, but I think I've finally crafted a banner I can live with. I'm in such a creative mood this weekend, I hope to complete most of my art proejcts, as well as dive back into my second book. I've written the first one and am seeking a publisher/agent, and now almost done with the second and working on characters for the third. I' LOVE to write as much as I LOVE to craft. Here's hoping this weekend finds you all bursting with creativity and time.

Jewelry Making Frenzy

As of late, I've been on a jewelry-making frenzy and having so much fun. I recently bought a wire jig which allows me to easily bend that really strong serling silver wire. In the picture above I utilized this jig to create the inner "twisty" part. I have some necklaces and other earrings that I will post pictures of soon.

Memory Mondays

Lemoncholy's Flight of Fancy is hosting Memory Mondays, dedicated to reliving our girlhood, womanhood and anything in between. Each week, at the end of the Monday post, there will be a new topic. I am excited to participate because I love to write and it's fun to remember a lot of firsts (well, if they were pleasant). If you're interested, check it out at: http://lemoncholys.blogspot.com/

New Banner in The Works

I am working on designing a new banner and I am putting it up a piece at a time, so if it looks odd, just rmember, it's not done yet.

The Easter Bunny's Chick's Easter Swap

I just signed up for The Easter Bunny Chick's Easter Swap. It sounds like fun and also a chance to meet new artists from the U.S., as well as other countries. If you're interested check out her site at http://mandco.typepad.com/easterbunnyschicks/

Old Box Frames

Recently I came upon a a bunch of old frames that were almost like shadow boxes. They are wooden and very deep set. I love creating shadow box art. I crafted the above box with some pictures I had of myself at archery practice, my mom and my son, who took the umbrella out in the rain in his robe one morning. This one was fun. This one was fun to make because it was the deepest of all and it leant me the opporutnity to add carpeting to the living room Christmas scene, as well as bedding to the upstairs scene with where my son lies sleeping.

These were great fun. I had some left over lace and this sweet green and white polka dot material left over from a dress I made. This is a picture of my niece Sarah when she was a baby and my son Brice when he was 4.

Hanging Up Spring Time Swap Items...Almost Done

Well, I've got all of my items ready for the Spring Time Swap. One of the directions said to use a heavy cardstock, but because I didn't happen to have any on hand, and because my funds were too low to go out and buy some, I used a piece of cardboard that I found on the back of a letter-sized notepad, and then I was able to peel off the amount of layers I wanted to created a heavy cardstock thickness.

For the hat I used linen paper and ribbon. For the gloves, a peel and stick fabric. The top of the gloves are adorned with ribbon and jewel-studded brads. The dress, bloomers, bird and butterfly are all constructed from paper scraps and ribbon.

This swap was a lot of fun. The deadline is March 14th so I got done a bit early. This gives me time to finish my Spring Fling Tutorial Challenge at http://artistreborne.typepad.com/ ,which is due on March 1st.

I'm still seeking more swaps so let me know if you know of any new ones.

Still Archiving

I finally did it. I have been creating this huge ancestry archive book for about a year now and just last night I managed to put in the final page, sans the final jouraling. I Love that I was able to put my mother (top right) on the same page with her sister because they are very close. Even though her sister is 7 years older, they shared, growing up, and still share that very special bond of sibling sisterhood.

By using only the best archival materials, I am hopeful that this 18"x 25" Ancestry Book will be handed down and added to through generations to come.

New Photo Note Cards

I have been making, for quite some time now, sets of 6 note cards with 6 envelopes, packaged in a plastic wrapper. I package them using 6 of the same photo or 6 of various photos from the same area. The photographs are from the local areas of Bisbee, Arizona, Tombstone, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Arizona, and Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Snce I have gone on a trip recently, I will be adding photographs taken in Florida, Washington, D.C., Chicago, New Orleans, as well as other southern and East Coast states.

Below are more note cards delpicting other locations:

New Poll

Happy Friday everyone, and for some, a pay day no less. I have a poll going at the bottom of the blog if anyone's interested. The last choice will show the rest of the words if you put your cursor over the percentage box and wait for the pop up. Have a great weekend!!!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! I hope everyone got a lot of love from that/those special someone(s). I didn't get any chocolates this year, but you know, my waist is probably going to be happy about that.

Swap Progress

Can you believe it? I not only got my toes wet in the pool, but I dove right in. It feels just great. I'm halfway done with my Spring Fling Swap, I got a great idea and just ran with it, and I've got all my sketching done for the Springtime clothes line swap. I'm having so much fun with these. I hope to find many more swaps out there. If you know of any going on now, please let me know. When I get better at this, maybe I will host one.

Progress on the Pix

I can't believe it, but I actually got all the pictures for the Florida Trip uploaded this morning. If you'd like to view them, just click on the link in the left hand column. If the link didn't load when the page came up, just click the refresh button in your browser and it'll come up. I EVEN had time to put captions on almost all of them. Some don't need captions - they dare to speak for themselves.

Trip to Florida

Wow, this weather is getting to us. One day it's 70 degrees and the next day it's 30 degrees. Brice and I are both suffering on a daily basis feeling like we're getting a cold one day and then better the next. ARRRRGGGHHH! Anyway, I am attempting to put all of the pictures of our trip to Florida in a slideshow. The link for this is on the left. There are so many pictures and I am at work so I didn't get a chance to put them all on yet, but if you like, check out what's there so far. Eventually I will be posting pictures of some of the things I am making, textilewise.

Keep checking back to see more pictures from our trip. Some of them are really great.

Swaps I'm Participating In

Dawn Rice at http://www.artistreborne.typad.com has a great idea for a "swap of sorts." It's the Spring Fling Tutorial Challenge. I'm already getting to work on this and now that I have a blog, I can meet the criteria. Yey me. If you haven't checked out her awesome art, you are definitely missing something!!!!



I'm also participating in the Hanging Up Springtime Swap over at gypsymermaidlife: http://gypsymermaidlife.blogspot.com/
I am diligently working on my six items and having a great time creating.

If anyone knows of any other swaps floating around out there, please send me a link. Like I said, I'm desperate to get back into creation.

Welcome!!!

Welcome to my new blog. Actually, it's my first and only blog, although I do maintain (upon occasion) another site for my photography. I love art. Whether it be photography, stamping, beading, tooling leather, writing books and poetry, whatever. If it's makeable, I'll probably try. Hopefully I will accomplish more of it in the near future. My goal is to get back in touch with my "inner artiste." Please forgive any and all spelling mistakes and formatting. This site-setup thing is never easy. I hope you'll post when you can and thanks for visiting.