Inspiration Ave Weekly Challenge

How does your garden grow? is this week's challenge over at Inspiration Ave .


Here's my contribution!

My garden grows with bits of heart

Mixed in among the seeds.

From the sweat and time my husband’s spent

Eliminating weeds.

The miracle of seeds breaking thru’

A soil ceiling hard as glass,

Is a never ending, amazing thing

To watch as time does pass.

Another Giveaway!!

If you drop in on this wonderful blog , AC is having a great giveaway. You have until June 12 to visit, leave a comment about your favorite or inspiring quote, and post about her giveaway on your blog. The posting on your blog part is not a requirement to enter, but most appreciated!!

The prize is a wonderful book put out by WWC- Book of Inspiration- a profile of 23 artists, of which Angela Cartwright is one.


I belong to a yahoo group, In This House and Garden, organized by Angela C., and Sarah Fishburn. I have been just watching from the sidelines for a while. But yesterday, I took the big plunge and joined a swap they just started, called Sketchy Cards. Each "player" picks a card from the deck, and makes a sketch, collage, zentangle, or ? , in black and white, 3  1/2" x 1  3/4". We each print up 54 of our design, mail them off, and in return, will get back 54 different ones. Each one is designed around a single playing card in a deck. We can then attach each design to its proper card, or take them all and create something else. So far, so fun!!!!

I chose the 8 of hearts. A little bird carrying 8 "zentangley" balloons is what came out of my head. Maybe I will even pick another card to do, if there are any more open after tomorrow -I have a tiny collage in mind........
             

Tea on Tuesday

Whoa!!! It's Tuesday, ALREADY???

I stopped over to visit Penny and realized, yes, today IS Tuesday and I'd better get my tea post up!!!
 Last night, I had lemon ginger tea, but today, I think it will be Buckingham Palace, in the lovely eggshell teacup I scored at a thrift shop silent auction for $3! Woohoo!!

 With that tea, I shall have the last of the mini angel food cakes with lemon glaze the daughter made yesterday!

It's another dreary day outside- we are definitely making up for the lack of rain!! The hay is about ready to go to seed - it will need to be cut soon - but lack of rain earlier in the season makes this first cut shorter than usual. I've seen a couple of neighbors who had already cut their hay, and then the rains came before they could get it tossed and baled. Sodden rows of cut grasses- not a pretty sight.........

Managed to get a ride in the past few days, in between raindrops. We may not be so lucky today!

Yesterday, the daughter went out first - and came back to report a buck ran out of the woods, freaking out her horse (the "old man") a bit. She continued on down the road, only to spot a 6 foot black snake, warming himself across the whole width of the old road! Fortunately, she was the only one who noticed him, and she and the "old man" managed to make a quick turn and avoid any mishap.
When I went down the road with the "big guy" a few minutes later, I stopped short of that spot, just in case, and took a different route. I went back later, on foot, to see if I could get a picture, but the snake was gone.
The only thing I saw while riding, was this cute little box turtle, back near the barn, who hung out for quite some time, surveying the goings on!!!

And, I am quite happy to report, for those who care, the toads are back!!!! Last year, I was missing seeing toads in and around my barn. They are the best fly catchers!!! Last night, while doing a barn check, there were several tiny toads, leaping out of harm's way, as we walked to the barn!!! I put a toad house under the sage in my herb garden, as a bribe to draw them in. Here's hoping for lots of toadies this year!!!

Please join us every Tuesday for tea - all are welcome!! Visit Kimmie and Patty for a list of the other participants!!!

**********************************************
Let us gather for a greeting
With our teacups filled with tea
And I'll tell you how important
Your friendship is to me.
....Alda Ellis, Hats Off To Tea

Swaps, and Happy Mail, and New Creations.......................

I was in a altered matchbox swap with Penny, and just received a lovely package in the mail- from WAY east of Va Beach, as my postmaster told me!!! LOL From way across the pond- these lovely creations came!!! I guess I should have filled my matchbox with something other than air- all of these came with a goodie or two inside!!

A paper swap from LaWendula's blog garnered me this wonderful batch of  colorful papers! My swap partner outdid herself- and sent along a card she made too!!!

The other happy mail came from Nathalie of Ruby Floy- she advertised a Castaway bottle in her online shop - and I just couldn't resist!!! It is wonder-FULL!!!! I think you should all order one, when she has them in stock!!! If my creative self was lost on a desert island- this would be the thing to have - after water, fruit,  and chocolate, of course!!!

Next is a lovely bracelet I ordered from Mary Ellen's Etsy shop-Art Kissed- it is beautiful - and she even sent an extra goodie along!!!!The sentiment on the bracelet fits me exactly!!!

The last set of photos- these are two of the recent recycled, upcycled items I've made. They can be found in Julieanna's shop in Broadway, Va.  Vintage teapots are now wind chimes with altered and stamped silverware, and crystal prism "water droplets". The smaller hammered teapot can be a planter- it has sphagnum moss in it right now - but I can just picture it with some pansies or overflowing with ivy or portulaca.(UPDATE- the hammered teapot just sold!!!!- the other is still available! More to come!) Also a little 2 tier pedestal made from vintage English ironstone. I hope to get some of these in my Etsy shop soon!

I know this is probably sensory overload - but I am behind on blogging and figured I might as well post it all at once!!! I know I am missing writing about something else I recently got in the mail - but when I figure out what it is, I'll just write another post!!!

Tea on Tuesday

If it is as dreary, rainy, and chilly in your neck of the woods, as it is here - today will be tea on Tuesday all day!!!! Can never get warm enough today!!!

As a local friend told me, this is sheep killin' month!!! That was, in the old days, when the sheep were shorn in May - (as they still are today, I'm sure), and the weather turned cold and rainy. The sheep would get cold, without their warm wooly coats, and sometimes some of them died.

I went out to check on the horses yesterday, and the "old man" was standing in the rain, wet and shivering.Why they don't come in the barn in bad weather, is beyond me!!! I made him some of his warm grain and beet pulp, and dug out his rain blanket. I was reminded that this is May - sheep killin' month! The old man was so happy to have warm food and get dried off, but his rain blanket has seen better days!!! I went out to check on the horses this morning - and he was wearing that rain blanket like a backward cape!!! So, called the daughter at work, and bought a new one for him. It's only money........

So, dreary as it is today, have another cuppa tea with me, and enjoy these cheery little bits of spring from my garden...........

Please join us anytime for Tea on Tuesday - see Kimmie's or Patty's blog for a list of participants!

Tea on Tuesday- T-rariums and Robin's Eggs

Today, I am drinking Nature's tea- mint from the garden, with a splash of lemon to clear the senses!

If you haven't read my previous post, here is nature's teapot! This little clear teapot is one of two I have, and has been largely ignored, because it is one of two!!! So, it has been reborn as a tiny T-rarium!!!

Beach rocks from the north shore of LI, with Virginia moss and lichen. A little misting every day or so will keep it fresh- much better than being hidden away in the closet!!!


While sipping my tea, I am enjoying the scent of my tiny sprig of miniature lilac. They are as fragrant as their full sized relatives and so petite!!! The robin's eggs were removed from the tractor engine. Very determined  birds will rebuild a nest overnight, despite our best efforts to convince them otherwise, and can cause thousands of dollars of damage to the tractor, if not removed!

Please join the other ladies for tea - links can be found at Kim's and Patty's.Please join us anytime!!

Happy Mother's Day

I spent a relaxing day walking the dogs, watching Mr. Green Jeans rototill the vegetable garden plot,  and went out searching for moss and plants for some dish gardens.
I made this upcycled punch glass planter of wild violets for my mother for Mother's Day. I added a heart stone from the river, and tied on a pottery heart from Ruby Floy.

I had some moss left over from mom's gift, so I decided  to make my own dish garden out of a pottery bowl, and  just kept going!!! I made 3 more, including one out of a clear tea pot, similar to one I saw on Moss Acres . The teapot is lined with white beach stones collected years ago, from a beach on the north shore of LI.

The pottery bowl has a tiny Red Rose Tea Wade turtle, with a vintage ceramic mushroom, and a crystal quartz from upstate NY.
The small round pottery garden is moss and lichen with a tiny green frog perched on the rock.

The little ceramic bird with nest was just crying to have some moss in the nest!! I have to find some tiny egg shaped rocks to add to it.

I also have a small fern from the woods- have to find the right container for that one, with some more moss.Tomorrow's project.........................

I needed a spray bottle for all these little gardens- so, here we have it - recycling at its best!!!LOL

I just love the smell of the moist moss- when I close my eyes and inhale, I imagine myself walking thru the woods.