In my own little world(s) today...

As you may know,

my birthday was this past Wednesday....

One of the gifts I received was a set of little ceramic houses from England -

a gift from my parents...

Mom and I found them in a little local antique store,

and the lady gave us a great deal on the whole set.

I'd been wanting to make a little miniature garden/landscape ever since finding some on Pinterest,

so Josh took me to a local nursery to pick out some tiny plants...

I found baby's breath, several different herbs (such as rosemary, creeping thyme, wooly thyme, etc.), and a few different little groundcover type things to use for my "tiny trees, shrubs, and grass."

I also did a little exploring in the woods and found some tiny saplings (I think it's privett?) to be little trees,

and some moss to fill in the "grassy" areas...

My brother, who used to be into bonsai, loaned me some of his old bonsai pots...



So yesterday I spent a delightful morning figuring out how to arrange everything, digging up plants,

potting everything up, creating tiny pathways with aquarium gravel, and generally getting my fingernails very, very dirty....

Boy howdy, it was fun.



And I couldn't resist sharing my little landscapes here with you today....

I figured I'd better photograph them right away,

because there's always the very real possibility that I might kill everything.

 But I'm really hoping they make it....

I think they're so terribly cute.

:o)

Not a bad birthday, huh?

I'm liking 31 so far....

Have a lovely weekend....wherever your path may lead...

A quick announcement...

Hi there...

First, we interrupt this announcement to bring you a quick follow-up to my last post and a request for your feedback...

My kind reader Mandy left a comment suggesting that some of the old Blogger templates that "stretch" across the entire width of the page don't always show up correctly in all browsers. She wondered if I had had any issues with this. In answer to that question - I personally haven't had any problems with it not showing up correctly on either my desktop or my laptop...and since Blogger has come out with a "compatibility mode" for handheld devices, it shows up correctly on my iphone as well. So, if any of you folks out there have trouble viewing my blog correctly on your particular monitor, please let me know! I appreciate your participation in this experiment... I don't want things to be all wonky when you visit!

And now, the announcement:

I just wanted to let you know that my Etsy shop will be closed over the weekend while I participate in a local art show. I will be re-opening for business sometime on Monday, August 1st, so you can come back and shop-til-you-drop then!

:o)

Yesterday I did a practice run of setting up my display in the driveway, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I spent about 6 hours out in the blazing sun and 100+ degree heat setting everything up like a madwoman, and then I immediately tore it down again.

I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm crazy...

Crazy like a fox.

It's so much easier to work out all the details and know exactly where everything's going to go BEFORE you stumble out of bed at 0'dark-thirty the morning of the show and have to go set it all up before your customers show up. Yep. Learned that the hard way.... But not this time! I may actually even get to SLEEP the night before this show! Whoo hoo!

Planning ahead....that's my game.

Here's a little peek into my tent - it was so crammed into the driveway that the only way I could photograph the whole thing with my iphone was through my kitchen window - hence the panes... How do you like my pennant banners? I just made those recently... They were super easy, and I think they're kind of festive.

I even had a surprise visitor who showed up ready to do some shopping...

But I said, "Sorry, bud, no early birds....uh...or early toads either."

So he hopped away, with an injured and slightly aloof look on his face. Toads can be kind of snooty like that.

He did mention that this one was his favorite before he left...

Anyway.

If you're the local type and are interested in coming to the show, shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you the details on when and where it is. I can't give it out to the mass public here, because, you know, there are crazy psycho killers out there, and I'm paranoid like that.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!



Shop Update...

Hi there...

Just wanted to let you know that I updated my shop yesterday.

There are several new necklaces - here are just a few of them....

...and a brand new item: 

magnets for your fridge or inspiration board!

So, pop on over to the shop and take a look - you'll find these and many more items -

 perfect for yourself or for a gift...

Have a lovely weekend!