ETSY…ALL THINGS HOMEMADE

There is nothing more fun that stationary. The art of writing letters to stay in touch is a thing of the past, but nothing beats the holidays when your mailbox is stuffed and the creativity of each piece showcases the personality of the sender. Because I haven’t lived in the same place for very long, I have invested in a few various stationers and I just love the process and result. In times like these, value is the most important consideration when purchasing a luxury item like stationary. This year I used, Etsy, my new favorite resource for “All things Handmade” I was able to have multiple artists bid, quote, and demonstrate their unique designs. I ended up with a product for ½ the price of Kate’s Paparie or Papyrus. Here are the final products. 

To start the bidding process figure out what you are comfortable paying for your project and in my case I ordered, We’ve Moved Cards, Birthday Invitations and Return Address Labels. I figured a bulk order would give me more bargaining power and I am happy with the result. Check out Tucci’s shop at Etsy if you like her style.

Do you have a green thumb?

After reading, watching and asking others with green thumbs how they do it, I decided to take a leap into planting over Memorial Day weekend. Being that my soil hasn’t been tested and there isn’t anything that seems to like to grow on the property I figured I would start out with container gardening. If you are living in the north east then it is still spring and you have time to plant both perennials and annuals.

I made a few visits to Lowes, Walmart, Home Depot and garden centers, but left with nothing. I was always unsure of what would work and not be a waste of $$$. I was also concerned for  what I could care for and the quality of the plants. I had always heard that diseased plants come from chain stores and the only guarantee in buying plants was to buy them from a grower and have them plant them for you. 

All my plants camp from Home Depot & 99% of my plants have survived the past 2 weeks, 1.5 fatalities and that was because I didn’t read that it needed full sunlight which I don’t have and the tomato plants in the topsy turvy are TBD. In addition to sunlight, a watering schedule, pots/ planters and deer are the other concerns I needed to understand before buying anything. 

Here are some sources I consulted and here is what I ended up with…I’ll keep you posted on how they survive the summer.

Sources: 

Martha Stewart Show w/ Jerry Fritz of Linden Gardens Topic: Deer Resistant Gardens where Jerry coins the key to planting planters…always be symetrical and have a Thriller plant (Attention Grabber) a Filler (bulk) and a Spiller (flows over the sides), LOVE IT.

Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler

Earth Easy: Raised garden beds, for those of you with property a friend of mine is composting and everything with the raised beds…Very Obama!

Upsidedown Tomatoes: Topsy Turvy, As seen on T.V.

White Flower Farm - Highly Recommended

http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/- Highly Recommended

Fun Pots/ Planters