Working at a garden center and I am surrounded by beautiful plants and creative people!  What a great place to be for Earth Day! 

One such creative person, my friend Marsha Potash has been making a fantastic Fairy Garden!  OMG very cute!!  It is located in the middle of the Greenhouse and has a flowing waterfall, trees, and fairy furnishings.  She also made these adorable dolls for her granddaughters out of felt.  They were so cute I needed to show them to you.

They are about 4" high and needle felted from local alpaca wool on Cape Cod.  I love them.... she better be careful I don't adopt them.... but that would be mean to the kids, huh?

DIY Heating Pad ~ Sew Easy

I have this old rotten heating pad that I have loved to death!  So I wanted to make my own, but didn't have all the info, especially the filler product.  I found some great tips from elm street life  http://www.elmstreetlife.com/ for making my own. I like to tweak it a bit and decided to make mine elongated to go up and down my back or to wrap around the back of my neck.

I started with some flax seed I got at the local health food store, very inexpensive.

Then I made my bag, very simple.... piece of scrap cloth, folded in two, sewn up the sides then made two more rows to create channels, leaving the top open.  I used a funnel to fill the tubes with the flax seed that I had scented with lavender, then sewed the opening shut.

 I found an old pair of PJ's that the elastic had failed in and used that to make a cover so it would look cute. 

Very easy and quick!

I was doing some research, very important stuff ya know.... and found that there are a lot of different things you can fill the bag with.  My last one was filled with rice and had a fantastic moist heat to it, but be careful when heating it in the microwave, only run it about 1-2 min and you might even want to splash a very small amount of water on it before turning on the oven.

Have a cup of tes and sit back with your new heating pad. :) Happy comfort time. ~nan

 

Funky Junk

 All those bits and pieces, nuts and screws.... just sitting around with nothing to do.  Add 2 young boys, a rainy day, no school and you have some very cute inventions.

This is our favorite:  my son's first.....

missing summer hopeful for spring

doing the winter thing.... cleaning out the computer looking for spring time projects.  found this and it made me feel hopeful for a new bounty of herbs this spring.  Half the fun is planning.

 

Crafting a garden

Summer on Cape Cod can be busy, crowded at times and good for business.  It can also be a place of relaxed country settings in this sea side community.

 Yesterday as I drove to my local General store I saw signs out front of  Meetinghouse Farm in West Barnstable, selling tomatoes and fresh veggies.  It conjured up feelings of a slower time.  A more local community feel, than running to a big box supermarkets.  I pulled in to see Judy Desrochers manning the table of beautifully displayed vegetables in her wide brimmed hat enjoying the day,

It was so nice to catch up with her and talk about how the farm is doing and the bounty is fabulous.  Now I know my blog is about crafting, and in my humble opinion gardening is a craft, an art you might say. Pictures speak louder than words, follow my link to Pinterest for Meetinghouse Farm ,....these are the art of the garden crafters at the farm. 

Old Stuff??

Just because I did it a few years ago, doesn't mean its not valid..... right?  Not art?  Not worth the effort of grabbing my camera and down loading the image onto my computer?  But I tend to do this.  "Oh Ive' done that".  "I figured that out", and so I move on.  I wonder why I can't stick with a particular medium.

sea turtle bag

Painting, clay sculpting, felting, sewing... just some of the few forms I have worked with.  I have dabbled in many.  I see people who work on their craft, hone it for years, perfecting it, making it better, making them selves better, learning what makes them tick when they immerse themselves with it.

I'm so all over the place.

But maybe that's what I am supposed to be. Maybe to find me, I need to explore it all.  Each thing I make brings me satisfaction,  well most things,.... there was that time when I tried knitting.... people don't have more than 1 neck right?... needless to say, I need to learn to BE.....  Me with all my crazy distractions, my inventive spirit, and my childlike eagerness to learn it all, to do it all. Immerse myself in all of it.

Spot light: Andrea Garrity Wood

 I met Andrea through my son's school and I discovered her talent from an extraordinary program unique to his Charter school called Enrichment Clusters. Andrea creates Mosaics and she was teaching this to the kids in our elementary school. I'm not talking tissue paper and cut out photos from magazines (although I have seen exceptional work with this medium too) no I'm talking about glass and ceramic mosaics with real cutting tools sharp edges, and let me tell you, the results are excellent!  Matter of fact it is the boys in the class that love this art form, all the smashing and cracking of the plates, what kid wouldn't love that!

Andrea picked up her love of this art form while living in Puerto Rico, in the 90's.  Inspired by all the huge installation she saw everywhere, she sought out a shop owner Tom Ross of Coqui International, now named Coqui Stores, who made these colorful displays. Tom taught her in one afternoon the basics and with this knowledge she ran with it.

Now Andrea does not call herself an artist and insist her daughter Delaney is the artist of the family, but as artist don't we all struggle with what we call ourselves?  Especially when our lives are so busy and we do so many things.  Art or craft or what you may call it Andrea has this in her soul. She loves how it is so interpretive... there is no right or wrong...  It can be made WITH what ever you want or ON what ever you want your canvas to be, she even has a stool she covered, but warns, think before you mud... supposedly its a little dangerous to sit on. ;o

She peruses the thrift stores to collect her material, looking at each bit of inspiration in a plate, be it the color, shape or design, and says it feels good to reuse something someone else doesn't want anymore. She is inspired by peoples interest or request. A lot of her Mosaics are brought on by situations, by someone asking her to make something specific or for someone specific.

Andrea says it can take from concept to completion about 20-30 hours to create a piece. This is her art, her "it makes me feel good to do this" outlet, and does not do this for a living. Well I for one hope she continues to do what makes her feel good.... it's contagious!

You can reach Andrea via email:  anddwood@comcast.net