Fancy Pots

I saw this idea in a display at a local Anthropologie store and snapped a few photos for future crafting reference.

It took me nearly two years but I finally got around to pulling out the puffy paint. It was a quick 10 minute project and dirt cheap. I had the pots on hand and the puffy paint was a couple of bucks.

I didn't plan the design ahead of time and after going a bit overboard on the first planter, I held back a bit on the second one and I think it's more successful. A word to the wise: thinner puffy paint looks nicer and less like a 5 year old playing with puffy paint.

I had planned on filling the fancy pots with some sophisticated succulents, but two of my favorite flowers (daisies and ranunculas) were on sale at OSH so I had to go girly.

Cheese and Vegetables

And again with the pests. Something is eating my radishes.

Also spotted on the lettuce; tiny little bugs.

I'm feeling a bit frustrated with the vegetable garden right now and looking forward to nicer weather so I can spend more time and energy tending to the vegetables. At least the arugula is happy these days.

Last week I made some very excellent goat cheese. It was more like a soft ricotta than a chevre, supremely easy to make and most tasty (grainy photos due to the cheesmaking happening late night).

Baby Blanket

Spent a rainy weekend down in LA with my family. My ma and I threw a baby shower for one of my oldest friends (we've known each other since we were six and seven!). I knit a little blanket for the tiny girl that we'll soon get to meet.

I have a few small interior projects on my list that will get done this year. The elephants will become a pillow for the couch and trees will be used for a new footstool pillow cover. I bought both fabrics from Superbuzzy over 2 years ago. Sewing is not a talent of mine. I do it begrudgingly and often leave the projects half finished. I wish I was more gifted with the needle but I'm not patient enough.

the announcements that i made:

oak tree, redwood, california poppies from our yard. the 3 birds represent the redtail hawks that have nested in the eucalyptus tree. i printed these on brown cardstock on my gocco. though it was a bit of a hassle (i ran out of gocco ink and had to improvise with other ink and had to figure how to register the print), i'm pretty darn pleased with how they turned out!

the past 2 weekends have been a bit unusual in that C has been focused on one insane project up on our hill while i've spent my time inside working on a separate project. a nut-job friend of ours got the idea that we need a deck at the top of our hill, and that it needed to be done by august. C happily obliged and the two of them have spent the past two weekends digging 6 enormous holes (in dry clay dirt), hauling 24 80lb bags of concrete up the hill and then carrying concrete footers up after. progress as of last weekend:by now, they've constructed the footers of the deck and will start framing on friday. more photos to come.

while this chaos was unraveling, i quietly set out to collect all of the wild plums in our backyard and make jam. they're not very tasty eating plums but make yummy jam. they're yellow, just larger than a big cherry and require pitting...after 2 weekends of collecting and tinkering i've made 14 jars of sour plum jam, 20 jars of plum lavender jam, 8 jars of plum chutney, 2 jars of pickled plums (per this recipe) and 3 big jars of plums covered in vodka that will hopefully become something lovely in a few months. we still have at least 2 trees that remain covered in plums not to mention the neighbors trees that they're begging me to harvest. any other plum recipes i should try out?