Preparing the Garden for planting

Now that it is spring it is time to plant the garden. Creating a bountiful garden starts by preparing the garden from the ground up! It took a bunch of  weeding and pulling out the last of the crops from the year before...

The rest of the carrots & 1 last beet from last years garden

 Then we had to take a shopping trip to get some good soil. Ideal soil drains well and is full of organic material to give nutrients to baby plants aka not our natural soil so we picked up several bags of organic gardening soil  to amend our natural soil in the back yard with. We choose to go with an organic soil to avoid pesticides. 

 

Luckily we had Xander with us to give us a hand with all those bags of soil!

 



Xander doing the heavy lifting of soil bags



 First step when getting home was to rototill the garden area and soften the compacted ground from last year. We tried to get ~6 inches deep with the rototiller. We then spread out the garden soil from the store overtop and tilled it in as well giving us a great base of natural & nutrient rich soil.

 

Prepping the soil... What happened with my Camera!!

 

After we finished preparing the soil a fence had to go up to keep the pup out, we put weed barrier down to help prevent weeds, and into the ground went our little plantlings. We even planted some marigolds because they are rumored to help prevent insects.. (but if the marigolds don't work they will still look pretty!)

The plants are in!



loving the end results

Happy Earth Day 2014

Happy Earth Day 2014... 

In honor of earth day please enjoy a 20% discount in my Etsy shop! 

Use coupon code EARTH2014

Hoppy Easter!!

This is Xander's first Easter with us & I am dog sitting my sis's dog Mocha right now so I decided to go a little crazy & have a doggie Easter for the pups!  Xander donned some bunny ears & we did an easter egg hunt for the pups and it didn't take them long to realize that the plastic eggs had pieces of yummy Stella & Chewy's inside ( if you haven't tried this food for your dog they will LOVE it. )  I wish I had my camera for it... however my hands were  busy cracking open the eggs for the dogs once they located an egg.

 

Xander the Great Pyrenees with his Easter Basket

The spoiled pups Easter baskets! The neighbor's dog Emi even got one too.

Easter Baskets for Xander, Mocha, & Emi  +  the eggs for the egg hunt in the grass.

My sister's dog Mocha the Great Bernese

Oxidizing Jewelry.... The Gentle Way

Oxidation, a blackened antiqued finish, looks absolutely beautiful on silver jewelry. The proper application of an oxidized finish can highlight the intricate details in your metal piece and create a lovely contrast with the stones in the piece. 

An example of an Oxidized Silver Piece

I really love an oxidized finish on the silver jewelry that I create... however, the most common ways to create this look involve the use of a toxic acid solution that will reduce the silver.  Examples of these products are Liver of Sulfur and Silver Black.  These chemicals can cause burns and  you should avoid breathing the fumes.


I prefer a simpler method that  uses a hard boiled egg to oxidize my jewelry creations. It eliminates the use of the harsh chemical and is a gentler alternative for both you and the environment.

1. Hard Boil your egg.. or eggs. I tend to use 1 or 2 eggs.
   
2. While still warm place eggs in in a baggie or Tupperware
3. No need to peel your eggs :) simply mash them
   
4. Quickly place your jewelry piece into the container and shut the lid
5. After 15 minutes or so rotate the piece in the container to oxidize all sides equally
6. Remove piece once it has achieved the desired level of oxidation
   
7. Rinse the piece off
   
   
   
   
   
8. With a steel brush  & burnishing solution shine the piece leaving the oxidation in the crevices to highlight the details... if you don't have these steel wool & dish soap will do the trick.
   
9. Enjoy the new finish on your piece!!

A vintage bridal shower tea

My brother in law is getting hitched soon and we just had a lovely bridal shower tea party for the beautiful blushing bride.  The bride and her Groom have planned a wedding filled with vintage touches, gold and blush accents, and lush lacey peonies. So when planning the shower we  just knew we had to incorporate these details into the shower décor.


peonies in a teapot created a beautiful  centerpiece

A vintage afternoon tea party theme was quickly settled on and peonies in a teapot made the perfect centerpiece. I was lucky enough (aka relieved!) to find beautiful pink  peonies at the local flower mart & with the addition of blush garden roses, lavender, and gypsohila a beautiful lacey floral feel was achieved.  I made sure to only pick out  earth friendly flowers labeled with rainforest alliance or fair trade emblem.

Guest were sent home with vintage tea cups as favors that the brides Aunt to be found. A lovely favor that is also eco-friendly!... To make the favors even more special the Bride to be received a cherished family heirloom teacup which had belonged to her Groom's late grandmother.

Nicole G. over at Sweets by Design ....( a soon to be cousin!!!)  created this beautiful masterpiece of a cake. With gold lace accents and sugar peonies the cake was almost to beautiful to eat.... but once we cut into the cake  it tasted just as divine as it looked. Yum!!!


A beautiful vintage inspired cake by Sweets by Design

For a gift I created this Mrs. Hanger with blush ribbon  perfectly matched in color to the wedding invite topped with an ivory peony. A perfect accessory for the Bride to hang her wedding dress on for all those photos on the big day..



Personalized Mrs. Hanger by Rock Affair Jewelry

In all it was a wonderful day and I really enjoyed getting to know the Bride better.... Cant wait the next 64 days to celebrate the wedding!

Happy Birthday Pup!

Our cute little puppy is turning 1 year and to celebrate we had to have some good friends over for a puppy paw-party.....

 

Yum! Birthday Cake

 

 

I saw the cutest cupcakes for a Pyr Pup over at I heart Cuppy Cakes  & my sis helped me create these adorable vegan Great Pyr cupcakes....

 

 

The dogs were having a blast with all of the yummy doggie treats...& Xander's cousin Mocha Bear the Great Bernese  had no problem helping gobble them down!

Xander & Mocha Bear share some doggie birthday cake!

 

 I can't believe my sweet little pup is a 100lb dog now! It was too fast.... I still remember his as a little pup.

Xander at  4 months right after we brought him home....
it didn't take him long to dig up all those flowers!!