Star's Fault

The Cat Ate My Homework ....... ?

I'm sorry for the long absence, but I have been traveling the Australian Outback with Hugh Jackman, astride my magnificant Tennessee Walker....you should know that I looked quite fetching despite the dust and heat.

... or maybe you might believe that I have been off traveling to the exotic far reaches of the globe and now return with vast crates filled to the brim with delicious treasures of antiquity to redecorate my home and populate my Etsy site? 

Perhaps I could tell you that I have been lazily lounging in the hammock under the pergola, a kitty in my lap, the last novel in the Twilight series partly read, a glass of perfectly chilled white wine, fresh fruit, a crusty rustic bread and fine cheese beside me?

...or maybe I have been seen wearing a long prairie dress, a floppy hat, garden gloves and canvas apron, a basket of fresh cut blossoms over my arm, a sunny glow and a peaceful smile on my face?

I wish. 

It's all the fault of my prior post.  While I was waxing eloquent about how I could juggle just about anything that came along, and (ftttttt.... to my DH) LOVE it, God decided I was just a bit too confident and sent some interesting circumstances my way. 

I did travel... 3 trips in three weeks.  I did garden.... planting the big pots on the front porch and repurposed an old fountain into a lovely planter (blog post to come on this one).  I did ride my horse, but not with Hugh Jackman [sigh]. I think I lounged once, for about 15 minutes, under the pergola.  There was wine involved, but I might have been sipping between house chores.  I did bring in a few vintage treasures and re-decorated my office area [no computer for almost two weeks]... but, it's sooooo pretty and I will post the before/after soon.

... but mostly, in between a suddenly hectic travel schedule, Star came down with food allergies and had to be rushed to the vet, Binx bit Bitty and her face swelled up and she had to go to the vet too.  My son got injured in a workplace accident and required the momma bear's help with the medical care and insurance adjuster (compression fractures of his spine), my job went from 100 mph to about Mach 1, and, well, about 10 other like, MAJOR things that came along and just DERAILED my tidy little schedule. 

My Beautiful Life goal for July is all about Restoration.  I need it.  A lot.

God is clearly in control. 

And I have so much to post about, and a pillow to finish and mail to dearest Tiffany [total guilt here] and lovely things to make for Star's Fault Etsy.  It's been a most beautiful summer, in the mid-70's each day and so sunny, and warm, it just does my heart good. 

Thank you all for your emails and kind words asking about me and where I was.  I'm right here, and my computer is hooked up again, Sam is in good care now, kitties are well, and my travel schedule is down to one last trip for a while. 

I missed blogging.

I missed you. 

Eileen

Etsy Garden Books ~

I finished several projects this weekend.  I can't figure out which one I like best. This one with a blue themed cover...

... or this one with an ivory themed cover.  Love the old millinery flowers, tatting scraps, vintage buttons and muslin ribbon closure. 

Each book holds three hand-tied signatures, 6 pages each, for a total of 18 creamy ivory sheets to store your all garden memories.

They are a modest size, approximately 6 x 8 inches tall.  Filled with scrappy goodness, old ephemera, hand-pressed paper, tags, my favorite labels, a bit of string.

Oh, and always, always, a silver clothespin. 

In this photo, and the photos below, the white garden book is on the left, while the blue garden book is on the right.  Both are nearly identical inside, with only a few tiny differences. 

Fly leaf page, with a prayer to "grow."  Old newsprint scrapbook paper behind.

The white book has this sepia label on the next page. 

Both have one half of an 1898 invoice from a wholesale grocery store.  You could buy seeds, nails, eggs or even yard goods in these old stores, and while I am not THAT old, I do remember old stores in rural Alaska that were still like this only a few years ago.   

Say it with me.... "Ooooooo..."  I like this page, shreds of an old garden book line the whitewashed pocket, a red edged label and garden image adorn the front, while 3 extra garden labels and tags are nested inside.  The left page of both are halves of a large garden catalog cover.  I love the honey tones offset by black graphics. 

A folded page from an old garden book offers tips for your summer garden. 

A big journal label and vintage wallpaper, leaving lots of room for your photos. 

Specimen labels offer a place for you to attach a pressed or dried flower or herb. 

More of that incredible tatted lace, and a picot edged layer of scrap paper, background for a pic of the kids playing in the sprinkler? Or perhaps a prize rose?  Magazine clippings of your favorite garden ideas?

A bit of Victorian Scrap and old seam binding.  Pretty colors. 

Birds and Blossoms bird tag, a bit of ribbon, handmade paper with a lovely old gold paisley print.

Vintage fabric, a very French label and a scrap of printed kraft paper. 

Love the old wallpaper.  I'm always thankful when I can find such nice patterns. 

A generous tag, a big bee stamp and a tiny cut out of a rose. 

Do you grow apples?  I do, and last year my baby apple tree made five whole apples!  The blue garden book includes a large journaling tag with pretty daisies. 

You an barely see it, but the white garden book includes another specimen tag with pink seam binding ribbon, while the blue book has one of my favorite sepia images, the back of an old cabinet photo. 

Real seeds in each. The white garden book includes Alaska's state flower, forget-me-nots, a stamped tag and rose, and a reward of merit label.  The blue garden book includes seeds to plant a variety of vintage leaf lettuce and another rose tag.

Pretty in back too, with a Victorian image on the white garden book, a vintage catalog cover print on the blue garden book.  Each book closes with vintage buttons and a generous length of muslin ribbon to tie together no matter how full you stuff its pages. 

So pretty.  On Star's Fault Etsy Wednesday morning. 

Blessings ~

Eileen

Dreaming in Sepia ~

There are herbs in my summer garden. Oh, not in neat tidy rows in the manner of the kitchen garden, but instead jumbled in masses flowing out of large planters strewn on front and back porches, deep containers in the pergola, a big pot on the tiny deck outside my bedroom. 

If it rains, or if a summer breeze comes up, or should I drag my hand over the foliage, the leaves give off such a scent, such a glorious nose-tickling smell, that I can not imagine ever limiting myself to just flowers in my garden, I must always have herbs nearby.  I love lemon thyme, and spearmint, and rosemary.  The kitties chew on the leaves, and dearest Star eats mint all summer long. 

We put Nasturtiums in our salads.  I love their peppery taste and bright orange color. 

In the summer sun I make mint tea from a bed of peppermint and spearmint beside the garden gate.  It steeps in a huge glass jug along with a few leaves of Earl Grey, its color and flavor developing over the day, just in time for an icy glass at dinner. Rustic cubes of raw sugar and slices of sharp lemon or sweet orange are added and the whole is poured over cracked ice. 

Just what could possibly be better than good ice tea on a hot summer day?

Sweet basil and oregano and marjoram flavor stews or sauces, or even gathered up in plain bouquets with a few pansy blossoms to scent the kitchen table, placed hurriedly in a jelly jar next to fresh muffins and poached eggs. 

As the summer fades the herbs grow more wildly, their scent deepens.  They are harvested and dried for winter's use.  Small muslin bags are filled and used as sachets around the house.  It must have been a very wise person who said that memories are triggered by scent more than any other sense.  (I must Google to find out more  even it is is, perhaps, medical fact?)

I plan to pick the best specimens for my Garden Book and mount them on these beautiful sepia colored tags.  Can you imagine how the scent will greet me each time I open the pages? 

I've made more to share.  Eight beautiful tags and labels, 7 in sepia tones, and one richly colored - "Reward of Merit", all printed on high quality ivory cover stock, a lacy edge on the tallest tag.  I've included a old button (each one is different and wonderful), and a scrap of vintage wallpaper in a lovely green pattern, plus a few yards of red and white butcher's thread to tie your specimens to your labels.

Eileen

Birds and Blossoms ~

Tomorrow is the first, new day for May and summer is almost upon us.  Summer is hectic here, with all the daylight.  It's go, go, go, but frankly, I want to slow down, be smaller, focus more.

So, today I walked the wooded trail next to my home more slowly this time, no sound coming from my quiet steps.  I wanted to take everything in, the smell of the new tree buds, the luminious morning light, the early rays of sun warming my back.  It was a long winter, and oh, how I missed this, this... life.

An old birch tree had fallen during an early spring storm, and so I borrowed a stip of its beautiful peeling bark, silver, ivory, rusty browns, delicate parchment layers that fell away from the trunk and into my hands. 

It was so quiet and I felt as though I was the only one about, when a bird flew up in front of me, startled at my presence, suddenly aware I was too near.  A few feathers were cast in her hurried flight, and drifted on to the path in front of me.  I knelt down to gather this weightless piece of fluff, pleased to see little white freckles at its tip, and while on bended knee, discovered something else... a tiny pink blossom.

... from the flowering tree nearby, the closer I walked, the sweeter the air, until its scent enveloped me, fragrant spring blossoms, and green things, wet dirt and warm sun all combined.

When I returned home, I realized that my treasures needed something special to frame them properly in my new Garden Journal, and so these little labels were born, to hold the findings from my walk.  I crafted 7 Birds and Blossoms tags, richly printed on beautiful ivory cover stock, made especially to use in my garden journal this year.  I added a diminuitive paper flower, as well as a generous square of paper bark birch, and a freckled feather from a little bird as embellishments. 

Make something pretty today!

Eileen

Little Radish ~

Well, I finally did it.  Opened an Etsy site and put a couple of things out there. Testing the waters, you know?  Hubby was TOTALLY surprised to see several lovely folks purchase items within a few hours. 

I confess... I was pretty surprised too!!

So I have more goodies to add to the site Saturday, including this Little Radish Garden Journal.  I love making Garden Journals, and the art nest is filled with beautiful garden themed papers and ephemera. 

Little Radish is the latest.  Three signatures with stitched and beaded binding, the little darling's creamy white pages are just waiting to be filled as your garden grows. 

There's old stuff, like this page from a friendship album, a note from Claire to her sweet friend Dapphie, written in 1879.  I just love the simple lines of prose, 130 years old.  Amazing.

Bits of old calico, and a vintage button adorn a page.  A trellised edging peeking out from the pages behind. Love those Martha Stewart edge punches.  Expensive, but I save my 40% off coupons just for this kind of stuff.

Aha, the trellised edge is a tiny signature nested within.  Recycled paper, an old ledger sheet, paper doily and a ivory tag, bound together with fat zig zag stitching. 

This is one of my favorite pages.  The little pocket is perfect for sprigs of dried herbs, and a bit of tulle and ribbon, along with a scalloped label, are tucked inside just waiting for a branch of fragrant mint or thyme. 

A packet of seeds on the back cover, just waiting to grow into crispy lettuce.  I don't have a veggie garden, but I grow lettuce and herbs in great pots around the house.  You've just got to keep them safe from the moose that roam around here!

Little Radish will be on Etsy tomorrow, along with several other Garden Journals. 

My own Garden Journal, posted about here, is pretty empty so far.  I've been saving for seeds and plant starts, and the snow is finally gone, but nothing is green yet.  No forsythia, no tree buds, no green grass... yet.  Gardeners here are firm about no planting anything until after Memorial Day.  

No worry, there's always plenty of raking and pruning and planning to keep me busy until then!

Eileen

Sweet Dreaming ~

Binx and I are in denial.  The volcano blew again Saturday.  The wind was not in our favor this time, and the whole town is covered in what looks like concrete.  We kept our heads down for the most part. 

Especially Binx.  She kept her head down with two paws over her face.  Sweet girl.  But we also cleaned the art nest, again.  Well, actually,this time we REALLY cleaned the art nest.  It was a two day project.

Then we took photos of our new Garden Book and remembered summer days. 

We love to plant herbs, and pansies, and roses. 

There is a lilac bush and a lovely honeysuckle bush in the front yard.  They smell so good.  A very old birch tree and a young split leaf weeping birch offer dappled shade for the front yard.  Their leaves whisper in the gentle breeze. 

Since my home is a Craftsman type, there is a wrap around front porch with stone pillars.  We plant herbs and ferns, and silvery grasses in big urns on either side of the front door.

Hubby's favorite each year are the four huge hanging baskets on the front porch.  He likes Ivy Geraniums in hot pink or carmine colors, with a dark blue trailing lobelia mixed in.

I love old fashioned roses. 

They are not the perfect, well-mannered hybrids... although these are beautiful too.  No, my roses are the wild, single layered, thorny kind. 

Dozens of blooms cover each bush all summer.  Humble blooms, but their perfume fills the air....

... and combines with the spicy scent of mint, lavender, thyme, marjoram, and rosemary. 

We've planted big ferns and hostas in the shady corners. Varigated, the hostas bring light into these areas.  Binx loves to hide under the leaves of the largest ferns, doing her best jungle kitty imitation.

I plant very few annuals.  Pansies mostly, but cosmos also, and a few nasturtiums.  Nasturtiums are an herb, did you know that?  A scented bloom tastes like pepper and we add them to salads all the time.  

There is a small fountain in the back yard.  I love this one with the windmill and watering tank turned into a pond.  Do you think I could convince Hubby to make one like this?

This book will house all my notes about the garden.  What was planted, what survived the harsh winter, what worked, what didn't. 

Some days I will sit under the pergola and write while the sun warms the grass.  Binx or Star will be sitting beside me.  Bitty will be waiting under the big tree hoping that the squirrel will finally get close enough for her to capture.  

Or perhaps we will be at the kitchen table.  Looking out on the yard while the nourishing summer rain pours down. 

Writing our dreams in little disjointed scribblings.  Words that matter only to me.  

If I close my eyes I can see it all. 

So today, since summer is still a few months away, I will attempt to bring the sun, and flowers, into the space with a quick trip to the florist for a bouquet or two of country blossoms....

...and I will dream. 

Eileen