Art for Heart's Sake

Crikey, Ooops!!

Hi there everyone, oh brother I missed yesterday it seems!  Crikey, I've been so busy doing my gift tags that time just got away from me yesterday.  The great news is I have just finished embellishing 20 tags and am about to take photos and then add the ribbons to them.  I'll package them up and post them tomorrow which was my deadline for myself!  Yippeeee.  The fact that I still have around 110 to do is neither here nor there!

I gifted myself 1 hour's weeding in the kitchen garden yesterday afternoon.  This might sound a bit odd but I honestly find it SO SO SO hard to be inside all day.  I'm truly an outdoor spirit and I start getting cabin fever very quickly when I'm inside for too long.  Needs must re my gift tags though.  It's been great doing them at the dining table in the living room but I think I will only do the backgrounds inside for the rest of them.  I need my studio space to inspire me and also it's very much an inside/outside space because it is separate from the house.  First things first though I need to tidy it up!  I will need to get at least another 20 tags to Pete by the end of next week in time for Mother's Day.

It is going to be fine this weekend so I'm going to spend it in the garden and work on my gift tags in the evening.  Monday is meant to be wet again so I will go back into full production then!

Photos to follow really soon.  Smiles..

I Love Autumn!

Hi, oh boy how I love autumn.  As I'm typing this I can see glorious bright yellow leaves on one of our fig trees and it is like looking at leafy sunshine!  I must get out there with the camera for you before it all disappears.  It rained for most of the day yesterday - the wind stopped around lunchtime then came back a little bit later on.  I knew it wouldn't REALLY rain until the wind died down.

I spent most of yesterday working on about 40 more backgrounds for my tags.  This morning I had an epiphany... work on the 20 tags you want to get in the mail this Friday and leave the rest until this weekend!  Duh, Philippa, giggle!

Today I'm shooting out to get some cat food, wood shavings for the chook house, wheat for the ducks and to quickly check out two shops I've been wanting to see for ages.  Yes I ought to delay doing that and get home to my tags but it will do me good!  I'm not gardening for my neighbour this week, partly because the ground will be too wet now so it's a good idea to let the water soak right in.

I'd better whisk away and get my day started.  I hope you are all healthy and happy wherever you are and thank you SO much for reading my blog!  I promise to upload some more photos really soon when I have time to breathe!  Smiles..

Mild State of Panic!

Hi, it's Monday morning and I'm in a mild state of panic about my gift tags!  I know I will manage to make quite a few by the end of this week but it's just that feeling of pressure that's getting to me a bit.  I'm so silly, because I always work really well to deadlines so there's nothing to worry about!  Humphhhh Philippa, get a grip!! Giggle!

It was super windy here overnight and when I got up this morning a few things had blown around.  The chooks food dish had blown to the back of the area under their chook house so I'll need to get them a proper feed container I think.  

The wind has dropped quite a lot and now it is raining properly which makes me happy.  The kitchen garden will be lapping it up, especially as the temperature is warmish for this time of year.  Everything is growing pretty quickly which is wonderful.

I must get my head down and work on my gift tags.  Smiles..

 

Stormy Weather A-foot!

Hi on a rather blustery Sunday afternoon.  It's drizzling and the wind is a bit gusty now and then.  We have gale Northerlies predicted for tomorrow and heavy rain too!  Yikes!  

Yesterday pm my neighbour and I got the furniture moved in the living room (I may have mentioned that yesterday but I'm not sure) so I can work on my gift tags in the evening.  Last night I made myself get up off the couch and I gessoed (primed) about 45 of the 130 tags I need to make.  Today I've been separating them (they're in strips of 4) and I've also cut out some fabric to use for some of the backgrounds.  The next step is to organise some tissue too.  I am determined to get some of the backgrounds done tonight too.

I ''face timed'' with my sister and mother today, which meant I could see Mum and she could see me which was just lovely!  Technology can be an amazing thing at times.  I need to phone her in a few minutes to type out her weekly letter to everyone.

I'd better get back to my tags.  More tomorrow, if I haven't been blown away!!  Smiles..

An Earthquake, Ugh!!

Hi, it's Saturday afternoon and yesterday we had a rather nasty earthquake.  I was in the tunnel house watering my plants when I suddenly saw some of the foliage shimmering.  By the time I'd realised what was happening the ground was rocking and rolling under my feet.  I have to tell you it gave me an awful fright!  I'm petrified of earthquakes and have been known to hyperventilate if I get too much of a shock.  Luckily not this time!  There were a couple of aftershocks during the night too and needless to say I definitely didn't sleep well and when I got back to sleep I had a nightmare about fire, crikey!!  Fingers crossed we don't have any more for a while!!

At the moment I'm waiting for my neighbour to come over and help me move some furniture!  I am going to move the dining table (which is heavy) over in place of one of our three seater couches (also heavy) so I can sit at the table and work at night.  I was going to move my big easel over there but I got a call from Janet last night who told me Pete (florist in Christchurch) wants another large order of my gift tags.  He needs some for Mother's Day which is in three weeks so I need to get my head down and make at least 40 tags that I can get in the mail this coming Friday (crikey!).  I will then make about another 90 to send to him as soon as I can.  Oh my goodness I am SO excited!!  I intend to always have some ready as back up but I've been so busy propagating plants for Bay Landscapes that I haven't had a chance yet. 

This means somehow I need to balance my plant propagation for them and the major making of some gift tags.  Working in the evening is the only way I'll be able to get them done I fear!  I don't want to go out to my studio at night because it is a bit removed from the house and feels a little eerie in the dark.

This morning I harvested some Larch Bolettes to dehydrate.  We've never managed to do it up till now so now was the time.  Ermmm I had to peel the skin off (no easy task) because it is rubbery and then slice them and put them on the dehydrator trays.  I kept getting a whiff of an unusual smell... well when I started up the dryer oh my goodness, blech, heave..  the house was suddenly inundated with a very bizarre sort of mineral/metal/resinous smell.  Very cloying and nauseating.  Needless to say I held my breath and quickly too the dehydrator out to the garage.  I have both garage doors open in the hope I'll be able to approach without feeling ill, giggle.  I have a strong stomach but this fragrance is just awful!!  This could be the first and last time I will ever do them!

I'd better go and check them, wish me luck!!  Smiles..

Adult Ballet Class, EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

Hi on a rather chilly, gorgeous autumn morning.  I'm about to go off to my first adult ballet class ever and yes, I'm feeling nervous!  What am I thinking... my legs don't have good extension so it will be a flaming miracle if I can get either foot up on the barre!  Crikey how to make a twit of yourself in one easy move, giggle!  Oh well all I can do is try and keep my head up and my shoulder back whilst grimacing, ermmmm smiling!!!

Yesterday ended up being really, really busy.  It was just one thing after another and I finally got to sit down at around 5.30pm!  I took my plants down to Bay Landscapes and I have to admit I am so happy I've changed to the new punnets (containers) I'm using for my seedlings.  They look so much more healthy and happy.  

Well I must get ready to go.  Wish me luck!  Smiles..

Running Again.. eeek!

Hi, it's Thursday afternoon and I'm chasing my tail!  I'm running but it's not around the block!!  I have spent most of today getting labels etc ready for the plants I'm taking to Bay Landscapes this pm.  It is very time-consuming I have to say and a little frustrating because I desperately want to get some weeding done in the perennial bed.  I've spent all of this week either pricking out, sowing seeds or getting plants ready to take down to Bay.  I love doing it, I truly do but it seems to be a full-time job!!

I need to streamline my processes a bit more.  One thing I am doing is going to see a packaging company about getting some labels printed that I can use on the punnets and on my perennial pots which will save me a lot of time.  At the moment I handwrite long tag-like labels and they take forever.  With the stickers I can quickly write the name of the pant and the price.  I also have to stop being quite so verbose!!  I have colour picture labels for my plants which includes a really good description of flower colour, position etc so it's time I stopped putting all of the same detail on the tag labels, especially with vegetable punnets.

I'd better go and continue getting my plants ready!  Smiles..

Eeek Where did Tuesday Go??

Hi and oh my, oh my, Tuesday just came and went!  Giggle.  I woke up at 7am (late for me) and by the time I'd done animal tasks, had breakfast and run the dog it was after 9am and so I shot next door to do one hour's gardening.  When I got back I had a lovely conversation with a dear friend in Christchurch, then I got a mince dish ready to go into the oven for slow cooking.  I'm going to use it for shepherd's pie (yummy mince with potato on top) and I also have enough to do a potato top pie sometime (that mince will go into the freezer).  By the time that was ready it was almost midday and I had a Facetime session with Hong Kong!  Boy technology is amazing, how wonderful to be able to talk to someone for nothing wherever they are in the world as long as there is a wireless internet connection!

In the afternoon I pricked out more seedlings and then sowed 20 punnets of seed, vegetables mainly.  At 5.30pm I drove to Jellicoe Designs to model two outfits in their fashion show.  It was such fun and there was lots of laughter.  I got home around 8pm and fixed a quick pasta snack with some of the mince.  Luckily I had a beautiful salad with smoked salmon for lunch because I wasn't sure what time I'd be home.  It did feel weird eating a light meal at 8.40pm I can tell you!!

Today I woke up at 7.20am!! so everything is a bit behind but hey that's okay.  I need to prick out some flower seedlings sometime today.  It's raining a bit this morning so I might go into the studio and start tidying it up.  I have NO gift tags at the moment so I need to make some more which means making room on my desk!  I also need to get some punnets of plants ready to go to Bay Landscapes tomorrow!  Yikes I'm going to be busy!  Smiles..

A Wonderful Day!

Hi, it's Monday afternoon and I'm about to head out to the farm shed to do some major seedling pricking out!  I also realised I didn't sow any vegetable seeds last week, eeeeeeeeeeek!

Oh yesterday was SUCH  a wonderful day.  It started very early - we both woke up at 4.30am so I was opening my presents at about 5.15am!!!  Crikey!  John was busy thinking about the timetable for the day and I woke up because he did.  Needless to say we had a cooked breakfast with a glass of bubbly at 7.15am!!  We always start special days this way but not usually quite so early.  

We were on the road around 9am heading to wherever John was taking me which ended up being a boat trip into the Abel Tasman National Park where we had a lovely picnic lunch and then we spent 3 hours on a catamaran heading back to where we picked the first boat up.  It was just absolutely wonderful.  The weather was perfect.  There wasn't much wind but we did manage to sail part of the way which I loved.  It was bliss just hearing the sound of the breeze in the sails and the water on the hull with no engine noise.  What made it even more special is there were only 2 other people on the entire boat so it was almost as if it was just for us.  We got home around 5.15pm and then had a bit of a rush getting ready to go out for dinner.  Dinner was divine too!  

I really must get outside and get something done!  Here are a couple of photos.  The first one was taken by one of the two other passengers and the second one is me doing my ''titanic'' impression, giggle!  More photos soon.  Oooh that's my new goose down raspberry pink jacket!!  Smiles..

It's my Birthday!

Hi today is my 53rd birthday and I think John has plans afoot!  I know we are going out for dinner tonight but I have a feeling something else is happening during the day!  I will post later on, must fly and eat breakfast!  I adore birthdays!!  Smiles..