poppy stems

a  customer commissioned me to design a poppy ring-she meant with the stem! the fuzzy texture of the poppy stem did transfer over into the sterling silver and the lost wax casting came out beautifully! i finished one end with a ball of sterling wire and tipped the other with a single silver oak bud from my old tree (r.i.p.).

first strawberries

I picked -and subsequently ate- my first home grown strawberries of the season! yeah, I know: there are only four, but they were delicious! looking forward to more...

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charming

lost wax cast morning glories adorn this charming bracelet.

old red oak

wow: what a gorgeous day here in dc! part of today will be spent relocating several of my older plants who are planted near my lovely (yet scary!) 100-year old red oak. monday they are coming to cut her down:(.

here is a selection of jewelry i made from her beautiful buds.

crape myrtle

crape myrtle is a beautiful plant, coming in many different forms and a wide range of colors. the seed pod used to fabricate this ring was developed by the national arboretum here in washington, dc. i just added four new crape myrtle pieces into my etsy shop.

creative things

lovely brown and gold accessories are highlighted by canselda. she included the wisteria pendant from my high contrast line of three dimensional enameled shapes combined with oxidized sterling silver. conselda is from bursa, turkey and has a wonderful etsy shop of her handmade clothing and other creative things.

seedlings!

i started seeds a few weeks ago: some have emerged...some havent.

today's near 70° temps helped these varieties show signs of life:

'moon & stars' watermelons, 'sweet delight' honeydew melon,

'hearts of gold' cantaloupes, 'early crookneck' squash, and 'jack be little' pumpkins. 'purple haze', 'yellowstone' and 'chantenay' carrots are looking good!

unfortunately, the 'sunburst' squash and the jalapenos have not appeared:(

vegetable garden?

one of today's projects is starting seeds:

i am determined to have a viable vegetable garden in 2009!

modern leaf pendant

very cool...from herban elements

curb appeal!

fifteen bags of mulch later...the front yard is finally beginning to shape up! i decided i would mulch heavily as early as possible to help discourage some nasty bind weeds and bermuda grass from taking over like last year!