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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Gardening + Jewelry = A Match Made in Heaven?

Since warm weather decided to make an early appearance this year, I've already managed to fall horribly behind on my gardening.  The amount of weeds in my yard is absurd.  But at least some of the pretty stuff is also growing.

Here's the blue flax:


The clematis is already a couple of feet high:


And the cherry tree in the back yard is in full bloom:


And so far all I've managed to do is clean out our pond and replace the filter on the pump.  Funny story about that, by the way: I assumed our fish were all dead.  Imagine my surprise when I dumped a bunch of  decaying leaves on the ground next to the pond and found a little orange and black goldfish flopping around!  I returned him to the pond.  No idea if any of his buddies survived, but I will have to pick up a few more, just in case.

Anyway, this year it looks like I'll be merging my love of gardening and my love of jewelry, starting with the cherry blossoms.  I've decided to start pressing the flowers that grow in my garden, and using them to make pendants.  I've used pre-made pendants with pressed flowers to make necklaces such as this one, and they always seem to attract a lot of attention (and sales!) at craft shows. 

I think it will add a special something to my pieces if I can say I grew the flowers myself, as opposed to simply buying the pendant as-is.  I'm definitely planning on using the cherry blossoms and the blue flax.  I might try the rozannes for big, chunky pendants.  I haven't figured out which annuals to buy for my gardens this year, but whether they will look good on a pendant may factor into my decision.  Anyway have any suggestions??

Also: I finally did inventory!  I don't know why I insist on waiting so long.  I've procrastinated so badly on doing inventory for all 3 tax seasons that I have had this business.  And all 3 times, it's taken me no more than a couple of hours.  I just dread it so much!  But now I can finally finish up the 2011 tax return and really start moving ahead with projects for this year!

5 comments:

  1. your cherry tree is so pretty! I want one in our yard so badly but those babies are expensive. I really like the idea of pressing the flowers and making pendents. I am sure they are gonna look lovely. PS congrats on getting inventory done finally :)

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  2. The cherry tree is gorgeous and that necklace is just beautiful. You really are so talented!!

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  3. Oh, our yard is OUT OF CONTROL. Spring seemed to come way too early this year! That's a really cool idea about pressing your own flowers for your jewelry! It will be fun to experiment, at the very least. ;)

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  4. Oooh, pressing flowers and incorporating them into jewelry sounds like a marvelous idea!
    Somewhat related, have you seen these: http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2012/04/alicia-my-children-think-youre-genius.html

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  5. That necklace is beautiful. Makes me wish I had a single creative bone in my body.

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