Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Busy Days

For the last several days we have been without phone and internet due to a bad cable.  As I tried hard not to stress out about all the wonderful conversations going on in my art froup that I was missing, I threw myself into busy work!  Last year we had an addition added to our home for my mother to move into.  The construction started last April and finished the day before Thanksgiving.  By that time I was a basket case! lol!  The new addition has given me something I didn't have here before and something that I was sorely lacking in my life.  I have always been a garden person.  I've built gardens at every home I've been at.  When we moved to a farm with more land than I had ever called my own before, I was paralyzed at how to garden.  I'm a small, intimate, garden room gal type and all this space was just too much for me to think about.  The last garden I built was in Massachusetts in a little city-sized lot.  I built a four room garden with nothing more than my sweat and hard work... but I was much younger then!  This time I am going to enlist men-with-machines help!  Below are the pre and post construction pictures of Pennwood Farm.
In this picture you see the original house.  The deck which extended off the back of the house on the right side of the picture has aready been removed.

In this photo this is all the new addition placed onto the back of the house (right side where deck used to be on photo above). 

I now have a wonderful new area for gardening!








And to that end, I, of course, need a new garden journal!  I ran across the cutest journal in the January/February issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine using a file folder.  It has pockets that hold little cards and/or books.  So I spent the day today making my new garden journal.










I started with a few booklets such as, "Plant List".  This will be a place for me to list all the plants I put in the garden so that I can go back later and know which variety I have. 





More pockets and booklets!










I've also been working on some ideas for a new garden gate book swap.
 These are poppies from a rubytuesday tutorial.  They are supposed to be made out of tyvek envelopes, but I was fresh out and the post office was closed so I tried it out using tissue paper.  I think they turned out pretty nice.









This next picture was made using some new fun things from my great wool swaper friends! I layered on circle stencils in different colors and sizes.  I then did packing tape transfers of the photo's of Xio and added those.  Then a little painted flowers and voila!







This picture is just a watercolor background on bristol board with flowers painted using acrylics and gel medium.  I love sunflowers!
So it was a busy several days.  I spread grass seed, fertilizer and 15 bales of straw, cleaned out the gutters, mucked out the hay bin and danced around with my paints and brushes!  It certainly was a productive time, but I sure missed my art froup!

5 comments:

  1. Anna-I can hardly wait to see what you do with your garden space! When we owned a house, I had so many different gardens-shade, sun, herb. I had elaborate charts and photos of where everything was planted. Now that we live in a condo, I just have to admire others gardens (my back just couldn't take all the weeding etc anymore). Sunflowers and poppies are some of my favorite flowers. I made one of those file folder books also-aren't they fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isn't that funny how much more productive we are when we have less access to our computers? But boy do we miss our computer life!! I love your new garden artwork and can't wait to see your Garden Gate pages. Also, I DID see that folder project in Cloth Paper Scissors too, and folded the page corner because I wanted to make one too! Yours is just beautiful - love the colors you used. Looking forward to seeing pics of your new garden as it develops!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have made the folders and I love them. I should make somemore!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Whew Anna, Finally found your blog! I'm in the Sketchbook Froup and read your posts and then cannot find you. I will update the blogroll on my personal blog today and get you on there. I too made the folder from CPS and thought it awkward and bulky. I do like the format though and think I will make some with cardstock or ? I left the one I made with my sister and she turned it into a brilliant birthday card for a friend. They do seem useful. I too garden and am delighted you get to dig in again. Lori W at Art Camp for Women.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Anna, I love your garden art work. I'm quite envious of your new garden and all your space! Living here in NYC, I have to make do with a small apartment and gave up my car and garden when I relocated here. I'll be living vicariously watching to see what you grow this year!!

    ReplyDelete