To Gnome or not to Gnome

Landscaping... is not my forte.

Maintaining our landscaping drives me crazy.  Don't get me wrong, I feel a sense of pride just after we weed and re-mulch each summer, but I also feel quite embarrassed when it's neglected- which is most of the spring/early summer.  Maintaining the landscaping feels like another dreaded thing on the never ending "to do list". 

But it's not like we can ignore it; we see it every time we pull into our driveway.  It's not like the neighbors can't see it- Hello! We are in a townhouse community- we've got NEIGHBORS! (Worse, we really like our neighbors, so when we slack on the landscaping, we slack on our good neighbor duties- oh the pressure! LOL!)

I should have taken a before photo, but I was too ashamed of the way it looked.  Really, it was bad.  Here is my excuse for what is happening in our front area: The problem is, we inherited every main plant when we bought the house.  Making it look nice every summer is like trying to fix someone else's mistake, and it's difficult.

Before the gnome invasion

Everything was already planted, except for the butterfly bush.  The butterfly bush was my idea.  It replaced a very dead and unattractive pine tree.  I wanted to plant something that would hide all of the meters that are at the right of the door, so we needed height.  Sam warned me about the butterfly bush and he was right.  It gets huge and needs to be constantly trimmed, otherwise it ends up blocking our front door. And worse, when the flowers bloom, the bees love it.  We've learned to coexist.

Azaleas.  Not impressed with these, there are actually two side by side.  They bloom in the spring, have beautiful white and pink flowers, but only for a week.  Then, all we see all summer long is green. 

Elephant Eared Hostas  (I guess that's what they are called).  They are HUGE! and take over.  I thin them out every fall, but didn't this year, and I can tell.  They are kind of cool, but they have short lived white flowers which means that most of the summer they are a wall of green too.  Oh and by the end of August, most of the leaves look burnt from the sun (that's probably our fault for not keeping up with the watering, but once they declare a drought, we don't water.)

Clematis.  It used to be beautiful and full of flowers.  My neighbor, Jaime, has told me several times how much she loves my clematis so I never had the heart to get rid of it.  It used to flower all summer.  By the end of August we'd hack it down to the ground and it would re-grow and bloom again in October. You just can't justify getting rid of a plant that does that. Well, this year, it's only produced a few flowers here and there, and now it's mostly green.  If I can't get it to be "pretty in purple" flowers by August, it's a goner come fall! 

Today was the much needed weed and mulch day.  I was the weeder and Sam the mulcher.  I love black mulch- makes everything so graphic, just like the thick black lines of Pop Art- one of my favorite genres. 

The Gnome connection...



A few weeks ago we rented Gnomeo and Juliette.  I loved it, which was odd considering the main characters are garden gnomes.  (Spoiler Alert!) But who doesn't love a happy ending twist to Shakesphere?  As a teenager my mom had gnomes in our front lawn.  Yes lawn.  No landscaping in Yorkville, NY.  I don't think people there even know what mulch is- okay maybe they do now, but I am sure that they didn't in the 80's and 90's. LOL!

My dad would complain every time he mowed the lawn about having to move all of my mother's "ceramics".  Such a misconception now that I have a degree in Ceramic Arts.  Remember "ceramics" in the 80's.  When women would go paint bisqued forms in some one's basement, items like... turkey platters and Christmas trees and garden gnomes?  Ummm... that's NOT Ceramics!!!  I digress, back to my mom's gnomes in the lawn, they mortified me.  I recall allowing a boy to step on one to break it.

Little girl's dress is solar powered, glows blue once charged

Another sign that I am getting old...

I guess I have come full circle, the first sign was when I accepted a garden flag from my oldest sister Kelly.  At first I was like- "No way!" and then I found myself buying seasonal flags for it.  And now, I have garden gnomes?!  I actually just purchased the gnomes, intentionally!  Went to three stores for them, was really disappointed that the first two stores didn't have any.  I never would have thought that I'd have seasonal flags and garden gnomes.  Pigs must be flying!  Or, parenthood does really strange things to you.

How cute are they!  One for Jamsion and one for Logan

Well, my desire for little garden gnomes was inspired by the movie Gnomeo and Juliette, but also my desire to achieve some much needed color to our front area.  Driving home with my garden gnomes (and other garden ornaments as pictured- they are solar powered, can't wait to see them charged up) it dawned on me that I could also pick up some annuals to plant around... but after all of the work we did out there today, I am not in any hurry to dig. So for now, I am happy with a weed-free, black mulched garden inhabited by gnomes,  I hope my neighbors enjoy the view.

 Solar powered cat

Birds!!!

Enjoy your summer and all it blooms,
Tracey

Origami Crown

I remember doing a lot of arts and crafts at the kitchen table when I was a little kid.  I don't remember exactly who I did them with, probably my sister Heidi. 

We must have had some sort of guidance, for a moment I thought, who? And then it dawned on me, probably our elementary school teachers.   We're talking the late 70's early 80's; ya know, the "Good Old Days".  Education before all of the testing; when teachers were allowed to teach kids how to do practical things that we'd use for the rest of our life. 

So, a big Thank You to the teacher who taught me (or taught my sister- who taught me) how to make origami newspaper crowns, because all of these decades later, I have a need for this skill. 

Why paper crowns?

I am attending a retirement dinner for two teachers at my favorite PA elementary school. 
As I responded to the invitation, I inquired if there was anything creative that I could help with. 

I was asked to make crowns. Delighted, I began brainstorming. 

I thought about making the crowns out of wire or using a paper template (I wasn't crazy about either because they would be flat and flimsy), and then something triggered the catacombs of my brain. 

The 3D newspaper crown! 

So I Googled, and sure enough I came across this great step by step video. 

Me- following the video

As I watched the video a wave of memories came rushing back. I've made these before, as a kid, at the kitchen table out of newspaper! 

Jug Head

Remember the cartoon Archie? I think it is why we were making the crowns, because of the character Jug Head, who always wore a crown.  According to the Web, that cartoon ended in 1978, that means I was only 5 years old. Could I really have such a vivid memory from age 5; could I have been making paper crowns at age 5?  I must have been watching reruns, I must have been older.

Adult size
24"X24"

Well, what size paper does one need to use to make a paper crown that will fit on the head of an adult?  After 4 tries, I figured it out.   24"X24" will make a crown that fits an adult.

 Here are the failed attempts worn by Jamison, my fantastic crown model. LOL!  He's a good sport.

  

Too Small
(12"X12" scrap booking paper)

Perfect kid size
(18"X18" drawing paper)

Way too big
(42"X42")

My crown model  is finally sound asleep so now the fun of decorating begins.  The whole project is off to a great start, my glue gun is all heated up, I am fully charged up on two cups of coffee.... may the fun continue.

Here is a funny video of two little boys making these crowns, wish my sister and I had a video like this from our younger years!

Enjoy,

Tracey