Musings of a Designer on Jewelry, Crochet, Crochet Patterns, Knitting, Running a Crafty Business, Movie Costumes, Books, Art, Design, Steampunk & the Geek Girl Life

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

The Joy of July

It's July and there is so much to be joyful for! First, I entered a blog contest over at Waterrose and won one of her fabulous rings! I already was an admirer of her gorgeous hand embroidered cuffs, like this "Wildflower Romance Felt Cuff".Now I'm a ring fan too :) She even asked me what colors I wanted and then custom made this for me. Eeeee!! Just love it. I love her style of embroidery because it is so delicate, fanciful and organic with lots of swirls and nature imagery. And, for me at any rate, it seems to have a more antique feel while still being utterly modern.
And this is really a joy for our family ... because we did it from scratch and the results have been awesome! Do you remember the lattice I and my boys built?
We now officially have PEAS!!! They are way taller than the lattice now and just bursting out with peapods all over. We pick them every night to add to our dinners and I swear they grow more overnight. This urbanite is really feeling like a farmer now :) These were such a wonderfully easy and satisfying veggie to grow. And very interactive for the kids too. They LOVE to go out and harvest!

I also bought myself a treat :) and books are always a joy to this bibliophile. Have you heard of Snoop?
The premise is that you can fake a portrait of who you are (ex. interview, date, visitors, etc.), but gradual accumulation of clues in your living space seep through and that snooping through your stuff can yield a penetrating portrait of your true identity. By-products of our true behavior, like a wilting plant in the corner, are more telling than explicit signals we provide, like a portrait of Marx. I haven't read it yet since it's still in transit from Amazon, but here's some of the interesting points inside:

* inspirational posters are signs of emotional instability
* Bedrooms of liberals tend to have a larger variety of books, music and art supplies, while conservatives have more flags, alcohol bottles and sports paraphernalia
* Smart, creative people are not shown by the number of books they have, but the diversity and variety of reading material.

Interesting, no? Can't wait to learn to be a "stuff Sherlock". :)


And lastly ... the Sweet Treat Giveaway Winner is ~*~Patty !!

If you haven't had a chance to go look through all the fabulous sweet summer recipes from the giveaway yet, go look at the comments on this post. So many wonderful recipes! Thank you to every one who entered and shared a yummy recipe!

17 comments:

Sugar Bear said...

Fabulous ring. I've never heard of Snoop. It certainly sounds very interesting!
Karla

Sandra Evertson said...

Sweet ring! And I love your Purple Flower brooch below, just Gorgeous! I bet the teacher was thrilled!
Sandra Evertson

~*~Patty S said...

Congrats on your win of that pretty ring! I am SO excited to be the winner of your Sweet Treat Giveaway - that is just so cool! Thanks so very much!
What a treat your family is having with your fresh home grown peas. I Love the blossoms and tendrils on pea plants too!
Thanks again for making my day here at my Magpie's Nest, what a fun way to start July!

Anonymous said...

Hey! Nice ring and beautiful blog! Now I have to go out and get Snoop too!
xoxo
Dollybelle

Mary Timme said...

Oh, the Snoops book sounds like so much fun, and I love the ring and cuffs. What fun to be back in the blogasphere!

Monica said...

Hey! Thanks for stopping by my corner. The cuff and ring look great and I'm really interested in that book you have on order.
Monica

Waterrose said...

The ring looks lovely on your finger! Thanks for writing such nice things and using the photos. I also can't wait to hear more about the book you ordered. --I have no inspirational posters anywhere close...lol

bluemuf said...

Love the ring, and the cuffs she makes are also lovely. Let us know more about the book when you read it. It does sound interesting.

Karen

Tracy said...

Congrats on your garden - so satisfying, isn't it?

Mytutorlist.com said...

Oh, you are so lucky to have peas growing in your garden. My pea plants have gotten very big, but no flowers have yet appeared!

My mother got creative and cooked all the pea shoots... now I have to wait for new pea shoots to appear before I'll have peas to eat...

kari and kijsa said...

Sounds like one we would love to pick up too!!

Happy Independence Day!
kari & kijsa

Gracie said...

Wow that's a lovely ring. Congrats on winning that! (I'm also have a little giveaway on my blog now hehe)

That book sounds really interesting. Let us know how it all goes and whether it's worth getting =)

Well done on the lattice and growing peas. I want to have a little herb garden I think.

Anonymous said...

Cute ring!! I love your little garden....I so wish I could grow a garden...but no room and bad soil over here. We tried to grow a watermelon last year. It didn't get any bigger than a softball....it was pretty sad. Hope all is going well with you and you're having a fun summer so far!!

AscenderRisesAbove said...

Lovely work you have been doing here since I last visited.

I am going to find this book at borders this weekend - it looks fascinating; especially with all the photos that are on the internet

Anonymous said...

I remember the lattice!!! It's great to see an update on it and the peas look yummy!

The ring is so cute too!

..the book sounds amazing, I'm definitely going to check it out. I need to do a big book order on Amazon too (free delivery!)!

Anonymous said...

Cool ring and cuff. I was looking for a book to read. Sounds good I will put it on my list.
Lisa

Betty said...

Look at your beans! they look so healthy! I'm living on vegies lately. I should plant some beans too. That brooch down below is so pretty! And I love those cupcake magnets in your Etsy shop. I'm on a self imposed "no spending" budget until we go on vacation though.