Some Serious Seed Bombing!

OH me, oh my, I had a ridiculously great time the other night!! To celebrate Earth Day I taught a "seed bomb making" workshop at Craft Social. If you know what this is, you can fully appreciate how much of a blast it was. If you don't, let me make your world a tad happier...

Do you ever feel a bit rebellious but you're not in the mood to get in any real trouble? Do you notice all the bare, ugly spots around town and want to make them prettier? Try "guerilla gardening" with seed bombs! All you need to do is follow the recipe below to make balls filled with seeds and all the good stuff that they need to start growing. Then you throw them wherever a little bit of happiness is needed and wildflowers will grow. You know, like empty lots, the side of the highway or maybe your backyard.

Just before midnight we drove all around town "bombing" away through the car windows, the sun roof and over fences (no private property was harmed I promise). It was wild, crazy and hilarious - I felt like I was in high school all over again! I can't wait to see what sprouts in approx 45 days and we're definitely having a seed bomb party in the very near future. Try it, I promise you'll like it!

SEED BOMB RECIPE:
This recipe is written in "parts" - determine what you "part" measures and mix away (mine was 1/4 cup)
• 2 parts all natural clumping kitty litter (Arm & Hammer Natural made with corn)
• 2 parts water
• 1 part compost and clay mix (I dug some clay out of the yard)
• 1/2 part wildflower seed
Mix together until moldable. Form into balls, about shooter marble size. Let dry for at least an hour. Happy guerilla gardening!!
-HAPPY TIMES, GREAT FRIENDS-

April So Far...

April has been BUSY! Lots of new things happening, some I can share now and others are percolating. I'll begin with the biggie... for those of you that don't know yet, as of July 1st I'll be looking for a new job. It's been a year and a half of crazy hard work with The Mission Chattanooga and now it's time to move on. Unfortunately it's 100% a case of funding, not lack of passion or results. Though I'm really sad that I won't be a staff member anymore, I'm very happy with what's been achieved in such a short time and feel privileged to have been a part of it. Lots of amazing design work was done and many lives were/and continue to be changed (including mine!). I'll still be involved as much as possible and Craft Social Workshop will hopefully continue to grow. But, now I'm on the hunt for the next step. I know it's not the ideal time to look for a job, but I also know that there must be a solution. Design work, etsy, ALL ideas welcome!

On a lighter note, I went to an amazing garden center the other day! Seriously, they had some insanely funky plants - see pic of "Carnivorous Monkey Bamboo Jug Plant" and "Red Hot Cats-tail". They also had those super comfy retro gliders. My porch is begging for one. Ok, maybe I'm just begging for one?! Thankfully I was distracted by the most amazing fairy gardens. Ugh, I've been wanting to make one forever!

Anyway, that's April so far... I'm exhausted, time to go to bed!
-HOPING FOR HAPPY SOLUTIONS-

Color in Motion!

Have I mentioned that I love Chattanooga lately? If not, I love Chattanooga! It's truly a great little city, with tons of fun things happening all the time. Most are cheap or free, yay! Meaning they work really well with my current "we're going to have a blast for pennies" theme.

So MG and I went to a totally free kids class last Saturday at the Hunter Museum of American Art - she had a blast. It was called "Art in Motion" and they held it right in the middle of the museum. Pretty brave on their part if you ask me! The curator discussed "Phenomena Royal Violet Visitation" by Paul Jenkins with the kids and then an amazing creative movement teacher helped them make up a dance about the painting. I loved how they let the kids figure it out for themselves instead of giving them the "proper" answers. So cool! And of course I was excited that the artwork was super big and colorful... talk about a simple explanation of a great piece!!
-HAPPY MOVING ART-

Spring Sewing!

Ahhh Spring is in full swing and I LOVE 80 degree weather! Plus all the other springish bonuses - lime green trees, fuschia flowers, sitting on the porch and digging in dirt. You know, all the good stuff! Last night I even made pasta with a sage brown butter using goodies from my garden. And everyone ate it, success!

Anyway, I always try to stick to knitting when it's chilly cause it seems like torture to think of wearing a sundress while you're freezing. But at the first sign of flip-flop weather summer sewing is a go. So yesterday I sewed a ton of burlap bags for the Craft Social "seed bomb" workshop next week. Briar had fun playing with all the "itchy bits" - aka. scrap burlap. And I didn't have fun cleaning them up later!

But the most fun I've had in a while was something that's been on my craft "to do" list forever... last night I finally upcycled a thrift store skirt and tshirt into a sundress (70% off = $1.30 total). It was a bit of trial and error, but a super easy way to make a cheap, cute dress. I cut off the bottom of the skirt to create the sash, re-hemmed the skirt, attached it to the shirt, then sewed & attached the sash using a seam in the front and the skirt loops in the back. The skirt even has pockets as a bonus, yay! Really very easy, you can do it! Next time I think it'll be an even quicker process... Thanks Toya for the company and tech support! Summer here we come!!
-HAPPY SPRING SUN-

Shopping in PJ's!

Oo, oo, oo NO MORE STORAGE UNIT!! I feel 10 pounds lighter and $96 a month richer! I'm telling you, those places are wonderful when needed and miserable when you're trying to break-up with them. M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. So now that we've finally gone our separate ways, I've been digging through old boxes and happily finding all kinds of goodies. The best part is that it feels like decorating for free. Or maybe great thrift store shopping in my pajama pants - we all can dream! Anyway, thought I'd share a tiny snapshot of what I found. As well as an insanely cool turquoise sewing machine that I desperately tried to justify buying today. It really would have been great friends with my red machine...

-HAPPY COLORFUL BUNGALOW-