brandeye shop update

i just listed some of the great things i found last week at a flea market and thrift store. i must say, some of this stuff is hard to part with. my genes are programed to be a pack rat and keep everything, especially things i love! and i love all of this.
(click on the titles to go to the items)
milk glass fruit bowl, indiana glass company

vintage oil painting of ocean

vintage milk glass fire king platter

vintage aluminum canister set

pa dutch style chicken pot pie

my grandma was an amazing cook. she made the best chicken pot pie, swiss steak, stuffed cabbage, thanksgiving dinner, etc... ever! and every so often i try to recreate some of her dishes and don't even come close. once i master it i'll post the recipe. in the mean time here is a recipe that i loosely followed.

the thing with pa dutch style pot pie is that it's not actually a pie. it is more of a stew with thick, homemade noodles. it's heaven on earth.

diy garden markers

our computer finally kicked the bucket, so i had to order a new one. but now i'm back in business and have a lot to tell you.

first up, diy garden markers. i'll give you fair warning that i'm not 100% sold on these. i have to see how they hold up. i baked them way longer than the clay package stated and they are still not completely hard. but it was fun, so i'll tell you about it.

materials:
-polymer clay
-letter stamps

directions:
1) kneed the clay according to the manufacturer's directions.

2) shape it into a marker type shape. mine all look a little different, but i like the haphazard shapes.
3) stamp on the appropriate tag, i.e. beets, basil, spinach, etc...

4) bake according to the package directions. and like i said, the kind i got said to bake 15 min. i baked them for about 45 and they were still not very solid.


5) plant in garden

the diy wedding flowers

i guess it isn't technically DIY, because it wasn't my wedding, but you get the point. flowers are super easy to do and doing them yourself will save you a bunch of $$. between what they spent for the table flowers and what was spent for the bouquets, it cost around $120. and that was for 12 bouquets, 6 boutineers and lots of table arrangements.

groomsladies flowers:

photo by jason smith

bridesmaid's flowers:


groomsmen flowers:

and the happy couple flowers: (the bouquet was made up of 5 mini bouquets, which was taken apart and given to all of the engaged wedding party girls.)

photo by jason smith


directions:

bouquet-

1) strip stems of flowers by taking off all the extra foilage
2) cut stems on an angle and place into water, they will last for a day or two if you store them in a cool place.
3) arrange a bouquet in your hand, starting with the largest flowers, and working your way around. move the flowers around in your hand until they look good. secure with a rubber band and cut the stems to the same length.

4) use floral tape and start wrapping the stems with it. the tape works by sticking to itself when pulled and stretched, so make sure it stretches a bit.

(if the wedding is not until the next day you can store them in water in the fridge.)
5) wrap the stems in ribbon to hide the floral tape. i used a glue gun to secure the ribbon ends, but it didn't seem to hold up great. you can also use a pin.

better late than never... seeds are planted!

sunday and monday we finally got some seeds in our raised boxes. we set it up according to the "square foot garden" plan and we fit an amazing amount of things in 32 sq ft!.

-3 kinds of lettuce
-swiss chard
-cucumbers
-spinach
-peas
-radishes
-carrots
-arugula
-brussel sprouts
-beets

and a couple of seeds are just starting to peek through already! here is the arugula.

orange polka dot quilt

i just listed an orange polka dot and floral quilt. the main fabric was an ikea curtain in a former life and the floral fabrics were vintage linens. you can check it outHERE.

the back is stitched with "brandeye 2009."

look familiar?

look... my favorite pillow is now residing in the home of stefania pomponi butler, citymama. and she blogged about it. thanks citymama!

and the lovely skeptis bought a milk glass pedestal bowl and used it for a prop for her jewelry that she sells on etsy


i loved the earrings so much, i bought them!

and remember, send me shots of your brandeye etsy purchases and i'll feature them.

thanks!

amsterdam and prague trip

we had such a great time in amsterdam and prague. we went with some friends and met even more friends in both cities. i took about a million pictures (actually around 700) so i'm going to have to edit big time. it just took me a couple hours just to put a bunch on flickr, so click HERE and take a peak.

in the meantime, a few to hold you over.

my favorite day of the whole trip was when we rented bikes and went to durgerdam. we would have gotten farther, but first we got lost and we had to be back in amsterdam semi-early.

can you tell i'm happy? i know, it's difficult.

this looked like a pirate boat, it was awesome!

and some sheep and ducks.


we want to retire here, but hopefully we can move there sooner than that!
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and some highlights of prague and czech republic.

sausage!! the best we had was at a bar in sedlec.

train ride to sedlec.

the ceiling in our bedroom in our rented apartment. the whole place was amazing!

and the sky always seemed to be surreal.