New Spring and Summer Designs From Jacaranda Designs Jewelry

I've been really busy the last little while adding new jewelry designs to my shop. Here is a small sampling of some of the recent additions you'll see if you visit Jacaranda Designs.

A Tasty Giveaway From The Bear Foot Shaman

For all you gardeners out there, you're going to love this next giveaway. Spring is just around the corner in this part of the world and if you're like me, you're starting to poke around the garden looking for signs of the warmer weather. Of course, with Spring comes the opportunity to start a vegetable garden and reap the delicious rewards of your hard work during the summer.

We've had a vegetable garden each year for about the past 16 years and each year I try a different type of tomato in addition to my favorites. If you don't have a large area of a garden to cultivate your vegetables, you can also grow tomato plants in pots. This year I think I shall purchase some heirloom seeds from The Bear Foot Shaman and give those a try - they look too good to pass up.

YOU have the wonderful opportunity to win some heirloom tomato seeds courtesy of The Bear Foot Shaman. The Bear Foot Shaman specializes in Aromatherapy, Herbal Medicine, and sells Heirloom Seeds.  They hope that everyone can enjoy the wonders and health a garden has to offer. They are kindly putting together a package of the following seeds:

Heirloom Organic Black Krim Tomato Seed Vegetable Garden Seeds

 

Heirloom Organic Yellow Pear Tomato Garden Seeds Vegetable Seed

 

PIF Super Sioux Tomato - Wonderful Organic Heirloom Seeds - Perfect Garden Tomato Seed

 

Organic Heirloom Gypsy Black Tomato Non-GMO Garden Vegetable Seed

The giveaway is easy to enter...

Please leave a comment describing which seeds from The Bear Foot Shaman you would include in your ideal vegetable garden.

You can enter once per day and you must include your first name and etsy username or email address with every entry. If you're worried about spam email, you can spell out the 'at' and 'dot' rather than using the standard email format.

Receive additional entries:
- if you follow or subscribe to my blog
- twitter about the giveaway and/or blog about the giveaway
- become a fan of Jacaranda Designs Facebook Page
- feature any of my items on your blog
- follow me on twitter

Just comment/leave a link letting me know!
Go ahead, have fun and spread the word please!
This giveaway is open to everyone, worldwide. Giveaway ends Wednesday April 6th at 5pm.

 

 

 

Dolce Dreams - A Collection of Delightful Gifts For The Women In Your Life

Recently, I purchased a beautiful embroidered lavender sachet from Nathalie, the owner of and creator behind the Etsy shop DolceDreams. Nathalie and I have corresponded via our blogs for a while now and when I saw her post the turquoise sachet with MOM embroidered on it, I knew I had to purchase one for my mother for Mother's Day.



Well, Nathlie certainly did not disappoint. A short while later, I received my order, wrapped and packaged lovingly in an organza bag.  However, an even nicer surprise was that Nathalie included an extra little gift just for me. A navy lavender sachet with a "J" embroidered on the front. I was so touched by this gesture. I placed it in my clothes drawer (but not before I photographed it so I could show you) and each time I open the drawer, the scent of lavender wafts out.  Thank you so much Nathalie!

So if you're looking for a Mother's Day gift, don't hesitate to take a look at Nathalie's shop. There's a huge assortment of little quilts, sachets, lavender eye pillows and more...I know you will be pleased to have found this little gem of a shop...I was and I've made a friend at the same time!

The Jane Behind Jacaranda Designs - Getting To Know Me Better...

My good friend, Lee Currie, writes daily (and sometimes more than once a day it seems!) on her BLOG Embrace Life. She has a wonderful way with words and an ability to describe things we take for granted everyday in such a enlightening, uplifting way.

Upon reading Embrace Life, you'll realize that Lee is also an extremely talented photographer and scrapbooker. I have learned more about the art of scrapbooking since meeting Lee than I have since I purchased my album 14 years ago!

Recently, Lee has started a weekly interview column. It's an interview style based on Proust Interview found in Vanity Fair magazine. It was a lot of fun answering the questions....try getting your friends to participate. You'd be surprised what interesting tidbits you may find out about them :)


Here is the link to Lee's interview with me.  If you'd like to learn a little more about me, read on.....

Etsy LOVE!

My weekly faves from Etsy. There's always such a wealth of creative talent on Etsy that it's hard to whittle my choices down to a mere few, but here goes....show them some love!


 

Supermoon

Last night we experienced the first supermoon since 1993. It's when the moon is closest to the earth and appears even brighter than usual.

After having dinner at my parents' house on the lake, we went outside to take a look at the moon. Sadly, I had forgotten my camera at home but I managed to capture this photo with my IPhone. It looks almost like an oil painting.

The Promise of a Glorious Spring

Beautiful Spring Irises

This week is somewhat chaotic as the boys are enjoying March Break. I also have my in-laws visiting for the week so time to work on my jewelry and my blog is somewhat limited.

I was having some fun on the weekend practicing some photography tips I was given. I had bought these lovely irises on "special" at my local grocery store last week. They didn't look like much when I first arranged them in the vase, but three days later they were looking spectacular. Such a splash of color in this otherwise rather gray winter weather.

Project Simplify - Cleaning Out The Closet

Last week I wrote a post about how I was going to take part in the Project Simplify challenge starting this past Monday.

The challenge for this week was to clean out our closets. Well, mine was long overdue for an overhaul. I put off the task until Tuesday afternoon and then got to work.

I was brutal. I got rid of dresses I hadn't worn in fifteen years and shoes that I hoped to wear again but I just don't. The strange thing is I'm no heavier than I was twenty years ago but after having two children, gravity has taken it's toll on my body and some clothes that I thought I looked really great wearing just don't compliment my figure anymore!

It felt really good the following morning to walk into my closet and see the order in there instead of the normal chaos.

And the local charity shop benefited from my efforts too. I managed to amass one very large black garbage bag of clothing and shoes!

Well, here's my before and after shots.

BEFORE....What a mess!

 

AFTER....hey, I can find things!

New Hair Accessories For Spring!

Recently I've added to my line of hair accessories at Jacaranda Designs. They are available in a myriad of colors and make a lovely Easter gift. Pop them in your hair for a spontaneous splash of color.

Etsy LOVE!

I always enjoy posting my Etsy faves for the week. I'm constantly signing onto Etsy (when I should be doing other things) as I enjoy looking at the creativity of other people. It's so inspiring. Enough of my rambling. Here are my picks for the week. Enjoy!

 

 

 

  

 

 

International Women's Day

I'm an avid collector of vintage cookery books and can literally spend hours paging through them. Just yesterday I was looking at my Mrs Beeton's Cookery and Household Management. I always have a little laugh when I do as some of the topics it covers are just so foreign to me.

 

Just to give you a sampling, here are some of the items listed in the Contents...

... The housewife and her home
... Domestic helpers and their duties (oh, I wish)
... The perfect hostess
... Etiquette - Meeting royalty - the London season

In one chapter, I quote " Although presentation at Court no longer constitutes part of a girl's debut, parents wishing to introduce their daughters to society still find a formal "coming out" somewhere between sixteen and twenty years old, the best means of effecting this. This can of course be a complicated and costly process, involving renting a London house or flat and engaging staff for the season...."

I love reading these excerpts as it reminds me how far women have come in many areas of the world.

There are so many talented, inspiring role models for women these days. A few of my personal favorites are Ellen DeGeneres, Michaelle Jean, Oprah Winfrey, Marina Nemat, Ayaan Hirsi Ali to name just a few. I could go on and on.

On this International Women's Day, which women have inspired and motivated you?

A Rainy Saturday - Games Day

 

Yesterday was a wet, miserable, rainy day in Southern Ontario and I felt so unmotivated to do anything. So we went to the games cupboard and pulled out some boardgames and had a great time playing. We have a four shelves of boardgames and yet the boys always choose the same ones. I think their favorite ever game is "SORRY". The strange thing is, I used to love it as a kid too. I picked this one up at a garage sale about 10 years ago and it's certainly been played a lot.

I know it's a game of chance, but I always lose. Yesterday, I was close to winning against the boys for the first time ever. Somehow though, they still beat me - BOTH of them!

Do you have a favorite family board game?