Arrival of Spring

From the looks of dates here I have been very busy. I am late posting an Easter Greeting so I thought well why not add it now. So Happy Easter Greetings to all. I hope things went well for you and you had a wonderful day on Sunday. Many blessings!

We are arriving at Spring now. Beautiful bright yellow forsythia bushes have burst open and the lilac is leafing once again. All of the daffodils, also tulips and hiacynths, mostly the small plants like snowdrops have popped up out of the ground. Just this past Saturday we got enough snow that it coated everything. It has been coolish and rainy since but the next two days up here in southern NH we are looking for the 60's and that is going to make a lot of Springtime pop here!

I am feeling better healthwise......I had a rough Fall right through Winter. Feeling a lot better now! Thanks for all of the prayers! I am so grateful to have my windows open in my studio and I can hear the birds chirpping! The best sound in the world to me is that! Frogs croaking would be the second best!

SUPER COOL SUNDAY

Weather report for Southern NH where Glenna's Garden is located. The hurricane Earl brushed by us on Friday leaving us with much cooler temperatures today, Sunday. The wind has been up a bit and a good amount of rain preceded all of this on Friday. We really needed the rain. My grandbabies have been wonderful to care for the last two weekends. I forgot my camera yesterday for new pics of my grandsons.
Here is some more of my art not yet displayed in my studio shop located at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

Chinese Duckling ACEO

Hedgehog and Honeypot ACEO

Fall 2010 greeting card

Peanut Butter Banilla Popsicle



Smooth and creamy, this peanut butter treat is as cool as they come.


makes: 8 servings


Ingredients


1 cup Stonyfield Organic Low Fat Banilla Yogurt


1 cup Stonyfield Organic Fat Free Milk


1/4 cup creamy peanut butter


2 small bananas


3/4 cup seltzer water


Directions


In blender or food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into popsicle molds, dividing evenly between 6-8 popsicles (depending on the size of the mold). Place in freezer overnight and enjoy once completely frozen.


Here is the link to a treasury I curated titled Stay Cool

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c5d31bcc9386d916c172613/stay-cool?index=6

BIRDWINGS BUTTERFLIES WEDNESDAY

Wow these are big butterflies check this out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdwing

I found it while reading about how swallow tail butterflies have made such a fantastic come back in the Eastern US this year. Two hard winters 2009/2010 killed off their predators perhaps scientists are thinking. I have always loved butterflies since I was a young girl and have had butterfly gardens where all of the plants were specifically planted to attract butterflies.

Well let's watch the gardens grow it is cool 66 today and rainy again. We have been like this for a few days now. It frustrates me because all of my pictures for my shop are done using natural lighting. I haven't seen sun since Sunday. So sales jumped at the shop check it out I did using google analytics. See my sold items at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ some items are available in multiples all of my art is original though. Most of the jewelry is glass, stones or crystals and real silver. I have many choices for beads and a really cool ring idea I found recently. I have many new ACEO's to list in my shop I was looking through them today. I am always amazed at what I create then I have to choose ones to list in my shop. That is hard because I love them all and would love to list all of them for sale. I have a couple of new greeting cards I made recently and some vintage to list just as soon as the sun comes back. So meanwhile I have more time to create too. YAY!

I have spent my time wisely so far this week. I am all caught up on mail, feedback, and now working on organizing supplies. Setting up for Fall and all other supplies are stashed away, well except for Christmas what little I have of that and well now I know that I need to find some Chistmas materials soon.

In my studio main desk:

Yes we have purple and orange going on here early with pink flamingos.

Indoor Basil Garden 2010

Nothing beats fresh basil! Especially when it is growing this well indoors!


Excellent recipe courtesy mentioned:

Popcorn Shrimp Salad Sandwiches Recipe
From The Shrimp Council and SeaPak Shrimp Company

Woman's Day Magazine March 12, 2010

Active Time: 7 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

1 (12 oz) package SeaPak® Popcorn Shrimp or SeaPak® Jumbo Popcorn Shrimp, frozen

1 cup mayonnaise (add more if desired)

1/2 cup fresh onion, finely diced

1 - 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 large hard-boiled egg, diced

2 Tablespoons dill pickle relish (or substitute diced dill pickles)

2 - 3 hoagie rolls or panini bread

Recipe Preparation

1. Prepare the shrimp according to package directions. Set aside to cool for 3 minutes.

2. Add mayonnaise, onion, garlic, hard boiled egg and pickle relish to a large bowl. Stir to incorporate ingredients.

3. Add warm shrimp to mayonnaise mixture and stir until shrimp are fully coated. Spoon onto hoagie rolls and serve.

ENJOY! Courtesy of Glenna's Garden

Serve with light refreshments like iced tea or lemonade.

Glenna's Garden studio purple wall Ninja!

TASTY THURSDAY

If you have a shop, website and blog well now you can bring them all together in one place and also work on them from that one place too. Please check out http://www.soopsee.com/

I did all that was required of me with this site in less than 30 minutes. You externally import your shop, blog and/or website information. It does the work for you with the push of a few buttons.

One of many cards available for sale at Glenna's Garden http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

Try this one, I know it is early but this is a favorite year round.

PUMPKIN DIP

Ingredients

3/4 cup lowfat cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
apple slices
pear slices

Directioms

1. Place first 3 ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until blended.
2. Add maple syrup and cinnamon and blend until smooth.
3. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. Serve with slices of fresh apples and pears.

ENJOY!

We are still experiencing high day time temperatures and not much cooler at night 10PM and it is still 81 degrees outside. I love Fall and wish for it to arrive soon.

Here is another good one:

Shrimp and Avocado Pasta Salad


With crisp vegetables, creamy avocado and sweet shrimp, this cool pasta salad is a meal in itself.

Makes: 8 servings

Ingredients

1- 16oz package penne pasta

1 pound of cooked shrimp (16-20 count), peeled and deveined

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1 avocado, peeled and diced

1 cup Fat Free Plain Yogurt

Juice of 2 lemons

2 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick half moons

1 cup green beans, blanched and chilled

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Rinse pasta under cold water and drain. In a large bowl gently toss together pasta, shrimp, cheddar cheese, avocado, yogurt, lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve chilled.
 
ENJOY!
 

This is an example of my Garden Tangle bookmarks!

FINALLY FRIDAY

I captured a picture of the three pomegranate buds so that will be the pic of the day. I hope they all bloom at once. Rainy and cold again today in Manchester, NH. Good time to stay in and get some projects done here in the studio. The rain is taking all the leaves down at once so when they dry out some there will be much raking to do around Glenna's Garden. Lately I have been making some Spring things I will also put up a pic here of some very cute clippies I made for Spring 2010. Yes I am still doing Christmas supply gathering and ready for Thanksgiving. Check out the studio shop at www.gnormyle.etsy.com

SHINY DAYS ARE BACK

We had so much rain up here in Manchester, NH yesterday something like 3". It strips the trees of their beautiful leaves. It poured all day long. Good day for shopping. This morning it is bright and sunny but I am sure it is cold too. My pomegranate plant appears to have two itsy bitsy blooms popping out again where the others have all been. This should be pretty I hope they take so I can get some pics to share. I am looking forward to making different items for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the next couple of weeks. I have picked up some great stuff to work with including watercolors. Currently I am running a free offer for a PIF (pay it forward)surprise. Limit one per household. Check it out at www.gnormyle.etsy.com Glenna's Garden shop.

WET WEDNESDAY

It is early in the morning here at Glenna's Garden in Manchester, NH and pouring rain. Sweet sounding and soothing....my other computer crashed a few days ago. I finally got this laptop I have to run well. Yesterday I downloaded some pictures to this computer. I say this because I have lost a lot of pictures in the crash of the other computer. SAD about that! Now I am back up and running. I posted a new item in my shop so I will be sharing that as the picture of the day here. FALL is gorgeous here right now. My favorite trees nearby are slowly changing. I have been busy getting supplies to transition from Fall to winter. I am listing items for sale slowly to see what sells. It would be so great if I ever made it to the front page of ETSY, one day I tell myself. Well it looks like I am on track with all of the work I am putting into studying marketing on my own and with my knowledge of business especially small business I have now it definately helps. I now have a rubber stamp for Glenna's Garden. It is all part of certain things you need to have to be successful. Next I will working on a logo. G G with flowers around it and viney would be perfect. I have no experience with creating logos so I will search for that person on ETSY. The picture of the day is a fun ACEO I created depicting russian nesting dolls.

SOMETHING FOR SATURDAY

I love the Fall time....leaves are changing....it is cooler and crisp! Saturday morning waking up later than usual and you step on the kitchen floor tile and it bites back. Time for socks and slippers. The gardens are so colorful now with the smaller leaved plants being changed quickly by the cooler nights now. Whole trees have changed and they dot the landscape. A quick trip up North yesterday and you could see Fall everywhere in the foliage. My shop at www.gnormyle.etsy.com has taken on the Fall theme. The Black Eyed Susans are so bright right now.

TRULY THURSDAY

I was fascinated to discover that a huge group of shops all from ETSY only are listed at this mall on the internet....makes sense you go to one place and you can find many nice shops to visit. So the following link goes to my shop listing

http://snorple.com/showstore.php?id=277

I am amazed at the many different ways you can promote your shop. So if you read this and you have an ETSY shop join up. Also check out the AWE TEAM button and join the firstfridayartwalk on ETSY.

The picture is of a bracelet I made I call it cracked ice. I am thinking about putting some jewelry I make up for sale in my shop....the only thing it is such a hugely competitive field. It can't hurt to try a fun PIF or two though. Glenna's Garden www.gnormyle.etsy.com

WOW ITS WEDNESDAY

The first leaves are already turning I have noticed. We are due up here in NH for some cold temperatures the next couple of nights and that will really get things going. Today I received a huge lot of fabric. I am truly amazed at what I have to work with now. I have already made some fabric bookmarks and they will be listed in my shop soon. Today it is cool and going to rain definately. The sky's are dark now. So I will have to wait photograph them until things clear up. I sorted the fabric and gathered all the Fall colors togteher. I will put Spring and Summer away. Then I have silks in another bag. There is a bag of an assortment of gauzy bright fabrics. There is more larger various allotments of fabrics in a stack about two feet high. Meanwhile The Fall Collection 2009 is set to go now at Glenna's Garden check it out and enjoy your visit www.gnormyle.etsy.com

MUCH LOVED MONDAYS

I found this beautiful ACEO created by Rita from my ACetsy Team. I so love it I asked her to reserve it for me. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25413978

I have started posting my Fall 2009 designer collections and pieces to Glenna's Garden at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com and there is more to come. At the same time I have created some really cute ACEO's myself, a couple of which I will share with you on here. I love dimensional so I made a Back to School ACEO (pictured above) it is very much dimensional and my Christmas 2009 ACEO is also available for early purchase in my gallery shop. I am so touched this morning from a lovely letter written to me by a customer ~ at first I thought it was some joke then I read the letter again. It was genuine gratefullness for the happiness I was responsible for in a stranger's life. From a husband about his wife to me. As an artist/designer/photogrpaher it means so much to me to receive thanks for something I have created.

FINALLY ITS' FRIDAY

This is a vintage Fall necklace I own. Three acorns adorn it. I finished all of the Fall products I want to list for now. I just need some sunshine today to photograph them. Check it out at Glenna's Garden shop http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ So today I hear from beccasbeads.etsy.com , she is on my New Hampshire Team at ETSY, about this contest at makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com for the most beautiful bracelet you have to go there to the blogspot enter the contest it's easy and fun, fun, fun go check it out everyone.

WHAT YOU WISH FOR WEDNESDAY

In the middle of the summer don't you just wish for a break from the heat. This morning it is cool and 66. That is what we are now having up here at Glenna's Garden in Manchester, NH and then 20 degrees hotter by afternoon and thunderstorms. Is it Fall? Can't be I was hoping for an Indian Summer...endless summer say just 70's! I decided that today I would finish all Fall projects, including the canvas and then start posting them to my shop at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ I recently redid the shop product lineup so I am now ready to post more art and Fall projects. This takes preplanning. I also have to watermark some more of my art and photographs prior to posting. They get sent to my designer through email and she watermarks them for me and sends them back to me via email. I am going to have to order supplies for Christmas next month. I have some to get a start I posted a PIF known as a Pay It Forward fabric bookmark in hearts and holly leaves in my shop at www.gnormyle.etsy.com

SWEET SUNDAY

HOT 93 degrees up here in Manchester, NH at Glenna's Garden today. I have great news today. I was accepted into Red Creations Art Gallery http://www.redcreations.com.au/

This of course is very exciting news to an artist and I look forward to showing my work there. This is a photograph I shot of handmade rock sculptures on Peaks Island, ME, These rock sculptures have been set by many different hands. The rocks first of all come in the most wonderful shapes. They easily lend themselves to rock sculptures of all kinds. I have sat here at this very place at the edge of the island on the Atlantic Ocean side and created my own rock sculptures adding to what was already there, just like many before and after me have done.

TGIF It's Feeling Fresh

With summer winding down and Fall emerging soon this is the time of the year at Glenna's Garden when the birds start to get hungry. They eat many seeds especially sunflower seeds right off of the flower head, well the ones that the squirrels don't steal first. I too have started to create in Fall colors and themes. Birds are my favorite theme so you will soon start see them regurlarly for sale in my gallery shop at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ Owls being my favorite set the stage. I have set my featured items at Glenna's Garden to be in a Fall decor. Stop by my showcase art gallery at www.putiton.com/glennanormyle there you can see my Fall canvas in progress, art for sale and some that is not or sold......oh and my photography too.

Marvelous Monday

This week at Glenna's Garden I will be concentrating on Fall 2009. It is time for Fall products to be listed. I decided to make a few things for Fall early and I am glad I did. I am already working on Christmas too. Then I jump ahead and say for Spring 2010 I need to have materials by Fall 2009 and products will be made during Winter 2009. Meanwhile my art is a constant and it comes to me in bits and pieces. I don't always feel creative everyday but it flows nicely. My art isn't selling but I am not concerned. I like it and I know that not all of it will sell. It is important to really enjoy what you are creating first. I love to work with my pressed flowers. To me they are my paint, my colors. I brush them onto whatever surface I am applying them to. No fingers allowed. They are incredibly delicate and have to be brushed on gently. I am still working on the canvas project I blogged about recently and showed the picture of the beginnings of it on here already. When I work with fabrics like silk I don't just press the fabric on to the surface I am applying it to with my fingers. I brush it on very carefully it stretches and shrinks and has to be brushed on carefully. Slow and very tedious work, that I simply love to do. Check out my art at www.putiton.com/glennanormyle this is my showcase art gallery and I love this connection. The other artists who share this space with me are some of the most wonderful people from all over the world. My internet shop for the art gallery is at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ Glenna's Garden. My fellow Etsians are also from all over the world and a truly great group of people that I am so glad I found in March of 2009. Then there is my photography. I recently started adding that into the mix. I am in the process of having it watermarked professionally by an Etsian.

Mainly Monday

Where did you get that necklace?

Today it was mild out and only 68 not very sunny up here either at Glenna's Garden in Manchester, NH. I have started to make items for Father's Day for my shop. I made this beautiful duck card from a textured duck print with two tone blue papers and it comes with an envelope. This is nice I can post my items here before I post them for sale in my shop at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ if you like any of them and want it email me at gnormyle@yahoo.com in the next couple of days. All of my cards sell for $2.50 plus shipping which is minimal. Let me know me know ASAP before I start to post them in my shop so I can make a reservation for you. I use PayPal.

Mondays are nice I am usually ready to start to get busy again. I sent out 5 more orders today and one more so far for tomorrow. I know my customers are happy because I always get good ratings. About a month ago I was out and about downtown Manchester , NH and I found this beautiful triple acorn necklace. I am not sure if it is vinatge, I was told it is, but it is absolutely stunning. There are three darling topaz amber glass beads as acorns each topped with a gold textured cap and they are hanging on a beautiful fairly heavy gold chain. In very good condition too. I have not put this necklace up for sale yet in my shop because I am thinking about wether or not I want to keep it until Fall for myself. It is so nice! If you are reading this and want make me an offer either visit my shop at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/ or get in touch with me at gnormyle@yahoo.com I have decided that I am going to take it easy tonight and work on some more Father's Day cards or make some more PIF's (pay it forward) mine are always free. Sweet Blessings from Glenna at Glenna's Garden ~*~