Black Friday

What a nice day today. Cold outside but warm inside. We made it to 42. I have been relaxing all day. No wories no stress. Shopping for ideas online. There are literally millions of items for sale at Etsy.com My shop is closed I probably won't open until Spring and after I find out why my thumb is hurting. I received my Christmas tree today. So pretty! Beautiful table top fiber optic tree that is~for my desk top! It changes colors and flashes. Something different. Fun to watch. Tomorrow is typically a shopping day for me but I am staying home. I have been cleaning and organizing. Catching up on all those chores I missed while caring for my sick grandson for two days. I watched Larry King and Jack Hannah. What a fantastic show with all the diferent animals, bugs, snakes. birds and reptiles. My favorite were the two owls. I am an owl lover from when I was very young. The day before yesterday I saw a large bird of prey perched in the woods looked like a hawk. So beautiful such a nice sight to see. Of course we were whizzing by and I didn't have my camera with me. When was the last time you saw a wild bird of prey?

STILL LOOKING

I have been searching for a new home because I don't like where I am living currently with hard crime prostitutes inner city not safe....sad but true.... a lovely city otherwise living elsewhere in this NH city. I have been here for a little over 4 years now. It really hasn't changed much inside the city in the core central area. It seems overcrowded and the houses are on top of each other. It is a city I have to come to love for it diverse cultures, arts, many parks, lots of beautiful preservation of very old structures. It was once a mill town. We are on a river. Eastside of the river is preferable! and to the North. There seems to be a lot of rentals available so we can pick and choose. I looked at two on Sunday and the basements flood when it rains so the washer and dryers are up on wood pallets. How do you do your laundry if that happens? Wading around in rubber boots! I would be afraid to mess with electric appliances, no thank you. So anyway I have a couple more prospects that are dry yay! Each place has its own quirks. These are large victorian homes and buildings many of them multifamily. I wouldn't mind a 3 family preferably a single family but they are rare and expensive. In a 3 family home you have the whole floor to yourself and some are quite large. I would love to be on the first floor I am older and have physical problems.

I would love something like this for a vacation home wow!




Don't dwell on who let you down, cherish those who hold you up!

 This months calendar picture in my studio, do you like it? I will be blogging some during my move. I am sure that I will get many new great pictures of wherever I move to so that I can share them with you. I will also be popping in on the FFAW AWEteam forum now and then to update everyone!

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!

SALAD FOR SATURDAY

I love Three Bean Salad and I found this recipe recently. I have not tried it but it sounds delicious and looks so easy to prepare.

Three Bean Salad
Makes: 8 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
1 pound of fresh-shelled edamame
1-16oz can garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)
10 radishes cleaned and sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups Low Fat Plain Yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons of wasabi powder or paste (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
5 scallions finely diced

Directions
In a small bowl combine grated ginger and cider vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes so ginger can infuse vinegar.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, add green beans. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the edamame, when water starts to come to boil again. Cook for 4 minutes. Drain beans and run under cold water until they are cooled. In a large bowl toss together, green beans, edamame, garbanzos, and radishes. In a separate, medium sized mixing bowl, add ginger and vinegar, garlic, yogurt, olive oil, soy sauce, wasabi, and salt. Whisk until well blended. Pour yogurt mixture into bean mixture and toss. Place salad into a serving bowl and garnish with scallions. ENJOY!

Inside a pink Dogwood flower from Glenna's Garden

Carrot Salad
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive or canola oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt
10 medium carrots, shredded
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Directions
In a small bowl, combine oil, lemon juice, honey, salt, and yogurt. Whisk until well blended. In medium size mixing bowl, toss carrots, cranberries, red onion, and almonds. Pour yogurt mixture over carrots and toss. Place salad into a serving bowl and serve. ENJOY!

Wet Wednesday

ART IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

It started raining last night here in NH and it hasn't let up it is still dripping. The plants are loving it of course. It is quite cool though and only 54. I love the sound of the rain dripping outside of my open window in the studio. I like it better than any music. Do you live somewhere where there are a lot of murals painted on garage doors in alleys and on the sides of many big buildings? One of my current photography projects is to take pictures of the many murals around my city where I live. We have graffiti too like any big city but this is art to encourage others to see beauty in their surroundings and to create some of the most beautiful murals they want to, instead of the graffiti that plagues our city. My latest art challenge is to create a cityscape: day or night, my choice. I am also working on a mountain scape. Small scale though not big like these fantastic murals. I hope you are inspired to create by your surroundings wether you live in a big city or way out in the wilderness, by the ocean or far away in some other foreign land. This article was not written to offend any true graffiti artists. I have seen some very nice random murals created by graffiti artists. I am talking about the kind of amatuer graffiti random vandalism to our beloved homes....that we work so hard to own. The kind of graffiti that is sprayed on the sides of businesses that the owners work so hard to run.

Lattice Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Recipe


INGREDIENTS

Pastry

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp each cold butter, cut in small pieces, and trans-fat-free shortening
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 to 4 Tbsp cold water

Filling

1 1/4 lb rhubarb, trimmed and cut into
1/2-in. slices
1 container (16 oz) strawberries, hulled and halved
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp butter, cut in small pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

PREPARATION

1. Pastry: In food processor, pulse flour, salt, butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With motor running, add lemon juice, then water, 1 Tbsp at a time, just until dough separates from sides of bowl.

2. Gather dough into a ball and divide in half. Press each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll out.

3. Place a sheet of foil on a rimmed baking pan on bottom rack to catch any juices. Heat oven to 425ºF. Coat a 9-in. pie plate with nonstick spray.

4. Roll out 1 dough disk on lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of wax paper to a 12-in. circle. Fit dough into pie plate, pressing gently onto bottom and up sides. Roll out remaining disk as above into an 11-in. circle; cut into 1-in.-wide strips.

5. Filling: Toss rhubarb and strawberries with vanilla in large bowl. Mix sugar, cornstarch and ginger in a small bowl until blended; toss with berry mixture to evenly coat. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate; dot with butter.

6. Arrange 5 dough strips across pie. Arrange remaining 5 strips at right angles, weaving. Press ends into edge, fold under and crimp. Brush strips with water; sprinkle with sugar.

7. Place pie on center oven rack; bake 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF, rotate pie 180 degrees and bake 50 minutes more (loosely shield pie with foil if crust gets too brown) until crust is golden and filling bubbles. Cool on wire rack. Serve at room temperature. Makes 8 servings. ENJOY!

When I was a little girl this was very similar to one of the pies my Mother made. She loved to cook and bake. I do to.

Daylily Diagram

MORE BARGAINS MONDAY

This double layout of lovely ladies on a vintage greeting card is for sale at Glenna's Garden http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

I was out and about this morning. In my local drugstore I found a close out sale of 3 packs of baby onesies four to a pack for $1.50 a pack. Good quality onesies too. How sweet of a deal. I have all of these cute appliques I can iron on to them and make the white ones look really great. One pack is definately all boy in blues stripes etc......I have a grandson due in July and an adopted granddaughter due in June! I can't find flower seed packets anywhere even Walmart was out! I like to give my customers seed packets. I looked for postcards too and they don't even sell them at the drugstore. I am in a two swaps and this week I have to go to the $ store and a thrift store to find things for my two swap partners.  I love to plant flowering bushes. This one is new to me in color. I have a bunch of the regular butterfly bush. White flowers are amazing to see at night!

This vintage greeting card is for sale at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

I planted a seed card today that I got from a seller on ETSY. I had to rip it in two and plant in two seperate pots. I also have some beautiful irises in full bloom. Today I am going back out on my usual walk and take pictures. The rhodadendrons are coming into full bloom and the main garden is looking so nice. I am going to make some of my own seed paper as soon as I find some flower seeds. I have plenty of paper. The directions are easy. I even have a blender that rarely if ever gets used. I am always saving paper down to the last bits. I found the directions here on how to make seed paper

http://www.ehow.com/how_4464555_make-seed-embedded-plantable-paper.html

We are now watching these for flowers from the plantable seed paper.

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

FINALLY FRIDAY

Today is firstfridayartwalk on ETSY. Every first Friday of each month members of the AWEteam and non members have specials in their ETSY shops. Check it out and use the search for tag words firstfridayartwalk, ffaw and/or aweteam at http://www.etsy.com/

It just seems like it has been a really long week for me. Maybe it is all the rain and cloudiness. Temperatures are nice though 51 this morning. I am going to start writing shop reviews each Friday. If you are interested in being interviewed for Friday Features please let me know. Tell your friends. Not sure what I am going to write about this morning. Nothing has come to mind yet. I will share this with you though I just found out about these and I like them Button Fairy Dolls http://craftymule.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-make-button-fairy-doll-great.html

This is a Russian Doll (above) I love these!

I made this ACEO "Sleeping Peacefully" with one tiny piece of silk fabric, real pressed flower petals and a bit of ink. It SOLD quickly in my shop at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

                                So it seems that the theme today is dolls. I hope you like it!

TIP OF THE DAY

Garden Insecticide

Ingrediants:
1 Tbsp.- Liquid Dishwashing Soap
1 Cup -Vegetable Oil
1 Cup -Water

Mix the the ingrediants together and store in an airtight jar. When ready to use, just add 1 to 2 1/2 tsp. of the mix solution to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle. Mist spray the mix solution on your plants, covering all leaf and stem surfaces. Safer for the environment! Enjoy your gardens!

THUNDERSTORMING THURSDAY

Fresh Sweet Basil sprouting at Glenna's Garden Studio

Beautiful lilacs brought in from outside at Glenna's Garden Studio

There are so many different varities of bleeding heart plants. Some examples are shown above.

           There is Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart in the gardens outside of my studio.

Today a vintage siamese cat card of mine is featured in the following treasury.

 WARNING: Treasuries on ETSY sadly go away so view it quickly. Here is the link! ENJOY!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4be070eba2856d9152ccf518/omg-i-forgot-which-month-it-was


It is early in the morning yet I am enjoying my coffee and taking in this new day. Temperatures are supposed to fall today and the humidity is going to drop. More like May in NH. There is even a prediction that it will go as low as 44 one night. The gardens will be alright. I need to get some pictures taken today there are so many beautiful plants blooming. One of my favorites is the perennial known as bleeding hearts plant. The strawberries have the most adorable white flowers on them again. I will share some pictures in this blog later on today. I joined a great site recently called swap-bot.com I have already joined up with 5 different swaps! Way too much fun! Check it out for yourself you will be happy you did. I am making this tonight. Real easy!

I was just visiting Campbell's Soup website. I was looking for chicken recipes instead I found this one for beef. I am adding fresh chopped sweet peppers to mine with some parmesan chese on top. What would you do with this recipe?

Beef and Pasta

3/4 pound ground beef (85% lean)
1 3/4 cups Swanson® Vegetable Broth (Regular or Certified Organic)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can (about 8 ounces) stewed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups uncooked medium tube-shaped or corkscrew-shaped pasta

1.Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring often to break up the meat. Pour off any fat.

2.Stir the broth, Worcestershire, oregano, garlic and tomatoes in the skillet and heat to a boil. Stir in the pasta. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. Uncover.

3.Cook for 5 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Serve and ENJOY! I like light and easy meals especially in the Spring and Summer months. Add some nice bread and a salad too plus a serving of fruit for dessert.

Very nice meal!

Leftovers well they are always appreciated the next day.

NEW LOOK WEDNESDAY

I am working on this blog today....giving it a new look! I find this most difficult and quite a challenge. So far I am happy with how it is turning out. I received a blog award today from Paintings by Eileen on ETSY...she is helping me and spurring me on to make some bold changes on my blog.....hmmmm in order to post a picture of my award I have to reveal seven things about me that you don't already know about me and I also need to pass this award on to seven more bloggers...I need to write more about me suggested by Eileen and apparently I am not linked up correctly~still trying to figure that one out.

Seven New Things You Will Learn  About Me

1. I am a cancer survivor (muscle cancer 2006)....it really changed me
2. I love chocolate.....should write about this
3. I love God.....there is no other way!
4. I have been in every state in the US except for Hawaii and Alaska....love to travel
5. I want desperately to lose weight.....medications and my health conditions make it very difficult...I walk
6. I love cats but I can't have one due to building restrictions.
7. I am a Nana to a 2 year old grandson. My next grandson, baby brother, is due in July. I love them dearly and already feel bonded with my grandson before he is even born.

Here is my first blogger award! Thanks Eileen!

By the way the cute little basil seedsI blogged about and planted just last Friday night are already sprouting! I love fresh herbs They are so easy to grow.

FOR CINCO DE MAYO

Guacamole Recipe

From Woman's Day Magazine
February 1, 1996
Yield 3 cups

Total Time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 ripe avocados (about 10 ounces each)
1⁄2 cup diced ripe tomato
1⁄4 cup thinly sliced scallions
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 large fresh jalapeño pepper, minced, with some of the seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1⁄4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste

PREPARATION

1. Halve avocados, remove seeds and scoop pulp into a medium bowl. Coarsely mash with a potato masher or fork.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients and serve immediately, or cover surface directly with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 30 minutes. Serve with tacos or as a dip with a big bowl of chips. Choose avocados that give gently to pressure. For best flavor, make no more than 30 minutes before serving.

ENJOY YOUR DAY!                                 Happy Cinco De Mayo

CONNECTIONS, KITES AND HENS AND CHICKS

I surf the Internet for useful information. Once in a while I like to share links to other sites that I think might interest my readers. So I will be doing that today here. I love this site for the graphics and they offer free samples. I find my inspiration for my creativity sometimes looking at art and graphics.

Check out http://www.doverpublications.com/
I am in no way affliated with them or paid by them to blog about them. Just a weekly email I look forward to on Wednesdays!

Manchester, NH cool 39 and warms up to 50 or so. Windy today good day to fly a kite!

Original ACEO "The Ones That Got Away"

Created by Glenna Normyle

I spent part of yesterday filming Mother Nature at her finest. So that means that I will soon have more Spring pictures to show you.

Hens and Chicks are coming up everywhere!

 Easy to grow and they propagate like crazy in your gardens.

Cat Tags listed 4/14 SOLD right away!

There is one more set available with different pictures of cats.

These are limited editions.

Visit: http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

HAPPY APRIL 2

Spring is here it is going to 75 today and 80 tomorrow. I have the windows open in the studio again. My lovely little Rocky Mt. Iris is loving life and so is the forsthyia......it popped! I am going out today to look for more sign of spring. Here is the first.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN IRIS

I planted , indoors, 8 Rocky Mountain Iris seeds on 3/17/2010 and today right in the middle of the pot one of them is sprouting. How lucky is that? Sorry it is so blurry I will try to get better shots. It has been cloudy and rainy for days here in Manchester, NH.

TOP ETSY SHOPS

HOP ON OVER AND JOIN THE FUN!

http://www.facebook.com/l/e25bb;topetsyshops.blogspot.com

MY 1000TH VISITOR TO GLENNAS GARDEN

The following is a link to a vintage seller BlessedTimes2 on ETSY who also happens to be my 1,000th visitor to heart my shop at Glenna's Garden. Nothing could be a more perfect match. BlessedTimes2 is selling vintage collectibles. I love vintage collectibles. They even have a 1935 Minerva crochet knit magazine that is 75 years old. That one won't last long~not to mention all of the yarn, fabric and craft supplies currently being destashed. Hop on over and check out this very lovely couples store.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlessedTimes2

BLESSEDTIMES2


CONGRATULATIONS FROM GLENNA AT GLENNA'S GARDEN!!!!!!!

Inside the studio at Glenna's Garden

RAINDROPS ARE FALLING ON MY HEAD MONDAY

Spring is coming. The forsythia has budded. It is raining ever so lightly today. The window is open in my studio and it sounds better than any music I have ever heard. Bibi from http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioSien is creating a new banner, avatar and badges for my shop as I am writing this. The proofs are so beautiful!

NEW LOOK FOR GLENNA'S GARDEN BLOG

I changed my blog layout and some pictures. The mistake I made was I deleted some pictures from Picasa that were tied into my blog. So now I have a bunch of blank pictures. I made so much more work for myself. My shop is so much more organized. Check out Glenna's Garden at http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com/

RAINY DAYS AND TUESDAYS

NEXT FIRSTFRIDAYARTWALK AT ETSY IS ON APRIL 2, 2010


It is cool and rainy today up here in NH. The kind of day that every light is on in the studio. I have some red felt and my challenge to myself today is to do something with it. I was thinking create ahead of time and make some flowers possibly for Christmas 2010. Yesterday I worked on SEO search engine optimization with my shop at www.gnormyle.etsy.com I am always pushing myself to learn more. SEO involves the use of proper tag words so you can be found. My business challenge for the today is to rearrange my shop online. I think I am pretty good at doing this and love to rearrange Glenna's Garden often. So this is just basically something I always have been doing since I started a year ago.

SWEET SUNDAY

Gorgeous black wool felt handsewn case with a lovely vintage button closure one of only three created for Spring 2010 in Glenna's Garden gallery shop at www.gnormyle.etsy.com will be listed soon for firstfridayartwalk on ETSY Friday March 5, 2010



Another sneak peek at a set of Spring 2010 designer bookmarks and tags created for Glenna's Garden gallery shop at www.gnormyle.etsy.com These will be listed for the next firstfridayartwalk as well.




What an awesome shot of a picture of February 2010 on a studio calendar!

There is one thing that I truly love about living here in NH is to witness the natural water flowing out of massive rock formations. In the winter it freezes and it looks similar to the picture you see here but on a much grander scale.

Today is Sunday February 21, 2010.....The sun is out and the wind is whipping up. It is still very cold outside at Glenna's Garden in Manchester, NH. That hasn't stopped me from keeping the gallery shop going at www.gnormyle.etsy.com I have been busier than ever. Spring is coming and there are so many new items I want to introduce. I will give you a sneak peak of some items I have created for Glenna's Garden. Please check out www.gnormyle.etsy.com for more fresh ideas. I love this time of the year when Spring is just about upon us. I can be contacted at gnormyle@yahoo.com if you are interested in custom orders. On March 5, 2010 I will once again be participating in firstfridayartwalk on ETSY just like so many other ETSY shops that do. We are growing and some of us have even become really great friends online. I hope to see some new faces there please just use the tag word firstfridayartwalk on your items to participate or to search for all items tagged by ETSY shops already use the tag word firstfridayartwalk in search on ETSY. All are welcome!

KONA BAY FREE QUILT PATTERN PDF DOWNLOADS

There are 2 pages of beautiful free PDF quilt patterns available at this internet link currently noting that this article is being written by me on Jan. 13, 2010


http://konabay.com/quilting-fabric/category/Free_Patterns_to_Download.html

These will be updated soon, ie. some will be replaced; so now is a good time to download any or all you'd like to have.

I don't quilt but I still enjoy looking at pictures of quilts. It brings back memories of my Mother who was a quilter 30+ years ago. The quilt ACEO you see pictured was created by me using the end of a box set known as Quilter's Delight. This small art is available for sale at Glenna's Garden www.gnormyle.etsy.com

ENJOY!

Etsy: How did it get started? Meet Rob Kalin

"Meet Rob Kalin, the man behind Etsy.com" is a fascinating must read article from Readers Digest magazine, in the Dec. 09 / Jan. 10 issue.

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/meet-rob-kalin-the-man-behind-etsycom/article169446.html

As an Etsy shop owner that operates Glenna's Garden at www.gnormyle.etsy.com it was really great to see how Etsy started four years ago,(now as I am writing this article dated today which is Jan. 12, 2010) and then many other interesting facts are presented too, such as what does the word Etsy mean. Read the article to find out. Visit Glenna's Garden for Handmade in NH www.gnormyle.etsy.com The duckling picture is a sneak peek from Glenna's Garden for Spring 2010. Enjoy!