I'm Still Here :o)

Happy Summer!  I've not blogged for a whole two years! Wow, long time.

I've been empty-nesting. My baby goes to college this year. This has been very difficult for me:  30 years of homeschooling our three children has come to an end. A new chapter in my life is starting. I'm scared, and I'm excited. I have so many interests and things I still want to pursue and learn to do. But, I don't want to return to school, for now. So many of my friends have returned to school to get degrees in various fields, but I've always wanted to get out of school and do. I love to learn on my own and read and do while I learn. Everyone's different. 😀

Ever since I was a girl, I've wanted to have my own shop. A big problem with having my own shop has always been finding and affording a physical place to have that shop, but with the advent of online shopping, that problem is solved. I have many things I like to make and do, and it is difficult to decide which of those I will focus on and put in my Etsy.com shop. I do enjoy creating jewelry, but so many people make jewelry now. I've been focusing on something that's dear to my heart, something that is an American tradition and a family tradition on my mother's side of our family. -And, I'm working on some traditions of my own that I just might share with you. I'm not posting anymore about it right now.😉

The last blogs before I stopped blogging two years ago were about my fairy garden. It was so much fun creating, and my neighbors loved it! I loved chatting with them as they walked by with their dogs or with their little ones. I kept it up for two years and have just changed the theme in my front flower garden this year. So before I go tonight, I'll share some photos of this year's theme, PokemonGo. My youngest gave me this idea, when I drew a blank about what to do this spring.

Just kidding! This is Yukichu, my daughter's pet mouse. But his friends are below. I made them all myself out of Sculpey. Hmmm, it looks like I'm missing a photo of Yukichu's favorite Pokemon. 😉 I'll have to remedy that.

My Etsy.com Shop

Hello. :o)  I owe you an explanation if you're following me because of my Etsy shop.  I have been letting the jewelry listings in my shop expire, one by one.  I've not been renewing the listings.  I've had most of that jewelry listed in my shop for over four years, and I've made about six sales in that amount of time.  That's not doing well.  I just keep paying to re-list it year after year.  So, I stopped.

I'm thinking of revamping my shop.  For now, it will keep its name.  I've got an idea that's been running through my mind for awhile now; something new to try my hand at selling.  Something that I'm better at than jewelry-making.  

Like I've said before, a good friend really encouraged me to sell my jewelry, and I think she's wonderful for having that kind of confidence in me.  It just hasn't been what shoppers have wanted to buy.  Well, "onward and upward"!  Meanwhile, I'll be in my gardens this spring. ;o)

Shop of the Month *ahem*

Happy Spring!  This month, you'll want to stop by and check out this adorable shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/uniquelyanita

A Fairy Song

Stay, silver ray,
Till the airy way we wing
To the shade of the glade
Where the fairies dance and sing:
The mortals are asleep -
They can never understand
That night brings delight,
It is day in Fairyland

Float, golden note,
From the lute strings all in tune,
Climb, quiv'ring chime,
Up the moonbeams to the moon.
There is music on the river,
There is music on the strand,
Night brings delight,
It is day in Fairyland.

Sing while we swing
From the bluebell's lofty crest.
Hey! Come and play,
Sleepy songbirds in your nest;
The glow-worm lamps are lit,
Come and join our Elfin band,
Night brings delight,
It is day in Fairyland.'

Roam thro' the home
Where the little children sleep,
Light in our flight
Where the curly ringlets peep.
Some shining eyes may see us,
But the babies understand,
Night brings delight,It is day in Fairyland. 

~William Percy French

Monthly Featured Follower.....

I'm going to be perfectly honest with you; I totally forgot that I was going to feature an Etsy.com site each month.  I'm so embarrassed!  I apologize for this oversite.  So, since today is already the third of February, I'm featuring a site for the rest of this week:

Gourdonville: The Enchanting World of Gourds

Congratulations Angie Ouellette-Tower!

I should've been an Imagineer.....

Winter is dismal, gray, and soggy, so I'm in denial.  I'm not thinking about winter.  I'm thinking about fairies.....

I'm working on a garden project for my large, front, flower bed.  I've done a different theme for the last two years.  Last year, I was turning off the water out front, when I heard, "WOW!"  A ten-year-old boy had stopped his bike on the sidewalk and was looking straight up into the face of a mammoth sunflower.  Little things like that make it so worth while.  One time, a Mom stopped and told me she and her little girl loved my garden, and they would stop and look for fairies in it.  So, this year's theme is a fairy garden.  I can't wait for spring!  I'm painting fairy houses right now, and I found some tiny fairies online.  

I've got two stone fairy houses almost finished.  I bought a cheap bag of aquarium pebbles and have been gluing them to the front and sides of two, unfinished, bird houses I bought at the craft store. It's tedious, but so cool!  I'll cover them with Miracle Grow garden soil and mostly just the fronts will show.  Then, I'll plant Irish moss to grow up over the roofs of the stone houses.  Flowers all around these tiny abodes is what I'll plant - tiny flowers like purple, rose, and white Sweet Alyssum.  Different types of pixie pads will I create - all of them surrounded by "fairy flowers" - violas, forget-me-nots, baby's breath, and more!  Oh, and don't get me started about the glow-in-the-dark paint!  I've already tried it on the stone cottages' doors and widow panes; it looks great!   I'm going to paint tiny footprints on the front sidewalk with it - it won't show in the daytime, but folks out taking late evening walks will see fairy footprints!  Shhh.....I'm even painting a fairy silhouette on our white, front door with this amazing, diurnally-invisible paint.  Fun!

I have so many more great ideas for making my garden truly magical, so stay tuned!  Hopefully, this project will keep me sane until spring!  Hurry up SPRING!!! :oD

These fairy houses are unfinished bird houses I purchased from craft stores.  You can see that I'd already started gluing aquarium gravel to the fronts of two of them in this photo.  I turned the bird houses around and drew the doors and windows on the backs of them.

These two are from the photo, above, and are almost completed.

My favorite colors are orange and purple!  I'll paint the white picket fence with glow-in-the-dark paint. ;o)

I painted all the white areas on this cottage with glow-in-the-dark paint.  It glows really well in the dark!  All the pink areas have fine glitter sprinkled on them.

The roof and base of this hut will glow in the dark, when I'm through with it!

Thinking this morning of homeless people. Yes, it's very hot in summer here, but it gets so cold in winter...They panhandle on our streets, but then we have the police make them stop. I've unexpectedly come upon a homeless woman over the bank of the Boise River, where folks couldn't see her from the park. We have to sweep our pretty streets clean of them, so they have to hide. We don't want our city's beautiful image to have a blemish. It's so cold out there at night....I wonder if any of them have ever been killed by a cougar, or how many die out there alone, and we don't know about it? How sad to be destitute and alone, and have no one know you died except maybe the officer who's called to investigate.....What about simple things like scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies? How did they become homeless? What if I was homeless, and someone gave me moldy bread because they had to get rid of it? It's so cold out there.....Yes, there are shelters, but they can't keep everyone inside all the time. They run on donations from you and me. Not every homeless person is a pycho. What if my kids and I were homeless? Would we be safe? Yes, I know: "Just get a job." Jobs can be hard to get, especially when you don't have a phone or address to write on the application. References? It's so cold out there.....