Silica Gel Packets, Throw Away No More!

Tonight I decided to clean out some of the drawers in my dresser, and my closet as well. While cleaning I came across several of those Silica Gel packets in old shoe boxes. As I went to throw them away I remembered a blog post I read awhile ago on Craftzine blog about genius ways to reuse Silica packets. Why bother reusing Silica Gel packs you ask? Well, number one, less things going into the landfill, and number two, some of the ways to reuse them are actually quite helpful! How helpful you ask ? How about helping to save your ipod after you accidentally drop it in your glass of water, or keeping important papers from getting all mildewy, ick! So next time you get a new pair of shoes and you find those familiar little packets, don't throw them out, reuse them!

Perry Approves Of This Artwork

Again, Shana Logic, totally awesome, yes, but take a look at this new art by Cuddly Rigor Mortis now up on the site. Perry loved this piece of art, and he says it's like looking in a mirror! Finally, he realizes that pincushions everywhere feel his pain! Perry is now asking me if I can sew green buttons on for his eyes...I told him I'll think about it. If you are interested in this limited edition piece of art Click here to buy!

Help Save The Manatees With Shana Logic

On any ordinary day I love Shana Logic for it's sheer awesomeness, and for the whole month of August Shana Logic is donating all proceeds from the sales of the adorable Mantaee necklace or earrings pictured below, to savethemanatee.org, a great non-profit, which makes me love the site even more! Helping the manatee is especially important now after the horrible Gulf Oil disaster, which will no doubt be affecting these beautiful creatures for a long time to come, spoiling their food sources and ruining the water that they call home. So please, go check out Shana Logic and get a cute little manatee of your own!

P.S- Either of these would make great Christmas gifts, and no it's not too soon to start! :)The cutness is almost too much too handle! Manatee necklace.

Manatee earring

Creative Gardening: Ornamentation

Lawn and Garden Gnomes are always a good idea!

An antique wooden ladder becomes the perfect trellis, courtesy of my Mom!

A pair of old ceramic salt and pepper shakers and a glass spire decorate a potted plant in my backyard.

As the last installment in the Creative Gardening series (sad, I know :P ) I would like to showcase some of my favorite ways to decorate your garden. A person can go to any big box store and buy all manner of plastic type things to put in their garden, but it's so much more creative to do something out of the ordinary, besides, some of that stuff is so gag inducing (however Perry does enjoy those kitschy lawn gnomes as seen above). Recycle a kitchen pot that's ready for the trash and plant flowers in it, make a mosaic piece out of an old bowling ball, re-purpose old mattress springs as an one of a kind trellis...the possibility's are endless!

My Mom always adds tons of interest to her garden and yard with unique yard ornaments. She's so creative with her outdoor decorating. Almost every Christmas, or for my Mom's b-day, I get her something for her garden. One of my all time favorite places to get her something special for the yard is Uncommon Goods. They have a great selection of fun and recycled yard art, outdoor lighting, and even unique gardening tools and seeds.

Rock yard snails from Uncommon Goods

I had to add this bit of yard art below I found online a while ago. It's a trellis made out of bike parts from Crafting a Green World. I love it!

Want another nifty and thrifty yard ornament idea? How about these ladybugs made from old bowling balls from Birds and Blooms. I think I might have a thing for bowling ball art.

Creative Gardening: Mosaics

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials...according to the definition on Wikipedia. :) I have always been fond of mosaics, especially in the garden. The above and below pictured mosaic mushrooms were one of the first project tutorials I posted on here, and people loved them as much as I did. These mushrooms reside in my Mom's garden and she is quite fond of them as well!

After finding my Grandfather's old bowling ball a couple of years ago I started (but never finished :P) this tutorial on a mosaic bowling ball for the garden, pictured below. However, Marisa's lovely finished mosaic bowling ball is pictured below my un-finished version. If you have an old bowling ball I highly recommend this project, it's cheap, relatively easy, and looks great hiding amongst plants.

Marisa's finished piece!

My Mom made the unique mosaic birdbath pictured below with a terra cotta pot and saucer, strong hold glue, flat marbles, broken blue glass pieces, and grout.

Mosaic birdbath

Want to create your own mosaics for your garden, or even house ? You'll need a couple of things:

• Grout
• Broken glass, flat backed marbles, tiles, small round mirrors, buttons, plastic charms, etc!
• A Sponge (for cleaning the grout off of the tiles, marbles, etc.)
• Water

Mosaic is easy, very therapeutic, and a great way to use old broken plates or glasses if you have any!

Facebook Fan!

I admit, I'm not that great at computery type stuff, this apparently includes trying to put a Facebook fan page icon on my blog. Oh well, for now while I figure this complicated matter out, here is the link to The Angry Pincushion's fan page!! :)

Creative Gardening: Herb Markers

My Mom loves to grow herbs in great big Terra Cotta pots on her deck, and herbs like Mint, Lavender, and Oregano that tend to spread more in a patch of soil in front of the deck. These unique and rustic looking metal herb markers are from Spoon Sisters, they come in a set of nine and are so much nicer to mark herbs than the standard plastic tag that comes with when you purchase it. I bought these for my Mom for Christmas and she loves them. She sprayed them with a weather sealant for extra protection from the elements, which is always a good idea for anything you plan to put in your garden.