My New Pallet Garden

I saw a photo of a 'pallet garden' on Backyard Diva's Facebook page and immediately knew I wanted to make one or maybe even more. There were no directions, only the one picture. So I decided to take photos of the steps I took to make mine. {Please note, use a pallet with untreated wood.}

Fortunately one of my sons-in-law has several of these pallets that were not being used and he was happy to let me have one. The first thing I did was to spray it for bugs and clean it. Next I decided to place it at the end of my herb garden, where nothing is growing and where there is full sunlight.






I decided that if I removed two of the boards, I would have 2 wider rows for larger plants. And, I could then use those two boards at the ends to cover the open spaces! I really wanted to do all the work myself, but could not pry those boards/nails loose. Thankfully, my son-in-law was able to remove those for me and I was able to nail the boards to the ends.







Next I filled in the pallet with a mix of top soil and composted manure. This pallet is 48" by 40-1/5". It took approximately 3-1/2 cu ft of the soil mix to fill the pallet. {Side Note: At the store where I shop, torn/damaged bags of dirt, mulch, etc. are half-price! Needless to say, I do look for the damaged bags first!}



My kale plants had become literally overshadowed by herbs so I decided to move them to the pallet. They fit nicely in the back row!



In the next row I planted Zinnia flowers, also called the bee flower. And in the following row I planted young broccoli plants.



And, to attract plenty of bees, I planted another row of Zinna.



Since I have veggie and flower seedlings that are not big enough to transplant, I decided to stop at this point. I'll add more veggies and flowers as soon as the seedlings are large enough.

So this is my PALLET GARDEN for now:





Why did I want to try a pallet garden? (1)In some ways, it is like a raised bed garden so you do not have to dig up a large area. Where I located this one there was no need for a liner. However you can add a liner or back it with wood to have it enclosed. (2)Supposedly there will be no need to 'weed' the pallet garden. Sounds fantastic; I will let you know if this turns out to be true. (3)It is one more way to Recycle-Renew-Reuse. (4)The pallet garden looks very rustic, unique and sweet.

I have so many seedlings sprouting, actually way too many, that I am already seeing the need for a second pallet garden. I'll keep you posted.

A photo update: I added fresh mulch to my gardens to help hold in moisture. Hard to believe it is over 80-degrees on April 2nd!



Happy Springtime ~ Happy Gardening ~ Don't Worry, Just Garden ~

~Gilannie~

Beautiful Creativity with Polymer Clay

I currently have a beautiful assortment of handcrafted polymer clay pendant-necklaces available in my store! And, I thought I should give a little info on the labor behind these pendants! (This info is very simplified for brevity.)

Here's a little known fact, I love working with Polymer Clay -- it is my favorite! First of all, the clay has to be conditioned, kneaded and/or processed through a pasta maker! Then the clay is rolled out to the desired thickness. From this point on, the sky's the limit!

Sometimes I add powdered color pigments to the raw clay. Sometimes I wait until the piece is baked, then paint it. Working with the powder color pigments, I can combine colors to make new colors! I can also mix the powder with liquid glaze to use as paint. With the color pigments, I can make the clay look like antiqued brass, copper, gold, silver and/or all the colors of the rainbow, and add an amazing variety of color detail!

There is a new pendant design I make in which I insert a large bezel into clay that I have already cut into shape. After I bake this piece, I glue one of my tiny original art collages and/or charms into the bezel, cover with a layer of resin and then let it cure. Later I can add color pigments, polish and buff the clay, finish it out. It is then ready for me to make into a necklace!


I have also used my handmade polymer clay beads on this necklace:



For another new style, recently I decided to set gemstone cabochons into clay pieces for beautiful, unique pendants that are much less expensive than the Precious Metal Clay pendants I make. I enjoy making these as a vintage style!





Being that I am a garden-and-nature-woman, many of my pendants feature birds, dragonflies and flowers. Again, making these with Polymer Clay instead of the Precious Metal Clay helps me to have lower price for my customers!






The process for each pendant, from start to finish, takes several hours over a day or two or more, depending on the complexity of the piece. Making the pendant into a pendant-necklace takes additional hours; again this varies due to the intricacy of the design. These hours are a 'labor of love' for me. As I mentioned earlier, I love working with Polymer Clay, it is my favorite!

~Please visit my new location at www.GilannieJewelry.com~

Peace&Love
~Gilannie~

Happy*New*Year

“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau

One of my favorite pastimes when I can get away, is going for long hikes 'in the wild' with Zorra my wonder-dog and my camera.

The words in the above quote from Thoreau express what is in my mind, heart and spirit on my hikes. I love capturing pictures of what I see with my heart or with my spirit, although they do not always translate quite the same onto print.

I have a series of photographs taken along a lake while the water levels were very low. What was there, in reality, were tree stumps and branches along the shoreline that had previously been underwater. However, with my heart I saw Mysterious Creatures swimming to the shore, Creatures wandering on the beach and crawling back into the forest.

Over a long period of time I have worked with these photos trying to fine tune that translation with photo editing programs. Finally, I feel like I am getting closer to matching the 'print' to the vision that is still alive in my heart.

Here are some sets of before and after photographs I have been working on.

















I also have been working on enhancing photos of little scenes in the different forests, along the various lakes; scenery needing colors added to bring out the magic. Here are a few of these photos of mine.










Once I am happy with the 'fine-tuning' I'll then have to decide how to present my enhanced photos to sell on my websites.

Wishing all of us great success with our New Year's Resolutions and New Year's Projects!
~Peace and Love~
~ Gilannie ~

Sneak Preview ~ Trunk Show

Sneak Preview ~ Trunk Show




























































































































And More To Come...I'll Post Pics of Additional Pieces Before My Trunk Show!