State of the Garden - May 2

Here is the second in the series of posts on my yard that I have decided to do on the monthly basis in order to document changes that are happening in the 30 day intervals.
This is what the garden used to look like a month ago, on April 2.

April 2

And here is what it looks like now...

May 2

Since then, I have trimmed some shrubs, moved some planters around. Cleaned up fallen branches and last year's foliage. Grass and flowers have sprouted as have the weeds that are now showing their messy little heads. By the time we are back from the trip they will have taken over the yard, but I will worry about it later. For now it is just pleasant to enjoy the beauty of nature that is finally waking up after the long and cold winter.

Chives - we already had them in a stew

This will grow to be one of the largest hostas I have ever seen - we have a total of 8 lining the path to the shed

Preview of Tomorrow's Reveal

Just when I thought I was done painting before my trip, I managed to sneak in another piece.
Full reveal will take place tomorrow afternoon-ish.

Some Unlisted Poppies

Besides Freedom Clothing Collective, that is the brick and mortar hub for my poppies, there is one other local store that offers my pieces a temporary home. That place is Wild Bird, a store ran by two wonderful women, Paige and Anna. They approached me about two years ago with an offer to sell my re-envisioned furniture in their store. Located in the Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton (622 Mt. Pleasant Road) area of Toronto, this location offered a good introduction to a different part of the city.
Poppies sold at Wild Bird are not listed for sale anywhere else and are thus left somewhat invisible to the online audience. On my recent visit to the store I snapped a few pictures of my pieces in their well curated space and am sharing them with you in this post.

More Poppies - Turquoise dresser

Later on this week I will be taking off on vacation and am trying to finish off as many pieces as I possibly can. This one didn't make it to Etsy yet as I don't think the quality of photography is en par, but I would still like to share it with you. Hopefully the camera situation will get fixed soon and better pictures will become the norm. For now it is my phone camera that will have to do. (Besides the camera, it is the lighting that is not the best as these pictures were taken in my basement :( )
Hope you can still like...

I went as far as to paint stripes on the basement wall. I kind of like the look along with the empty ornate frames and may have to adopt it in my bedroom later on this year (when I get to it))

New Poppy - Navy Blue Sideboard

Also available in my Etsy store.
Enjoy....

Reconstructed necklace

My mom bought me this necklace many years ago. It is a chunky statement peace and I love it,  but unfortunately every time I wore it it cut into my neck so badly that I could not wear anything else for a while. I presented this problem to my friend, jewelry designer, Katie, the creative force behind  Kathryn Rebecca and we started a discussion on how to make the piece wearable. Before long Katie sent me some images containing her ideas and after some creative back and forth, here is the end result.

Katie removed a total of 6 discs from the necklace and included soft leather ties to the newly separated chain. The leather is soft and all of a sudden the necklace is very comfortable to wear.
She used two of the 6 rings and turned them into these fabulous earrings that she embellished with some gold coloured enamel paint.

New Poppy - Grey-washed dresser/sideboard

This piece of furniture did not need a bright coat of paint or flashy knobs to make it stand out. It offers an abundance of storage in beautifully lined and smooth sliding drawers. Solid wood construction makes is sturdy and durable. Perfect for bedrooms but can also serve as a sideboard in the dining room or as a room separator (console behind your couch).

This piece is now available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Fundraiser at Freedom Clothing Collective

We are very proud to have a reputation as a small business that supports local designers, artists and crafters.
Our store is the vehicle through which we promote the creations of local artists. Without them, there would be nothing to decorate our front window to make it welcoming, fill our shelves to their limits, and cover our entire walls in colour and inspiration.  In fact, there would be no store at all.
Recently we had to part ways with our camera, which helped us showcase the beauty of our products to the fullest and expose them to a wide group of potential buyers outside of our store.  Our funds are very limited, so we are currently unable to replace our camera.
So we turned to our partners for help in the form of in-kind donations and, unsurprisingly, they have been extremely generous in donating pieces of their work to raise funds.

From April 19 to May 2, we will dedicate a portion of the store to the selling of donated merchandise. All of these items will be marked as 40% off their regular price.

On May 2, the fundraising will end with a customer appreciation event that will take place between 6 and 9pm.  On that night, remaining items will be reduced by a further 10% and the entire store merchandise will be 15% off as well.

All items available for purchase as part of the fundraising event can be seen on our Facebook page.
To show that helping local community is always on our minds, we will share all the funds collected through this event with Eva's Initiatives, a charitable organization that supports local at-risk youth.


Here are just a couple of the goods that were donated

Sneak Preview of the New Poppy

Here is just a small snippet of what turned out to be a gorgeous grey-washed dresser. Graced with soft lines and nine drawers this piece is a true beauty and I can't wait to fully introduce it to you next week.

Mint and Coral

Such a vibrant, yet refreshing colour combo - Enjoy!

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