The Reveal! This is the MFG from the top view! So Cute!!!

From the side you can see the White Picket Fence tools resting along side. On the other side of the fence 2 birds are perched on the fence.

I also included a photo of the clothes line, this was very simple and inexpensive.

After all that hard work in the garden and granting wishes I figured my fairies could put their feel up and relax with a cup of hot coffee at a French Cafe Style table and chairs.

The Bright Red watering can for the mini daisy and the even minier terra cotta pot! Have you ever seen a pot so small!

Finally a photograph of one of my free-spirited Fairies. She is holding onto a little flower, although it looks pretty big in her hands. From this angel you can see the bird in the nest as well.

I hope you enjoyed walking through my MFG! Come back anytime!!

Once the base was ready for my MFG I couldn’t wait to finish it! Despite the stormy weather I made my way to the greenhouse and picked up the remaining supplies I needed. I actually already had started to collect a few things since I first saw these little gardens a week or 2 ago so mostly I just needed dirt and green.

If I can give you one piece of advice with this little garden it would be to plan not only for your budget, but for the amount of space you have. It is so easy to get carried away when planning these little gardens out. Think about what is the most important thing you want in your garden, and start there. The rest will fall into place.

For the most part I was able to fit everything I wanted into my space. And I feel 100% happy with the way the garden has turned out. I am extra happy because I am not sure I will have the time to do much outdoor gardening this year, so this is a great compromise for me!

Items I cut from my list due to a lack of space in my MFG

I really wanted a little fairy house. The green house was using little bird houses, selling between $15-$40.00 the cash is worth the statement it makes if you have the space, I for one did not have the space. This would be great if you had a little raised bed outside maybe.

The next item I had to remove from my wish list was a mini tree. They sell the cutest little Christmas trees for $10-$15 but again if you don’t have a fairly large outdoor space this probably is not for you.

I also removed the stream I was planing. I didn’t realize how much space my stepping stones and plants would take up. I had collected a lot of blue beads and was planning on making a little pond or stream but  I just ran out of room.

I also did not have room for a mini bird bath, so I just put the nest in the clothes line which was very cute.

Items in my budget.

Little wooden picket fence from the craft store for $1.89 that I painted white when I painted my base. I formed it into a square so my fairies could have a small garden inside their garden.

I made a little birds nest out of shredded paper and elmers glue. Then I used 3 little blue beads that I had left over from a past project for the eggs. This cost me nothing. I did purchase 3 mini birds for $1.99 that I placed throughout the garden.

I made a clothes line for my fairies out of string and 2 twigs from my yard. This was free. As accents I bought mini clothes pins for about $1.50 but I have so many  left over I will be able to use them on more projects in the future.

2 coffee cups and a mini table and chairs ate up a big part of my budget totaling nearly $12.00

2 fairies also ran about $12.00.

a mini terra cotta pot was a quarter, the fake flower I put in it was free because I just had it around the house already.

Garden tools were about $7.00 including the watering can.

The white rocks cost me $1.99 but I used black river rocks (that I had around the house from past projects) for stepping stones so that didn’t cost me a thing.

I purchased some moss to use as grass, again I have left overs that I will be able to use in the future. Cost for this was about $5.00

Plants ran me around $25.00 and ate up the bulk of my budget.

So the grand total was just over $70.00 and it took me just a few hours to collect supplies, prepare, plan, and put it all together. Well worth it! Everybody loves it!!!

As you know from my last post on my MFG I found a base in my home for my garden from something I already had, but the color was ugly. What I did to fix this was use 2 colors I also happened to have sitting around in the basement.

Painting my base

The first color I used was called ballerina pink. I used the pink to thoroughly coat the entire base. After letting that mostly dry I opened up a white and just lightly painted the details, the rope and the paisley. Again I mostly let that dry, I probably should have let it dry more than I did.

For the final coat I just dipped the brush into the white but I scrapped off most the paint so my brush was nearly dry, then only using brush strokes going one way for example left left left, not left to right I ever so lightly painted a white coat over the whole base. I did not go left to right so this way the elevated print would still have a shadow of pink along the edges. I did not want to get into every nook and cranny. This way now my base looks older and more worn out like my fairies have been there a while.

Lining my base

Since my base is made of metal I feel it is necessary to give the bottom a plastic liner. You would not need to do this if you had a terra cotta pot with a drip tray underneath but I need to. All I did was cut a trash bag to fit the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides. Then I used some spray adhesive that I had around the house from a past project to make it stick.

I have decided to fill my base with foam blocks. This will help with 2 purposes. For 1 it will not be too heavy because my base is fairly large and filling the whole thing with dirt is not a good idea if I want to move it around easily. For 2 any excess water from when I water my garden would be absorbed into the foam.

Preparing my base was pretty simple and didn’t take too much time. The total cost for me on this step of project was $4 for the foam blocks the rest of the supplies I already had in my home. Now I am ready for the next step, Dirt and Plants!

Selecting a base for my mini fairy garden is the most important step in my project. As I have mentioned in my first post on this topic, you really can use anything from a tea cup to a sandbox. For my MFG I want a middle of the line size.

I think some important things to consider before selecting a base for your MFG are…

*Is this going to be an indoor or outdoor MFG? Or maybe convertible?
*Where in my home or yard will the MFG be placed? How much space do I have for my MFG?
*Am I going to try and use some things I already have? Or would I rather just buy it ready made?
*How much money am I wiling to spend?
*Am I willing to let the base to eat up the bulk of my budget?

Ideally I would like my MFG to be inside a terrarium. But the terrarium I want is rather unique with brass edging and little hinged doors am not sure I have the funds to invest in it so that probably won’t happen on my budget.

I have been looking at what I have around my home because I want to reuse as much as possible. I found a rather nice sized metal planter that is 11 inches by 22 inches long and 6 inches deep. It is rectangular shaped with scalloped edging with paisley and rope details. The deep rusty color is nice but not the color I am going for, but some time with a can of left over spray paint should fix it just fine.

The lightweight of the metal is great because once I fill it with other materials it could get pretty heavy. I plan on having my MFG inside most of the time, however, I want to be able to pick it up and bring it outside for lunch parties on my deck.

Preparing the base

I will have to make a whole separate post on preparing the base, but so far mentally I am thinking I wil need a few supplies.

*Something to make the bottom hold the water in, maybe a plastic liner would work.
*Foam blocks so the base does not get too heavy, and so the plants have space and drainage.
*Pebbles or stones for water drainage.
*Good rich soil.
*Possibly some sepperators sucha mini drinking cups with the bottoms cut out so as plants die I can easily change the plants out without destroying the whole garden.

A few weeks back I was visiting the local ever expanding hobby shop and I noticed a new addition of miniutare collectible doll houses and furniture. DH noticed me noticing the miniatures and questioned if I was starting a new hobby, and although I thought they were cute, it was not my cup of tea.

The following week a friend of mine dropped by and asked if I wanted to go to the green house with her. Of course I did. After meandering around and switching between conversations, and admiring flowers I noticed the cutest fairy garden with tiny shovels, houses, bicycles and everything. Within seconds I knew I found myself a project.

I will create a miniature fairy garden. My goal is to take my time and make it totally custom. Although there are many suppliers that sell kits and ready made gardens I would like to try and put a little bit of thought into this.

The great thing about these little gardens is the versatility. You can buy them ready or cusom design them. They can be indoor or outdoor, they can be for grow ups to collect and maintain or little children to play in. They can be as large as a sandbox, or as small as a tea cup. You could plant practical plants such as an herb garden or you can plant whimsical plants such as moss or grasses.

I am doing it for the fun of it simply to be creative. I plan on taking my time so I can have as much fun with this project as possible. Ideas are just bubbling over in my brain and it’s hard not to get really excited about this. I even started a fairy garden notebook to jot down fairy garden ideas as they come.

Since I have been so into the Smurf game I am thinking I might find a few mini Smurfs to live in my garden. It’s just a thought for now. Although I really like the fairys so I might just be traditional and stick to the fairys. I will keep you posted as I create or buy new pieces to my garden.

It has been a while since I complained about my pain so here goes.

As of late I have been loving online games such as Smurfs. One thing, I really don’t like Handy Smurf. I go to play that little smurffy game where you have to hammer a peg into the ground and I always bop him with a stupid smurf hammer because he is putting his little smurffy hand in the way! I am so smurffen sick of Handy Smurf! That Smurf drives me smurffen bonkers. My friend (who also plays) told me don’t hit Handy Smurf but I can’t help it he is always in my smurffen way!

This spring pasta is light and colorful. The lemon and parsley give the beef a fresh taste.

Ingredients

Penne Pasta 1 lb box cooked according to pkg

1 lb 80% lean ground beef

1 small onion diced small

2 cloves garlic minced

2 14.5 oz cans petite cut tomatoes drained

zest of 1 lemon, and the juice of 1 lemon

1 bundle of fresh parsley chopped medium fine

salt and pepper to taste

Freshly grated fresh Parmesan

Directions

Salt the water heavily for the pasta, cook according to the package, drain set aside.

Meanwhile, heat up a large fry pan for about 2 minutes until it is hot. Add the beef with a little salt, pepper and the diced onion. Cook until the beef is cooked through and crumbled. Add the garlic for a minute towards the end, stir so it does not burn and become bitter. At this point you may add the 2 cans of petite cut tomatoes stir in so the garlic stays fresh. Turn the heat down low add the lemon juice and zest and parsley (set aside a sprinkle of parley for the garish). Turn off heat.

Pour the pasta into a serving dish. Garnish with fresh Parmesan, and a small sprinkle of fresh parsley.  Serves 6

A couple of my friends recently talked me into taking Zumba, blindly I said  yes.  I had no clue what the heck Zumba was but I’m always up for trying something new. People told me it was dancing, but I thought it kind of sounded like a kids TV show.  I was tempted to Google it and do a little research but time never allowed. I did see a wii game for it once when I was out shopping so I knew you had to move around but that was about all I knew.

I don’t tend to be bold so when we had our first class I found a spot on the side of the room surrounded by my friends. The moves were not what I expected and I found myself blushing a deep shade of red. I was grateful it was at least choreographed so everybody had to do it.  Lets just say it was unlike any aerobics class and completely not what I expected but it was fun. I thought it would be lots of salsa and Latin dancing, but there was lots of pop music and modern dance mixed in too.

The next day I had no regrets when I could hardly walk. Muscles I didn’t know I owned were aching like never before and I realized this is great cross training for my ballet. But when I found myself wanting to talk about it nonstop, I knew I was hooked. It really makes you work up a sweat and its great for any type of cross training. Just keep an open mind and you will have fun if you ever decide to try this. Another tip of Zumba advice is just throw yourself into it, lunge deep, pop hard, swing your hips as best as you can, engage your abs and you will feel it even worse the next day.  I am considering buying the video game. I even ended up joining the next session and now I dance in the middle, not against the wall. 

The other day I was chatting with my sister and I announced my new favorite color of the season is canary yellow. She about fell out of her chair and immediately reprimanded me. My wardrobe is pink, my house is pink. I was born with PINK in my veins.  What was I thinking changing my favorite color? I really can’t explain this. I just am going through a phase I guess. Call it my crazy phase.

She wanted to know “Seriously? Is this a phase or is this a long term thing? I can’t see you in love with yellow?” In my defense my 3 favorite colors had always been Pink Yellow and Green.

“Okay” I had to admit “It’s only a phase for this season. I just like the eye popping yellow I have tried on about 20 yellow shirts and I can’t find one I like.  I think I am going to buy a yellow trench coat.”

“WHAT? Why a yellow trench coat? You already have a camel trench coat?” (It’s a great Kenneth Cole one I got on a killer sale!)

“I know” I tell her “and I already have a Pink one too, but I really would like a yellow one.”

So she says “I don’t get you? You won’t spend $100.00 on a steam mop but you will buy a third trench coat?” (*Side note she keeps trying to convince me I need a steam mop, but she doesn’t realize how much I hate mopping!*)

So I say “Yeah I don’t like mopping, but I like to look fashionable, I am happy with my $5.00 mop from walmart.”

I keep talking with her and flipping through my fashion magazines while I wait for my floor to dry. I was mopping my floor with my $5.00 walmart mop and some lavender soap. Finally an idea comes to me!

“I know!” I say “How about instead of another trench I buy a pair of statement shoes in Canary yellow!”

She agrees! “That is way smarter! You would probably use them way more!”

So the solution to my new problem of my temporary new favorite color is I shall look for a pair of shoes in that color rather than a coat. How brilliant is that!?!?!

Earlier this month I took a cooking class uptown called the “Fundamentals of Fish.”  I had never taken a cooking class before and really didn’t know what to expect. I was excited about it because I have such a passion for cooking, but the though of being in a new class setting gave me butterflies. On the way there I realized I forgot my apron and wondered would I be needing an apron? Would we be called on? Or worse would be asked to demonstrate? I have not been in a class for years (aside from ballet) but I was eager to learn.

When we arrived we were greeted by the staff, given name tags and aprons (so I would need one after all) and put into groups. The kitchen was big and so professional. Many of the other students there were older people in their late 50′s who wore fancy sweaters and had smug looks. It was easy to be intimidated.

DH and I were put into “team tuna” so we grabbed a cocktail and went to find other team tuna members. I was much relieved when I saw that all the group members of team tuna were in their 30′s or 40′s and did not have smug faces or fancy sweaters. The first member I met was a short spunky woman who had taken many classes there before she was happy to claim the best station for our group. Also in our group, a single man who just moved from out of state, a single woman who lived uptown, and a married couple with a passion for food. We had the coolest funnest team by far that night. We even keep in touch with one member of the Team Tuna since that night. It really was a great group.

The chef made an introduction and gave us basic info. He made sure to tell us that if we didn’t cook we would not eat, and if the food tasted bad, it would be because we did not follow instructions. He set the bar so we knew it was up to us to get it done. It was not a restaurant, we were there to learn.

Nearly everybody had a drink by this point and was starting to relax. First up on the menu was cooking scallops, I was interested to learn you can eat them raw, but most people cook them until they have the texture of a rubber ball and that is not correct. The chef said that the scallops would be the most difficult dish of the night, but I found it rather easy. Between each dish we would stop and eat what we cooked. Sometimes we sat at a nicely set table, sometimes we stood and listened to the chef speak and watched him demonstrate. In all we cooked (and ate) 6 dishes and I hadn’t been that stuffed ever aside from Thanksgiving.

By far the favorite dish I ate was a mussel soup in a cream broth with a saffron and real vanilla beans. I never would have thought to use saffron in combination with vanilla but the favors made a lovely pair. We also ate a beautiful tomato shrimp pasta, fried walleye, salmon baked in the oven in a cake pan of olive oil, that was interesting. My least favorite dish was the marlin, but possibly because it was the last dish of the night and I was full. It was accompanied with a avocado corn salad in which the corn was not cooked. This was new to me, I never realized you could eat raw corn. Raw corn was surprisingly good.

I even became so brave that I raised my hand and asked the first question of the night. I asked about precooked muscles if you don’t have access to live muscles, and yes this is okay there is little quality difference. And no you don’t have to worry if they do not open when they are precooked, only when they are fresh. Good to know because I normally purchase precooked muscles.

Taking a cooking class was well worth the money. I spend many hours in my kitchen and prior to going I felt secure in the kitchen but there is always room to improve. I learned so many new ways to prepare fish, even sautee, and baking in oil! I learned how to keep fried fish crispy, how to test the doneness of fish, which fish you can eat raw, how long it takes for fish to reach the market, why we age meat.

Class was not as intimidating as I thought it would be after all. I can’t wait to try another course, maybe next time barbecue or sauces would be nice to try! It was well worth the money. Since taking the class I have already put my newly acquired skills to use and prepared some of the dishes. I can’t wait to do it again!