three cheers for spring!

got busy yesterday setting up seed trays with my new-found paper pot making knowledge.


i decided to do a tray of the can method & a tray of the origami method to see which ones perform better.
the origami ones feel nice & sturdy and fit better into the tray but the rolled ones made with the can are much faster & easier to make. so we'll see! :)






















some of my irises that finally bloomed this year. there are lots to come! for the last couple years i only got a bloom or two so i am really excited this year to see so many buds coming up. these particular ones are some my mom sent me years ago from washington state.











a little fledgling robin just learning to fly, taking a rest in the warm grass by the fountain outside my window. he let me get so close. i {heart} spring!

sustanable origami....lol

so i ran across something on the internet & thought it was rather interesting. it was a picture of some very happy little seedlings in a sunny window safely ensconced in happy little pots made of what appeared to be newspaper.....   hmmm.
so off i went to see what i could find.

there's this method.... which requires a little tool.  cool.

there's this method...which just uses a can. sweet!       cool *and* easy.

and then there's this method... which *i* personally think is the way to go. one video was labeled "sustainable origami pots"...i love it!

but then i am an origami lover. actual origami where you sit down with a piece of paper & create something by making all those folds. they say that if you fold a thousand paper cranes you will be granted a wish. now i don't know about that, unless your wish is for resolve & tranquility, but i do know that it is therapeutic...really it is. and it's a wonderful resource... this last winter i "origami-ed" a replacement envelope for a bill with a piece of junk mail from my car. and voila! my check was safely tucked in with no danger of becoming separated from the bill it was meant to pay whilst floating around in the nether regions of the payment dropbox. (now *that* is peace of mind!) and it's handy. i learned how to fold a box with dividers & a lid & i make them now for all kinds of things. storage & drawer dividers & gift boxes. oh my!  children (and some adults) are thoroughly fascinated when, at a restaurant, you turn your placemat into something for them to play with...a paper balloon perhaps? how bout a jumping frog? a crown...or maybe just the old stand-by, the paper crane. you could get really fancy too like this rose . ...or this lotus.  
the list could go on & on....lol

and... it's pretty to look at once you've done all the work of folding it.

i turned some origami cranes, some 3D cutwork & a handful of german paper stars (some of which i made of overhead transparency sheets) into a wonderful mobile for my baby nursery.

so anyways, to sum it all up....origami is cool and practical and fun!

go learn some here ---->  go.foldsomething.com <----

well.... go fold something!!!
go on....shoo!  :)

something new!

ok, so....

i have my very own website! {ta-da!}
www.wix.com/skred76/jenniferhope

i found this really cool program called wix where you can build your own site visually, like a collage! and i just got carried away. so now i have an entire website devoted to all things jenn! 

i know, i know....it does seem a bit narcissistic but it's meant to be a sort of expanded business card / get to know the artist type of thing.

i am just a girl/mom/wife/daughter who only happens to be in her thirties (and, incidentally, realized the other day that in a few short years, ready or not, she would actually be in her forties. yikes.)  who has a crazy real life... a life that is a woefully disordered  and wondrously charmed melee of experiences... so i thought i'd share! anyways....  i digress.

so!

this is me shamelessly plugging my website...{oh and my blog...and my etsy shop...}