Wearing the Red, White and Blue

With Memorial Day just past and the Fourth of July coming up in just over a month, the color combination of red, white and blue is a popular and patriotic theme to work into one's wardrobe here in the U.S. Whether you are looking for that perfect accessory to go with a total red, white and blue ensemble or you just want to add a spot of the color combination to your daily wear, let Eclectic Design Choices help you procure that perfect piece.

My EDCCollective Etsy shop has a few ready to ship red, white and blue accessories. Dangle the red, white and blue from your ears or clip it onto your purse or backpack with a zipper pull. A patriotic necklace for the math geek can be found in my EclecticSkeptic Etsy shop. In addition if you contact me, I would be happy to work up a custom piece of jewelry or patriotic pull to fit your wishes.

If your Fourth of July celebration includes watching a parade, gathering with friends and family for a cook out or enjoying a day on the lake, remember the sun screen. If you live in an area where you get to set off your own fireworks please follow directions, use common sense and have fun.

My Photographic Art Contribution to DFW Artisans' Etsy Craft Party

What do you get when you cross a bluebonnet with an almond flower cluster? A bluemond? An albonnet? Join me, members of the DFW Artisans team and other local artisans at the DFW Artisans' Etsy Craft Party on June 6 and decide or make one for yourself. (Click on the prior link for more info.)

Etsy promotes a worldwide crafting event in June. This year organizers can choose June 5 or 6 to be part of this celebration of craft. This year's theme from Etsy is Kaleidoscope: Paper Taking Shape. These events can be a lot of fun but I was not inspired to organize one until I saw Etsy's paper weaving blog post last week. A light bulb went off and I could see creating a craft party that would be fun, let people participate in a make and take craft that they would enjoy keeping or possibly even giving as a gift and give 817ArtsAlliance and the Etsy team I am organizing, DFW Artisans, an opportunity to promote art related events in the area.

Several artisans will be creating images for participants to pick from and weave into a new creation. I will be providing my "Solitary" bluebonnet and my "Turquoise Centers" almond blossoms images. I may provide a couple more along with what the others are bringing for party goers to choose from. What would you name the flower cross shown below?

Thanks for the Treasuries - April 2015

Four Etsy shop owners and one Etsy team let me know they had featured one or more of my items in treasuries during April. Eight April Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during April. One of them was featured in two treasuries. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured one or more of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like. You will also see information about the TexasFriendsTeam that also featured an item of mine.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

GirlieGals
Girlie Gals offers you jewelry with sparkle and shine at affordable prices.

HotdogCrafts
This shop owner turns graphics into button dangle earrings, hair clips, keychains and more.

TICC
Jewelry, candles, fiber arts, leather and wood, is there a craft this artisan can't do?

ToysFrom70s
Browse this shop to find nostalgic vintage toys, collectibles, games and more.

TXFriendsTeam
Past, present and future Texans are welcome and encouraged to join this team. The only real rules of the group are to promote friendly, The TX Way, and be respectful to all who participate.

What’s in Bloom – Early May 2015

The late winter and early spring bulbs have bloomed and their foliage is busy storing energy from the sun for next year's bloom. They have been followed by an array of bulbs, perennials, annuals and flowering shrubs. The flowers shown in this collage are the ones having the biggest impact currently in my garden. Clockwise from the upper left corner: 1) "Apple Blossom" amaryllis, 2) yellow columbine, 3) Texas bluebonnets, 4) winecup, 5) autumn sage, 6) white Indian hawthorn and weigela shrubs with a weigela flower cluster inset, 7) dianthus and 8) vinicolor Louisiana iris.

(Click to enlarge the images.)

Amazingly my Apple Blossom amaryllis has decided to become a perennial for me in my zone 8 garden. I expect this in zone 9 but continue to be pleasantly surprised at the return and increase in size of this tender bulb. The long spurs on my yellow columbine are eye catching. This is a great shade and drought tolerant plant. The red eyes on the bluebonnets pictured here mean they have already been pollinated. These plants come back from seed from the original plants that came from a piece of property I used to own. This winecup is a low growing and very floriferous variety and is also very drought tolerant. Autumn sage puts out a big flush of flowers mid to late spring and again in the fall. It will also bloom sporadically during the summer. This is an excellent drought tolerant shrub. Indian hawthorn (I also have a pink variety that is blooming well.) and weigela are also good choices for spring flowering shrubs. My dianthus think they are evergreen perennials that need to bloom on and off much of the year. I don't plan to dissuade them. This lovely purple iris came from a friend's garden. It has grown extra tall with our wetter than normal spring.

While I do tuck in some annuals here and there because they often have longer bloom times than perennials, I really like having rotating color spots throughout the garden by planting native and adapted perennials with different blooming periods. I hope this collage provides some ideas and inspiration for your garden.

Update: I was out this morning and realized I totally forgot to include a couple of native TX wildflowers that I have in my gardens, spiderwort and prairie phlox. Native spiderwort expresses itself in a variety of colors including hot pink, sky blue, purple and many variations on the blue/purple continuum. Both plants are very drought tolerant.

Earth Day 2015

I stumbled across a great Pinterest board a few days ago with plenty of ideas and events geared towards celebrating Earth Day brought to you by Keep Texas Beautiful. You don't have to live in the Lone Star State to find a pin there with something you can do for Earth Day, as not all of them are TX specific. At least one of the pins includes a reminder about using reusable grocery bags. Everyone should try this suggestion out.

I have gathered a small collection of reusable shopping bags. I like the insulated bags from Central Market and Target for frozen or cold foods. Also in the first photo are two clever bags that I received in a conference goodie bag. (one expanded, one stuffed) They have a pocket inside each bag that you stuff them into when not in use for compact storage and they have a small carabiner for ease of carry. The second photo includes a bag I got on a trip last summer and one that was a surprise holiday gift from Etsy last year.

I must admit I'm not the best at always using them because I don't tend to remember my bags until I am at the grocery store and the bags are still safely stored at home. However, I have gotten better at making sure I have at least a couple in my car after finding myself in Austin, needing to grocery shop, after they instituted their plastic bag ban. Luckily my purchases stacked fairly well and I made it to my car without dropping anything. Several Texas cities have followed Austin's lead and passed ordinances banning one time use plastic bags, so putting a couple of reusable shopping bags in your car just in case you find yourself in the same situation I was in would be prudent and good for the environment to boot.

Please check out the Keep Texas Beautiful board to see what you can do to celebrate Earth Day and do your part to protect Mother Earth. All of the things we do, big or small, do matter.

Earth Mother Gifts

Mother's Day is less than a month away. If you will be buying something and having it shipped, I strongly suggest that you order it at least a week before you need it to arrive. USPS has been rather slow since the first of the year and destinations that previously would receive their items by first class mail in 2-3 days have been taking a week on average. (USPS is closing and consolidating sort centers and has created a real slow down in mail service. Even priority mail has been slowed down from its norm. Enough of my rant, you have been warned, whether you are purchasing from me or somewhere else.)

If you would describe you mom as an earth mother, then she is likely to appreciate a gift of jewelry made with gemstones born of the earth. One such gemstone is quartz. When you think of quartz, the first thing that pops into mind is probably a clear crystal point. That is a very popular form, however there are other gemstones that would have also been clear quartz (SiO₂) if not for mineral impurities and inclusions.

I have several earring and necklace options available that are made with several gemstones in the quartz family. You can see jewelry in the image below that, as I am writing this, is available and ready to ship. I have many other quartz components available for custom creations too. Gemstones seen in the photo that might not come to mind right away when processing the word quartz are amethyst, citrine, tourmalinated quartz and rose quartz. Some of these creations are currently listed in my EDCCollective Etsy shop. If you are interested in any that are not currently listed or in a custom order, please contact me about availability.

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Thanks for the Treasuries - March 2015

Seven Etsy shop owners and one Etsy team let me know they had featured one or more of my items in treasuries during March. Fourteen March Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations and four treasuries featured one item from each of my shops. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during March. Some of them were featured in more than one treasury. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured one or more of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like. You will also see information about the TexasFriendsTeam that also featured items of mine.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

CorkyCrafts
If you have a wine connoisseur who happens to appreciate hand made items look no further than this shop's wonderful creations.

CreationsofTrueFairy
This shop features delightful nature themed jewelry and paperweights.

DesertFlatsFarm
This farm store stocks predominantly vintage and horseshoe home decor.




HotdogCrafts
This shop owner turns graphics into button dangle earrings, hair clips, keychains and more.

JackRabbitFlats
This shop owner loves using old, weathered items to make new, wonderful art.

TheYellowRoses
Find stuffed friends that are sweet & huggable as well as home decor mosaics.

ToysFrom70s
Browse this shop to find vintage toys, collectibles, games and more.

TXFriendsTeam
Past, present and future Texans are welcome and encouraged to join this team. The only real rules of the group are to promote friendly, The TX Way, and be respectful to all who participate.