There's Lilac and There's Lilac

And no matter what sort of lilac it is, I adore it.  Seriously, it's my favorite flower and was the one bloom I really wanted to carry in my wedding... and was so happy when the florist told me I could!

(Flowers designed by Angie at the Metropolitan Plant Exchange,

Photography by Sharon Ann Curia of Sharon's Wedding Art)

And so when Eric and I were making our latest batch of candles, I lobbied for Lilac.  In keeping with our new look, we did them two-tone pink and purple, but the scent is gorgeous, springy, unadulterated Lilac, and they're already a hit with customers.

The 15" round pillar has already sold, but you can find the square pillars here, the small round pillars here, and the votives here.  If you're not sure how much you'll love it - or the other spring candles we've made - you can also try one of each votive in our sampler pack!

But back to the lilacs.  I can't forget about them for too long, that's for sure.  The lilacs.  I love lilacs so much that one year my sister and I got a small lilac shrub for our mom for Mother's Day from the NJ Botanical Gardens.  OK, that gift wasn't quite as self-serving as it sounds.  My sister and mom like lilacs too, and mom likes to have nice, flowering plants around the yard.

Well, back in September, Eric and I moved here to Franklin Lakes, where we have a nice little house... with a whole lotta land.  There's a forest in our backyard, for real!  Well, OK, it's a small foresty area but still.  It's foresty enough that we've had not only squirrels and chipmunks but also possum, a bunny, deer on more than one occasion, and at one point... bear tracks in the snow!  And the rest of the back yard and all of the front is a lot of lawn.  Lots and lots of lawn and trees and bushes.  So I was lobbying for a lilac shrub for our own yard.  I was hoping that during their annual plant sale earlier in the month, Eric and I could go to the NJ Botanical Gardens in the hope that they had lilacs again.

Didn't need to.

Just a week or so before, I was getting into my car for work in the morning and I glanced at this big tree that was on the other side of the driveway.  It was budding.  It was budding purple.  I went for a closer look... and quite literally danced around the driveway.  Lilacs!  A whole huge lilac shrub the size of a tree!  All mine!

It's been blooming ever since, and the smell makes me smile every time I pass by.  It makes me so, so happy.  And while we've added Lilac Candles to Reef Botanicals, I've added a new photo to Fabric of my Mind.

That beauty can be found right here, if you want your own print of it.  Can't you just smell them?

Ah, I'm smiling again.  Just can't help it!

Is It the Season Already?

Holiday commercials are on TV, holiday movies, showing on Lifetime.  I've been getting Black Friday emails for a while.  So I guess it's time to talk gifts, especially since Chanukah is early this year.

In addition to all the great gifts we've always had available at Reef Botanicals (and remember, if you want to do a custom gift basket, fish around the shop and see what you like then message me so we can make some plans!), there are some new things at Fabric of my Mind you should see, that I haven't shown you yet.

The most luxurious is this 100% cashmere scarf.

It's in a great Irish hiking cable knit pattern.

This blue one you see is one I made for Eric, but I'm offering it as a custom order (which means if you want it for the holidays, order as soon as possible!) in any one of these six colors.

There's also this fluffy soft acrylic blue/green/grey cable knit scarf for a more affordable option.

Or there's a great fluffy soft ribbed scarf in apple green.

That ones makes a great set with these green mittens knitted from the same yarn!

Plus, there's lots more photos if you're into decor as gifts... or to update your house for having guests over.

We Weathered the Storm

So... if you haven't been living under a rock, I suppose you heard about our not-so-friendly friend, Sandy.  Yeah, that wench took our power from October 30 at 7:30 p.m. to November 3 at 1:59 p.m.  I'd never been without power for more than a few hours before, so this was a new one for me.  I'd like to never do it again.

Thankfully, unlike my friends along the shore who had tons of damage to their homes and belongings, ours was minimal.  We live on a mountain amongst lakes and forest, so I was worried about trees of course, but we got really lucky.  The one big tree that came down on our property was at the very edge of the woodsy part of the backyard and didn't even make it to the flat part.

I only noticed it because when we went to walk Meg, I saw the new breakage there at the top.  Like I said, we were lucky, and I'm not kidding.  That was a tall tree, and had it been at the close end of the woods rather than the far end, we might be roofless.

Another tree snapped partway up and is now resting on two other trees.

Mostly, though, we just were given a big raking job.

And as you see, we emptied the yard of everything.  The grill and whatever furniture would fit went into the garage.  The rest went down the basement.  And the garbage cans are on the steps right below those cellar doors you see on the left.  The only thing that we couldn't get inside was Eric's garden box, but we took care of that.

And then we got inside and stayed inside.  We lost power Monday night at 7:30, which didn't disturb much... until the 3rd day or so.  Neither one of us had ever been without power for more than a couple hours before.  It's a good thing we make candles!  It's also a good thing we have a fireplace.  Without heat, we'd have been cooked.  Or anti-cooked, as the case may be.  For a total of 5 days, we showered at a friend's house, closed off our extraneous rooms and dragged a mattress into the living room in front of the fireplace.  And did lots of this.

It could have been worse.  We could have had this in our yard.

Or this at the end of our street.

So yeah, lucky.  Also, I knitted.  Very glad knitting doesn't require power.  Started a sweater for myself and worked on a nephew's fish.

A nephew's fish? you ask.

One like this.

The one pictured above is actually available in the shop.  I'm also making one for each nephew for Chanukah/Christmas too.

And I cut out all the parts for 16 cows.  Sounds weird, I know.  But I'm in another show, Cinderella Confidential, and I've been double-cast.  I'm one of the stepsisters (fun!) and also Flossie the Cow.  How awesome is that?  Flossie is a silent part, but she's kind of a running joke throughout the show.  Because she's such a staple in the production, they've started calling me Flossie instead of Larissa.

And it's a theater tradition, at last in community theater, to give everyone a card and/or small gift on opening night.  So remember when I won that fat quarter of black and white fabric?  I'd never used it.  Yeah, I know.  But it was sitting there... and it hit me:  Cows!

(No, I was not actually hit by cows.  That would hurt.  Silly people.)

So... I started cutting.  And cutting.  And cutting.  Sixteen cows mean a lot of parts when each body takes two, each face takes two, then there are ears, hooves, horns, and snouts to cut from felt.  Floss for nostrils and buttons for eyes.  But how cute are they?!  As soon as we got power back, I got to sewing.  And sewing.  And sewing.

I've earmarked ten of them for my cast & crew, one for a friend, and three for the shop.

If you're on the east coast, how'd you make it through?  Everything OK?

From Halloween to Christmas Card in 3.0 Days

Sunday, November 4, 2012, in Wyckoff, NJ

Wednesday, November 7, 2012, in Franklin Lakes, NJ

The Sun Came Out!

It had been raining for a couple days, so I decided to do up another Handmade Highlight, focusing on sunny works by my fellow artists at the Handmade Artists Forum.  So I bring you... The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow!

You can see the actual Highlight here, and from there check out each piece in its artist's shop.  Trust me, it's worth it!

Summer Solstice Sale!

From the first day of summer, Wednesday, June 20, 2012, at 12:01 a.m. through Friday June 22, 2012, at 11:59 p.m., shipping will be FREE on all orders over $25 at http://www.reefbotanicals.com/, http://www.handmadeartists.com/shop/reefbotanicals, and http://www.fabricofmymind.com/.

Priority Mail in the US, Regular Mail in Canada.

Enjoy!

Also, new in Fabric of my Mind...

An amazing bird stiltwalker.

Sheep in a field in County Kerry, Ireland.

And a red lily.

We'll be vending this weekend!

Reef Botanicals (and some washcloths & photos from Fabric of my Mind) will be at the Carlstadt Fresh Air Market on June 10, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Come visit!

In the park on Broad & 3rd Streets in Carlstadt, NJ.

What's Doin'?

Well... lots.

I've joined the newly formed Carlstadt Green Team, a town committee geared toward caring for and wisely using the new park that was created down the street from my house!  The team runs a monthly Fresh Air Market there, and so I'm gearing up for my first one on June 10.  It's on 3rd & Broad Streets in Carlstadt, NJ, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., so if you're in the area, come visit!

In preparation, I've made brand new batches of Lavender Soap & Oatmeal Honey Soap, and this coming week I'll be making our Mock Turtle Shampoo.  I've also been stocking up on cotton bamboo washcloths for the market & shop.

So... I've added some new photos and washcloths to Fabric of my Mind.

This tortoise was munching away on a leaf; I suppose I caught him during his lunch break.

This aster was in my own yard a couple years ago, and I love this photo.  I may need to have one printed for myself to hang.

Much like the gardenia yellow basket weave washcloth I knitted previously, this one's in an awesome sprout green cotton bamboo.

And then, still on my green kick, I did this pebbled washcloth that's got a seed stitch for a nice, scrubby texture.

This eyelet washcloth would be great as a face cloth, since it's so soft.  I went back to the gardenia yellow for this one.

Meanwhile, I've added our Oatmeal Honey soap to the Reef Botanicals HAFshop, as well as the Autumn Harvest Square Pillar.

And in the yard this year, in addition to veggies, Eric is growing hops for his beer brewing.  So I decided to expand too, by trying some flowers.  They seem to be turning into a tropical rain forest, the leaves are so thick!  They started like this...

(And that lone twig in the mulch between the two patches of flowers is a blueberry bush.)

And as of a couple days ago, the first flowers appeared!  They're itty bitty, teeny weeny white flowers.

Can't see 'em?  Look.

And this weekend, we'll be in Vermont, but I'll tell you all about that when we get back!

Some new things in Fabric of my Mind

I needed to pay a little more attention to the newer shop, so I've listed two new photographs.

The first, available here, is a photograph I took at the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland, in the spring of 2009.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful place.  Hopefully, my memories and feelings show through in the photo.

I remember the day well, as well as the day before.  We'd actually gotten to Cashel the night before, intending to go straight to the Rock, see it, and then head on to the next town.  Well, we got there just a few minutes after they let in the last wave of people.  The ruins aren't artificially lighted, so they're really serious about not allowing latecomers.  I was really disappointed, until Eric reminded me that it was actually a day earlier than I thought it was - I so lose track of time when on vacation.

So that evening, we found a B&B and went to a dinner, probably the only one during our 10 days in Ireland that was at all disappointing.  What came after was awesome, though.  We consoled ourselves by going for a drink at a local pub, where we met some guys who heard our accents, found out we were on our honeymoon, and took us partying, first to another local pub with a band, and then to a club where the father of one of the guys was DJing at a private party we crashed.

While dancing at the club, Eric's foot got stomped by an Irish girl with big wooden-soled shoes, so the next morning when we got up and had breakfast, he was still pretty pained.  We walked the Rock anyway, and the grandeur of it almost made him forget his foot.

The second, available here, is a perfect red rose that was growing in my front yard in 2010 here in NJ.  I was able to find an angle that gave me the sky as background, and it's one of my favorite shots; so much so that it's the background wallpaper of my cell phone and has been for 3 successive phones now.

I've also added a third washcloth to the shop, this one in sprout green cotton bamboo with gardenia yellow racing stripes at both ends.  Soft and absorbent as ever, I really love the color scheme.

So... whatcha think?

New Items in the New Shop

All are there for your perusal, one stuffy, and a bunch of photos!

Cuddle Bunny is here.

Pink Peony is here.

Glendalough Monastery is here.

Wicklow from a Horse is here.

White Iris is here.

Contemplative Walk at the Upper Lake is here.

Enjoy!