Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Want to see all FOUR pumpkins I insisted I needed this Halloween? I actually wanted one more, but I ran out of time haha. Thanks for all the pumpkins, Stephanie! They are of such high quality. :D

Dad picked out the pattern for my scary pumpkin face! Love this guy!

My mom decided to carve a pumpkin and made this ghoolish Frankenstein!

Here is my Yoda pumpkin and ghost pumpkins

Let's just talk about how awesome this pumpkin is. Go ahead.

I was completely obsessed about having a Yoda pumpkin this year. I had seen some patterns at Target, but sadly didn't buy them when I saw them and they were gone when we went back. My mom jumped online and found this pattern and I went to town. It was SO hard! But I am pretty proud of it, now that it is all lit up. :)

Did you carve pumpkins? How did they look? Hope you share some pictures!

Guilty face

Oh yeah, I have this blog... and I've been really bad at updating it!

Sorry everyone! There's been a whole ton going on!

1. I went to New York City to visit Erin before she graduates in December with her masters degree
2. Then I returned and started my new job (Did you know I was looking for a new job?)
3. Halloween is approaching and I was busy at Spring Valley with their Halloween programs

Are any of those excuses ok? Maybe not... but I'll make it up to you!!! A few Foliage Fridays are on their way, along with a summary of my new job and my trip to NYC!

Thanks for being patient!!! :)

Shameless plugging....

Recently Stephanie and I were talking about our online selling endeavors and how unsuccessful we have been. She opened an Etsy shop to sell adorable hair clips for young (and old!) girls. It's her first attempt at a shop and she is still figuring it out. And if you read earlier, you know I am attempting to delve into the world of Ebay and sell some collectables.

Sooo, I decided to completely, shamelessly plug Stephanie's Etsy shop. She hand-makes all of her clips and is completely willing to make a clip customized to you. Like the Bears? How about the color purple? Or is Thanksgiving your favorite holiday? She totally has you covered.

Her shop name is "Our Suburban Farm." Which I'm sure you know matches her blog name! Here is a link to her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OurSuburbanFarm?ref=ss_profile#

And here are some pictures of her cute hair clips!

Rosette clips

Halloween themed mini clips!

You pick a color, she can make it happen!

Flower clip!

Do you know a girl in your life that is totally into hair clips? Or does your baby finally have some hair to start playing with? Check out Stephanie's shop! It's so adorable. :) Support handmade goodness! :)

End: Shameless plugging. :)

Foliage Friday - Burning Bush

Happy Foliage Friday! Are you absolutely loving the change in leaves? I sure am! And honestly, I sort of wish the weather would cool back off, these 80+ degree days make it hard to enjoy the changing leaves and Halloween decorations! But anyway, back to trees!

Ready for a Foliage Friday update? I hope so! Here is your friendly plant post, where I talk about a plant I love and hopefully convince you to either plant it or just be more knowledgeable about it.

Plant: Euonymus alatus, Burning bush

Burning bush in fall

Why: To go along with the changing leaves, I was trying to think of a plant that has a wonderful fall color and I thought of the burning bush immediately. My parents have 2 in their back yard, my friend Maria has one in her front yard, and I am just in love with the color. I know you're probably shocked that I'm not posting about a TREE, but it's ok. It's probably only temporary. :)

Landscape info: Like I mentioned, this really isn't a tree, it's more of a bush. If not trimmed, they can get pretty big (20 feet tall), but most of all, if taken care of, this is more of a shrub around 5-10 feet or so. It does best in an area of full sun and well trained soil. As you can probably tell by its name, it develops a gorgeous (obviously biased) fall color in late September that can range between shades of red, orange, and even pink. LOVE!

A close up of the burning bush's leaves

In summer, the leaves are usually a dark green color. It does well transplanted and has very few to no reported pest problems to be concerned about.

Burning bush in summer

Other uses: Sorry, I couldn't find anything!

Fun facts: Is this really a fun fact? Not sure... but the burning bush can actually be classified as an invasive species in some areas. Before you plant it, it's always a good idea to check its classification. Your garden center should (key word: should) be knowledgeable about this. As I mentioned above, there is a wide variety of colors the burning bush can be in fall, and there are at least 15 different cultivars!

Thanks for joining me for yet another Foliage Friday! Anything at all you'd like to know more about? Leave me a comment!


Information and pictures from: http://www.hort.uconn.edu and http://www.bhg.com

I'll just sell it on Ebay

So, for some reason I decided to dive into the world of eBay selling recently. When I moved back in with my parents I cleaned out my room and came up with a bunch of collectible items that I didn't want to just throw out, so I decided to try to sell them. Then my mom came up with a box and my brother followed up with a box of stuff as well.

Why not? Make some extra cash and get rid of some clutter!

Ha. It's kind of a lot of work to sell something on eBay! Take a picture, write a detailed description, clean up item, research/decide on a price, determine shipping costs, open a paypal account, and post the item. *whew*

And of course I had no idea of all of the little charges that come along with posting something. Do you want to be listed in more than 1 category? That will be an extra 10 cents please. Want to list more than 7 days? That's an extra 20 cents. You want a gallery picture? Well, if you're not lucky and get a free promotional offer, that will be 20 cents. Oh and let's not even talk about the percent kick back you have to give back to eBay after you sell something.

I originally refused to give in to all of these nickle and dime charges to make my product look better. I'm supposed to be MAKING money on these items, not losing it! Not to mention that none of these collectibles are incredibly enticing or expensive. But now I'm rethinking that decision.... I had maybe 20 views total on my 16 items the first time.... and a few of those were my own mom!

My first round of listings had 16 items in it.... and 1 sold. ONE. It was a picture frame with Toto from Wizard of Oz on it. Talk about a ton of work for 12 bucks. I have since then relisted the other 15 items to try again.

I'm wondering... do you sell on eBay? What are your tricks? Do you shell out that 10 cents to have it pop up under more than 1 category? What do you do to make your "description" sound like something a person can't pass up?

And how in the heck do you figure out a shipping cost? That is taking me the most time, and quite frankly it is a pain! I have at least 15 other items that aren't listed because I can't figure out a cost effective way to ship them!

And finally, let me know if you happen to know anyone who is interested in Wizard of Oz collectibles, Peanuts collectibles, Pokemon cards, or Beanie Babies. I'm trying to find good homes and I promise the prices are not outrageous. :)

Help!

PINK

Not sure if you've seen my latest Foliage Friday post about a pink flowering tree or not....

But, I picked that tree because Stephanie asked to learn about "the tree that flowers pink in spring." I wasn't sure which one she was picturing in her mind, so I picked one to start! But then my mom suggested listing out a bunch of pink flowering trees that she could be thinking of since some people pick out trees because of how they flower! What a great idea....

Here are a few trees that Stephanie could have been picturing in her mind and would do resonably well in our zone and climate. See the redbud post below. That tree counts, too!

1. Saucer magnolia
There are a bunch of magnolia varieties and cultivars, but I chose the saucer magnolia because I know for a fact that it does well in our zone and I am sort of a fan. :)

Closer up of magnolia flowers

A little farther away of the magnolia

2. Crabapple
There are a bagizillion different kinds of cultivars of crabapple trees. I did a general search of pink flowering crabapples. These are pretty standard colors/shapes of flowers to get an idea!

Close up of crabapple flowers

I have no idea who that man is in the foreground!

3. Pink Kousa Dogwood
There are also a bunch of dogwood cultivars that flower pink, but I love the kousa and I believe it would do well in our area.

Close up of dogwood flowers

Farther away of the pink flowering dogwood tree

4. Kwanzan Cherry
I don't know too much about this cherry tree, but it is super pretty and I'm a fan of cherry trees, they are so pretty!

Close up of cherry flowers

Farther away of a cherry tree on a random slope

5. Pink Flowering Almond tree
I will admit, I know nothing about this tree. But I wanted 5 trees in this post and googled to try to find a 5th. I think this is really pretty!!!

Close up of almond flowers

Farther away of the almond tree. They have sort of a branchy shape, but still nice!

There you go!  A very pink-y post!!!