Cold and Sick - Trying to keep up

Yes, I know its been way too long since I wrote in my blog and I do apologize for that. I've had a nasty cough and congestion that has been keeping me from sleeping very much in the last 3 weeks and have just generally felt like someone took a hammer to me. I am finally starting to feel better and trying to get caught up with my holiday sales and markets. 

I am still offering free shipping on many of my items in both shops right now, this sale will continue through December 31st, 2009. Take a peek at Dakorah Gardens to find a fabulous moss terrarium or succulent garden for a loved one or co-worker. I'm in the process of liquidating my Dakorah Designs shop right now and have marked down allot of prices and offering free shipping on several items.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season, stay safe and don't drink and drive! :) 

Happy Holidays 

Anja

Starving Artist Cafe Annual Holiday Art Market

I will be in North Little Rock, AR tomorrow (Sat 11/28/09) for the Annual Holiday Art Market at the Starving Artist Cafe in the Argenta Arts District on Main St. We will be setting up between 11:30 and 3:00 so that you can do some holiday shopping and enjoy a fabulous lunch all at once. :) 

Come on out and see local Arkansas artists offering some fabulous stuff. Pearl of Little Bird Baskets will be there with some of her fantastic home grown and made gift baskets. 

The Starving Artist Cafe will be hosting the Annual Holiday Art Market each of the next 4 Saturdays, so there is no excuse for you not to stop in and take something home. Support your local Arkansas Artists. :) 

I will be bringing some succulents, moss terrariums and a few pieces of my jewelry to offer.  

BLACK FRIDAY SPECIALS

I'm running special sales including FREE US SHIPPING on a ton of items for Black Friday which will run through midnight November 30th, Central Standard Time. Sales are running in all 3 shops! 

Be sure to check back often during the sale, as I dig into my inventory and add more items at great prices or with FREE US SHIPPING! :) 


Dakorah Designs - quality vintage items

Dakorah Gardens - succulents, heirloom seeds, moss terrariums, etc

Dekora Prints -  photography prints 

Bonsai and Succulents Oh My!

Well I've had the itch to get into Bonsai for quite some time now. I have been enamored with the art of Bonsai for too many years to remember. I finally decided to jump in head first with some of the Jade plants I have and see if I have the patience for the art of Bonsai. I also started a Pony Tail Palm for Bonsai as well. I will keep you updated on my progress, I have great intentions of course so I hope it keeps my attention. :) 

Mini Jade

 

I planted a few new succulents yesterday too. I found a set of four cobalt blue ceramic Tiki cups that look like they have crazy hair with the succulents I planted in them. They are SO SO cute! 

From left to right

Zebra Plant, Sedum Brown Bean, Mini Blue Chalk Fingers, Aloe Minibelle

 Oh and I can't forget the oh so fabulous vintage white calf planter I found! I planted a Hobbit succulent in it that looks too cute. 

The Holidays are fast approaching, so get your shopping done early. These little succulents make great gifts. They look fantastic on a desk or work space. They also make fabulous housewarming gifts. Be careful though, they are highly addictive! I can vouch for that - I have a really hard time passing one up when I find a new one that I don't have in my collection. 

Have a Happy Turkey Day and drive safe if you're traveling during the Holiday season! 

~Dakorah Diva

It's been a minute.....

It's been a minute since I had a chance to update my blog, I apologize for that. It has been an INSANE and hectic week for me. I finally made the trip to Wisconsin to pick up the rest of my household items. It was a bit overwhelming and I was exhausted. A couple of mechanical delays left me sitting for 14 hours while en route back to Arkansas. It was NOT fun let me tell you. :) 

I have some fresh, live Reindeer Moss lichen available in the garden shop. This is so soft and gorgeous. Reindeer moss is actually a lichen that forms pillow-like colonies of dense, branching ground cover.

Great for terrariums, table centerpieces, floral arrangements and crafts. Can be dried out for faux arrangements. Once it dries out, a spray of spring water or distilled water will bring it back to life again. If you're using this in a terrarium just provide plenty of indirect light and moisture.

This moss/lichen is great for reptile and amphibian terrariums. I have one gallon and one quart zip bags available. 

 

Local Antique Malls

Today I spent the great part of the day browsing through a couple of the local antique malls that I had not been to yet. One of the malls was rather large and I think I spent the greater part of 4 hours in there. :) *swoon* I found so many fabulous things I had to have - and plenty more that I have every intention of going back later this week and picking up too! Northern Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains area has a plethora of antique malls, flea markets, thrift stores, junk stores and rummage/yard sales. This may indeed be my downfall. LOL I'm thoroughly enjoying it though so I won't complain at all! 

On another note, my baby turns 14 next Tuesday - where oh where does the time go? It's all going way too fast for me, with my oldest in the Army and this one turning 14, it seems to be flying by at light speed. 

I hope everyone is having a great week - don't forget Veteran's Day tomorrow. All Veterans and service personnel eat free at Applebee's tomorrow, so let all of the Veterans and service personnel you know they are appreciated.

HOOAH!

My boys :) I am a PROUD Army mom!

 

Settling in and getting back in the groove :)

Well I am trying to get settled in to a new life here in northern Arkansas, it's taking a bit of a toll on me, really missing my ex-significant other allot. I'm working on getting back into the groove of things so Ive started working on new moss garden terrariums and small, personal succulent gardens. Ive come across a fantastic supplier here locally for my succulents and they are gorgeous, let me tell you. There are the best looking succulents Ive seen in a long time. I was to the point I was going to start ordering in bulk for clippings from succulent growers but I think I will hold off a bit now that I have a local supply. :)

I'm still sorting through and editing the numerous pictures I took around the area the other day. This may take a while. lol I found so many interesting places, I cant wait for Spring to get here already now so I can go out and find more cool new places around here. Its starting to cool off a bit and the daytime temps are dropping here now. I really hate daylight savings time - the days seem to short now. It usually puts me in a bit of a funk for a while. Maybe I can nip that in the bud by trying to stay busy cranking out moss terrariums and succulent containers. :)

I love shopping the thrift stores for vintage and out of the ordinary containers to put the succulents and moss gardens in. Everything I see I am constantly thinking of ways to upcycle and which plants will look good in it. lol This is thrift store mecca here in Harrison, AR and I have not even broken the surface checking them all out yet! I think I visited 5-6 in one day last week.

I am a little disappointed that Harrison doesnt have a city wide recycling pick up with the trash service. :/ This is a decent sized town here, and I would have thought they would have been on board with this already. May have to check into that.

Ta Ta for now....hope everyone has a fabulous week. Don't forget Wednesday, November 11th is Veterans Day! Be sure to thanks your Vets for what they have done and members of the Armed Forces for doing what they do for all of us. I am a PROUD Army Mom! HOOAH!

Just a few Photos

Happy Friday all :) Its going to be a gorgeous weekend here in Northern Arkansas with highs in the 70s. I got out yesterday and explored the area, taking almost 300 pictures of landscapes. It is truly beautiful up here, I especially enjoy the natural springs with their sparkling blue/green waters.

I found some really cool caves that look like some type of animal or another is living in them. I always wonder just what sort of animal would live in each little cave I find. I usually just take pictures of them but if the opening is big enough I have been known to peek my head inside and take a look around. I need to remember to bring my flashlight next time I go. ;) I'm thinking tomorrow or Sunday will be great to go out exploring again and taking pictures.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. My thoughts go out to the families at Ft Hood, TX that lost loved ones and soldiers yesterday.

I have started adding new prints to my Dekora Prints Shop on Etsy so be sure to stop by and take a look around.

Apples and Peppers oh my!

Last Saturday I went to the last Farmer's Market of the season here in West Bend, WI. I was a little sad, I do love the Market here. I picked up 20lbs of Macintosh apples, 15 green and pale yellow Bell peppers, 2 dozen Cherry Bomb peppers, a couple of heads of fresh garlic and some baby carrots.

I started chopping the Bell peppers this morning. Some I will dehydrate and some I will freeze for cooking with this winter. I have a ton of Jalapeños in the freezer I plan to make jelly with, so some of the Bells will go in with that.

Plans for the apples:
Apple sauce
Cinnamon Apples for canning
Peeling & slicing for the freezer
Dehydrating (drying) Apple chips for snacking


I'm a little under the weather today, but these all need to be done before they ruin so I'm working on them a little at a time to get them finished.

Have a good week everyone. :)

The Flu.............. and a Treasury

I've been MIA for a few days, my youngest son has been home with the Flu since last Wednesday so things are a little off kilter around here. I had hoped he would be back to school today - but no such luck. It's a short school week, with the kids being off Wed-Fri of this week already. I will be picking up school work later this afternoon or tomorrow for him to start working on when he is feeling better. Poor kid is actually feeling worse today than he has in the past week and is now running fever as well. Today is the first day for fever. :(

One of my items was featured in an Etsy Treasury today - so that was a definite nice pick me up for a foggy, drizzly Monday morning. Thanks Maddo!

Chicken or the Egg? Treasury by Maddo

Be sure to take a peek at the treasury as well as Maddo's fabulous jewelry and other items in her shop!

Happy Monday To Everyone!

Vintage Wood Soda Crates, Apple Crates & Egg Crates

I have an excellent variety of vintage wood crates available at Dakorah Designs on Etsy. I have lowered the prices of my wood crates to try and make them more affordable for everyone that would like to decorate with them.

Old wood crates have a variety of uses for storage and decoration in the home, workspace, garden shed or garage. They look great in a rustic or cottage decor home. You can use them to store books, garden items for easy carry to and from the garden, displays at craft or trade shows, you can even mount them on the wall for some really cool shadow box style displays.

We like using them to store extra towels and toiletry items in the guest bathroom as well. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

Home Sweet Home

I'm back from a great weekend in Chicago for the NARBC Reptile Expo. Loved catching up with old friends and getting to know new friends, but I am so glad to be back home and able to sleep in my own bed. :)

Chi Town Here We Come :)

Tomorrow we head down to Chicago Tinley Park for a big reptile expo (www.narbc.com). It will be a nice, quiet weekend get away for Dan and I, without the kiddo. :) We will get to catch up with old friends and get to know new friends better as well. Hopefully we will sell a bunch of our snakes we produced this year as well. ;)

I have a ton of new items to list in the shops next week, this week has just gotten away from me while we have been trying to get ready for the show this weekend. I have a few new moss gardens that are ready for new homes now, as well as some new succulents.

I think Wisconsin just skipped Fall all together - Saturday night its supposed to be 31! I'm so not ready for this cold, cold weather just yet. The majority of my tomato plants were late getting going this year due to an extremely cool, mild Spring and early Summer, so I lost the crops off of them.

TEAM WIST (Wisconsin Etsy Street Team) OCTOBERFEST SPECIAL ~ OCTOBER 3-11, 2009

TEAM WIST (Wisconsin Etsy Street Team) OCTOBERFEST SPECIAL ~ OCTOBER 3-11, 2009


As a proud member of Team WIST - The Wisconsin Etsy Street Team - I am participating in the Octoberfest Special Team WIST Sale October 3-11.

I am offering 15% off any purchase in my Dakorah Designs shop as well as Dakorah Gardens. This does not include your shipping fees. Just enter "octoberfest" in the comment to seller section at checkout and I'll refund your money via PayPal ASAP! :)

To see other great http://wist-etsy.blogspot.com/2009/09/octoberfest-special-october-3-11-2009.html specials from Wisconsin artists, check out the Team WIST Blog. :)

Moss gardens featured in an Xmas Shopping Guide :)

I sent off one of my moss gardens for review for an Xmas Shopping Guide from Burning Moon Products. Take a look, she is reviewing some great items for Xmas gift giving. Be sure to follow her blog to see what all she adds to the blog.

The Whirlwind Tour

Whew! Its been one heck of a week for me. :) I left last Wed morning about 3am heading to Ft Knox, KY from Just north of Milwaukee. Wed evening I got to socialize with my Army Cav Scout son and his Drill Sergeants and troop Commander, then Thur morn I watched him graduate from Cavalry Scout school and officially become a Soldier.

We left directly after graduation and headed to central Arkansas for my son to pick up his Jeep and for us to visit with family members that we had not seen in months. It was a great visit, but way too quick and too much driving. We spent 3 days in central Arkansas then headed back up here to Wisconsin, with Loren following me in his Jeep. One small blowout on his Jeep cost us 4 hours drive time and I ran out of steam and stopped to get a room for the night. We finally made it home Monday afternoon about 4pm.

I am still completely drained and worn out. Its been great having my son up here to visit before he has to report to his first duty station on 5 Oct, at Ft Campbell, KY with the 101st Airborne Air Assault. The time is going by too fast for me though, I'm not ready for him to go yet.

My body is still trying to play catch up, so I havent had much time to add things to the Dakorah shops, but I did post a couple of new moss garden terrariums. One is a really cool Halloween themed terrarium, with a skeleton in a suit with a briefcase called Death of a Salesman. ;) The other is a gorgeous hand blown glass pear with moss and a big chunk of raw Amethyst.

Hope everyone has had a great week, and will have an even better weekend!

Re-Vamping

I did a little re-vamp on the blog, let me know what you think. Do you like the new look? Layout? I think it gives the blog a much crisper look and the color is not distracting from the blog content.

The work week is almost over...

It's Thursday and the regular work week is almost finished - although with working to get my Etsy shops going I don't seem to ever stop working these days. (thats OK I will get a bit of a break next week when I make my trip to Ft Knox, KY to see my oldest son!)

I sat up last night designing some new business cards for Dakorah, and included both Dakorah Designs and Dakorah Gardens on one card. I think they look pretty nice to have designed them myself. ;)

I also spent the evening thinking of things I will need for my set up at a local craft sale & flea market this coming Saturday, that is held once a month here in West Bend. This will be my first time setting up with the vintage goods and plants. I'm used to doing our reptile expo set ups. ;)

I think I might try to set up at the Saukville, WI Farmer's Market on Sunday as well and see how that goes. It's a relatively new Market so still small compared to the one here in West Bend. We are quite lucky to have a really nice Farmer's Market so close to home. :)

Monday blahs - weekends are way too short!

I despise Mondays lol I seriously could use a 3 day weekend every week. :) (of course IF my regular employer continues as is, that may be my reality very soon)

I had a great weekend in the Etsy shops - Dakorah Gardens & Dakorah Designs - thank you to everyone who ordered a moss terrarium or succulent from one of my shops over the weekend. <3

Don't forget to take a peek at all of my vintage kitchen and home goodies in the Dakorah Designs shop. :)


................
10 days and counting until my son graduates from Army Cavalry Scout school at Ft Knox, KY - I can't wait to see him and get to spend some time with him. :) HOOAH!

Saturday Farmers Market Pics - West Bend, WI

The local Farmer's Market was bustling with energy this morning - and flourishing with lots of fabulous goodies! I picked up some nice heirloom tomatoes varieties that I havent grown yet so I definitely plan on saving seeds, and delicious locally grown Pears and several varieties of peppers - both hot and sweet. The green Bell Peppers were bigger than Grapefruits!

Enjoy!

Saturday Farmers Market

I'm off to the Farmer's Market in town this morning - maybe I will take my camera and snap a few pics. :)


Happy Saturday all!

I finally did it :)

I started a new shop on Etsy just for my garden items so that the vintage shop is not cluttered and hodge podge looking. I figured from feedback I had received from folks that each shop looks better and does better with sales if it is specialized and devoted to one type of market, so as soon as I can get them moved over, all of the succulents and moss garden terrariums will be moved over to the new shop. Ive got a few listing already up in the new shop, so please stop by and take a look around. Let me know what you think - feedback is always greatly appreciated. I am including several varieties of seeds - including heirloom tomatoes, ornamental as well as a variety of hot pepper seeds and a few types of flower seeds.

www.DakorahGardens.etsy.com

You can still find some garden items in the vintage shop for now. ;)

www.DakorahDesigns.etsy.com

I have been working on quite a few larger succulent containers to try and market locally as well, so if you are in southeast Wisconsin give me a shout if you are interested in seeing what I have available.


Have a great weekend everyone!

XOXO

NEW NEW NEW :)

Happy Tuesday all!

I spent some time this weekend opening up a new shop geared specifically towards my garden items. This will leave DakorahDesigns to focus on the original vintage items I started out on Etsy selling. :) This way the shops will look less cluttered and hodge podge - a bit more focused.

Please take a peek if you have time and feedback is always welcome. (hearts are great too!)
www.DakorahGardens.etsy.com

A wonderful 3 day weekend...

Which was very much needed. :) I have so many projects started around the house that I just haven't had time to finish lately. Now Ive got the time, and hope to get projects AND housecleaning both done this weekend.

Another project I am working in is moving all of my garden items (moss terrariums and succulents) over to my new shop, devoted solely towards garden items. I will be adding new terrariums, new succulents and a few ornamental pepper plants!

www.DakorahGardens.etsy.com

Be sure to heart the new shop and check back often for new items. :) The focus for Dakorah Designs will go back to fine quality vintage items as well.

BOGO Weekend Coming Up August 28-30 Stop By!

Buy One Get One 50% off! This weekend only, August 28-30th. Stop on by :)

Buy one Moss Terrarium - Get one Moss Terrarium of an equal or lesser value at 50% off. (actual shipping charges for the terrariums will apply)

Buy one Succulent Garden - Get one Succulent Garden of an equal or lesser value at 50% off. (actual shipping charges apply as well)

In the rest of the shop - get FREE shipping on any order totaling $50 or more. :)


Convo me on Etsy to setup a personalized listing for you with the pricing adjustments. :)


Dakorah Designs Shop on Etsy

A few vintage items to come :)

I've picked up quite a few nice, vintage items in the last couple of weeks that I need to get photographed and added to the shop - so watch for those. ;)

Vintage aluminum measuring cups
Vintage cream & sugar china sets
Vintage wood slat egg crate box with the original paper crates
13x9 Pyrex Spring Blossoms Baker
Vintage Wooden Crate

And much much more! Stay tuned! :)

A few more moss terrariums....

One very gorgeous blue winged fairy and her butterfly companion :)



Mr Gnome is Home! What a fantastically whimsical Gnome Home this is! :)



More added as well :) Click here to view all of my available moss garden terrariums!