2012 Summer Urban Uprising Craft Show

I loved the creativity of these pieces.  This Mom made "Cameos" but using her own needle work to do design.  These jewelry pieces shout vintage style all over them.

This Washington native is one of my favorite artists Justin Hillgroves that does the Imps and Monsters paintings.  Portraits of monsters but making them absolutely adorable yet creepy.  Sorry I didn't get any close up shots of his paintings because I didn't know if I should ask to take a photo if a painting.

Crafting runs in the family.  This mom (Kristine Ann's) and daughter (Devout Dolls) shared a booth but sold different kinds of sewn goods.  Mommy made very fun frilly aprons using the most crazy prints she could find from Safety Pin prints to Super Heros.  Daughter sewed plushies, adorable fawns, and other woodland creatures.  Did I mention they had two heads!!!!!  LOL adorable yet slightly creepy.  We love it!

I promise to get and artist info card up.

Having recently worked with vinyl records myself, I was drawn to this booth.  This artist did the street art spray painting (I'm guessing he uses air brushes for these small pieces) to paint a portrait on vinyl records.  Re-purposing vintage is always fun

Careful It Bites artist makes little plushie monsters.  I thought it was very humourous to have little plant monsters that hid in a flower pot.  You couldn't see that it was really a monster without pulling it out.

Sparrow and Sundry was a cute artist that made little table display pieces.  I liked these clocks (mostly cause I prefer art pieces that also have a functional use).  

Vivi Dot makes accessories for her hand made buttons.  The buttons are made with her own custom printed fabrics using SpoonFlower.  I especially liked the pairs of buttons that needed to be put together like a puzzel to see the entire shape.  She's also got her own craft blog, so check her out Blog.ViviDotOnline.com .

Summer Tomato Plant

My Mom has a green thumb, and I've learned a trick or two from her. Back in high school we got a tomato plant, and it grew like crazy. We constantly had more cherry tomatoes than we could eat. This means we can have fresh off the vine tomatoes whenever we wanted.

So I'm going to retry this for this summer.  This whole set up cost me $4 USD, and if I can get two meals of tomatoes out of it, I've already flat lined my costs.

Starting with a little tomato plant and a cheap plastic pot set.

I can't believe how many varieties of tomatoes I could pick from.

I start by filling up my pot half way with soil ~cough~ which I stole from my mom's garden. You might want to purchase good soil for this instead of randomly digging from unknown location in the ground since you don’t know if it's been contaminated.

See the bottom of this pot has holes.  This is important for drainage because a plant can die from over watering.  This is why it's necessary to buy a pot made for planting and not something that was just pretty for holding cut flowers.

This is why the plant pots come with two pieces.  The base is to catch all the dripping water.  Also it can work backwards, that if the bottom pan is full of water and the soil is dry, some of the water can be soaked back into the soil through the holes.

 Vola, got the plant out of its travel container

Now put the plant in the pot whole. Don't loosen the soil or roots because it has to adapt to its new environment. It can die from the shock, think of it as a human that was randomly dumped into a deserted island. Next fill up the sides with the new soil. Over the next week the tomato plant will loosen its roots and expand on its own, just let nature do its thing.

These garden plants or seed packs purchased at the nurseries should come with information with it. Be sure to read them to give the plant the best life it can enjoy, this information can help you pick or avoid certain plants based on the environment you know it will be in.

My tomatoes require lots of sun, and good drainage.

This is right outside my kitchen patio door. Easy access for collecting right before a meal, and lots of sunlight.

Remember: A plant is a living creature. Treat it with respect and your results will be fruitful.