See you at Artscape!

My sister Maria is up from New Orleans selling with me at Artscape DIY this year! Come by and say hi! The BEST girls are close by and we are having a blast. It looks like we are going to have a beautiful day. The weather is perfect to stroll this free event. Grab a funnel cake, a coconut drink and see the sites;)

BEST Meets Faythe Levine in Baltimore!

Left to right: Me (tigerlillyshop.etsy) , Faythe Levine, Elisa (ElisaShereJeweley.etsy, Juliet (TheBrokenplate.etsy) and (Jen (Jenmenkhaus.etsy)

Went to a screening last night of Handmade Nation! Inspiring, cool, heartfelt and validating. Thank you Faythe for stopping in B-more!

Veggies of the Week

It's that time of year again! The garden is going into production mode finally!

We have had such a rainy spring that it has really taken it's toll on our city garden plots. The rain has caused a boom in the bug population and the soggy ground has inhibited healthy balanced growth. We haven't been out there in a few weeks, letting things dry out a bit. But we were surprised this past weekend to find a nice bounty waiting for us to pick.

Chinese cabbage, swiss shard, lettuce, and our first beets, cucumbers, and zuccini. There are some tomatoes on the vine, carrots, onion, and herbs are looking healthy. Looking forward to a great year full of fresh produce! (Oh, and yes, those are orange cucumbers in the pic. I think we left them on the vine too long. )

Ada's Kitties

One thing my daughter loves is cats. The other day she said to me, "I was just born loving kitties!". I love this drawing, it's my new fave. She draws 3 kitties that she knows and loves, Chester on the left, Violet in the middle, and Henry on the right. All in their respective colors and stripes, eye color, all dancing together.

She was inspired to make this drawing after reading The Boy Who Drew Cats. Not only does this book have beautiful illustrations, but the story is a total hit. Intriguing and spooky, it has a great surprise ending. So glad we found this one at the library the other day.

Blooms of the week

Lilies are still going strong. We have some yellow and white Asiatic ones still hanging on. New fragrant soft yellow trumpet lilies are blooming this week, some tomatoes are budding out and grapes are getting full. Day lillies are looking good this week, too. So elegant and pretty, this peachy orange variety is so summertime to me.

Charm City Craft Mafia's Raffle Basket!

At Pile of Craft this year, CCCM will be auctioning off two baskets full of awesome craft goodness! The tickets are only $1 each and all proceeds benefit Youthlight, an after-school program that provides middle and high school youth in Baltimore with access to quality, in-depth photography instruction, media literacy education, and leadership training. (Students from Youthlight will be at Pile of Craft as well to talk about their program and sell their prints so be sure to stop by their table!)

Some of the goodies in our raffle baskets include...
Handmade pins and barrettes from HVM Designs
T-shirt from Sweet Pepita
Felt brooch and earrings from littlest bean
Eyeglass case from JennyJen
Rodeo girl print from 2hawks2fishes
Screenprinted ties from Spaghetti kiss
Helping hands from Pink Kiss Pottery
Little Monster from Cotton Monster
and more exciting items from Bowerbox Press, Carlybird Weaves, illegible ink, Kiss My Crafts, Phampershand Press and Red Prairie Press!

Support Youthlight when you come to Pile of Craft, this Saturday. See you there!

They Don't Call me Tigerlilly for Nothin'!

These beauties are growing in pots in my concrete backyard in Highlandtown. We live in one of the most barren parts of our neighborhood. I have watched the greening efforts on my block fail as people disregard the new trees and flower pots as some of the residents meagerly try to maintain them against the odds. Our yard is fenced, so things are out of reach from metal pipe wielding kids, trash, and you don't want to know what else...

In my insistance on beauty, I bought an Asiatic/Oriental lily bulb mix for my blazing hot backyard about 2 yrs ago and have been totally stunned at the blooms that we have gotten from them! These pics are the second wave of lily blooms I have had. We have already had melony-orange and speckled freckly yellow/orange go by. White, yellow, and my stargazers are going to open in about a week or so. These plants are totally fool proof if you give them the basics. If I can grow them here, you will probably have luck with them, too!