June 2011

Happy day!
It is a rainy day here on the farm, so my husband is enjoying a day off from seeding.  It's been a good farming season so far, and we have only about 450 acres left till we are done -hurrah!  I'm looking forward to the seeding finishing up so we can get our own garden in (forgive me if I'm just a wee bit jealous of everyone who's already done this).  

This month's newsletter features some great handmade gardening ideas, a do-it-yourself article about repurposing old baking tins for organization, and a coupon code for our New Leaf Handmade Shop -on May 31st, it will be one year since we've had this Etsy shop!  

One Year on Etsy!
On May 31st, it will be one year since we started our New Leaf Handmade shop on Etsy.  It's been a great opportunity and learning experience for us to be on Etsy -very cool that we've been able to sell stuff in so many places, rather than just close to home.  In celebration, we are having a sweet sale -15% off anything in our shop, using the code ETSYONE during checkout.  In addition, on the actual day, Tuesday, May 31st, you will receive a free gift (a handmade magnet and mini-notebook) along with your purchase.  Thanks for supporting us on Etsy (and everywhere else!)!
*Sale begins Wednesday, May 25th and runs until Tuesday May 31st, 11:59PM CST.

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D.I.Y Repurpose Old Baking Tins
I think I've mentioned before that I live on a farm, so we have to get rid of our garbage ourselves, recycling whatever we can and burning the rest.  Some stuff can't be recycled or burnt, so we have a small junk pile on our property where we pile wrecked appliances, old spools of wire and the like.  We don' really like having to add to the pile, since it's pretty unattractive (sometimes I wonder if people would throw away less stuff if everyone had to keep the junk in their own space), and I've been trying to think of how I can repurpose some items that were headed towards our mini-landfill.  I had a few old baking tins, rusty from overuse, no longer suitable for baking with, and decided to repurpose them into handy organizers.  Click HERE on on the photo to see how you can do the same.

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Handmade Gardening Ideas
I've collected some ideas from other bloggers to keep you enjoying your garden all summer long while repurposing materials from around the house -enjoy!  Click on each link to see the tutorial.

• Turn an old glass bottle into a pretty hummingbird feeder (by Crafting a Green World)
• Make garden lanterns out of tin cans (fromCraftStylish)
• I've been planning on making a path through my perennial garden this summer. Here are some ideas for inexpensive garden paths (from Re-Nest)
• Create a mixed-media wind chime from scraps around the house (from Diary of a Crafty Chica)

Happy June!  Enjoy this first month of summer, and the longest day of the year!

Maria & Cecelia,
the New Leaf Handmaidens