Here Comes Spokane’s Landscaping Season!

That’s right. It’s time for Spokane landscaping to start in earnest as the snow melts away and people can see dirt, dust, debris and property features they just don’t like staring them in the face. Honestly though, our “season” runs all year long, as we travel throughout Spokane for excavations, cleanups and even the type of jobs people associate more with the spring or summer. But once the snow goes away, everybody knows it’s time to deal with that hardscaping job or water feature you didn’t catch last year.

That means that if you want a Spokane hardscaping job done like a new patio, general landscaping, landscaping cleanup or anything else with “scaping” in the word, now is the time to book us. Our Spokane landscaping “dance card” fills up fast as we enter the peak season. Never stop trying to reach us, but understand that the sooner you call, the more likely you are to get the schedule you want the most.

One thing we’d like to mention is that this year, we anticipate an increased demand for landscaping services as we head into the economic recovery full bore. People are going to feel more secure in their jobs, better about their financial outlooks and have a bit more faith in property values. That means they’ll want to finish that landscaping job they put off in 2008 and 2009.

In addition to providing a full set of landscaping, hardscaping and water feature construction services, remember that we also have products and services to help folks who want to do it themselves. We can start you off with a clean slate with a landscape cleanup, hauling away your job so that you can work on a pristine chunk of property. You might also need us to bring in our cool machines to perform an excavation job. You might be comfortable laying stone or fitting brick, but if you need someone else to move several tons of earth and unwanted rocks, we’re here for you.

We also have a fully stocked landscaping materials yard to serve you, so before you hunt around to dozens of different suppliers, call us – we might just have everything you need in one place. We stand by our landscaping supplies for an excellent reason – we use them for our own professional jobs. We’re also happy to answer any questions you may have about our stock to help you understand how to make it work on your property.

Our Personalized Stone Engraving Process

A few weeks ago we posted a video showing the steps involved in a relatively simple large stone engraving job: signage in the form of two engraved ton and a half rocks for Airway Heights’ Cleveland Park. Here’s that video again:

The same basic principles of large stone engraving apply to small personalized stone engravings, wedding stones, birth stones and graduation stones. Let’s go through the step by step process:

Consultation: First off, we have to know what you want. We understand that lots of people come in with half-formed ideas, so we provide a number of starting points for those ordering or browsing online, and you can of course just call to ask for help in picking lettering, images and designs. Ultimately, the choice is yours. We’re always willing to work on completely custom rock work.

Choice of Stone: We keep a big, diverse array of stones fit for engraving. That usually includes several types of granite and sandstone, with a focus on the varieties that blend in with the Pacific Northwest’s natural geology.

Stencil Design and Rendering: As you can see from the video, we create a stencil as the basis for engraving. We take advantage of computer graphics and lettering tools to get something as close to the concept as possible on paper to transfer to the stone. Remember, though, that no two natural stones are alike, and will always affect the end result.

Stone Preparation: As the video shows, preparation starts by giving the stone a thoroughly cleaning. Dirty rock will not only cause deflections and pitting in some of our pressure-powered tools, but can actually hammer dirt into the stone – something we want to avoid. We apply our stencils to the clean stones.

Engraving: Now it’s time for the actual engraving, which uses a combination of pressure-driven tools (such as the sandblaster) and hand detailing where necessary. We can usually work right through the stencil, since it’s thin and fragile enough to present no obstacle to our tools.

Polishing and Finishing: Finally, it’s time to get rid of the debris, polish the engraved stone and prepare it for delivery.

Besides these steps we may also provide custom coloring for the stone, after giving it a polish and prep to make the process work.

Our process allows us to create personalized stone engravings of any size with great precision. To see more examples, just drop by our Airway Heights Store or visit us at http://www.gardenstonecreations.com.

What’s Up at Cascading Creations?

It may look chilly around the yard at Cascading Creations but there’s no off season for us! We’ve been busy with a number of big projects and special events. Even when it’s too cold for most people to think of landscaping in Spokane we’re out and about, working, having fun and looking forward to warmer months to come! Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Spokane Home and Yard Show: We hope you saw us there on Thursday, February 25^th. We exhibited some of examples of our landscaping and hardscaping and passed along discount coupons for GardenStone Creations.

The Jay & Kevin Show: Monte’s on with Jay and Kevin in the Morning on Fridays, sharing advice and his particular sense of humour. Tune in to The Big 99.9 Coyote Country to listen in!

Metal Art: Yes, not even Monte could resist his more sensitive, artsy side after being surrounded with GardenStone stuff. He and Trevor have been creating cowboy style metal art – everything from horses to roses. This might be the perfect outdoor piece to complement an upcoming hardscape like a stone patio.

Digging Things Up: We’ve been keeping busy with a number of jobs, including excavation around Spokane. Take a look at Monte in the loader as he makes the earth move!

Did You Miss Anything?

If you didn’t get a chance to catch any of this the first time around, don’t worry! Keep current with us is to become a fan of our Facebook Page. That’s where we give the most recent updates about what we’re doing . . . and where we say pretty much anything else that crosses our mind. See you there!

More about Cascading Creations and Greater Spokane Incorporated

As we’ve said in the past, Cascading Creations and GardenStone Creations both believe in supporting local businesses. 2009 was a rough year for many people and we know how important it is for communities to pull together in times like this. That’s why we joined Greater Spokane Incorporated. We think it’s the ethical thing to do . . . and to be honest, it’s in our businesses’ best interests. To succeed, we need a thriving Spokane filled with gainfully employed workers and businesspeople – folks who can afford Spokane landscaping services.

Greater Spokane Incorporated helps companies keep in touch, share ideas and develop common promotions. It’s also a way for experiences business professionals to mentor people who are just starting out. That’s what we do for each other. But from the perspective of a customer, what does it mean for you? Let’s spell it out:

• Events: Greater Spokane organizes conventions and other events to promote Spokane region businesses. Some of these will help businesses get to know each other, but others will be open to the general public.

• Innovations: I think we do a pretty good job providing top notch landscaping and hardscaping services, crafts from amazing artisans and all the other things we do. Partnering with Greater Spokane means we’ll meet more businesses with cool ideas we can bring back to Cascading Creations and GardenStone. We’re always looking for ways to do our very best, and this is a great opportunity to do it.

• Recommendations: We’re already proud to partner with some fantastic local businesses. Greater Spokane gives us the chance to widen our base of contacts and meet great new companies that can help our clients with anything we don’t cover.

We can’t wait to bring these benefits to you in 2010. Until then, you can count on us to take care of your local landscaping, hardscaping and snow removal. It’s going to be a great year; Contact us to see how we can make it great for you!

Shop Home Décor with GardenStone Creations

GardenStone Creations is your stop for personalized stone engraving for gardens and interiors, but we sell more than engraved stones. We also stock a fantastic selection of home décor, including antiques and handmade crafts from the Spokane region and beyond. In fact, we have to admit one thing: We love handcrafts enough that we’ve really stretched the definition of “home décor” to include a bunch of things we just like a whole lot. We’ve added a bunch of that stuff to the website so that we now offer the following:

Infant and Toddler “Home Décor:” Uh, your young ones hang around your home, right? So they kind of decorate the place. That means that when we carry apparel for infants and toddlers that counts, doesn’t it? Of course it does! Our logic is impeccable! Anyway, we have some great items for your youngest, including bohemian style baby hats and onesies.

Kitchen Home Décor: Our kitchen stuff specializes in rustic style, folk craft decoration that’s both good looking and practical. That includes handmade mugs, canisters for staples and pained wooden chip clips. We know that many kitchens aren’t that big, so we like to keep items that serve a useful purpose while beautifying the area.

Home Décor with Picture Frames and Wall Hangings: Our wall hangings take inspiration from gardening, wildlife and classic Americana. Our picks reflect our values: love of country, family and nature, with a focus on comfortable, casual living.

Antique and Rustic Furniture: We have a mix of decorative washbasins and other rustic pieces, imported Chinese antiques, and antique-inspired pieces. Use them to add a sense of warmth and a comfortable, lived in quality to living areas.

Home Décor Garden Accessories: Right now the big focus of this section is our handmade bird houses. No two are alike, and they’re great choices for both indoor rustic styling and outdoor areas like your porch or gazebo.

In addition to the above we also have a few categories that are waiting for products. These reflect our long term goals. We want to provide a broad venue for great crafts that we think fit with our vision for GardenStone. If anything takes your fancy, just g through our shopping cart system and we’ll send it your way, or drop by our Airway Heights store. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!

Playing in the Dirt with a big loader!

http://www.cascadingcreations.com -- Here is Monte playing in the dirt again. This time with a big loader and a lot of dirt!

Stone Engravings for The City of Airway Heights

A video short of the engraving process for large stones.