A repost from The Spokesman Review.

 Too often, women who love to spend hours looking at vintage items at a flea market or in an antique mall do it entirely on their own or they go with a group of friends. They wouldn't think of having a husband around.
    This is definitely not the case with Kelly and Monte Tareski. The couple, who own Cascading Creations, share more than a business. They share a love of junking that has found an important place in their relationship.

    "I have always had a passion for the weathered and worn out item," Kelly told me.  "As a child, I remember going to the Southern California flea markets and spending all day digging, hunting for the perfect piece of junk and at a young age being able to negotiate the 'right price.'"

    Eventually, Tareski wanted more than just fun. She wanted to make a career out of rescuing and re-imagining vintage items. Fortunately, her husband shared that desire.

    "Just in the past couple of years I have had the opportunity to turn that passion into a business. With Monte's passion for the same, it makes it very easy to go treasure hunting and we have so much fun together," she says. "One of our favorites is when we get the call to go 'pick' at an old homestead."

    Transforming a building on the grounds of their Airway Heights stone business, Tareski turned her new project, GardenStone Creations into an appealing and popular place for shoppers. She was able to find a way to combine her love of the hunt, with a desire to own a unique business.

    What came about is an outlet for local artists, artisans and creative types.

    "I am a huge supporter of local artisans and the buy-local movement," Tareski says. "I am proud to say that I have my shop 80 percent stocked at this time with local merchandise from local businesses and artisans. I'm working towards 100 percent."

    But, once a treasure hunter, always a treasure hunter. As proud as Tareski is to have started a business and carved a successful niche in the competitive antiques and vintage market in a relatively short time, what matters the most is spending time with her husband and having something positive and productive to show for it.

     "We not only love the hunt, but getting to hear the stories behind the treasures we find," she says. "Then we love retelling those stories to our customers who purchase the items."

Harvest Treasures
Saturday, August 14 at GardenStone Creations in Airway Heights, Kelly Tareski will present Harvest Treasures, an event featuring hand-picked vendors selling antiques, hand-made crafts and one-of-a-kind items.
Here are the details: For more information call 509.244.0900
Where: 1515 S. Lyons Rd, Airway Heights
When: Saturday, August 14

 

Address: 1515 S. Lyons, Airway Heights, WA
Phone: (509) 244-0900
Website:
www.cascadingcreations.com

 
 

Little did Monte Tareski know one purchase would yield a new business venture, but that's exactly what occurred almost five years ago.  As an owner of a landscaping business, Monte brought home a business sign engraved in rock, and when his wife Kelly saw the sticker price, she was determined to learn how to engrave.  The result was a dynamic second family business called Gardenstone Creations, a 4,500 sq. ft. country store featuring her engraved stones along with clever, fun, and unique handcrafted items from artists throughout the Northwest. 
 
Offering a personalized touch, Gardenstone Creations' customers choose their own decorative rocks from over three acres.  Moms and dads appreciate four-legged friends like Lavern & Shirley, the business's eco-friendly weed control goats, who entertain the kids while they shop.  For their Facebook Fans, they offer occasional Free Mocha Mondays, treasure hunts, and other fun specials. 
 
The Tareskis, both born and raised in Spokane, are deeply committed to supporting their local community and it shows.  From matching funds to building an outdoor classroom for Nine Mile Falls Elementary to actively engaging and advocating the community's Buy Local program, they go above and beyond to support other businesses, education, and nonprofit organizations. 
 
Several times a year they host Girls Night Out giving the opportunity for local artists to showcase their work while providing family-friendly activities, door prizes, and games.  Over 300 attended the first event.  Due to the success and requests for a full-day event, Harvest Treasures was born and the inaugural event on Saturday, August 14th from 9 am to 5 pm will feature local artists and small businesses.
 
So if you are looking for unique gifts and Northwest artisans, look no further.  Visit Gardenstone Creations in Airway Heights, and be sure to grab a cup of joe at their coffee bar, feed the goats, and introduce yourself to Monte and Kelly.  

Mermaids of The Lake and GardenStone

Well then. We have been asked to write an article for The Mermaids of the Lake on outdoor living. The way I see it, that is what I do for a living is bringing the indoors outside. We create living space outdoors, so it only made sense to write about what we know.

In our many adventures around the Northwest we hike, hike, and then hike some more. One of our favorite hikes is up streams; literally we walk up the stream as far as we are able, soaking in all of what nature has put in our path. We sit as a family and listen, breathe and just “B”, at one with the surroundings, at one with the water and most importantly at one with nature.

This can be recreated in a smaller scale in one’s back yard, transforming a once flat ground or fence line into an oasis of serenity. The soothing sounds and calming effects of water are endless in their ability to transform your day from hectic to holistic in mere moments. A cup of coffee, a laptop and a rock patio while sitting next to a flowing stream will invigorate beyond what can be written on paper.

For those of you that have had the pleasure of camping by a stream, far from anyone but your family, you will remember waking before anyone else, starting the campfire and just listening to the sounds around you. This amazing experience can be yours daily, a crisp August morning mingling with the sounds of nature is an unrivaled by anything but what is found in backwoods of the Northwest.

Add now, if you will, a rockscape made to look like a path hammered out of stone by hundreds of years of wildlife walking to get their morning spell of sustenance. Here is where you place your outdoor lounge, surrounded by seating boulders that ring a campfire pit. Now you have taken an outdoor paradise and moved it to the realm of entertainment. No television, no traffic, just friends and family sitting with you and enjoying a meal of skewered meat cooked over an open campfire. What do you do next, you ask yourself. Here is an idea. Run into the house; grab the graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate, and in this day of text, email and meals from a box, you share, live, love and laugh. What a wonderful way to spend an evening! All in your own back yard. If you enjoy entertaining, you now have become a gathering place of the neighborhood.

You may, at this point, be asking yourself, what do you do with a big pile of rocks? Well here is where the backyard owner can get really creative. Boulders beg for color, do they not? Let your creativity be your guide. Flowering succulents need little attention and are great for adding a splash of color amongst their hard pan neighbors. Now how about a little movement? Tall growing prairie grasses can, in the slightest of breezes, create an illusion of grandeur in the smallest of spaces. Creative seating colors can be an amazing addition to any set of outdoor furniture

Now bring the wildlife I say! Well placed humming bird feeders made from glass sculptures will be sure to attract those amazing aviary delights. A well placed birdbath stone will attract more of the feathered fare. And yet another well placed bird feeder metal sculpture will bring the rest.

For those of you who have not had the experience of feeding a school of Koi, a properly designed pond at the base of your waterfalls will give you countless hours of relaxation, and wonder, as you feed a small group of red and white marvels that depend on you daily. You will soon find that you will become dependent on them as well!

So what are you ready for? No matter how small or large your backyard space is, it can be transformed. With a little creativity and a budget no bigger than a new hot tub, you can create a small rapture for yourself and your loved ones that can rival a million dollar estate. Many times I have asked customers that have a hot tub, “How many times a week do you use your spa”? Invariably the answer is once or twice a week. How many times a week do you feel you would escape the hectic pace of life by stepping into your own back yard retreat? I’m just sayin’………

GardenStone is a Semi-Finalist for the AGORA Award

See the announcement here. Each year Greater Spokane Incorporated grants the AGORA Award for business excellence in the Inland Northwest. This year, Greater Spokane Incorporated took a particular look at businesses that demonstrated community leadership in the face of tumultuous economic times.

GardenStone is proud to be a semi-finalist in the small business category, along with seven other businesses. We don’t think it’s assuming too much to say that al the nominees share a deep appreciation for Spokane and the Inland Northwest and hope that our work improves its citizens’ quality of life, provide needed products and services, and inject fresh growth into the local economy.

We founded GardenStone Creations because we wanted a business that not only met financial targets, but did so in a way that kept in touch with community around us. That doesn’t mean we’ve ignored opportunities further afield. Far from that! We sell personalized engraved stones and home décor online to virtually anyone able to reach our site and place an order. We have an active presence on Twitter and Facebook (where we can always use more followers and fans!) along with this blog. We can reach the world – but we care about our neighbors.

That’s why the heart of our business is our Airway Heights store, and why that store carries a selection of arts and crafts from local artisans, including consignment pieces. It’s why we organize community events such as the Girls Night Out Spring Fling and have added a café to GardenStone. We want our business to be a true community fixture, where people come to not only look through engravings, arts and crafts, but to get a sense of the neighborhood’s “pulse.” This generates good will and repeat business for us, but it’s also a way of giving thanks to a community that has always been generous to use, both on the GardenStone side and to our sibling business, Cascading Creations.

The award ceremony is June 2^nd. It would be an honor to win, but we’re pleased just to be in the running beside other excellent, conscientious businesses. We’re gratified someone has noticed our mission in action and we hope it’s made a positive difference to the Greater Spokane community.

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!