The Birds Found Me!

Remember we moved last June........... just a few miles from our last home

(which we lived in for 27 years)

.....

And one thing I've greatly missed was my birds....

Especially Henry & Louise (the Cardinals)

 

But we gave in and hung a feeder a few weeks ago....

Easter Sunday brought an abundance of new bird friends!

 

This blue bird couple below visit regularly.... mostly tapping on the windows....

...and looked who else showed up! 

 

Louise!!!!

 

It was a great Easter!

 

...and she and Henry are showing up regularly...

haven't seen them in the bird bath yet.....

Birds Flying South....

 At least two years ago I ordered a little birdie kit from

Alicia Paulson.

You can see her birds

here

You make them out of paperclay and let that dry 24 hours, then cover them with paper mache.

I left mine pretty bumpy so they are "rather rumpled".

I like them.... I would like to make some smaller ones.

I crocheted the wire to make their necklaces...

I just realized when I published this...

there is a little bit of dust on my table!!!!

Oh my!!!!!

and below is last Saturday's picture of my daughter at the Texas A&M game...

I'll get another one tomorrow.... then we have a few weeks of away games...

I need to get back into blogging more often!

Maybe as the weather cools (???)

and the wildfires cease,

I'll get back into it.

What have you been doing?

Ruling the Roost

There he is!!!

He thinks this is his yard!

He fusses when we sit outside.... as if we have EVER bothered him!

I love how he can pitch such a fit with a worm in his beak!

I think the squirrel even plans his drinking around this guy!

I would like to show him this little fella.... and explain to him how much worse he could have it!

Yes..... this is one of those shots where you yell out... "stop the car" and jump out to take the picture. I couldn't believe he didn't fly away before I could focus! Bless his little heart. And I really don't think he was hiding his leg to con me either. Have a good bird watching weekend!

Pink Owl

He's a little pink!

I finally sat down and made him.

He's so easy.... and I plan to make more.

The only part you really should do on the machine is his body and that's really just an oval form.

The rest can be assembled in your lap while you are watching tv.

I tend... especially with the first one I make of something like this...

to just grab what's close and use it...

no planning.

(oh..... I also reduced the pattern by 50%...so he's a little owl!)

But my next one will be more planned.....

and I will show you...

OF COURSE!

P.S. For those that have asked.... he's 6" tall from the top of his ears.

Beeswax, birds and buttons...

Since Monday was a holiday here, I didn't get back into a routine til Tuesday.

Then that day was spent wrapping prizes to be mailed to the giveaway winners

from last week!

Congratulations, winners!

I mailed them on Tuesday between Tropical Storm Hermine downpours!

So I'm finally enjoying some time to regroup in the art room.

Last week I noticed the above piece that I started over a year ago and never finished.

Well, I'm still struggling with it.

I added some beeswax to it..

which doesn't show in the photograph.

This morning I glued that red button

on the front and some creme ones on top.

Still needs something...

So I tied some lace on the side...

Then I found some green trim that I forgot to put in my embroidery package to Margaret..

so I laid that on top....not sure....

Any thoughts?

So... then I decided to photograph my buttons that were sitting there all sweet and sorted.

Back in the 80's we made button bracelets that were sewn on crocheted metallic elastic!

My mother crocheted the bases and BFF Virginia and I sewed our buttons on!

We wore these!

(at least I did)

Now some of them adorn my button jars.

Below is one in black and white on my red button jar.

Here is my green and pink bracelet (a fave) on my creme colored button jar....

I often snip a button off to use! ...and I've been working on my little house stitchery that I ordered from Charlotte Lyons! BFFVirginia and I both ordered from her without telling the other one. We do that a lot. (Pam Garrison rubber stamps.... remember??!!!!) Which reminds me I was going to do a giveaway

of those stamps...

Okay...will do that soon!

Birds of a Feather

Natalea sent me this sweet piece on a chain!

I met Natalea at Silver Bella in 2007!

I had been reading her blog and didn't realize it tho!

I had fallen in love with some curtains her mom had made for her

and left a comment searching

for the fabric!

Life is funny!

Below you can see her necklace displayed

on her sweet packaging

and beneath them

are the gorgeous tea towels

that Emily in South Carolina

sent me.

Emily and I are in Christian Paper Artists Yahoo Group together.

She doesn't have a blog...

but should,

of course!

People seem to know what I like!

Although my sister said when handing me my gift this week,

"You are so hard to shop for!"

Match This!

Don't you love these little matchboxes that people are swapping!

Patty does a great matchbox!

And...she sent this one to me!

She is so giving... and makes such wonderful things.

It was wrapped so sweetly.

You know how we are ...

all of us that read these blogs ...

the entire package is joyous.

We covet the paper and ribbons as much as the gift they hold.

Below is an overhead shot of all the goodies Patty sent me for my birthday.

Please understand that Patty and I have a long standing friendship.

She is not a blog stalker. rofl

Not that I know what a blog stalker is or anything.

Bird Babies

Have you been watching Molly the Owl?

I must say I've spent more time than I should watching

her sleep and feed her babies rodents... it's fascinating.

Well..... I know it's NOT "Molly the Owl",

but I do have

my own aviary family.

I'm sure you can tell....

but I wanted to mention that these are two different birds...

one is the male and the other is the female....

One goes into the house and the other sits outside on the stoop!

This house is hanging just a few feet from my backdoor

but I know it looks like it's close to the back fence...it's not....

Anna, how is your dove family?

Birds at Work and At Home Bound

I finally sat down

and made covers

for my wonderful pages

done by the QB5ers in our swap last year....

You can see the pages here.

Nathalie sends me great old library cards and

I had one for The Birds!!!! I've been stitching some... will show you soon.

Anthro Shopping and Old Friends

This post is really for those in the Houston area

that do not realize

Anthropologie

has opened a store in Town & Country!

Who knew?

My photos are always taken quickly because I'm afraid they are going to ask me to stop!

In case you are new to my blog, you may not understand

my obsession with paper and with birds.....

but I was really excited about the current decor...

These two pictures are of their peacock creation....

I didn't take a picture of the actual bird body on the top of the furniture....

the tail captivated me!

And...look at these ostriches...

Do you see how they copied my paper wreath?

..and here is a personal aside....

I met my dear old friend Pam for lunch yesterday...

Pam, see you even wore a hat at my wedding!!!

That's because I wore a hat...

Here we are today... or yesterday....

over 30 years later.... Pam is now a missionary in Mexico!

It's birds again!

Last night I realized the swap that I thought was due mid-July is actually due June 29th. Panic! So I spent this afternoon in the art room trying to pull something together!

These aren't finished...

but I don't want to

break my post

a day cycle yet..

This one below needs it's lace glued down...

and both need their hangers on. I can't find my

upholstery tacks! I have a ton! I want

to put tacks on the side and

then wrap wire for the hanging.

These are all on 5 x 5 stretched canvas.

This one below...you've seen....it's my inspiration piece.