April Photo Round-Up

I'll post my April birthday cards in a couple of days - still waiting for one to arrive.  But in the meantime, these were the "odd holidays" that I/we celebrated.

Draw A Bird Day - April 8th

Mrs. Bluebird and a large frogmouth which looks like a made up bird but it is real.

National Grilled Cheese Day - April 12th

We had two varieties and split them so we could taste both.  One had macaroni and cheese and the other had pulled pork.

National Devil Dog Day - April 27th

I remember as a child we used to be able to get one single Devil Dog at the corner store for a nickel.  They don't sell them as singles anymore and they're a lot more than a nickel now.  (But just as tasty!)

You would think with the cooler Spring we've been having that the flowers would be scarce but not so.  The daffodils have lasted longer because they didn't burn up with the heat.  The wildflowers have been a little slower to bloom but they are really popping out now.  There's Spring Beauty all over the lawn and unfortunately, the Marsh Marigold that I spent HOURS trying to weed out last spring are back with a vengeance.  I will let them be now because I need to focus on weeding other areas.  Yes, cooler weather doesn't mean less weeds sadly.  

We have several varieties (colors) of wild violets.

And several varieties of hellebores - these are a creamy yellow-to-pink.

We bought a poppy plant for the flower bed and one of them broke off so I brought it in.

These beauties have spread like wildfire.  I wish that they lasted all summer.

And look what decided to put out two more flower stalks.  They are not even half as tall as the first two but a surprise nonetheless.  HWNSNBP also found another one in the basement with flower buds.  He brought that up so we can enjoy it when it does bloom.

A golden sunset from one day into the month of April and......

tonight's - one day short of the end of April.

Jingle Belles - Recycle....Reuse.... and Jingle

I said I would be back with a second card and here it is just squeaking in under the wire.  Our Jingle Belle hostesses always come up with great challenges and as I've said before, this is one of my favorites.

On this card are two scraps of wrapping paper from gifts that I received last Christmas.  I love the metallic on the kraft background and was glad that I could save this to use on a card.  The top of the tag, with the tree opening was a two-piece tag that I had saved.  I replaced the back piece (the cut-out of the tree) with that second metallic paper.  I had to trim it down to eliminate what was written there but I was able to find an unused tag I had made in my stash.  I cut the tab off of that and it fit perfectly at the bottom of the tree tag.  The last addition was a bow from a scrap of ribbon I found in one of the Christmas scrap boxes.  I don't know where to find that 3/16" satin ribbon any more.  I used to get it at a little craft store called "The Pink Sleigh" but they've been out of business for years.  Michael's sometimes has 1/8" ribbon, but it seems to be slightly wider than that.  

Here's a closer look so you can hopefully see the pretty shine the metallics have.  Plus the stars were punched from some glitter paper.  

Needless to say, whilst I was pulling out all these "recyclables" I got more ideas and I hope to get back to them soon.  Until then, I'm going to visit the Jingle Belles and check out all the other wonderful entries for this great challenge.  You can also by clicking here.

Happy Easter

The Greetery had the cutest little bunny that fit right into the hourglass die set and I couldn't resist using it for some Easter cards.  I'm trying to use more of my stash of scrap book paper and found a bunch of patterns in yellow (and pink) that I thought would be appropriate for this time of year.

This bunny is a Unity stamp and I used it for the grandson's cards.  It might be a little feminine with those flowers, but I thought they are still young enough for it to be appropriate for little boys.

HWNSNBP brought home a bouquet of Easter flowers earlier this week.  They are beautiful, but those lilies sure do have an intense fragrance when they are fully open.  I thought by cutting off the stamens that it might help, but that does not appear to be where the fragrance comes from.  Cutting off the pollen will, however, keep it from falling onto the table below or getting on any cloth or clothing that it would stain.  I do this with my amaryllis bulbs also when they're blooming.

I noticed the first forget-me-nots blooming in the rocks the other day.  We had a high temp of 88º on Thursday.  Hot enough to turn the AC on for a few hours to cool off the bedrooms upstairs before some storms rolled in to lower the outside temps about 25 degrees.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable and blessed Easter.

Jingle Belles - Let There Be Peace on Earth (Day)

Yes, Earth Day is coming up rather quickly.  I seem to have lost track of time.  Here it is, more than a full week into April and I'm still thinking it's the end of March.   I really should have checked the calendar before I did my last Jingle Belles cards because I did some recycling on one of those, but not to worry, I certainly have enough recyclable material to work with..... as is evidenced below with my first card of this fortnight's challenge using recycled, reused, or upcycled elements in our cards.

This turned out a little larger than my typical card, but I knew I had an envelope for it which was a plus at the get go.  The white glittery panel is a card front from a box of such that I had purchase at IKEA many years ago - I just cut the front off of it.  The bird graphic was on a brown paper bag wrapper that came with a handmade pincushion I had ordered back in October.  The black and white snow scene is another candy wrapper from this Christmas.  The pointsettia ribbon, top and bottom, was saved from some packaging on a Christmas gift.  That red outline separating the bird and snow scene is actually cut from a Wendy's gift card holder that wasn't used.  I found the wooden deer (and a bunch of his friends) in my stash and gave him a coat of gold paint before I added him to this mish-mosh.

Oh, and whilst I was going through stuff I found some glitter stickers so I added one to the bird giving it a little Pennsylvania Dutch vibe.

I'm sure this won't be the last card that I make for this challenge.  As I've said, I have a plethora of usable items I'm sure I can use.  This gives me the opportunity to go through my stash and weed it out.  We shall see what's to be.  

If you'd like to check out what other people have repurposed, please click here.  And make sure to take a look at the wonderful inspirational cards that Steph and Lauren have made.  

Somebody is 6 Today

I want to say stop growing so fast along with Happy Birthday to GS1 who is completing his 6th trip around the sun.

He's going to have a "Sharkfest" birthday party in a couple of weeks, but this was sent ahead of time.

With another sea serpent inside on the pocket for a little treat.

When Blogs Go Away (Not This One)

When I pull up my Blogger Reading List (visible to the blog owner only) I have it sorted to All Blogs which will show me a list of the most current posts from the blogs that I follow.  I can also go through the list of blogs that I've signed up to follow but it makes me sad because a lot of them are no longer posting and some haven't for quite a long time now.  Some have signed off in a post either saying they are moving their blog to another provider or they've decided to stop blogging altogether.  The ones that I am saddest about are those that just abruptly stop with no explanation at all.  It makes me wonder about the poster and whether they are okay.  

I think I've touched on this before but it came into focus again today with a post from another loved blog that they were no longer going to update (The Owl Barn).  I will keep them in my list because there might be some things that I might want to look back on as long as they haven't completely shut down. Recently I found the ingredients to a project that I had started quite a few years ago and couldn't find the instructions.  I had a picture saved on Pinterest but I was distressed to find out that the blog stopped being readable a few years ago so I had to do some more investigating on other sites to be able to continue the project.  

See the date - 2011 was when this was originally posted to a blog that had all kinds of paper projects on it.  I may have saved the directions but I couldn't find anything in all the files that I had transferred with my new laptop so, being that I had all the pieces cut out and a small portion of the stars already completed I had to try to find something that gave similar results.  Luckily there are a lot of origami sites out there now.

Each star took 5 squares of paper.  Once folded into the appropriate shape, they were glued together to form the star.  There were 5 different patterned papers used to make 6 stars of each.....only 150 segments to fold.  I think I put this aside after finishing the first 5 stars because the glue I was using at the time wasn't as quick drying as I would have liked.  I found that what worked great was Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue.  I put the glue on each piece, stuck them together, and then added a paperclip to keep them together to dry.  It only took a few minutes before the glue dried and the paperclips could be removed.  And now that I have the stars done, I'll have to find the ribbon that I'm sure I bought to go with this so I can put the wreath together.  

 

The original post of this project on the original blog listed it as a Christmas wreath but I think these colors would be fine for Spring too.  

Is it a Committee or Is it a Wake?

Vultures have come up three times in the past week. First they came up in this week's episode of NCIS - a bit morbidly. Then when we visited the Raptor Trust on Friday and saw them training the vultures there to come to them and subsequently to fly to a specified perch which was a scale. And today, coming home from Barnegat, just outside Columbus there was a collection of them. So I just had to do some investigation and found out if they are perched in the trees, a group is called a committee. If they are on the ground surrounding something they are eating that group is called a wake. So we saw a wake having brunch and a committee standing by apparently waiting their turn. When they stand (or perch) with their wings spread it is called a "horaltic pose". And they do this for thermoregulation (to bring back up their body temperature from the evening) and to dry off. It was kind of remarkable to see them all in that one place. As foreboding as they look, they do still appear kind of majestic and they do pay an integral part in the nature cycle.

I was happy that HWNSNBP actually offered to turn around so that I could get these pictures.  There were some other people who slowed down, but none of them stopped as we did.  It was the one's standing in the field with their wings spread out that really caught my attention.  It had been drizzling on and off all morning and the temps were only in the mid 40's.  

I did get a few pictures from the Raptor Trust when we were there, but again the netting inside the cages makes for unclear pictures.  

This last one is not a raptor but rather a robin.  Her name is Pearl and she is leucistic - meaning she lacks the full intensity of a robin's coloration.  Not to be confused with albino which would be lacking all pigment.  She has been there in her own cage for quite a few years.  HWNSNBP was familiar with her as he regularly saw her when he was volunteering at the Raptor Trust about 4 years ago.  I had never seen her up until now because we usually visited during the Christmas break when she was kept inside where it was warmer for her.  It was nice to meet her at last.