Sunrise on the North Branch

I have a quick view of the North Branch River on my way to work in the morning.  I never have enough time to stop and take a picture it seems.  This morning, MLK day off, the sun was taunting me through the bedroom blinds.  There was a pink hue and even though the saying goes "Red sky at morning, sailor's warning...." I thought it would be perfect to see what I could see with my camera on a day I didn't have to keep going.  

Both of us still in pajamas, I told HWNSNBP to put on some pants and "Let's go!"  I just grabbed my coat, threw on a pair of sandals and told him I couldn't wait for him to  put socks on because the sun was rising too fast.  I didn't even think about it until I came home that I didn't take any identification with me - just me, the camera and the car.  

The first picture was taken from the car.  And had I waited for someone to put their socks on I would have missed the deer crossing the river.   I really think that if I had been going to work, I wouldn't have slowed down and probably wouldn't have noticed that deer.  

I drove a little farther up the road to where there is a pull-off alongside the road and parked there.  The geese at the bottom of the hill were a little wary of my presence and almost immediately started swimming away from the side I was on.  There are lot's of geese on this river in the morning, many more than you can see in the picture.  The water is not currently frozen but will be later this week when they're saying the Polar Vortex will arrived here again and temps will be in the single digits.  On those mornings when there is ice, it almost looks like the geese are frozen into the river.  I will have to make an effort to leave a little earlier one of those days and hope that my camera works in that extreme cold.

While looking at all the geese I did notice that there was a bird that was much too white to be an ordinary Canadian goose.  

I didn't even realize until I pulled this picture up on the computer that there was another duck with this one.  I believe they are a pair of Common Mergansers.  I hope to see them again.

We have the day off so I hope to get into the stamp cave today if for no other reason than to straigten it out from the last whirlwind of card making.

January Blues & More

Bluebirds that is.  We haven't had very many sunny days recently where the temperatures on those days weren't extreme (Polar Vortex induced temperatures) or there was snow cover, but on the milder sunny days I had noticed the blues checking out their box so I made sure to have my camera with me yesterday just in case and I was rewarded with a sighting.

I have to leave the office and go into the lobby to get a window that does not have a screen in it and I sometimes try to open the outside door very carefully so as not to frighten them off.  The box is about 60-75 feet from the front door and I use my zoom lens to the max.

Yesterday our new custodian saw me in the lobby with my camera and coaxed me to go outside and take these pictures.  He kept telling me to go closer and closer and I told him he was responsible for making sure I didn't trip or fall off the sidewalk into the driveway as I kept clicking away.  

They were suspicious as you can see, but they let me get about half the distance to the box before they flew off.  These pictures are enlarged even more on the computer.  Our custodian told me he has a larger lens that he's going to bring in for me to try out.  I might have to start putting some of my craft money aside if I like it.  Wait, let me rethink that.  I'll find some way to make it work without sacrificing my crafting addiction!

Temperature yesterday was about 40º, clear and sunny and not only just perfect for the birds but just perfect to have our new kitchen island delivered.  

When we put the new floor in in June, we broke through the half wall between the kitchen and dining room area and I felt that having the two tables so close in proximity was a little redundant.  I also wanted a little more storage and our floor plan just didn't allow for additional cabinets.  So I thought an island might be ideal.  I have to admit that we looked and then kind of gave up for a while. We even had someone come out to the house to talk about making a custom one for us.  He asked more questions about what we wanted than we really had hard answers for so we continued to wait it out.  

Then, one day in October when we were on our way to the condo on a Saturday morning for a change, HWNSNBP suggested that we stop in Columbus at the Amish furniture place which is usually closed by the time we pass it on Friday nights.  The first thing we saw when we walked in the door was exactly what we wanted.  Well, almost exactly.  The one on the floor had a top that only extended 8".  I wanted one that extended deeper so you could fit your legs completely under it without having your feet hit the island.  That was not a problem for them.  

What was a bit of a problem was that the chairs that we picked out were made by another shop and even though both shops used the same wood, they used a different brand of stain, so we had to purchase the stain for everything to match.  Well, as luck would have it, they forgot to use our stain so that meant we did not have the island in time for the holidays while they made another one.  

But it came out beautifully and they were able to just squeeze it through the doorway without any damage and it fits perfectly.  (Pay no attention to that counter under the cabinets - most of those items were being relocated and I should have finished that before I took the picture.)

So as nice as yesterday was, this morning was a icy, snowy mess.  We had new living room furniture delivered in the middle of the worst part of it and I almost broke my hand "helping" get the couch through the door.  Thankfully it's just bruised and sore and there was no damage to the couch.  They had it wrapped up so tight with moving pads and plastic and the plastic got caught on the locking device of the sliding screen door.  I had to help compress the cushions as the movers pushed (HWNSNBP had to work this morning doing a high school basketball game) and once we got it going my hand got sucked between the couch, the plastic and the doorway.  Ouch!  

But it's all in and looks wonderful and I would take a picture but all the old furniture is still here and the room is rather cluttered at the moment.  I had a nice nap on my new couch this afternoon but I think Kirby is in a little bit of shock with all this change and these strange people that have been in the house these last couple of days.  He's been a little quiet and hasn't ventured out of his cage much but he'll get used to it as will we. 

Jingle Belles 2014 - Weeks 1 & 2 - Something Old, Something New

I'm sneaking this in just under the wire (I hope).  I want to take December 2014 back and work on my Christmas cards throughout the year.  So, I hope to participate in the Jingle Belles challenges once again beginning with this first one of 2014.  Marrying the old and new.  We are to use something from our stash and something new.  I'm stretching this a bit as most of these ingredients are new, but some of them I've had for some time and haven't used them, so I'm counting them as oldest of the new.

Well, I didn't make it under the wire to post it on the Jingle Belles blog and it's probably just as well.  I kind of threw this together after work today and the picture isn't even that good.  The bottom of the card is the same color red as the top and I really wanted to find some smaller red jewels so I could add a group of three.  This size is just too big for that.  

My challenge will be to improve the design of this card and make sure that I have two of them since we are in the second week of the year.  Or maybe it will be just one of a kind.  We'll see.

Oh, and let me say these are all dies - the Happy Holidays and the Jingle Bells are Memory Box dies.  The fir fronds and pine cones are Impression Obsession and because I rushed I broke my Big Shot plate embossing those pine cones.  That'll teach me to rush!  Luckily I have a spare set.

Handmade Gifts For Me

I've posted all the handmade cards that I received for the holidays and I almost forgot to post these wonderful handmade gifts.  The ornament above, the notebook and little easel below all came from my blogging friend Sabrina.  The bird in the ornament is one of the photos she took of her little robin in Ireland.   If I were to turn the ornament around you would see the robin again on that side.  She cleverly added glitter to make it look like he's standing in the snow.  I love it.  It was a great addition to our tree this year. 

I put this little notebook to use almost immediately so I almost forgot to post it.  Sabrina used some mixed media to create this beautiful seaside scene. 

The cute little creation below is actually done on a little framed canvas.  It's found a place on my desk at work.  Sabrina is always trying new techniques and she participates in many of the creative challenges at Splitcoast.  I am always inspired by what she posts there and on her blog.

Another little gift that I got from my friend J was this cute little handmade button ring that she found for me.  Isn't it sweet?  I'm just looking at that old hand though.  And of course the camera strap that fell into the frame of the picture.  But I wanted to share it nonetheless.  I thought it was such a cute idea to stack those buttons into something so pretty.  

I spent much of the weekend working on a project for friend that I hope to post later this week.  I haven't been able to start my Zentangle book yet and hope to get to that this week also.  Whew!  It's only been 14 days into the new year and already I feel that I'm falling behind on what I want to get accomplished.  I don't know why we think that magically we can change our habits just because the calendar says the new year has begun.    I know how to budget my finances and have learned through the years how to cut corners and how to live within our means, but I haven't been able to learn how to efficiently budget my time.  I always seem to have much more to do than I realistically have time for.  

Maybe I should have chosen the word "prioritize" as my word of the year?  Well, I'll work on that some more.  

Zentangles - November and December

Here are the last two months of my 2013 Zentangle project.  As you can see, there is little if no additional content for these two months.  Things just got a little too busy.

I did learn some things as I progressed through this endeavor. 

At the start I had filled the string days (Saturdays) with 3 strings and attempted to tangle them.

I tried three different combinations and also tried three of the same.

Then I decided to cut it back to one string and tangle that.  In the empty space I added some words and their definitions.  They didn't relate to the tangles, they were just words that I had collected.  

I began to feel that the strings were too small to work with and that the pen tip that I was using was also too big.  Eventually I stopped filling in the strings altogether.  

I really like the way this one turned out though it seems more like a drawing than a tangle so I guess you might call it a ZIA - Zentangle Inspired Art

Another thing that I realized while doing this project, and rather early on, was that I was able to do follow the steps to the tangles but not having the steps visible in this book meant that I would have to look up the tangles steps in order to duplicate it again.  

Below you see the only addition of color aside for the couple of days which I mistakenly used a sepia pen instead of a black one.

I used a red Sharpie and I'm glad I didn't color any more because you'll see that it did bleed through a little.  

I have to credit all my sources of the tangles.  I know it's a little blurry in the photos, but the creators of the tangles are listed along with the tangle name in each block.  Where there is no name it is either an official tangle or it was one of mine that I didn't name (yet).  How did I find these tangles?  There are several websites that I frequent:

TanglePatterns.com  - Linda Farmer, CZT - several posts a week including Saturday Strings and Refreshers and an alphabetical index of tangles

Life Imitates Doodles - Sandra Strait - with links to tangles and tutorials and much more original art

Enthusiastic Artist - Margaret Bremner - tangles and original art

Tangle Harmony - Genevieve Crabe - weekly Zentangle round-ups

Blog Zentangle - Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas - the originators of Zentangle

My thanks to them all for their willingness to share their time and creativity with the on-line community.

I mentioned earlier that there were no step-outs in my 2013 journal, well I have found a new journal for 2014 that may help to remedy that. Stay tuned for what's coming in January.

Sharing Their Creativity - Christmas 2013

So where do you think you could find a snowman in a hula skirt and bikini top?  Well, it would have to be south of the equator at this time of the year.  New Zealand actually.  From my blogging friend Sunshine.  Warm wishes are just what we need now.  Temps are dropping way below freezing here! Isn't it the cutest snowman, er snowwoman you've seen!

My friend Dawn in North Carolina sent me this beautifully colored one-layer card.  This really reminds me of the black-capped chickadees that we have visiting the feeders.

My SU Upline Debbie sent me this swing card.  We had the same color scheme going this year it looks like (that card is Bermuda Bay IRL).  Don't you just love the glitter paper highlighting the ornament!

This beauty and the tag below came all the way from Ireland.  My blogging friend Sabrina and I share many interests, one of them being birds.  The detail on both the card and tag just take my breath away.

I am so fortunate to have such creative friends near and far.

And speaking of creativity - these clay projects below, though not for me, were created by our art teacher and our PE teacher at school.  Our art teacher made this and several other beautiful ornaments.  I am in awe of her talent and what she gets her students to do.  I often wish that I had had such gifted art teachers as we have in our school district.  

Our PE teacher comes in early to work in the art room each year creating a gift that he gives his wife for Christmas.  This gingerbread man is awesome, and to put it in perspective, it's about 12" tall.  One of the students even told him that it was "pretty good for a gym teacher!".  And they were so right!

Our Spanish teacher was also working on some secret project in the art room but I didn't get to see them before she took them home.  She had done some small paintings last year that were so pretty.

I'm thinking I might have to start getting up early to go in to school to work on something myself!  Hmmmm, where to start?

Zentangles - September and October

No quotes and no words, and a few unfinished strings.

I found, a few months earlier, that I had to put together a list in excel of all the tangles to make sure that I wasn't duplicating any.  Even with that I did manage to double-up on a few.  

As always, click on the photos to see them larger.  November and December will be coming soon.

Happy New Year 2014

Happy 2014!  

I'll be wrapping up 2013 over the next few days so let me start by sharing the little penguin appetizers that I made for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  Found them on Pinterest and they're simply made with colossal and small pitted black olives, cream cheese, carrots and a toothpick.  Most people agreed that they were cute but I guess not many people care for black olives because I had quite a few left over.  I thought they were tasty!

I simplified decorating this year leaving a lot of things in boxes and grouping some things differently. 

I grouped together these glittered trees with the ceramic snowman and wire deer on a side table.

And put my little handpainted nativity on one of the plant shelves.

My little gumdrop ornaments found a home inside this candy dish that I put a glass dome over.

The other candy dish held two felted birds under another dome.  (The candy dishes had been gifted to me by my godmother several years ago and the domes were a rummage sale find for 25 cents each.)

I've got another project to post but it's a gift I have yet to deliver so that will have to wait and I also want to wrap up my Zentangle book for the year.  I finished it!   Well, there are some strings that I didn't get to, but I have tangles done for all the other days right up to December 31.  

As far as New Year's resolutions go, I just want to be happy more and that means spending more time doing the things that I like to do and also with family and friends.  I could say that I resolve to lose weight and get in shape, but that's a constant and I should work on that perpetually.   I have a new Zentangle book that will be a little different for this year, but I enjoyed doing that even though I played catch-up most of the last month or so.  I have a new toy, a Silhouette Cameo, that I will be learning how to use and hope to share my creations.  And we really have to finish up what we started here with our house projects which means sanding and painting the stairs, and purging, purging, purging.  

It will be a busy year!

Wishing you the best!