Photo Challenges/Calm, Ordinary, and Makes Me Smile

Last Sunday HWNSNBP (He Whose Name Shall Not Be Published) and I took a ride to the Raptor Trust to see the birds there.  They've recently rescued an eagle that was shot in the leg and although we knew that that bird was still in the bird hospital there, we thought it would be nice to take a stroll through and see who was outdoors.  All the birds in the cages were quite CALM, I think mostly because it was pretty cold that day.  We could see remnants of various rodents that had been fed to them in their cages so maybe they were just full and resting like humans do sometimes after a filling meal.  In any case, the cages are lined with netting so taking pictures of the birds is not a clear shot.

And the treat was finding an owl that was not captive but hanging out in a tree nearby.

These eagles are not the recently rescued one.

One of the workers there had this hawk out of it's enclosure so we got a pretty good look at it.

The relative CALM of the captive birds was quite the opposite in the yard this morning with our ORDINARY bird visitors.

I think this is a juvenile male cardinal below as it is not brilliant red, but also not quite the coloration of the female.  I was surprised to see him there as they usually only come around very early and very late in the day.  He was cleaning up under the feeder.

And as I was taking pictures of the birds I noticed that HWNSNBP had stuck this little garden marker into the trunk of the tree which did MAKE ME SMILE.

Our Beautiful World was looking for CALM pictures this week and Clare has a daily challenge for January that's been pretty fun - why not check them out with me. 

Photo Challenge/Broken and Upside-Down

Or is it Upside-Down and Broken.  I'm combining the last two days, which may be a little cheating, so forgive me.  It's been a busy week getting back to work and we had two deaths in the family on New Year's Eve with services this week, so I've been trying to fit a lot in.  

That includes putting Christmas away.  And yesterday, rather than sit down on the recliner and take a nap when I got home from school, I figured I'd better start boxing up all the decorations I had collected from throughout the house that were now sitting on the dining room table.  I usually can count on something getting BROKEN during the holidays but this one is a mystery.  Notice anything different about these two angels?

It might be a little more obvious when I turn them UPSIDE-DOWN.  

I do not know what happened to her wings.  I do know that when I put them on the windowsill they both had wings.  I could have sworn that when I put them on the dining room table they both had wings.  They were on the corner of the table and could have possibly been knocked off, but I could find no evidence of the wings anywhere.  It's a conundrum.  If only Kirby could talk, I know he knows what happened.

And geez, why is it that even angels look bigger from behind?

Jingle Belles Old and New - Photo Challenge/What's in Your Bag

I'm determined not to get behind on my Christmas cards this year.  Sounds funny to hear that in January, I'm sure, but listen, if I start now I'll be able to spend December without that over my head.  

So, yes, I am taking part in the Jingle Belles challenges again.  Those ladies sure do come up with some great prompts and inspiration, and you know that once the weather gets warmer (well, normal warmer - this warmer we've had is not normal) it would be a lot harder to come up with Christmas card ideas without those wonderful prompts.

And speaking of prompts - we're starting with Something Old and Something New - using something we had in our stash and something we either got as a gift or recently splurged on ourselves.  

Since, according to my Wacky Holidays Calendar, it is "Bird Day" I wanted to make sure that I had a bird on my card.  I have had this IO dove die since......a long time ago, so that is my old and I recently was gifted with Inkadinkado's Snowflakes-a-Plenty (thank you LB) and paired them up here.

This should have been a quick card, but if you could see the condition of my craft table--- OY!  And I was forced to use my paper cutter on my lap as I couldn't find my snowflake punch - this was after I couldn't find my PEACE die, found it, die cut it, and promptly decided that it wasn't meant for this card.  

I originally thought about using white embossing powder for my snowflake swirl, then I said to myself "No, that will interfere too much with the bird, use silver instead."  So I did.  Didn't like it.  So I then said to myself "Try the snowflakes in silver - that should give it some sparkle and show off the bird."  Nope.  Didn't like that either.  Then the genius in my head (NOT) told me to try heat and stick and diamond dust. Well, that genius was an idiot that made a mess and will be tracking diamond dust through the house for the next couple of days.  And then the lightbulb went off.  "You should have gone with your first thought!" someone was screaming in my head.  So you see the snowflakes embossed in white which doesn't look that bad compared to the other disasters, but it's still a bit too busy I think.  

I know you'll be honest with me - wontcha!  It's okay, it's the first week in January and I have to find my mojo again!

Okay, let's take another turn - to the photo challenge for today - this is my new tote bag given to me by my mother this Christmas.  It's holding the extra skeins of yarn I have from the chair socks I was making (the last one of which was finished as our New Year's Eve company was pulling up our driveway).  I'm debating whether to keep these extras or return them to the store.  I guess I could make a couple of extra pairs to rotate them when they get dirty.

My mother handed me a gift bag on Christmas Eve and this tote was folded nicely and in the plastic it had come in.  No wrapping paper - but I couldn't exactly tell what it was, though I knew that I loved the colors.  I asked her what it was.  Her answer "Oh, I don't know.  You'll have to take it out of the plastic."  My mother belongs to "book clubs".  Not the kind that meet to discuss books.  The kind that send you lists of books to order and promise you all these little "prizes" when you order a certain amount of books.  So during the course of the year she amasses quite a few "prizes" which then she gifts to us.  It's become a family tradition. 

Zentangles - Photo Challenge/New

So once again I am going to try to do a NEW tangle a day.  I haven't managed this the last two years, but I did get pretty far into it last year when the wheels came off the wagon, so to speak, when school started in September and I just never got caught up.  The last year that I completed was 2013 - yikes! I look forward to trying a lot harder to complete it this year.  Especially since these last few calendars have shown the step-outs enabling me to really use them as reference guides for tangles. 

A friend of mine who teaches at the middle school in our district talked me into helping her come up with an enrichment class to offer during her school's enrichment days (two of the three single-session days during the school year and Take Your Child To Work Day).  The teachers were asked to come up with a subject area that they could teach to a group of students that was not part of the curriculum. In the course of my conversation with her I mentioned Zentangles and how I wished I could get back into the classroom and share that.  

Well, as it happens, they were also looking for community members to share hobbies and interests with the students, so we proposed an introductory session on tangling as long as I got release time from my principal to be able to go over there.  He was okay with it, and her proposal was approved so on Wednesday, Dec. 23 - the last day before our holiday break - I quickly flew through my morning duties at my school and booked it over to the middle school (which is only about 5 mins. away, thankfully!).  

I have to say that it felt really good to be in the classroom again.  The students were great - there were 11 of them and one student aide.  Some of them had had exposure to Zentangling before, but told me that they still learned new things about it.  

Here are some of their tiles.

We provided tiles and pens and I showed them how to add a string and four basic tangles.  I also brought along my calendars and books and during the second part of the session (when I had to go back to my school) they continued to work on their original tiles and on some ornament shapes that I had made copies of for them.  My friend gave them some colored Sharpies and you can see that some chose to add color to their tiles.  

Today I got a thank you note from the middle school principal (who had dropped in during the class along with the acting superintendent) for coming over and helping to make the enrichment day a success.  He doesn't realize how uplifting it was for me!

Thank You Cards - Photo Challnge/Blue

Folded BLUE paper - side-by-side.

But looking closer, something in there hides.

The front of the card with a snowflake in view.

And the wish for a Happy New Year too!

My favorite color is blue.  My cousin knows this and has this habit of picking up "little blue things" for me for my birthday and for the holidays.  These are some of the treasures she has bestowed on me.  The thimbles should give you an idea of the size of the rest of the items.  The little angel was part of my dining room table holiday vignette this year.  

Sharing Their Creativity - Photo Challenge/Cold

I've been on a holiday break since the day before Christmas and you would think that I would have had this done by now, but no.  There was a little bit of procraftination going on here. Seriously, it's not that I didn't do anything, there were just a few other things that took precedence, like catching up with friends, after Christmas shopping, and yes, well, eating and napping.  

So tonight, after I cut out all the parts for my holiday thank you cards, I sat down with my ice cube snowman and my Frozen Falls soft yogurt for one last indulgence before getting back into a regular routine (getting ready to go back to work on Monday!).  Here is my photo for today's prompt - COLD.  Note to self: frozen yogurt does not taste that great after eating pineapple!

Thank goodness for my Silhouette.  I found a suitable Happy New Year card to use for my quick thank you's - some to be mailed, but most to be slipped into staff members' mailboxes on Monday.

And, as I normally do - I wanted to highlight the handmade cards that I received from friends this year.

This first one is from Lauren B. - she is one of the Jingle Belles and her cards are always stunning.

This one arrived from Sunshine in New Zealand - I love her color scheme here and that candle die is sooooooooo pretty.  

My SU upline Debbie sent me this gorgeous card.  The center of that poinsettia is gold glitter paper.  And those sequins just add the right amount of additional sparkle.

Sabrina sent me this stair-step card.  Each one of those blocks is a beauty in itself.

Even the tops of them are decorated!  Sabrina is always trying new card techniques and it sure looks like she mastered this one.

Sabrina is also a very accomplished knitter.  She knitted this beautiful "French Hen" for me.  I love, love, love her!!! (And check out that handmade tag too!)

These ladies have blessed me with their talent time and time again and I am so very grateful.  Thank you all!

Happy New Year - 2016 - Resolution

So this is what most of last week looked like here.  Overcast and rainy although unseasonably warm.  What a way for December to go out!

Then we had our annual New Year's Eve get-together with our Table 7 group and we all raised our left foot at midnight to start 2016 ON THE RIGHT FOOT!

Having cleaned up from the night before and both of us taking very needed mid-morning naps, we decided to move up one of our weekend errands and make a quick visit to IKEA to pick up another RASKOG cart for my art supplies (which wound up being two more so I could put one in the stamp cave also).  

As we were leaving IKEA the sun was starting to set over the NJ Turnpike.

Luckily, we jump onto Rt. 78 which is a westerly route and wound up chasing the sunset home.

At 80-85 mph (sounds like he's heavy-footed, but we were only keeping up with the flow).

And when we got off at our exit, I knew we'd be passing the horse farm and HWNSNBP willingly stopped the car on the side of the road so I could get some 0 mph pictures.

So with the new year usually come resolutions........I have the standard, lose weight, be more positive, be more creative goals in mind, and I'll be adding taking more people pictures which will be a lot more fun come April when we will add a little family member - our first grandchild.  

And I'm going to try to join my blogging friend Clare in her January Photo Challenge.  She has a list of prompts that look pretty appealing and I encourage all you closet photographers out there to give it a try also, especially those of you who want to try something new and creative this year.  Almost everyone I know has a cell phone with a camera these days so you're seldom caught without a way to capture a moment.  Well, why not add these prompts to your calendar (also on your phone) and give it a try?  Even if you don't do them all you'll have a folder of memories to look back on.

Pre-Christmas Paint Party With the Girls

When we did our first painting in October we liked so much we decided to give it another try. Looking around the room there were many wonderful paintings hanging, and on one specific wall were the paintings that were going to be offered for the next couple of months.  We all liked this one. Here are the stages of my painting.

Starting at the top with the teal color, stroking it downward.

Adding a little white to the brush and blending it downward to almost all white.  Then to add the branches.

 Branches were added in brown and then added a little black to fatten them up.

And I missed a picture of the step to add the needles - they were added to the branches in the teal color again with a little black and then we added white to highlight them.  

Pine cones were painted with a mixture of black and brown in a "pizza slice" shape.  Then we went back and added some white highlights on the tips of the pine cone petals.

And then, of course, the snow was added to the branches, the pine cones and softly falling dotted snowflakes.

And here are the artists with their finished product. 

We were all pleased with the outcome and plan to do another painting soon.  It was a fun evening that started with dinner together and time catching up before the extra-busyness of the holidays!

The Christmas Elf and Squid - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

These woven paper stars were the "Christmas Elf's" gift to the staff at our school this year.

Little white clothespin wishing PEACE and JOY!

Hung from gold, silver, and red cord, and woven in red, green, blue and dark pink scrapbook paper. (Directions here.)

To be hung from a branch with the clothespin.

Tucked into their mailboxes the last day of school before break.  And speaking of the last day of school - it was one of those wacky days - wear what you want, and this student certainly did coming to school with his "squid" headdress!  He even signed in late as "The Squid"!

Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day buffet at behind me now, so I will get to relax the rest of the evening and contemplate how good it was to be with family celebrating.  Hopefully you, dear readers, will get the chance to do the same.  

Merry Christmas!