FULL MOON ~FIRST SNOW

I was thinking of night snow and feeling a tug at my heart for the beauty of many Connecticut snowfalls that began during the night. You would walk outside and it was absolutely still. So quiet you could hear the sound of the snow hitting the ground. Magical, a faireland. This piece was created with that feeling and I call it Full Moon~First Snow. This little Luna Moth Fae only comes out to play on the first snow of the winter....she just cannot help herslef.

Full moon and faerie-images from Paper Whimsy
bird and flower cut from Cavallini & Co wrapping paper

HoooWeeeee, I'M DONE!!!!!!!

Holy Moly!! This is the last of the 100 1X1" art squares. Has it been fun??..yes and no. After about the 50th one I really begain to wonder if I could continue to find interesting tiny images to place on these tiny squares. A huge challange to be sure. But here I am DONE and even before the deadline. Now THAT is an accomplishment and I am doing the happy dance to be able to pop them in the mail tomorrow. Yippeeee.

ARTCHIX Winter Faux Postage

In the ArtChix Yahoo Group we were challanged to create ATC's for a Winter Faux Postage Contest. The winners' ATC's would then become little winter faux postage stamps. These are my two entries and both were chosen. They are numbers 26 and 27. Thanks to Paper Whimsy for the adorable images. They are too precious for words.

SURPRISE, TWO SETS IN ONE DAY!!

Yessireebob, two whole batches done today. The sweet image third row, middle, is my Mom at about age three. The most difficult one was third row, right end. That teeny, tiny cardinal was a *@#%$ to cut....then glue.

Goodnight everyone!!

4th SET OF 1X1'S

100 seems like a long journey yet, eh? Well, fear not. I am probably only 10 away from being there. There are several ready for text and I probably will finish this week. Still need to attach my name to the backs of each, but they are in label form and just need a simple placement. I will be glad to put this baby to bed.

ATC

I have a few projects I am committed to over the next several weeks and I am usually in a frenzied state of cutting, designing, glueing, etc., most of each weekend. Then in the midst of it I sometimes wonder why I do that to myself. I absolutely love to create, but I also find that my muse totally goes on vacation without notice once I am in a "box" of certain contraints. Today I made a mental list of what needed to be done and what I even had ideas for. Well, one was for an ATC that I needed to do with particular colors and a particular theme. Since only ONE was needing done, I found that I was able in less than an hour get it all together. WAY ahead of schedule, but it's so delicious to cross it off my list. Does anyone in the art group world feel the same way? I seem to be able to create wonderfully when I just "have at it" without any reason for doing it, just that I want to. Anyhow, back to this ATC. For the background I embellished with stars and dots a gorgeous piece from PaperWhimsy, sheet #63. The image is also PaperWhimsy, sheet number 56 (actually, this single image came as a 'giftie' when my last order from PaperWhimsy came as Gale is always so lovely to add a little thank you treat) I gave her a fish from a sheet of stickers I had and cut out two party hats from paper on hand. Add a little chalk, and some more ink, and "VIOLA" She is done and ready to sign and mail out. I'm almost done with my 100 1X1 collage squares, also and somewhere around the 50 mark I wondered why in the world we all were doing 100!!!!!!!! It makes me laugh every time I think of this since only 32 or 34 people signed up. So I guess I will be seeing some of these come back to me.

JUST WHEN IT SEEMED SAFE TO OPEN THE WINDOWS

I'm not sure if some crazy, bird, karma, thing

has presented itself since moving to this house

19 months ago, but I can tell you

that I have more bird stories than the average Jane.

First it was the very fat and proud papa quail

that strutted along the top of the wall

pretty early in the morning watching over his

"ladies" and chicks

with an amazing screetch that reminded me of

that little horn on your trycicle,

except it distinctly sounded like

"where RRRRRRRRR you?"....

NOT amusing at 5 in the morning.

But I forgive him. Live and let live.

They are so funny to watch and I will brake in a heartbeat

when they decide to run in front of the car.

Then the Spring-Summer Episide of SIX FRUITING FIG TREES...

where every bird in the county came to dine,

shove each other around, and make one $*%^#$% of a mess

on the patio and patio furniture.

The biggest fights took place directly outside the bedroom windows.

My least favorite visitor was the "Screaming Peckerhead"

(No, that is not the official name, just a pet name:may you be so lucky as to not have such a pet)

who would bully all the sweet finches with his size

and horrible squawking scream.

Thus the name.

Red on his head, and gorgeous stripes,

most assuredly a pecker of some sort.

If he wasn't bullying the finches he was drilling off the little yellow,

bee-stoppers in the hummngbird feeders and slurping up enough of the

nectar to feed the entire Western hummingbird population.

I confess I often had evil thoughts with regard to
his...ummm...departure.

But, truthfully, he would come and he would go....

he had a lot to do, evidently in any given day,

so he wouldn't stay around so long to encourage me

to act upon my evil thoughts.

I will even admit that I laugh when I hear him screaming several houses away as I have come to know his pattern.

That brings me to the RATS WITH WINGS.

More commonly known as Mourning Doves.

That sounds nice, doesn't it? Mourning Doves.

Well, they don't sound nice (day in and day out)

and they absolutely have nothing better to do than hang around,

make nests everywhere including the gutters,

behind bushes on your hybiscus bush,

on top of patio columns, inside the tiles of the roof.........

all these places I have had to chase them from.

It's the damage they seem to do that I can't reconcile I guess.

All the while I keep encouraging them to make a nest in the trees

but so far they are not taking the advice.

There are plenty of trees around us here. It just makes some sort of sense to me. And the mess.........sigh.

However, the latest adventure was downright creepy.

The weather has finally cooled down. We can actually open

the windows now and enjoy the fresh, cool air.

Imagine finally sleeping with the windows open and needing the comfortor because of natural coolness not the 'electric kind' that costs more than I used to pay for rent!

Anyhow, I digress.

Light out, eyes closed, I hear a sound that made my hair stand on end.

I swear I didn't breath for a full minute and I heard it again.

My brain did a super-speed scan of the memory bank and I jumped out of bed knowing full well that it was that crazy owl from LAST fall.

Except this time he had a friend.

Yessirreeee, two for the price of one this year ladies and gents.....

and now pay very close attention to what I am going to say.

If you are an owl lover I suggest you stop right now and head to another blog. BUT, if you feel you might need to know how to restore the peace and quiet of slumber when owls have decided to hunt outside your bedroom window, or if teeny Fido or little kitty likes to go out in the yard at night...listen up.

Keep a very strong flashlight on your bedside table. Make sure you have fresh batteries. Keep slippers, clogs, whatever nearby so you can slip them on and head right outside (with your flashlight)

Zero in on the the noise (because, trust me, they don't stop just because little 'ol you is standing out there in the dark on the ground)

shine that light as high up as necessary,

which is usually the top of the tree) and shine that light

on those big eyes that see so wonderfully in the dark,

and in a huge flurry of wings that scare the bejeesus out of you, they decide to take the party elsewhere. And guess what?

Unlike the rats with wings, they don't come back!!

Now THERE'S a smart bird.

Thanks to Michael J. Hopiak for the photo of the Great Horned Owl.

"BLUE"

The challenge was to create a post card with the theme "Blue". It also needed to have text. I thought it would be a simple task, but let me tell you, it was far from simple. Three different attempts left me 'underwhelmed' with the product. Talk about 'block'. Then as always, the energy kicks in. First the background was the perfect blend, then I spontaneously cut out a square not knowing what would happen next. Then I found one of my favorite female images and thought how fab it would be to have her looking out, but window panes needed to be cut. Not an easy task to cut tiny, straight slivers. She looked a tad bit like her heart was longing but dreamy. Without too much thought I drew in a dark tree...then knew instantly which bird should be perched there looking in on her...then I felt it needed leaves, but not just any leaves. Falling leaves of script. It wasn't quite finished and so I added pieces of background paper that I cut to create with a fringe (that is hard to capture here) a canapy over the window and a little fence and post for yet another bird. Lasty, the poem. It seemed to spill out so smoothly. DONE!! So much angst for weeks, then Ta-Da!! I love when it just flows.

THIRD BATCH OF 1x1'S

I feel like I need to step up the pace here as 100 seems a little far off. There were several creative surges this week, but this weekend has been far from productive. The good news is that I actually finished my "Blue" postcard for Letterheads and I'm very happy with it and will post it next. If I could do another 12 minis before the day's end I will totally jazzed. Wish me luck.

1x1 SQUARE TRADE PROPOSED

So, now that you have heard about the craziniess of these little 1X1 squares and how addicting they are..........would YOU like to try? Here is my proposal. 100 is a lot for people to do. I propose joining in on the fun and making just a few. Personally I will be making a tiny book 3" by 3" in which I will adhere 4 of these 1" squares to each page. Once I have one done I will post it here. Why not make one of your own? Make a few 1" squares and adhere to a page.........make some extra and trade 4 for 4 with me. Keep it up and trade with others. My blog friend

AUDREY

will also be doing something similar soon. This is a lot less pressure with just as much fun. Leave a post here if you would like to join in on the fun.

SECOND BATCH OF 1x1 SQUARES

The next batch of little gems....and as usual, I have my favorites (which I will keep secret). It's hard NOT to, really. I'm getting better at keeping most of the glue off my fingers, and way better at staying away from fans, but I still am finding little bits and pieces of scrap in the 'Studio with a bed'. I had to laugh as I was making my bed this morning when I discovered a few sneaky pieces in my sheets. Granted, they did not have to travel far, AND I've been known to set up a lap desk in bed, but that was not the case this time. These little rascals found their way in without my knowingly helping them. Enjoy!

HERE ARE THE FIRST 12 OF THE 100 1x1 COLLAGED SQUARES

Here are my first 12 of the 100 1X1 squares I am doing for the Altered Art Obsessioon group. I believe there are over 30 of us swapping. They are really a blast to create. Each one has to be an original not photo copied. There must be an image AND text of some sort. That is a requirement. Getting the text on is the hardest part as that is the tiniest piece to glue on. I am becoming proficient at glueing my fingers together!! I'll post the next 12 soon. They are actually all ready, I just wanted to post 12 at a time.

ALTERED KEY CARD FROM AUDREY

How lovely is this? Audrey sent this to me in a one-for-one altered key card swap. Isn't is it so pretty? I am sending her my Card #2 'Stars" (see in prior post). Audrey jumped right in with the challange never having tried it before. The back is just as lovely and it was attached to the most beautiful card and matching envelope. I love it ~ Thank you Audrey!!!!