Empty nests

I had a message on my last post that we must be empty nester's now.  I suppose that's true.  I guess that would explain why I've started collecting empty nests.

We found this one in the back yard in a pine tree.  Of course I made sure that the baby birds are gone.  They have flown off to their new homes. Much like our children do.  With one exception - the mother bird leaves the nest, too!  There's an interesting thought...

                  Here's another nest.  A friend gave this to me when she found out I like to collect empty nests.
                                                  Bird nests.  The ultimate in recycling!

I use them to decorate with.  Most of them are on the front porch.  I leave them out until there's been a really hard freeze.  It hopefully, kills all of the little bugs, critters and mites that inhabit these beautiful nests.  Did you know that bird lice and human lice are two different kinds of lice?! You can't "catch" bird lice.  See!  You can learn something from my blog.  Are you scratching your head, now?  Yeah.  Me too.  Sorry about that.

This is what I did with one of the nests.  Nothing says art like tiny Chinese books in a nest with a teapot!
I like the way this looks.  It's not practical, but then neither is collecting old bird's nests.

Finally, it is Memorial Day.  Favorite Memorial Day images to me are peonies and flags. 

That and the Indy 500.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all of the men and women that make our country proud.

Including my dad.

I believe...

My daughter recently moved out to her own
apartment.

She had been looking at
quite a few different websites
that sell vinyl letters and graphics.
You simply stick up on the
wall.

You've seen them, I'm sure.







My daughter also has a hobby as a writer.  She's very, VERY funny.  She wrote about her experience after installing the "easy to do" vinyl lettering quote from Audrey Hepburn.  In the end it turned out very nice, actually.

She's enrolling herself in a Zen yoga class for relaxation  next week.

This is what she wrote.

Things Needed:
Patience of Job

Einstein IQ

Degree in Rocket Science and/or Engineering

Substitutions to above list:

Ability to swear in several languages

Access to copious amounts of alcohol

1. Read directions.

2.  Feel relief that it will only take 5 minutes.

3. Peel backing off.  Realize that 98% of the letters came with it.

4. Read directions for helpful hints on how to fix said problem.  See that there are none.

5.  Apply  backing and vigorously rub on the back of letters.  Remove backing again.  Realize that 97% of the letters came with it.

6.  Scour internet for tips.  See that there are zero.

7.  Apply backing.  Again.  S-l-o-w-l-y peel off backing and letter-by-letter affix to plastic.  This should only take about an hour and a half.

8. Affix to wall location.  Feel satisfied that the hardest part is over.

9.  Remove sticky backing.  See that 99% of the letters came with it.

10.  Curse.  Loudly and repeatedly.  Read directions, frantically flipping the sheet from front to back to make sure that you haven't missed anything.

11.  Put  back on wall.  Rub angrily onto the wall until you are sure the letters are stuck.

12.  Peel back the backing.  See that 98% of the letters are still affixed

13.  Swear.  A lot.  In languages you didn't even know you knew.  Find a bottle of Jack Daniels.

14.  Apply to wall yet again.  Slowly peel off backing.  Realize that you need either an army to help or twelve arms.

15.  As you peel packing off, individually help the letters along.  This is a painstaking process.  It should only take about 3 hours.  During this time you will probably need to polish of the bottle of JD.  

16.  Get to the end, only to find that two words are still stuck to the backing.  Open a bottle of vodka.

17.  Apply, by hand, the two final words to the wall.

18.  Step back to admire handiwork.  See that it is slightly crooked.  At this point, you will be frustrated and  too exhausted to give a damn.

Spring is Fleeting

Here's something I've been fooling around with this morning:

I call it

Spring is Fleeting


It could also be called:

Because Kathy Doesn't Feel Like Doing Laundry

                or

Junque in a Frame Looks GOOD!


                or


Cleaning Up The Craft Room When I Found These!




Have a great Sunday.  I plan to sit on my derriere and watch 5 (count 'em) 5 solid hours of the end of LOST.
Life as I know it....is over.....

(also, for the record, DON'T Google derriere to see if you've misspelled it.  Trust me!)

************
something extra:

GO HERE!   The blog is Child of Danu and she lives in Ireland.   It's amazing.  She has little magical places and pictures she's found from all over the web.  She says she has no theme and no real plan, but seriously, you must, MUST go take a look.  Cool, cool stuff.

Another one of life's lessons.

Today, on a whim, I decided to visit this place:

The Bountiful Barn in
Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
It's about a 40 minute
drive from where I live.
You can read all about
it here:

http://intriguedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-day-opening-day-bountiful-barn.html

I call my dear friend Susan, to ask if she'd like to come along.  Yes, she would.
Off we go.
3 trains,  several street closures (due to Taste of Glen Ellyn which appears to be happening this weekend), and a few detours later - we arrive.
Only

to find out

that

they are

closed ON FRIDAY!!!!

Not to be disappointed we head over to this place:

Vintage Living

Take a look.  It's a wonderful shop.  Rebecca (the shop owner)  is the sweetest, friendliest, most giving person.  You'd love to shop here.  Trust me.  I love to shop there.

We pull up to the Vintage Living Store.

"Oh look.  There's a sign on the door.  Can you read it?"

CLOSED

You read right.

C-L-O-S-E-D

Oh well, we will stop in again another day.

Not to be deterred, oh no, we are two plucky, hard to beat down ladies, we head off to a nearby estate sale.
We pull up at 10 minutes to 3.
Guess what?
It closed at 3.
Yup, the woman running the sale was pulling up signs as we were pulling in.
We headed home.
It started to rain.
You know you have a good friend when you can spend over 2 hours in the car to go nowhere, to find nothing, to spend no money, and laugh the entire time.

Oh - we did find another estate sale.

They didn't have anything I wanted.

The end.

A Pumpkin Miracle

I bought a pumpkin last October for Halloween.  I placed said pumpkin on my front porch.

Halloween came and went.  Thanksgiving came and went.
Christmas came and went.  St. Patrick's Day came and went.
You can see where I'm going with this, can't you?
 I removed that pumpkin today.  I did not photograph it.  You may thank me for that later.  

Instead, I made this with some art from Tangie Baxter.

Here's what I learned when removing the ummm..well what looked to resemble something from a nearby cow pasture:   (No photo.  You're welcome)

A.  If you leave things long enough they become light as air.

B.  Things you think may be disgusting, goopy, and full of goo, may not be.

C.  Things just may not be heavier than they appear.  

D.  Be careful not to exert too much pressure.  This may cause the thing you think is extremely       heavy to go flying through the air at warp  speed if  using too much of a nudge.  Treat................gently.   This is key.

E.   Go ahead and do the thing you fear on a nice sun shiny day.  It's not as scary.

F.   Life lessons CAN be learned from a 7 month old pumpkin.

There you go.  My thoughts for the day.  Have a good one.

I'm Learning to Fly (the unplugged version)

Did you ever get an idea in your head and you know just exactly how you want it to go?  You have the colors, the paper, all of your supplies and you jump right in?  Everything goes great and you finish off your little project in no time at all.  Ever done that?  Me too.  Usually, I like it.  Most times, I just LOVE it and sometimes it goes out the door as a nice gift for someone.

I had that "epiphany" today.  I made this digitally:

Then, I got out all of my supplies and made this:

I didn't like it, so I added the words and stars.  Now it looks like this:

And - I still don't like it.  In fact, I really sort of, well, despise it!  Maybe I'll set it aside and it'll look better later, but I sort of doubt it.  I guess it's true.  I AM learning to fly, but I'll tell you, I still don't have wings.
After this realization, I made this:

Scary, huh?!

Maybe I
should
just
stop
while
I'm
ahead.

Speaking of heads,
this guy is just all kinds
of creepy, isn't he?  Eeeps!!

I think this was from
one of
Tangie Baxter's digi-kits.


Enjoy your weekend.  I have a mess to clean up.  I'm blaming it on Tom Petty, who by the way, is on SNL tonight.

Learning to fly (digital art)

I've been listening to a lot of Tom Petty lately.  For some reason this song seems to fit me well, right now.  I've illustrated the chorus with some digital art.  I may actually make this into cut and paste with glue art at a later date.  This is what comes of too much coffee during the day!

I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings.  Coming down, is the hardest thing.  Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne

I'm Learning to Fly was made with almost all elements from Lorie Davison at Scrapbookgraphics except for the little bird which is from Scrapgirls, and the border from Tumblefish Studios.

Ain't Got Wings was made with elements from Holliewood Studios, Tangie Baxter, Sherri JD, and Christine Honsinger.

Coming Down was made with elements from Lorie Davison, Irene Alexeeva, and Sherri JD.

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Anniversary To Me and My Dear Husband

Mothers unite!  Put your party hat on and boogie your bad self down... (okay, so THAT was a little dated)

I don't know where I found this picture.
I've had it in a file
for a very, very
long time.
Or maybe
since
last Tuesday.
I'm old.
My memory isn't
what it used to be.
If it's yours
I apologize.
for
many,
many,
reasons.

Happy Mother's Day, girls!!

Coincidentally,
it's also my
wedding anniversary
today.

Here's a picture of us
the day we were married.

Not really.

I found this somewhere
ages ago on the
World Wide Web.

Remember when we
called it that?

Again, I apologize
for not knowing where
it came from.

But tell me the truth.  Wouldn't you LOVED to have attended
THAT party?!?

If you knew me, you'd understand. ... really, you would...

Have a wonderful Sunday whatever you're doing.  Monday will be here before you know it.
(just doing my job keeping us all grounded in reality)

Pretty The World: part deaux

A few more things from the flea market:

This old door plate and knob will
look oh so fabulous on
something
or
other...

My friend Susan's favorite
catchphrase,
"So.  What are you going to do with that?"

The short answer?

Put it ON something
(she says with a smile)

FRUITCAKE!

It's not
just
for breakfast
anymore.


What do you
usually
find in a
fruitcake tin?

Buttons,
of course.

Can you
ever
have
too many?


I think not.

Pretty The World

Went to KCFM Sunday.   Doesn't this sound like a radio station instead of the Kane County Flea Market?  It turned out to be a really nice day.  Sloppy from the rain, but fun never-the-less.
First stop was the Iowa Junk Gypsies.  Here's what I bought there:

Can you ever have too much lace?

Really??

I think not.

I also found this cool little
perfume box there.

It opens up and has a tiny
little drawer.

I love anything with the
Eiffel Tower on it.

I'm quite pitiful that way.

I had lunch once in Paris.

I have never forgotten it.

Here's a look at the inside.

I'll probably empty out the
perfume.

Then what o what can I
put in here????

hmmm......

How about watch faces?!

I love, love, love watch faces.

Again, can you ever have too many?

I think not.

Or I could fill that little french box
with
these!

I found these two cute charms.

I've been looking for a tiny teacup
for a while now.

BINGO!!

I have found that if I decide on something I want to find and start looking for it, sooner or later it will turn up.  This has always worked for me.  It's almost kind of spooky.  Or maybe it's because I'm actively searching it out.

Perhaps, I should concentrate on larger things.  Such as the deed to my own seaside cottage.  I'll let you know how this works out for me...

Here's an example of that.  I've been looking for a pretty wall sconce/light fixture.

And...
here...
we...
go......!!

I may rewire it.  I may not.  I was just tickled to bits that I found one!











It was a great Sunday!  I hope you have an even better Monday.  Cheers!