put a bird nest on it…

and call it done…

my twenty-eight spread journal using an old rescued encyclopedia volume that I have worked in so much lately

now has a cover on it using a piece of one of the cutter quilts I got recently…

while I was out on the back porch (where the light is good for photography) a robin redbreast popped into our angel fountain not seeming to mind me being quite close…

as I had my camera handy I clicked a few photos of her splish splashing away…

something went amiss with the robin that nested in our pink climbing rose out front as the four beautiful eggs disappeared from the nest over night leaving us guessing what might have gone wrong…

 back to my art journal…

I always like an excuse to use one of my wire bird nests as they are such fun to make…

I am close to finishing a smaller Funk & Wagnalls volume but that may not happen before our trip in June…

*Wordpress tells me this is blog post #1660*

finding beauty …

Mr Magpie and I took the traveling tea cup away for a long weekend recently and did a bit of garden hopping in Pennsylvania…

we were delighted to visit the beautiful Chanticleer Gardens  several years ago and knew we wanted to make a return visit again someday…

May and June in my view are fabulous garden months with so much blooming and temperatures that are not too hot or humid…

as it turned out this one day out of the four we were away did get a bit warm and sticky so my pretty paper parasol really came in handy for shade while strolling some of the 35 acres…

we discovered that the blooms in Pennsylvania were about two weeks behind us here in Virginia (next Tea Tuesday I have some really fabulous Wisteria pics to share from the other garden we toured as well)…

Chanticleer has been described as a “pleasure garden” that is “planted to perfection” with lots of welcoming places to sit and linger to enjoy the lush vistas along with the flora and fauna…

the arched veranda was especially lovely and cool with breezes blowing through and we were mesmerized by the ceramic pot filled with water that had fresh flowers floating in it…

there was a group of artists intently working  away with pastels en plein air…

joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard for Tea on Tuesday and sending up prayers for all those affected by the tornado on 20 May in  Oklahoma♥

it is difficult to try and make sense out of how beautiful AND destructive nature can be all at the same time…

♥Peace to you dear ones ♥

Mandala Monday: Dessert First

my mandala today was done on a dessert plate…

using a columbine blossom for the center on a bed of China Girl pink rose petals with a bit of fennel greenery…

robin redbreasts built a nest in our climbing rose trellis on the corner of our front porch…

in a fairly busy place as that is the direct path from our driveway to our front door…

I tried discouraging the robins from laying eggs there by removing the nests that now decorate a box on the back porch (I know! I felt horrible but it was before they laid any eggs and I hoped they would pick from the many other spots available in our garden)…

finally on a rainy day I gave up and Mrs Robin built nest #5 and laid a clutch of four eggs (I snapped the photo above before she added the fourth egg)…

now mockingbirds have moved in too and built a nest four posts down on the other end of the porch right by our front door… 

in all the years we’ve had mockingbirds in the garden we have never seen a nest…

“Life is short.  Eat dessert first” -Jacques Torres

joining Dawn for her Mandala Monday…

Enough …

here we have the last spread in a visual journal that I started working in back in 2009…

as finishing this journal this month has been a challenge I set for myself I am entering it in Susi’s Art Journal Journey May challenge…

lots of my painted pages began because of inspiration from a Julie Prichard online class that taught me so much (she is a wonderful teacher!)…

the first spread I completed above in this 1958 Funk & Wagnalls  Encyclopedia was inspired by a Pretty Paper Hearts challenge blog that no longer exists …

 links to several other spreads can be found here… 

below you will find a bit of my creative process for the last pages which got quite thick…

strips of my citra solv paper and torn vintage map (thank you Carmen ♥) blended in with some white gesso…

using some of my unmounted rubber stamps on pattern tissue paper…

and lots and lots of layers of Distress Stains (one of my favorite Ranger products!!!)…

using my hand to blend and smear the stains and YES it DOES stain your hands …

to finish off the gutter of the book I wet my hand a little and used a small paintbrush to gather enough color to finish off the center of the pages…

above you can see my pages before I found my tiny seashells and starfish from a trip to Florida…

I did try and not make the pages too bulky but you know how it is once you get going…

I am a big mermaid fan…

twenty-eight spreads (double pages) in the recycled encyclopedia that originally covered French Literature — Gothic Architecture and now all it needs is a cover…

“Enough is abundance to the wise.” ~Euripides

and a bit of extra fun with my mermaid and free Photofunia…

wherever you stand…

a couple more pages for both the Art Journal Journey (Challenge Yourself)  and Dawn’s Journal Journey’s (Birds) challenges this month…

I have wanted to try my hand at using water soluble oil pastels and gesso for some time now…

first scribbling on my encyclopedia pages…

then blending with the white gesso and adding a paper doily from a tea tray enjoyed with a special friend recently…

I made a copy of a face from a magazine and various cut out flowers from catalogs along with a birds nest for ‘hair’…

the bluebird of happiness…

Rumi’s quote speaks to me again and again…

a bit of sari fabric and some velvety rickrack…

my first pages for these two challenges can be found here…

Lily of the valley tea…

“The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.”  ~Hanna Rion

one whiff of deliciously fragrant Lily of the Valley and you are instantly reminded of just how amazing nature can be…

each flower is so distinctive…

it seems that every one that blooms in our garden is my favorite…

“Nothing is more memorable than a smell.  One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.” ~Diane Ackerman …

joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard for Tea on Tuesday

Mandala Monday: Honey Locust Delight

for several weeks each Spring our Honey Locust tree shines in chartreuse glory later turning to regular green until the Autumn when the tiny leaves turn golden…

our Wisteria has a few beautiful blooms but is nothing close to the breathtaking display we enjoyed at Dumbarton Oaks at the end of April…

since green leaves hid many of our blossoms I decided to pluck some flowers to enjoy up close and personal…

a few golden Buttercups in our lawn caught my attention too…

joining Dawn for her Mandala Monday…

“The tiniest dewdrop hanging from a blade of grass in the morning is big enough to reflect the sunshine and the blue of the sky.”  -Anonymous