” Inspirational People” is the theme over at The Three Muses this week.
One of the most inspirational people I have ever met is my husband of 28 years (no he’s not that young, that’s how long we’ve been married).
Mr Magpie is quite a guy
Thanks to Carmen Dyson for the leather watchband, it was the perfect touch for the bottom of my wooden arch!
“Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do.” ~Emmunuel Swedenborg
I got to use three different rubber stamps…..from left to right….Stampers Anonymous, Limited Edition, RS (Small Word Label #1) and the star border stamp from Stamp Camp, Dallas, TX
a smooshed rusty bottle cap (thank you Liebling) made the perfect frame for a pink lotus flower
the Cicada wings are something I had collected a few years back when we had oodles of noisy Cicadas singing in the trees (male Cicadas make most of the noise by the way)
had to smile when I found out my Mutti had been collecting wings too
I wore rubber gloves to remove the wings from the expired Cicadas (did I hear an ewwww), being the Mother of three boys has toughened me up a little in the bug department…..other departments too, come to think of it
“I think a man’s duty is to find out where the truth is, or if he cannot, at least to take the best possible human doctrine and the hardest to disprove, and to ride on this like a raft over the waters of life.” ~Plato, 428 BC – 348 BC
if you have a few minutes, you can take a ride with the fishes at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan (second largest in the world, first prize goes to Atlanta, Georgia)
when you spot the divers in the tank you’ll get an idea of the immensity of it all
here is what Jacques Yves Cousteau has to say:
“No aquarium no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal.”
Jeanie’s recent travel posts have been delighting me to no end. You too can visit Paris with all the trimmings….my mouth waters over the thoughts of raspberry tarts…….just pay her a visit! I always say, the next best thing to traveling myself, is to be able to enjoy someone else’s travels through photos and descriptions of their adventures.
With Paris on my mind (thanks to The Marmelade Gypsy), watching the last leg of the Tour de France, (did you know the Tour began in 1903!) I kept oohing and aahing over the wonderful aerial views of The City of Light. Mr Magpie said “why don’t you take pictures…of the TV!”
*all credit for the following images goes to the Tour de France photographers*
Brilliant!
with grand views (is that Joan of Arc overseeing the festivities?)
the race WAS very exciting
it seemed to go on forever
through the countryside
Mr Magpie pointed out the upside down heart
so many came to cheer the riders on (even the escargot…I mean snails)
wanderlust is settling in, thank you very much
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speaking of travel, Kimmie is away on a wonderful adventure, her Tea Tuesdays will return in a couple of weeks
Lookie look what my eye for treasure friend, Pat of Artfully Ooglebloops, sent me! Pat is amazing, she’s a country girl/farmer, creator of all sorts of marvelous things, wordsmith, animal/nature lover, and so much more….oh AND she has TWO blogs, an etsy shop and more (see my sidebar).
these book covers were headed for the trash bin until she rescued them for me
For now I am admiring them (click for a closer view), imagining all the wonderful things I can do with them. The patina is so great on each one.
Not long after that nice surprise, Pat awarded me with this really lovely Karma blog award
she has quite a way with words (just one of her many talents as I pointed out above), you can read more about the award here. I am lucky enough to know Pat in person as well, we go back a few years!
the land of blog is such a special place, I am so grateful for so many special connections and for each of you that take the time to visit and leave a comment, it really adds to the fun of the whole experience
thanks to everyone for sharing their passion and taking the time to connect!
for the Gothic Arches “bathing beauties” theme this week I created a small wooden arch covered with tiny book text (just by chance it says “milk and water” on the right….seemed to fit)
this beauty is from the NYPL Digital collection which is a wonderful source for images of all kinds
“When you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty.” ~Kahlil Gibran
time for the second round of Seth Apter’s Buried Treasure collaboration…Digging Deeper into your favorite blog posts, picking one or two to repost today
here is an 8 x 10″ canvas from January 2008…seems I was getting spring fever a little early that year!
*double click for closeup*
my mixed media canvas was sparked by the old Japanese calendar page in the lower left corner, it was old and brittle, covering it with gel medium on the canvas helped preserve it
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I would also like to share a link to a blog post I created after a visit to the AmericanVisionaryArt Museum in Baltimore, Maryland back in July 2008. It is a very unique place both inside and out, with a primary focus on outsider art.
Another fun challenge from Rosie and Linda over at Awfully Big Art Adventure….it’s a Bird theme! I decided to go back to some of my wool felting and applique which I enjoy very much. I have had wool on my mind thanks to some talented friends tempting me, you know who you are!
my crow “pin cushion” is made of layered felted wool (old wool skirt pieces, boiled to felt them), a bit of blanket stitch, a tiny button, poly stuffing, tied over an old wooden candlestick
I have never seen crow’s eggs…..my wool crow laid eggs that look a little like Robin’s Eggs…wink wink
the ever talented and energetic Monica of Girl Gone Thread Wild has been busy doing what she does SO well with more wonderful Pink Artist doings in the works
To help raise contributions for Susan G. Komen for the Cure there will be a very special auction of a block art quilt (you must see the blocks!). Various artists have offered pieces of their artwork as prizes to help raise more donations for the cause.
I am happy to say one of my Artist Trading Blocks is included in the Prize Wheel. There are some fabulous creations there for you to feast your eyes on! You can click on the button on my sidebar also for the details, it’s easy peasy.
help spread the word for this worthy cause, there are lots of ways to help and you never have to leave your chair
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My thanks again to sweet Estivalia in Chile for helping me spread the word by making the button on my sidebar work! She keeps coming to my rescue and I SO appreciate her taking the time to help me.
cherries are reasonably priced at markets now and are they ever delicious
there used to be an orchard not too far away (since bulldozed to put up McMansions….sniff sniff). Picking cherries from the tree was delightful…every now and then getting lucky with a double or triple stem with a leaf or two even…..like a picture
Whenever I think of cherry picking, peach picking also comes to mind. The one and only time we ventured out to an orchard was when our boys were little. It was a steamy hot August day, did I say it was HOT….off we went into the countryside of Virginia.
They were so many ripe, juicy, tantilizingly tempting peaches looking down on us … we did end up sampling one or two or…… Now these were “real” peaches with fuzz… lots of fuzz (have you noticed at the market most of the peaches are pretty much fuzzless now?)
We had our buckets and ladder (we were serious first time peach pickers), but what we really needed was a jug of water and a nice wet washcloth to freshen up with (defuzz)…..there we were in the middle of the orchard with rosy red peach ‘burn’ on our faces….haven’t been peach picking since
cherry picking is ever so civilized… no need to climb a ladder, just reach up and pluck … I would like to pick cherries again sometime, some nice Queen Anne’s perhaps
before the holidays last year , I bought a set of new mugs (thanks to Pat for telling me about them)…they say Twinkle… Sparkle… Naughty… Nice
something for everyone…..I decided to keep them out all year long
Twinkle seemed to fit the bill for today’s tea, other days Naughty works just fine too
many thanks to Rosie for getting me going with her “charming junk” challenge for MMM this week
*click for before*
I have a few of these funky souvenir plates, not meant for food, just decoration…at less than a dollar each….how could I resist!
*click for after*
I used a piece of junk paper that I use to protect my work table. I have figured out why I like using these papers that catch ink, paint and stamping when I am creating. There is also glue on the paper which offers a perfect resist and adds texture to your paper
Using one of my FREEBIE stone angels, I stamped, inked and highlighted with Signo White Gel Pen (I will add a few more white highlights, it takes patience and I got excited to post this) along with gold Krylon pen
gel medium worked well for gluing my collage to the china plate
Gothic Arches this week is all about “Marie Antoinette”, a topic I thoroughly enjoy!
It is a challenge to come up with something that has not been done with Marie, as she is such a popular gal ….. I enjoyed giving her tiny blue wings to help her fly.
The fluffy pink feathers at the top of my arch are part of a fishing fly (with the hook still attached).
I had picked up this package at a junk shop (I think they may be handmade, don’t know alot about fishing stuff, just that the feathers looked nice)….goes to show you just never know what might be the perfect ingredient for your mixed media creation
this week’s TGIF challenge is “a piece from heaven”, I did a little play on words for my gothic arch, using a book chapter title “Demand Peace” and a stone angel from my photo collection….our world would be so much more heavenly with Peace!
I would like to share another stone angel with you from my collection of photos from the 160 year old Washington, DC Oak Hill Cemetery
the angel image above is a FREEBIE for you to use and have fun with, no collage sheets or selling of my personal photo please
double clicking on it will enlarge it for your download
did you know my Magpie’s Nest blog has a search engine at the very bottom of the sidebar on the right…..Go to: “TO SEARCH, TYPE AND HIT ENTER” you can type in “Freebie” (or whatever word you’d like) and it will take you to links on that topic
I am joining in today’s Buried Treasure event over at The Altered Page. Seth came up with the great idea for bloggers to feature a couple of their favorite posts today. Life moves so fast and it is not easy to always keep up with everyone. This is a chance to see some posts you may have missed in blogs you like to visit.
My first links are from an amazing spot in Philadelphia called “The Magic Garden”, we visited last April
Last April I was still learning how to load pictures on my blog and make them clickable to a larger size.
You can visit here and here to see lots more photos and learn a little about the fabulous artist and his masterpieces.
I thought I would also feature a favorite art piece that I have created, on a topic I continually strive for. To see my Tranquility canvas, you can click here.
Visit Seth’s blog for the list of participating Buried Treasure bloggers
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Another note: The big Disintigration Collaboration reveal is coming up 1 August over at Seth’s blog too
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Update: Seth has extended his Buried Treasure invitation. You too can join in. Just visit The Altered Page and sign up to participate in his “Digging Deeper” on 23 July
