Wordless Wednesday: Man musste nochmal swanzig sein … oh to be twenty again … not

 

Tea and Omi’s Strudel

so glad you stopped by for (T)ea today

I had the special treat of having tea with my sweet Mutti

we used her pretty German Gentian dishes

and ate her scrumptious homemade apple strudel … which is usually my choice for my birthday meal … we each got an end piece … Love that dough … yummmm

then we got to looking through old photo albums

full of sweet memories and stories …  we’re still not sure how, but we ended up in the linen closet next … oh my …

where was I when my parents were embroidering tablecloths together …

my Dad sitting on one end of the couch … my Mutti on the other … stitching away

one lovelier than the last … look below at how great the back looks even

as long as I can remember … my Mom has been creative … sewing, stitching, painting, cooking, gardening and more … an energizer bunny … my father was quite handy too … seemed he could repair anything … taking great pains and time to take something like a toaster apart … putting it back together again in perfect working order … he Loved to putter in the house and garden and was a master at needle point which I always thought was neat

funny that I just found out he embroidered too … how sweet is that … I think he secretly wanted to spend more time close to my Mom

it was blazing hot outside … none of these were ironed as they’d just come out of the linen closet for a little adoration and fresh air

won’t you join us over at  Kimmie’s Art in Red Wagons and visit some of the other T Tuesday bloggers

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.  All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” ~Helen Keller

Sleepy ol’ Moon and a giveaway

our back porch along with the garden area all around it is such a happy place … day and night …

spring … summer … fall and winter too

one of my favorite things is to sit out back and listen to the sounds of summer … fountains tinkling … crickets chirping

… everything looks better by candlelight !

… with its mystical twinkling glow

and then there is the magic of moonlight … have you ever taken a moonlight “bath” … no water needed …  just bask in the radiant glow of moonbeams shining all around you

“How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank; here will we sit, and let the sounds of music creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony.”    ~William Shakespeare

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I wanted to share news of a lovely giveaway with you that has NO strings attached whatsoever … a celebration of one year in blogland … the creativity at Druga Szesnascie touches me deeply again and again … she is also one of the talented bloggers who blogs in two languages … I really admire that very much!

pop by to see the special giveaway here

footnote: YES Dot, how could I forget the fireflies … those are always fun to spot in the dark night blinking away

Albizia julibrissin

this time of year in Virginia … when the lilies bloom …  a tree that has always reminded me of my father makes its presence known  … scenting the air with its delicate fragrance

until today … I had never heard the proper name of what we have always called the Mimosa Tree

… Albizia julbrissin …

I think I will still call it by Mimosa

… nature is so amazing … I try hard not to take it for granted for even an instant  … especially in light of the fragile condition of our environment

Mimosa trees or Silk trees as they are also known … are fast growing with rather short life spans

bees … butterflies and birds Love this tree too

“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.  No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.” ~Aldo Leopold

I have been waiting to use this perfect quote found on a sign at Bull Run Park during one of our visits to see the Bluebells back in April

the book rescuer

thought you might appreciate this recent happening … Mr Magpie has been working crazy hours … we decided to meet for coffee before he was off to work again … driving in separate vehicles … I left just a bit after he did … rounding the corner of our little local road … a man bending over picking up a book immediately caught my eye  … it was my sweetie … as there was a car coming up behind me I resisted the urge to pull over too … I continued on to the coffee shop parking lot … waiting waiting waiting … Mr Magpie pulls up waving a Paris city map … well I happen to know he has books for me too … and me without my camera … which hardly ever happens

what a haul and such an interesting selection

one can only wonder WHY these books were tossed on the side of the road … romance gone bad … a fit of anger … purging … the wind???

you great story tellers out there could surely make something interesting out of it all … seems the trip took place back in 1999

with my gypsy journal pages in the works it seemed extra fun to have maps and books drop out of the sky and of course to have my guy rescue them for me

I usually try and tell stories mostly in photos with less actual reading …

this story took a few more words … 249 to be exact … with still so much left unsaid

~* happy weekend to all *~

and thank you for stopping by

oxo

Gypsy Journal Pages …

a work in progress … I have been busy playing on and off with my journal pages for Carole’s “Open Your Door” on line journal class … she is full of ideas and inspiration

this page is using a transparency sewn in willy nilly on top of some old world map tissue paper … my sewing machine bobbin keeps giving me fits … good thing I’m going for a “messy/carefree” look …  the pink netting is from an old dolls petticoat … the bit on the right is from a shirt that never felt quite right and when it got a spot on it … I cut it up

a pocket created with a coffee ground stained piece of stitchery … I tucked in a garlic end along with some Lunaria pod pieces… also known as Honesty or Money Plant

some tasty red wine from Trader Joe just happened to come with a lovely Gypsy label … the things we must do for art supplies!

a TAP transfer on the right … with scrap fabrics … the gold label says: get barefoot and have a great time

can you hear the music …

Gothic Arches eBook

Nancy Maxwell James is a very talented and generous artist … I am honored and tickled to be included in her Exploring Arches Through Mixed Media online eBook … she did an amazing job of compiling eleven different artists arch creations

here are a few of the arches I created that are included in the ebook … the two arches on the right are made of wood

supplies and techniques are shared for each creation with a nice range of mixed media projects … close to ninety pages of eye candy and inspiration free to download as a pdf file

for details on how to access the book … visit Nancy here

WS: Here Comes the Bride

the Wednesday Stamper theme for the next two weeks is “Here Comes the Bride”

I was inspired by one of the prettiest and most special brides I know … my Mutti/Mother

she was a July bride and carried an arm full of white roses

for the layer behind her I got to use one of the pressed flower tissue papers I recently made

… many thanks to Lynn’s inspiring blog post here …

the layer behind that was made using the stamps above

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yikes … three blog posts in one day … thanks as always for visiting!

“Deze is ook leuk”

my felted soaps have been featured on a cool Dutch inspiration blog … “Deze is ook leuk”

even if you cannot read the actual posts … you can see some fun mixed media eye candy and click on links from all over the world … I got lost for a nice long time there

so much sharing and inspiration in blogland

Wordless Wednesday: Mother Nature

Tea with Dot and the Girls

Tuesdays seem to roll around quickly … here it is time for T(ea) Tuesday again … I got to spend a beautiful day in the country with Dot and some other talented artists …

we played with wool … and sipped refreshing Arizona tea

really fun to meet Dot’s “girls” …

and step into the hen house … I was SO excited to gather my first ever warm egg from underneath a hen

I needed to take notes as Dot shared the names and varieties of all the laying hens

she sent us home with fresh eggs and other treats

lots of lovely sights and sounds of nature

… summer is upon us in this part of the world

hope you  * Enjoy *  whatever season you are in

thanks SO much Dot for a really delightful day … I missed the chance to take a photo of your lovely KoolAid dyed wools!

Swanned I’m Sure

Nathalie surprised me recently with this beautiful swan … such a sweet gift and fine addition to my little collection …

I am drawn to the smaller pieces for space reasons

here some are facing the window

you’ll want to pop by Nathalie’s RubyFloy Etsy shop soon … she’s just returned from a great treasure hunt … she always offers the most unique and interesting items

Mr Magpie popped into a local thrift shop and just look what hopped off the shelf at him …

this beauty is a salt shaker … it was marked down … perhaps because the pepper swan had an accident … oh my!

and a pretty framed print too!

… I seem to have turned into a swan magnet and I LIKE it!

speaking of sweet surprises … I am a bit overdue in thanking some lovely and generous bloggers: Jan … Athena and Martina … for presenting me with the “Beautiful Blogger Award” … what a nice honor to be included in their choice of bloggers … many thanks

and the “To a Friend”  blog award from Elizabeth …  thanks also to Marit for the “Smile Award” and Chriss for the “Creative Writer Blog Award” thank you all SO much!

you will have lots of fun clicking on each of the names  above … so much creativity and sharing all around the globe … certainly keeps blogland interesting!

celebrating the first days of summer in our part of the world … listening to Sarah McLachlan’s new CD

“Laws of Illusion”

update: after Dot’s comment … I should probably now switch my swan collecting to flat only

“Open Your Door” Journal Workshop

in between playing with wool … puttering in the garden and putting the finishing touches on a secret project (can’t wait to tell you all about it in a couple of months) … I have been busy dying papers for Carole’s online journal class

the large sheets of watercolor paper above were washed with color on both sides … the blue piece on the left had water droplets splashed on it while it was still damp … the aqua colored one was diluted paints with a walnut ink wash on top … the third was done with walnut ink and the piece on the right was color washed with Kosher salt sprinkled onto the wet paint

I got 8 signatures by cutting the large sheet of watercolor paper in half lengthwise … four signatures came out of the piece above

since I had some washes left over … I painted some odd papers and pieces of  linen napkin too

papers torn … not cut … for the signature pages

there is still time to join in the fun

Carole’s class videos are excellent … very informative … chuck full of great tips and inspiration … thank you Carole!!!

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is – infinite.” ~William Blake

what’s up buttercup

more WOOL

inspired by a July/August 2008 Cloth Paper Scissors article by Kelli Perkins … I finally tried my hand at some felted ATCs

I started with a blue wool skirt that I washed and dried hot hot hot … next …  inspired by Linda Vincent … again and again … I punched various wool bits into the skirt wool (and my fingers too … ouch!)

these finger protectors can be found at the stationary store and do help some

I cut the background into artist trading card (ATC) size and started to embellish

I have wanted to try making a free form flower ever since I received another friend Linda’s lovely wool felted pin in a swap

next I really want to try my hand at WET wool felting …

thanks to each of you that share so freely and  inspire me each and every day … speaking of sharing … Caterina is having a gorgeous giveaway … pop by her Bell’Antico blog for a chance to be the lucky winner

Felted Soap

ever  since I saw bars of soap in little wool “jackets” a couple of years ago … I have wanted to give soap felting a try

the ingredients are simple … wool roving … hot water

and soap … new travel soaps are perfect

fun to see the transformation from a loosely wrapped bar

dribbled again and again with hot water … not too much at one time

it takes a bit of patience to keep working the wool … since I do not have a wash board … I used this ribbed bottle to help rough up the fibers helping them cling and conform to the shape of the bars of soap … it is impossible to make just one by the way

sitting out on the back porch worked nicely as it does get a little splashy with lots of foamy bubbles by the end… it takes a good 20 minutes or so of working the bar of soap … last is a cool water rinse and patting and pressing a bit in a towel

the wool dries fairly quickly … you end up with neat and tight wool wrapped bars … perfect as individual soap for a special someone to use in the bath or shower

here is  a nice tutorial that got me started … along with some questions and answers and links for supplies and such

footnote: these soaps would be meant as personal bars of soap not community soaps to be shared … great for exfoliating and for gardener’s hands

 

Tea and Golden Moments

our college boy was home for just a couple of days …

fresh from his tracker school adventures … a life changing experience … here he is making cord from peeled wisteria vines … just one of the many new skills he learned

we had a chance to spend some quality time together … I finally got to try my hand at felting soap …

“tea” on this hot hot day was Peach Lemonade

our back porch is a favorite hideaway …

protected …

with views of nature …

and steady entertainment from the birdies

MANY many thanks to Sue, of My Art’s Desire, for sharing some tips on altering photos … so many possibilities open to me now … my ladybug photo and the sweetpea picture above are my first attempts playing with filters … Sue’s photos are always wonderfully done and her blog is a really beautiful and sweet place to visit

wishing you all a happy and peaceful T Tuesday … you can visit Kimmie and find all of the recent tea posters on her sidebar

footnote: since a couple of people asked about making Wisteria cord … here is a tutorial that may get you going