Holland in Haymarket

on Easter Day…

we enjoyed some glorious spring blooms at a farm not too far from us  (I have taken you there before to see the sunflowers)…

it was fun pretending we were in Holland instead of Virginia for awhile…

enjoying the riot of colors with our Traveling Tea Cup in tow with more than a million tulips and daffodils…

I have always been drawn to wooden shoes and Burnside Farms had a very fine array from teeny tiny to small boat size… 

I think I am part tulip because the almost 90 degree day (32.2 Celsius) felt way too warm for me… 

turns out the heat is not ideal for spring blooms like tulips either…

we brought home some of my favorite Muscari bulbs to plant in our garden and a jar of raw local honey to help balance the effects of the heavy pollen that is everywhere…

the price for so many blooms popping just now (happily on Monday we got some much needed rain)…

I am joining everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover to wish you a Happy T Day…

I’ll be taking a blog break and will see you again in May…

Spring changes…

April is turning out to be a month of big changes for me and the month is still young…

a week or so ago I had my hair cut and donated fifteen inches to a good cause (I have donated hair in the past but this time around I learned how much it costs to make a human hair wig confirming that monetary donations are very much needed as well)…

for the first time in my life I have braces and what an adventure that is going to be for the next year or so…

late last year we had some work done to reduce the size of part of our herbaceous border getting rid of wild blackberry and honeysuckle vines to name just a few marauders (I Love them in a wild setting but it wasn’t good that they were choking out so many other plants)…

now we are watching to see what survived the clean out before we do any new planting…

I had fun recently altering vintage spools of silk thread that my always generous friend Carmen shared with our mixed media group using a bit of shredded map, wire, moss, rose ribbon trim and a shiny egg or two for the little chick to sit on and the little boy is from the top of a small valentine candy box that I altered years ago (I created the frame using distressed copper mesh and brads)…

the blue Muscari/Grape Hyacinths are definitely a favorite spring flower of mine ♥ they seem to pop up everywhere…

I am tagging along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover to celebrate T Stands for Tuesday and

wish you a happy day…

the Virginia Bluebell … Mertensia virginica

it is that time of year again when the forest floor of Bull Run Regional Park transforms into a blanket of blooms…

our first visit this year was perhaps a week ahead of peak bloom and VERY muddy (we always come prepared with a change of shoes… a little slipping and sliding is so worth it)…

I get excited each year and look forward to walking in the woods with our traveling tea cup along the looped Bluebell Trail…

I will leave you with a just a few photo collages and if you’d like to see more you can click here for past and much more colorful visits…

we plan to return for an early morning walk when more blooms are open and the light is softer…

joining everyone at Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s to wish you a Happy T Day…

 

Spring parade tea …

Spring has sprung here in northern Virginia with a wonderful parade of blooms everywhere you turn (the nature photos here were all taken in our garden)…

some recent cooler temperatures helped keep the blossoms fresh and in place a little longer than in other years…

Mr Magpie is healing nicely after trigger finger surgery

and is getting some rest away from work while he’s on the mend (even the stick on message from a breakfast sandwich supported that) …

we are enjoying sitting out on our back porch again…

 here’s wishing you a very Happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

it’s Bluebell time again …

this time of year has me feeling a bit like a bumblebee flitting from thing to thing to take in all the beauty and surprises nature has to offer…

 cherry blossom time in Washington, D.C. meant that the Virginia Bluebells could not be far behind…

to our great delight this past weekend we got to visit Bull Run Regional Park several times…

which is something we look forward to each Spring here in Virginia (one of the days three hours had passed before we knew it)…

we took the traveling tea cup along and found lots of welcoming spots for it to rest for a bit being careful to avoid the tender new poison ivy popping up everywhere and remembering to NOT be tempted to touch the mature fuzzy vines clinging to tree trunks…

much like the cherry blossoms the exquisite bluebells are relatively short lived and perhaps all the more precious because of that (depending on weather conditions they can last about 8-10 days)…

there are other blooms to enjoy as well but the bluebells are definitely the stars of the show…

being in the woods for sunrise one day treated us to a bit of extra magic…

there was a mist over the meadow entering the park that stopped us in our tracks…

 Mother Nature made each petal and leaf look like it had been dusted with sugar (you can click the photos for a closer look)…

walking the loop trail through the woods is a little different each time (can you see the goose peeking over the log)…

here’s wishing you a very happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

may your day be full of things you enjoy…

what’s up buttercup…

before Mr Magpie mowed our lawn the other day I picked a handful of buttercups (Wild Buttercups (Ranunculus acris)…

they are a common wildflower that I look forward to every spring and one of the bonuses of not using chemicals on our lawn…

as a child whenever I came across buttercups growing in the grass I would stop and pick one to hold under my chin or a friend’s chin and we would ask each other if we liked butter…

and if you had a golden glow under your chin it meant you did…

was there anyone that didn’t like butter I wonder 🙂

the bird tea cup is from an everyday set of German dishes my parents used  when I was growing up…

that particular cup had been glued by my father many years ago in a time when you didn’t throw broken things away and replace them with new…

 joining the other bloggers at Elizabeth and Bleubeard to wish you a very Happy T Day…

California tea time…

back from our California vacation trying to settle back in and catch up with everyone…

after spending a few wonderful days in San Francisco we headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge…

I do have a traveling tea cup adventure to share with you next week from SF…

time seems to be moving so quickly…

stopping at a nice tea spot in Petaluma that we happened upon we had a tasty lunch and pot of Earl Grey tea…

it was a delight to enjoy the California sunshine visiting family and seeing lots of green there this time of year too…

along with so many pretty blooms…

driving along the coast highway is always a thrill (the Point Arena Lighthouse below is at the most western point of California making it the closest point to the Hawaiian Islands in the Continental US)…

we returned home to Virginia to find everything blooming like crazy…

~♥~ ahh Spring ~♥~ and sweet memories from our travels…

happy to join Elizabeth and Bleubeard and all of the other T stands for Tuesday participants wishing you well…

Celebrating the gift of trees…

with many thanks to the people of Japan for their gift of friendship in 1912 of 3,020 cherry trees to the people of the United States…

it is not difficult to understand why flowering cherry trees called “Sakura” in Japan are highly exalted and cherished…

thanks also to all those that have worked over the years to preserve and protect the cherry blossom trees here Washington, D C…

the delicate blossoms are a good reminder for us to appreciate what is…

the blooms are fleeting and last only about two weeks at the very most and that is if no harsh rain or wind storms hasten their demise…

for many years now people have flocked to the United States capital to enjoy the beauty of the blossoms along with the magical fairyland that they create…

our strategy this year was arriving at 6:30 am just before sunrise when the crowds are a little lighter than in the middle of the day…

before we knew it three hours had passed and we had walked all around the Tidal Basin enjoying some monuments along the way…

this rite of spring has coincided with the blooming bluebells usually on time for our 11 April wedding anniversary for some years now…

this is the fourth year that our traveling tea cup has made the trip to visit the Tidal Basin in Washington…

March 2011 was when I first had the idea for a traveling tea cup (more on that another time)…

I will be a bit scarce in blogland but did want to join in with Bleubeard and Elizabeth to wish you a Happy T Day…

The light filling the air

is so mild this spring day

only the cherry blossoms

keep falling in hast—

why is that so?

 Ki no Tomonori (c.850-c.904)

Art Journal Journey and Mix It Monthly…

my art journal pages qualify for two great challenges this month: Art Journal Journey’s “Moments of Happiness” and Mix It Monthly’s “Maps”…

nature makes me happy for so many reasons and in the Washington, DC area we always feel like Spring has finally arrived when the cherry blossoms burst into bloom…

I also have a thing for old maps and enjoy using them in collage…

*here is some of what went into my pages: personal photographs…torn map pieces…paint…gesso…chalk…Stabilo pencil…computer printed words on painted paper along with happy moments and memories*

 

a good egg…

last year around this time I had so much fun playing with natural dyes and eggs using some leftover dye for fabrics too (there are  photos and examples here)…

it was an exciting process and the eggs turned out so beautifully we did not have the heart to eat them all…

so we tucked a carton of eggs marked *2013* in the very back of our fridge (actually I did the egg tucking 😉 Mr Magpie knows by now to proceed with caution with an eye out for unexpected things in the fridge like homemade gelli plates and such not intended for eating)…

over time these hard boiled eggs will completely dry out and become “permanent” egg decos  …

 I got the idea to petrify eggs back in 2000 … last year I found a couple of those cartoons of eggs that were stashed out of sight on top of a tall cupboard in my art room…

I had heard that you could leave fresh eggs out undisturbed and over time they would dry up and could then be used for crafting … 

I did try the natural plant and dye technique on the thirteen year old eggs above last year and it worked nicely when I weighted them down in the dye bath …

I am joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard to wish you a Happy T Day…

“When arguing with a stone an egg is always wrong.” ~African Proverb

Welcome April …

spending time at my needle felting machine is always freeing and fun (the piece below is on its way to becoming a prayer flag)…

no needles to thread or bobbins to change just bits of wool…fabric…lace and more magically meshed together by the barbed needles of my Baby Lock Embellisher…

I used a couple of the smaller pieces I made for greeting cards 5.5 x 5.5 inch (13.9cm) using tea dyed laces and fabrics below……

it is not hard to while away the hours at the machine adding more finishing touches by hand…

after rain and snow showers over the weekend our miniature daffodils finally made their appearance…

joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard on this lovely spring day to wish you a very Happy T Day ♥

“The ‘Amen!’ of Nature is always a flower.” 
–  Oliver Wendell Holmes   

change of seasons…

Spring is trying to make an appearance here in northern Virginia…

but we still have a way to go as there are some lovely snowflakes falling again today…

perfect weather for playing in my art room that is a wee bit neater after doing a little clearing recently…

fun to uncover ingredients like scrap backgrounds and postage stamps just waiting for attention (above are two quick index cards I made)…

a nice day for sipping hot tea dreaming of spring

(glad I cut some daffodils and brought them in before the snow came this morning…they are opening nicely)…

joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard to wish you a happy T day full of fun discoveries…

“Weather is a great metaphor for life — sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.” ~Terri Guillemets

playing with packaging…

do you ever look at empty food containers and think they look too nice to throw away…

the cardboard makes a nice substrate for lots of things like ATCs…postcards and more…

our local group of mixed media artists looks at lots of things that way and at our recent meeting we turned assorted boxes into books by adding all kinds of different papers as signatures (some of my gelli prints came in handy)…

 this yummy truffle box had nice little holes that I liked for added interest on my book cover…

I punched a hole in the front of my shortbread book cover and like the look of some of my Citra Solv paper peeking through…I still need to stitch in the signatures on that one…

the Indian food package book cover above still needs some beads to jazz up the waxed linen threads…

♥ many thanks to special and talented friends both near and far for sharing and always being such an inspiration ♥ 

Happy Fall to all of my friends in the Southern Hemisphere…