A GIFT FROM A FRIEND

A dear friend of mine gave me this book the other night.

Her daughter was thinking of doing some painting but she then had her little daughter, and we all know what happens to most of us then, no time right now for these sorts of things, maybe later on!!Right away the bird on the cover made my heart soar, so beautiful, look at the vivid colors (camera is still not getting the colors correctly). The more I started thumbing through the more excited I got. I wish I had this book when I was making my "Bird Song" tags for a swap, you can see that post here. OH well, I will just have to make more... I am wondering if I should frame some of these, these pages are that good??

What would it be like to have the ability to paint like this, just heaven I would think.

I can't draw a stick figure that well...

When looking through the book with my friend she mentioned this bird.

She has one that has come onto her property recently.

She said she loves this bird so I am going to make her a gift with a copy of this bird. I will share that when I am finished.

I could of taken pictures of all the birds in this book for all of you, but just to many for a post.

Figgy is coming this weekend for an overnight visit. I am going to ask her to teach me how to make a collage of pictures or say three pictures for my header here on my blog. I would just love to use three or four of these pictures as my header, what do you think??

I hope you enjoyed the birds.

I am wondering, if any of my blog friends would like to do a swap with me for a tag (see post link above on sample of some of my bird tags) I would be happy to make a tag using a copy of one of these bird images. I feel I want to share these beautiful pictures.

Let me know by leaving me a comment here on this post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

I AM IN LOVE

I don't know if I have ever mentioned, I am in LOve with Somerset Studio magazine?

Well, I am and have been for several years now.My Figgy subscribed to this one for me last Christmas. I love receiving this in the mail.

I have to say, I have spent many an hours in the Borders book store pouring over these magazines.

Every now and again I would just have to purchase a couple of these magazines. Now mind you, I hardly ever spend nearly $30.00 on anything, well groceries of course.....

I love the art, I love the feel of the paper itself, I love the inspiration, I just simply love them.

I do have a modest collection and I have looked at them over and over again. When I look at them for the 2nd and 3rd times, I see something different each and every time.

I know there are a lot of other bloggy friends out there that have a love for these magazines just as I do.

I'm just saying................

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

FILLING MY HOARDING NEEDS

I've been gathering items again to feed my hoarding desires.Last Saturday Mr. Nook and I stopped at a few yard sales. I found this so very vintage fabric and knew just what I would do with it, see below.

This one piece was just the right size to cover my couch on the porch, love , love it!! I have a few small pieces as well, I may make a pillow or two. The recreation department in our little town is having a yard sale during the town wide yard sale this weekend. The recreation dept. asks for donations of STuff for the yard sale.

WELL, I get to see first hand (I work at the town office) what comes in for donations and I purchased this linen table cloth. I learned what linen is a few posts ago, if you love linens you can visit this post. This table cloth is a beauty... At the same sale where I purchased the cloth for the couch , I found this piece. I thought I would die this with coffee and rip to make trims to use in some of my creations. Feeding my hoarding here!! I LOve pretty trims.

A tiny little broom just for show.

I think I will make pin cushions out of these two bird planters, good idea??

When I spotted these my heart skipped a little beat.

I've been doing alot of thinking of new items for my studio. The big "Where Women Create" blog party is next month, can't wait, yipeeee!!

I think I will stain up this apron same time as the fabric.

Not sure what I will do with it after I stain it, I just know I don't like it so white.

I am happy with all of my new found items.

Oh, that recreation department yard sale is Saturday, so I will be on the look out for more items that I really don't need.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

FATHER'S DAY FISHIN WITH MR NOOK

Here on Lake Champlain Father's Day Weekend means FISHING!

Each year there is a fishing derby on the lake. Mr Nook has been fishing this derby for about 15 years now. Looking to earn 1st place in the lake trout category.

Sunday we headed out late in the morning, Saturday was to rough to fish.

The little fish pin on Mr. Nook's hat is his father's day gift. Figgy and I found this pin at the Mother's Day antique and craft show we went to (you can see that post here.)

The pin is carved from a deer antler and hand painted, it is a salmon (he loved it!)

This is a new toy, shows many different things, if there are fish down there, the water temperature, the speed of the boat for trolling purposes and much more. All these things are considered while trying to win the competition. Mr. Nook is a hoarder of things, too. His hoarding costs a little more than my hoarding though.... This is just a very small sampling of lures, eye candy for a fisherman I guess. I don't get it, only one lure is going to catch that one winning fish.

The Plattsburgh Ferry boat.

See this pole bent over? Well, we wait for this pole to stand up straight, that means FISH ON!!!

This is Mr. Nook.

He sure does love to fish.

Some other fathers out trying to win the #1 fish.

This is what the cutty looks like. We could sleep down here but as you can see this would not happen while out fishing, no room for that.

A little something that I brought on board for myself.

We caught a few small lakers, nothing to brag about.

They all get released back into the lake if they come on our boat...

I hope you enjoyed our fishing trip.

Mr. Nook will love the post I am sure.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

MY LOVE OF BIRDS

Have I mentioned, I love birds?

I think birds are wonderful and fascinating creatures.

Have you ever watched a mother bird fly around with her babies? This is a fun sight to watch.

I love the color of these blue jays. This photo is not very clear, it was taken through a window, these guys have the keenest hearing.Love the sounds a cardinal makes. My neighbor (Mrs. Masters) once told me that a cardinal hangs around a one mile radius to where it was born. I never looked this up , just take her word for it. There are a lot of these birds around. I call them black crows, actually they have a different name than that but don't remember what it is. These birds are really big in size and they like to fight and carry on. They are beautiful all the same. I also love old bird houses, these old houses stay outside in case they have bugs and such.

Cute.

These birds are black but they have the most beautiful color on the neck area, a shiny blue/green color, fantastic!

A nest rocking in the wind (believe me, the wind blows pretty good here off the lake). The birds make them this way, birds are smart.

Morning dove.

Last year a mother dove lost her baby out of the nest. For days she protected this baby but in the end a cat had the last word. I was sick about this. The nest was to far up in the tree to put it back for her. (Mr Nook heard about this for several days). I also understand that morning doves keep the same mate for life.

Beautiful oriole, this bird comes every single morning around 11:00 am, it sings so beautiful.

These little guys are so darn precious. They are friendly, too. They love to have their picture taken.

These are a few of my favorite photos of birds. Hope you enjoyed them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON

I have finished my Bird Song Tags for a swap.

I just loved doing these. I used a lot of my favorite items while creating these, vintage lace and trims, Pieces from my wedding dress collection.

Scrapbook paper-flower cutouts.

Sorry for the bad lighting during this shoot, some days it just does not want to cooperate with me....Vintage buttons, bows and such.

Vintage wall paper.

I distressed the tags using shoe polish, go figure!!

This tag here is for our swap hostess, Karla over at Karla's Cottage

you should check out her blog, I think you may enjoy it, it is one of my favorites.

This one is made using a bingo card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele