a perfect day

the sun was shining brightly on the white cliffs of møn's klint

i took the pooka with me and let her use the D60

she shows promise as a budding photographer

this is one of hers

we took along a few friends to show off their new tails in their native habitat

and a couple of their friends

from resurrection fern 

and one from geninne 

it felt like there was some kind of poetry

in a stone from mexico meeting the baltic seashore

doesn't it look strikingly at home?

and there's somehow even more poetry in

geninne's stone meeting margie's stones on this shore.

and i felt somehow poetic for being the link between them.

the whole group got together on a rather eyeball looking treetrunk

see?

you know i couldn't resist.

we took along this friend too.

isn't he sweet?

sabin made him at her afterschool program.

i spotted a few more seeing stones (thanks jules!)

a few of them may have accompanied me home

i loved wearing my wellies...

and sabin had on hers too.

they're our only matching accessory.

more tomorrow about this...

see if you can guess what it is

#38 & spring has arrived!

#38 - spring nest gift packaging

the atelierBB plates are all wrapped up in springlike garb and ready to take to the wedding party today. the sun is shining, they promise up to 18 degrees (C) and it's a completely glorious day to celebrate a wedding. i realized that brigitte's logo, which has two Bs, back to back, is perfect for the couple as well, since both their last names start with B. it just feels so great when you know you've found the perfect present. i love it.

* * *

one more quick thing to share. the wonderful little merfish that margie of resurrection fern created for me, using my own stones from møn's klint, arrived yesterday (and yes, they were ordered and paid for BEFORE austerity april began). i had to photograph them together with some of their now more "naked" brethren:

aren't they fantastic? i'm going to take them to møn's klint next week and pose them for pictures on their beach of origin. i know, i'm a little obsessed, but it's better than eyeballs, eh?

anyhoo, we're off to riding lessons. more tomorrow...

evidence of creativity update (25-37)

in all the excitement over my kitchen becoming famous, and the subsequent sitting by the phone, waiting for martha stewart (i would totally have done her time for her) to call (alas, she did not, tho' i still retain a small spark of hope), i kinda forgot about counting my creative output. i left you last with #24, that nest that turned into a bowl of apples embroidery.

so, i hereby give you #25 - an avocado shake of my own invention (inspired by ones i've had in the philippines and singapore). recipe here.

#26 - my eyeball "i" pillow. one of a kind, totally unique and still available here.

#27 - arranged objects. you may question this is as evidence of creativity, but, inspired (as ever) by margie from resurrection fern and her beautiful groupings of objects, i felt i needed to try it. there is an art to it and it takes time and creative thinking, so i'm allowing it to be #27, although i'll count the several i've done only as one. there's something about doing these that exercises your artistic eye.

28 & 29 - two small canvases featuring acrylics and a bit of felt with stitching and my first attempt at embroidery and moo cards--all in my favored palette.

30 - driftwood + eyeball artwork

31 - self-portraits (so much time spent and much learned about the camera, so this counts.)

32 - one fairy costume (made wings as well, but child refused to wear them on the grounds that none of the others had wings). she also refused to wear the top i made, so we decorated a white gap t-shirt at the last minute.

33 & 34 - my own version of margie's wonderful crocheted stones. and yes, there is a kind of an eyeball thing going on with them.

35 - set of six quilted coasters as a gift for my friend maj. very cool turquoise cotton with chocolate-colored coffee and teacups from here.

36 - hand-stamped ribbon for wrapping the above gift. sabin actually carved the little owl stamp from an eraser and i did the stamping.

37 - something for my mom, of which i won't show all, since she hasn't received it yet.

that's all for now. where are the things for the winners of my 50 follower prize, you ask? well i'd better get out there and get on those...i should have promised them sooner than christmas. :-)

spring colors

i love the flickr toys at big huge labs. i like to occasionally make a mosaic of my favorites, just to see the trends, because as you go along, you don't necessarily realize that there is a kind of harmony to the photos you're favoriting (is that a verb now too?). usually, my mosaics are heavy on the turquoise/teals and there is a little of that in this one, but i was surprised to see more brightness and more variety to the palette at the moment. it must be spring--i'm clearly attracted to orange, yellow, light blue and green. they must be the colors of right now. they're just so cheerful and lively. for the photo credits on all of these, go here. it's also interesting to make these mosaics of your own sets, because you can definitely see trends there as well--here's that teal/turquoise thing i was talking about:

i spotted another trend in my faves and among my own pictures. it seems i have a thing with sticks and stones at the moment. who am i kidding, i've always had this:

you can see that many of these belong to the lovely margie of resurrection fern and speaking of stones, you should go check out her latest stone diary post, because it features the stones i sent her! she's doing such inspiring work combining nature and craft. and i just read her profile and realized she's a family physician as well! i wonder how she finds the time for everything!?! people amaze me sometimes.

and on that note, i'll get to work so that i can earn my time to play.

no place like home

waiting for me when i got home yesterday were my beautiful wobblies from atelierBB. i was ordering a wedding present for my sister-in-law and couldn't resist a little something for us as well. i ordered these sweet little orange, yellow and red dessert plates.

and the green was a little surprise that brigitte included. how awesome is that? thank you brigitte!! and if you haven't yet checked out her work, do it here.

also waiting for me were the latest additions to my fast-growing collection of resurrection fern crocheted stones and merfish. the teal merfish was so lovely "swimming" in its packaging that i hated to take it out:

but take it out i did and it posed for several pictures with its old friends:

and how exquisite is the "missing pieces" covered stone? it's even prettier in person than i had imagined.

i you haven't visited margie's blog to see what she's working on next, you really must. it's a most inspiring place.  here's my entire collection of her beautiful stones:

and just now, the mailman brought me this beautiful little felted bowl that i ordered from artemis artemis in new zealand (on etsy of course). it's my very favorite colors and the perfect size to keep my rings in (even the big one):

also waiting for me was a wonderful REAL letter from my aunt mary. she wrote four pages, sending birthday greetings and telling me how she's getting along after my uncle jim died last fall. she's surrounded by her children, grandchildren and soon to be 18 great-grandchildren, all of whom live in south dakota except one of the grandchildren and his two(?) kids, so although it's hard to lose her best friend of nearly 70 years, she's getting along well. she sent along a really neat picture from 1946 of my dad and his brothers and the first of many nieces that they eventually had (i have 29 cousins!). that's dad on the left (he was the youngest of 9):

i love so much about this picture. the car behind them. the fact that they're all dressed up. that the baby is crying and clearly wanting to be handed back to her mama. such a lovely thing to get in the mail.

and speaking of  mailboxes, i'd better go work on those 50-follower prezzies i've promised and do a bit of work work since i'm now gainfully employed. happy weekend everyone.