Thursday, April 26, 2012

Glass wind chimes

I like color........vibrant or pastels..........just color.  While wandering in Pinterest this morning I ran acros this amazing wind chime.....made of glass!  Ok, maybe you have seen them before, but I sure haven't and I want to see one in person.  This is the site of the artist.
http://www.kirksglassart.com/



I would like to see the sunshine come spilling through all of these pieces of glass.......see the spectrum of color that it will cast and my mind is truly wondering what type of beautiful music does it make........

Do you have a wind chime?   Thinking you are either a lover or a "no way" person when it comes to wind chimes.......there are so many types........seashells, old silverware, tubular pieces of metal, bamboo and probably a bajillion more that I don't know about...........I am in the "love" category and hope to be able to sit outside soon and listen to one........hope you have a good day and please share a smile.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Lady Bug, lady bug




Ladybug Lore

"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home
Your house is on fire, and your children will burn
All except for little nan, weaving gold laces as fast as she can"



Almost everyone knows that ladybugs bring good luck! Having one land on your hand is said to bring luck to you! The poem above is well known and was first sung back in the Midieval times in England. At the end of a harvest they would burn their crops to clear the land for new plants the following year. They sung the song to ladybugs still lingering, her children were the larvae which could escape by crawling away but the Nan was the pupa, who were fastened to plants and not able to move therefore burning. They sure didn't sing about happy things back then! Here are some more magical and wonderful beliefs about ladybugs from all around the world.

photot from www.ipm.iastate.edu



Why are they called ladybugs?
The most popular story of how the ladybug got its name comes from the Middle Ages. In Europe swarms and swarms of insects were ruining crops everywhere. Farmers started praying to the Virgin Mary hoping she could help the crisis.
Soon, ladybugs showed up and started eating all of the insects and helped to protect the crops. The farmers called them Beetles of our Lady, because they believed the Virgin Mary had sent them to help. Eventually the name was reduced to Lady Beetles then Ladybugs. The red shell represented her cloak and the spots were symbols of her joy and sorrows.



Fun ladybug legends:



Ladybugs take ailments away!
If a ladybug lands on you in France, they believe it will take away any ailment you might have when it flies away.



Ladybugs can help you make your wishes come true!
If you have a ladybug on your hand and make a wish, whichever way the ladybug flies away will show you the direction that the answer to your wish will come from.



Ladybugs can understand our languages!
Some Asian cultures believe that ladybugs can understand human languages and are blessed by God.



Ladybugs tell us how many children we will have!
The number of spots on a ladybug in Brussels will tell the person holding it the number of children they will have!



Ladybugs bring babies to people!
In Switzerland the ladybug brings babies to people, just as the stork does here in the U.S.!



Ladybugs lead us to money!
If you find a ladybug in your house, count the spots and that will be how many dollars you will soon find!




Ladybugs cure toothaches!
A long time ago dentists would mash up ladybugs to cure a toothache. (Please don't try this at home!)



Ladybugs are good omens!
It was a good omen to find a ladybug in your cabin during the pioneer days.



Ladybugs foretell the future!
If a ladybug has more than 7 spots there will be famine, less than 7 and the harvest will be good.



Around the world ladybugs are good luck!
In every culture ladybugs are good luck! Killing or harming one will bring bad luck! So if you find one in your house, garden or on you, consider yourself lucky! Good things are coming your way



I hope this little blip about lady bugs helps you smile today..............

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

More flowers

Good morning  - sun is shining, but still chilly, well chilly for this part of the country.
More flowers to make you smile..........Clementis.   Again, more new flowers to add to my wish list.....Hmmm, guess I have seen these before in Wyoming.  Yes,Wyoming.....another fantastic state.  Sadly though, summers are brief there  - planting a garden before Memorial Day is just asking for failure.....oh, Clementis.....a neighbor at the lake grew a clementis vine/flower.....sadly it was mostly vine.  I remember her calling me and we would celebrate each new bloom.

These beauties are across the street in my neighbor's yard, in  what I call her secret garden.....they are peeking out her white picket fence and just were calling to me to take their picture...........what could I do........I snapped!!!!!
Thank you Miss Tamara for providing me with such a beautiful view.  I will miss it when we move.


Yesterday I decided to try and share a blog  each day that I post......there are so many blogs out there and so little time to visit them......so here is today's blog
She has a delicious blog, full of wonderful photos, decorating and things that are vintage and aged to perfection.  I am definitely going to sign up to be a follower.

Hope you get to share a smile today...........

Monday, April 23, 2012

Hello Monday

Good morning world,

                               Overcast and raining in the northern Virginia area, but we need the rain and I am thinking that all of the beautiful flowers and lawns are saying thank you......well I KNOW they are.........how do I know well take a look at these out of this world gorgeous roadademdrums in my neighbor's yard.........I am new to these plants/bushes............but I am in love.
This particular one is waiting it's turn to bloom and put a smile on my face..........

Starting to open..........I admit, I have never ever been around these blooms before and the first thing that caught my eye is the tight bulb shape of the bud..........it's like a pine cone in it's layers............
Here is one partially open.......looks like it just popped off a plane from some exotic island.......
This is the fullest of the three bushes in our neighbor's yard..when I walk down the steps and walk to the sidewalk, if I take just a few wee steps out of my way, I can get close and gawk.  Sadly that is what it is, gawking.  This first spring here in Alexandria has been full of such beauty and I will add it to my growing list of why I like living here.

Now, I am going to try something new.........I use to know how to do this, so let's hope I can do it again......it's been a while since I have blogged and all this copy and pasting, setting this margin or shutting off this thing.............I should have never stopped blogging!!!!  I digress - I do that a lot, remember.  I was wandering around in blog land yesterday and found this to die for blogger...............
She has a super blog.........it has a little bit of everything and more so.............one of the coolest things that she is doing is Newbie Mondays.............if you are new to the blogging world, she is allowing you to grab this button and she will put our blogs out there for others to read...........OK, so some of us have a ways to go to improve, but just the idea that someone remembers how it was to start out and is willing to help us.........hmmmm, I think it is soooooooooo generous...........so let's see if I can do this button thingy

OOOOO, it's there, see it...I can..............yippeee for the "mature" lady in Alexandria.............thank you Debbie............

I hope that you can share a smile today...........if you are looking for a reason to smile, go back and look at the flowers......think of Debbie's generosity, see two reasons to smile.............

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Give Away!!!!!

Everyone is entering.......come on, grab your laptop and wander over to Michelle Allen's blog and enter into her fantastic give-away..........you get $$$ to spend in her gift shop........oh be still my heart..........here, I will even make it easier for you...........here is a link:

http://www.close2myart.com/blog/

A rainy day here in Northern Virginia, but we need it, so no one is complaining..........did you smile today?  Maybe shared one with a stranger?  I hope so.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Cool contest.....




 

A super cool contest ........stroll over to two dresses studio and read how you can win "three sets of the final twelve moo cards, along with a chance to win a copy of Seth Apter's new book "The Pulse of Mixed Media."


Sounds like fun to me............you get to look at some super cool art work, a chance to win some Moo cards and a new mixed media book...........come on baby, pretend it's Vegas..........enter.
 
Here is a link to her site....
http://twodressesstudio.blogspot.com/
now how much easier could this be???????
 
It has turned chilly here in Alexandria.  Raining now, we need that rain, super dry here and if nothing else, it will cut down the pollen I hope..............
 
Hope you had a day that was filled with a smile or two.........

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Oooops, missed it!!!!!




I missed it..........it was National Library Week...........LAST week.........oh man, I want to say I am so sorry to all of the hard working librarians and volunteers at each and every library in America.    I love libraries.    My love of libraries and books     started at a very early age and has continued ever since and I just don't see it ever dying out......

Books in a pile, sitting on a chair, being carried under someone's arm, placed carefully on a bedside table, standing neatly on a shelf.......and not so neatly...........I want to peek inside the covers and see what is inside.

The ladies and gentlemen who work in the libraries, well they are a special breed of people..........most work for very little and yet the majority of them will be more than helpful when you ask them a question or just seem lost where to seek out what you need...........

So again, thank you, thank you, thank you.
I hope that you had a smile to share today......maybe with a librarian????????

Monday, April 16, 2012

Another burst of color


Definition of AZALEA


: any of a subgenus (Azalea) of rhododendrons with funnel-shaped corollas and usually deciduous leaves including many species and hybrid forms cultivated as ornamentals


This is my first experience with Azaleas.........I am in love.  I love the colors, pink, white and various shades of red.   We have only one bush in this rental house and I could just sit out back and snap each individual flower all day long..............

 





....Any yellow that you see, isn't from the bush....it's the tree pollen.  The pollen is everywhere.....if you don't dust lawn furniture everyday, well yellow tush is a common sight around here

I will admit, I just wander our neighborhood with my camera and snap everyone's flowers........I never go into anyone's yard, but I lean from the sidewalk as far as I can, if I see something beautiful....


If you are able to visit in the southern part of our great county any time in the early spring....please do so, the flowers alone will make you smile....yes, pollen and all.

I hope you all have flowers in your day today, along with a smile .



Friday, April 13, 2012

April 13th

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. ~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show









Thursday, April 12, 2012

Bead Cleaning

Sigh, that's what I did yesterday afternoon, evening, night and again today - so need I tell you it was a rather large mess to begin with???  I am not, nor will I ever be, a neat freak........piles are not my friends, but they have become a way of life for me..........I can work with them, around them and besides them................then one day.......something snaps.........really snaps!!!!


I don't know what makes it happen, the day before I was sitting in the exact same spot, it was fine, the next day I am sitting and something just pops - and I HAVE to clean up the area.  I am wondering if this happens to anyone else besides me.............oh and if you are one of "those" people who clean up immediately and puts everything back in it's place immediately, well my hat is off to you.
I am not saying that snidely, I truly mean it, you are the wiser person.........it is easier to work in a clean area, but I just don't seem to be able to maintain that type of workspace.

I shared yesterday that I am trying to art journal, so I have gel, gesso, watercolors, acrylics, colored pencils, journals, do-dads of all shapes and sizes and they all do have a spot............and I try to put them back there....I really do...........so why can I do that with those "things", but when it comes to beads........they just over take my sensibilities and seem to laugh at me.........it's ok though, they are all put away and placed in containers for awhile...........probably won't mess with them until we move at the end of the month.........so for a wee bit, hopefully, my work area will have some space........

Hope you had a good day, shared a smile and enjoyed some sunshine................

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Journaling


I am trying to art journal.  I should just stop there, put the period down and stop typing.  I love art, I love color, I love words, I love photos, I love stamps, I love paints, watercolors, markers, gel pens (though I am having a hard time finding a good and yet affordable gel pens), oh, i love chalks.  I mentioned stamps, I do love stamps.......I like the funky type of stamps http://www.stampington.com/art_stamps.html  but being on a budget I have to watch for sales.........which is fine.   Oh see, things haven't changed, I am rambling still.



I am searching out any and all types of u-tubes, videos, books and information on techniques - any type of helpful techniques to improve my art journaling......you hear from all of the "big" names, that there are no mistakes........just experiments that went a different way.........hmmmmmm, trust me, I have totally strayed from the path - in fact I have gotten lost......and just have sat here, looking.  Looking at not seeing what I want.  Then at times, I will look at a page and see one thing that says "hey, this is kinda cool.".....so I guess it is a time of experimenting.

I hope to improve, I am in hopes that I will be able to journal better............to share openly and to learn all types of lettering.......fancy, silly, script........which will mean practising huh? 

Have a good day and if you find me again and know of some helpful blogs, please share....please.  I hope you smile today, giggle and share that smile or giggle with someone...........

Monday, April 9, 2012

September 17, 2010

I can't believe that it has been almost two years since I blogged.........really two years.  I guess I can, I have slowed down......what use to take me (in my mind at least) just a few minutes;well now it seems to take an hour.  Of course in between the starting and stopping of any particular quest, lays the " oh that's where I put that" and the "hmmm, wonder what this is?" the famous "oh I'll just finish doing this job" and toward the end, I sometimes just have to stop and think "what in heck did I start out doing???"

We have left the great state of Alaska - and it truly is a wondrous state.  I loved every minute I spent there, but I think part of it was the wonderful people we were stationed with at Eielson AFB.  I won't even start to name all of the names, many have been stationed other places and some are natives and still live there......I miss them.  All of them.

So needless to say, the above magnolia blooms weren't from Alaska, but from Alexandria, VA where we are living now.  I love it here.   So much history, things to do, flowers and beautiful trees, beautiful homes - old homes, and maybe it's just being back east again.  The DC area is a mix of the south and east....a good combination in my opinion.

I AM going to try and get back into the habit of posting........share the flowers and trees, maybe some of my creations, trips that we take, and you KNOW that there will be an adventure or two........I just seem to encounter adventure......

Hope you had a good day, that you smiled and shared a smile with someone else.........