The eve of Halloween

This has been the weekend for kids birthday and Halloween parties. The rainy day has us indoors and catching up on a few things (and watching the leaves fall outside in the wind). The hot water heater leak all over the basement floor was not a fun clean up and we finally moved a dehumidifier in there.

Another Etsy treasury to share...

Bird's nests

I have never been interested in planning for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. My only exception to that rule is that we start working out the details on our own homemade holiday cards towards the middle of November. I have always hated seeing Christmas stuff even before Halloween is over.

This year though I realized that if I want to sell any Christmas things in my shop I am going to have to get an earlier start. And so I have been thinking on this a little and came up with these little bird's nests on tiny clothespin clips for the tree. The majority of our own tree decorations are birds though we include all the special vintage ornaments that we have treasured over the years. Last year's tree falling disaster really destroyed quite a few of our ornaments so I am determined to make a few more this year.

So here is my first set of ornaments for the holidays which I am selling in my shop...



Our school canoe trip which I chaperoned was a lot of fun. The wind was crazy though and made the canoing a little difficult. I can't include the pictures though because there were so many school children in them. But I think the kids learned a lot and had fun too.

Enjoying the colors

The trees outside are so beautiful this year. Every time I look outside I am stunned at the colors. Even rainy days look bright and warm.



I am off to chaperone a school canoe trip this morning. It should be a fun and wet day! We should have fun exploring the river banks and discovering all sorts of interesting things.

I finished up on these two birds yesterday. It was supposed to be my day to run errands but the hot water heater had leaked all over the basement floor so I was "hostage" to my home again -- waiting for a plumber that might or might not show up. Luckily he did and its all fixed now -- just a bit of a mess for me to clean up.





And finally I wanted to share this cute little treasury on etsy that includes my little bird by wildlifer78.



Another wedding treasury called "Going to the Chapel" by beadgaldesigns includes a pair of my wedding birds.

Fall is here!

I was reluctant to let go of summer but starting to enjoy our cooler fall weather. We haven't had a killing frost yet -- just enough to kill the basil and pumpkins. But the morning glories are lingering on. Yesterday was so cool in the house that I finally made my way to the thermostat and crossed my fingers that the furnace would start up. We are still keeping the temps down but the kids are complaining of the cold.

I finished up these little wedding birds and wanted to share them






I am always amazed when they are finished and enjoy their sweet little faces.


I also finished up these two birds while traveling over the weekend



Which reminds me.... We had our tenth anniversary/reunion with the other families that traveled to China to adopt their daughters. It was so much fun to see them together and they really enjoyed our short visit together. I can't believe how fast the years go by.

A nice rainy day.

One of my new little hand sewn birds is included in an Animal Friend Treasury on Etsy by PatriciasPalette.

Chicken love

I finished up this little garden sculpture/ornament that I have been thinking of. I found the blue hen at a flea market store and since it was missing its base it was so inexpensive. The little cement eggs are just cast from plastic easter eggs. The bowl is just from left over cement just cast in the sand (pretty rough). And the rusty barbed wire was found on one of our railroad track walks. I might make a cement column base at some point but the small granite stone is fine for now.

A visit with friends

We had a wonderful weekend visit with friends this weekend. They came all the way from outside of Montreal to see us. The kids are missing them so much now.

There is so much going on right now in my art/business life and I will be sure to share the news soon (when I have a moment to breath!). I had to take a short break with the needle felting due to my carpal tunnels problems. But this meant I had a chance to make these little handmade birds that I have so long been thinking of. They are each hand sewn with wire legs and glass eyes. With some I will use vintage fabrics and other will have soft fabric tummies.