Mar 30, 2011 | Wildlife |
Yep, I found some eggs today. Not Easter Eggs but bird eggs in the bird house. There are 5 eggs today that I can see.
Chickadee eggs 3/29
These are Chickadee eggs. They built their nest in House #3 this year – I think that was the one the bluebirds used last year. I’ve actually seen the Chickadee’s going in and out of all three of the houses and I thought they also built a nest in House #1. But today when I checked that nest it looks more like the nest that the Tufted Titmouse built last year – with some leaves, plastic and stuff in the top.
House #1 3/29
Here are a few more pictures of the Chickadee’s that I took over the weekend.
gaurding the front door
I also saw a Red-Bellied Woodpecker looking in the woodpecker house today. It sure would be fun if they would lay eggs in there. The house has shreds in it to cushion any eggs because they don’t actually build a nest. I’ll have to do some more studying on them.
So that was the nature update. I’ll post a stamping project and another bingo piece later today.
Mar 22, 2011 | Bingo, Wildlife |
I finally have some birds that seem to have moved in. So it will be time to start watching for them to lay eggs. This year I have five bird houses in the yard – I added two new ones from last year. I have been checking the past week or two and finally noticed some activity in one of the houses.
The first house that has some activity is house #3 – it appears that the Chick-a-dees are building a nest.
House #3 on 3/18
These pictures are from the top of the house looking in – on 3/18 the birds have been bringing in moss and have almost the bottom covered about an inch or so deep.
House #3 - 3/22
The second picture I took this morning and it looks like they have lined the top with fur and insulation. I hope the insulation isn’t bad for birds – it is just little bits – there isn’t really a cup in the nest for the eggs so I’ll have to see what happens.
Then today I found a nest in House #1 – it looks like it could also be chick-a-dees. The pictures is also from the top of the house looking in and the base is moss.
House #1 - 3/22
They have been going in an out of the house today so I’ll get another picture of it tomorrow and see how much work they have done.
The rest of the houses are still empty – I checked house #2 and it has a drop or two of moss – maybe they were thinking about using it. I see the Bluebirds occasionally in the yard but not really looking at the houses this year – they must have gone somewhere else. The new houses are still empty but I’ll keep checking and hoping that someone moves in.
How is everyone doing with Spring Bingo – are you marking your cards as the pieces are called? Is anyone close? Here is the next piece –
images copyright Stampin' Up!
Have a great day – it is a beautiful spring day here at my house!
Mar 16, 2011 | Big Shot, Bingo, Cards, Occasions Mini 2011, Thank You, Wildlife |
When the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini Catalog first came out there was one stamp set that I just loved. Can you guess which one?
It is the Nature Walk stamp set – and I got the wood version because I think it is so pretty that I can just set the stamps out on a shelf for decoration if I want to. I have been using the set but I’m not sure if I have shared any on my blog. Today I have a card that is similar to one that we saw at Leadership. It was a card that Shelli showed us on stage – I think hers was possibly a 3×3 card – mine is actually a 4-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ card. I have been making this size card lately and like that it is a square but it still fits in our medium sized envelopes.
The card base is Cherry Cobbler. There is a strip of Basic Black that was textured with the Square Lattice textured embossing folder.
The scallop circle is a Big Shot die cut from White Naturals card stock. Then the Nature Walk stamp set is sort of stamped as a collage on the scallop circle. The bird cage in Crumb Cake, the floral in Always Artichoke, the bee in Basic Black, the number in Cherry Cobbler. I added a thank you greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes but you could use this for many different things. 
The inside is stamped to match. On both pieces I used the Color Spritzer with the Stampin’ Write marker to add some more speckles. At the top of the scallop I punched two holes and threaded a piece of Linen Thread through it – then I created a cheater bow – I’ll have to try to find the blog that I saw this on – basically you take your ribbon and hold it like the cancer ribbon with the loop at the top and the ends crossed. Then you take the center of the loop and bring it down to the crossed part. Take and place that in between the Linen Thread and then tie the thread around it until it is tight – adjust the loops and tails to get the bow you want.
There is been some bird activity around my bird houses. Here are a couple of pictures of House #1 – one is a tufted titmouse from a couple of days ago and the other the female bluebird from last week.
Tufted Titmouse
House #2 and #3 have also had some visitors.
Bluebird
And I’ve even had some lookers at the Woodpecker house – that is exciting because it is new – I didn’t have it last spring.
There is also a new house that my friend Sue gave me – it looks like a cat and the birds go in and out through the mouth. I haven’t seen any birds near it yet. The dogs do check it out occasionally making sure it isn’t a real cat hanging there.
Spring Bingo players – is anyone getting close – any three or four in a row – or is there a 5 in a row winner today?
Here are the next two pieces –
images copyright Stampin' Up!
images copyright Stampin' Up!
Have a great day!
Aug 3, 2010 | Build-a-Bear, Contest Winner, Wildlife |
Sorry this post is so late… I have been working most of the morning on my Monthly Newsletter and also on a newsletter for my PAWS downline group. I was trying to use some new features that Stampin’ Up! released with an upgrade to our business websites. With everything new there is a learning curve to figure out the little tricks and things to get it to do what you want when you want it. Let’s just say I need a little more time – when I was finally done with my PAWS letter I went to save it and nothing happened – apparently I took too long and my session timed out so all was lost! Save often is maybe a good thing to keep in mind. Instead of tackling my monthly newsletter with new features I decided to stick with what I was already doing since I am two days behind anyway.
But I’m sure you are much more interested in the title than all of that. The winner I am referring to is my 50/50 jar winner. I had Kyle pull the winning ticket this morning and here it is:
Oh but wait… you want to see what name is inside – don’t you? But first let me show you who visited my yard this morning:
A little bitty turtle – of course Aspen found him – but he doesn’t think turtle are very fun – they don’t run like chipmunks do. So have I stalled enough – you really want to know who won? How about I tell you what the winner gets?
$50 in Free Stampin’ Up! product from me! How fun is that? I love free stuff. We got several free things during convention including some items from the new Holiday mini catalog that will be starting Sept. 1st. Make sure to visit my Open House on August 14th if you want to see some sneak peeks from the Holiday Mini – I can’t show you here until later.
Oh – I almost forgot about the winner – but that Holiday mini – is oh so exciting too – you really do want to come see it.
I guess I’m in a weird mood – sorry about that – but OK – now the winner of the 50/50 jar is…..
Make sure you send me an email with your choices!! Congratulations!
Have a fun day!
Jul 3, 2010 | family, Wildlife |
So this post isn’t a stamping project but pictures from our trip last week. I should have them in a scrapbook page but haven’t done that yet.
During our trip to North Carolina we took one day to visit Grandfather Mountain. On part of the mountain was a wildlife habitat area with animals. I was very excited to see an Eagle –
Isn’t it such a beautiful bird. This one was rescued from somewhere out west where it had been injured – someone shot it – so it can’t fly and lives in the habitat on Grandfather Mountain.
We also got to see some bears up close – I think I saw 4 different ones. They all looked so hot and several of them went and sat in the water. I guess it feels good to cool off.
There were Otters
too. This one was rolling around in the grass. Then he went and played in the water a little bit. I’m not sure how many were in the habitat.
I also got to see the Cougars. The trainer came by while I was standing there and asked if I wanted to see them up close – I said “sure”. So he went around and threw in spearmint and catnip and called their names so they would com right up to the overlook. The male cougar was named “Aspen”. I told the trainer that my male dog was also named Aspen. Aspen the cougar didn’t care much for what the trainer threw in and walked away but the female seemed to like it. She rolled around on the ground and held it between her paws – I’m not sure that she really ate it or anything but mostly rubbed it on herself.
There was also a deer habitat but they were way in the back so my pictures were not good. Then look at these animals:
Oh no – I’m sorry – those aren’t really animals – those are all of our kids at the top of Grandfather Mountain!
And then of course you need to see me and Greg at the top of the mountain too.
Boy it was windy up there! And walking across that swinging bridge is a little bit scary. I’m not usually afraid of heights, but with that wind blowing it sure doesn’t feel that secure.
This is the view from the far side after coming across the bridge and climbing across the rocks. I took the picture looking back at the visitor center building. From this picture it looks so much further away than it seemed when I was climbing the rocks to get there.
It was quite amazing out there. I thought this was a great park to visit so if you should have the chance don’t miss it – Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. I think it is a state park and not a national park but I’m not positive.
Have a great weekend and a happy 4th of July!!
Jun 29, 2010 | My Digital Studio, Wildlife |
I decided I needed a new signature and thought I would try using My Digital Studio to create one. This is what I came up with:
So today I was working on a news update to send to my customers through email and decided I should use the same idea to create a header for my newsletters. So I did using the same design and here is the result:
In My Digital Studio I opened a new project and created these as cards. The signature is the first page of the card and the newsletter header is actually the second page. The font I used is one that I downloaded for free called CK-Becky. I created a text box for the text – the signature has all the text in one box and the header has each line in it’s own box so I could move it around more. All the text is centered within the box and the color is Chocolate Chip.
Then I added some stamps – the stamp set is For All You Do. I add the stem in Old Olive and then the flower in So Saffron. I resized them all to be more in line with my text. The center of the flowers are the Sending Love Epoxy brads which is an additional download for My Digital Studio. These are also sized down to fit in the center of the flower. I added the butterfly in Old Olive and it is turned on an angle.
After I had the designs the way I wanted I exported each page to a jpg file. Then I pulled them into my photo editing software so that I could crop them down to be useable on my blog and in my newsletter. I didn’t need them to be card sized so I eliminated all the extra white around each one and made a smaller jpg file. Then I just use that to insert where I need it. I hope all that makes sense.
Oh and guess what – I have birds again! There is a bluebird building a new nest in one of the houses today. I spent some time working in the yard this morning and noticed her. I checked this afternoon and it looks like the nest is finished. I only saw the female so my guess is the male is busy teaching the babies from the last brood how to get their food while she builds her new nest. I’ll let you know if any eggs appear. And also today I saw a rabbit in the backyard twice – its a good thing this rabbit (I think it was the same one) is faster than my dogs. I didn’t see the rabbit until it started running it is fast and a little smarter than the dogs. I’m not sure where it went though so I’ll have to look for it tomorrow. I also saw a deer this afternoon in the neighbors yard across the street. Jeanette was here getting her new catalog and I looked out and saw the deer going across the yard. I also found the fire ants in my flower bed – I did see them before they saw me so i didn’t get any bites but there were tons of them right where I was digging holes and planting flowers. That’s all my animal excitement for today. I’ll try to get some new pictures of the bird and the nest – it is in house #2 which is where the chickadees were earlier this spring.
Thanks for stopping by today!
