CR84FN61 ~ Color; Mojo Monday 256 ~ Sketch; Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge 35

Greetings Earthlings!

May we start today with a moment of silence to honor Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012.

Source

 

I made a wee card today for the following delicious challenges, which I hope you will get a chance to play in, if you haven't already:

The CR84FN61 challenge this week is a color challenge of aqua, tan, and cream:

Photos courtesy of Embracelifephoto.com

 

And the Mojo Monday challenge this week is round or square.  The wonderful sketch is designed by the awesome Julee Tilman.

Shockingly, I climbed out of my box and made my shape OVAL!  (Is that even legal?)  It is a note card, but it still maintains the integrity of the sketch.

I made the background paper strips using a stamp I received in a grab bag with other stamps several years ago at a store swap meet.  It's a Celtic knot and it had its first inking!  It just perfectly fit the paper strips.  Which reminds me, snippets were harmed in the making of this card, so I can also go to the snippet playground and give my card to teacher Di!  If you use snippets, come and join us at the Pixie's Crafty Workshop!

 

I almost had a cat apostrophe with this card.  I was walking across the grass over to the glider to take my pictures where the sun was shining.  I dropped my card.  Face down.  In the grass wet with dew.  Phew! 

Seems like there was something else I was going to say, but I've got a list of chores that need doing that is stubbornly sitting right behind my eyeballs so, at this moment, I can't see anything else.  I hate it when that happens.  I might as well go get 'em done.

 

Enjoy your day!  (BTW, sister Diana made it safely to Orlando yesterday. That's a bigger "Phew!")  As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

 

Paper:  PTI vintage cream, aqua mist,
  and fine linen
Stamps:  Celtic knot, unmarked; "With
  Love" 1994 Annette Allen Watkins,
  A1305
Ink:  PTI aqua mist; SU crumb cake
  Sakura pens
Brads: unknown
Nesties scallop oval die

CASology ~ Sun; CR84FN58 ~ Red, Yellow, Neutral; Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge #28

Thursday Tweet,

I say that because there is going to be bird talk later with lots of bird photos.  You know, tweets, like the sound birds make, not the silent texting of inane nonsense.  Oh, was that outloud?

It's a triple header again in my (what some might call inane nonsense) world of card challenges.  Finding Di and her little band of pixie's has made that third link possible.  The only rule is that you use up some of your snippets of paper, ribbon, and whatnot and her challenge "push" has gotten me to do that, which is a very good thing!

I'm entering the first-ever challenge at the brand new blog, CASology, hosted by some of my favorite card makers.  Ever Tuesday we will be given a new "cue card" with one word and off we go.  This week the word is "Sun."

I'm also entering the CR84FN #58 color challenge, thanks to seeing the adorable entry by my friend, Shirley-Bee, who linked the two with her card.  The CR84FN colors of yellow, red, and neutral just happen to work perfectly with the CASology challenge:

I hope you will join in the challenges from these three great sites!!  Here is my card:

I made the sun from a scrap of DSVW designer paper and SU punches:

The Birds

Great-Horned Owl:

First up, a follow-up of my post about the great-horned owl we saw at the 4th of July party.  Shawn sent me a copy of the photo he took:

©Shawn Wagoner

The picture quality isn't that great because it was after sunset, but isn't that cool?!   It was HUGE!  I don't understand how such a giant bird could sit at the tippy-top and not have the tree bend under his weight!   The kite hawks in my neighbor's yard do the same thing.  I should have taken physicians in school, I guess, in order to understand weight versus height.  Not for nothing, however, I do know that my weight is not excessive, it's my height that's undergrown.

Kites:

Here, BTW, is an updated photo of said kite hawks, two of them!

What makes the above photos so noteworthy is that we live in a large Cosmo and Metro Polotinarea, not up in mountains.

 

Hummingbirds:

I don't think I've yet introduced you to our "pet" hummingbird, "Hitler." 

Yes, that's right.  As with most male Anna's Hummingbirds, ours is very territorial.  That is HIS feeder, by gum, and he guards it constantly from a wee leaf just above.  Other little hummers fly in and, zoom, out comes Hitler to ward them off.  It looks like they are going to collide in mid-air at times! 

At other times, but rarely, Hitler will allow a female to have a sip, just to show his romantic side:

Sorry it's blurry.  I got so excited that Hitler was letting her have a drink, I just snapped it before the camera could focus properly.

Finches:

And equally unusual, this morning I quickly snapped a blurry photo of rare yellow finches at the bath:

I think I'll get to see more of these beautiful birdies because my neighbor has hung a fancy squirrel-proof feeder.  They're hardly much bigger than the hummers and such a treat.

I know.  I don't get much done between the birds and the garden.  But I was a good domestic fairy yesterday and everything is whistle-clean, so I'm, well,  free as a bird. 

It's such a pleasure to be semi-retired and "smell the roses," as it were.  We all know we're supposed to do that, and little kids do it naturally, but then life gets in the way.  It's too bad, but if you're fortunate to live long enough, you start to enjoy nature again with childlike wonder.  I know I sound like a really, really old person, but I especially feel bad when I see people walking around ourdoors, or sitting in a park, with their heads down and their eyes pixelated on their phones.  At the park!  Maybe they are looking at Google Images of birds.

Well, aren't I all judgmental this morning?!  I shall go sit in my rocking chair on the deck and be quiet.  Maybe I'll take some flower pictures for tomorrow.  Life is good.  I hope you have a terrific Thursday!

Enjoy!   As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

Paper:  PTI vintage cream;

  SU poppy parade;

  DCVW background paper

Stamp:  SU Pursuit of Happiness

Ink: SU poppy parade

SU:  circle and swirly (?) punches

Mojo Monday 244 Contest and CR84FN 55

Happy Thursday!

I like to participate in sketch challenges because they stretch the boundaries of my comfort zone with their layers and scallops and bowfishes.  I usually like my sketch challenge cards when I'm finished with them, but you won't find original ideas for them in the Card Idea Filing Cabinet inside my brain.  Inside there it is clean and simple.  Inside the filing cabinet, I mean, the rest of my brain is dirty and crazy as a flea fiddling on a corn cob.

So my choice of stretch-a-sketch this day is this sketch from Mojo Monday:

The amazing Julee Tilman designed the sketch and this week is Contest week so click over and join in the fun!

For colors, I am using the colors in the current CR84FN Color Challenge, which are delusciously lavender, celery, and gray:

I first thought of using lilacs for this, but I reached instead for Lavender Berries.  Like so:

Aren't they pretty with their silvery dew glistening in the sun? 

Lavender berries are grown in a very small region in the Alexander Valley in northern California.  Every three years, the farm owned by cousins Yulev and Peit Burchirl open their property to the general public to observe the harvest.  There is always a long waiting list and no map is provided with your ticket so often people never find the farm.  No one ever gets annoyed by this since there are so many friendly and welcoming wineries in the surrounding area.  The Lavender Berry Harvest is a treat, especially for the toddlers who have waited since infancy, so if you ever get a chance to go, grab it. 

As a follow-up to Wednesday's post about What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday's ATC card swap, I wanted to show you this stunning Artist Trading Card I received from Redanne, just because I told her that I thought her work was beautiful.  That's what I call a generous artist!  Here is her extraordinary ATC, stamped and colored on canvas:

As long as I'm doing collages, I also wanted to show you the clever PFC pipe structure that Mister made for me to hang sheets over my beautiful hydrangeas so they don't burn up in the heat.  And, man, are these girls sensitive.  I have to put up the sheet tents if it's over 70 degrees outside even though they are only in the sun a couple of hours!  Eau La La.  But they are so precious, I put up with their southern belle ways.  (The PFC pieces screw together for easy mantling and dismantling.  In the first picture, I've already screwed together four pieces, each, to make the square tops.)

Lastly, but definitely not leastly, please welcome my new followers! (I'm so excited to have reached 90!!)  Yesterday, I welcomed "solitary_star," but I couldn't direct you to her awesomeness.  My loyal follower Kara Lynne gave me the intel, so I can properly welcome Eileen of Stars Cards!  Also, please say hello to Rita of RMG Creations! 

In addition, I'm very pleased to share that Kara Lynne also nominated me for a Liebster Blog award.  Thank you so much, Kara!

Please enjoy ~ and, as always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

Papers:  Oh, I forgot to take a close-up of the cardstock.  It's a lovely gray with tiny lavender and purple threads running through it; maker unknown.  The other papers are SU certainly celery, Bazzill lavender, DCVW designer paper, and Biggie Jr. watercolor

Stamps:  berries, Michael's WS-032; SU sentiment, set unknown

Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Marvy markers

Ribbons:  SU lucky limeade; Offray lavender

Cuttlebug and Nesties dies: circle and lacey circle

Butterfly: unknown, loose in a drawer

CR84FN50 Pink, Orange, Yellow or "POY"

It's a cloudy, gloomy day here today.  The kind of day where it threatens rain, but it never does.  Mother Nature at her teasing finest.  In spite of that, and having a code in my node, I decided to participate in the CR84FN challenge and make a card using these bright and cheerful colors:

I'm pretty sure this is my first time participating in a CR84FN challenge, which is exciting!  And it's Oh, Boy, POY!  It's like POW in the cartoons, only more ladylike.  I have made more cards using pink and orange in the last two days than I have in the last ten years!  Here's what I did this time:

Because of the daffodil, I had planned to make this a Happy Easter card, but then I spied the "live with zest" stamp and decided that seemed so perfect for this "citrus-y" card.  It does make your mouth water for a big, juicy, zesty orange, doesn't it?

Please enjoy ~ and thank you for stopping by! Special thanks to you if you took the time to leave me a comment or join!

Paper:  PTI white; DCVW yellow DSP;

  SU yellow and melon mambo

Stamps:  Michael's WS-044 Daffodil; stem by

  Stamps by Judith I-143; Hero Arts sentiment

Ink:  Marvy orange; Prismacolor pencils

Accessories:  SU ribbon: melon mambo and

  crushed curry; brads; pop dots; glitter glue