Posted: July 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Art, Avian Obsession, Shoppin' and Junkin' | Tags: claire brewster | 3 Comments »
Cool sale alert. Remember how much I loved Claire Brewster’s bird/map pieces? She’s having a studio sale until August 2 and the Pound/Dollar exchange makes the average price of £200 about $308.
Image via Claire Brewster
Posted: June 1st, 2010 | Filed under: Avian Obsession | Tags: barred owl nashville | 6 Comments »
This may be dullsville to some of you….but we are pretty pumped up that we have young owls again this summer. I’ve heard their immature screech for days, but had yet to see one this spring. Lo and behold, while hanging out on the back deck with our visiting friends, they got to understand exactly why we love it here.
Did you hear that? No sighting though until the next morning…..
Beautiful…no? Yesterday, it was too dark to get good shots of it, but we did a little dance with it…he rocks his head from side to side…we could swear he was mimicking us. I love them so….majestic, yet cute and fluffy in their juvenile phase.
Posted: May 17th, 2010 | Filed under: Avian Obsession | Tags: summer tanager | 2 Comments »
Now that this is our second Spring in the house, we are anticipating certain harbingers of the season, such as fawns and owls. However, one event we were HOPING was an isolated incident last year, is apparently an annual ritual. I’m referring to the antics of one Summer Tanager.
Beautiful Bird…no?
Alas, not a quick learner.
He’s baaaack. This handsome boy has some drive, I tell ya….starting at about 5:30 in the morning, and continuing ALL DAY until dark, he flies from window to window pecking the glass….OVER AND OVER.
Last year, I was quite worried he’d kill himself from a combination of impact and exhaustion. I’d read somewhere that certain tricks like taping pictures of owls in the windows would deter them. So I did that, I sprayed the glass with water, I tried several things…nothing stopped him except the workmen putting up the new siding. Too many people I guess, he was gone. This year, we just grind our teeth and mutter from our sleepy beds…Go away you STUPID bird…..not again…
I tried to save him from himself, but as long as he thinks his own reflection is the competition for that sexy chick in the forest…it will never end. I’ve tried talking to her out in the yard, and I TOLD her, if she’d just do it with him and make a nest then maybe we’d all get some sleep. She hasn’t listened. With no workmen on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how long this lasts….
Posted: January 25th, 2010 | Filed under: Avian Obsession, Shoppin' and Junkin' | Tags: peacock motif for home, vintage peacock | 4 Comments »
I love seeing the resurgence of the peacock motif in design…all those wallpapers and fabrics all over the blogosphere? Exquisite.
I have a soft spot for these squawking birdies…I lived with a flock for a few months in my youth…so beautiful…but freakin’ noisy. My picks below are a mix of vintage and new, but it just goes to show, these little guys never really go out of style.
$18 by DeKanimal on Etsy – reminds me of a cross between the Partridge Family and the old NBC logo.
$69 by Mermaidsdream on Etsy
$65 from Fabulousmess on Etsy
Abraham Palatnik Peacock on Ebay….I REALLY want this…it will go for big bucks though.
$24 poster by Rabi Khan on All Posters
$250 (ouch) but how FAB!? My tree would love these…on Ebay here.
$5 by Michelle Brusegaard on Etsy
$40 by Giardino on Etsy
$24 by Janey Macpress on Etsy
Imagine waking up to this sound 3 feet from your head….with a hangover…
Posted: December 8th, 2009 | Filed under: Avian Obsession, DIY, Fawn Love | Tags: embossing powders on gift wrap | No Comments »
…with a Martha Stewart Crafts heat gun.
I have started the wrap-a-thon, and this year I and am having a go at heat embossing with the powders. Never done it before, so the crafty set might sport a big yawn here.
Every year, I like to pick a look or aesthetic and wrap all my packages that way. One year, it was all faux bois papers, another it was plain white with pin-up girls that doubled as tags. Last year, I lamely phoned it in and got some patterned paper at Target…I’d only had a working kitchen for a few weeks, I was still unpacking boxes and I was grumpy and tired. That said, I hated my packages. They weren’t cute, clever or personal. They were ordinary.
On the whole, I don’t do bows, although I’m not against ribbon. Bows are fine for a single gift event. During the holidays, I need stackability and you can’t stack shit on top of a bow now, can you? This year, my preference is no ribbon, no bow, but an embossed graphic on solid paper. I picked up my supplies at Michael’s, plus a smattering of solid color papers, and even tried using some kraft shipping paper again this year. (It’s always a winner…thick enough to create nice edges, and plain enough for cool graphics to shine.)
The embossing WORKS best on the kraft paper, but LOOKS best on the glossy gift wrap. The problem I’m having is that the glossy papers create a static cling with the embossing powders making it harder to keep a clean image. I’m using a dry brush to try and clean it up around the edges. I’m also finding that Martha’s embossing powders work better than the other brands I’ve tried.
The key is making sure the stamp has enough ink and is perfectly flat. No ink…no emboss. It works best to stamp/emboss the paper BEFORE you wrap it unless your package is totally solid. Any give in the box will cause a missed spot on your stamp/ink. You see at the bottom how it looks when the image doesn’t quite make it due to stamper error…Oops.
I also bought a set of sans serif letters and numbers so I can personalize the packages without ribbon and tags, although I am making a bunch of tags to have throughout the year while I’ve got this mess going.
I imagine my last packages will be the best, but if anyone else wants to try it, I figured I’d better get it posted now. I’m getting the hang of it, and having fun picking which family member gets which image or scene. I know it’s a complete shock that I’m using birds and deer.
Posted: November 30th, 2009 | Filed under: Avian Obsession, Shoppin' and Junkin' | Tags: pair brass birds | No Comments »
It’s that time of year….the Titmice and the Carolina Chickadees will eat an entire feeder of black sunflower seed in a single day. It’s crazy. Because I’m not content to just gaze out the window at them while they gorge, I picked up a little sumtin’ on Black Friday. While everyone else hit the mall…I hit the junk stores and they were refreshingly quiet. I even found another pair of birdies for $6.
Everyone in my neighborhood already has their holiday decorations up…sheesh. Not ready for that yet, but I guess I’d better start decking the halls before time gets away from me.
