Cute visitors!

Hey you guys! Did you have a good weekend? I sure did! I got to do some sewing, can’t wait to show you what I made! (First time sewing since the knee surgery, yah!)

But today I wanted you to meet some cute garden visitors! First up, Mr. Oriole:

He was snacking on some grapes growing right outside our kitchen window when I came home from PT. This is the first time EVER that we’ve had an oriole visit the yard! So exciting! I feel kinda bad for them, look at how small our grapes are this year. We sure need rain — want to send us some?

He and Mrs. Oriole are both super camera shy — this is the best photo I have of him, and I didn’t get any of Mrs. O. Hoping that they visit again tomorrow so I can try for a better shot!

While I was waiting for a shot of the O’s, this feisty little hummingbird made an appearance.

Love watching them so much, I’m always sad when they leave for the summer. Look at how dry the flame acanthus is, too. Boy oh boy do we need rain.

And! My knee is definitely on the mend! I don’t think I’ll be running any marathons just yet, but I was so excited to get a photo of Mr. O that I found myself walking upstairs normally for the first time in *months* to get the camera! I haven’t been able to do it since March! Usually I go up on my good leg and just let the bad one kinda follow along, step by step. But today I went up one foot after the other — and it didn’t hurt! YES! And in even more news, I rode the bike at PT for 10 minutes today! It was a huge effort to get the pedals to go ’round, but it felt so good this time. (The first time was pretty painful.)

Hope you have some fun unexpected visitors today too,

Happy Friday!

Can’t believe it’s Friday-the-Thirteenth, because I feel so lucky!

(This is my kitchen window display for May — it’s a little tribute to my Grandma. The chicken was hers, and I saw the creamer and the candleholders at West Elm while talking to her on the phone back in February. Didn’t buy them that day, but had to go back and get them later. Makes me feel close to her. )

We finally got some rain here in Austin — thanks to all you northreners who sent it our way, ’bout time you quit hogging it all!

It was a doozy of a rainstorm. (Texas sized, if you will.) I was driving home from PT for my knee and had to pull off the road for a bit. There was BIG lightening all around. The wind was shaking the car so hard that I wondered if there was a tornado.

But I made it home, safe and sound.

And the light! Oooo the light. I grabbed my iphone and snapped these photos with the Instagram app – loving that app more and more. Do you have it? Let me know and we can share photos!

And in more good news, my knee is on the mend. I rode the bike at PT for 10 minutes yesterday with just a few twinges.

And I was able to meet my work deadline, yay!

Yep, this Friday-the-Thirteenth sure has been lucky so far. (Knocking on wood.)

And, I’ve got a series of card photo tutorials planned out — hope to have the first one for you on Monday.  After that I’ll have another Make-It and Mail-It challenge to go along with the tutorial. Can’t wait.

If you have any card photo problems or questions please leave me a comment and let me know — then hopefully I can work them in the tutorials.

Have a lucky weekend,

Spring Colour Week at Poppytalk: Lavender!

Today’s color is lavender for Poppytalk’s Spring Colour Week. And this sweet little ranunculus on my kitchen table beckoned to have her photo taken.

Then she wanted to get dressed up in a texture and frame.

(BlogBling Fashion Photo Frames from Katrina at Pugly Pixel, texture from SophieG*. Love them both.)

Then she inspired me to get out my watercolors, and play. (I was also inspired by Leslie Shewring from A Creative Mint. Have you seen her color studies? They’re just lovely. She does a guest column for Holly at decor8 — grab a nice cup of tea and check out the archives.)

Watercoloring is so relaxing and peaceful to me, how about you? I love how there’s no right or wrong way to do it — you can just enjoy the experiment.

Hope you have a lovely lavender day,

Spring Colour Week at Poppytalk: Pink!

Today is pink day over at Poppytalk Handmade’s Spring Colour Week.

So I present to you: A redbud!

Don’t ask me why it’s called a redbud when it’s clearly pink. :)

And! I usually don’t edit my photos much beyond resizing and fixing the colors how I remember them. But this time I thought I’d add a little extra something to make it romantic with a texture from SophieG*. She has a collection of textures over on flickr that are free for personal use. Love them all. I first heard about them via the lovely Ishtar Olivera’s photography tutorials. (Thanks so much, both of you!)

Here’s the photo before I added the texture, just for comparison:

It was a really cloudy, gloomy, rainy day, but the redbud sure seemed to sparkle.

Which one do you like better, with the texture or without?

And then! When I was eating breakfast this morning I spied this pretty penstemon blooming in our pocket prairie just outside the kitchen window. Couldn’t resist taking a few photos to share.

The first one with all the bokeh just makes my heart smile. (See the full size image.)

And that’s not all! Isn’t it funny how when you start looking for something (anything, really!) you start seeing it everywhere? Well, here’s what I found on my desk — pink crafty supplies!

(Clockwise from left: pink Divine Twine that I got at Flax in San Francisco, two bunny stamps that I got at Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku — love that store, a pink notecard and envelope — also from Flax, washi tape, tulip clothespins from Katrina, buttons from Hero Arts, fabric that I got on my birthday in Fredericksburg, Texas, and a cute crochet bunny that the innkeeper at the Inn on the Green in Poland, Ohio gave me.)

And these! Isn’t it funny how the fabric and the paper match so well? I got them years apart.

(Stamps from Itoya in Ginza, fabric that I got on my birthday in Fredericksburg, paper from BasicGrey — it’s from an old line!, and buttons from Hero Arts.)

Can’t wait to see what I discover tomorrow when I go looking for lavender.

Hope you’re enjoying Spring Colour Week as much as I am,

Enjoy the moments.

Hi you guys. I’m still here in Ohio with my Grandma, enjoying all the little moments with her.

(Photo taken this afternoon with the Hipstamatic iPhone app using the Chunky lens and Kodot XGrizzled film. It’s warm and sunny here today. Spring is on the way.)

She’s out of the hospital and in a hospice home now.

Thanks so much for all your kind words — they mean so much.

Hugs,