anniversary: noun

a celebration or other commemorative ritual marking the date of an important event

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Well, look at this. It's Julia's 3rd anniversary for WOYWW and we are having an ATC swap to celebrate it!

 

And by joining up with this weekly event I have:

1. Met and made some fabulous new friends

2. Seen how everyone crafts and learned a little bit about them

3. Spent all my money because of all the enablers out there in TH land ( you know who you are )

4. Learned some new vocabulary like gawping and chuffed ( my favorites ) and learned phrases like bits and bobs!

and

5. Learned how addicting it is to be nosey! :0

And what's on my desk? My ATC's that are ready to be mailed out! My ( little town ) post office is going to be waggling some eye brows at the addresses, I'm still dreading what the postage will end up being!  I have noted that some of the countries have very long addresses compared to the US anyway, I am still suffering from writers cramp! lol

So in honor of Julia, I am actually keeping my post short today ( it may be the only time I obey this rule, so enjoy it, lol ) Off to celebrate with the rest of the world!

evolves: verb

to develop something gradually

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Inspire Me Monday

where you can share anything you want that is inspiring you.

Ever since I had to downsize and moved into my apartment I have been inspired by my balcony. Even though I had been use to flower gardening on a much grander scale it has been an awesome experience to be tucked away up top among the trees. I have been enjoying the wild life that evolves around the creek and the woods. I have even grown to enjoy my container gardening.

Now I hope you don't mind my regressing a bit, but I have wanted to maintain a garden journal for years, but the massive work that went into the gardening itself somehow drained my desire to write about it. So I never got around to it.

Then I noticed with my blogging, that I was keeping a record of everyday happenings, a lot which pertained to my balcony life. These weren't things I was putting into my scrapbook either and it dawned on me that my blog had become a type of journal for my gardening and wildlife adventures.

So due to all the beautiful art journals I get to see through my blogging friends, I have decided to take posts from my blog and incorporate them into a journal of sorts, which I am calling:

What happens on the balcony goes on the blog

It's a little of this and a little of that. The only rule I am keeping is that the only parts that go into my journal had to have happened out on the balcony. Plus, I can only draw, doodle or use stamps on my pages, and no worrying if it's not perfect. Considering I don't draw, doodle or use stamps much makes that more challenging than it might sound to you. ;)

I was also inspired from watching Donna Downeys, Inspiration Wednesday video, which I am currently addicted to watching. I crumbled the background sheet like she did, I used butterflies to scatter across my page where she used numbers and I used my Dymo Label maker instead of masking tape. I just enjoyed getting all inky and creating the page.

 Currently I am trying to catch up, so here is an April page:

which I am also entering in The Artist Playroom on Just Add Water, Silly with the theme to magnify. I tried to draw a close up of the raccoons tails . It was easier to do than his face, lol

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Don't forget to link up:

fears: noun

frightening thought: an idea, thought, or other entity that causes feelings of fear

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Here are my pictures for the scavenger hunt, for Ashley's blog: Ramblings and Photos.

These were taken at Brevard, NC White Squirrel Festival:
( if you want to see my pics of the white squirrel you can check them out here )

beneath your feet:

some random feet walking around at the festival

capturing movement:
Lots of choices for this one, so here are 2

texture

face your fears:

 ( the act of growing old, not dying, but getting old and feeble, I was wondering how to show this when these 2 men sat down on this bench right under the Antique Mall sign....I figured it was a ...well....sign ) lol, sorry!

currently:
trying to find shade at the White Squirrel Festival

Next weeks:

Shine

Fast

Left

Peace
Plain

interesting huh?

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Did you make something this week end from a pin? Check out Project Pinterest where everyone links up their creations to share with fellow addicts...errr....Pinterest fans!

white squirrel : noun

 Their coat is mostly white but there is a distinctive head patch and dorsal stripe that broadens in the shoulder region. The head patch can be solid, horse shoe or doughnut shaped; it may resemble a triangle, a diamond, deer tracks or even a widow’s peak.

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Hi everyone! Well today I am going to be sharing my pictures of the White Squirrel, and some of the pics from the festival. If you want to know more about the white squirrel then you can go this link.

First, we began by going out to the Brevard College campus where they seem to be thriving. The first 2 were right beside the parking lot when we drove up, we didn't even have to hunt them down but our group was way too noisy and they ran up into the trees:

so next we wandered down Kings Creek to see if we could find more:

We crossed over a bridge, walked up into a field, and found more of them:

I think they kinda look like skunks in reverse, with their grey stripe:

or like prairie dogs:

or kola bears:

As expected for a white squirrel festival, lots of things squirrel related:

Hope you're having a great day today, I just hope I'm recuperated from yesterday! lol

aha moment: noun

an instant at which the solution to a problem becomes clear

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Sometimes it clicks....

This little bee had a chilly morning and he was trying to warm up on my railing so I thought since I had such a willing subject I would practice some macro shots.

I'm not good at macro....just sayin'

So I got my camera out, which was conveniently on my tripod and set it up on my balcony. Put the camera in macro mode and zoomed in.

Blurry bee, great background..... humph....

me mumbling something about bad camera for macro...then I remember my instructor Tony telling me that when in auto, my camera is trying to focus on everything at one time, this being the grass way down below and the bee and the railing way up close, one had to give and my camera was trying to focus in on the grass.

my aha moment....

I put the camera in aperture setting, as low as it would go, this case being f4.5, so it would only focus on what was up close:  then put it in macro mode, then zoomed in....and look at my grass in the background, it looks like a sheet of green paper behind the bee, this is the first time I have achieved this! woo hoo!

 ( And for a size reference, this little bee is about the size of your thumb nail. I also took about 15 pictures, playing around with my exposure setting too, and I only got one decent shot out of the bunch.)

Well, as you read this post I will be out and about with my photography friends trying to hunt, photograph the elusive white squirrel down in Brevard, and then we are heading off to the White Squirrel festival afterwards. I can't wait, this should be a fun day! And while I am there I am going to be working on my photo scavenger hunt hosted by Ashley over at Ramblings and Photos. So if you want to play along, here is your list:

1. Beneath Your Feet
2. Capturing Movement
3. Texture
4. Face Your Fears
5. Currently

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and a few other guys made it in the view of my camera today...first off a woodchuck who is always found scooting across the yard from one patch of woods to the next:

and a picture of an American Redstart:

I love the variety of wildlife we have back here! I've heard we have deer and bear that occasionally visit but none sighted yet!

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and don't forget Project Pinterest!

binds: transitive and intransitive verb

to form a link or relationship between people based on loyalty, affection, or a shared experience
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Mermaid Bookmark

I made the base of my mermaid from 2 layers of fabric upholstery swatches, the tail, face, and head are cut out from a magazine. I gave her a rhinestone belly button in the form of a brad.

Her hair is put together from some fibers and I added glass beads and a starfish charm.

I did add glue to her sides so that she wouldn't unravel, and the sentiment is cut out from a book.

Inspiration Avenue: Where do mermaids stand?

and

Artist's Playroom #10 Bookmarks
also
Unique Crafters Challenge: Ribbons and fibers

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My first T!m Holtz tag! Ta dah!!

As much as I bought the other day I still didn't have everything I needed but I did pretty well. The enameled flowers are by Recollections, I would have made my own but the Michael's store was out of the large UTEE so I am waiting for that to arrive. The spool of thread, I made myself out of cardboard, woo hoo! I made my self happy on that :)

 The dress form was cut out from my Cricut ( French Manor ) using TH grunge board and I am loving how it turned out and it was so easy to pop those little pieces out of the grunge board, no tearing! yay! I inked it and then sprayed it with Black Diamond shimmer mist.

I even used the alcohol ink for the first time. My flowers only came in 3 colors so I had 2 flowers that were light pink and I wanted them all different colors. This shows the original colors.

However once I colored the flower I had to add the same color to the end of the butterfly wings and to the beads to balance out the colors.

The dress form background is an overlay that I white washed and then stamped the sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs. I did add a few buttons and beads on the bottom of the card just 'cause it was a sewing type theme tag. Last but not least, I scrunched, sprayed, and inked a Martha Stewart ribbon. I also used one of his Distress pens on the top portion of the card, Antique Linen.

So being my very first TH tag and having spent around $100.00 in supplies...what do you think? lol

The Shabby Tea Room #115 Garden Party

and

PanPastel challenge Pastel Colors

and of course

T!M Holtz 12 tags of 2012 - May

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Getting your creativity on this week end? Are you a fan of Pinterest? If you like to combine the 2 and create something from a pin think link up your post to Project Pinterest! :)

white wash:

lime suspended in water, often with glue or sizing, and used like paint for whitening walls

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Well it's Thursday, so that means it's time for Project Pinterest. I admit I love pinning but more so, I love making something from that idea! Especially when it's something for my balcony. I have been trying to be a little more creative with my clay pots, here's one example where I wrapped a wide piece of burlap around the pot and then hot glued a flower from Maya Road onto it. I absolutely love it and it was so easy to do.

Then I saw this idea from At The Picket Fence:

 I thought it would be fun to paint one of my pots, which was slowly getting that patina look, but I am so impatient that I thought I would help it along :) So here is the before picture:

And here it is after I applied some white washing and a touch of color:

I am thinking of adding some more green to it, and bringing out the orange a little bit too.

Now my technique differs from the pin, I haven't sanded any nor chipped away at my pot. I brushed on the paint, and then dabbed and wiped off what I didn't want with a paper towel. I think my pot has a softer more blended look to it. I'm not really finished but daylight was leaving me and I had to get a picture in for the post!

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This week the Featured Pinterest gal is:

 Sally from over at Drinking From My Saucer ( 'cause my cup has overflowed )! yay Sally, I'll be sending you your button so you can show it off on your blog!
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I hope you are finding a little creativity in your life each and every day, it's a great way to express your self! I would love to see what you are creating from your pins, so post them here!

Here are the guidelines for Project Pinterest:

1. Decide which pin on Pinterest you’d like to recreate.

2. Create it!

3. Flop or success, create a blog post about your re-do and include the original pin’s url.

4. Add the Project Pinterest button to your post so others can join in too!
* From now on to be considered a "Featured Pinner" you need to add the Project Pinterest button to your blog please.

5. Link up and check out other bloggers’ posts!

<center><a href="http://inthehillsofnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/srolf11/PP.jpg" /></a></center>