Bird – The Art of Cobwebs

Broom Pole Bird Houses.

Stood in the kitchen, a few weeks ago, I saw a movement outside the kitchen window. Mr.Cobs was out there and up to something. Hmmm. [thinks to self:] I thought I just saw him . . . or did I? Was that a . . . ? Did I see him just . . .?

When he came into the house I asked him:

“Did you, by any chance, just throw a long bit of wood into the bin?”

“Yes” came the reply, “the broom pole (handle) has broken, so I was throwing it away. Why?” “

“Nooooooo!” I said (wide-eyed). “Oh, please don’t throw it away. Can you get it back out again?”.

“Well yes, course I can, but why? What the heck do you want it for?”.

“Well, … I don’t actually know right at this moment …. but I will know. At some point. There’s something inside my brain cell which is trying to send me a message. I know I can use that broken broom pole. Please save it for me? In the shed perhaps? Can you? Pleeeease??“ (I said in my sweetest voice).

So, bless his beautiful heart, he went and rescued the broken broom pole (for folks outside the UK – we here in the United Kingdom tend to refer to the handle of a broom as a broom pole), and put it in his shed. Last week I finally received the message from HQ (aka: my one remaining brain cell), and the message was …. Make Bird Houses!

I showed Mr.C a drawing and gave him a rough measurement, with the instructions: “They don’t have to be perfect, in fact not perfect would be perfect – but can you just cut 3 bits off the broom pole to *this* size, and once they’re cut, if you can give them to me I’ll draw where I want them cut again so that it will make the slope for the roof. Thank Yooooou!” [said in a singy songy way with a sweet, smiling face]. And, God bless his wonderful heart, he cut the wood bits for me, gave them to me and . . . I could tell by the look on his face that he thought (not for the first time) that I was bonkers.

However … he now loves what I did with those three bits of chopped up broom pole.

Let me share them with you, one by one…

3 Broompole Birdhouses (2) WoodenHouse — Broom Pole Bird Houses. Showing you the wood stained miniature bird house, with the Red Hot Pokers growing at the base. This bird house measures just 8.8cm – or 3.5inches. It’s just stopped raining – and you can see the puddles of rain on the stepping-stones at the base, and rain drops on the roof of the bird house.

Each bird house stands on a ‘slice’ of dried wood, which I then decorated to give it that ‘garden’ feel.

3 Broompole Birdhouses (3) BLUEHouse — Broom Pole Bird Houses. A side view of the little Blue stained Bird House. This Bird House stands 9.8cm tall (or 3.85″ inches). It has Ivy growing up around the pole which the Bird House stands on, and the Ivy then winds its way around the black tiled roof.

Each slice of wood, which the bird houses stand on, is of a slightly different size, so that there was nothing matching about any of them, other than they were tiny bird houses, a little wonky perhaps, but all of them were stood in a charmed, magical garden, … somewhere.

3 Broompole Birdhouses (4)) GREENHouse — Broom Pole Bird Houses. A slightly angled view of all three bird houses so that you can see some of the details of the ‘ground’ on which they stand.

As I look at each of the bird houses I try to decide which one is my favourite, and I’m finding it quite difficult. Mr.Cobs, however, says his favourite is the wood stained one, with the Red Hot Pokers growing around the base. Right at this moment, I think my favourite is the Copper Roofed bird house – simply because I love that copper roof.

3 Broompole Birdhouses (5)) COPPER ROOF — Broom Pole Bird Houses. The Copper Roof Bird House – stands 12.2cm tall. (which is just 4.80″inches). This bird house stands right at the edge of a small pond in which three golden coloured fish swim happily.

The Copper Roof Bird House has its own Box Tree in the shape of a ball, stood in a teeny tiny (but real) terracotta pot. There’s a waterfall – which aerates the water for the fish, and a rock sited within the pond which is for any passing frog to sit on and spend a little time there. The pond is surrounded by slate stones.

I REALLY enjoyed making these delight filled little Bird Houses. They were so much fun and yet again …. they’re in my favourite size to work with … LITTLE! Hope you like them too!

So … that’s the crafty bit over and done with so now it’s time for coffee . . .

… and … time for me to make you smile:

These are the jokes folks:

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Surely every car is a people carrier?

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What’s the difference between a hippo and a Zippo? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.

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When Clowns divorce – is there a custardy battle?

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I usually meet my daughter at 12:59, because I like that one-to-one time.

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My cat is recovering from a massive stroke. (think about it for a moment …. the penny will drop!)

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I have a friend whose name is Fin. Which means it’s very hard for her to end emails without sounding pretentious.

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Smilin’ now? 😀

Well that’s me done and dusted. But what about you? What have you been getting up to this week? Had a birthday? Planning a trip? Started Christmas shopping? Crafted something? Feeling poorly? Cooked something new and exciting? Or … has someone been really lovely and/or displayed some kind of kindness towards you?

Do share with me, and tell me what’s going on in your corner of the world.

In the meantime … I send you my love and very best wishes. I hope that life is treating you kindly, and that you know that everyone here cares about you very much.

Have a truly blessed rest of your day. Much love from me ~

Little Robin Redbreast ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

We’ve recently put up two bird feeders right outside my craft room window, and there is a little Robin who hasn’t yet built up enough courage to take a turn on the feeder. Now I’m guessing that’s because of the following two reasons:-

Maisie. Miniscule cat who has a ‘second name’ of: Squeaky, because that’s how she sounds when she meows. Squeaky cat has, since the bird feeders have been put in place, taken to sitting on a little table we have in the garden – for it gives her the perfect view of the bird feeders. Aaaand we all know why that is. But the little Robin has very good eyesight and can clearly see that there is a monster in the garden, so he/she I think, is waiting for Squeaky to be snoozing in the house, before he jumps down off the fence and has a little nibble.
Magpies and Pigeons. Magpies … well I’m surprised quite frankly that they visit anymore since Squeaky jumped up from where she was hiding and grabbed Mr.Magpie around the body and held him, mid-air, in a big ol’ cat hug …. that was until I shouted her name and clapped my hands SO loudly that it scurred her and she let him go.

The pigeons … I have no idea why they come, they seem unable to plot a course to actually land on the big feeder dish itself, and so go through this elaborate dance on the decorative curved metal top of the one feeder, trying to grip it with their big chunky toes and failing miserably. I sit in my craft room watching them from the window, bemused at their lack of agility, and their stupidness. All the flapping of their wings is like cat morse code and Alf Capone will lift his weary head and watch for a while … however he can’t be bothered to drag his weary you know what out of his bed – not for a pigeon. (Apparently Pigeon is not good enough for Mr. Capone). But Squeaky? Aw … she’s game. She’ll attempt to catch anything if it has the audacity to be alive. But … so far, there has been no pigeon burials. So far. So good.

So … anyhoo … (back to the storyline Cobs!!!) about the Robin… He visits our garden and stands on the fence and sings for all he’s worth. He’s the most delightful little chap and doesn’t seem overly frightened of me. I’ve stood with him in the garden and chatted to him as he’s sung to me. So lovely is he, that I thought about him on Friday as I was wondering what to paint and it struck me that the Little Robin Redbreast was THE very thing that I should paint. So I did.

It’s erm … not an exact picture of him, but more the way the memory of him in my heart sees him.

Little Robin Redbreast — #WorldWatercolorMonth

I hope the little Robin does, one day, when Squeaky cat isn’t around, plucks up his courage and comes to the bird table and has a nibble of something wonderful there. And I also hope that I happen to be looking out of the craft room window when he does come for lunch, as I’d love to see him finally having a bite to eat on my feeder.

Little Robin Redbreast 2 — #WorldWatercolorMonth

This little Robin was painted in ATC / ACEO size of 2.5″x 3.5″.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. It’s lovely to see you here and I’m so thankful to you for visiting. Please feel free to leave a chat behind via a message. I promise I’ll answer.

May your Sunday be spent in a way which fills you with happiness. If you can … share your happiness. Say good morning to someone you pass along the road as you go for your paper. Smile at someone and share your warmth. But if either of those things aren’t really your ‘thing’, then ... perhaps you could pray, or just send good wishes, for someone you happen to pass on the street or even who walks past your house today when you’re looking out of the window. Pray for a stranger. Or, if you’re not a believer then simply send out really good wishes for that person, and push those wishes out of your head so that if the Universe is listening at that precise moment then it might just agree with you and grants that person your wish. Wouldn’t that be brilliant?

Have a truly beautiful day. Be good to yourself …. and where-ever you happen to go today, may your God go with you.

Sending love ~

The Fairy Wish Tree ~ a handmade card with a difference.

What would you wish for if you were stood under the boughs of a Fairy Tree? Only one wish. That’s the question I asked myself as I was in the middle of making this card. I still haven’t actually come up with an answer that I’m happy with.

Fairy Wish Tree 1 — The Fairy Wish Tree. ~ the tiny white dots, aren’t white dots at all …. it’s very fine glitter.

I have to admit, that this card was one of those cards where I liked the idea of what I’d planned … then began to make it, and found that I fell out of love with it. So I put it on one side and began something else. Then, a few days later I told myself that I’d ‘made it that far, so you might as well get on with it’ … so I picked up where I’d left off and continued with the plan.

Three times I fell out of love and three times I tried again, and again, and again … until I’d finished it. And I’m SO glad that I did because now … I love it.

Fairy Wish Tree 3 — Where the front is more ‘quiet’ in colour, the inside is a riot and has colourful flowers, bird houses and dragonflies with multi coloured wings.

The little Fairy sat under the tree, is a very lightweight material – almost like a paper/wood mix. I was making an order, on-line, and added her into my basket simply because I liked her. I had no plans about what I’d do with her at the time.

The tree is a Tattered Lace die (I don’t own too many of that range of dies as I find them a little too fussy). Cut out of white card and coloured by me. Once I’d had the idea of putting her beneath a Fairy Wishing Tree, my next decision was that I wanted the card to have two ‘looks’. One for day, and one for evening …. so I ‘built’ the card with a window, then put a little piece of shimmery stuff – I think it may be a plastic type of thing – which I bought years ago from Hobbycraft, in one of their sales. I’ve used bits of it every now and again until I now only have a teeny piece of it left. But it worked so well for the magical shimmery look I wanted to the opening (see photograph above) and for hiding a battery operated T-light inside the card.

Fairy Wish Tree 6 — The T-light makes the glitter inside the card twinkle merrily too.

The card is a 6″ x 6″ plain white card, which I die-cut to the size of the Fairy sat in the oval.

I’ve left the front without any sentiment so that I can be creative with the card and use it for any occasion what-so-ever. Birthday, Anniversary, Thank you, Cheer you up, Hello, …. all sorts of things. The design is such that it will ‘fit’ many occasion.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me. I love to see you and chat with you.

I make a wish that your day goes well – or went well for those of you who live on the opposite side of the world, and will go well for those of you who are just waking up and about to go out into the world.

What ever you’re going to do today, do it with joy. Even if you’re not really enjoying it, find the joy – and then the task will be much sweeter … and will be over with a lot sooner than it would if you did it in a grump.

Go bravely into the world and smile. For the World becomes so much easier to deal with if you’re in a smiley mood. May your God go with you.

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A Home, made for Tweety Pie

About 12’ish’ years ago I made myself a paper mache bird house for the corner of my bedroom. I painted it; crackle glazed the roof; hand painted vines around it; sealed it and then I wrapped a length of Ivy around it and secured it in place. I never got to hang that bird house because when my mother saw it, she loved it so much that she claimed it for her own bedroom!

So … I made another one. That one ‘walked’ too – this time to a friend. I made another, and kept it. But word had got out and by the time I’d finished … I must have ended up making around 20 or so of these darling bird houses. I even made myself a couple more … one for my conservatory and another for my living room – it hid the CCTV camera inside it!.

Then three years ago I moved home (down-sized) and decided that I would only bring one of those little bird houses with me. So I gave two away and chose the Geranium one I’d made, to keep ….. in fact … this one ….

Yes … that’s the one. Hanging on my door, right there. ↑ People who have come to my cottage where I live now, and seen it, have always commented and admired it, – but one person – … my fabulous parcel delivery lady – (who has become a friend) – said she really liked it and was trying to work out how I’d made it. Here’s a close up …

… now – to be brutally honest … it’s a little tired looking now. I mean to say … it’s actually about twelve years old and has gone through many things in its little life, so it’s not as ‘freshly made’ and perky looking as it used to be – but I love it. I love it hanging on my front door during the early summer days, welcoming people as they arrive. (The front door is under cover and very well protected – & doesn’t get any rain on it – so I knew it would be pretty safe hanging there.)

After my parcel lady had said she liked it, I said, to Mr. Cobs, that I thought I still had “a bird house waiting for painting, ‘somewhere’ – but goodness knows where!” (I still have boxes in my loft that I haven’t unpacked from the house move 3 whole years ago!!! Please don’t judge me. – I never said I was brilliant or anything near it!).

After some searching, the wonderful Mr. Cobs found it! (give that man a medal, I hear you cry!). I decided that I’d make my parcel lady a bird house as a surprise. I got to work and, for the first time ever, I made a Roses bird house. But ... I couldn’t find a little bird for the perch. I searched… I checked out florists, craft supplies … everything I could think of, but no luck. So I decided to use the only thing I had – a little resin bird, in a gentle pinky colour, to match the roses. I gave the bird house to her a couple or so weeks ago, and thought that now the surprise was ‘out of the bag’, I could share it with you.

So, dear reader, I present to you …. The Roses Bird House for Tweety Pie (well, no, not quite. It was for my parcel lady to be precise – but you know what I mean! lol).

In the photo directly above, you can see the crackle glazed roof, and the little hanging loop over to the left, at the back (top) of the roof. However – if you make a loop of wire, for something to be hung on the wall etc – try to make sure that you ‘cushion’ the wire against something – (I used a leaf on this bird house) – so that the wire doesn’t damage any painted surface or wallpaper you have on the wall.

It was such a delight to do a ‘blast from the past’ crafty make again. It was as if time had rewound itself and I magically found myself back in time, twelve to fourteen years ago – and crafting in ways I’d forgotten I used to do. It was a really sweet, memorable time in my craft room, and I absolutely loved it. Memories of my mother; old friends who my heart misses; our girls when they were younger; teachers at the school where I used to help out; people I’ve known but have now sadly passed on; others who I’ve lost touched with – like ships that pass in the night. So many memories, and all so precious to my heart. It kind of almost felt like a friend who I hadn’t seen for years and years, had suddenly visited me out of the blue, and we’d sat together going over old times, laughing together, remembering together. Awww, just wonderful! ❤

I hope you like the bird house as much as I do. I was kind of sad to give it away. It had bought back such wonderful memories as I crafted with it and it had left me all warm and snuggly inside. But … it was for my lovely parcel lady – so I knew it was going to a great home.

Have you crafted with paper mache at all? Would you like to? You don’t have to actually make the paper mache item – there are hundreds of ready-made paper mache things which can be bought pretty cheaply at hobby stores. You get to use your imagination to decorate them and go mad with paint effects, papers, adornments, twiddly bits and crafty joy! If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a ‘go’. You never know … you might just find out that you love it. Oh … and if you have little ones on school summer holiday/break – this is something they’ll love to do! Paint, papers, glue … even coloured magazine pages would be great to stick to the ‘object’ using PVA glue.

Thank you so much for coming to spend a few minutes with me. I’m totally thrilled that you do. Please feel free to leave comments. I love hearing from you.

Oh, before I go … Since this post is about a Home for Tweety Pie, I really should bring him in on the post:

How very true! {smiles}

Have a truly blessed rest of your day ~

You’re my kind of Purr fect!

Hello and . . . Happy Thursday! I like Thursdays – they always had great lessons in school on a Thursday and I think that’s why (even now, a gazillion years later) I still like Thursdays. There’s something friendly about a Thursday. I always (mostly) seem to find that people are in a good mood on a Thursday. Why is that? I wonder.

Aw, – enough of me blathering on ….

I’m here with a gentle looking, pretty card ‘offering’ today. This is one of those great cards which could be a birthday card, a ‘hello’ card, a card for a daughter, for mom, wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, partner (in life or crime! lol) … or it could even be a Valentines Day card! And .. what’s even better … it has a matching box!

I decorated the outside of the box (shown above) so that it pretty much matched the card inside it. I used the same soft pink and white striped backing paper on the box lid as I did on the card, along with the same colour of my favourite rayon ribbon, – and the flowers and little bird, although in different shades of pink, are the same as on the card. The little bird is bringing a tiny red love heart in its beak – so bringing the love to … the card? The bird’s nest? To you?

The little birds nest with the ‘eggs’ inside it; I made by simply winding string round and round (and the use of glue to keep it in place), and I used three pearls from an old broken necklace as eggs. The die cut ‘Lots of Love’ was made using a die made by Tattered Lace. (I’m very much a bunting kinda girl – so these little bunting style word dies were right up my street!)

I love to make boxed cards as they always feel more like a gift than just a simple card, and so I like to decorate the boxes – inside and out. The inside of the box was lined (top and bottom) in 6×6″ vintage style sheet music, and into the centre of the inside lid I fixed a beautiful topper – from DoCrafts as part of a selection of die cut toppers.

The little girl sat on the step and snuggling up to her cat is from a book of toppers made by Lili of the Valley. I have a few of these books and love them for the delightful colours which LOTV use in their production. I highly recommend them. They’re brilliant quality. The sentiment banner is one I made myself on the computer and printed it out. If you can’t quite read it, it says: ‘You’re my kind of Purr fect!’.

Top and bottom of the front of the card is some lovely white, cotton, crocheted lace. The bird(s) are resin, and the flowers are paper flowers, from a selection I have.

Isn’t she just adorable? I love her cute face, cheeky smile and want to squidge those cheeks!

All the photographs here will re-size as if by magic if you click on them and you’ll be able to get a better view then. (but don’t forget to click ‘back’ so that you can come back to the post!)

I would like to enter my card into these fabulous challenges: