The End of a Beautiful Day

A Great Blue Heron waits at the mouth of the canal for his dinner.

A glorious end to a beautiful day.

The Birds and the Bees and the Flowers, Too

You know you have a wonderful friend when you come home and all the trees have been trimmed in your yard. That's what happened to me this week. Next comes the task of dragging all the limbs down to the road for the trash man to carry away. I look at this task in a positive way. First the branches won't knock the shingles off my roof in bad weather, the yard looks one hundred percent better and I get exercise and sunshine.







This is Mr. and Mrs. Limpkin. They live in my backyard and eat mussels and apple snails all year long. They also make a lot of noise, but I love to watch them gliding through the water in search of dinner.

While working down by the water this morning I scared two babies out of the grass. Immediately their parents called them out on the water. Later in the afternoon, I discovered that there were not two, but four little fluff balls. Momma called and they all came running. There was one little straggler that was half the size of the other three and he just could keep up. He was still swimming while the others were hurrying away.



I hope that this little family is safe and the babies decide to stay and make my backyard their home, too.
Thank goodness for the sunshine today. It's the first day without rain in almost two weeks. Evidence of the rain is the size of the grapes from one week to the next. They will be ready to pick before long if the birds don't eat them first. The recent rain has made everything grow and bloom.

Rock 'N Roland

Small black hat on a great big head
Big round body and hair so red
He’ll make you laugh, he’ll make you cry
Because he is a funny guy
Once a year he’ll come around

He’s Rock ‘N Roland,the circus clown.

Meet Rock ‘N Roland! Roland is a hand sculpted, one of a kind art doll. Roland’s body started as small round balloon and a little air. The balloon was wrapped with rigid wrap, decorative paper and tissue paper. Acrylic paint was then dabbled on. His head and arms were sculpted from polymer clay and painted with acrylic paints. Roland is the first doll I have made with arms that move. They are attached to his body with wire and buttons. I added a tulle ruffle, decorative string, some rhinestones and beads to fancy him up and Roland was ready to rock ‘n roll. There are assorted beads and bells inside Roland so he makes sounds if you shake him. Roland is approximately ten inches tall and seven inches wide. His hair is wool roving. Roland is thinking about retiring. He is tired of scary little kids, and scaring little kids. Roland would love to come and live at your house. He doesn' eat much (just an occasional pie in the face) and he won’t take up too much room. For the last forty years he's been living in a railroad car.

Johanna Parker Designs Give A Way

Is Lady Luck on your side today? If you're feeling lucky of if you just want to look at some great Halloween art travel on over to http://www.johannaparkerdesign.blogspot.com/ for her "Lucky Lumina" Give A Way. Johanna is an incredible Halloween artist whose creations always bring a smile to your face. Follow the direction on her blog, and you might be the winner of this great little guy. Don't be too disappointed if you don't win because I really think the winner will be me!

I found out about this great give a way on http://www.tumbleweedtrails.blogspot.com/ so give her blog a look, too.

May Baby

I am a May Baby. I had three different celebrations for my birthday this year. Two days before my birthday, I celebrated with my Bunco group and some other friends. I'm the one with the crown. I hope you can't read the number on top!

Taurus is the sign of practicality and possessions. People born under the sign of Taurus tend to be very patient, practical and dedicated people. Such people are usually very cautious when dealing with people, life and money. People who were born in that time are extremely faithful, with a strong need for security and a settled routine. Although they are very earthy, they can also be highly romantic and sensitive when it comes to love. These people are very strong-willed and often quite creative. They are kind and generous with friends, with whom they develop an unspoken rapport. If they love, they are generous to the last degree, and will consider no sacrifice too great for the person they care for; if they are enemies, they will fight with the most determined obstinacy. But they always fight in the open, for they hate trickiness, double-dealing, or deceit. They have an innate sense of harmony, rhythm and color, and often are very successful in music, poetry and art. Those born in this sign have an ability to become the most faithful, loyal friends.

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

When I got in my car and started to work this morning the sky was so beautiful I had to stop on the side of the road to take a picture. It rained again last night and all the dust of the weary world was washed away once again. The breeze was cool and the grass was green, greener that usual from all the recent rain. I have learned to always stop and take it in when beauty calls. If you don't take the opportunities when you can, they might never come again.

The Studio at Crow Haven Farm

Meet Calliope from The Studio at Crow Haven Farms, created by the talented Michelle. Calliope is a gossip girl. Can't you tell by those eyes that she has lots of juicy gossip to tell. If you lean in real close, she will whisper it in your ear. Calliope is hand sculpted out of polymer clay and painted with numerous layers of acrylic paint, then crackled and antiqued. Her hand sewn skirt and belt have been coffee dyed to give her that Folk Art Doll look.

Please go and visit Calliope and the other gossip girls.......you can find her and her friends at several different places.

ETSY store
http://www.crowhavenfarm.etsy.com/
BLOG
http://www.thestudioatcrowhavenfarm.blogspot.com/
WEBSITE
http://www.artsaflutter.com/
FLICKR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crowhavenfarm/

Rainy Weather

It has not stopped raining in "sunny" Florida for ten days. Over sixteen inches have fallen at my last count. The lakes are up and the flowers are loving it. The grapes on the vine are just beginning to grow and the welcome rain will help to make them plump and juicy this year. With only one vine, most of my grapes are food for the birds. My grape vine grows on the abandoned basketball goal of my son's youth. At the end of my driveway, it makes a perfect backdrop when coming home.

I have had a lazy weekend. I had lunch with some friends on Saturday and breakfast with others Sunday morning. Other than that, I have enjoyed the sound of the rain. It has been a weekend for enjoying good books, cooking, and creating. I read "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks today. What a beautiful love story. If only we could all be loved like that what a wonderful world this would be. My friend Janice gave me three books today for a late birthday present and a zany stuffed "Z" that suits me perfectly. I started on one of the books this afternoon. It is "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. She assures me I will find it fascinating.


My friend, Janice was one of the first women clowns for Ringling Brothers Circus back in the early seventies. Therefore she has influenced me in my creativity this week with my first clown doll. Janice gave me a pamphlet explaining the different types of clown makeup and I think this one will be a "white face". He is my first doll to have arms that are not permanently attached. They will be attached with buttons and will move. I haven't come up with a color scheme yet, but I am leaning towards green, my favorite color.


I am always working on Halloween, my favorite holiday, so I also made some evil little jack-o'-lantern pins. They were fun to make. They were going to be my surprize for the Trick or Treat give a way, but I can't find anyone who wants to participate. If anyone is interested you can read the rules on my earlier post.

Loopy Boopy's Madame Simone

Meet the lovely Madame Simone one of the newest residents of 7717 St. Charles Place created by the talented Loopy Boopy.

Madame Simone was a well known and respected Madame whose much desired girls worked Storyville. She owned and operated an immense and upscale brothel in The District down on Basin Street. Her prostitution business was a good one and she had been able to afford herself a nice home uptown at 7717 St. Charles Ave. Her brothel was among the nicest in The District and her gentlemen clients included politicians and wealthy businessmen, many of whom were now her uptown neighbors. The ladies of her new neighborhood didn't appreciate Madame Simone and her 'business' and felt she was a disgrace. One evening when Madame Simon was attending to the brothel they broke into 7717 St. Charles Ave and slipped an overdose of morphine into Madame Simon's brandy snifter. She is buried in cemetery No. 1 at Washington and Prytania.

Loopy Boopy is my first spotlighted ADO artist because she is the reason I am creating art dolls. Colleen is the neice of one of my best friends. I was introduced to Colleen's dolls a few years back and was always enchanted by them. In February of this year with Colleen's encouragements I made my first doll, and I can't seem to stop. I am hooked. Thank you, Colleen for so much talent and inspiration. You can view Loopy Boopy's dolls on Etsy at
www.loopyboopy.etsy.com or visit her blog www.loopyboopy.blogspot.com . You won't be sorry when you meet Colleen and all her creepy little ladies and gentlemen.

Penelope Pumpkin Sprite

After so many distractions I finally got back to work on my art dolls and completed Penelope Pumpkin Sprite. She is the newest addition to my Halloween collection. Penelope has been dancing in the pumpkin field picking pumpkins to make pumpkin pie. Not only does Penelope love the taste of pumkin pie, she knows the tantalizing aroma of pumpkin pie baking will bring many a suitors to her door.

Penelope is the first art doll that I have dressed in real clothes rather than clothes made from clay. It was quite and experience trying to sew them on her. I am happy with the outcome but hope to make improvements with experience.

Ain't My Day to Save the World

Hoyt Hughes is a talented country singer who is from central Florida. I met him last night at a wrap party for his new single, Ain't My Day to Save the World. I was introduced to the song my friend Fred R. who is a big fan and backer of Hoyt. Fred asked me to listen to Hoyt's song and paint a picture of what came to my mind. With only a weeks notice this the picture I put together. The song is about a father and his little girl. The father is compared to Superman in the song, but instead of saving the world he wants to spend time with his daughter. You will be able to see the video of this release on CMT in the fall. Hoyt has a great personality and a wonderful voice. I know that when you hear his music you are going to like it. The song is very upbeat a memorable.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day

Cherish your mother every day. Ask her all the things you want to know about her life. Don't wait to ask. You think that time is on your side forever, but it can slip up on you. And even though she is still here, she might not remember all the things you want to know.

I haven't gotten back to work on my art dolls yet. It seems that I have a million things to do. I got my partner for the Under Sea Swap today. It is Carolyn of Caroline's Crafts. She is a member of ADO and I love her work. I can't wait to get my doll, but that won't be until June. I have progressed on my mermaid doll since you last saw the pictures of her. I will try to get a new picture up soon.

I did do a little art this weekend. My birthday was Saturday so I was celebrating and I had dinner with my children today. Inbetween I made my squares for the Pino Pie Day. I made eight square and will be putting them in the mail tomorrow. They are very simple, just muslin squares with a painted acrylic border. I believe that celebrating the hospice workers for the wonderful work they do is a good cause, and I am glad I can contribute in some small way. I just wish I could be there to eat some pie!

Trick or Treat Surprize

I love Halloween and I create Halloween all year long so I really excited when read Marie Patterson's blog, "My Little World", and found out that I could win one of her Trick or Treat Surprizes. Marie is a very talented artist who loves Halloween, too.

I am one of the lucky five that has received a special treat from Marie . Please check out her creative blog , My Little World. Not only will you find excellent art, you will find good works that will sooth your soul.

NOW FOR THE RULES......please read carefully as this is give away that gets passed on!

Now YOU can receive a treat from ME! All you have to do is be one of the FIRST FIVE (5)
to leave a comment on this post, and I will send you a surprise! I would really like to make more, but that would be too great a task for me at the present time.


However, you must realize that it will then be YOUR TURN to do the same. Repost this on your blog, with a link back to my blog and send your treats to the first five to respond to your blog post. Your prizes can be ANYTHING that you wish to give and can be very simple. This is the treat I received from Marie today. It is one of her whimsical ornaments....isn't it precious.



http://mariepatterson.blogspot.com/

I really must apologize to Marie. I am still learning how to move and adjust items on my posts and this does not do her work justice.

Oh yes, even if you are not one of the first five reponses, you can still leave me a comment....I am so excited that I have followers and would love to hear from you. If you are one of the first five commentors, I will need your shipping information. Now, I need to get to work on my Trick or Treat Surprizes!

Pino Pie Day

I just read about Pino Pie Day and I think it is a wonderful cause. Please follow the link to learn about this event and send fabric squares or an apron or two to participate. I promise it will make you feel good when you do.

Apifera Farm: where animals,art and lavender collide: Participate in Pino's Hospice event

Apifera Farm: where animals,art and lavender collide: Participate in Pino's Hospice event

Girls Night Out

Have you ever played Bunco? If not, you are missing a real treat. All you need to know is how to roll the dice and count and sometimes that can get confusing. Our monthly Bunco game was hosted by Julie this week. We had a great time. Her dad, Richard, who is a wonderful cook, made a southern girls dream dinner, chicken and dumpling, blackeyed peas, corn bread and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and that was just the dinner. We had all kinds of snacks, including boiled peanuts.

After a lot of good food we got down to the serious part of the night. No, it's not really the game. It is spending an evening with friends old and new. It is sharing our laughter and tears and just having a great time. There are twelve players ranging in age from thirty something to sixty so don't think that our conversations aren't varied.

When we finally stop eating and talking we get down to the next important event of the night, rolling the dice. Now we all have different styles of dice rolling. Some of us like to take our time, talk awhile, then toss. Others like to keep the game moving so those dice don't cool off. I am the bell ringer and like to keep the game going. Debbie D. is the Bunco thief who will steal your dice right out from under you. Debbie R. keeps us laughing all night long. Mary Beth, who is the baby of the group just looks at us and shakes her head. She really wants to be like one of us when she grows up. I don't think she's decided which one yet.

When the game is over we all add up our scores to see who the big winner will be that night. It looks like Cheryl was really serious about adding her score. Being serious didn't help her tonight. Julie had the most Buncos and walked away with the big prize.

What great memories we are making. All of us look forward to our once a month game.

"My friends are my estate."- Emily Dickinson

Sweet Sharonda

Busy Weekend

I had a really busy weekend. I worked at the Athletic Boosters Danny Ellis Golf Tournament on Saturday. Boy was it hot. I was the photographer for the event. Sunday afternoon I went to the Gem and Jewelry Show in Kissimmee. I found some nice beads to use on my dolls. I also got some beautiful dichroic glass that can be used for eyes on some of the dolls. I used dichroic glass for the eyes on “Sweet Sharonda” my half snake woman I made for the April Mixed Up Challenge for the ADO group. I didn’t have too much time to work on my other mermaid doll for the Under the Sea Swap. I did get her sculpted and painted with gesso. She looks a little funny bald.I can’t wait to see who my swap partner will be. This is a great way to add to your art collection, exchanging dolls with another artist. I almost have my mermaid the right size. This one is only eight inches tall. I don’t think anyone will mind if it is a little big. I think I am going to use a completely different color scheme on this doll. Maybe I will use red. I haven’t decided on a name for her. They usually don’t reveal their name to me until they are almost complete. I am having so much fun making dolls.

Love the Sun

It is a beautiful day in sunny Florida. The temperature is going to hit ninety today. It's one of those days you need to get out and scratch in the garden. I bought one of the up-side-down tomato planters yesterday and hope to plant it today. I've never seen one before, but have heard that they work really well. Everything is starting to bloom. The plants are really loving the sun. We are on water restrictions so I am hand watering as much as I can. It is really dry. We haven't had any real rain for awhile. As you can see my Florida wisteria is in full bloom. The bees are loving it. The white bird of paradise is taller than the house now and covered with huge flowers. I guess I better get out and get to work so I have time later to come in and work on my dolls. I'm loving this sunshine!