Happiest New Year!!

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends!! I have to say that 2010 was a good year for me and I look forward to more good fortune in 2011. And the new year will start with a brand new grand baby for me in January! I can not wait for my second precious bundle to be born!! Won't be long now!

I haven't blogged for awhile because my daughter, son in law and granddaughter were here for Christmas. It was wonderful having them here. It was a short visit but it was nice none the less. Will see them again soon the end of January when the baby is born.

So my new suet feeders have been more popular with the squirrels then the birds. We just have so many squirrels around here. I thought I would write about Lucy who only has half a tail. This past summer she raised a family up in a tree right above our deck. I loved watching the babies come down from their nest to the ground for the first time. They would be so afraid of anything on the ground for awhile. She's been around our house I think for about 3 years. And she is a bossy little thing too!
Here's a few pictures of her.
 

I've been working on Valentines this week. Here is a little something I finished up today that is now listed in my Etsy Shop. Look for more new Valentines in the coming weeks.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Bath Time with Bonsai & Pepper

Here are my two kitties Bonsai and Pepper who love to give each other a bath! They are best buddies and do this all the time.

Pillow Gift Box

I have some jewelry to give to family this Christmas and don't have any small boxes to wrap them in. So I found this blog, Bird Cards with a template to make these cute and simple little boxes. These are just perfect for that handmade touch.

I used card stock and printed Happy Christmas with on one side and printed the pillow box template on the other side.

Cut out your template. Then with a bone creasing/scoring tool, score on the dotted lines. Then glue the long tab to the other side of the box. Let dry completely. Then fold in your curved ends of your box and there you have it!

Everyone have a wonderful Monday!! 5 days till Christmas!!!

Birds on the Brain

Well, I've got lots of birds for you today!! We got 4 inches of snow over night and when that happens we get lots of activity at the bird feeders because the birdies are looking for something to eat after everything has been covered with snow. And..... I finished up a brand new bird make do today!! He is made with a stained muslin that I printed the cursive alphabet on. I'm sure you all remember staring at that at the top of the chalkboard when we were kids, I know I do. This sweet little bird was just listed in my etsy shop!

Also today I made homemade suet and suet holders. Wow...I guess I got a lot done today!!

Here are a couple of pictures right after I hung up the feeders. Mrs. Red-Bellied Woodpecker Mr. Cardinal were checking them out. They never did land on them. Maybe tomorrow.

Here's the How To to make the suet and the hangers. This was posted in the Birds and Blooms latest issue.

Suet Hanger

Supplies: 14-gauge galvanized wire (sold in 100-ft. rolls in the hardware store)

pliers and wire cutters

glass spice jar or other 2 inch diameter jar

duct tape

spray primer and paint approved for metal

(I didn't use the spray paint)

Take your wire and make a little hanger at the top before wrapping around the jar. Then right where you start to wrap on the jar put a piece of tape to hold the wire in place. Then smoothly wrap around the jar until you think you have it long enough for the suet to rest inside with room to spare. Then at the bottom where you cut it off, use your pliers to bend in the wire to form a curlicue so the suet don't fall out the bottom.

Suet

Supplies: 1 cup of lard or bacon drippings

1 cup of oatmeal

1 cup of corn meal

1 cup of chunky peanut butter

raisins

bird seed

cardboard toilet paper tubes

aluminum foil

rubber bands

In a pan, melt lard, peanut butter together. Then add in your oatmeal, cornmeal, raisins and bird seed. Then let cool a little. Mean while put foil over one end of the cardboard tub and wrap a rubber band around to hold in place. Then spoon in your mixture in the tubes. This recipe made enough to fill 5 tubes for me. Then put them in the freezer and harden. After frozen just peel off the foil and the cardboard tubes and place in your new suet holder!! This was super easy to do!

Now here are a few bird pics that I took today!

Mourning Dove

This sweet little bird that I don't see very often is a Carolina Wren

Mr. Cardinal

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Mr. Junco

So Sweet Junco

Ok that's all for now. I sure did have a big post tonight didn't I??!! :)

Prim Folk Art Sheet Music Bird Make Do

*♪♫ Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful ♪♫ * as I type this. Started with rain this morning and now the ice has turned to snow. We have blizzard warnings for tonight. They are only saying 1" of snow with 40 mph winds. Time to freeze again.

Here's a new little bird that I made this week and is up for sale on etsy. Working on a few more new birds as well. The fabric is muslin that I stained and then printed musical sheet music on it.

Slowly getting my Christmas decorations up. I'll post some pictures once I get done.

Here's Bonsai having fun in the garland before I hung it up on our stair railing.

And Can't leave without posting some nature shots. This is a sweet little black squirrel right outside my sewing room window eating a nut. All the squirrels sit in that same spot in the tree. Ok that's all for now. Have a great evening everyone!!

Orange Slice Christmas Ornaments

What did I do on a very, and I mean very cold (16) day today? I made orange slice ornaments!! These look so much better in person. I had a hard time getting the pictures to turn out the way they really looked.

I used the little tiny oranges called cuties that my store had on sale.

I slice them about a 1/2" thick and blot them dry on paper towel.

The directions said to lay them directly onto your oven rack. But with these oranges being so small they would have fallen through my racks. So I put them onto a cookie cooling rack and set on the oven rack. You then bake them at 275º for 1 hour. Then turn oven down to 200º for 2 more hours. They were done much sooner probably because of their size. Just keep an eye on them the last couple of hours. I did have a couple that got a little dark.

After they were completely dry, I brushed them with a little modge podge and sprinkled with mica flakes. I think they turned out pretty cool. They really look sparkly, which you can hardly tell from the pictures. They look really pretty with a light from behind them!

Our First Snow!

It's snowing as I type this. We are expecting 2 to 3 inches by tomorrow morning. I think Cardinals are so striking against the white snow. Mr. Cardinal was enjoying the first snow.

 And here is our backyard covered in white.

Then last night while I was talking to my daughter, someone by the name of Bonsai ran away with one of my Santa hats that I had laying on the kitchen table! You should have heard him growling when you tried to snatch it away. I didn't have my camera so my daughter quickly snapped a couple of pictures with her ipod. It was hilarious! He is the most comical cat ever. You never know what he is going to do.

Prim Wooden Beehive Bobbin Bird Tree

I can hardly believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post. I've been super busy with custom orders and celebrating Thanksgiving not once but 2 days. Can't complain with all that good food.

I took a little time for myself and created this awesome tree! Kath over at Olde Weeping Cedar Primitives made one similar with rusty bells and snowflakes. When you are at Kath's blog take a look at her wonderful signs that she makes and sells. I bought one last month and just love it!! I thought I would make my own tree with a different twist. If you know me you know I love birds and had to make a bird tree.

I took some old garland that the lights didnt work anymore and took it apart and used the branchs for the my tree, sticking them in the holes in the bobbin. Then I made up a batch of cinnamon dough and made my little birds and stuck a piece of rusty wire in the bottom of them. Then baked them until they were hard. I used a Martha Stewart recipe for the cinnamon dough. <----- Click on the link for the recipe. Sorry this tree will not be for sale. Making something for myself this time.

So that's all for now, I have to get back to sewing on them orders!! Happy December 1st!! :)

Primitive Snowman Stockings

It has been a cold one today. Barely made it into the 40's. But at least the sun was out part of the day. They are saying snow on Monday!!

So anyway...I finished up these stockings today and will have them for sale in my etsy shop tonight. Love the little snowman with his blowing in the breeze scarf. hehe

That's about all for now. I need to get working on a custom order! Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Vintage Look Bottle Brush Trees Tutorial

Here's something you might want to give a try this holiday season! Make your own bottle brush trees! I found this how to, from Cathe's blog, Just Something You Made.

Here's what you need to get started:

Vise, tabletop or clamp type

wire 22 gauge

scissors

wire cutters

ruler

glue

Sisal twine

pencil

mica flakes

Cut 4- 4" pieces of the twine and unravel them all until you get a pile of them.

Cut a 20" piece of wire and fold in half. Make a loop on the end by wrapping it around a pencil a couple of times.

Put glue on both pieces of your wire and lay your pile of twine on one side and lay the other side of the glued wire on top. Your twine is going to be sandwiched in between the wires. Twist a little bit on each end.

Let your glue get a little tacky and then put the ends of your wires in the vise.

Begin twisting and twisting until it looks like the whole wire has been twisted nice and tight.

Take out of the vise and give your tree a haircut!

Now brush your tree with glue and sprinkle heavily with mica flakes.

Trim your wire on both ends of the tree and hot glue your tree into a piece of a sliced tree branch. I used a hand drill with a small bit to make a hole in the wood. Then decorate with tiny ornaments! Have fun making your trees!!

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Letting everyone know that I made a pattern for my Santa Doll that I made and sold a few weeks back. I will get the pattern on Pattern Mart later tonight, and have a link to it over on my right side bar when it's ready.

Just a Little Bird Watching

Filled up my bird feeders today and set up my camera on the tripod and got some awesome shots of some of the birds today. Just thought it looked pretty out in my backyard with the yellow leaves just about ready to fall. Most of all the other trees have lost their leaves.

Mr. Cardinal on a perfect Fall day

He looks like he is saying, I see you taking my picture. :)

Looks like the Junco's are back in town. You know winter is almost here when they arrive.

I think Nuthatch's are the most cutest birds along with the wren. I love the little honking sound that nuthatch's make and how they go up and down the side of the tree upside down.

Tufted Titmouse. Had a hard time getting a picture of him. They are so fast!

Mr. Chickadee is very hungry.

And Mr. Black squirrel having a snack. Oh those pesky squirrels. Gotta love them.