My very own Alpaca!

My first attempt at making a needle felted alpaca.  I'm happy with how it turned out, being my first and all.  I fell in love with alpacas a while back and discovered an alpaca farm within 10 miles of my home.  The wonderful lady who owns the farm sold us handmade items like gloves and hats as well as a generous bag of alpaca roving.  As soon as I got home I started working on this project.  It took some time but within a day or two, this is the end product.  Hope you like it.

Download a FREE copy of the Artella eBook, Artella's Step-by-Step Vintage Holiday Cards, an eBook featuring 10 beautiful handmade cards, complete with photos and descriptive "how-to" instructions, showcasing a variety of techniques such as rubber stamping, collage, and innovative paper and mixed media arts.Download your copy here!

Halloween is almost here!

This is one of my three driveway lights all dressed up for Halloween.  The garland and bow were easy.  The ghost face took a little time to figure out.  At first I just wanted to take a permanent marker and draw the face on the globe.  Knowing I was not going to be able to replace all three lights after the fun was over and Halloween was past, I had to come up with a better idea.  I settled on using black fabric with an adhesive backing to cut out the eyes and howling mouth.  So far so good.  Hopefully it will peel off easily.  My sister had the idea to leave the faces on and just dress them up as singing choir boys for Christmas.  That's actually not a bad idea.  What do you think? 

Source: flickr.com via Jacqueline on Pinterest

Wigwam maker, Primitive tool expert



While building the wigwam during the past week, Barry Keegan has discovered evidence of Native American presence in the Arboretum! (Croton, New York)
This photo shows Barry holding chert flakes (the technical term is "debitage") which are the waste product of making arrowheads and other tools. Barry found these in the soil around the area where he's working.

 A close up of the skillful hand of one Barry Keegan.  He has crafted many a wigwam, primitive tools, thatched roof, and countless other gems.   He has sat with his nieces and nephews to teach a lesson on arrow head making and goes so far as to fashion the rope to tie the arrow head into a necklace that would later be presented to the awe-struck teachers at school the next day.

While building the wigwam during the past week, Barry Keegan has discovered evidence of Native American presence in the Arboretum!
This photo shows Barry holding chert flakes (the technical term is "debitage") which are the waste product of making arrowheads and other tools. Barry found these in the soil around the area where he's working.

This is what life is like with a brother -in- law extraordinaire.  We  take a stroll around the museum where his wife had once worked (the lovely, Sara) and he bends down to a well-worn area in the dirt.  I notice something pushing up through the soil.  We unearth a beautiful glass bottle top that was discarded centuries ago by the colonist that lived in the area.  I do a jig of glee, totally amazed with the treasure, Barry walks on, looking down to find the next moment of discovery!  I will never look at the ground in the same take for granted way.  Barry has the eye, the hands, and the skill, of a curator ready to teach our next history lesson.

Autumn

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all."
~Stanley Horowitz

I've had this picture for over 15 years, I think.  It came in a book of Mucha postcards that I bought from the gift shop at The Museum of Modern Art.  I remember the day we went to the museum, the gift shop, the book, and most of all this image. I love the look in her eyes, her gypsy kerchief, and the way she's perched in the tree listening to the call of the wilderness. Makes me think of fortune tellers, Halloween, being in the woods in Autumn.  All the things I love about this time of year.

curious kangaroos: Toys from Trash

curious kangaroos: Toys from Trash: I caught this inspiring talk over at Urban Preschool . Arvind Gupta : Turning trash into toys for learning If you are intrigued take ...

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it." ~Buddha

Rediscovering Wonder

This is a must see for all of us who want to know where wonder and imagination might lead us.  This artist had the ability to trust where she was being led without any guarantees of any kind of success or outcome.  Her story and art are truly inspirational.
http://www.ted.com/talks/janet_echelman.html
I think this quote I found on Chel's Common Miracles page fits in with this artiat and her work.

“Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.”
–Pema Chodron

Excellence miracle

A common miracle just occurred today.  I was at the local wholesale club, shopping for the weekend.  I always check out the piles of books laid out.  I am a book fiend.  So a book of quotes caught my eye.  Randomly chose a page and the first quote I laid eyes on was "We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"  Aristotle.  Loved it.  Not only am I a book fiend but a perfectionist at heart.  That can be more of a hinderance to me, but it is who I am.  I accept it.  So, here's where the miracle pops in.  I get home from the store and open my facebook acct when I get the chance.  My favorite writer, Marianne Williamson has a quote posted "We are what we repeatedly do..."  Wow!!  Such a crystal clear message.  I love it!

Quote

"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Monday May 23rd "Life is good"

Monday has come again!   I worked at school today and it was really wonderful.  Kids are the absolute best.  Afterwards, when we were all home, my 5yr son just called over to his sister "Hey, Ab,  life is good!"  I came out to see what caused this little one to get so prophetic then realized he was eating   Life cereal.   I forgot how much they love a good cereal.  Life is good when you're 5.

The link

http://www.gingerblue.com/?p=1085

This hopefully will link back to the original site for The Common Miracles Project.

Yeah, it worked!  I count that as one of my miracles for the day!

Enjoy the Gingerblue.com site, it's so beautiful and has great content.

    Just joined this project and will be sharing my entries here on the blog.  All it takes is to write about small, every day signs of  miracles in my life.  I've always been on the lookout for signs that  there is something bigger then myself operating in my life. I've seen huge rainbows as a direct answer to some intense praying.  I've had some one say something to me that I had just been thinking about, intense things that were very spiritual.  I use to ask my grandmother for a sign that she was with me.  She had a talent for finding 4 leaf clovers anywhere she looked.  I asked her to let me find a  clover as proof she was still there with me.  One day, while at a park, I found a 5 leaf clover.  She was showing me that she was there more then I could know. 

     I guess these are rather big signs and not so common.  If I had to think about what just happened today, I would say I saw several small signs of miracles.  I bumped into a family I haven't seen since last year.  Not so strange until you know that before I left the house,  I saw the families name on an old form from school that was lying out on my counter. I have no idea what that all means but I made sure I went over to say hello. Just trying to be a good listener.  It was great to see them again and I realized later that I needed to know there were good people out there to be friends with and not let our connections go stale. I tend to do that sometimes and I'm not entirely sure why.  Being very shy at times and then I feel isolated.  Not a good place for me to be.