Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Petal Pounding


My sister is joining with her community this weekend to participate in a Garden Walk to raise money for the city to erect an authentic windmill from Holland. I am going to be demonstrating the art of Petal Pounding. In its most basic sense, you simply tape down plant material, pound it and remove the tape. I've been pounding flowers for about a year now and it is addictive. Most of my work has been turned into cards, but I've recently quilted an 8 x 10 wall hanging and shaped my first sample into a stuffed bird! As I've stated in my Word Picture above, it is also a great outlet for relieving a bit of daily frustration..........if you can stand the noise!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Bird House

My daughter and I spent a whole day painting this birdhouse to hang in her room over the tree I painted on her wall. A birdhouse similiar to this was shown in a Mary Englebreit book and featured a battery powered nite lite on the inside. It would be fun to find a tiny light to glow softly in her room for those middle of the night, "I'm scared" episodes.

We printed a black and white image of the Hawaiian flower from the computer. Then we scribbled using the side of the pencil on the back of the paper. Placing the image with the pencil scribbling side against the birdhouse, we traced around the flower and the image was then on the birdhouse. My daughter painted the flower and the surrounding leaves herself!

Hanging it requires one of those metal circle screws for the top and then fishing line. Hopefully, we can find them from when we did our hanging birdhouse project for the real birds outside!

Deck Of Me



I found this free html that attaches to a flickr set for a while so thought I'd make an official record of my Deck Of Me. Ignore if you'd like! ~jane

Monday, July 14, 2008

Reading Groups



How do classroom teachers
deal with different reading levels today?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

The Orb

Without warning the orb began to glow
an iridescent violet
surrounded by a reddish haze.
A high pitched humming
shook the purple salvia
against the chartreuse spirea shrubs
and a voice echoed into the vibrating space.
It was impossible to hear the exact words
but a peace settled in the garden then
and the bees continued their droning
as if nothing had happened.
(strange things can happen in the backyard garden
when you alter the photo.)

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Quilt Along


Friday, July 11, 2008

Six Word Memoir

Inspired by this post,

I thought I'd write my own Six Word Life Memoir.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Door

The door was partially hidden
by the red and green tinted leaves
but the glass panes
reflecting the sinking rays of the sun
drew me from the edge of the field.
Crumbling white panels
hung crookedly
while the green knob
glowed with a secret summons.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

True Admiration


Monday, July 7, 2008

The Fingernails




Saturday, July 5, 2008

Fourth of July Fun











Friday, July 4, 2008

Land of the Free Home of the Brave

!!Happy Fourth of July!!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Dream photos


This is one of those photos
that makes me want to get lost in it.
The beach, the water, the bird
setting out from the shore
into the unknown
but always having the land
there when you want to come back.

Vacation Scrapbook pages



Scrapping some photo collages
of our summer holiday!

Flood Tourist


I have joined the ranks of a group of people known as “Flood Tourists”. Touring our downtown area and gawking at the road turned river with several other “tourists” was a unique bonding experience. I found myself talking with people that I would never have engaged in conversation before. As I was taking photos of the hundreds of carp swimming up a concrete parking lot and exclaiming over this remarkable sight, a shabbily dressed young man with tattoos and a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, motioned for me to stand beside him and observe a temporary pond where several of the vomit colored fish were gathered. In order to join him I had to duck under a yellow police tape that was stretched across the path. While I could easily envision this individual ignoring police directives in the past and find myself reluctant to join such a one, I instead eagerly followed him under the forbidden ribbon. The camaraderie we shared was instantaneous because of our connection as flood tourists. This unexpected bond has me thinking about knocking down those artificial barriers that separate me from others. Something good from all this bad.
 

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