Bird's Nests and Puppies

Hi everyone, hope you all had a nice weekend.

I've gradually been getting back to my crafting, and it feels good.  Like many of you, creating has always been like "therapy" for me.  No matter how crazy life got, I always had my crafting. Well, for a time I really didn't even have the heart to work in my craft room.  So I have been quietly working on a few projects that I thought I would share with you today.

What could be more spring like than birds and nests and eggs! I had never worked with polymer clay before, so I thought I would try my hand at it.  So, I created a bunch of tiny faux eggs, and had so much fun making them!  After baking them, I painted the eggs a pretty robin's egg blue, then gave them tiny little brown flecks.  I think they look pretty realistic, if I do say so myself!

 All of the nests you see here are real.  Hubby and I have been hunting for them on our daily walks. The nests are from last year, so no worries of stealing a new little birdie's home:)

This little nest below is so sweet.  I think it may be a cardinal's nest, not sure.  I thought it looked so cute in my vintage silver creamer.

 This is a really cool nest!  It was built oh so carefully around the branches of a tree.  I am continually amazed at just how hard little birds must work to build such masterpeices!  I need to Google nest identification, because I would love to find out what kind of bird built this.  It is very sturdy!

 And here is one last nest. Woven a bit hastily, it looks!  It was created from grasses, leaves, and even a tiny bit of hair!

I will be placing all of the nests and eggs in my Etsy shop. I had so much fun making the eggs, I can't wait to make some more!

 Thought you might like to see what our little Katie has been up to.  She is now 10 weeks old, and is growing like a weed!  Here she is getting her first bath a little over a week ago, looking none to happy!

 Play time.

 A mischievous pose!

 And ready to pounce!

 Now she's ready to curl up in a spot of sun and take a nap (which means that I can actually get a few things done!).

She is helping to fill the empty spaces in our home and in our hearts.

Hope you have a great week!

Meet Katie

Hello everyone.  I've not been here for quite some time, and I have missed you all.  After a very difficult past month, we now have a new little ray of sunshine in our home! A cute little 9 1/2 week old cocker spaniel puppy that we've named Katie has been helping us to heal, after the loss of our beloved Emily.  While in all honesty, I was no where near ready to even think of bringing another pup into our home so soon, hubby was.  We love our Katie and have been having so much fun with her!  We travelled to the other side of the state several weeks ago for our initial meeting, and then brought her home almost two weeks ago.

 So we have been busy working on potty training, playing, and trying to heal our broken hearts.

 Here she is napping with her Daddy.

 We brought her home in this little basket.  Doesn't get much cuter than a puppy in a basket, does it?

 While it has been bittersweet, and we still miss our dear Emily more than words can say, Katie has been a true blessing and joy.  It is good to laugh again!

 You may think from the photos that all she does is sleep. Wrong!  You should see her in "play mode"!  She plays so rough it is hard to get a picture of her:)

 She gives us hope for happier days to come.

Awwww!

Thank you so much for all of your kind words, prayers, and support during the difficult days we have faced.

I am looking forward to getting back into blogging, and catching up with you all.

Have a great day!

In Memory of Our Beloved Emily

Our hearts are broken.  We lost our sweet little Emily last week, very unexpectedly.  Emily shared our lives for nearly 10 years.  She was never "just a dog", she was our constant companion, our best friend, a huge and important part of our family.  We took her everywhere.  I never had kids, so Emily was like our child. There are no words to say how devastated we are at her passing.  That it happened so quickly, and over 1,000 miles away from home, in what should have been a fun trip, made it all the more difficult.

We just returned to our home here in Michigan, after being gone for 6 weeks.  Our house is empty, we are numb.

Southern Charm

Bonjour, Ya'll!

Yesterday we spent several hours walking around downtown Savannah, soaking up all of the history and charm of the city.

 Aren't these camellia's gorgeous!  They are so pretty, they don't even look real!

I was amazed by this beautiful double bloom, below!

 An impressive statue in one of the city's many squares.

 I almost didn't notice these sweet cherubs, that were perched at the top!  Aren't they adorable?

Stunning stained glass windows in a church we visited.  I especially love this one of Christ, above.

There are many beautiful churches thru out the city.

 

 And gorgeous old mansions that I was ooohing and aaahing over!

I was so happy to see the azaleas beginning to bloom!

 This was one of my very favorite mansions, below.  Just look at the gorgeous windows!  The frames appear to have rusted out a bit, giving them Old World elegance!  Notice all of the pretty grill work on the railing?

 Hubby in front of the famous fountain at Forsyth Park.

 This home was another faviorite of mine.  I was in love with all of the amazing gingerbread trim!

 The mansion below is now an inn.  Not sure if you can see it well or not, but a large chandelier greets guests on the porch, before they even walk in the front door!

 One of my favorite things to do when out and about is to soak up all of the details.  Little things that might be overlooked by some.  I fell in love with this whimsical stair rail.  Look closely, they are storks!

 The waving girl statue, below.  Florence Martus, aka "the Waving Girl", took it upon herself to be the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah, Georgia, between 1887 - 1931. She would wave a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night. According to legend, not a ship was missed in her forty-four years on watch.

 A picture of the sunset that I quickly snapped alongside the road, on the way back to the campground last night (it really was that beautiful, I didn't touch it up a bit!).

That's it for today, looking forward to seeing what you all have been up to!

Have a great day, ya'll!



Scenes From Around the Campground

Hey ya'll!

It's a bit of a drizzly day here in Savannah, so we changed our plans a bit.  We were going to go to a flea market that I was really looking forward to, as well as a farmer's market down town, but didn't feel like walking around in the rain.  So, we plan on visiting an aqarium just a few minutes from us, that we've heard good things about.  I'm not complaining about the rain, though!  I will take that over our usual Michigan snow and cold!

 

At any rate, thought you might like to see a few shots from around the campground!

 The state park is amazing here!  Lots of hiking trails thru a jungle like woods.  We are loving all of the trees draped with moss.  As well as the palm trees!  So part of our daily routine here has been to take long morning walks with our Emily on the trails (though not today, it was a bit too soggy!).  She is loving it as much as we are!

 Isn't this view pretty?  This is along one of the hiking trails, which runs along the intra coastal waterway.

 This has got to be one of the nicest state parks we've ever camped in!  The sites are huge, it's so nice and quiet and private here.  They do an excellent job of maintaining it, too.

 So this is our home away from home!  Notice our little palm tree?

 I snapped these last two photos of Miss Emily this morning.  She is peacefully napping after our walk.  Notice her wet ears?

"Aww Mom, did you have to wake me up for a picture?"

We had her groomed the other day at Petsmart.  She was getting a little shaggy, and would be way too wooly by the time we get home, if we hadn't have taken her for a new "do"!

I think the groomer did a great job, not to mention the fact that Emily is much easier to keep clean now!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!