A Little Birdhouse

Back in September of last year, I posted about a little birdhouse that my now 13-yr-old had made at a Home Depot workshop when he was about 7-yrs-old.  Well, I finally got around to finishing it.  I had been hoping for years to interest him in painting it himself, but I finally faced the fact that he doesn't share my love for painting things.  It's okay because we share other interests.  

There's actually more decoupage going on here than painting.

I went with a butterfly theme because, as you know, I have a thing for "bugs."

The photos were taken at different times of the day (and in fact different days) as, after taking the first one, I realized that I neglected to take a picture of the side design.  Brainfart?

Also, I am quite excited as I have some new blooms in my tiny container garden!

    

I don't know what either of these flowers' names are, but they are my favorites so far!

I hope you are all enjoying your Spring!

Thanks for stopping by once again.

In Bloom

Remember my little garden post back in March?  

My how they've grown!

    

And everything seems to be blooming at once! (Except the jasmine, which bloomed in March & April.)

Don't you just love up close flower pictures?  I love the macro setting on my Powershot!

I couldn't resist bringing a little bit of the beauty indoors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Finished Object

Or "FO" as we refer to it over on Ravelry.  So I finally finished my mobile.  Well, actually I finished my butterflies a while ago, but just hadn't strung them up yet.  Then I decided to make some grey and black butterflies, got  a little sidetracked with a couple of swaps, and well here I am a whole month and a half later still trying to finish up that mobile.   Aaand, here she is!

This is how she looks in the corner of my kitchen.

 Finished off with some simple glass beads.

Less than spectacularly photographed, but you get the idea.  I was originally going to make two mobiles with five butterflies each, but when I hung one of them up in this spot, it looked small, dinky, and unimpressive.  So, I unstrung them and restrung eight for a longer piece.  Much better.  It's not as colorful as the ones I made last year for a swap, but that's me.  I'm less into rainbow, and more into working with a limited color palette.  I have two butterflies left over that I'm thinking about making into brooches.  

Anyway, I hope you guys like it.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Botanicals, Bugs, and Butterflies

Today is Maria Sibylla Merian's 366th birthday.  Or, I suppose it would be if she were still alive.  I have to thank Google for bringing this to my attention, otherwise I never would have been the wiser.  Maria Merian is one of my all-time favorite artists.  She was an illustrator during the enlightenment era, and her work focuses mostly on plants and insects.  How fitting that I am currently working on some lovely little butterflies! I'm planning to make a little mobile out of them like this one.

Here's a progress pic...

They currently look a little too pastel-y for my taste, but I'm hoping that the black trim will change that.  I'm just not that into pastel colors.  Unfortunately I have a hard time finding mercerized cotton in more color variety from my local yarn shop.  These would be so beautiful in a rich jewel tone!  I suppose I should start ordering supplies online, but I really hate paying shipping charges.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Jardin

I live in a small two bedroom apartment with my husband and two sons.

We have a small patio that doubles as a potted garden.  I don't have a knack for 

growing veggies, but I can keep plants alive, and 

I do enjoy potting, re-potting, pruning, and whispering sweet nothings to my lovelies.  

This time of year, things start to get a bit cheery out on the patio.

Fear not my craft seekers, I have been keeping busy on the crafting front, and will have something special for my next post.  Stay tuned!

Spider Pavilion

I live about 40 minutes outside of the bustling city of Los Angeles, California.  Most of the time the spillover of urban issues bother me to the point where I want to move FAR away, but on occasion I am reminded of all the awesome things that also come part and parcel of being so near to "the city."

Over the past weekend my husband and I took our youngest son to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to experience the yearly Spider Pavilion display.  Basically they have an enclosure similar to a small aviary where they release a bunch of exotic, web building spiders.  There are no cages, and no glass or barriers between the visitors and the spiders.  It is not the place for an arachnophobe.  It is however the place for me!  If you haven't guessed yet from the title of my blog, I happen to have an affinity for spiders.  It's a strange thing, I know, but before you close this window in disgust, allow me to say a few words on behalf of the "lowly" spider.

Firstly, spiders, similar to bees, demand a certain amount of respect.  While the creatures never seek to cause us any harm, we are all too aware of their innate ability to do so.  Especially when they are as large as the ones that were lurking in this pavilion!  In the spring time, the museum hosts a butterfly pavilion in the same location, and let me tell you, the museum goers walk much more cautiously when the spiders are loose!

Secondly, I genuinely have admiration for spiders and the beautiful webs that some of the orb weavers are able to create. Nothing is more peaceful to me than watching a spider spin its nearly perfect orb of silk.  There's just something hypnotic about a spider going around, and around in ever shrinking concentric circles.  And did you know that some spiders have golden silk?  Scroll down to the second picture, and if you're lucky you may be able to just barely make out the golden hue of the threads!  I can see it, but my husband can't.

Argiope aurantia

Nephila clavipes

AND, since this post hasn't been very crafty, I've decided to post this little crochet spider & web bookmark in honor of our little family outing.

I hope you've enjoyed this slightly different post, and I hope that I didn't frighten any of you too much with my creepy-crawly, not-so-little friends.

:)