Treks, treasures, and treasured friends

-
The last time I saw Ben was over a week ago, in the bright morning light as he met up with his crew to go on a 10 day trek in New Mexico.  I haven't heard a word from him since he left and I'm ready for him to be home now. I'm sure he's having a great trip.
Many have asked if his was the camp in CO that had to be evacuated last week, and it wasn't; he's at a different High Adventure Camp.
To take my mind off of that, I'll show you some treasures from treasured friends.  Above, Linda made one of these sweet hanging birds for each of us at Birdsong!  I promise this will be my last post about Birdsong -- a month past now although it hardly seems possible!
How much fun is that?
The bottom card is by the talented Hope Wallace.
The card on top was hand made by Karla's brother, "Guncle" Randy...
who joins us for Birdsong and whom we have all come to know and love!
Did I show you this coffee filter flower kit that was in our goodie bag?  It's from Heather Kowalski who I met for the first time -- she is so much fun and exceedingly talented!
 While we were at Birdsong, Suzanne gifted me a lovely blue hat box full of goodies that she'd been saving just for me!
It included the issue of Vanity Fair celebrating Audrey,
and some linens that she knew I would adore!
 I am so into the textile art of this era, which of course she knows;
 Look at that cute little horse and carriage in the lower left corner, above!
 And this fabulous scarf decorated with birds, which I love because it reminds me...
 of sunny California skies in the cities I grew up in!

Look at these Christmas ornaments -- they are so "atomic" and unusual.  They're made of plastic.
A purple Vera scarf (happy sigh!)
 Suzanne is such a thoughtful and creative friend!
The little bag above is my friend Kathy!
 I loved the card!
 The Laurie Bag contained this old but new set of Easter ornaments -- many are birds, some in nests!
Some heavenly spun cotton decorations...
 
 more birds...
 and the world's sweetest baby card with netting and sparkles!
Plus some gorgeous glass Christmas garland.
 This photo above is a gumball machine creation by Kathy!  She is ueber-talented and sells antiques and hand made, upcycled, beautiful things, locally and on Etsy!
The last time I met up with her at an estate sale, she snapped this photo of my trekker and me in the front room.  More on Kathy in the next post!

Comments

Linda Sue said…
Ben is so grown up...birds gotta fly!
July 14, 2014 at 12:54 PM
Kathy said…
What pretty treasures!! I adore the gumball machine filled with pearls. That is inspired.
July 14, 2014 at 10:03 PM
Lisa said…
Oh my gosh ~ all kinds of goodies!

I hope you are having a good summer, Laurie!
July 15, 2014 at 7:03 PM
CatieAn said…
what sweet and beautiful treasures. I would love to go to Karla's birdsong maybe one day! was it terribly expensive for travel/lodging?
August 1, 2014 at 3:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby Jesus Candy Cane Christmas Ornament How-To

-
Image
Here's a tutorial to make sweet baby Jesus ornaments: Materials: 3/4" round wooden balls blue felt like-sized small wooden stars flesh-colored acrylic paint yellow acrylic paint black permanent marker small button as star decor raffia natural excelsior "moss" silver thread or coordinating yarn candy cane You'll also need glue or a hot glue gun, paint brush and scissors Begin by painting the wooden balls with flesh-colored paint and the stars with yellow paint. When dry, draw two sleeping eyes on the ball. Meanwhile, cut small pieces of felt and make little rolls to represent the baby's body; tie with a tiny piece of raffia. Next, glue the wooden ball onto the top of the body roll of felt; if you wish, you can also cut a small wedge of felt to glue over like a little swaddled hood on the baby's head, but I think it looks cute without it as well. Glue the l
Read more

Flagler College in St. Augustine: the Tiffany connection

-
Image
We visited this wonderful building that began its life in 1888 as a lavish hotel built by Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil, and now houses Flagler College . It is such a beautiful old building and in it we saw: these fabulous Tiffany chandeliers... on a spectacular painted and embossed ceiling in one of the hotel's drawing rooms.   I apologize for the quality of the indoor photos -- it was quite dark in the building. I had to laugh at these painted cherubs on the ceiling... and the way their ribbony robes encircle the chandelier mount! This large clock over the mantle is special because it's a Thomas Edison clock and because it is made from one piece of rare onyx.  We were told that Edison's "signature" on his clocks is the use of the incorrect Roman numeral "4". But the most spectacular feature of the building is that Louis Comfort Tiffany himself made the stained glass windows. Most of Tiffany's windows a
Read more

O Christmas tree, jeweled Christmas tree...

-
Image
Earlier in the season Rebecca and I went to a craft fair at a local high school, and there was one booth with the CUTEST little jeweled, framed Christmas trees! The gal was nice enough to let me photograph them.  Sorry it's kind of blurry, but it was dark in that high school gym! I know it's an older kind of craft (from the '60s and '70s) but she made them sweet -- not gaudy at all.  We were both SO inspired. So, last week we made it happen.  I brought a bunch of my old, broken vintage jewelry, some velvet, glue,  old frames, and we sat in her dining room and made a forest of little trees! It was so simple: first, we took a vintage frame and covered the backing with velvet.  We just glued it on. Then, we took our time arranging bits and pieces of jewels into a Christmas tree shape. When we were happy with the arrangement, we committed and glued the jewels down!  I love this avocado green velvet! And then we did it again.  We had so much fun playing
Read more