My Fairy Garden!

The photo's above are of my newly created Fairy Garden! It's on my back porch, which gets sun and shade and a sprinkling of rain. The Fairy ornaments were a gift from a friend some years back. A few of them have broken wings/legs which I have glued back together. They've been in storage for about 15 years. Unfortunately you can't see the lovely colours on them too well on here, although they have faded over the years. The plants are mostly Christmas Catcus (Epiphyllum Cactus). Once they flower I will photograph them and put them here. I am going to make a 'shelter' from some plastic to put over the entire garden so that if/when we get really heavy rain, I can pull it down to shelter the plants.

Below is a rock I painted!  I used some blue acrylic pain for the background, and then sketched the bee with a black charcoal pencil. Once I was happy with it I used Posca pens to draw and colour the image. My hands are still a bit shaky so some of the lines are a bit wobbly. The  rock is roughly 2 inches (5 cms) in size. I painted rocks many years ago, and have recently been keen to do some more. Instead of using real rocks, I have purchased some molds to create my own rocks. By using the mold I can create very smooth rocks which will be easier to paint. Real rocks can be rough and can ruin your Posca nibs. The molds are coming from USA, so they will be awhile getting to me. Watch this space!

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

 

A Tangerine Sunrise!

 

 I shot these sunrise photos through a closed window from my hospital bed on Sunday morning. I Was in hospital Saturday and Sunday. It was such a pretty view that I just had to take these shots! Sadly, a short time after taking these,  the beautiful tangerine colour faded into a dull grey and we ended up with a horrible dull wet day. How quickly the weather changes!

Yes, I even have  a card to post,  which I made last week. I will be entering it in the latest Lavinia Stamps challenge, "Secret Garden".  Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

I Have a Waterfall!

 

 I took this from the top step at my back door, the rain was easing and I wasn't getting too wet. It shows the rain water spurting out from under the window in my car port. It must have come in the carport roof and hit the window ledge inside the carport, and then somehow got under the window making the waterfall outside. I've never seen it do this before! It's not a sharp image due to how heavy the rain was.

Below is a close up of the water coming from under the window in my carport. I had my own 'waterfall'!  The rain lasted for about half an hour before it slowed down. I noticed the traffic had come to a halt while the rain was so heavy. Some of the cars had stopped on the side of the road outside my place. It carried on raining most of the night, but not heavy.  

When I got up this morning the rain ha sgone and we have blue sky and sun! Looking outside now you wouldn't know we had all that rain just a few hours ago! The weather is crazy!!  Another plus for this morning is, my pain has settled down and I didn't need to take pain killers this morning! Yippee, I hope it lasts! I am aware that the cooler temperatures and the wet weather makes the pain worse. Having said theta, we are having quite mild temps for this time of year. Usually by May it has become quite chilly, but not so this year. Well, not so far!

I do have a couple of creations to share, and will hopefully post hem here later today.

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

Who is This in My Back Yard??

 

I was casually looking out the kitchen window earlier, and spotted this on my lawn! Not having my glasses on, I wasn't able to clearly see what or who it was! I could tell it wasn't a cat as it was too tall.

As I put my glasses on I grabbed my camera and went outside onto my back steps. It was a bird! A bird with a very long sharp beak, and he/she (?) was busy strolling around my lawn as if he owned the place. He pretty much ignored me snapping photo's, and after about ten minutes he flew up on to the fence. Then I quickly went inside to check on some food I was cooking. When I went back outside again, he was further down the yard. I took a few more photo's and then I spotted Wookie in the bushes behind the bird! She started to run towards the bird, and he flew off. I doubt that he will come back, knowing there's a cat that wants him for lunch! 

He is a white faced Heron. He had seemed very relaxed and at home strolling around my lawn...until Wookie saw him. She LOVES birds, but not in the right way. 

Some of you may remember the photos I took last year, of a Pukeko (Swamp Hen) who was wandering around my back lawn. Well this Heron is about the same size, just with a different beak and different colours. Sadly it is becoming more common to see both these birds in suburbia. That's due to their natural habitat being demolished to build more houses. I usd to see both these birds by the creek at my horse paddock not far from here. Sadly the paddocks are gone and the creek has been piped underground. I know people need houses, but I feel so bad for the displaced wildlife. Both these birds are swamp or water birds. They can't just move to another swamp or creek because humans are filling in what is or was their 'homes' and nests. Sometimes humans really annoy me. 

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

Art and Sweets!

I did these two cards last weekend. I'm not sure I like the top one, I did the background (stencil from LS) too dark. I think it could have been a bit lighter, or maybe done in a more pale colour. Oh wee, it happens! The card below turned out bewtter, in my opinion! The problem was, when I created them I was in a  lot of pain. I wasn't happy and couldn't get rid of the pain. It was in my neck/back and shoulders and I KNOW when I have pain, my artwork doesn't turn out how I want it. But did I take my own advice...? Heck no! I am learning!

The photo below is some food for Romeo, and a small bag of sweets for me, and a sachet/tube of some sort of yummy flavoured paste for Romeo. Well I ate the sweets and Romeo ignored the paste! He sniffed it and looked at me as if to say "Eww, you want me to eat that?!"  So I gave it to Wookie. (She eats anything!)

Below is a photo of some sweets that I love...Crocodiles! They are my fave treats and there is only one supermarket I got to that sells them. I always get a couple a packets when I am there. They are chewy and have a slightly tangy taste.

Below is a photo of what they look like! Thank goodness we don't have real Crocodiles here in NZ. I have seen them at the Auckland Zoo and they scare me just looking at them!

They actually had heating going to keep their temperature at their correct level for them to survive. No they weren't in a cage or anything, they were outside in a stream/swamp area. The heat lamps were on a grassy bank above the Crocodiles. I was fascinated by them, but glad they were in a safe enclosure, even though it was outside!

Ok, that's all for now! Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

A