All posts filed under: Life

Cool things I have found

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Seaweed flowers on the beach. There is a ton of seaweed, and I like that some of it looks like flowers. I spot the pretty ones and take a photo. Never arrange what I find, just take a snap and keep looking. Chips. These chips are yum! Spotted in Trader Joes. Buttons in a lovely box. I must confess I love the box that these buttons are in as much as the buttons. The brass hearts are the reason I had to have them. There are some mother of pearl buttons in here too and a pin!

Cape cod

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We arrived in the gorgeous Cape Cod today and headed right to Trader Joes in Hyannis for supplies. Chips, dips and cereal bought we are off to the sea! We have rented a cottage for two weeks of sea sand sun and cooler air with a hint of seawater. The TV has no cable and we can’t figure out the local channels. Hurrah, no mindless TV brain sucking (of course we have Netflix on the iPad!!!). Just drawing pads, and books (and the iPads, pods and phones…) for entertainment. I have high hopes, but we will see how it is going in a week! Shopping done, UK edition of ‘OK’ magazine purchased (a month old, but I don’t know who these celebs are anyway!) The cottage we have rented backs onto a conservation area which consists of mainly marshland and is full to the brim with birds and bunnies. Beyond that is the ocean. It is chilly in the evenings and bug free (ish). I might even need a new long sleeve top, maybe a …

May photo a day 2013

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May 2013 photo a day.  Here is my round up. We had birthdays, sun, storms, field day, yard sales galore and lots of growing which may be why there are so many green pictures this month. It was also the month that the A Beautiful Mess app was available, so I have had a little play with it in some of the daily photos. Day 1. I bought this!  Field trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, I wrote a post with photos here. Day 2. Morning Ritual.  My gym bag waiting at the door. Day 3. This is really good!  A reflection on the fact that I made my first star rather than the wonky result! Day 4. In my cup. Day 5. Paper Day 6. Broken Day 7. Something beginning with f. Day 8. Shape Day 9. A snack Day 10. Stars.  Better stars this time! Day 11. A smile.  I smiled when I snagged these vintage spools at a yard sale. Day 12. Mother.  Me, my brother and Mum in the 70’s!  I …

Children’s Books we like.

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Bodhi and I have just finished reading ‘Wonderstruck‘ which is another amazing Brian Selznik book, if you have not read ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’, go go go and borrow it from the library, you won’t be disappointed.  The film is great, but the book is so much more. ‘Wonderstruck’ is a book of words and pictures and the two lives in the book run perfectly together.  Ben’s story is in words and Rose’s is all illustrations.  A very satisfying ‘read aloud’ book for bedtime for the reader and the listener alike. We are now reading ‘Hero on a Bicycle’ by Shirley Hughes.  We liked her picture books when the boys were young and this novel is not disappointing so far.  Set during World War II in Italy, it is very descriptive and captures the events in the story vividly.  We are only part way through, but we are looking forward to reading the rest of the book. On the pile to read next is ‘The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket’ by John Boyne …

The Weekend and a Honeysuckle filled Breeze.

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Memorial Day holiday weekend has been and gone and we had a nice time.  Did you?  I hope so. Today it is humid and steamy and the whole outside smells of Honeysuckle flowers, I just want to stand at my back door and breath in the warm scents as they drift on by. I spent some time stamping out flowers with my fancy new cutty outy thing which makes lovely flower shapes.  I ended up with a nice pile and I am very happy with my colour choice.  In fact I would like my living room these colours. These flowers are heading for my business cards which I need to fancy up for the upcoming Alt Summit in New York City. I snapped some photos of these gorgeous thistles as we walked by the local Metro Link station.  I took a load of photos but the wind foiled my plan and most ended up out of focus.  Thankfully I got a few to play about with and here are a couple. On Sunday we visited …

What did you get up to this weekend?

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I went out early (ish) on Saturday to trawl yard sales.  There was one at a local church and I had high hopes for treasure.  I wasn’t disappointed! I got four scarves in all, but these two are the prettiest. I think the blue one is silk, the flowers on it are so delicate, they might even be hand painted. The pink one might be a head scarf and it was ‘Made in France’  for a St Louis department store of the olden days called ‘Stix, Baer and Fuller’. The department store was open from 1892 until 1984. This scarf  looks very 1960’s, but I am not sure as I can’t find any images of it. Do you know any St Louis ‘Stix, Baer and Fuller’ history?  Do share.  You know where the comments are, get to it! I missed this pan when I did my initial sale walk through.  I spotted it when I had already gathered what I thought was my final choices.  I have been looking for a tube/bundt/angel cake tin for …

Cool stuff on Etsy

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I made a lovely treasury on Etsy today. It is such fun finding all of the wonderful things, I have to be careful not to buy it all. In fact, I am coveting an elSage poncho, I have a Second Surf buddha pendant (and I love it) and I absolutely need some Mason jar tumblers for my iced coffee. Maybe I should stop browsing Etsy! Here is the Treasury. ”May’ all your days be bright!’ by catseatdogs A collection of lovely, lively vibrant ideas for Springtime in May. Tulip Hooded Eco Poncho elSage $43 Handmade Clay Buddha Pendant… secondsurfstud… $12 16 oz. Mason Jar Tumbler – T… TheMasonBarCom… $13.95 Charm Necklace, Green Bird, … tamirodrig $45 mahogany wood and vintage fa… modflowers $16 Poppy, White Cloud Poppy See… thegardenstudi… $3 Things I’m Thankful For … laurageorge $4 Set of 48 Camera Mini Cards,… penandpaint $20 Pinback Button Set B (with f… hine $9 Honey Bee Necklace – gaea pe… CraftyHope $43.75 Linen cord bracelet / moder… dekkoline $20 I Hear Summer Rustle lirio $20 Treasury …

MoBot on the iPhone.

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It has rained nearly all weekend with gaps of grey, so it is a joy to post these photos I took of the Missouri Botanical Gardens from a 6th grade field trip I went on last week. Wouldn’t you like a bee hive or three in your back garden? I like the metal deer in the Home Gardening Centre.  At least he won’t eat all of your veggies! These wind chimes are very impressive, I think there should be a field full of them! The sun was out and it was a pretty hot day and the flowers were all blooming and looking gorgeous. We had a good explore and discovered herbs, Chinese inscriptions and lizards! I took all of the photos on my iPhone4 and added some filters and cropping using Camera+,  Laminar Express and Afterlight apps. Let me know what apps you use in the comments department.  Do you use the same ones or are you an experimenter? In the Climatron we found this very cool green lizard and of course some Chihuly …

April photo a day 2013

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I cannot believe it is May already!  The weather is behaving in the usual Mid West spring way – bonkers!  We have had torrential rain, tornado warnings, snow flurries, sunshine, hot and cold.  A typical April then! Of course I have been taking a photo (or a few) every day following the prompts supplied by the lovely Fat Mum Slim.  Here is April photo a day.  I hope you like them. All photos have been taken on my iPhone 4 and some have filters and messing about and some are filter free. Day 1. Play.  Seals at the St Louis Zoo. Day 2. Blue.  A Blue Jay feather. Day 3. Something beginning with A.  Thanks to Superman for lending his arm. Day 4. This happened today.  I moved all of my sewing box into a new home, a vintage biscuit tin. Day 5. Something good.  Blooming trees. Day 6. Air.   Day 7. Dreamy.  Marshmallows. Day 8. On your plate. Day 9. Tiny.  Day 10.  A place.  A place for the Box Turtle to hide. …

Planting out my Sweet Peas

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The baby Sweet Pea plants have grown big enough to go and live in the big blue pot. I put the seeds in toilet rolls to get them started.  The rolls disintegrate in the soil as the plants grow. I grabbed the green bamboo poles from the shed.  Ready to build the Sweet Pea climbing frame. Sweet Pea’s eye view of the bamboo wigwam. I got a bit carried away with these pictures, I think they look pretty cool! I tied the top of the wigwam with string, to make a nice climbing shape and to ensure no-one pokes out their eyes on bamboo poles. Sweet Peas are one of my favourite flowers, but I have not got many flowers off previous attempts to grow them. I hope this year will be different and I will get an abundance of sweet smelling flowers!  I have more seedlings growing, so they will move into the big blue pot in a few days too. What do you like to grow?  Any Sweet Pea growing tips for  the …