Tessandore Creative

Chicken Zen

My first video upload! I find it so relaxing to watch my chicky's scratch around so I wanted to share a couple minutes of chicken viewing with you.  :)

♥

New Chicken Tricks

When I peeked out the back door this evening, I thought I spied some activity through the window of the hen house.  And sure enough, when I got up closer...
...there were 3 girls looking back out at me.  :)  Which was good news, because it meant they finally got brave enough to use their new roost.
I thought they would never get the hang of it!  We kept sitting them up there, but they would hop right back down.  Despite all I'd read about chickens loving a high spot to roost, I had begun to think maybe these were just floor level chickens.  So yay!   Now once the temperatures really drop and they have to be in for the winter, I won't feel as bad since I know they'll at least get up and look out the window.

It will still be another month or so before they start laying.  Can't wait to have fresh eggs, maybe in time for holiday baking.  In the meantime, we sure are enjoying watching them grow. 

Our puppy dog is pretty interested too.  :)

  ♥

Felt Ornaments

Hoot!  This girl-owl was made by my friend Meg.  Love that little flower on her ear.  :)  We had a 'making felt things' get-together last weekend, which gave me a great excuse to buy some nice wool felt.  Turns out that a 1/2 yard of every color is waaay more than a person needs to make tiny ornaments.  Now I'm set for life.

This is the little house I made...
That's the back view with the barn doors & snow on the roof.  This is the front view after stitching it all up...
Glad I remembered how to do a blanket stitch for the edges.  Usually, I have to look it up online before diving in.  I like how my little house turned out.  Now I just have a zillion yards minus about 5 square inches to use up!  :)

If you'd like to see some houses by someone that really knows her felt, check out the beautiful work of Melissa Crowe at her Etsy shop Little Pink House.

♥

Chicken Update

This is Camilla, striking a pose mid-scratch.  Quite the looker, isn't she?  She's a character too.  I had no idea birds could be so funny.  I'm thinking of posting a chicken video so you can see how busy they are when they're out in their run. 

♥

Garden of the Gods

Here we are (me & my friend Meg) at the visitors center of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  And the view without us in the middle of it...  
Inside the visitors center we found these SO cute felt ornaments...
Aren't they sweet? 

Before we headed back into Denver, we made one last stop at Meg's uncle's farm to meet...
Noodles the Cow!  Awwww.

Thanks for inviting me along, Meg!  The trip was just what I needed.  ♥

Manitou Springs

The Peeps!  That's the name of this public art display by Liz Szabo in the cute town of Manitou Springs, Colorado.  Probably since I'm a new chicken-owner I seemed to be spying hens everywhere.  :)

The whole downtown area was sprinkled with artistic touches.  Loved these store fronts...
The basket on this pink bike says, "See the World".  It was sitting in front of Black Cat Books & Wine.  Books & wine?!  How great is that?  :)  
It was a perfect walk-around kind of town.  We left with some locally made chocolate and a photo purchased from Range Gallery.  More on that tomorrow!  We packed so much into this vacation, but I didn't want to put it all into one mile-long post about the mile-high city.  ♥

The Art Hermit & a Curious Chicken

Love Coffee and love this artist!  Micki Wilde a.k.a The Art Hermit is the talent behind this wonderful original painting.  I found it on her Etsy shop and had to snap it right up.  Looking at this cute girl with her cup o' java just makes me happy.  I thought I was going to hang the painting in my office, but I kind of also want it at home in my kitchen.  So while I decide, I've been carrying it around with me all day!  Luckily, it's painted on a wooden box so it's pretty sturdy. 

I know you're going to get tired of looking at the hens, but I'm so in love with them right now!  Luckily for you, the amount of photos may just be regulated by their tolerance for being photographed.  Every time I brought the camera out tonight, this is what Henrietta did...
She even pecked the lens!  Silly girl.

♥

Free Range

Gave the girls a little outside time today after I got their run built.  We only have another month or so before there could be snow on the ground & once the temperatures really drop they'll be in for the winter.  Best to take advantage of the good weather while we can.  They looked totally content pecking around for bugs.  I think it's cute how they stay grouped together like that...never more than a couple feet apart even though they have 32 square feet to run around in.

It was relaxing to watch them, especially after a bit of a stressful day.  We were in what was thankfully a minor car accident today.  We were hit from behind pretty hard, but luckily we were in our SUV and not our tiny Ford Focus.  I just about wanted to hug our car for keeping us safe.  Everybody was fine, other than the sore muscles that come from that kind of unexpected collision.  The damage to the car belonging to the young man that hit us was pretty extensive.  But again, I was just glad nobody was hurt. 

♥

Home to Roost

Meet my new girls!  Left to right, this is Henrietta, Penny & Camilla.  Henrietta is a Plymouth Barred Rock, I think Camilla is an Araucana (so she should lay light blue eggs) and I'm not really sure what Penny is.  I had wanted a Golden Laced Wyandotte or a Brown Leghorn, but the nice guy that helped us at Triple D Farm said they were out of those.   So I have one mystery bird.  But aren't they pretty?  They're not quite 3 months old, so they'll get much bigger & fatter.  It will be another few months before they start laying.

Today was picking-up-the-chickens day because we had to make the hour drive out to Palmer anyway to pick up my doll from the fairgrounds.  (Oh, and it turns out my blue ribbon also came with a check....for $6 dollars.  Kinda nice, right?  Enough for a celebratory soy mocha and a cookie!)

Our second stop was at Budget Feed & Farm to pick up 80 lbs. of chicken feed.  The owner of the store, Mike, was super helpful and we had a nice chat.  He gave me some good tips on keeping the hens happy & healthy over the winter.  I left feeling like I had definitely made a country transaction.  You don't get that kind of service at chain pet store.  Plus, they mill the feed right there on site.  Pretty neat.

Something tells me that these three hens will only be my first.  I'd still love to have that Golden Wyandotte...(here's a photo of a lovely one from the fair):
...and there's plenty of room in the coop!  ♥

A fair day...

Ok, do you know what kind of critter that is?  When I saw it from 10 or 15 feet away, I thought it was a bunny.  It's a chicken!  A Silkie Bantam to be exact.  We visited the state fair today and the first stop we made was the chicken exhibit.  Who knew there were so many kinds?  I can't wait to get my own ~ next week!

After spending some time on my chicken education, we moved on to the rest of the barn.
This little piggy was a-snoozin'.  Totally oblivious to the kids running around & the general bustle of the crowd.

The animals are always my favorite part of the fair.  But today, I also had another mission in mind.  Did my dolly win a ribbon?
She did!  Very exciting indeed.

♥
~ Thanks to my daughter for portrait she took of me in my "fair attire".  I think I'll use that as my blog photo for awhile to remind me of our day.  :) 

Owl, day shift

I guess this is what an owl would be doing during the day, right?  Takin' a snooze. 

Here's where it started...
I was listening to DVD's of Ballykissangel while painting tonight.  Now I'm picturing this scene in Ireland!  Do they have owls in Ireland?  I'll have to go check that out one day. 
    ♥

Night Owl

It's a wonderfully rainy Sunday...been pouring since early afternoon.  Actually, it may have started raining this morning, but I didn't get up until 1:00 p.m. so I can't be sure!  :o)  The night owl in me came out so I didn't turn in until 5:00 a.m.   I love staying up late.  Definitely my best time.

Still trying to get back into a daily creative habit & since I had owls on my mind, this small watercolor seemed like a not-too-daunting project.  She turned out pretty cute I think.  ♥

Love Birds

This sweet image is by the incredibly talented Geninne D. Zlatkis.   I happened across her work on Etsy, where she's got so many gorgeous prints for sale ~ it's hard to choose which are my favorites!  This one seemed to have special significance for me though because the topic of Love has been on my mind.

Lately, I’ve been admiring the lives of married couples around me.  Including some of the lovely relationships woven through the blogs of women I admire...

Kelly Rae & John
Alicia & Andy Paulson
Marisa & Sean at Creative Thursday
Emily & Josiah at the Black Apple

At 40 years old and having lived single for most of my life, I really long for the type of wonderful partnerships these folks have. I’ve certainly been coupled, even married once, but I’ve never had a real partner.

A friend of mine always says that by our age, we’re pretty set in our ways.  We are who we will be and aren’t likely to change ~ implying that it will be near impossible to let someone “in” and find love, what with all the compromises it can sometimes take.

I maintain that when we stop learning & growing, we might as well be dead.  I would hate to think that who I am now is exactly who I will be at 60 or 80.  Plus, when you find the right person those compromises don’t seem to feel like much at all.  I am so ready to grow together with a man who is confident & honest & kind and wants to have & be a partner. 

I believe there are many people who could be “the one”.  I don’t have a shopping list of attributes, because I’ve always been surprised at the qualities I enjoy in the few men I have been in love with.  They never end up being the person I would have set out to look for.  But some of those unexpected qualities are the things I’ve loved the most.

It seems to me that people who are happily married to their best friend can stand up a little bit straighter as they walk through life.  I haven’t always felt this way.  I know how to live very well as a single woman.  I would rather be single & happy than unhappily coupled, so it’s not that I need somebody.  I know how to feed my soul, care for myself, treat myself well.  I don’t wait for an occasion to do special things.  And I’m proud of raising my daughter by myself, buying us a home, and the fact that she & I still have a great relationship in the midst of her teenage years.  But more & more I think how nice it would be to know that no matter how my day goes, there’s someone in my corner above all.  I have good friends that love me and whom I love.  But that’s not quite the same as having a husband to love & love you is it? 

I hope this hasn’t seemed like I’m complaining.  My life is very good ~ but I’m just ready for more.  I celebrate the warm, loving relationships I see around me and my heart is so full for those of you that have them.  I know I’ll have one too and I thought maybe saying it out loud (or in print I guess) would help get me there.

In my list for 2009 I said I wanted more romance.  But I was just being vague.  I want Love.  I don’t know how it will come my way, but putting this out there to you reading it (& to the universe I suppose) feels like a step in the right direction.  I like remembering that “Yet” is just one letter away from “Yes” if that makes sense.  I’m excited to see what tomorrow will bring!

♥♥♥

Whooo!

For quite awhile I've wanted to make a small felt owl.  A family friend made one for me when I was a kid & it was always one of my favorite things.  So this is my version of that little guy from memory.  :)
He's only about 3 or 4 inches tall & has just a bit of stuffing to make him puffy.  I like his crooked beak.  ♥

Bock Bock!

My life has taken on a chicken theme lately, so naturally I had to paint a chicken coop.  Why chickens?  Fresh eggs, baby!
Ok, I'm not really that much of an egg devote but I do have an inner farm girl that's been under wraps for too long.  Since my life doesn't seem to be going in the direction of moving to farm country, I decided to bring a bit of the farm life here.  First, I have to build a coop (I'll let you know how that goes) then ~ 3 hens will be coming home to roost!  I'm really looking forward to it. 

One last thing, since I love a good work table photo...
It was kinda stormy here today so the painting started out with a rain cloud.  I played around with using the watercolor crayons & the acrylics together.  That combo may have potential.  ♥

40 years old & all full of happy!

It was almost 1 a.m. Sunday night when I finally walked in the door ~ back home in Alaska after celebrating my 40th birthday in Utah at Art Nest.  The first thing I saw when I came in was my work table.  It's the same basic 5' or 6' foot long costco-type folding table that became our work surface at Art Nest.  Sitting on the table was the canvas I started last week (a lifetime ago!), and all my brushes in their jar, bits of paper, felt, etc.  And you know what?  I just about cried I was so happy to see it!  It's the same old table, but it means so much more to me now.

I want to make this post about a 3 feet long and show you every wonderful bit of the Art Nest experience...but I have to go paint!  Don't want to lose my creative momentum.  :)  So I'll dole out snippets from our nesting time over the next few weeks.  Here's the first:
This is one of the many beautiful paintings created by my new friends.  I love it & I really did laugh out loud when I saw "Belly Laugh" written there.  What a nice thing to remind yourself of!   This one is by Jodi, who is a beautiful woman & is actually not a boisterous laugh-er.  I was delighted when I found out it was her work...how wonderful that she found a way through art to share this happy thought.

I'm not sure you can see it well online, but the bird's nest in her painting is partly represented with strips of paper.  She made it during Mati Rose's class & incorporated words from this poem that Mati shared with us:
Thanks Mati Rose!

And thanks to everyone from Art Nest for...everything!
I'm so full of happy, I could bust. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
♥♥♥

Ostrich Girl

I had the idea for her while driving a few days ago.  Funny, isn't she?  I don't know where these images come from, but I'm glad to receive them!   So fun to "see" an idea like this in my head and then be happy with how it comes out on paper.  (or clay, or which ever medium...)  It seems that the projects I'm most satisfied with always come from that kind of fully-formed idea.  If I've carried the image around with me for awhile before bringing it into reality, it just seems to come out right.  Like my hands are only in service of the idea.  Have you had that experience?   Or do you do your best work when you just let things flow and see what comes out?

Duck!

Not only a duck, but...

a duck in a tub!  I found these cute mini-wash tubs at Michaels and decided one of them should be a hot tub for this little needle-felted guy.

I like those little toes sticking over the edge. :o)

Another of the tubs became a great pin cushion.  I just weighted it down with some acrylic stuffing beads, then hot-glued a felted sweater scrap into the top.

Out of Chaos, comes...

Order? Beauty? I can't remember the end of that saying, but I hope one of those two things is true.  On my work table right now are about ten different projects.  I kind of like it that way.

I managed to zero in on the bird wreath though.  I have a few more tweeties I could add - including the cute beaded one from yesterday's post - but for now I'll call it done.   

Wreaths in the Works

I went shopping tonight and found things to make 2 wreaths - 1 with a bird theme:

And one with a cupcake theme - I'll be using some of my little felt pin cushions that look like cupcakes on this one:

I thought I would have both projects finished to show you tonight, but after getting home late....drum roll please....I had an Etsy order to fill!  Yay!  Maybe after about a hundred sales, I won't be as over-the-moon with each one.  Maybe.  But I hope I'll always be as grateful. 

sketchy

I'm rather fixated on making birds lately  - not sure where that came from.  This crabby guy is following in the footsteps of angry birds before him...

Like this one from the BadBird shop (she also has a great suspicious bird) and so many from MincingMockingbird's shop.  The guy at MincingMockingbird is seriously funny.  My two favorites from his shop are Snaps and For Reals? - the descriptions are a "hoot"  (ooo - sorry...had to get my bird humor in!)

And in friendlier animal news...I'm working on getting my hedgehogs just right:

Bjork inspired = extra long post

Hmmm....ok, I'm trying to finish a piece I've been working on for - no kidding - 3 YEARS.  I know.  I call her "bird girl" and really she started out as a self-portrait of sorts. 

I keep thinking I need to paint her, but I really like the plain white.  I may just coat her with gesso and leave her somewhat as-is.  But I still need to finish the base...

She stands about 14" high including the base.  The words burned into the wood block are from a Bjork song, Bachelorette.  If you haven't heard it, it has a very tango/heartbeat feel to it - an orchestra with an electronic storm breaking around it.  And like nearly everything Bjork creates, the lyrics are so interesting & beautiful.  I always think my work comes out better when I'm listening to her.  This is the snippet from the block:

For the wood base I found this great, thick, pour-on poly/acrylic-something-or -other finish.  It really brings out the color of the wood & the words & makes a wonderful glassy finish.  Here's my test run:

Same kind of wood as on the Bird Girl base, but doesn't it look so much richer?  Lastly , I have to share the quote on this block.  It's by the writer Grace Paley, who passed away just last summer at the age of 84.

A quiet day & a nice bit of news:

I'm very happy to announce that I've made my first sale from the shop !  (Thank you, Tracy!!)

The busy-ness of the last week has caught up with me so other than packaging a few more buttons, my evening was pretty low-key.  Rather than skipping a post though, I wanted to share this photo:

While out walking the dog today, I spied these little birdy foot prints under a tree...

I thought they were sweet.

Sneak Peak

Here's a new girl I'm working on...
That's all I can show you for now.  I've got several things in the works though - it's been a very productive weekend so far.

In other news...it finally snowed today!  Personally, I was hoping it would hold out until December to come down.  But I must admit that it looks very pretty.  :)

That darn Martha Stewart!

I should have known better than to peruse a Martha Stewart book so late at night.  Because inevitably, I found a project I just had to try!  So out came the sewing machine, the beads, and some feathers I had purchased a couple years ago.  Does everyone have a closet of "I-know-I-can-use-this-for-something" supplies?  Maybe that's just me.  Anyway, I'm making a Christmas bird ornament from this 1999 book. 

This is my work space and some shots of the bird in progress.  Don't you love those curly tail feathers?!

She's pretty cute, isn't she? :)  But she still needs legs so I'd better get back to work.  Good night!