inkspired musings: Birds, Birds, and more Birds!

Bueno!

c.1914

I am listening to the birds peep, chirp and sing.

Wonderful sound!

It is a sound I listen for every winter, getting ready for Spring.

The birds tell me when Spring is around the corner, as they sing about it!

c.1917

"A light broke in upon my soul -

It was the carol of a bird;

It ceased - and then it came again,

The sweetest song ear ever heard."

- Lord Byron

Now the robins (mostly) and other birds are nesting.

c.1883

We had a couple of silly robins trying to make a nest

ON OUR FRONT DOOR SCREEN HANDLE!!!!

I couldn't believe it!

I was hearing these scratching noises at the front door, so I opened it to look, and didn't see anything. A few minutes later - scratch, scratch. scratch.

So I opened the door, and also the glass screen door we have in front.

Something fell onto our porch -

a wad of grass and little twigs.

WHAT????

Yep. The beginnings of a nest.

I brushed off the rest of the grass and twigs from our door handle, still not really believing my eyes.

Then I noticed 2 robins a few feet away, twittering at me.

Hmmmm....

I went back in. A few minutes later....scratch. scratch scratch.

Okay, enough. These enterprising birds needed to find a different place to build their nest. I didn't want them to spend a lot of time on my front porch, just to have me brush it all away.

This needed to be nipped in the bud.

Light bulb!

I have a BIG Great Dane.

Silly robins probably don't want him as a nanny.

I opened the front door, but not the glass screen door. This got Tanner very interested. Were we going somewhere? Was it time to get the mail? Were we going outside for a bit?

We have a long glass window to the side of our front door. Tanner likes looking out to see what's happening, who is at the door, what is going on in the front street, etc.

Perfect!

It worked!

Big Black Dog was not the nanny of choice.

The silly robins flew off to find another perfect spot for their perfect little bird nest.

Mission accomplished, or as the famous A-Team quote goes:

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

c.1859

"God gives us each a song."

- Ute Native American proverb

c.1921

Here is a fun activity to do with kids, or just doodle yourself:

Here is a super simple egg pattern. Size it to whatever project you are doing.
*Use it to cut out mulberry paper eggs for scrapbooking. & cardmaking.
*Give it to a kid and see what they come up with! Be sure to provide plenty of colors of crayons or markers or colored pencils!
*Trace and cut out from different scraps of Contact paper - decorate a wall! I once made a commissioned full wall-sized tree using wood patterned Contact paper.
*Why not make a nest in the tree, and fill with contact paper eggs?

Easy Budget Craft:

Go on a walk. Take along the kids if you have any, or know any. Each person needs a paper bag. As you walk, pick up small nature things.

Ideas:

small twigs

interesting grass blades

fallen leaves

feathers

bits of fluff - like from a cotton wood tree

fallen flowers, flower petals

- always ask permission before removing anything from private property.

You want your items to be as flat as possible.

Place a copy of your desired shape, such as the egg shape above, face up on the your work surface. Lay a piece of clear contact paper, sticky side up, on top of your pattern.

Using clear contact paper, press your found items onto the sticky side.

Add some ribbon, floss and thread scraps. It's okay and desirable to overlap the edges beyond the design shape, but not too much.

If you have any pressed flowers in an old book, get them out and use them!

Cover your area, but leave some clear spots to show through.

Option: sprinkle a little glitter over your 'stuck' items.

Press another sheet of clear contact paper on top - sticky side down.

Smooth around your items as best you can to eliminate bubbles.

Now you can cut your nature finds/contact paper into a large shape.

Be sure to smooth down all the cut edges.

You can take a hole punch, punch a hole at the top and thread with narrow ribbon for hanging. These look especially nice hanging in a window.

You can also double mat these (one mat in front, sandwich contact paper art between second mat in back), saving the glass and backing for another use. Prop in a plate/frame stand, and let the light shine through.

Send me pictures!

I'm sure you will come up with many many more ideas.

Why not share them with us all? Drop a note to me:

dominoes@myinkspired.com