WhoIsTracy? Blog

We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at my parents' house. My brother, his fiance, and their dog Ceaser were there. I decided to take my camera so I could get used to shooting with it. Ceaser was quite the little model. He was hard to keep up with. I was glad for the sports setting.

These are a few of my favorites from the day.



Chase me.



What's down here?? This grass is kind of tasty.



Who is this guy and why is he in my face?? Just give me the toy!



What a rough day. I'm glad these holidays don't come too often.

Boy, today sure feels like Saturday. I'm not used to having a Friday off like this. Mike and I got up early this morning to go mountain biking. It was my first time and I'm happy to say that I came back in one piece. Just barely. I took a few falls where the hills were steep. And with the rains we've received over the past few days, the hills were quite muddy.

But it sure was fun!

I have some garden photos to cap off the week, if you don't mind. This one is especially for Kylie. I got two of these hanging baskets of fuschia at Home Depot in early May for a bargain and I'm happy that they're still blooming their heads off.



Mike was working in the yard after dinner last night, so I felt safe enough that the overprotective robin wouldn't try to attack me again. I decided to do some weeding and deadheading. While I was in the back I noticed my tall Asiatic lilies are blooming.

I shared my pixies with you several weeks ago. I didn't realize there was a such a gap between the bloom time of these.



I received these wonderful Japanese iris from a gal at a local gardening swap I went to two or three years ago. I don't know the exact cultivar, but they are wonderful. A real punch of color in my semi-shady garden this time of year. I love their graceful petals and the long, slender, almost grass-like leaves.

My brother dug up the pond that was in his backyard and asked me if I wanted it. Of course I said yes! Mike is not too enthused about the prospect of me digging a huge hole in the yard to sink it. But I'm thinking that some of these Japanese iris would look wonderful at the pond's edge.

Happy 4th of July to everyone! Have a safe, and fun, weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Boy, this card sure looks similar to the one I gave you a peek of on Monday. But it's not the same, I promise. Guess I just have similar ideas running around in my head at the moment.

The decorative paper is PTI Pink Patterns. Over that is a piece of watermelon cardstock that is stamped with the word Merci from Birds of a Feather. On top is a piece of corrugated vellum to soften it up. I like the way that turned out.

On the right, I used my scallop circle punch and then hand embossed the circle using one of my circle nestabilities. The bird is from Birds of a Feather again, and I just cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals for a little added interest.



Here's the whole ensemble ready to head out. Bye bye Valencia. Safe travels.

I'm a bit sad because I just found out yesterday that my supplier of slider boxes is no longer carrying them. Ugh! I'm going to use these tins for now but I really loved those boxes. {sigh}

This is the last pair of earrings I will show you this week, I promise.

I'm calling these Athens which I think is fitting. They just have an old-school, classic look to me. I {heart} these Swarovski teardrop pearls I got a few weeks ago. This is the first time I've used them and they are just gorgeous to work with. Love em!

I listed these in my Etsy shop here for anyone interested.

Thank you for your words of advice yesterday about getting published. I appreciate it so much!

I was hoping to get out in the garden this morning with my new camera and take some shots of the flowers. But an angry robin wasn't letting that happen. We discovered a nest under our deck, on one of the support beams, several weeks ago. Mike was going to knock it down but I pleaded with him to let it stay.

Well, this morning I certainly got a taste of my own medicine! I was out in the garden for not fifteen minutes when the angry father robin started charging at me, beak sharpened. When ground assault didn't work, he tried aerial assault. I'm not one to have flying animals hurling themselves at my head, so I retreated. I waited half an hour and went back out, thinking he would have calmed down or flown away. But no, he was waiting for me!

So, no camera play time for me this morning. Yes, I did say new camera. My Sony Cybershot is six years old and while it has served me well, it's been malfunctioning for about a year. There are days when I can't even turn it on. Then other times when it'll freeze in the middle of shots. I've been thinking about a new one for three years, but it took me this long to save up the money. Uncle Sam provided most of the incentive with the wonderful rebate we received in May. I just needed a couple months to come up with the remainder.

I'm hoping to have something crafty to share with you all tomorrow. Or if the robin will let me, some garden photos.

I only have a tiny corner of a card to share with you today. I'm not quite finished with it yet, so this is all you get to see. Hope you don't mind!

This is going to be a super short post. I'm waiting on a very special delivery that is supposed to come today. Plus I'm working on a few cards for calls. I decided I would try my hand at submitting some cards to one or two magazines. I am, of course, very nervous. But I keep telling myself it won't matter if they're rejected as long as I'm having fun and enjoy the outcome. So I have spent a few hours this morning working on a couple to submit.

And I am having a blast making them. Any tips or advice from those of you that have been published?

Tomorrow I'll have one last pair of earrings to share with you from my weekend creating craze. See you then!

First, I want to thank you all for your wonderfully sweet comments on my post Friday. You really know how to make a girl feel loved!

This is Essen. I whipped her up over the weekend. I guess I was feeling a little inspired. Those fire-polished beads with the wonderful two-tone detail were calling out to me to be used.

I listed Essen in my Etsy shop here for anyone interested.



Meet Dublin. She also came to life over the weekend. A bit different from my usual earrings, but I have to say these are at the top of my favorites list. I've had these flat disc-shaped glass beads in my stash for a little while and I felt they needed some love.

Dublin is listed here in the shop. These were named with a little help from a wonderful gal who left a comment on my blog last week requesting some Irish cities. Thanks for the suggestion Amanda.

So, tell me: Essen or Dublin? I'm talking earrings and vacation spots here.

I'd probably lean towards Essen. Mike and I are longing for a European vacation and at the top of our list is a whirlwind tour of Germany. The architecture, culture, and heritage really calls to me. I think Mike's interested in the food and the beer!