For those night time feathered friends!

I have the perfect solution for those birds who want to come to my back yard at night and have a late night snack - a lighted bird feeder!

I'm just teasing!  I looked out my window and my bird feeders were glowing like they were lighted inside. The evening sunset was shining directly on them and they were beautiful.  So I snapped this photo and wanted to share it with you!

I wonder what the birds were thinking when they saw this!  I have cardinals who come right at dusk and I'll bet they wondered about all the light.

And that's sand in the photo, not snow. This is Florida and yes, it's cold this week, but no snow. :o)

Click on the word "comments" below to read the comments left by those who have read and enjoyed this little story. Please feel free to leave your own comment too.

Linda

Handmade Holidays in our Family

Our family has always celebrated all things handmade. This is a tradition that my mother started. Growing up, for Christmas I always received a doll with handmade clothes from my mother. Later, as I got older, she made clothes as gifts for me too.

She drew her own patterns and  made turtle pillows, Raggedy Ann dolls and clown dolls for her grandchildren in Florida. One of these Raggedy Ann dolls still sits in my sister's kitchen in Orlando in a vintage highchair. Mom made fluffy comforters for all of us one Christmas. Our mom also made ceramic gifts like cookie jars and animals which we cherish now too. When she was 70 years old, my mom started painting and these were shared as gifts. I have two of her paintings hanging in my home today.  The snow scene above is her painting of the farm where we lived when I was in grade school.

I live in Florida now, a couple of hours from my sister, Shirley.  We continue to have handmade holidays. Our Thanksgiving table each year has a centerpiece of gold, green and brown silk flowers and leaves, one my sister and I made years ago.  Our cookies, cakes, pies and the special cranberry relish are all handmade by our family too.

Our family creates wonderful handmade gifts and decorations for Christmas. They all share their talents through scrapbooking, sewing, embroidery, wood carving, art and decorative painting. When I first moved to Florida and joined in the Christmas activities with my sister's family, I decided to give everyone a Christmas tree ornament each your - over 30 each Christmas. For many years I've painted round glass Christmas balls to give as gifts for our family. Each year I designed and painted a different glass ornament. I love seeing my handpainted ornaments with angels, birds, Santas and reindeers on the Christmas tree in my sister's home. Last year for the children, I made little plush teddy bears sitting on a wooden block as their ornament.  The grownups got Christmas fortune cookies too, with happy fortunes of course!

I've also given handpainted Christmas gifts like a big rock painted into a turtle and this rock painted into a basket full of puppies.

My brother-in-law, Charles, is a woodcarver and each year gives every adult in our family a beautiful handcarved Victorian Santa. My sister paints each one carefully with lovely colors.  Everyone in our family cherishes their Christmas Santas from Charles and Shirley. One year I received a handcarved cowgirl doing a country dance, one year my gift was a carousel horse and one year I received an American Indian bust.  Last year Charles also made each of the ladies in our family a beautiful musical jewelry box from maple, cherry or oak wood.

My niece, Susan, is a wonderful seamstress and also does beautiful machine embroidery. One year she gave me a unique denim shirt for Christmas - covered with westie dogs, in honor of my own little westie, Samson. The westies on my shirt are celebrating the Fourth of July and having a picnic! 

I can't share with you the gifts I'm making for this Christmas, as my family visits my blog here, but I promise to post photos after Christmas. Hint: dogs and more painted dogs. 

I believe that handmade gifts are truly gifts from the heart. Something that someone made just for you is far more special than a purchased gift because it's one of a kind and made with love. Why not share your love in a new way and try making something unique to give away this Christmas!

Wishing you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!

Linda Harbin

Make a Fast and Easy Spooky Ghost for your yard!

Yes, I know Halloween is in three days, but I guarantee you that this ghost is very easy to make and fast too!  And best of all, it will be a BIG one and sway in the wind in your yard....and you can see through it too, so it's really spooky!  It will take you longer to read this article than it will to make your first ghost!

Start with one panel of a white nylon or polyester sheer curtain.  You can use a full length panel or a shorter 54" one.

You will freehand draw your ghost on this panel with the top of the ghost and her two hands at the top where the rod pocket is located.  Do not include the hem in your design, as this will make the ghost too heavy to blow in the wind.

Below is a drawing of how to design your ghost.  This is not a pattern, just a drawing to show you the placement of the top of the head and hands at the top of the rod pocket.  You do not cut open the top rod pockets on the hands and head.  There is no right or wrong to any pattern you draw...it will still look spooky.   I had a wide panel that was 54" long, so I cut it in half and made two ghosts. 

The second photo above shows using one long panel. You can make the bottom wavy and narrow, like in this sketch.  Or you can leave it wide and wavy like the photo above or make a fringe on the bottom like in the photo below.  Just make sure you cut off the hem of the curtain.

After you cut out your ghost, draw and cut out the mouth and two eyes. You can make an open mouth or add teeth at the top or bottom if you want.  I used a black marker to draw around the mouth and eyes, although you don't have to do this.

You will need a 3/8 dowel or something similar, even a straight stick will work, to hang your ghost up. I painted my dowel black so it wouldn't show at night. 

Thread the dowel through one hand, then the head, then the other hand using the rod pocket or the top hem above the rod pocket. .  Attach a long cord, I used dark brown, to hang your ghost in your yard.  On one ghost I twisted the arm one time before putting it on the dowel...just for fun.

Total time to cut them out and paint around the mouth and eyes - less than an hour.  A flashlight in a coffee can pointed at your ghost will be spooky too! Have fun!!

The secret to growing a beautiful Boston Fern!.

I've always marveled at those big, beautiful Boston Ferns that hang on the porches of homes every summer, making them look like a show home from Southern Living magazine.

I have never had good luck growing a Boston Fern.  Two years ago I saw some small Boston Ferns in 8" pots in my local Home Depot's plant area priced at only $8.00 each. So I came home with three of them.

At the time I was living in a three story house on the water in Homosassa, Florida with lots of ocean breezes mixed with a long summer rainy season. I wanted these ferns for my second story wrap-around deck, where  I would enjoy them through my many windows in the living room and dining room areas.

I decided to try some pots that hold water at the bottom and the plant draws the water from there as it is needed. I purchased three plastic pots from my local discount store that had this area on the bottom for water. I put the three ferns on my deck and monitored the water, making sure the area below the plant and dirt had water in it at all times.

As the Boston Ferns grew, I replanted them again into larger pots, using the same kind of pots. They grew beautifully all summer. When winter came, I moved one of them inside, behind two sliding glass doors that faced the east, so it would get good morning light. The other two were left outside all winter, only coming inside on cold nights. Florida had a very cold winter last year with below freezing many nights.

The inside fern continued to grow and flourish. When I moved to a different house in May of this year, I was worried about my inside fern as this house has no east windows for morning sunlight. So I put my big fern right inside my two sliding glass doors that face the west, where it now gets the afternoon sunshine and light.

This inside fern seems happy here and continues to grow and get thicker. Yes, a few leaves do fall from the underneath side close to the pot, but that is normal. I continue to keep it watered from the bottom, and fertilize it once every two or three months.  The two other ferns are outside on my front porch facing the east and doing well, but much smaller than this inside fern.

These two photos were taken yesterday. The first photo shows the fern in the afternoon sunlight.  The other photo was taken facing the west showing the sliding glass doors with the afternoon sun coming in.

I hope I have encouraged you to try growing a Boston Fern! Good luck and don't give up!

The Secret of the Witches!

Yes, it's almost time for decorating and celebrating that spooky Halloween holiday. I've gathered my Halloween art and will be listing it in both Etsy and ArtFire under MidwestieLady.

I love witches! This mixed media art shares the witches secret. The words read:

The week before Halloween, they gather to launder their slips."

And the witches secret? Underneath all those black dark dresses and clothes, they wear bright colors and patterns in their slips!





I was inspired to create this piece after I brought home several sample books of drapery fabrics. Suddenly I could see all the bright fabrics as slips under the witches' dark drab dresses! I painted the two witches and their big pot of sudsy water, the background trees and the two little cats. I then created the trees, clotheslines and the slips - hanging them from the trees with little clothespins.

I hope you enjoy my Halloween art!

MidwestieLady

I'm listing new items in my new ArtFire Studio!

Come to visit Midwestie Lady Art Studio at: http://www.artfire.com/users/MidwestieLady

My ArtFire studio officially opened on October 1, 2010. I listed my first art on October 4th. Yes, I know it says that the studio has been around since 2009, but that's because I reserved the name "MidwestieLady" back in 2009, knowing I would open a studio there some day.

I listed my bicycle art first, followed by my altered bottle "Lady in Lace." In order to be scanned by Google, I had to rewrite my titles and descriptions for these listings, which was an interesting process. I did enjoy the rewriting and editing though.

I'm still learning my studio tools and setup. Hopefully I'll figure out how to add sections, so I can list more art. I have several new pieces of art to add soon too.

Come and visit me!

What does Excellent Customer Service look like?

This week was Christmas for me! Over the years, I've read lots of articles and blogs about customer service. I've included many of the ideas in my own shop, craft shows and other venues. This week, I received a package in the mail that was the perfect example of EXCELLENT customer service.

I ordered fibers, decorative yarns, from a seller on Etsy. I want to include some colorful fibers in my mixed media art and as accents in my packages and on my journals I'm making. I spent quite a bit of time on Etsy looking at all the different types and colors of fibers and finally chose a seller that offered a variety of fibers.

After a couple of emails where I explained what I was looking for and she explained what she had, I ordered 2 yards each of 10 different colors/types, and let her choose for me.

I received a brown Kraft envelope and when I opened it, this is when my Christmas in September began. This is what I saw first:



My package was a clear cello envelope wrapped and tied with ivory tulle tied in the center with a pink silk ribbon. Two lovely tags were attached to the center, a vintage image of a little girl and a stamped "Thank you."

As I untied the tulle and ribbon, I found my next surprise - a stack of three beautiful gifts tags in separate cello envelopes. Two tags were chip board and one was a Kraft paper tag with bunnies and glitter. What beautiful freebies!



Then I discovered that each separate color and type of fiber was wrapped on a single, scented Kraft tag and enlcosed in a separate, sealed cello bag:



I carefully unwrapped each fiber package so I could hang up the fibers to let them straighten out. I don't think that ironing them is an option and I also love the look of them hanging in my art studio. Then I realized that I now had a collection of stained, scented Kraft tags that the fibers were wrapped on - tags that I could use for gifts or giveaways. Some of the tags I received were stamped with designs and colors, others were plain, but all were unique and beautiful!



As I unwrapped this package of fibers, it did feel like a Christmas gift. I felt like the seller really cared about choosing my fibers and delivering them to me in a personal way. I sent her a message thanking her for the beautiful fibers and the amazing packages, and asked her permission to share my experience here on MidwestieLady. She agreed, saying:

"Yes, yes, please ---you may ----Blessings to you! I love to sell on Etsy. So my heart and soul goes into all that I do. Thank you so much.
If it inspires or helps, yes ... by all means... I would be honored for sure.
hugs and stay in touch!
Jezelle -very happy!"

Jezelle does put her heart and soul into her shop, MonarchLineage, and I'm sure that every purchase from her is handled just like mine was!

Here they are - my purchase of colorful fibers, including some freebie fiber too!



Thank you, Jezelle, for giving me Christmas in September!

I received a message from Jezelle today, thanking me for posting this article about her, and telling me that she is moving to Maine and will have to temporarily close her shop. So if you stop by to see her shop, it's closed for a bit, but she will open it after she gets settled in Maine. Jezelle, I hope your move goes smoothly!

Linda Harbin
MidwestieLady