Summer

This card features a Bella image imposed over a painted background.

Last evening I sat on my deck with a margarita in hand.  On my left the sun was beginning its descent and I welcomed its warm glow.  I thought of my children in the house.  Somewhere they were hypnotized by a computer screen or cutting, coloring, and pasting the latest craft creation.  It didn’t matter.  The birds were singing, the sun was shining, the grill was heating up, and I was sipping a margarita.  But it did matter.  I resented the notion that I should go inside and hound them about their homework, their piano lessons, and their need to bathe.

I am ready for summer.

But am I?

There is always a list that forms around the arrival of summer.  The list includes things like camp registration, swimming pool membership, and the insidious summer vacation.  That’s right, I said INSIDIOUS.  It’s not that I don’t like vacations.  I do.  But I abhor planning them.  Starting with the question of where to go, the decisions snowball:  when to go, how to get there, what to do, what to take, where to stay. 

As for camp registration, I had hoped to host Camp Griffin this summer.  We would explore the deepest reaches of our closets, hike to the top-most point in our attic, and create our own little Eden in our backyard.  But, then I thought about the art lessons that school did not provide this year and the opportunities Scout camps offer and I realized that Camp Griffin might not be the answer. 

So, last night I conceded that while another margarita might deaden the panic that vacation planning induces, the lack of a summer plan would still be there in the morning.  I pledged to tackle summer head-on.  Begrudgingly, I set my empty glass in the sink and called for my children.   Homework, piano lessons, and showers awaited us all.

There is so much I would like to share with you this week.  I am working on a new mixed-media canvas entitled "Home is where the heart sings."  I still plan on showing off my bathroom tile job.  And I am working on some greeting cards that I plan to put in my Etsy shop which has been empty since November, crazy.  In the meantime, check out the birdhouse necklaces I made with my Girl Scout troop.

  How CUTE are these??   I helped 14 fourth and fifth grade girls make these whimsical necklaces.  I had hoped to photograph the whole flock of them, but we ran out of time.  I got the project from an issue of Handmade Jewelery.

We added dangles to ours and I included a polymer clay bird that I made some time ago.

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Detail of our birdhouses.  My daughter's creation is on the left and mine is on the right.

Thanks for sharing a corner of your day with me.  I love to hear from you, so send me a comment.  Have a great weekend!  Do what makes your heart sing!

Thanks for sharing a corner of your day with me!  I love hearing from you, so drop me a comment.  Have a great week