The Chatter Box 7/08-9/08

Another odd sleeping position.  This is a new spot for Misha to take a nap at.  How can it be comfortable?

Wally went fishing today and got some pictures of a bobcat.  I want to give him a big hug and some kisses and scratch behind his ears.....okay, maybe not.  But he is cute, isn't he?  Just as long as I don't see him at night on our property.

While Wally was fishing, I was working on some new images.  Actually I'm working on small plates of greeting card phrases that we'll sell unmounted only. 

Here's a fabulous scene that Sheila from the United Kingdom did using a couple of Beeswax stamps.  I think all the rest are Stampscapes.  Beeswax and Stampscapes images really do work well together.  Doesn't this scene make you feel a bit dizzy like you're up there with the hawk?

I'm home from the show and I had some presents waiting for me.  Wally cleaned the house and the backyard and bought me some new plants.  Misha won't stop following me around the house so I think maybe I was missed just a bit.

Since that was my last show of the year I'm hoping to work on some new images in the next couple weeks and I may have a release by the end of October.

The September POTM is now up and you can find it here.

I got the September Project of the Month in the mail from Susan today.  She included some toys for the 'dorables that she made herself.  She was hoping they would like them.  Uhh.....I think they LOVE them!  The 'dorables say "Thank you Auntie Susan!".

I had every intention of launching a new little feature to the blog today but I can't find my freakin' heat gun!  In fact I can't even remember seeing it since we moved here.  We really need to do some heavy duty cleaning and organizing but it will have to wait until after the SC show.  Anyway, the feature was going to be a sample card which would mean I would actually be making a new card maybe once a week to show here and then I'd also have a new card for the booth and the gallery.  Instead I'll show you a bead made with a new glass called Juno....I'm in love!

This past weekend I was lucky enough to take a class from the Japanese lampwork artist Norikazu Kogure.  He had never taught a class in the US before so it was really a once in a lifetime kind of thing.  We had a translator and Gure did speak a little English...mostly to crack jokes!  The torches they use in Japan are called volcano torches and you can see near the bottom right of the picture how it points straight up.  The glass Satake, melts at a much lower temperature and it's almost like working with taffy.  I learned some new tricks and had lots of fun. 

I've been working on the August Project of the Month and I realized that I never posted the July project here that Susan Quinn did for me.  You have a few days left to get the stamps used in this project at a discount and you can find it here.

If you don't know about our new feature then you aren't signed up for the Beeswax email list!

This guy was sitting right by the front door and I thought it was just a leaf.  Then I realized that the leaf was looking at me!  I ran inside to get Wally because I had no clue what this little guy was.  I pulled Wally out of the shower to see "this lizard/frog thing with chameleon eyes".  He knew right away that it was a Horny Toad or a Horned Lizard.  Poor thing was covered with cat hair sticking to his scales.  Wally cleaned him off and we set him free.  If you want to read more about these guys you can go here:

National Geographic on Short-Horned Lizards

"Some species of short-horned lizards are capable of squirting blood from the corners of their eyes when attacked."

A close up of Sissy who is the 'dorables sister.  I just love her little beauty mark.

If you have cats you know that sometimes you just look at them sleeping and think "how in the heck can that position be comfortable?".  

No....this is not a picture of the moon.  This is our sun here in CA.  Because of the smoke from all the fires here it's created this bizarre filter that has turned our sun pink.  The sky isn't that grey though...I just had to adjust the contrast on the camera to show the real color of the sun.  Try photographing the sun once....it's not easy!

I've been trying to get pictures of our skunks for the last couple of nights.  This is the best I could do.  I just love watching them scurry around looking for bugs.  It's so cute when they put their big fluffy tail straight up in the air.

Back where we used to live we had a lot of squirrels running around the yard.  Here it's a rarity to see one, probably because of all the hawks.  Lately we've had this little girl hanging around and she's just the cutest thing.  I just love squirrels and I really miss having them around.