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Transfer Playday

Wednesday we went to Rachael's to have a transfer playday.

I was wanting to do a special photo transfer card for my sister, Misty's birthday.


Rachael & BettyAnn hadn't done the transfers before and the only ones I had done were the ones for Donna's photo album and were all done on fabric so this would be new for me too. Both girls caught on quickly and were getting their transfers done in no time. BettyAnn & Rachael burnishing their transfer pictures.














Rachael transferred her pictures onto scrapbook fabric paper.











BA & I both did ours on watercolor paper. I must admit that the transfers on the fabric paper came out much clearer than the ones on the watercolor paper did. Although BA's came out much better than the transfers I did.

I really wanted to do something for Misty's birthday that would incorporate the pictures I had taken of Kylie back in May when I was visiting.



I used the Twinkling H2O's (shimmery watercolors) to paint the watercolor paper. I had chosen a book style out of one of BettyAnn or Rachael's bookmaking books, whose style I was really fond of to start with. The paper book came out just fine and I was really pleased. I was really pleased when I layed the individual transfers on the paper to see how they would look layed out. The transfers themselves printed out just fine but in the process of transferring them onto the watercolor paper, a less than desirable outcome happened. I was not very pleased with the way the photos transferred onto the watercolor paper (with the exception of just a couple).
This was one of the test transfers which came out real well.

Well like I said before, the transfers in mock up position looked really great. It was the after the transfer results that I didn't like.



The funny part was that the closer you are to the pictures, the more you can't tell exactly what it is that you are looking at. The further away from you, the better you can see the movement of Kylie dancing. All in all the watercolor transferring was a dismal failure (at least for this project anyway). I will now have to start over. I would still like to do something with the watercolor paper and will probably do the transfers onto some other fiber and then attache them to the watercolor paper. We'll see.

Little Books & Stuff

I was still playing with my transfers while Rachael and BettyAnn started working on the teeniest little book I've ever seen. They had to cut out 1/4" worth of little papers for the pages...40 in all.





BettyAnn is working on an eye spy quilt for her grandson and was sorting through her fabrics for the project. Rachael went through her stash to find some more suitable prints for BettyAnn to use.

Michael's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Michael's 14th birthday. He selected a double chocolate cake. The puppies were disappointed that they couldn't have any.

Frontyard

It's hot down here in Augusta! The thermometer said 88 when I went out and took these pictures but it felt so much hotter. It's supposed to be at least 91 today and the humidity is way up there. Hopefully we will get some of the rain that skirted all around us the other day. My plants are holding their own and blooming and growing in spite of being planted in the summer instead of spring or fall. Keeping them watered and the frequent rains we have had have certainly helped. Doug was not (and has never been) happy with the overgrown azaleas. I happen to like them but he thought they were all wild looking. We went through and did a severe pruning this week while he was off.




The river birches have started to bust through the concrete in 4 different places. Their roots are running along the top of the grass and I'm sure will cause the yard to have more bare spots and they continue to grow. I've found some sort of evergreen which has decided to take root in the brick flowerbed in the midst of all of the overgrowth. I won't count on much of a spring bloom next year but hopefully the plants will do well from the trimming. The insides were mostly bare branches anyway. Now all that's left is to add more soil and mulch to the bed.

Frontgarden Bloomers

The knock-out rose is once again in bloom. Aren't the hot pink blooms just gorgeous?!











Doug was working on the lawnmower which mysteriously died. Hopefully it will be working soon as the backyard is becoming a jungle out there!













St.John's Wort is starting to bloom. I just had to get this one and the variagated one planted out back (which isn't blooming yet) because they were full of bees and butterflies at the nursery BettyAnn, Rachael & I had gone to. It was a beautiful sight to behold and I'm hopeful that all of my plants will make this garden an animal haven.

The red sage lobelia has bloomed continually since being planted.

Watergarden

Update on the watergarden. Wilbur and Charlotte are drinking from it regularly...yeah, I know it's gross. The fish are doing well and you can actually see through the water to the bottom of the pond. I have 8 fishies now - 5 that weathered the lack of maintenance and the 3 new ones all sporting black with their orange and white. Hopefully the new blood will get some new fish for next year.
The plants around the pond are getting rooted and used to their home. The floating plants are doing well as well as the ones that I hope will root themselves in the rocks of the waterfall. Hopefully the ferns will give a real show next year.












I bought a pretty canna whose striped foliage is gorgeous. This bed will have more dirt added to it but the rocks are keeping it in place until I finish.

Courtship of the Anoles

I believe Rachael said this was a firecracker plant (Rach, correct me if I'm wrong please). The purple monarda is about bloomed out and falling over it but the bright red-orange just glows on through.











Two of my little anoles were going through a courtship ritual today in summer heat.
Quite frankly I believe the little female to be a bit young to be playing these courtship games!! The male was quite pretty in his full throated glory.

Who would have suspected this going on in the midst of the lantanas!!

Backyard Flowers

I'm excited that one of my crepe myrtles is blooming. It's barely a foot tall and is actually much wider than it is tall. Pink is like my FAVORITE color so I'm really partial to this one.






Both patches of Black-Eyed Susans that are around the deck are blooming to 'fair-thee-well'. Such pretty color in the heat of the summer!!

More Backyard stuff

I just love butterfly weed!! It's such a delightful color and the bees (and butterflies) just love it. Here is my bush with bees and some closeups of the little buggers.
































The lily has multiple blooms on one stalk (which i neglected to take a picture of earlier this week). It's a pretty pale pink but the blooms last for just one day and then die. The plant itself is big with very showy greenery. I wish the blooms could say the same for theirselves.












Female finch on the thistle feeder.



One of the little squirrels trying to get away unnoticed.