It’s that time again, and here I am! This card pattern is one of my favorites because the ripped and distressed image and image frame go so well with my favorite inking techniques. I do have a lovely sample made up with this card. . . and I’ll be adding it later, when next months Christmas releases come out. In the meantime I’d love to see what YOU make with it!
At our last Bits of Ivory & Friends card night one of our guests designed the beautiful card below, based on this pattern but with her own fantastic creative spin. One of my favorite things about patterns are seeing where people’s imaginative ideas take them. Jenn’s chose the spring tulip digi stamp which she shaded in a purple that perfectly compliments the color of the card, and then added the fantastic final touch of a dimensional butterfly as the cherry on top.
I’m looking forward to sharing several more of the cards from our creative night next week. I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by talented ladies who love to come together and chat while they create miniature works of art. For my friends in the Logan area, this is a really fun opportunity to chat, create and learn fun new techniques. Sometimes I have a little treat there. When we’re really lucky, someone else makes the treat - like Melanie, who happens to make really, really amazing homemade chocolate sandwich cookies. We’re filled up for the August session but there is another coming soon!
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Barbara Anne Williams
Bits of Ivory
available at CuddlyBuddly
While I’m waiting for the new releases I’m dying to share with you, I thought it was a perfect time to begin a new feature on the blog. Each week I’ll be posting a new pattern for your cards, handcrafted books and paper crafts. Okay, realistically I’d better make that MOST weeks that I’ll be posting a new pattern. Let’s keep it real.
d fun playing with them because I’d LOVE to see what you come up with. If you decide to share these patterns, or use them for your own challenges, please leave the copyright information intact so that people can find their way back here for more.
On Memorial Day this year we had the opportunity to visit the cabin of a family friend in the mountains near the Utah/Idaho border. While my husband helped to stain the wood of the cabin I did my best to avoid the fumes by wandering around with the camera that I was still borrowing from my sister. My husband pointed me in the direction of a line of trees (shown above) where a family of Great Horned Owls resided. The mother and father had flown off before we arrived. Probably hunting. The two babies were staying close to home and watched us pretty closely. 
Owls don’t flit. Even baby owls. They glide. And the kids and my husband watched this little guy glide down into the grass near an old fence. He blended in beautifully, clever little owl, but didn’t seem too upset when I snuck up close to snap a photo. But not too close. Have you seen the talons on these things? Luckily my sister had packed her zoom lens for me, so the baby owl and I both felt relatively comfortable in our respective personal spaces.
So about now you may be asking how I know that these baby owls were brothers and not sisters. I don’t. It’s completely unfounded. But it’s the same way dogs were always boys when I was little, and cats were girls, and in French chairs are girls (or feminine anyway) and in Italian “hands” are feminine even though the word “mano” ends in an “o”. Big Great Horned Owls just automatically seem like boys to me, when I think of them at all. And that might be the randomness that makes this post appropriate for a Thursday.
As promised, even if it did take a bit longer than expected, I’m sharing a few of my favorite garden friends! I love the birds that visit our bird-feeders but my lame camera doesn’t manage to capture bird pictures at all. They’re such flighty little things! And our cats make them nervous. Go figure.
A few weeks ago my very generous sister lent me her not-lame camera for a wedding, and I took the opportunity to capture a few photos of my flitty little garden friends. My son helped, keeping an eye on the bird-feeder through the window and whispering to me when it was time to grab the camera and sneak a shot. I’m not great at identifying birds, but I’m pretty sure this is a Cassin’s Finch. It’s very pretty, and apparently quite aware of the fact, since it posed for quite some time for the camera.
Happily, most of the birds in our yard get along well and share the bird-feeders. Here my friend the finch was sharing with a Lazuli Bunting. They were having quite a nice time together picking through the bird-feeder and dropping their unfavorite seeds to the ground below. Birds are apparently very picky eaters. They all do this. And it shouldn’t be a problem, since the birdseed wasn’t supposed to sprout. Our lawn is showing evidence of false advertising by the birdseed people. There’s a spot under the bird-feeder that’s sprouting all kinds of non-grassy green things. Grrr.
Some of the birds aren’t quite as friendly. This Mean Bully Bird doesn’t share well. He seems to think he should have the entire bird-feeder to himself. He’s a bit bigger than the others, and if they happen to try to eat at the other side of the feeder while he’s there he flaps and pecks at them until they all leave him alone. Every now and again a little bird feels brave and approaches again, but he’s unyielding. This picture captures his expression perfectly. I’m fairly certain that “Mean Bully Bird” is not his technical name, but I was miffed at him and didn’t think he was worth the time it would take to look him up on a bird identification site. And then I couldn’t help myself of course. “Mean Bully Bird” is a Black-headed Grosbeak.
I wonder why it is that I don’t like him when I still adore humming birds even though they’re just as mean. Maybe it’s because they only pick on each other, and not smaller birds. Well, to be fair there really aren’t many smaller birds
to pick on. They definitely aren’t as vain as the Cassin’s Finch - they don’t stand around and pose for anyone. They’re all business, in and out, eat and run. . . I feel very lucky to have captured them at all. I love sitting out on the deck in the evening when they start to come out to eat. They aren’t frightened of us at all, and it’s fun to hear them hummmmm back and forth. They’re gorgeous and lightening fast. I absolutely adore them.
And speaking of birds that I adore, here’s the Lazuli Bunting again. I first noticed them a couple of years ago when I glanced out of the front windows and they were everywhere, covering the trees, lawn, bushes, everything. A group of these birds is called a “mural” and it’s so very appropriate. We don’t get many really colorful birds here, so they really stood out - and now I watch for them every year. They haven’t come in a large mural since 
those glorious few weeks, but every now and again we get a few and I still just love looking at them. A lot. Don’t be surprised if they suddenly appear in an art set.
dog Bijou she would call us “sweet little Chickadees” in her beautiful French accent. And that, my friends, is random. But sweet.
Well, perhaps not finally, because I did find another visitor to our garden the other day. Some of you will recognize him from 
I’m so happy to be announcing our new Design Team! The talented ladies who have agreed to join the team are an inspiration, and I’m really excited to work with them. Several projects are already underway, and there are many more on the drawing board - coming soon!
I remember when I was in High School and wanted to transfer to the honors English program the next year. I loved reading and writing and had ever since I could remember. A substitute teacher encouraged me to move up after grading our final exams, and so I made an appointment to see the guidance counselor with every confidence that the next year would be deliciously challenging. 
