leap day ketchup . . .

goodness.  i currently feel like that second photo there.  like maybe i didn't need these extra 24 hours we got today.  it wasn't an overly stressful day, but it's been BUSY since i woke up at 6:00 am and i'm still trying to get'er done at 11:00 pm.  WHEW.  i won't bore you with the details.  well, of today at least.  i will bore you with a brief rundown of the last week or so.  my first ketchup post of the new year.  and i had been doing so well.  ah me.  anyhoo . . . the jbs mercantile march kits and gallery go live in another hour.  very pretty!  jenni's new release, magpie, is taking center stage.  love.

i am proud to report that we did indeed get out hike in this month.  more on that to come.  it was too good to not get it's own entry.  we went to cedars of lebanon state park and i really hope to go back when the wildflowers are in bloom.

this is our sweet pepito acquainting himself with g's new pet crickets.  they made the sweetest sound.  i loved their chirping.  i think they might be dead now.  not for lack of food and water, we actually bought cricket food.  nor for the cats.  we kept them away.  i think crickets just have a short lifespan.  i need to do a nature journal report on them.  maybe march will be a good blogging month and i can get it all in.

last weekend we had a sleepover.  fun times.  i should also mention here, simply because i have room, that we rented puss in boots and loved it as much as the first time, plus watched the lord of the rings trilogy.  have i mentioned how happy i am that g's watching big boy movies with me now.  i so loved tolkien when i discovered him back in my early teen years and was on the edge of my seat watching the movies.

still going strong with the menu plan.  what week is this?  eh.  i'll look it up later.  does this pic crack you up?  the orientation is off and i'm too lazy to edit it on the computer.  i don't know.  the composition is just funny.  and i am so rambling.  so this week we're dabbling in low carbs.  we've had steak and salad, baked chicken and salad, ham and salad, crab claws and salad.  you get the picture.  tomorrow we're doing fish and refried beans.  weird combo, i know.  it was g's idea.  and i'll not be partaking in the refried beans.  i don't do beans. 

i also managed to get a novel in this month.  enjoyed this one tremendously.  started the second, but it hasn't pulled me in yet.  not sure if it's the book, the hectic february, or a not in the mood thing.  i'll get back to it over spring break i'm sure.  7 school days to go.  i am counting.

and i have not one, but two mini-albums started.  woot.  this one was made from the march antiquarian kit and i love it.  so cute.  have another going with the march project kit, but don't have pics yet.  hope to have more to share with the both on the 10th. 

and now i'm going to clean the kitchen and catbox before heading to bed.  crazy but i just don't want to wake up to the mess in the morning.  it's so frustrating that i had everything tidy this weekend and it's already gone to pot.  stupid house.

oh.  and i'm cutting corners by not proofing.  pardon any typos and grammatical errors please.  thanks.  you're the best.  :)

the jbs social scene . . .

we're chatting with karen grunberg tomorrow night at 8:30 cst!  (the link to our message board is located in the image above).  i'm so looking forward to it!  if you haven't checked out this month's jbs mercantile gazette, there's a great video from karen as well that i enjoyed tremendously.

january jbs mercantile: do

a ME layout!  how rare!  and leftover from january.  oops!  did you know the jbs design team has a new fun monthly challenge going?  it's to make a layout using just the main kit and one more other special "something" that we might have at home.  our first challenge (in january, of course) was to add in office supplies.  i used pages from my high school agenda, a sharpie, a to do list post-it, an index card, and staples.

this layout is all about my "aims" for 2012.  i need to go reread them!  i feel like i'm slowing down already!

g's bookshelf: the dragon diary

we loved this one even more than the first.  it was action packed.  i especially appreciated all the geography dugald a. steer worked into it and how creative he was in drawing from mythology, cultural traditions, and his own imagination to create such a variety of dragons.  we were very sad to not find any more in the series.  but oh my goodness!  as i was snagging an image for my blog post from barnesandnoble.com i dicovered that there IS a third!  woot!  we'll have to buy this one as our public library doesn't seem to have it anywhere in the county.  even more exciting news - there's a fourth scheduled to come out in august.  hooray!  also i have to give a shout out to the illustrator, douglas carrel.  beautiful work.

g says, "it's exciting when the secret society of dragons tells them that they're the only ones who kind find the two treasures.  and it was exciting when they fly all the way to paris.  they get attacked by a group of gargoyles.  it's exciting when they go to india and they find the nephew of the majarawal.  they find a sick nala dragon.  i really liked the hydras the most.  it has three heads and has three different types of flames."

as you can see, life is still "exciting" around here.  ha.  and as i was recounting our exciting weekend to my sister i told her how nice it is that g and i seem to be enjoying the same type of literature these days. 

jbs mercantile february: lucky me

i did finally get a layout made with my february main kit.  i knew i wanted to at least get one made with a luck or st. patrick's day theme as there are lots of lovely greens in this kit.  i didn't get as many of the green patterned papers on the layout as i intended, but i did work in lots of green embellishing.  i thought this kit had such unique embellishments.  the cottage cheese lit with the shamrock, the flat key, and that awesome circular record label are all vintage finds that are in the main kit.  in fact, everything on this layout is from the main kit except for the thread and vintage buttons that i added from my stash.

this photo was taken at 10:12 pm on 10/19 . . . the day, hour, and minute of g's birth . . . and talks about what a lucky day it was when he came into my life.  i take a photo every year on the exact minute of his birth.  when i was pregnant with him i read online somewhere of someone who did that and thought it was such a neat idea.  it always makes for sweet layouts.  :)

if you haven't heard, the design team is hosting a fun challenge each month this year.  our monthly challenge is to use the main kit only plus one other item from our stash.  this month our challenge was to use punches.  i'm writing an article for the february gazette about the punch challenge.  i'll let you know when it goes up.  this was my project for this month's challenge.  i used eight punches!  they were jbs grandma's doily, martha stewart 1" scalloped circle punch (around the grandma's doily punch), 1.5" circle punch, jbs scalloped banner punch, jbs blue ribbon punch (green circles on banner), fiskars 2" circle punch (embroidered around the edge of this one), jbs tab punch, jbs ticket please punch (edges of yellow photo mat).  i think punches are great for getting more mileage out of kits as they help to add inexpensive embellishing and i do like my embellishments!

menu plan 8: flame grilled sausage

snowbird flew today, so in celebration we lit the fireplace and cooked link sausage over the open flames.  i microwaved the sausage first so it would cook quickly.  we also had waffles, strawberries, and key lime pie.  we party right around here.

this week's menu plan:

saturday - hiking and birthday partying

sunday - sausage, waffles, and strawberries

monday - taquitos, salad, and mango

tuesday - pork chops, baked potatoes, salad

wednesday - dinner at shirley's

thursday - salmon, mac&cheese, salad

friday - open

you will notice a lot of salad on the menu.  you probably noticed a lot of salad on the menu last week.  well, i didn't make it to the salad last week.  i've been good this year about not letting food spoil, but i'm about to kill a head of lettuce.  wish me luck in preventing that travesty.

pinteresting: castnet valentines

i have to laugh at myself sometimes.  i was that kid who couldn't just follow directions during project time at school.  oh no.  give me those three pronged beads and tell me to make a candy cane and wreath and i somehow end up with a bell and a christmas tree.  you might say i march to the beat of my own crafty drummer.  that's good, right?  except taking the crafty drummer's scenic route tends to take twice as long.

for example, i found these adorable buggy valentines on pinterest and had every intention of making them.  just like they are here.  honest.  but then i started thinking about these rolls of tulle i had at home and how cool would it be to make little butterfly nets but how exactly would i make those butterfly nets and then we spied the sea creatures and g really wanted them and kazam!  inspiration hit.  i think they turned out super cute.  and working on valentines till 10:00 pm last night and oversleeping by an hour this morning was totally worth it.  g went on and on about how popular his valentines were.  i'm so proud.

supplies:

6" wide tulle

cotton thread

beads

crochet hook

sewing machine

fishes, candy, and sentiments

directions:

1. cut tulle to approximately 6" x  9"

2. fold down top (long) edge to about a half inch seam and stitch across

3. fold in half with seam at top and raw edges on outside. stitch along side and bottom

4. tie all loose threads in a knot near seam and in bottom corner then trim excess thread

5. turn inside out

6. use a crochet hook to run a length of cottom thread through top seam

7. string beads and tie in a knot.

8. stuff with fishies, candy, and sentiment

9. gift

pinteresting: paint chip bookmarks

i way overdid it with g's valentines this year.  way.  you wouldn't think that by looking at these beauties.  these were way easy and i love the way they turned out.  i owe it all to (and blame it all on) pinterest.  i got the idea for these off my crafts pinboard.  mine are a bit different as i wanted to use my jenni bowlin for fiskars bird and butterfly punches, but the general idea is the same.  fyi - go to lowe's not home depot for the right sized paint chips.  i was going with a pink/red/blue theme for the class treats, but g chose that green one for a custom bookmark for himself.  i'll be back to share the over-the-top treat tonight or tomorrow morning (you know, the one that i was up till 10:00 last night sewing).  :)

menu plan 7: sockeye salmon

i almost flaked on the menu plan this week.  i was way tempted.  last week was such a wash.  we missed school monday and tuesday as g's cold went south and turned into a little asthmatic incident.  wednesday was an abbreviated day so teachers could have meetings in the afternoon.  thursday was parent teacher conference so an 11:00 to 7:00 pm workday.  then friday was MAJOR catch-up on all fronts at school after the wonky schedule all week.  the part-time computer work has also MAJORly piled up.  it's that time of year in the scrappy industry.  and of course the house is a pit.  we all know what doris does when she hits the overwhelmed freak-out zone.  no making lists and tackling the chores one by one.  oh no.  not me.  i ALWAYS go into ostrich mode burying my head in the proverbial sand aka a stack of trashy romance novels.  tis true.  the weekend was a wash too.  i'm slowly digging out today.  i think i might be functioning at 80% capacity by tomorrow.  vroom vroom vroom.

tonight's menu . . .

sockeye salmon - a couple pats of butter and a sprinkling of cilantro and sea salt.  baked at 400 for 15ish minutes i think.  served with fresh lime to squeeze on top.

red lobster baked potatoes - poked with a fork, rolled in evoo, sprinkled with sea salt, baked at 400 for an hourish.  mmmmmmmmmmmm.

carrots - raw.  what can i say?  my taste buds are quirky.  i eat cooked tomatoes but not raw and raw carrots but not cooked.

this week's menu plan:
saturday - hamburger, macaroni and cheese, carrots, strawberries
sunday - breakfast burritos, oranges, carrots
monday - sockeye salmon, red lobster baked potatoes, carrots
tuesday - french toast, bacon, oranges
wednesday - chicken noodle soup, salad
thursday - hospitality room at the basketball game/g at carrie's
friday - open

ten on the eleventh (oops)!

i thought a cha shopping list would be fun for this month's ten on the tenth (a day late).  here are some pretties that have caught my eye and i'm hoping to bring home with me . . .

basic grey's pb&j is HAPPY.  all the bright pretty papers and those yellow chiffon flowers and the kraft background buttons and the striped letters.  yes please.

always love crate paper.  so so easy to work with.  both lines from this release are lovely as usual.

french general.  a new manufacturer that jenni told me about.  you know if jenni's gushing about it it has to be good.  and well, buttons make my heart beat faster.  (image from shimelle's cha write-up)

clouds also make my heart beat faster.  i collect cloud paper.  it's an addiction.  and cloud overlays.  wow.  yes.  yes.  and yes.

never have managed to get a polaroid stamp, so these fun sets from heidi swapp are pulling me in.  polaroid frames, labels, typed words.  classic and innovative all at the same time.

i've mentioned this already, but i'll be needing a ream (25 sheets) of jenni's new perforated stamp paper.  and to find out it's coming in kraft too.  thank you jenni.  thank you.  this is going to be a staple for me much like kraft cardstock and manilla tags.

new stencils by julie balzer for crafter's workshop.  way into stencils lately, so i'll need some of these.  that first one is from my most favorite art piece of julie's.  a definite must have.  also especially loving the second one and thethird one and the fourth one and the fifth one and . . .

postale, a lovely line by sande krieger for seven gypsies.  i think this one is going to be stunning mixed with jenni's new line, wren.

cameras are the perfect icon for scrappy pages.  these wood veneer ones by studio calico are needed.

webster's pages always has the most gorgeous trims.  this one is so unique.  want.

what are you wanting?  :)

a day in my life

today is ali's big "day in the life" event.  while it's an extremely worthy endeavor, i've pretty much sworn off anything suggesting that i make more lists or take more photos this year.  my ocd tendencies needed a rest.  ironically, this day in particular has been quite a whirlwind and in retrospect is quite worthy of documentation.  and since i'm recording it in hindsight, i can easily find the humor in the myriad of moments that flashed before my eyes . . . all. day. looooooong.

6:00 (approximately 5:48 in real time - i'm one of those who keeps the alarm clock set ahead so i'm not late - this doesn't work in case you were wondering) - wake up.  lay in bed for another 20 minutes before getting up, thus ensuring that i'll be late even though my clothes are already ironed and ready to go.  no i'm not super prepper.  i'm wearing the same thing i put on monday and tuesday mornings.  see g was sick monday and tuesday and i had to get fully dressed and in the car both days before making the decision to come back in and put the jammies back on.

7:06 (approximately 6:54 in real time) wake g up. dress him (he's an only child - totally ruined - i call him buddha baby).  nebulize him.  medicate him.  kiss him cuz he's cute.

7:08 (now we're in the car on real time in case you were confused) we have to be at g's school at 7:15.  it takes 18 minutes to get there.  math is not on my side.  i'm going to use the nebulizer on his tardy slip.  maybe the registrar will buy it.

7:26 sign g in.  he wants to show off his cool new inhaler, but the nurse says no.  we must have a form signed by the doctor first.  and now i'm running late for my morning school.

8:05 i beat my kids to class.  go me.  i have 8 tests to help 4 students take.  we wade through the 2 physical science, 2 economics, and 1 biology.  i am one person and it was an abbreviated bell schedule.  the other 3 will have to wait till tomorrow. 

11:03 ran a few teacher errands up and down the stairs in our three story building, dashed to g's school to let him puff on his super cool new inhaler in front of his little friends.  kissed him cuz he's cute.  made it to school #2 just five minutes late.  these abbreviated days are killer and the coke pit stop was unavoidable.  only have time to help two kids with english tests here before dashing off again.  tis the season for testing.

12:00 made it to the esl meeting at central office on time.  yes!  and many thanks to lillie for getting our subway (she was 5 minutes late, but who's counting - we had to eat!).  most excellent meeting.  and of course i multi-tasked by bulleting the important spots in the new vocab book our boss handed out.

2:30 meeting over a half hour early.  snag some extra ink cartridges and make a run for it.  pick g up from kids' club.  go through the bank drive through.  stop at walgreen's to get the doc's signature so g can take his super cool new inhaler to school friday.  grabbed 2 boxes of kleenex, crayons, colored pencils, a laser pen, and brown sugar while there.

4:30 i get a wild hair and cook dinner and clean the kitchen when we get home.  i made beer braised sirloin tips.  i used real mustard and no other spices except salt and pepper.  i don't really measure anything either.  added those grape tomatoes that were starting to shrivel.  oh and i used the wild berry wine cooler left over from cool renee's birthday instead of buying a beer.  i would have been terribly embarrassed to serve this to a guest in my home, but g's eating seconds.  actually, i think it would have turned out pretty decent if i'd realized i was turning the rice down instead of the beef as i intended.  oops.

6:51 and now i am lost in space.  i don't know where the last 2 hours have gone.  surely it doesn't take that long to cook and clean the kitchen?  i don't know if i'll find the motivation to be productive with my last 2 hours before bedtime.  life is a mystery.

the red finger, however, is not a mystery.  it's not strawberry juice, a paring knife accident, or distress ink.  no.  this is what happens when the tropical punch crystal light refused to dissolve and i stick my finger down the neck of the bottle to try and force the issue.  nice.

article share: grandma's doily punch at bpc

i have an article up at big picture classes all about all sorts of ways to use jenni's new grandma's doily punch.  check it out HERE.

g's drawings: inspired by carnivorous plants

i just love g's drawings.  each one is a charming little boy treasure (nature violence and all).  his little pictures were some of my greatest backpack finds in kindergarten and first grade (there's not been as many in second grade as his teacher this year wants them to read in their free time which is good too). 

i've saved several of these nature scenes over the years.  unfortunately, i'm not very good at dating them.  i decided it would be neat to post them here and have g explain what's happening.  he lit up like a christmas tree when i asked him to tell me about them, especially when he saw me writing his words down.  words are special.  unfortunately, i lost the post-it notes for these first too.  oops.  and this one was my favorite too.  sigh.  i try.  g can't really remember what's going on now.  he said maybe he could dream about them tonight.  he's a funny guy.  we do remember that creature in the bottom right corner is a basher crab though.  next time i will keep my post-it notes with my computer!  anyhoo . . . . these next two are g's words . . . i think this is such a great way to document what he's thinking and what he's interested in right now (like it's obvious these were in his carnivorous plant phase) . . .

this right here it's that aquatic worm but it evolved and got spikes on it and it grew teeth. 

it's called a flying fish.  it's eating a bird.  the little fish it swooshes itself in the sand and looks like a littler fish.  the bird swoops down to catch it and gets eaten.

this it's called a spike snake because of its jaws.  it has sharper teeth than the most poisonous snake in the world.

it's called a christmas trout because when it's close to christmas it starts turning green.

this was when most of them started to die out (creatures described from left to right). 

this is called a web hornet because of its head.  it mimics a hornet's pointy tip.  it waits for fish to walk by and it stabs the fish.  instead of having gills it only has lungs, but it has this pressure thing to keep the supply of oxygen inside it.

this is the fish trap plant.  it grew these poisonous leaves leaves and its tongue mimics a fish.

this one is the last of its kind because it keeps getting eaten up by the fish trap plant.  it only has lungs.  that's why it lives in the shallow end. 

it's a plant but it evolved and grew a longer chin and spikes all over its jaw. 



"wren" by jenni bowlin studio: happy little birdie

can't wait to see this sweet birdie next month when we head down to florida for spring break.  she is always such a happy smily little thing.  the curly topped neice is home from england too, so it'll be double the delight this trip.  i need to make sure my camera's in top form as photo ops will abound!

this is another layout i made from the jbs booth at cha, this time featuring the "wren" line that will begin shipping in april i think.  i was working with it again this morning making more of the valentine tags and believe me i am hoarding all the little bits.  this line is special.  stunning really.  unless you're cool renee and don't quite like our birdie friends.

menu plan 6: superbowl sunday

after jealously listening to all the superbowl tweets last year, i decided that this year i wanted a little company and a lotta food on superbowl sunday.  i talked chelle into inviting us over and we cooked and ate.  life is good if a little tight around the mid-section.

these superbowl skins were amazing.  i got baby red potatoes, coated them with evoo, sprinkled them with sea salt, then baked them at 450 for 30-40 mins.  then i sliced them, scooped out some of the middle, mixed that with a little butter, ranch dressing, salt, pepper, cheese, and crumbled bacon.  refilled them and sprinkled the tops with more cheese and bacon.  oh the yum.

this is sherri's recipe.  1 lb of sausage fried and drained, two cans of rotel drained, and 2 bars of cream cheese.  i made half the recipe hamburger for chelle who can't eat sausage.  i've decided i must take the remains of my half to the teachers' lounge tomorrow.  if i eat an entire block of cream cheese in a 24 hour period i will not look like madonna when i'm 54.

we also had chicken rotel dip, queso, key lime pie, caramel pie, strawberry shortcake, and superbowl cupcakes.  did i say life is good?

after four weeks of doing great, i mostly flaked on the menu plan last week.  oops.  you'll see lots of repeats this week.  but i'm getting back on track!

saturday: leftovers
sunday: superbowl
monday: chicken, potatoes, salad, strawberries
tuesday: beef tips with tomato and mushroom, rice
wednesday: salmon, salad, strawberries
thursday: french toast, bacon, oranges, carrots
friday: baked spaghetti at tammy's!

g's bookshelf: the dragon's eye

this one was right on target.  i'd say interesting to a mature 6 year old through 12ish.  good for boys and girls equally, assuming they like dragons.  cute kids, a variety of dragons, and a darwin reference.  we'll be reading volume two next.

g says, "it was a little bit boring at the beginning, but then it got very exciting!  i liked it because they raised a dragon named jamal.  it was exciting when they found his pen in the woods and they said, 'we went too far.'  i also liked scorcher who was the baby dragon.  it was exciting when the big german dragon was shooting fire at the train and it was exciting when that evil person kidnapped the two kids.  he was going to give them to the dragon that was very angry because it lost its baby (scorcher).  i was surprised when that dragon could talk.  (mommy write this down...)  and then the dragon said to the evil person, 'you are not allowed to enter my cave.'  and it was exciting when they found the oldest dragon living and they saw the dragon's eye.  (spoiler alert) and it was exciting because they thought that the bad person took it, but the professor grabbed it before him.  the oldest dragon was still alive and she said the council decided that the professor was going to be the next dragon master."

i guess it's obvious that g really liked this one!  (and that i need to teach him some synonyms for exciting)!

art journal

i think i've had a bit of a breakthrough this week.  i feel like these pages have more depth, mainly because i'm learning to mix various mediums.  i've done well with using things i already have.  i did accidentally bring home a few new things from hobby lobby today.  it was bound to happen, right?  new goodies to play with this week!

the rest is a bit about what i did if you're interested . . .

the top section was painted with a wash of a few drops of speckled egg re-inker and a microscopic amount of water.  the clouds were painted on with white paint and then the same blue wash touched on them here and there.

the next section was painted with a mix of greens, blues, and walnut ink.  it came out a little murky.  oops.  i masked it off with mjasking tape.  you'll see that i'm kinda into the walnut ink now.  i have a bottle that i bought back when i first started scrapbooking.  the brown collaged look was way in then.  i've never used that bottle of walnut ink and actually thought about purging it many many times.  glad i kept hanging on to it.

the butterfly is a jbs rub-on single.  a wash of lemon drops was painted over it.  then yellow stickles rubbed over it with my finger.  i scored a couple free bottles of stickles the other day.  honestly, i didn't think i'd like it, but i do actually like it lots.  it's another layer and i'm finding i like layers.

the dandelion seed i sketched from an image in my botanicals board at pinterest.  it resides in a frame painted with speckled egg paint mixed with water.  a wash of the walnut ink is painted on the inside.

the salmon was another wash i mixed up, this time with chewing gum, chili powder, and lemon drops.  this one turned out much better.

happy with the dots as well.  those are lemon drops paint on a jbs foam stamp.  then a drew around them with a regular sized pink sharpie.  i have to give a shout out to the sharpie here.  my journaling is doing with a fine tipped sharpie pen here.  i killed about three of my american crafts precision pens on the first few pages of the art journal.  sharpie's are troopers though.  and my hand likes the way the right as well.  good find.

this is me trying to free paint after watching that strathmore video series.  i'm starting to think i have to free painting bones in my body.  the geometric circle was as close as i could get to free painting.  i had actually misted with a floral mask on the page first and that was a bust.  the good thing about art journaling i've found is you just cover up mistakes.  you can still see the blotchiness back there, but it's all good.  the circles are painted in several layers of three colors of the paint/water wash, some walnut ink wash, and the black sharpie.  i remembered to get out my stamps too.  the center of the circle is stamped with chili powder and a circle cut from a scrap of the new magpie paper.

the heart was cut from a piece of sewing pattern paper and glued to the page.  i did this in several places on the page and really like it.  it's also stamped and i think rubbed with ink of some sort.  the edge is a leftover piece of the new perforated stamps paper and the vintage calling card is from this month's antiquarian kit.

nature journal: cooper's hawk

today's nature journal is brought to you via gchat courtesy of cool renee . . .

cool renee (cr):  are you a bird person?
me:  a bird person?
cr:  yea.  do you know bird species? there was a cat sized bird outside my window . . . don't know what it was.  took pics.
me:  wow!  send me a pic!
cr:  did you see it?!  another friend said hawk and another said owl.  i say "freaky."  stupid bird.  almost dropped my camera when it flew towards me.
me:  nope.  not an owl.  hawk.  freaky no.  it's COOL.  love hawks.  they're so regal.
cr:  your pretty hawk just attacked a bird in front of my window.  poor bird was screaming and i came out to see hawk carrying it away.
me:  survival of the fittest baby.
cr:  i am not mufasa.  take the circle of life next door please.

i would say that based on the gorgeous tail here and cool renee's observation of its behavior, this is a cooper's hawk.  this stream-lined flyer is built for speed and maneuverability as it zooms through heavily forested areas and captues smaller birds on the wing.

interesting facts:

• the female cooper's hawk is 30% larger than the male.  this is called reversed size dimorphism.
• the cooper's hawk does not kill its prey with its beak like most hawks do.  instead it squeezes its prey to death in its talons.  they have also been observed drowning prey by holding them underwater.
• not only are they expert flyers, but they're runners as well, chasing prey down on foot.
• aka chicken hawk

source:  tennessee watchable wildlife

teacher gifts: valentine's day coke tags

i've got another valentine's day project up on the inspiration blog today!  i've very pleased with how these turned out.  i'm not usually good with the simple quick project, but these i love and feel like they look very "me."