Filed under: Art, Blogging, Mailart | Tags: Art, Blogging, Global Community, Liberate Your Art, Mailart
From Miriam Rogers in the UK.
From Lee Thomson.
From Nancy Jean.
From Tracy Swartz.
From Chris.
From Kat Sloma, creator of the Liberate Your Art postcard swap. Check out Kat’s video of all the postcards from 216 participants!
Side Swappin’
From Deanie Houghtaling.
From Roberta Warshaw.
And this was the postcard I entered, printed by moo.com:
The desert, when the sun comes up…I couldn’t tell where heaven stopped and the Earth began.~Forrest Gump
This was the second year I participated in Kat’s swap. You send her 5 postcards, postage for 6, address labels for 6, and you get 6 postcards in return (from 5 other participants and one from Kat). Like last year, I also did a little side-swapping with some of the other participants that I “know” and may do a little more.
It’s funny because so many bloggers I “know” also participated in this swap; I keep seeing familiar names.
Check out the blog hop below using the link tool and see a lot of lovely and creative pieces! Thanks, Kat and everyone. I love all those I received!
Filed under: Blogging, Home, Phoenix | Tags: Blogging, Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Phoenix, Photoblogging
…Wildlife in My Yard! For my personal photoblogging year in review, that is what first comes to mind. I feel as though I took more photos in my neighborhood in 2012 than I normally do so this particular review will be photos taken in our very own, very urban yard over the past year.
Two Harris’ Hawks who spent a lot of time in our neighborhood this year were in our 2 front yard trees one morning (Halloween, actually).
Skippers hung around all year.
Flies!
A rare dragonfly dropped by and I got him away from the cats before damage was done.
The ever-present urban pigeons and doves…
The strangest sighting of the year in our yard…on our roof in this photo…a raccoon…very odd for central Phoenix. I spotted him on 3 different evenings but the last time I saw him was in October. None of the other neighbors seem to have seen him so I am hoping that no harm came to him but I don’t know that for a fact 
Many Painted Ladies dropped by…
and a Gulf Fritillary or two.
Bees, of course.
Constant hummingbird action at the feeder, year-round. Click on above to animate.
Mockingbirds aplenty.
New to me, a verdin.
I think this one above is an Anna’s Hummingbird. I really can’t tell the difference usually between our hummingbirds…if they are Allen’s, Rufous, or Ruby-Throated.
We also had coyotes in our yard last spring but we didn’t see them. Several of our neighbors did, however, but they left after a few days of sightings and none of our outdoor cats were harmed. I really hope they don’t come back!!!!!
So that was part of my year in review. Other 2012 topics would be our cats, roadtrips, murals (I’m way behind in my local mural documentation), flowers, and holidays celebrated. 2012 was also the year that I started to enjoy putting frames around some of my photos…hokey, maybe…but I find it very relaxing and entertaining, for some reason…and isn’t that part of why we do this?
So, here’s to a great year of photoblogging/blogging ahead for all of us. I enjoy reading all of your blogs and thank you for looking at mine.
Filed under: Arizona, Blogging, Home, Photography | Tags: Arizona, Blogging, Home, Hummingbirds, Learning, Photoblogging, Photography, Verdins
A short story, told mostly in pictures…
A cheery little hummer enjoys some sweet nectar and happily flits around.
Until…
The bossy hummer is happy again.
This is what I love about blogging~that I feel compelled to take more photos than I normally would, pay more attention to my surroundings than I normally would, and then research what I’ve found. I now know a lot more about various butterflies, birds, flowers, animals, places, artists than I would have ever discovered if I wasn’t trying to capture them all digitally and record them here.
This previously-unknown-to-me little yellow bird is a verdin (aka yellow-headed bushtit). They are found in only 5 of the US states, all desert southwestern states: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. They’re inquisitive yet shy, only 4 inches long at the most, and one of the smallest perching songbirds in North America. They build unique, basket-like, enclosed nests (which I have yet to see). They love nectar but are not pollinators. Verdins will also visit hummingbird feeders, sometimes using the feeding holes, but more often probing small cracks or openings around the feeders to collect dried sugar water. They also like pomegranate trees and we have one. Read more about these pretty creatures here.
Filed under: Art, Blogging, Cats, Home, Mailart | Tags: Art, Blogging, Cats, Flora, Global Community, Home, Liberate Your Art, Mailart
These petunias are on my front porch now. Remember when I posted the postcards I received as part of the Liberate Your Art postcard swap? Well, I exchanged a couple more photos with some other participants so I thought I would show them to you, too, since they’re so pretty.
This one above is from Natasha. She’s a henna artist and this is made with henna, can you believe it?
*Oops, see disclaimer below in the comments, I got it a little wrong.
Anna is a talented artist whose blog I’ve been reading for some time. Look at the beauty in those water drops.
This autumn equinox card is from my cousin, Deborah, and has a Mary Oliver poem inside.
I have autumn leaves in my yard, too…
…but they’re fake. I guess you knew that. Hmm, maybe it’s time for a little roadtrip up north? This should be peak fall color season up there.
This is the time of year our pomegranate bush has fruit.
I baked pumpkin bread…from a mix…that’s pretty good for me.
“We got a new rug and matching giraffe. Mom says it’s hers but we almost never see her laying on it.”
Filed under: Art, Blogging, Mailart | Tags: Art, Blogging, Global Community, Liberate Your Art
I’ve posted this above photo before but I used it recently in the Liberate Your Art postcard swap in which I participated. I affixed an “official” postcard backing to it and mailed 5 of them to Kat Sloma along with stamps and address labels. In return, I got 6 postcards myself (5 from other participants and one from Kat).
I thought I would show you the postcards I received and give the blog addresses of the artists so, if you’re interested, you can check out their blogs.
The blog hop is sort of the finale of the swap and there will be a link at the end of this post so you can visit other participants who also blogged about the swap.
Here are the postcards in the order I received them.
This is from Karen Isaacson.
This is from Judi Shipley. I don’t have a blog address for her.
The above one is from Dana Strickland.
And from Germany, Katrin Klink.
Stephanie Mull sent this one (above).
And the person who put the swap together and mailed out (6 each for all entered) postcards to 193 participants, Kat Sloma, did the postcard above. She does the swap every year so keep it in mind for yourself next year. This is Kat’s post about the blog hop with a video showing all the art.
Aren’t they all gorgeous? I used to do mail art for almost 10 years…sending and receiving a lot of art during that time…so it was fun to experience that again. All the postcards I received seemed to be professionally done whereas my own just had a postcard backing. I was surprised that everyone seems to have “real” postcards. Maybe I’ll get some myself…
This is the link to the blog hop so you can what other participants have to say about it and see what they received:
