Yes! Winter Birds Have To Eat Too!

(Bird Suet Cakes from thecattsuglybabies)

        Today's post is a kind of 'thank you' to my 'tigger-iffic' friend. :-) THANK YOU!...I had to stop and take a minute to thank her because she reminded me of something that I had forgotten...that winter birds have to eat too! :-)

     I fawn over my backyard robins and hummingbirds during the Spring and summer. I mean REALLY fawn over them! ^_^ In fact, she does too when she's here and one of the hummingbirds darts in for a little sip and then speeds away!

      But my little 'birdie babies', have been gone for a while now. My tree has been kinda bare...except for an occasional cardinal or bluebird...But now, thanks to my 'tigger-tastic' friend, the birdies may come back!! :-) Why, you say?!!..Because she gave me a gift that might make my 'baby birdies', or some new 'baby birdies', come back!...

      She gave me a suet cake, and a holder cage...a special little box!...a caged box!!...Forgive me if I'm not calling them by the right name. I never saw one before, or if I did, I didn't know what I was looking at! LOL...

     But thanks to hubby hanging it up for me, my 'suet birdie-attractor' is now hanging in the honored place where my hummingbird feeder used to be! :-) ... And thanks to 100% of rain, it's getting totally rained on!!! UGH!...Do birds LIKE wet food?!...Maybe I better consider something like (below) this in the future...

(Copper Hanging Suet Feeder from mikelange3)

         That little copper hood might keep the food from getting "totally" wet anyway!...Okay. So I may be thinking about this a little too much! ^_^ But give me a break! I had forgotten that winter birds need to eat too...and now I know they do...and I want them to eat!!

      In fact, I went looking for other holders for suet...just to see what I was missing! ^_^ And I found a couple of cute ones!...This one...

(Recycled Wood Bird Feeder with Suet Plugs by andrewsreclaimed) 

       And this one...

 (Wooden Goldfinch Suet Feeder by MyGardensCloset)

       You can also put an orange slice in the side of this one too! :-) ...

     How cool is that! :-)

     So, thank you my 'terriffic-thoughtful' friend! :-) And I think the 'birdies' in the backyard will thank you too!...For everybody else...Have a good well-fed human food kinda day! ^_^

 My Special Little Box

No, I don't have a baby
with tons of golden locks
that need a place of memory
like a special little box.

No, I don't want old watches,
or the parts to wind old clocks
to mar or scratch the insides
of my pretty little box.

No, there's no baby pictures.
No, not even baby socks,
that'll occupy the insides
of my flower covered box.

No, I can't have it damaged
by some clumsy, nosy ox.
My butterflies must be safely kept,
secure upon their box.

Let's see, will it be chocolates?
or my diamond studded rocks?
Yeah, those would do just fine
encased in my little box!

Oooo! Special boxes rock!     

If You Crochet, Or Work With Yarn, You're Gonna L-O-V-E This!!!

(Pinback Button by BarrelOfMonkeys)

          Big Surprise....I love crocheting!! ^_^ ...Okay, 'not' such a big surprise! So when I tell you that I found something in a shop on Etsy that, after forty plus years of crocheting, 'did' surprise me...something that I can't believe I've never seen before, and that I'm gonna have to get one of as soon as my money gets to the "You Can Spend Some Now" zone...that oughta tell you something!!

      What surprised me weren't the cute little pinback buttons in BarrelOfMonkeys shop (in the header photo)....Although they are the cutest! :-) I wish I had seen these little buttons back when I used to be in a 'Crochet Club'. Those would've been cute to wear on our shirts as our 'calling card'. :-)

      What surprised me was something I found in BringingSunshine's shop...a shop that's full of all kinds of cute and wonderful things! But before I show you my new L-O-V-E, look at a couple of the other things she has in her shop!...

       They are the cutest little baby blankets ever! :-) ... And yes! I have seen crocheted baby blankets before. I've even made a few...thousand...in my life time! LOL But I'd never seen anyone crochet a little applique to put on them like these!

        The one with the little bear in the corner would have made my own little 'Baby Wuglyee' jealous! ^_^

          What a cute idea!! :-)

        And what a cute idea these were too!...

        And, again, Yes! I have crocheted purses before! :-) Not thousands,...but enough! But I've always hated crocheting the linings into them...YUCK! Hate it!!...So, how cute is this idea of making the loops bigger and using them almost like a drawstring through the lining?!...

       That may be just my eyes trying to see the good in sewing a pocketbook/purse lining, though,... ^_^ ...because I can see her stitch work on the inside lining still...Impressive! But the bigger loops gave me an idea of how to make my pocketbook and purse linings a bit easier...if I ever crochet another one I mean. :-))

       But as impressive as these items of hers are, they're not the ones that surprised me...and that became my new L-O-V-E! These are!...

        They're Yarn Boxes!!...YARN BOXES!!!!....Ohhhhhh, yarn boxes, where have you been all my life?!! O_O

     Look how the yarn is kinda skewered through the middle of the skein, and then a strand is fished through the hook thingee in the front!! That is plain and simply GENIUS!!!...I can't tell you how many times I've had to retrieve my yarn from some place it's rolled off to, or how many times I've had to unroll a skein and re-roll it into a ball because it was too much trouble to keep stopping what I was crocheting to unravel the knotted up yarn in the skein...which got knotted up, by the way, from rolling all over the place while I was crocheting! LOL

           This one doesn't have the hook thingee in the front, but that would work great for me when I'm crocheting with a doubled thread, like I do when I'm making my scarves or headbands. I'd just have to buy two of them!! ^_^ Which I'm gonna have to do anyway...or three!...because look at the cute designs!!

        This one is my absolute favorite though! :-) I love the wood-carved word "YARN" across the front!

        Am I the only one that's never seen these yarn boxes before?!!! I mean...if you know what crocheting is in the first place!! ^_^

(Printable by valerierehrman)

        

      Of course yarn is used for a whole lot of other crafts too...

(Craft Tools and Supplies Illustration by blockpartyprints)

        ...and I could see these yarn boxes used in a lot of different ways!...What a great invention! "Trust and believe, Mr. Yarn Box, you have not seen the last of me!!" LOL

       Okay...I'm almost through raving. ^_^ I said 'almost' because I'd also like to share with you some more L-O-V-E! :-)

          Remember the small red and white headband that Cindy, of CinLynn Boutique's Blogspot, won here on my blog a little while back in one of my Giveaways?!...Well, her granddaughter loves it!! :-) .......And I love her in it!!! :-)

      Maybe I'd better make some smaller ones for the shop, huh?!...For the smaller head people. :-)) ...Thank you so much Cindy, for sharing the photos with me, and for letting me share them here. :-]

        If you look at the little one's feet you'll see some more of Cindy's handiwork!...

       Cindy ventured into a new area...*She's an expert jewelry maker already!..."Yes you are!! LOL"*...She made the socks on a loom!! :-) I L-O-V-E them too!!...Very impressive, Cindy! I can't wait to see what's next!

     Okay...I'm almost all 'l-o-v-e-d' out now! ^_^ Except to say that I would love it if you would enter the GIVEAWAY for the Keychain that I have going right now. (see the right hand sidebar link) The drawing will be on January 1, 2011...in a couple of days!!!...WOW! O_O Where is the time flying to so fast these days?!!

      Yesterday I started another soft blue scarf. :-) ...Today I've got to make some 'Virtual Date Night' plans, and I'm gonna have to go on Youtube and look up some videos on Tunisian crochet, so I can work out what I'm gonna do with the front panel of my pink and white pillow cover.

       But first I've got some studying to finish, and a couple of other things on my "To-Do" list. I'm dreading....O_O...DREADING!...one of them! I may tell you about that tomorrow...I'm leaving you with a poem I wrote a little while back about some other boxes I loved...and with the words: Have a good and L-O-V-E-ly day Everybody!! :-)

My Special Little Box

No, I don't have a baby
with tons of golden locks
that need a place of memory
like a special little box.

No, I don't want old watches,
or the parts to wind old clocks
to mar or scratch the insides
of my pretty little box.

No, there's no baby pictures.
No, not even baby socks,
that'll occupy the insides
of my flower covered box.

No, I can't have it damaged
by some clumsy, nosy ox.
My butterflies must be safely kept,
secure upon their box. 

Let's see, will it be chocolates?
or my diamond studded rocks?
Yeah, those would do just fine
encased in my little box!

Oooo! Special boxes rock!