Saturday, March 30, 2013

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Wishing all my bloggy-land friends a


http://www.pictures13.com/wp-content/uploads/Happy-easter.jpg 


Ann
“Better joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace” Spanish Proverb


Friday, March 22, 2013

Peeped-Out Pastels


Well, I couldn't hold it in any longer!
I just have to let it out.
I love Easter Peeps!!

Don't ask me why. All they are is pure sugary marshmallows, covered in colored sugar!
But there's one thing I have discovered.
Either you love them or you hate them.

There is a following of 'Peep' lovers!
There are also the 'Peep' haters, who come up with as many ways as possible to destroy them.(really)
You can find them all over Youtube. But since I'm a lover, I will not post any of those videos.

Just for fun, today I am posting some cute 'Peep' creations that I found online.
So, lets. . .
                                                     Source: shine.yahoo.com

Thought this was adorable for Spring! It combines my love for flowers and 'Peeps'!
                          Source: howdoesshe.com                                                          
Here's a unique creation for a tabletop centerpiece.
                                                                                               Source: haymarketdesigns.blogspot.com

Peep bunnies are cute, too!
                                                                                                Source: organizeyourstuffnow.com


                                                                                             Source: 1.bp.blogspot.com


There are many 'Peep' contests, where judges decided how creative people are in creating a scene, idea with them.
                                                                                                                         Source: flickr.com

Here are some cute 'Peep' trees.
                                                                                                       Source: mojosavings.com


I love 'Peeps', but this cake looks like a diabetic coma in the makings!
                                                                                                            Source: hj523uio.com

You can even decorate with 'Peeps'!
                                                                                                    Source: mrspollyrogers.com

I thought this was a cute idea, if you don't like the sugar in them.
                                                                                                                        Source: etsy.com 

This was my favorite 'Peeps' idea. In fact, I made my own, "Peeps in an egg" for my Easter tablescape. 
Check it out HERE.
                                                                                               Source: homeiswheretheboatis.wordpress.com


Last, but not least, I found this "Peep Show" on Youtube.
So cute, you just have to watch this!

Wishing you all a . . .

                                                                                                Source: dyingbraincells.wordpress.com

For more 'Peeps' fun and ideas go to the

(All photos on this post were found on Pinterest.)


Ann
“Better joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace” Spanish Proverb


  Linking up at these blog hops:





Easter Tablescape

The Easter season is upon us!
This year it seemed to come a lot quicker (maybe it's because Easter day is in March this year, when it usually is in April.)

 This year, I was drawn to pastels, eggs, chicks and bunnies.
 The plates were actually paper plates I found at Dollar Tree. They were just too cute to pass up. I found the egg cups and egg place mats at Target.
 Isn't the little "Peep" in the egg cute? Yep, that's a real eggshell. I just cracked the top of a raw egg, poured out the contents, rinsed it out with hot water, and stuffed the chick in,
 These egg sugar cookies are adorable. Got them at my local grocery store bakery.
 I always wanted a little white glass bird. Found this cutie on sale at Micheals.
 It just isn't Easter without some flowers. Got this assortment of spring bulbs at our local florest.
 They just started blooming a few days ago!

 The egg centerpiece surrounds my flowers is really an egg wreath, also purchased at Michaels.
 I saw this Peeps and jelly beans idea on Pinterest.
You can add anything in the top (candle, flowers, chocolate bunny, etc.)

  These adorable bunnies came from Dollar Tree, as well.

Well, I think this chick's ready for Easter.
How about you?

Ann
“Better joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace” Spanish Proverb


  Linking up at these blog hops:




Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Green is Groovy!

Welcome, welcome glorious March
Whose soggy kiss we yearn
To turn the days of darkness bright
And hearld spring's return
Let warming rain turn winter's grip awry
And thaw the frozen land
That life anew will bloom once more
When coax'd by April's hand

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
 
L. H. Bailey


For, sure as earth lives under snows,
And Love lives under pain,
'T is good to sing with everything,
'When green leaves come again.



From the tender first shoots . . .


to the giant tree. . .




Spring bursts forth, silently.




How important are leaves to us
their beauty for all of us to see
delicate, colourful and intricate
leaves are the Invisible Artists creation


Spring

In spring
The tender leaves spring
And release the coiled mind to spring
And fling
The thing
That till then did wring.


As I ventured to the Wood

As I ventured to the wood,
A fallow deer of limpid eye
Gave care to glance at lucky I.
The heavenly aura 'bout her glow had
Charmed me, like a fine Bordeaux.

Make Me See Green Leaves

Back to the forest
and streams.
Back to the light,
you I see.
At the base of the tree,
grows a vine.
On the vine grow,
the loveliest leaves.
Green is the color,
I dreamed. 



The Maze



When I Was A Young Girl


WHEN I was a young girl, all in a green arbor,
When I was a young girl in Springtimes gone by
All the long days I went singing and smiling,
Down by the roses the sweet days beguiling,
Love in the arbor and love in the sky . .


Lavender-Tinted Rain
Lilac and mauve were the raindrops

Upon a setting of forest-green.

Shimmering with pristine vitality

Was the lavender-tinted rain.


I'm dreaming of a garden green
filled with flora and produce!


Just to add a little humor, a grass-covered car! 
What perfect greenery for Springtime! ; )



Of course, we mustn't forget the Irish (and St. Patrick's Day on March 17th)! For green is their favorite color
and 4-leaf clovers, their favorite plant!


Sometimes, I could jump for joy, 
when I think of all that is green!


Only one word can define it!
Green is . .

All pictures in this post (as well as many other fun green things)can be found on my Pinterest page...here


Ann
“Better joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace” Spanish Proverb


  Linking up at these blog hops:



Wednesday, March 6, 2013

"Finding Balance": Guest Article on Rock Balancing

Hello, friendly bloggers!
Just stopped in to share an awesome article I read recently about something I'm quite attached to ~ rocks. I love rock gardens and named this blog after the word "cairn", which comes from the Scottish Gaelic word ca'rn, a term used mainly for a man-made pile (or stack) of stones.(source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn)

I am entranced by the work of Michael Grab, a rock sculptor and balance artist. I would love to someday try to do some of my own rock garden art, even though I know I could never make anything near what he does. It's amazing. Enjoy the article. And if you are curious, check out the interview with him at the site below in red letters.

The Zen of Rock Balancing / Garden Design Magazine

As it turns out, you don't need sleight of hand or even mud to design gravity-defying cairns. You do need a bit of patience, though, and a knack for "knowing the rocks," according to Michael Grab, an land artist who has been balancing rocks since 2008. He builds his sculptures with rocks from the natural landscape, usually alongside water. 
 
Rock balancing is an internationally recognized craft {I never knew this!}; Grab has been invited to design sculptures at rock balance festivals in Italy, Costa Rica, and Boulder, Colorado, where he spends most of his time. He writes about the different types of rock in each location: the vividly colored granite and sandstone in Boulder Creek; the uniform limestone in Ottawa; the powdery, rounded rocks in Portonova, Italy; the bubble-like forms in Cattolica, Italy, where "rocks were much harder, and therefore more forgiving to balance," writes Grab. "They also consisted mainly of an orange color in the stone, which beautifully contrasted the blue sky." 

After selecting the rocks, Grab studies their surfaces. As he writes:
"The most fundamental element of balancing in a physical sense is finding some kind of 'tripod' for the rock to stand on. Every rock is covered in a variety of tiny to large indentations that can act as a tripod for the rock to stand upright, or in most orientations you can think of with other rocks. By paying close attention to the feeling of the rocks, you will start to feel even the smallest clicks as the notches of the rocks in contact are moving over one another."

The next step, he says, is to "find a zero point, or silence within myself." Grab speaks about rock balancing with a calm fervor that verges on holistic mysticism. He finds a reflection of the world in the balanced rocks, which are “precariously sturdy, mysterious, and fragile.” To hear Grab talk about it, with its emphasis on zen focus and precise form, rock balancing could be the new meditation, or the new yoga, which begs the question: Who is holding the form? The artist or the rocks? 


An interview with Michael Grab, in which he discusses how he began and several of his public performances, is here.  

Here is a demonstration of him balancing some rocks. Just amazing!! (Even the sound of the water in the background is so relaxing!)

He has several "Youtube videos" that show his work.

He also has a website called "Gravity Glue"