Twice As Nice Baby

Baby Dinosaur T-shirt

Today I want to share Tammy's Etsy shop "Twice As Nice Baby" with you. This will enlighten all of you who have little ones or tiny grandchildren.

Tammy is from Colorado and has opened her shop last February. Her boutique specializes in fun, handmade, custom baby clothing for infants, toddlers, and children.

Isn't this ruffled bottom onesie just adorable?

I really fell for these baby socks and matching headband - if my daughter were still a little baby I would get these!

And this pink whale onesie as well!! Too cute!

Now, don't get mistaken - she also has cute baby clothes for little boys. As a mother of a girl myself, I of course feel myself drawn to little girls' clothes, but the boys can get just as wonderful little shirts as the girls. Like this one for the little farmer:

So why don't you go here and look at Tammy's baby clothing yourself?

Roses And Fences

Photo of the week

As you know, I love to photograph fences. Fences are even more interesting if flowers are spilling over or between them. When I walked around the neighborhood some time this week I noticed how many fences there are with an abundance of roses. The roses seem to have turned up overnight - the gardens are exploding with all colors of roses and their lovely scent.

On the way to our little neighborhood grocery store I saw these - 

- and when I took a different route back I saw even more -

Okay, this last one is not a fence, but I thought I let this ladder count as a special fence :-)

There were white roses spilling over high wooden fences - 

- and some roses were already past their prime!

Actually, roses aren't my favorite flowers. But I do love the romantic feeling they seem to ooze out, although with thorns! Their scent is so lovely, I can hardly resist. And they make wonderful photo motifs!

I especially love this climbing rose, just around the corner from where I live.

What about you - do you like roses? Are they your favorite flower? If not, which one is?

Paintings by Yvonne

This month I am participating in Denthe's Etsy shop promotion campaign, and I am going to share five Etsy shops with you until the end of May. Etsy has such an abundance of really nice and often cute shops.

The first shop I will share is called Hartelief Yvonne. Yvonne is a mixed media artist from Wangeningen in the Netherlands, and she opened her shop just a few months ago.

The first painting that caught my eye is this one, "Guardian Angel":

I love the expression in the faces of both the child and the angel, but especially how the child touches the heart of the angel. So sweet.

This painting, "Just a crazy ride to enjoy" turned out differently than Yvonne was thinking when she started out. Somehow, the giraffe made it into the painting...

The words at the bottom of the painting read "There is no road to happinez, just a crazy ride to enjoy..." - I like that!

You know how much I like owls, and how happy was I when I discovered an owl painting in Yvonne's shop!

Then there is this redhead which I think is fabulous! Yvonne already sold the original, but she has different sized prints in her shop. Look at her - isn't she gorgeous?

Yvonne also has a Facebook page, in case you want to check out her art that way as well.

Evening at the Lake

On Saturday evening we celebrated Kaefer's 15th birthday which had been a few days before that. She had invited her best friend for a sleepover and in the evening we went to the lake for a picnic.

It had been a beautiful, sunny day, and the evening was lovely as well. Not so warm any more but still nice. We chose our usual picnic spot with a great view of the lake. The water was quite still, and the slowly setting sun basked everything in a warm light.

The turkey vultures were quite active. Some of them flew again and again into a tree next to our site, but they never stayed long.

One of them obviously thought that he was tired of roadkill and scavenged the barbecue at the picnic sites. It was rather interesting to watch. I was surprised that he went for the barbecue, especially since we were so close by. Usually, turkey vultures are rather shy and fly away as soon as you get close. Obviously the remains in that barbecue completely outbeat any fear of us (the people who were there before did not clean up the site very well and left quite a lot of trash; this is something I find totally rude and selfish).

This is my Photo of the Week

When we were done eating, the girls did some exploring...

and I left with camera in hand while the Geek preferred to stay at the table to read.

I saw quails (I really like these guys)...

and beautiful spider webs in the trees right at the lake.

The two older couples who were watching the sunset I found rather touching.

When we finally went home again, there - of course - was cake. Orange-chocolate cake with chocolate shavings on top. Kaefer's favorite.

Quirky Birds

Recently I have painted a few quirky birds. The inspiration came from Tam's "Life Book 2013", and I had so much fun creating these funny little birds. Here are my four birds for Life Book, with more to come:

But I didn't stop with the Life Book assignment. I painted some more quirky birds and owls on canvas or wood.

6 x 6 canvas

6 x 6 wood panel

Before I started painting the birds I had sketched a whole bunch of them on small notepaper. When Kaefer saw them she liked a certain one best. I transformed that one in a painting and gave it to her for her birthday - she turned 15 yesterday.

Kaefer's Quirky Bird, 5 x 7 canvas

These birds are so much fun to paint. I love that they're not realistic; instead, my imagination can run wild. How much fun is that!!! I love it!

I'm linking this with Paint Party Friday where you can find the amazing work of so many talented artists.

Oh, in case you've wondered - my painting from last week finally got a name. I received quite some interesting and beautiful ideas on Facebook, and finally decided for Jennifer's suggestion of "Inner Beauty".

The Beauty of Nature

After I haven't taken any pictures for a while I took quite a few last week, and I had some difficulties to decide which one would be the photo of the week. I finally went for this beautiful poppy that I found in the wildflower garden of my favorite bakery in Freestone.

Nature is the best painter, isn't she?

I'm linking this to Mandarin Orange Monday.

Faceless and Nameless

I almost forgot Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday - how could I!!! So I am late today, but better late than never!

This faceless girl in this painting is a result of Christy Tomlinson's "She Art Workshop #3" - I am still not done with the workshop, but have learned so much. Thankfully it is accessible for an entire year, there is no need to rush. Usually I am not a fan of faceless people, but I have learned how much of a face you can actually paint just by shading. I like how she has turned out.

Unfortunately, this painting still has no name. On my Facebook page I have asked my "fans" to come up with a name and post it in the comments. So far I have received quite some beautiful options. If you can think of a good name/title for this painting, I would love it if you popped over to my Facebook page and left it there in the comments. The person who's name/title "wins" will receive an 8x10 print of this painting. In order to be "eligible" it has to be posted on Facebook. Thank you!

Enjoy visiting all these wonderful artists' blogs and have a great weekend!