I’m stumped. I need some advice from a few crafty souls out there.
What would you do with a bag of corks?
Healing the Past…
I have this friend who is magic. No…really. She is.
She takes pictures like this—
And turns them into this.
From this… to this…
and—
From this…. to this.
Pretty magic, wouldn’t you say? Here’s one she did for my birthday last year.
From this…
to this!
We were thrilled with the results. So, I’m excited to let you guys know about her work by having a fabulous giveaway. JoEll will restore 1 old, damaged or weathered picture for one lucky winner. All you have to do is enter a comment below. We will announce the winner Tuesday July 7th at 10 am.
JoEll is also offering–to Gracious Rain readers a 20% discount—during the month of July—on her already incredible prices—just be sure to mention this giveaway. So dig through your old photos and see if there’s something you’d love to see brought back to it’s original beauty. You will be so glad you did.
Email JoEll Pratte at jpratte@att.net.
Need a heart-warming precious gift to give to your spouse, parents, grandparents, or relative for Christmas, birthday, or anniversary? Let me digitally restore your damaged photos and bring back to life that nostalgic image. I can digitally remove rips, tears, blemishes, soil, water damage, unwanted objects, and bring back missing pieces of backgrounds, clothing, hair, etc. I can enhance the image from sepia to black and white or bring the color back to the original (depending on the severity). Email me your photo and what you want fixed and I will reply with a price quote. Minimum per photo is $20, more based on severity of damage and enhancements. ~JoEll Pratte “Making Memories Good Ones!”
Stuff I’m Loving…
…right this minute—
Low fat animal cookies to share…
Yard flowers pretty enough to be wallpaper…
New stationary to write to my far-away boy on…
The perfect grin and a chicky with attitude…
The new, handsome man in my life…Truman the Treadmill…
yeah, we’re tight…
My sister’s backyard in the rain…
A crabby, old dude…
AND having two legendary characters under one roof–Big Foot and Tinkerbell—just imagine…
Tie all these up in a big knapsack and my life would be complete…
Ok, fine. Leave them all where they are and my life can be nearly complete and everyone will be happier…
and less crowded.
Sheesh.
Uh-huh…
I see a bright and sweaty future for this baby boy…
Won’t Uncle Dane be pleased?
For the Birds
Around here–we get a ton of birds. There are always robins and starlings on the lawn eating all the gnats and worms. If we throw out just the right kind of bread we can even attract seagulls and the occasional wild ducks. They are all fun to watch, but my favorite are—
the seed birds.
A while back, I bought this bird seed bell to entice them to come closer. For some reason, they didn’t really care about it–the darn thing just sat there–until it rained. Then all the seeds got soft and started crumbling off into piles below. Then they noticed and gobbled it up. There must have been something unnatural about their lunch looking like a church bell that disturbed them.
Our birds are much more interested in the regular bird feeder. They flock around it like it’s their one shot at happiness in this life. I’m pretty sure their only complaint is that it isn’t the size of a wheel barrow. I wonder sometimes, if we’d get more birds that way or we’d keep the same ones–only they’d grow to the size of big, fat turkeys. Either way….it’s entertainment at it’s finest.
With our modest feeder, we get camera shy, tiny birds with yellow, orange, or scarlet heads.
Then, we get these, much bolder blue fellows.
Then a mix of red and blue. I don’t really know what type most of them are–but the ad on the seed package is right–you get some really exotic looking birds when you put these different mixes out.
The doves usually wait until the smaller birds have settled down a bit then they pick up whatever scraps are left. Whenever the feeder is empty–I swear–the other birds send the doves to tell us about it. Some days they come right up to the window as if to say, “HEY! We’re outta’ food here!”
Pet Shop Birds
Watching these guys always makes me feel so sorry for the little birds in the pet stores locked up in cages. I just want to wait until no one is looking and unhinge the latches and help them make a break for it.
Can’t you just see the news report? “Ridiculous Woman Leads Budgies To Freedom.” I know, I know. Pretty silly thing for a mother of five to do prison time for.
It’s just a thought.
I suppose it’s safer to stick with the seeds–even if the volume can get kinda pricey. The plus side is that you can always be certain something is a great investment if—
it livens up the yard…
it entertains the kids…
and…
it keeps your mother out of jail.
News at six.