birds – Wild Wing Creations

Chickens, cards and more

February 22, 2024 Julie Johnston

Good Morning to all my followers! Well, it is nearly afternoon, but it seems like morning, since I overslept. And, by the time I finish writing this and uploading photos, it will be afternoon!

Do any of you have one of those nights where you wake up at 2 a.m. and can’t go back to sleep? I don’t have them often, but last night was one of them. Awake at 2, still awake at 3, finally fell asleep sometime after 5:30, when it is time to be getting up! Then, I slept until 10! Unheard of in this house. So, now I am all mixed up. Good thing I don’t have to be anywhere until this evening.

I have a couple of cards to share, though they are nothing strictly mine as I CASEd the cards of some of my friends. I have a LOT of family birthdays the first 3 months of the year, so it is keeping me hopping in the craft room. I appreciate the inspiration of friends, especially for the masculine cards, as I have a lot of men/boys in my family.

I try not to just copy, but to use that as inspiration. I am sure there are others out there who have used pretty much the same layout, etc., but I think it makes a pretty card. I really like the Flight and Airy Designer Series Paper from Stampin’ Up!, that you can get for free with a $50 order during Sale-a-Bration.

The next card was for an 8 year old boy who helps his older brother with his traps. They recently trapped a beaver, so his card features the beaver from the Fluffiest Friends bundle, an online exclusive.

When I am not making cards, I might be reading a book, or piecing a quilt. Here are some blocks from my current project. When I get it assembled (next week, maybe?) I will post an image of the completed top before I have it quilted. This one is a charity quilt to be raffled by the Iowa Order of the Eastern Star with proceeds to benefit Retrieving Freedom, which trains sevice dogs for veterans and children with autism.

Each year the Worthy Grand Matron chooses a project(s), theme of the year, colors, and symbols. This year’s colors are shades of blue, gray, and burnt orange. Symbols are songbirds, bicycles, and birdhouses. I have tried to incorporate as much of all of this as I can into the quilt to be raffled. If anyone wants to purchase tickets for the raffle, let me know! 🙂 They are $1 each.

A couple of my songbird photos printed on fabric. One block finished, one unfinished

Now, you can try to figure out how this will all come together. Trust me, it will.

As for the chicken part of this blog today, I had word that there was a Greater Prairie Chicken seen near the road about a 2 1/2 hour drive from my home. WELL! That constituted a challenge, as the only photos I have of that species are from quite a distance, and, even with my 600mm lens, it is NOT a very good image. There is a lek not too many miles from where the lone bird was seen, but photographing there does not garner any great images.

lek noun an assembly area where animals (such as the prairie chicken) carry on display and courtship behaviour: also…an aggregation of animals assembled on a lek for courtship

Well, I can’t let a challenge go unchallenged, now, can I?? After mulling things over for a few days and checking my calendar, I decided that Tuesday, and perhaps Wednesday would work for a road trip. I texted my birding friend Therese to see whether her calendar would allow her to accompany me. We had challenged each other a couple years ago to try to see and record the sightings of as many birds as we could in each county (99) in Iowa. Some counties near where the bird was were on her list with low numbers, as were a couple of them for me. We thought we could perhaps increase our county numbers as well as getting photos of the Greater Prairie-Chicken.

This might seem a daunting task, however, Iowa isn’t a large state, so not as daunting as it would indicate. It does involve putting a few miles on the vehicle, but, isn’t that the reason we have a vehicle?

The promise (made while biting my cheek, because birds do fly and there was no guarantee it would still be there) of getting a close-up shot of a Greater Prairie Chicken was too much for her to resist. We left home at 1:30 Tuesday and I pulled into my driveway at 7:30 last night after dropping her off at her house. We covered a little over 500 miles and 11 counties, adding some good numbers to those counties where we had seen few birds. The BEST part, and a God-given Blessing, was the opportunity to view and photograph a male Greater Prairie-Chicken in full courtship display. WOW! WOW! WOW!

That doesn’t begin to tell you how excited we were to arrive at the place he had been seen and to spot him right away. I pulled over as far as I could and turned on my flashers. I am so thankful that other drivers are tolerant of 2 crazy ladies pulled off to the side of the highway (virtually no shoulder) as far as possible, standing in front of the car with a camera. Not one motorist honked, or made any obvious negative moves. They just let us do our thing.

I am sharing these as they are hard to come by, but they are copyrighted material and may not be used by anyone for any purpose without my consent.

We were saddened to think that he had been seen at or near this location, alone, for over a week. He needs a friend at least, or a girlfriend. Therese got a great video of him as he approached the car, (Maybe he thought we were the girls he sought??) and you can hear his calls even though it was windy. If you are interested in seeing that, here is a link to her facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005297958176

I do NOT post on facebook. Not very much, anyway, and very seldom my photos.

His courtship calls were rather sad, and I hope he finds more of his kind.

HISTORY LESSON: The species is considered vulnerable. Greater Prairie Chickens were more abundant in Iowa during the period of 1835-1860 than in any other state- EVER.. Total population annually reached close to 12 MILLION birds. No other state had more ideal acreage than Iowa. Illinois was second and Missouri third. However, over-harvesting and habitat destruction caused a massive decline. If I am not mistaken, the last nesting Greater Prairie-Chickens in Iowa was in 1952. Interested in more information? Go here to read about the restoration of the area I have mentioned.

I do believe that is enough for today. All of you have a wonderful, Blessed week. We are having abnormally warm weather, and I am trying to just enjoy it and not worry about the ramifications of such early warmth.

Uncategorized

Great Morning, Great Day!

February 5, 2024 Julie Johnston

Hello Friends.

I made a post last week and forgot to publish it. Silly me! I waited a day to re-read it and make certain all was as I wanted it, then got busy (surprise) and forgot about it. I guess that is one of the problems of only posting weekly, or whenever. Hard to forget when it is daily, but I’m not ready to go there, yet.

Last week saw major melting, and I can now see my deck again. My Adirondack chairs, that had looked like overstuffed, white, easy chairs with all the snow piled on them, are now visible as their true selves. Hard to believe that two weeks ago, or is it three, that we were in the deep deep freeze, and now it is supposed to top 50 degrees. Crazy weather. Looking out my front windows the snow is gone except for in the ditches. However, my backyard is still covered in snow at least 2 feet deep most places.

I have been busy making cards, as my family has an overabundance of birthdays in January and February. Here are a couple of them.

There seems to be a lot of need these two months for masculine cards, many of them teens or younger. I will post more of those later.

This past week, since the weather was much more cooperative (read that: no precipitation, dry roads, warmer), one of my friends and I took a few days to go birding. Wow, folks, I don’t know where the birds went, but they sure weren’t where we were.

We were amazed that in 3 days we only saw 32 species. We were in prime habitat, the weather wasn’t perfect, but it was nice, and we were LOOKING for them. Normally we can see sparrows, juncos and maybe horned larks or Lapland longspurs on the road or nearby in brush, but not this trip. It seemed there was even a shortage of crows, house sparrows and starlings.

HOWEVER! The quality of species far outshone the quantity.

As we were looking for a restaurant for lunch I spotted a bird in flight close to the ground, and recognized that it wasn’t anything common or ordinary. We zipped out of the parking lot with my friend keeping an eye on the bird while I kept mine on the traffic. It had flown between 2 buildings, so down that street we went. WHOA! About a 1/2 block down that street there the bird sat in a tree.

I got off a couple quick shots through the windshield, then pulled into a driveway so I could get out and, perhaps get a decent shot before it flew away. Well, I not only got a couple decent ones, but it stayed there while I moved to a better vantage point so I could get a shot without a branch in front of its head. And, it stayed there while I went to the end of the street, turned around and stopped for an even better shot.

One of the neighbors came out to ask what we were doing, and went back in when I held up my camera and said, “Just trying to get a shot of that bird in the tree. Don’t often see them.” He nodded and went back in his house. Silly man didn’t even look to see the bird!

It was a Cooper’s Hawk. Telltale signs that it is a juvenile Cooper’s and not a Sharp-shinned, are the yellow eye and the teardrop shaped feathers on the breast. Also the rounded tail. A Sharpie (slang term) has a squared tail that looks notched. I hope he got some lunch. After getting the photos, we went for our own lunch.

The rest of the day didn’t total very many birds, but we did find some great places to which we want to return in the spring, when there are bound to be many more species, and in greater numbers.

The next morning as we turned south toward home, one of the first birds we saw was another bird of prey that is not frequently seen in Iowa. This bird also was cooperative and I was able to get some good images of her as well. We think it was a female, but could have been an immature. It’s a MERLIN! We were so excited to see this species, sitting pretty as you please for photos. Amazing! Birds of prey are difficult to photograph well, and this isn’t the best. It was not only cloudy, it was foggy, so lighting was worse than horrible. If he hadn’t been so close I wouldn’t have been able to get much of an image. As it is, I am happy with this one.

This was our last day and it turned out to be the best as far as numbers of species went. The Merlin was the highlight of the 3 days, but another bird of prey which always makes my day, is the Northern Harrier. It was a trip for birds of prey as we saw numerous Bald Eagles, a couple of Rough-legged Hawks, a few American Kestrels, and several Red-tailed Hawks as well.

Here is the Northern Harrier in flight. The fog had lifted and there was some blue sky, finally.

We kept hoping to see an owl to round out our Birds of Prey Day, but no such luck. While they are more common, I always enjoy seeing the cardinals, and this female posed nicely.

I guess that is enough rambling for this week. I have a couple meetings coming up this week, and just this minute had a text from another birding friend asking if I am up for birding anytime this week! Maybe there are more of God’s gorgeous feathered creatures in my near future. Stay tuned.

sympathy

Stampin’ Up! Golden Afternoon for Happy Inkin’ Thursday Blog Hop

March 7, 2019March 7, 2019 Julie Johnston

Good morning All! We are still in the deep freeze, though the freeze isn’t as deep as it was earlier in the week. It seems that whenever it warms up a bit we get more snow. We shall see if the predicted amount happens today. But, it IS March, which means that spring can’t be too far away. Oh, and by the way, just in case you haven’t heard, this weekend is the time to turn your clocks forward. Already???

My card for today is one of the unfortunate ones we all have to make from time to time….sympathy. Two friends lost their fathers this past week, so I have been in the sympathetic mode. What better stamp set to use than Golden Afternoon? It has both as quiet scene and great sentiments for the purpose.

Our hop challenge today is color, also perfect for a sympathy card:

And here is the card I created

This is without a doubt the easiest card I have ever made. It is truly simple, and quick to make. Only one stamp set, no dies and two inks. Easy Peasy.

I began with a Night of Navy card base, a mat of Balmy Blue and an art piece in Whisper White. I stamped the large tree from Golden Afternoon in night of Navy, the birds in flight in Balmy Blue, and the sentiment also in Balmy Blue.

This was adhered to the Balmy Blue mat with Liquid Glue and Stampin’ Dimensionals adhered this card front to the card base.

On the inside, I used the same Balmy Blue mat, and liner in Whisper White. I wanted room to write, so I only stamped some Balmy Blue birds, or would that be Balmy Bluebirds?? Just kidding.

Liquid Glue was used for adhesion of both pieces.

The envelope got the small tree from the stamp set in Night of Navy ink, with more of those Balmy Blue birds on the flap.

See, I told you it was easy. Now on with the hop. Our very creative team will no doubt have some wonderful projects for you. Clicking the ‘next’ button will take you to the uber creative Eve, but you can click on any name to just hop around.

Julie Johnston – You are Here

Eva Dobilas

CARD CUTS: Night of Navy: card base 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ scored at 4-1/4″; Balmy Blue: front mat and inside mat 4″ x 5-1/4″; Whisper White: front art piece 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″, inside liner 3-3/4″ x 5″

Product List

Golden Afternoon Cling Stamp Set

[148772]

$21.00

Night Of Navy 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[100867]

$8.50

Balmy Blue 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

[146982]

$8.50

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[100730]

$9.75

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Pad

[147110]

$7.50

Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ Pad

[147105]

$7.50

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

$4.00

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

Medium Whisper White Envelopes

[107301]

$7.00

Stampin’ Trimmer

[126889]

$30.00

Uncategorized

Stampin’ Up! Tranquil Petals Anniversary

June 2, 2018June 1, 2018 Julie Johnston

Good Saturday All! I hope you have a great weekend planned and all goes as planned. Where I am, plans may get rained upon, but that is fine with me as we are quite dry here, and any rain we get will be welcome.

My card for today is for an anniversary that happens to be today, so, of course, it has been sent off already.

I started with a piece of the Tranquil Textures Designer Series Paper and built the card from that. I took the colors from the DSP and used Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide, Mint Macaron and Night of Navy as well as Whisper White.

A detailed tutorial on how to make this fun fold can be found at Linda Bedinger’s You Tube Video, so I won’t go into the details. It is much easier to show than to tell, and I don’t do videos. wild wing creations-4

I began with a Mint Macaron card base. Then, by cutting a 4″ x 4″ square of the Tranquil Textures DSP and drawing a faint pencil mark diagonally from corner to corner, then in the opposite corners, I found the exact center. Finding the exact center is crucial to getting tight corners when you begin folding.

Fold the point up to the center, going around and doing all four corners. Measure up about 1/2″ from the fold and make a tic mark, then fold the point down toward the fold. Linda’s video shows how easy this is.

Using the bird and little flower from Best Birds stamp set, I stamped them in Night of Navy on a 2-3/4″ x 2-3/4″ square of Whisper White card stock. Having put some ink in the lid of my Fresh fig ink pad, I used a Blender Pen to color in the flowers and some fainter coloring on the bird. I also used my Mint Macaron Stampin’ Write Marker to color the stems of the flowers (which are hidden under the fold). The Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write Marker colored his bill.

This piece is placed inside the folded piece and secured with a bit of Liquid Glue. Or, you could use Snail or any other adhesive as it doesn’t take much. Your Stampin’ Dimensionals that hold the folds also keep this piece in place.

Stampin’ Dimensionals hold down the folds in both directions.

wild wing creations-1

I did a dry fit of this piece on the Fresh Fig mat to get the placement for the 1/2″ Tranquil Tide Finely Woven Ribbon (retired), laying a strip of Tear and Tape on the ribbon and sticking it down to the Fresh Fig panel. Over this I wrapped some Linen Thread around 3 times, taping it on the back. I made a small bow with the Linen Thread and used a folded over Mini Glue Dot to secure it in place.

The folded art piece is Liquid Glued to the upper portion of the card front.

The sentiment is also from Best Birds and stamped in Night of Navy on Whisper White. This is edged with my Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Marker and Liquid Glued to a panel of Tranquil Textures DSP. This piece is then adhered to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. A metal embellishment from the Petal Passion Embellishments attached with a Mini Glue Dot finished the front.

On the inside I repeated the small flower in each corner in Night of Navy and colored them in as I did for the art panel on the front. Then, using a ruler and my Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Marker, I drew a line between these flowers to finish it off. The sentiment is from Petal Palette and stamped in Tranquil Tide. wild wing creations-5

This panel is Liquid Glued to a panel of Tranquil Textures DSP and onto a Fresh Fig mat. This completed inner liner is Liquid Glued into the card base.

The envelope flap got a piece of the DSP, and a little bird in Night of Navy shows off the front.

I hope you like this card. Please check out the video for more details on how this is done. It is much easier than it appears at first glance.

Host Code: BWJN37KC

If you do not have a demonstrator, I would be happy to answer your questions, send a catalog, or help in any way I can. If you want to order, just click on the “Order Online button at right. The host code is for any order between $50 and $150, which gets you a gift of your choice (valued up to $10), but if your order is over $150, please don’t use the host code. Using it would negate the customer rewards you earn for an order over $150. You will still get the free gift from me. Also, check out my customer rewards page to see what other goodies await you.

Yesterday was the first day to order from the new 2018-2019 Annual Catalog, and there are lots of great products to be had. These will all be available until May 31, 2019. New colors, new stamps, new dies, new embellishments, new Blends, WOW! Of course, many of the old stamps and dies carry over as well. CHECK THEM OUT!

CARD CUTS: Mint Macaron: card base 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ scored at 4-1/4″; Fresh Fig: front mat and inside mat 4″ x 5-1/4″; Tranquil Textures Designer Series Paper: folded piece 4″ x 4″, sentiment mat 1″ x 3-1/4″, inside mat 3-1/2″ x 5″; Whisper White: for stamped front liner 2-3/4″ x 2-3/4″, sentiment 3/4″ x 3″, inside liner 3″ x 4-1/2″

Product List

Best Birds Photopolymer Stamp Set

[141525]

$21.00

Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[145788]

$35.00

Mint Macaron 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

[138337]

$8.00

Fresh Fig 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

[144242]

$8.00

Tranquil Textures Designer Series Paper

[146331]

$11.00

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[100730]

$9.00

Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin’ Pad

[144085]

$6.50

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126970]

$6.50

Fresh Fig Classic Stampin’ Pad

[144082]

$6.50

Neutrals Stampin’ Write Markers

[147158]

$30.00

Linen Thread

[104199]

$4.50

Tranquil Tide 1/2″ Finely Woven Ribbon

[144136]

$7.00

Blender Pens

[102845]

$12.00

Brights Stampin’ Write Markers

[147157]

$30.00

Petal Passion Embellishments

[145591]

$8.00

Stampin’ Trimmer

[126889]

$30.00

Bone Folder

[102300]

$7.00

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

$4.00

Glue Dots

[103683]

$5.25

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

Uncategorized

Stampin’ Up Happy Inkin’ Thursday Thank You

March 29, 2018March 30, 2018 Julie Johnston

Blog hop header Good Thursday mornin’ Everyone! Another week has FLOWN by. Where does the time go anyway? Today is Maundy Thursday. It is Holy Week for Christians, and Easter will be upon us in a couple of days. Tomorrow is end-of-the-work-week Friday for most people, Good Friday for Christians, and the day to plant potatoes for gardeners! On top of that, it is probably National Something-or-Other Day as well. But, that is off the subject, so let’s move on to today’s Hop.

Our challenge for today is this sketch.

mar 29 sketch

I really like this sketch and will use it again soon. For today however, I chose to make my card base from Always Artichoke. The rectangle is a light piece of Wood from the Wood Textures DSP Stack. I didn’t want the sentiment to take center stage, so I used the Thank You from Teeny Tiny Wishes and stamped it in Early Espresso. To give the panel more texture, I ran it through the Big Shot in the Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Embossing folder. This was Liquid Glued to a mat of Crumb Cake. I wrapped a strand of Linen Thread around this piece about 5 times, taping it on the back. I then adhered this to the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

wild wing creations-5

From a dark piece of Wood Textures DSP I die cut a circle using one of the Layering Circles, I think the second or third largest, to provide a background for the ‘bird’s nest’. For the nest, I cut one each of the swirly things from Swirly Scribbles from the same dark Wood Textures DSP. To add more dimension to the nest, I cut 2 more of each from Crumb cake and Liquid Glued them together. I then glued the one with the ‘leaves’ to the one without leaves, then to the circle.

At this point I needed to dry fit everything. Using the branch from Seasonal Layers I cut 2 of these from Early Espresso. From a scrap piece of striped green from Delightful Daisy DSP, I cut several leaves with the leaf from Flourish Framelits, and cut a couple from Vellum as well. I never know for sure how many I will need, and any extras can be kept for another project. (In the end I used one branch, 2 Daisy DSP leaves, 1 vellum leaf, 1 Pear Pzazz leafy branch, 1 vellum leafy branch, and saved the rest)

wild wing creations-2

Then from Vellum and Pear Pzazz I cut some of the leafy branch from the Petals and More die set. (Purchased as a bundle with the Petal Palette stamp set you save 10%.) Then I stamped the bird in Early Espresso from the same set on Sahara Sand, die cut it and painted it with my Basic Black and Melon Mambo markers. I tucked the bird in the nest and adhered it with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I dry fit everything, then used Liquid Glue to tack down all the elements, leaving some of the leaves floating free. The card front is now finished.

On the inside, I stamped an Old Olive leafy branch and the sentiment in Early Espresso, both from the Petal Palette stamp set, onto a light colored panel of Wood Textures DSP. This was Liquid Glued to a Dark Panel of Wood Textures and onto a Crumb Cake mat. The whole was Liquid Glued into the card base.

wild wing creations-6

For the envelope I stamped the bird on the front in Early Espresso and left it plain, then used more of the Wood Textures DSP on the flap.

I like this card, but wondered how it would look if I changed out the card base and gave it some texture. This is the result.

wild wing creations-1

I added a couple of flowers stamped from Petal Palette and colored with Melon Mambo and Pear Pzazz Stampin’ Write Markers. Card base is Old Olive. Which do you like better?

Host Code: UJWYGVQJ good through March 31. Don’t forget…..Sale-A-Bration ends Saturday. You don’t want to miss out on the free goodies you can get when you order from me.

Please, now click on the “Next Blog” image and see what Amy has created. Each participating team member is listed below so you can link directly to each one if you prefer.

Julie Johnston-you are here

Card Cuts: Always Artichoke: card base 7″ x 10″ scored at 5″; Crumb Cake: front rectangle mat 3-1/4″ x 4-1/4″, inside mat 4-1/4″ x 6-1/4″, backing for swirly pieces 6″ x 6″, bird 1-1/2″ x 2″; Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack: Light: front rectangle 3″ x 4″, inside panel 3-3/4″ x 5-3/4″; Dark: circle 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″, swirly pieces 3″ x 6″, inside mat 4″ x 6″; Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper (green): leaves 1-3/4″ x 5″; Pear Pzazz: leafy branch 3′ X 3″; Vellum: leaves 3″ x 6″; Early Espresso: branch 1-1/2″ x 4″

(The above pieces listed for the leaves are for what I actually used on the card. I cut more than I used, so saved them for later.)

Product List

Petal Palette Clear-Mount Bundle

[145974]

$62.00

Teeny Tiny Wishes Clear Stamp Set

[127802]

$27.00

Flourish Thinlits Dies

[141478]

$29.00

Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies

[143751]

$33.00

Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies

[141497]

$27.00

Layering Circle Framelits Dies

[141705]

$35.00

Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[143708]

$10.00

Always Artichoke 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[105119]

$8.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[120953]

$8.00

Sahara Sand 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[121043]

$8.00

Pear Pizzazz 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[131201]

$8.00

Early Espresso 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[119686]

$8.00

Vellum 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[101856]

$8.00

Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper

[144137]

$11.00

Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack

[144177]

$10.00

Early Espresso Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126974]

$6.50

Old Olive Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126953]

$6.50

Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker

[100082]

$3.50

Brights Stampin’ Write Markers

[131259]

$29.00

Linen Thread

[104199]

$4.50

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

$4.00

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

Stampin’ Trimmer

[126889]

$30.00

Big Shot

[143263]

$110.00

Uncategorized

A special gift.

December 15, 2017 Julie Johnston

Good morning, Everyone, or is it afternoon???

I get busy and forget to look at the clock unless my stomach says it is time to eat!

Today I do not have a card for you, but something just as special. I made a book for a special little boy using images I took in Africa. It is an alphabet book. He isn’t two years old yet, so there will be plenty of time to enjoy this book.

Our family is pooling the money we would have spent on gifts for each other and giving it to a hurricane victim. None of us NEEDS anything, as we have all been blessed with plenty. However, I still have made something for most of the family, so there will be a FEW gifts under the tree (if I have time to get it up!)

A friend commented that she is on a pace for Christmas…if it was still September!! I am in agreement. How is it that Christmas sneaks up on me, every year it seems! Where does the time go????

Anyway, here is the cover of his book. I will show you a few inside pages as well.

Wild Wing Creations-book cover

This is the front and back of the cover. I blanked out his name purposely for this post.

I so enjoyed putting this book together. Here is one of my favorite animals from that trip. We saw her several times. Shortly after this image was taken she was stalked by a lioness and barely got away! I have images of the whole scenario! Very special. A couple of days later we found her and her 4 babies and spent the whole afternoon photographing their antics.

Wild Wing Creations-book cheetah

What a beautiful animal. The next page I will show you is not an animal nor a bird, but what I chose to use for the letter Q. Q and X are difficult as I had no images for either letter. So, I used my imagination. For the X I put in an Xtra image of a W (warthog).

Wild Wing Creations-book quiet

This next image is of an owl that very few people ever see. We had FANTASTIC guides who knew where to look for various critters. They knew I especially wanted to see birds, so were constantly on the lookout for them. I was able to photograph good quality images and identify 119 species of birds I had never before seen. And, most people who do see the owl don’t get to see the eyelids!

Wild Wing Creations-book owl

Our Photographer leader asked which was our favorite animal and I was hard pressed to answer. I loved them all. However, I said, “Elephant”, as I have always loved the big Pachyderms. I think, though, now that I have been in their realm, I would have to include the Zebra as among my favorites. They are so unique.

Wild Wing Creations-book zebra

So, there you have it. Some samples from my gift for a special little guy. I hope he cherishes it as much as I cherish the memories of that trip and the wonderful animals of God’s creation. Every time I see something new, I am overwhelmed by an Awesome God and what he did for us mere humans.

The gifts of the Creation pale in comparison to the Gift sent to earth on the day that we celebrate as Christmas. Honor Him by trying to be more loving and kinder to your fellow humans, even when you don’t want to do so. You will be Blessed!

Thank you for stopping by. I would appreciate your comments.

If you are looking for Stampin’ Up! products, you can order them by clicking the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher button (it says order online) at right.

TTYL

Uncategorized

Photography today, no card

August 16, 2017August 15, 2017 Julie Johnston

I do believe it says somewhere that I am a photographer, and that this blog is about creative endeavors. Well, photography is creative, I think.

Since I spent the day yesterday canning tomatoes and really didn’t have time for a card (well, I COULD have made one, but, heck, I was tired!) I thought this would be a good day to talk about my bird photography.

There are many, many kinds of birds, and they all need our consideration. After all, God created all of them, and birds are frequently mentioned in the Bible. As Debbie Blue said in her article “He Will Raise You Up on Vulture’s Wings”, sub-titled “What I learned from bird-watching for Jesus” in Christianity Today, December 19, 2013, “Jesus said, ‘Consider the birds’, Matthew 6-26. I love that Jesus asked us to do that, go outside, get off the internet, watch birds.” I agree wholeheartedly.

Most people do not care much for Vultures, of which there are numerous kinds around the world. And, if we will but admit it, that dislike is pretty much based on their looks. However, consider this: Though they seek out death, they rarely hurt a living creature. Amazing! We humans should be so kind.

turkey vulture adult

Without these “death seekers”, we would be knee-deep (or deeper!) in dead animals, which, as we all know carry disease, especially when there are many of them. Can you imagine the stench, and the appearance of many, many dead animals due to natural causes, disease, and cars were it not for Vultures and their carrion eating friends???? Whew! And, never mind the diseases that would be spread!

I know that isn’t a very pretty picture for many of you, but we need to be realistic here, and not have a false notion of the facts. The fact is that the vulture (in my neck of the woods, the Turkey Vulture, seen above) can ingest the vilest of dead, disease-ridden matter, and, due to their amazing internal structure, digest it and pass it on as harmless matter. Isn’t that incredible??

So, whether or not you like the way they look, a vulture is a reminder that we should not judge anyone or any other creature on looks, but rather see them for their value in the wider scheme of things. The one pictured below is, I believe, a juvenile Turkey Vulture as opposed to the Black Vulture. I have not heard from my bird expert friends, but, due to the fuzzy head and wing colors, I think I am correct. For one thing, Black Vultures are not usually found in Iowa, but stranger thngs have happened! I actually think he is kind of cute.

vulture 1 iou

Other birds are mentioned in the Bible as well, but since I got some really good photos yesterday of the much maligned Turkey Vulture, I thought I would focus on them today. See what I did there???

They may not be as pretty as, say, an Eastern Goldfinch (Iowa’s state bird),

American-Goldfinch

or as striking as an Acorn Woodpecker, photo taken in Arizona,

Acorn Woodpecker

but each has a role to fill as God intended. Far be it from me to decide which is more necessary, or prettier, or whatever. I just enjoy watching them and learning from them all. It certainly humbles me to think that God also considered the lowly (says who?) Sparrows. And that is another whole bird subject. If you thought the house sparrow was it for sparrows, think again. Their are many, and some are quite beautiful. Take the White Crowned Sparrow for instance. Isn’t he pretty?

White-Crowned-Sparrow-tree