Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 4, the finale!

Here is Buster in his "natural" surroundings. He made it into the "great outdoors." And he'd like to share with you some pics from his visit outside. Many of the photos are close-ups of flowers because I think Buster loves flowers even more than me. Please take a look.

Here's a view of the flowers and grass from above. The base of grass blades took a lot of time to sculpt. I kinda wish that I would've kept track of the hours it took to make the grass, but maybe it's best left unknown.

One of the books of flowers I got from the library had a photo of Snowdrop flowers. I love these flowers and I wanted to make sure I included them on this piece.

Assorted flowers, flax flower, daisy, & coneflower.

Close-up of flax flower.

Close-up of daisy.

Buster enjoyed buzzin' around outside.

At one point, he met a lil' bee friend that landed on his face to say "hi!"

And here's Buster flying away at the end of the day. He hopes you enjoyed this four part series of his journey from a watercolor into a 3-D sculpture.

To revisit any part of his journey please click any of the following:

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 1 (features the beginning stages of the Buster sculpture)

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 2 (features some of the details of how I made the picnic basket and tea set)

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 3 (features Buster the Bee in color after the entire piece is put together)

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, Part 3

You've read, you've waited and now it's finally here, my Buster the Bee sculpture in living color.

I tried to take photos from every imaginable angle. Someday I'd like to make a Buster the Bee video to post on youtube. Right now I don't know enough about how to make a video and where to find copyright free music. I'm thinking the song "Flight of the Bumblebee" would be a good song for my Buster buzzing over the field of flowers.

Buster being busy as a...you got it...busy as bee.

Uh-oh, what happened to his picnic basket and tea set?

Buster decided to do a practice flight without the basket and tea set.

He wanted to make sure he timed his flight correctly to Toby's shell for the surprise party.

There he goes buzz, buzz, buzzing away!

And here he is ready for the party!

My Buster the Bee sculpture measures approximately 23" wide by 16" high by 15" deep. It's kinda difficult to measure a sculpture with flowers poking out in all directions. So how do you like my Buster piece? It's one of my favorites, especially because I love flowers and there is a whole field of flowers to see even in the dead of a Wisconsin winter. My next post will feature pics of Buster in the great outdoors.

Missed any of my Buster series?

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 1 (features the beginning stages of the Buster sculpture)

Buzzing Behind the Scenes, part 2 (features some of the details of how I made the picnic basket and tea set)

Wild roses!

Today I've been working on organizing my photos and I came across these pics of wild rose flowers blooming on the nature trail in June. They are so pretty. I'd like to make some of them into prints and use some of them for images in my glass tile pendants, a fun craft I recently discovered.

I couldn't decide on posting only one wild rose photo so I settled on six pics.

Which one is your favorite?

Awhile back I posted a photo that I took on the nature trail in the Springtime and one of my blog readers asked if I sold any of my photos as prints. I'd like to sell some of my photos as prints. One place I was thinking of ordering prints from is iPrintfromHome.com. I've never ordered from them before, but after reading about them on the Etsy forums and from one of my favorite bloggers, they sound like a good place to order from. It sounds like you can print cards and giclee prints at their site too.

I hope you enjoyed the wild roses! :-)

Patty's gorgeous lilacs

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was a perfect day to take pics of flowers outside. And yesterday I happened to be at my friend's house for a visit and to take some photos outside. My friend Patty recently returned home from her stay in Georgia during our brutal Wisconsin winter. She was so lucky to have missed most of our snowy, cold winter.

Patty has some beautiful lilacs blooming in her yard and she wanted me to get some photos with my camera. Here's Patty's house with one of the gorgeous lilac bushes blooming in her front yard. She also has some lilac bushes growing her in back yard too.

This lilac bush is growing right outside Patty's front window. When you're inside of her house looking out this window, you get a spectacular view of the pretty lilacs. Ahhhh! Too bad they don't stay in bloom forever. They are so pretty.

This photo above is one of my favorites. I love the colors!

And as I mentioned, the day was so gorgeous to take photos. The air was warm, but not too warm and it wasn't too windy and the bright blue sky was beautiful. Whenever there is a gorgeous blue sky outside, I try to capture it in some of my pics of the day. Look at how nice the purple and the white lilacs look against the sky.

After I was at Patty's house, she followed me to my house. Then she and I took a short walk on the nature trail near my house. Afterward, I made one of my favortie recipes for a tortellini salad. It's so delicious and easy to make. We had a terrific day.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a mini trip to Minneapolis. One of my friend's sisters is moving from Wyoming to Minneapolis. So Deanna and I are going to help her look for apartments there. Deanna's bringing her camera along so her sister can see how the apartments look. We will be staying over for one night since it is about a 5 hour drive to Minneapolis. We won't have too much time to go and see things, but we may try to catch a movie. We're thinking of seeing "Night at the Museum." Anyone seen any good movies recently?

Have a good day. :-)

Talk to you later. Don't forget to leave a comment here at my blog. I love to read them.

I brake for flowers, yes I do!

This last week I was fortunate enough to be able to venture out on the nature trail on some nice, sunny days. Too bad the wind was a bit fierce on one of those days. Anyway, I was thrilled to see so many gorgeous blossoms blooming out on the trail. As the title says, "I brake for flowers!" When I ride on the trail I keep my eyes wide open to catch any glimpses of the beauty, patterns and textures of nature. And when something catches my eye, I put the brakes on my bike and stop to drink in the beauty and "capture the wonder" as I take photos. Sometimes I have to backup and reverse my direction to find what I almost missed by pedaling past.

One blossom

two blossoms

three!!!

And a dandy little dandelion!

So many flowers, so little time!

It never ceases to amaze me how intricate and beautiful nature is. It equally amazes me how a round, fuzzy bumblebee is able to zip through the air, looking too heavy to fly. I saw some fuzzy bees while taking photos of the flowers. Who knew I'd meet them there?

Off the beaten path, I found this tree growing in the middle of a farmer's field. I think I have a photo of the same tree during the fall with yellow leaves against a dark sky.

And here's one of my favorite features on the trail. No, not the bench, but the "tree tunnel." There are a few tree tunnels on the trail. It's so much fun riding through a tunnel of trees on a sunny day when little sparkles of sunlight dot the path on the trail. I never get tired of riding in them. They are such a wonder to behold. While riding on the trail, I'm not only a spectator but a participant experiencing nature in the moment.

Visiting an old friend with "musical" trees.

Last week on Friday, I was reunited with an old friend. This friend has brought me endless hours of adventure, relaxation and enjoyement. And you may be surprised when I reveal my friend, since it is not a person. This friend I'm referring to is the nature trail where I frequently take bike rides.

This last Wisconsin winter seemed to never end, so on Friday, when the temps hit 70 degrees, I made sure to get out and visit the nature trail. My first visit of the year. Yay!

It's too early in the season for the trail to be adorned with vegetation. However, if one takes time to look closely, there are glimpses of the beauty to come. Here and there buds are showing signs of renewal and hope. Within those buds, new growth and life is emerging. When I looked up at some tree branches with buds after seeing so many bare branches, it made me gasp with wonder and joy in knowing what's to come.

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Speaking of branches, there is one spot on the trail with these trees that have wavy shaped branches. The trees are somewhat grouped together in a row standing with their unique branches that look musical with the movement they evoke. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get a good photo of those "musical" trees. However, I have hundreds of other photos from my many visits to the trail. The first snowy photo was taken on Christmas Eve Day, it was the first time and only time I was on the trail with snow. Every once and awhile snowmobilers drove past me on the trail. It was a beautiful winter day on that visit. Due to memory card issues, I was not able to take my camera on my first visit this year, but have no fear, my camera will be on many future ventures to the trail.

What do you do to relax?

Happy Easter!

My Recyc-a-lite Bunnies and Chicks are all ready to bring you warm Easter Wishes this weekend. The Bunn-a-lites gathered armfuls of flowers to bring some color and cheer to their wishful sentiments. The Chicks have their hats on and are chirping and tweeting their loudest chirps and tweets to say, "Have a Happy Easter!"


This Chick-a-Lite has made it into my Etsy store, as well as a few Bunn-a-lites!


This sweet, white bunny hopes your Easter weekend blossoms with warmth, hope, cheer and a renewed spirit.

Tomorrow we are having an Easter egg hunt for my nieces and one of my nephews, the other younger nephew, will be turning one year old on Easter Day. Thus, we will be celebrating his first birthday as well as Easter this weekend.

One little late bit of news, my Chickies were featured on the Awesome Chicks of Etsy blog last month! Please stop by the Awesome Chicks Blog for a visit.

Enjoy the weekend! :-)