Mushrooms and Butterflies ...

Well tomorrow is the Environmental Fair and unfortunately the weather is not looking very good. I hope by some miracle this silly rain decides to move off to sea and we wake up to bright blue skies. I have a few odds and ends to finish today. I have to finish pricing items, folding and packaging cards, put the finishing touches on a couple of necklaces, get together everything for set up, and complete the painting for the raffle. I have another painting that is 40% completed but I am not sure I will have time to complete it.

I have decided if it is down pouring in the morning I am not going to go. I have a lot of creations made out of paper and they would get ruined if they got wet or dropped on the ground. Before I start my crazy day I wanted to take a moment and share some of my newest paper creations with you.

Mushrooms and butterflies were the inspirations behind my newest recycled material collages. Paper bags, old book pages, sequins and thread from the flea market, frames donated from a friend, and of course colored pencil and pen were used to make the art. We have had a lot of rain lately and because of that beautiful mushrooms have been popping up all over the yard. And on days when the sun is finally out there are so many butterflies flying around the yard I thought bringing these two beauties together would be fun.

I will be putting my mushroom and butterfly art in the shop next week.

Our Whirlwind Trip to Washington …

A couple of weeks ago we spent sometime in our Nation’s Capital. It was a wonderful, fun, hectic, family trip.

We started our Saturday at Arlington Cemetery. I had never been there before. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Both of the kids were so respectful and well behaved. At one point they ask everyone to put their hands on their hearts, both kids stood side by side with their hands on their hearts, it was so precious.

After Arlington we went to three museums, the National Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the American History Museum.

We saw most of the exhibits in the National Air and Space Museum. I love all the old planes. I think that was Noah’s favorite museum.

Next we went to the Natural History Museum. It was so full we only went to a couple of exhibits. Abbey and I got to go into the Butterfly Pavilion. It was amazing. The exhibit is full of butterflies from all over the world. When you walk in you are surrounded by beautiful butterflies. Butterflies you would never get to see unless you traveled the world. As you walked through admiring them they would come up and land on you. I could have stayed in there all afternoon. It was amazing.

Once we got to the American History Museum we were all starting to get a little exhausted. First we walked trough the First Lady exhibit. The dresses were so beautiful. After that we took Noah through the transpiration section. They had buses, trains, cars, trucks, a subway car, it was neat. Next time we go I want to see Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

We had two stops left on a world wind tour, the Vietnam Wall and the Lincoln Memorial. On our way we were able to see the White House in the distance.

Walking past the Vietnam Wall is very hard. All of those young lives lost and there were so many.

Finally we made it to our last stop, the Lincoln Memorial. It was the perfect place to end our day.

I am hoping we can take Abbey and Noah again. It was a lot of fun. Next time though we are going to slow down and spread it out a bit. It is really a lot to do in one day.