Hot Pink for a Hot Pink Saturday

It’s amazing that this Texas heat hasn’t wiped out my Mandevilla vine, but it has been really showing off this month. The young buds are pale pink when they first appear. The color becomes richer as they burst into full bloom.

This is what the newly opened buds look like…next to a bright mature lady flower…

The mature flowers are vivid, hot pink. They last for several days.  This year there have been nice clusters all summer long so there has been a colorful show for months…

I don’t usually have such  lovely pictures to share in late August…the flowers and I usually are pretty faded and droopy…like this elderly lady on her last legs…

But I think you’ll agre she is still beautiful…I hope you are enjoying the final weeks of summer and finding the Pink  all around you. Speaking of pink. head over to Beverly’s How Sweet the Sound for this Saturday’s links. There’s sure to be lots of beautiful things to see.

Hot Days of Summer indoors for Pink Saturday

July 4th celebrations in Central Texas are true firecracker days! This year Hubby and I decided it was too hot to fire up the grill so  our hot dogs came from Sonic…New York style…almost like being in Yankee Stadium…and we watched our fireworks in air-conditioned comfort with Regis live from NYC…It’s nothing like the old days of watching our downtown parade then setting up tables and picnicking down on the river followed by blankets in the park to watch fireworks. While I might miss those past celebrations, I did not miss the heat, and I did not mind doing without the mosquitoes. Instead I focused on packing up the latest creation in our ten-stop Circle of Friends journals. It was my turn to work in Kathy’s “Of Seeds and Stars” journal during June. It’s funny because she was creating an amazing pair of pages for my “Gift From the Sea”. She used  one of her own poems and it couldn’t be more special. You can check it out here. http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/2012/06/random-journal-entry-seaside-muse.html

My pages for her included poetry…not my own… and lots of garden images to answer her call for inspiration as it comes like God-given seeds. True to my vow to use stuff from my exiting stashes, I found a lovely hymn about finding joy in a garden…I added a lovely lass ready to tend her own garden…

The back side is a seed package…

alongside is a bookmark with a perfect quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson…I added a couple  of  additional quotations.

One is from Victor Hugo and the other is the sweet poem about the nearness of God in a garden.

They are held together with a ring and a group of garden charms that I have been holding onto for years waiting for the perfect use…well, if this is not the perfect use, I don’t what is!

To hold the tags and cards, I made a pair of pockets from recycled and reclaimed fabric scraps and papers layered and sewn together to create a new bonded fabric with seed pearls and vintage velvet leaves and topped with lilac braid. I picked the colors based on Nancy’s pages from the month before…I like the way her pages blend into mine with the same color feel.

One of the bits of fabric is a silky blue that has a design of leaves…it was scraps from a blouse that my mother had made…I always loved the fabric. She was a wonderful gardener and I just had to add a bit of her creative spirit into Kathy’s book.

There are a couple of other cards to fill the pockets…this book has scalloped edges that really make the book unique!

These journals have been such fun…the invitation and inspiration came last fall from our own Pink Saturday hostess, Beverly. Check out the list of Pink Saturday posts at How Sweet the Sound and sit back with a tall glass of iced tea to visit  our fellow lovers of all things pink and have yourself a Pink Week.

Leap of Faith Pink Saturday

Today I’m sharing a couple of my lawn pinks…

First a grove of Pink Crepe Myrtle that are just starting to bloom…Mother’s house sold this spring and I took a couple of dollars from the sale and the closing of her estate to add nine small trees to our side lawn. She loved Myrtles and I love thinking of her as I tend them. Spring rains got the coneflower off to a strong start. So far the deer have left them alone and they are filling this bed with happy Pink. It’s my Pink side of the yard.

Follow me from the side lawn to the front porch where a pair of Phoebes have set up housekeeping.

I think this is the mother bird at the nest. It’s about the size of a small cereal bowl. It’s made of mud and fibers and hubby says it’s lined with fluffy fur or dryer lint.

It’s not a pretty nest…sort of ugly like the proverbial “mud fence” and it’s tiny for the four little birdies. We were just sure they would fledge today based on the wing stretching and flapping that has been going on for the last two or three days, but this evening they have settled in for another night. We have marveled at what good providers the parent birds are. They keep watch from the flower bed or a nearby small tree.

They hunt insects and feed and groom the lucky little ones all day long.

We will spend Father’s Day weekend watching the Leap of Faith as they leave the safety of the nest. Look at how high the nest is! We threw a couple of sheepskin rugs below the nest should one fall over before their feathers are able to support them.

There’s not much to hang on to as they learn to fly.

There is a small railing around the edge and a  few lamps and shutters. But they will do what little birds do every spring. They will hop over the side and take wing. This has been such a safe spot for the nestlings, but we are holding out faith that it will be a good spot for fledglings. One of my favorite hymns is “His Eye Is On the Sparrow” and I’ll probably be humming it all weekend. Speaking of the weekend, let’s go see who Beverly has gathered for us to visit this holiday Saturday at how Sweet the Sound. Have a Pink Week.

June 1st means Circle Journals in the mail!

Ten of Beverly’s Pink Saturday fans are working on a set of collaborative circle journals. Today we are mailing out the current month’s pages. I went to the post office this afternoon with a very special package… Grace’s Circle of Friends journal. You probably know Grace from her blog Pink in the City. http://graceinthepinkcity.blogspot.com/  Grace picked Marie Antoinette in Paris for her theme. the first three journal artists have done amazing jobs. Nancy, My Crafty Little Page, did the pages just before mine and she had created a wonderful glittery carriage for Marie. Using that carriage as my inspiration, I took Marie on a shopping trip through the streets of Paris.

The vintage map of Paris was the first layer on the background. Then a second layer was a pocket collaged with fabric samples and ribbon roses satin trim and a dress form and a couple of images of shoes and gowns Marie had her eye on. The fabric and trim actually came from my big first-time-ever trip to Grace’s city…New Your City!  The layers of fabric and pictures were stitched down beneath ivory tulle.

The right side page has a picture of Marie as a young girl and no tribute to Mare would be complete without CAKE! There’s a gold fleur de lis, a velvet flower, and a leaf from Tinsel Trading Company in NYC. I made tags for the pockets… Each one has vintage sheet music and

of course, the map of Paris.
But my favorite addition is the Bag of Cats! That’s right, a bag of six cats…

They’re dressed and glittered for a royal ball…

There is a legend about a breed of cats in Maine, here in America that are said to be the offspring of her cats. Look up Marie’s cats to read the whole improbable tale. I doubt that Marie planned an escape to America,(especially a plan that included six of her favorite cats being sent on ahead of her.) but it makes for a fun feline addition to Grace’s journal…I don’t know if Marie dressed her cats in party attire, but it sounds like something she might have done.

I’ll be spending part of my Pink Saturday watching our favorite team, the San Antonio Spurs in the National  Championship play offs…Wish us luck! We love our Spurs! Now back to Beverly and How Sweet the Sound to see this week’s happy Pink.