I just finished my activity for this month.

I read the book "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E.B.White.
Yes...it is a kid's book but I'm really glad I reread it. It was one of the books I really loved as a child and rereading it as an adult gave me goose bumps (swan bumps?)

If you read it with your children, pay close attention to the freedom Sam has in the book.....I remember that too. Adults didn't have to hover over their children at every turn like they do now.





I've sent off my swan to my partner....and now I'm thinking of NOVEMBER!!!!

April's ornament and activity

I made this little nest for this month's ornament.....you'll need to click on the picture to enlarge it....then you can see the detail. The nest itself is about 3.5 inches across.

I wanted it to look camouflaged like a real nest would. I first crocheted the nest using 2 types of yarn held together.
Then I wove in beads, tinsel, embroidery thread, feathers, scraps of muslin and even tufts of rug fiber.

I whip stitched it around a pretty branch I found covered in lichen.
I really LOVE it. This photo doesn't show how pretty it is!


then I used some teeny wooden eggs and painted them to go in it.



and put it on display in our foyer.


I also made a nesting material bag with some crochet string and filled it up with dryer lint, yarn and feathers.

I hung it on the fence where birds tend to sit between feeding and taking baths....I haven't seen them use it though........

Toad abode

I've had this sweet little toad house for YEARS.
I don't even remember where I got it.....but we use it wherever we go and find all sorts of critters living in it.


We had to move it down a bit from where we had it last year....everything we planted (the mint and purple shamrocks) have flourished!
Now it is back under a leaky faucet. Even the dollar weed looks cute!

fluff n stuff n

Here is the bag of nesting materials I put together for the birds.



I flung it as high as I could up in a tree....where it got hooked up by a branch.




I haven't actually SEEN any birds pulling from it, but the bag is getting smaller and the shiny bits are hanging out like they've been pulled on....so one can hope :-)

January's Activity - Ornament for the Birds

Not only is this month's activity for the birds..pun intended!!.. but it is also a way for me to use something that would've ended up in the garbage.. you see I purchased a box of popcorn balls for our Halloween celebration here at home.. not only were they not very good, but there were waaaay too many.  They are individually packaged by the way.  So they have been in my pantry forgotten.  I got to thinking about what I would do for this month's activity and it reminded me about those poor, stale popcorn balls in my pantry.. so I decided to upcycle those popcorn balls into bird food!! I tied yarn around them and hung them in the trees in the backyard.  It's cold here, and I haven't seen too many birds, but I hope to see them soon pecking away at these treats.  I still have several more that I will tie up and hang around all the trees in the yard - and high enough that my goofy outside dog won't eat them instead ;-)

Courtney Prudhomme

The Cajun Hillbilly Housewife

birdie tweets!

We made some tweets for the birds......they are so HAPPY to have them:

we made some orange slices......


and birdseed ornies!

our little friends have been happily pecking away at this unexpected tweet!