Crafting With Nature

Fall is here. My favorite time of year! The weather has been so beautiful lately. It's time to start going out on walks and gathering things from nature to create with. Today, I made this scripture sign on driftwood.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". 

 Jeremiah 29:11. 

I love this verse.

 I believe in it too.

 I have the faith n such.

I love the things in nature that the Lord created. He is the original artist and it's pretty cool that I was made in his image cause I am all artsy and creative too and I love that about the Lord and me.

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I recently found these awesome acorns but they were not growing on a typical oak tree. This tree completely stumped me. 

Pun accidentally intended.

 My friend Amy helped me figure it out. It is a saw tooth oak tree and it makes the most AMAZING acorns with the coolest fluffy tops. I cant wait to use them to decorate my pinecone owls with  for the holiday craft show in November.

I am really really really excited to get back to crafting with nature.

I hope you have had a beautiful Sunday.

~Amber D. McNabb

How To Catch A Bird

The Rileyman has been up to his outdoor trickery again. He has googled and youtubed for days and days how to make a bird trap. So here's how the Rileyman has been catching birds: 

First you need to prop up a laundry basket with a stick and attach a loooooooong string.

Put a dish of bird seed underneath. Any ol' birdseed will do.

Little birds like thistle seed snacks.

Say that three times fast.

He set up two traps for good measure, a big one and a small one. Then he brought the other ends of the strings inside and he (and Lola Roo)waited.

And waited.

And waited.

This takes LOTS of patience.

And finally a bird went under the trap and he pulled the string and caught a beautiful Mourning Dove!

He was so excited and shocked that it worked! He was all shaky and out of breath and I was sure his little eyeballs were going to pop out!

He gently held the little dove with such care and he was just in awe.  

He had trouble saying goodbye but he counted 1,2,3 and let the little dove fly away back to nature where it belongs.

The next day he caught a little Tuffted Titmouse.

This little bird squeaked and squawked and sqealed and fluttered. Complete opposite of the calm little dove he caught the day before.

So Riley released the little bird without handling it so as not to cause it any further stress.... and do you know that little tufted titmouse flew right to our back yard and proceeded to tell all the other birds as loudly as he could what had just happened?!

This went on for near 15 minutes as he warned all potential birds to be lured in by delicious seed!!

Riley and I just looked at each other wide eyed and I said "Oh he is SO ratting you out!"

So Riley decided it might be a good idea to up the ante on his outdoor trickery and make a few signs.

I KNOW you just smiled.

~Amber D. McNabb

(and the Rileyman)

I have Storenvy! And I'm all out of soap.

I have always felt that my Art for Haiti needed its very own spot. My friend Carmella of Creative Carmella went against the Etsy fad and turned to Storenvy.com. I checked it out and really liked it  so as of yesterday, Art for Haiti is on Storenvy. Booyah!  

This message popped up on the screen when it was all official and it just cracked me up. Ha! Having one store place dedicated to Art for Haiti makes me feel more organized and I hope it makes your purchases/donations a much easier process. I will still keep the Art for Haiti page here at this website and update it with photos and links to the new store. If you would like to go check out the new store now, just go to:
                            www.artforhaiti.storenvy.com 

In other news, I have decided to **phase out Shining Hope Soap. 
**Meaning I am all sold out and have decided not to make more.

Although I had a wonderful time making it and my house smelled wonderful, it was something completely away from my norm of creativity (wait, do I have a norm? I must ponder this further). I may make a batch or two here and there and carve up some gift sets like this one. I really enjoyed the soap carving part of it. Five of these carved gift sets went all the way to Hawaii!

All Art for Haiti and Shining Hope Soap purchases benefit Haiti through Lifeline Christian Mission. Check them out on Facebook. 

Also, COMING SOON! 

If you scroll to the top of this site, you will notice a new page called  "Josh & Missy in Romania". Go check it out too! Um...please.

~Amber D. McNabb

Hypothyroidism at the Nashville Zoo

Since my ambulance ride to the hospital back in July, I have been dealing with some pretty cruddy results of hypothyroidism. One being that my heart apparently is enlarged, making it too big for my chest cavity, "cardiac entrapment" my doctor says. Although my heart beats normal and strong, it beats right up against the chest wall and causes some "discomfort". 

 This weekend, my friend, Amy, and I took our boys to the zoo. I told her she was not allowed to laugh at me when I got winded hiking the trails of the Nashville Zoo and she agreed. It was a beautiful day and honestly, when we got there, I felt like I could wrangle some gators like the Rileyman and his buddy Cade here. I felt like I could conquer any trails set before me.

But pretty soon I got that feeling that my heart was beginning to beat right out of my chest and into my throat.

As if those elephants were sitting on me.

I told Amy it felt like I was going to throw up my heart and hand it right to her. She looked at me like "hey that's disgusting" but we continued on. 

My body was begging me so much to do what this little cub was doing. SO MUCH. It said "see that little cub? That little cub has the right idea."

But my brain said "No! Keep going! You can dooooooit!"

And I threw up my heart right then and there.

I handed it to Amy for safe keeping and we enjoyed the rest of our Zoo trip and all the pretty birds. It really was a glorious day with beautiful weather. Heat stroke was not on our itinerary this day. It was awesome.

Quick trivia: What makes flamingos so pink?

Find the answer HERE.

And so goes my adventures with hypothyroidism and a heart that is too big for its own good. Does anyone else have this problem??

*****disclaimer.....Yall I did not truly throw up my heart. Although my best bud Amy would have been a perfect person to give it to.

~Amber D. McNabb