Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Mather Creative Mindfulness: Birch Trees

 

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What could be more Fall than a walk amongst Birch Trees.

We have family living in Sturgeon Bay, Door County in Wisconsin. Behind the house is a small forest with Birch trees and lots of limestone slabs...a walk is a bit treacherous, but so gorgeous when all the trees turn golden.


The class lesson was to make birch trees by dragging a card, or cardboard, or corrugated cardboard with paint across to make the black marks of birch trees. 
I have always wanted to try this, so I notched a little piece of flexible cardboard from some packaging. After making some loose stripes in light gray/brown watercolor washes for shadow sides of trunks. I then dragged black gouache with the cardboard and it made excellent birch trees with a flick of the wrist. 


Simple tools, cardboard, a few brushes, a wool sponge, gouache and watercolors.



I'm still trying to clean this last palette. I think I will make some more collage papers tomorrow and use up everything.


Foreground of birch trees...I had lots of fun, edges also made branches, and bush stems.


Casey also read us this Robert Frost poem...\



I can remember this poem, and Mr. Frost reading this in his sing-songy New England accent on televeision live when I was a child. It has always been a favorite.

A Road Not Taken     Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


And....May all your roads taken be all the Difference. 

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I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.
 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo













Sunday, October 26, 2025

Halloween at Night at Our Spooky World PG

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Dear Readers,

             I've showed our daytime outdoor decor, 

but Our Spooky World 

comes Alive at Night!



Just a quick walk down the lane here, 
Our HUGE (16 foot) spider web is solar and strung on our flag pole, and so far works perfectly on at dusk and for 6 hours. The spiders are on batteries and they work for 6 hours when it goes dark, also. 3 weeks and we haven't had to change batteries!

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The front of the garage lit up! Warm and inviting a bit of spiders but fanciful too.

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The lamp square, these bushes are huge this year...the one on the left grew its tower top  this year from being round forever. The spider is battery operated with a timer and flashes, they are so fun.

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This is our new fence last year, first time decorated, with torches and purple lights, simple but effective.

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Skellies supported by fencing...just a bit of fun. Their eyes I'm saving to light up on Halloween when they come alive, lol. The are out front and not on the trick or treater lane, so removed from the kids! 

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we used a small green spot for this.

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Two phantom pumpkins hide in the bushes, BOOO!

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The porch table lit up...the one on the lower left flashes and darn I couldn't catch it on. 

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I took all the houseplants in, so this pumpkin is on a chair now...with a Happy face!

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The garage has a bit of glow with a green bulb, some orange lights, each big planter has a lit pumpkin in it, all from thrift stores. All the Dahlias have still  not been nipped, such a mild Fall so far. Their dark green leaves add to the spookiness, though.

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How about this big one, was only 3.99 and  needed a new bulb. Lights are on the trellis.
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Our pumpkin walkway---these are solar and so cool!

I hope we have lots of 
Treaters and no Tricks! Grins.


I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.
 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo





Friday, October 24, 2025

Getting Our Spooky on the Buffet

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I dragged one tote of Halloween upstairs for some decor accents at the beginning of October.  I haven't purchased anything new here, but I loved using some of our  old goodies.

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I don't have a shot of the whole buffet because I have two huge plants residing in front of it, so excuse the angles of these photos.
The Mirror in the back was in my Grandmother's Attic. We trimmed it just a bit to fit under our existing cabinet.

Left, very Old Silverplate pitcher with dead roses. Morticia would be proud.
Next an old (30 years maybe) ceramic pumpkin light I made, the Cat is a wonderful gourd creation by an artist, then a real pumpkin from the garden. Fabrics are scraps of spiderweb fabric used in my shop from early 2000's.

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Black sitting cat is an artist piece, a gift from a friend, thrifted skull that winks with one eye that lights up...
I also have some little pumpkin canning jar lights, that just aren't showing up unless the room is dark.

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Helena Bonham Carter doll in a Steam Punk outfit from an Ever After doll. She has her ex-boyfriend with her. The corner Pumpkin stack came from a thrift store and the pumpkin sign also.
A Danish chrome bowl is filled with Fall potpourri. 

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Helena is known for her quirky parts in movies and was/is also connected with Tim Burton...well, the story is her Ex, Fred, was being difficult, so she turned him into a Frog...and he has to eat bugs for the rest of his leashed life...

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Helena is also channeling her character in Enola Holmes...as a steampunk suffragette Mother to Enola...equally talented in Ju-Jitsu and making bombs. Can't wait for the 3rd season. The spider seems to be glow in the dark, 

Are you sharing your Halloween? 

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Poor Fred...I do love the ruffled collar and his chalice of snacks.! He really doesn't eat much.

Thanks for LOOKING at my SPOOKY! 

I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.

 
All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.
 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Our Halloween Outdoor Style!

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Our Halloween decor has been out for three weeks, but continually tweaked here and there. We finally had a calm day with sunshine, perfect for some photos.

 

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Our pumpkin lights are ancient. I originally cut holes in a bunch of trick or treat pumpkins years ago to place on lights stuck in the ground along the walk. Then the solar chargers were perfect size to use as a black hat as the pumpkins sat on the ground. Now with the railing and the railing solar lights, I tried the old pumpkins and it works. 

We have a bit of a spider theme going, so I added a spider to each one...also very old.

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It's been summer here in Chicagoland until this week...goodness, I have blooming Dahlias and everything is still thick and growing. Frost is forecasted for this weekend, so that will be the end of flowering and tomatoes.

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Our garage walkway...with all the decor.

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We didn't put any blow ups this year, we had two weeks of wind/rain and mayhem, so if it couldn't be anchored to the ground it didn't go out. 

Our Skellies are standing guard...and really creepy at night.

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Keeping trick or treaters in mind, our decor is basically pretty friendly. All my decor is really old....I just move it around...look at the blooms still going.

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Dahlias in the pots along the garage, each has a thrifted lit pumpkin!

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Mermaid is going fancy this year

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Hubby brought three gates home, perfect against the mustard garage.

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That Dahlia produced tons of leaves and not many flowers...maybe next year.



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Another gate and my orange pots of flowers work well with the season.

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Everytime our neighbors ancient Elm spews a branch I steal it for structure in my pots.

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There is another one..its over 6 feet long and stripped of bark...will move it somewhere else. 

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The porch is sunshine and cozy...lots of color and a bit of Halloween with the pumpkinns

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I can't wait to show you the night pics...and maybe blow the leaves off ...a daily problem.

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My Metal Greenhouse is decked for Fall, just a couple of solar lanterns to set it off at night.

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What is more Halloween than a Bat Wreath..bought last year at 90% off. Cardboard decor is a quick fix for windows, also from years ago 20 or so.

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Come on and sit a spell...I promise the cat will leave you alone...! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next----NIGHT TIME HALLOWEEN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.
 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo