Holiday Cards and Other Stuff

(click to enlarge any photo)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and to those of us who stuffed ourselves silly, I hope you are now feeling a little better!

We spent the holiday with extended family, and then the past few days were occupied  with yard work and hanging Christmas lights.  We also have our daughter to blame for our new addiction to the show Glee.  I had never seen it before, so she suggested we watch it on Netflix from the very beginning.  We watched 4 episodes back to back on Saturday evening and then another 2 this morning before she headed back to DC!

I have to say that I love nothing more than to have all of my birdies in the nest, so this weekend was wonderful for me and Mr. Tide.  My Dad used to always say how nice it was to have everyone at home during the holidays, and I now understand why it meant so much to both he and my mom.  And it's funny, but my mother in law said the same thing when we left after our recent visit, that she remembered her own grandfather being teary eyed when they all left their family cabin each year.

I guess that's how life works, you rush around raising your little chicks with the intention of them flying from the nest.  But it sure is nice when they fly back home for a few days!

And speaking of birds, Mr. Tide and I have now officially declared ourselves old people.  And about a week ago we purchased a bird feeder.  The reason I say "old" is because when you are younger it seems like only old people enjoy watching or feeding birds.  Shoot, even in the movie Mary Poppins the lady that feeds the birds is older!  So we've always assumed, and maybe wrongly so, that bird watching was for old people, or maybe we ARE old now!  I would like to think that maybe we aren't old, but that we have just discovered a new found appreciation for everything ornithology! ;-)

After waiting a week for birds to grace our feeder, we were welcomed this morning by lots of little birds anxious for their own version of Thanksgiving leftovers.  I don't claim to know them all, but since I'm embracing my old person persona, I will likely have to break out the bird book soon so that I can be in the know about which ones are which!

I did however recognize a female cardinal without too much thought, and so I happily snapped away at her as she perched atop the wrought iron shepherd's hook that holds the feeder.  I was amazed at the clarity of some of the shots, so I decided to turn a few of the images into holiday cards.

I know that these would be more striking if it had been a male cardinal who had visited us today, but I still think Mrs. Cardinal deserves her due.  It's kind of like Santa and Mrs. Clause, no one lines up to see Mrs. Clause...poor dear!

I used a combination of things on these photos including the new free texture I got today from Kim Klassen, it's called Poetic, and I think that is a fitting name for this lovely new texture!  The top textured photo also has a free texture by Leslie Nicole.  I also highly recommend you purchase some textures from these lovely ladies as they have some great ones to choose from, and some are even on sale right now!

The other overlays I used (except for the one in the photo above which I can no longer find the source for!) all came from The Graphics Fairy.  I love finding beautiful license free imagery from The Graphics Fairy, it is one of my favorite places to go hunting for special clip art and backgrounds...especially for holiday projects like cards!

So there you have it, I'm slowly getting into the holiday spirit.  I was so pumped to get going on decorating this weekend, and then my dear husband lugged all of my Christmas tubs inside only to realize that my enthusiasm had waned slightly upon seeing just how much "stuff" I have!

In my head, I had visions of boxwood wreaths and all white trees, but my tubs full of holiday decor did not agree with my pared down simplistic approach this year.  And had Mr. Tide not pulled a muscle in his shoulder bringing said tubs into the house, well I probably would have sent them right back to the garage.  Instead I am letting my brain battle it out to see which will win, simplicity or surplus!  Until I do, those bins will act as wonderful ottomans for nearly every seat in the living room.  Which is perfect for watching more episodes of Glee right?!