Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 751 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Bokeh-ing

December 20, 2018 at 9:34 am by Claudia

I stayed home all day yesterday waiting for package to be delivered.

It came at 9:45 p.m.. (If I’d only known!)

Seriously, our UPS guy works incredibly long hours at this time of year. I don’t know how he does it.

Anyway, I got out my special lens for capturing bokeh and played around a bit. Side note – I was trying to capture bokeh with my iPhone but it just doesn’t cut it.

There we go! The secret is to focus on something in the foreground. Since we have a small tree and not a tall real tree as we used to, it’s a bit more challenging.

Monty wearing his holiday wreath.

And this one, with the newest member of my Vintage by Crystal collection: Deer Sitter. It can be hung as an ornament, but I will just place it near the tree.

Here it is, in late afternoon light:

The whimsical detail that Crystal puts into everything she creates blows me away.

I’m so entranced with everything in her deliciously charming line of spun cotton figures.

I have to get going and run some errands. I lost time yesterday waiting for that package, but I did manage to do some laundry, deal with some blog issues, and take these pictures. I have to go into the city on Saturday to do some coaching, so I want to finish things up (except for baking) today.

Happy Thursday.

Potpourri on Wednesday

December 19, 2018 at 11:01 am by Claudia

• Don sure is a popular guy. Turns out his haircut is a major hit both here on the blog and on Instagram.

I think he’s stealing my thunder.

Harumph!

He is awfully cute, though, so I’ll forgive him.

• Do you think this area is sort of a mess? I must admit that I was shocked when I looked at the wall and that end of the desk yesterday. Every lanyard I’ve ever had for the various shows I’ve coached (and the VIP lanyard for the Paul McCartney concert at CitiField); all my mini pottery, which can no longer be contained in that little shelf unit; stacks of paperwork and my filofax; a roll of craft paper for working on minis; a jam-packed bulletin board; another little cubby unit on the floor; and, between the desk and the wall, all sorts of stuff I need for dollhouse construction.

I’m feeling the urge to organize and purge (a wee bit.)

• I’m experimenting with some paper backing behind the sheep on my mantel shelf above the desk. Without it, they blend into the wall. You can see that the wall slants right above the top edge of the paper. This is what we have to deal with upstairs. We have these walls in every room. They’re charming, but also a pain in the tush.

Anyway, it’s a place marker. I’m going to look for some paper that really works there. Wouldn’t it be neat to find some paper that has green hills and trees or something barn related? Or just a series of trees – I’d like that.

• Vintage by Crystal has a blog sale for every holiday. The day of the sale, Crystal and Ben post all the items that are available and if you’re interested, you have to sent them an email right away to reserve your favorite. I can’t tell you how many items I’ve lost out on because I forgot about the sale and didn’t get there right at the start! Last year, I snagged this Santa. In the end, I don’t remember the other items I was hoping to buy because this one ended up being the perfect one for us. Don loves it.

I have another one on the way here from last week’s sale, which found me frantically emailing them 20 minutes after the sale had started because I had been in transit and had just landed at a coffee shop in NYC while waiting for rehearsal to start. I lost out on two creations, but – again – I think the one I ended up buying is the best. Funny how that happens. It should be here today or tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday.

Samson is Shorn

December 18, 2018 at 9:34 am by Claudia

The big news: Someone got a haircut.

He looks gorgeous. I’m biased, of course, but I’m so happy he did it. He’s been hanging on to the long-haired look for a while, for a variety of reasons. I finally persuaded him to have it trimmed about a month ago and it looked a lot better but it was still long. Last week, I was gently urging him to get his goatee trimmed. But he was still holding out.

I knew that it had to happen when he was ready for it, not before.

Then he saw a photo from a few years back and liked the way he looked and the next thing I knew, he was making an appointment (same day) and ta dah! SO much better! As I had predicted to him, he looks younger. The guy has really great hair that I will admit I’m jealous of, so why not show it off?

He really likes it. Says he feels “lighter.”

Yay!

I played around with the modern dollhouse yesterday. I made a copy of two photographs from the NYTimes that I loved. Resized them, printed them out, and hung them on the wall in the living room. I framed the back so they are 3 dimensional, like a canvas.

I’m not entirely happy with them and may reprint them and back them with foam board. I also think I can get away with something larger in this open space.

I printed them out on the back of photo paper, which gave me a nice thick print, but no glossy surface.

I’ll update you when I have time to print them out in a larger size. The print itself is a keeper. It works well in the room. It just needs to be larger.

I have some errands to run today, despite a lack of sleep. I’m not sure what day I’ll be called into rehearsal this week and I still have stuff to buy. And bake – but that will be on the weekend.

Happy Tuesday.

Bokeh-ing

Potpourri on Wednesday

Samson is Shorn

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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