Michelle Legler

Cupcake in the garden anyone?

Hi All! I finished up a few cupcakes this week. I put a couple of them in my Etsy shop and the other is headed to the house of a very sweet little chubby-cheeked little boy.

I'm working on several more cupcakes and cakes too! I should have them added to my Etsy by next week. I'm also working on another butterfly and a cactus. These are big projects and will take some time.

Today is daughter #4's birthday!! She is 16! Nope, not driving yet and I'm okay with that. Most of my girls didn't start driving until 17 or 18. To drive here in the big city, you have to be aware of so much. Every main road has 6 lanes of traffic. The posted speed limit is 45, but most go 60-65. We have lots of red light runners, which is why we now have cameras posted at most intersections. It's just CRAZY!!! So, we can wait awhile. She's not crazy about this. :-)

I hope everyone is having a good week!!!

Hugs!!!!!

Michelle

p.s. I'm looking for broken pocket watches. Any ideas??????

Trash to Treasure

Hey There!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! I'm loving our weather right now. It's in the upper 80's. Too hot for some, but perfect for me. So, remember that piece of junk I showed you earlier? No? Let me refresh your memory with this picture...

Yep, the old metal light fixture. Well, are you ready to see what I did with it??? Let's see if you can spot it in this next picture.....

Did you find it????? No??? How about now.........

I turned it into a mushroom top with a little owl sitting upon it.

I glued on red and white glass half marbles to the majority of the base. Then I had to figure out what I was going to do with the neck of the light fixture that was sticking up. My first thought was a bird which led to the idea of the owl. I had a paper-mache head that I had created a couple of years ago for an angel, so I glued it to the inside of the neck opening. I then glued small brown rocks to the neck and the head leaving space for the face. I used white vitreous tile for the face, brown beads for the eyes, and a yellow piece of broken plate for the beak. I then grouted everything and attached it to an old fence post I had. I found the two glass butterfly ornaments when cleaning out daughter #3's room when she moved out and thought they would make a nice addition to the setting. Another piece of trash not going to the landfill! Yay! :-)

Next, I wanted to show you my Lady Banks Rose Bush. She only blooms once or twice a year and not for long, but what a beauty she is!!!

My Spring flowers along my front walkway are blooming like crazy! I LOVE them! However, the man that reads my water meter, doesn't appreciate them, as they are in his way when he needs to do his job! He decided to stomp the ones around the meter box and beyond this week to make his point. I'll be waiting for him next month!

Well, that's all for now. I'm trying to get some cleaning done in the studio. So hard, when I just want to be outside tending to my flowers.

Peace! :-)

Michelle

I'm in LOVE!!!

Well, I'm back and I wish I could've brought back a certain little baby girl with me. I had no idea I would fall so head over heals in love! I am so proud to be called grandma. Here is Bailey:

Yep, Grandma loves you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Momma and her baby girl. (my two babies :-)

I think she has a favorite aunt already....daughter #4!!! This is the daughter that was not excited one bit about being an aunt and who swore she didn't like babies. Well, she too, fell in love with this little one. They totally bonded as soon as she held her. She told her sister that she needs to move back home so that we can be around this little one as much as possible. That melted my heart!!!!!!!!

This is one proud Grandpa!!!! I think he held her more than any of us!

Do you want to hear a sad but then beautiful story?? Okay. My first two children are from a previous marriage. When my first husband and I divorced, he walked out of his children's lives. At the time, they were 2 years old and 5 months old.....and I was 22 (yikes!). A couple of years later, my current husband and I married and within a year, my ex-husband called and said he wanted to give his children up for adoption to my current husband if he wanted them. Just like that! You see, I had finally tracked him down for child support through an agency that I saw on Oprah. He had never paid a cent...just left us high and dry. Well, he didn't want to pay child support, so he wanted to rid himself of his children. My husband said, of course, he would adopt them. He had already started to love them as his own. Well, 20 years later, my husband now has a beautiful granddaughter with the middle name of Karla. His middle name is Karl. My daughter wanted her baby to have her father's middle name because he didn't have to be her father, he chose to be her father and she wanted him to know how much this meant to her. This story makes me cry each time I tell it. 

Okay, I'm off to dry my tears and put my grandbaby's picture in a frame. I should probably slip into the studio too. I've got some catching up to do. Love to everyone!!!

Michelle

She's Here!!!!!!!!!!

Yep!!!!!!!!! It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Momma and baby are doing fine!!!! I received a picture on my phone, but I don't know how to put it on my computer. She's just BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!

I won't be here for a few days. I'm leaving to see my new grandbaby!!!!!!!!!

:-)

Hugs Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michelle

She's in LABOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!! I just got the call!!! Daughter #2 is in labor!!!! She's early. I am so NERVOUS!!!!! AND EXCITED!!!!! I'm going to be a............................GRANDMA!

I've been tagged and a guessing game

Hello Everyone! I hope you had a good weekend!!

I've been tagged ANd awarded the You Make My Day Award and although I usually do not participate in these tag games, mostly because I can never think of anything to say and due to lack of time, I decided to make time and think real hard. Whew! :-)  First I was tagged by my good friend Colleen from Frostings and Sparkles. Colleen and I have been blogging with each other for over a year now. She is soooo sweet and a hoot to boot! She's one creative lady! Love her! Second, I was tagged by Nerissa of Creative Rants. She is a new visitor to my blog and I look forward to blogging back and forth with her as well!! :-) Thank you for the sweet compliments Nerissa!!!

In return, I would like to award (and if you've already gotten one, just know that you're double loved!):

Ruth from Artful Creations who is one of the sweetest bloggers I know and is also a very talented painter!

Kathy from Remembering the Moments who is so sweet and funny and finds some of the coolest websites to go to for awesome crafty ideas!

Then there is Little Town Big Life who is usually a hoot!!! She really cracks me up!! However, sister girl is having a little bit of bad luck lately and could use some cheering up. So go send her some Love!

Oh, and I Love The Blackberry Briar. She is a wonderful doll maker! Love those dolls!

Then there is Diana from Germany who is a wonderful mixed-media artist!! Hi Diana!

I Love Steph from Rodrigvitz Style. She is a wonderful artist and I look forward to sharing some tea with her in the future! Check out her aprons! I'm going to order one of those soon!

Roxanne from Owl Moon Studio is one of the nicest people and always leaves the sweetest compliments on my blog. This means the world to me. Hugs to you Roxanne!

Now, here are some weird or random things about me:

1. I'm 44 with pink hair. Mid-life crisis? Maybe. But, I think it has more to do with being comfortable in my own skin and not caring what anyone else thinks. That's the FABULOUS part about being in your 40's. I'm looking forward to the 50's! I hear that it's even better!

2. I have a serious fascination with junk and I don't mean the kind of junk you find in a thrift store, but I DO like it too. What I'm talking about is the kind of junk that gets thrown into the trash. Pieces of metal, really old furniture, light fixtures and the list goes on. I look at this junk and think, that could be made into something. This could be a serious problem. It's a good thing I live in suburbia where I'm not free to collect too much stuff. I do have a serious collection however. My husband calls me Fred Sanford.

3. I cannot live with white walls. Nope. The first thing I do when we move into a new place is paint color on the walls. When I tire of that color, I repaint. I've never lived in a house for more than 7 years which is probably good, as I think the rooms would start to get smaller due to all of the layers of paint.

4. I hate to talk on the phone. However, if you call me, we may be on the phone for hours. This is probably why I don't like talking on the phone. My friends know this. Some understand, some don't.

5. I LOVE Christmas lights!!!!!!!!!!! Or maybe just lights in general. There is something about them that just plain makes me Happy!!!!! Therefore, I have white twinkle lights on my patio all year. Love them!

6. This one is kind of related to the junk one. I like old furniture. For instance, I need (want) a new kitchen table right now. I will not go shopping for a new one. I will haunt the thrift stores and garage sales until I find what I'm looking for. Then I'll paint it and make it like I want it. I really do not like new-new stuff. I did just buy those new bed frames for the guest room at Ikea, but when I look at them, I think to myself that I really should have looked for vintage ones instead. They'd last longer for sure!

7. My birth certificate puzzles people sometimes. It reads...Mother: Her name - Race: Caucasian   Father: His Name - Race: Negro. Now if you look at my picture to left, I look pretty white. My birth father was caucasian, but I was adopted by a black man when I was very young and raised around mostly black folks. When applying for my passport last year, the lady looked at my birth certificate and looked at me and then did it again. I had to explain. It makes for some interesting conversations!

Okay, now on to more about junk. I've had this piece of junk sitting on top of my shed for probably 2 years now.

It's an old metal light cover.

I think I have an idea of what I want to do with it.

What are your ideas?????? Any guesses?????

Michelle

A little fun on the weekend

Last Saturday, my friend Chris from Chicago (Chicago School of Mosaics) came into town. He brought two of his closest Chicago friends with him and we all met for dinner and then went to the Lisa Lampanelli comedy show.

This is us after the show. There is me, Chris, Cody and Laura. I had not met Cody and Laura before this night, but felt like I had known them forever. Very nice peeps. Check out Laura's shirt. It's a bee with a jewelled crown. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! The brand is My Flat in London.....I'm so getting one! Loved seeing you Chris!!!!!!!! (he's the best!)

Here's me and the hubby after the show. Check out that stretch Hummer Limo behind us! Nope, it wasn't for us. :-(

Now, this is a horrible picture. I was trying to snap a picture of Lisa Lampanelli, but I wasn't quick enough. She's the blonde that just stepped off the stage. Her nick-name or stage name is Queen of Mean and boy is that right on! I didn't know who she was, but my friend Chris did and had been to a couple of her shows. Wowza! There were times that I was looking around to see who was offended now and who would be next. A little uncomfortable at times, but it was a sold out show. I'm just glad I wasn't in the first couple of rows! She chewed those people up and spit them right back out!! We were in the 7th row, thank goodness!

The next day, Sunday, was a bit more relaxing. The hubby and I went fishing at Canyon Lake. It is a little less than an hour from our house. The fishing was lousy (I only caught a sock....true story) but the views were wonderful!

This is Dolly. You can book a lake tour on her. I believe they also have a sunset dinner cruise available. We may try it someday.

Due to all of the moisture we've gotten this winter (and we needed it!!!) the desert flowers are starting to bloom. See all the yellow?? Poppies!! They were everywhere. I can't wait to take a hike soon in order to see everything in bloom. Before you know it, the temps will be in the 100's and all of the flowers will be burned up. With the horrible drought we've had, these spring flowers do not always appear, so this is a wonderful thing!!!

All of this talk about Spring and flowers makes me long for another visit to Monet's gardens in Giverny France. 

What a wonderous and absolutely Beautiful place!

Just close your eyes and imagine you are there. Can you smell the flowers? Can you hear the birds? Can you feel the peace? Magnificent!      

Hugs Everyone!

Michelle

Yahoo!!!Ruth's Birdhouse is done!!!

I am so relieved to finally get this posted. I can't tell you the number of interruptions I had while trying to complete this birdhouse. Whew! Oh well, the important thing is that it's done. Ruth from Artful-Creations ordered this birdhouse for her front flower garden area. She is an avid gardener and a very talented artist! She paints the most beautiful flowers!  Well Ruth, I hope you like it. These pictures were taken in a rush. I'm going to take some better detailed ones later. 

It's kind of hard to tell from these pictures, but the darker color is purple.

Here is one side.

Here is the back.

Here is the other side.

Another view of the front. Look how muddy my pond water is. The hubby cleaned out the cat-tails this morning.

Okay, this next picture is me without make-up....and I'm trying to remember if I even combed my hair yet, but I wanted to give you an idea of the size of the birdhouse. Hmmmmm, you can't even see my pink hair in this picture.

Well Ruth, I hope you like your new birdhouse! I sure do and I sometimes have a hard time parting with my babies, so take good care of it. I'm putting sealer on it today and tomorrow and I'll get it in the mail as soon as it's dry.

Hugs Everybody!!!!!!!!!

Michelle