Hand Feeding Hummingbirds

During the end of summer at this time of year a local state park allows you to hand feed their hummingbirds. I sat for about an hour and waited and waited with my vial (above) up in the air. People were running around me, talking, moving, and needless to say no hummingbirds came to me.

So, I thought, we have hummingbirds at home. What's stopping me from going out in my backyard and doing this. So we "snuck" out two vials (Don't worry, we donated money to the park.)

I sat in my back year for about 5 minuets after I removed their regular feeders. I wore a bright red shirt because I figured they would be more attracted to it. Low and behold, they came. One after another, fighting over the prize that I was holding in my hand!

If you would like to try this at home, I would recommend doing it soon (before they migrate)
You can use the vials like I did, or, i have seen people use caps. Also, I recommend wrapping whatever you use in red tape or pipe cleaners.

Good luck!

Light Defuser

If your a photographer, you know how annoying it is to have harsh light ruin a photo, so here's a quick and cheap way to create a light defuser that actually works!


First, you should start off with a white-ish paper bag cut it down so that is is a rectangle about 2x2 inches.




Then you will take the edges and fold it in half 'Hotdog" style.








Fold it over and tape the edges together. this will create an envelope that you can slide down over your flash component.


I added some satin tape to one side so that one side was more opaque than the other.

And there you have it! Happy shooting!

New Items on Etsy

Heyy, I posted some new things on etsy!

Click on the link to see the item!

Film Lamp Shade

I made this lamp shade for a recycled art contest. It's a cute idea that adds flare to the boring lamps and lights. Because you use developed film the images that were on the film are shown on the wall and surrounding things. Here's how I did it:

1. Buy a lamp with a square lamp shape on it and collect your pre-developed film

2. Using the holes in the edge of your film, stitch the sides together to match the sides of the lamp. do this for each side.

3. After you have your 4 sheets of film, attach it to the top bar of the lamp using your fishing wire. Then continue with the bottom.

4. After you have attatched the top and the bottom, sew together each of the corners like you did the first sheets.

5. There you have it! Be sure not to have your light on for too long to avoid melting/fire. Enjoy!

Natural Clay Tutorial

When you live in a place with clay soil such as I do, you have the luxury of being able to go out into your back yard and harvest your own clay. But how exactly do you go about this? Today I'll e showing you my way of harvesting, storing, and using this unique clay.

Step 1

• Dig up the clay
  - You can usually find clay in creek or river beds. Don't worry about getting bits of rocks or plants in there, we will take care of this later.

Step 2

• Let the clay dry outside. This will take several days. I put mine in a plastic tub or on cardboard. Also, e sure to take it in at night so that the dew doesn't settle on it.

Step 3

• Crush the Clay up by putting it in a ziplock baggie and using a hammer. Do this to gety it as fine as you can.

Step 4

• Use a mesh sifter (I got mine at a dollar store) to sift through the first time. Whatever doesn't go through you should put aside to smash a second time.(Step 3)

Step 5

• Repeat steps 3 & 4 until all is sifted.

Step 6

• Store until ready to use.

Resin

(Jodie from Ric-Rac has a very informative blog on resin)

I am really interested in trying out resin. I want to be able to make beads and pendants that have flowers and other tiny things in them. My cat has been into attacking the moths that fly around the poarch light, and I have been collecting the wings off the ones that she kills. A lot of the wings are beautiful and I can't wait to be able to put them in resin and wear them around. Have any of you ever tried using resin?

New Yarn up on Etsy

My step mom recently gave me a bunch of yarn and there was a lot of stuff I just couldn't see myself using, so I put them up on Etsy, check it out! You can click on the picture and it will take you to the listing of that yarn.