Speckled...not blue.

Speckled..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

One of the ladies laid a beautiful speckled egg today...not blue. Speckled. I have been waiting, waiting, waiting for my Araucana hens to lay their blue eggs. The other day I ventured out to collect eggs and noticed Opal...one of the Araucanas...sort of hovering around where they all tend to lay in the coop. She was standing up but obviously pushing...I could tell she was going to lay an egg. I was SO EXCITED..."I'm going to get to witness the laying of my first blue egg!!!"...and a few seconds later...plop...out came a BROWN EGG! I was dumbfounded. So...apparently, even though my Araucanas LOOK like Araucanas and have all the characteristics of Araucanas (looks like a duck, acts like a duck), they don't have enough Araucana in them to lay blue eggs. That figures. I'm still holding out hope that Pearl will lay blue...but I'm not holding my breath.
Ah well...brown is beautiful...and speckled is divine.

Snowy Night...

Snowy Night..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

It seems I'll never get too old for the feeling of utter joy I feel when the flakes start to fly! I'm always checking the windows and turning on the porch light after dark to see if I can tell if it's still snowing! My daughter keeps asking me if I think there will be school tomorrow...I'm hoping not. I'd love to share a snow day with her.
What is it about snow? Is it because it's Christmassy? No, I don't think that's it...I think it's just beautiful...quiet...fun!

EGGS!

What the???, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

I was feeding my chickens the other day, when something caught my eye UNDER the coop! An egg! Then as I reached under to collect it, I spied 4 more! Someone had been laying on the sly! Upon further investigation, I discovered it was Yvonne! She has since laid an egg a day...like clockwork! They're small, but the latest few have been slightly bigger.
I am trying to entice her to start laying them in the nest boxes INSIDE the coop but so far, no luck! If you have any ideas, please share them! I have a couple of golf balls in the boxes...replaced the white shavings with hay, added feathers...I may need to make them more cozy...perhaps I need to add some height to them to make them more private?We'll see how this goes...I may be crawling under the coop to retrieve eggs for a while.
She may make it hard to get them but Yvonne very willingly gives them up...she has actually been a bit more friendly since she started laying...she doesn't squawk when I pick her up and doesn't scurry away when I pet her as I tell her "Thank you" for her little gift.
Isn't it funny, sometimes, how the littlest things can bring us such JOY!?

The ladies...

The ladies..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

have grown! They're about 3 months old now...teenagers in chicken years! They're making those fabulous chicken sounds...talking to me when I bring them weeds...fill their waterer...throw them some scratch. Their feathers are beautiful...and plentiful! I really had no idea how many feathers they shed. Their pen is littered with them.
Now I wait patiently for eggs...I'm thinking they'll start laying by Halloween. I shall make a celebratory omelet when they do! Until then, I'll enjoy them for the funny species they are...seemingly angry, yet playfully friendly and unbelievably dumb. I never knew they'd be so much fun!

NEW!

All the new designs!, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

These are my newest domino designs...I actually have a few more I'm working on too!
It's been a while since I designed new dominos...mostly because I've been having problems with my printer. My expensive laser printer. Did I mention that it was really expensive...oh, and only 2 years old! It is not fixable. It prints washed out tinty color...not clear crisp bright color. So, I got tired of trying to find a solution and took my little memory stick to the copy store...I think I may have discovered a cheaper way of printing! After spending a fortune on the printer and ink...WOW are those ink cartridges expensive for laser printers...I spent a pittance to make copies! I've made lemonade out of lemons...my lemon printer, that is!

Sometimes it takes a while...

New Charms, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

In an earlier post I wrote about my purchase of an entire cabinet of vintage glass watch crystals.

Here's the post!

I have been gazing upon them for several months now...wondering what to do with them and I finally DID something!

These little pendants are really fun...quirky...dare I say, funky! I'm killing two birds with one stone here...using some of the many dictionaries I've hoarded over the years and also using some of the hundreds of watch crystals just waiting for new life!
:o)

Funky & Chunky...

Funky Chunky Charm Bracelet, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

I spent Saturday at the Artists Garage Sale in Olympia...selling my creations! It was a very good day...excellent, in fact! My sales were steady - so steady that it took me 2 hours to eat a sandwich for lunch!
These fun charm bracelets sold well! I love making them - every single one a bit different from the others.
They're listed in my etsy shop now...I had been holding out, deciding how much to charge for them. I think they're happy, interesting and fun so I kept the price a bit low...comparatively...so everyone can afford to have a little funk around their wrist!
:o)