It is hard to believe my little baby is already six years old! Kaleena (nicknamed Kiki in case you were wondering) is such a cuddlebug and sweetheart - although she wasn't much into having a party today as she is back to being in egg laying mode. However, she take a little time out to have some of her "bird-day cake" that her grandma made especially for her today! (THANKS MOM!!!) It was quite a hit!
In honor of Kaleena's birthday tomorrow, I am offering a unique Eclectus creation for sale this week! The necklace set features a Female Eclectus in a different style than the typical birds I make. She was sculpted from solid black polymer clay, with an application of beautiful metallic pigment powders in shades of russet, red, lavender, purple and highlights of blue. The glossy finish makes the piece really shine!
Coordinating glass beads sparkle beautifully, and it is just impossible to get a photo that truly reflects the lovely colors in this set. It is a special and unique creation that I hope will find a hope with someone special! You can view or bid on the set for the next 6 days currently on EBAY.
Don't panic! My website is down temporarily as I've just done a major upgrade and my files are in the process of being uploaded to the new server. I'm working on it as quickly as possible and hope to have the entire website back tonight. That is, if I can figure it all out.....
This trio of custom budgies are flying off to their home in Germany, but stayed for a moment to pose for a picture! :) This piece really took a long time to finish, I find parakeets to be one of the most challenging species to create in clay! More pictures of this custom pin can be viewed on Flickr.
We just received a great assortment of yummy goodies from Heidi at http://shops.ittybittybirdiebites.com/Heidi/ kindly given for Killian and Kaleena to try out. Well, as you can see, they enjoyed their birdie bread made from "Fid Flour" and the "Itty Bitty Birdy Bites" so much that they didn't even take their heads out of their food bowls to look at the camera! :) With the fresh, human grade ingredients and wonderful mix of flavors, it's no surprise that they are loving it! Thanks so much Heidi!
I was honored to have a photo of one of my custom light switch plates requested for Bird Talk's Avain Flair column in the June issue! The piece that is featured has 2 Maroon Bellied Conures, which you can also see on my Lightswitch Plates page.
In other news, take a look at my current auctions on eBay for a variety of conures on sale this week!
Believe it or not, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake centered in Illinois early this morning was felt here in Eastern Iowa, about 400 miles from the epicenter. I have always been fascinated with the reported behavior of pets and other animals before earthquakes and natural disasters. However, I slept through it, and none of my pets showed any odd behavior enough to wake me. We are thankful that it wasn't a big deal! :) After being in a tornado watch last week and having to get the birds set up in travel carriers just in case, there has been a lot of excitement around here. It's a good reminder to have your emergency gear and extra food supplies for your pets all ready for situations when you may need to hurry to safety! I'm glad that my birds love to go into their travel/emergency carriers and seemed to enjoy the few hours spent waiting it out.
Hearing about the earthquake does bring back memories of going through the Mt. Pinatubo volcano eruption in the Philippines in 1991, which was certainly QUITE an event to live through! The house shook, and while we had no structural damage, we had ash damage. Our car, yard, and the majority of the surface of most objects indoors as well were covered and took days to clean and make livable! But in light of the tremendous losses that were sustained by others, we were incredibly grateful. What an experience!
Maisie recently had a haircut and we took advantage of the lovely day (I think Spring is FINALLY here!) to take some photos. Our friend Pat gave the girls each lovely wool coats for Christmas, and Maisie looks especially adorable in hers!
The past 6 weeks or so have been really rough. I've dealt with chronic illness since I was a child, but there are times where it is still really hard to cope. Lately, the dysautonomia related to MVPS has been downright horrid. The dizziness, brain fuzz, and swelling in my hands have made it hard to do much sculpting, so I haven't had many updates to post here unfortunately. When flare ups keep me from working for weeks on end, it can be frustrating - not only for my customers waiting for their custom orders, but also for me, since things just don't seem right if I don't have my hands clay every day! :) Thankfully the last few days were a tad bit better and I was really thrilled to be able to get this trio of macaws done!
