Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

When something piques my interest, I seem to dive right in.   What? Me try to do just one and see if I like it?   Oh not me! Exploring in depth is more my style.   I love vintage hats, hatpins, perfume bottles and ribbon flowers.   My mother-in-law gave me some very old family heirlooms – tiny ribbon flowers.   I treasure them.   So when my friend, Jay, asked me to go to a class with her and learn to make ribbon flowers, I just had to do it.   Jay is an accessorizer extraordinaire - http://www.plant-effects.com .     The class was held at http://www.askrenandsons.com a floral warehouse business in Tucson and I came home with lots of gorgeous silk wired ribbon.   I had such a good time with Kathy Askren (instructor) that I bought several books and kept learning different techniques.   After several months, I also had lots of flowers!   They were used on beautiful packages as part of the ribbons and worn on dresses and coats.   They went on hats and in hair and I made a spectacular flo

Hummingbirds are the tiniest of birds and one of the most fascinating species.   Everywhere I’ve lived, I’ve been able to watch these birds at feeders, hover in the air, get the nectar from bell shaped flowers and flash their colors in the sun.   I love to capture their image in my jewelry and I just found out that they sing with their tail feathers! http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/211694/20110910/hummingbird-sing-feather-flutter-sound-male.htm   We have seen several Rufous hummingbirds on their migration flight this summer.   Currently an Anna’s hummingbird has staked out his territory at our feeder.   He buzzes any other hummer who even thinks about getting a drink! Peter and I went to Ecuador a couple of years ago and being avid birders we looked for hummingbirds.   I had no idea how many different ones exist.   There are over 300 different species and Ecuador has the most!     The variety of details in their feathers, shapes and colors can be overwhelming.    We were standing o

There are so many amazing things in nature that we seldom really pay attention to and I’ve decided to highlight one each Tuesday.   Please let me know if you enjoy this kind of post!   While going through my photographs today, I stopped at my folder of dragonflies and damselflies.   They fascinate me with their fast wings that are so sheer.   There are so many kinds and so many colors.   And even though the general shape is the same, there are many differences.   Dragonflies have multi-faceted eyes and two sets of wings with an elongated body.   They hold their wings away from and perpendicular to their bodies when they are resting. Damselflies (doesn’t that remind you of fairy tales?) hold their wings close to their bodies when at rest and they are generally smaller than dragonflies.   Another difference is in the eyes.   The damselfly eyes are set apart and the dragonfly eyes touch.   Who would have thought you had to look that closely to see the difference?  Gray Sanddragon