Day 20 Little by little birds build their nest

I'm feeling a little discouraged today.  Sometimes you see the enormity of something before you (or the futility) and it's hard to keep going on, no?

I try to pull myself out of that feeling and remember my favorite French saying of all time:   

Petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid.

(Little by little birds build their nest.)

(or...Every little bit helps.)

Hope this creation helps any of you out, my readers.

Ink, Paper, Embroidery Thread, Acrylic, Shimmer Powder

Painted birdhouse (No longer Available)

Below is a birdhouse I painted as a donated piece of art work for an organization named "Shine."  It puts a spotlight on young artists and their instructors.  Here's their link for more information: Shine and other artists who are involved.

Mine includes one of my all-time favorite French sayings, "Petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid."  In English, "Little by little a bird builds its nest" or every bit helps.  I prefer to think of it as a reminder to any sort of achievement...one step at a time!  I have another painting in mind for that saying, so it will be appearing again in a completely different form.

I took some pictures indoors and some outdoors so here are versions of both.  I still don't think I captured the colors on camera like I would have liked to have had.

  

Day 361. The Cookie Exchange (and Macaron Pics from Sur La Table) (SOLD)

Last Saturday I was supposed to go to a cookie exchange an hour away, but it snowed like a mother!  Instead, I stayed close by, made snow ice cream, and let Ebert frolic in the snow.  I should post those, but I'm running out of time.  I did manage to follow through and go to a "Festive French Macarons" baking class at Sur La Table recently.  It was 3 hours of fun, and a great mother/daughter/daughter-in-law team let me join their team.  How thrilling for me that the daughter lived in NYC for 16 years so I got to talk to her a little about that.  The entire class split into 3 teams and we made mint macarons with dark chocolate and brandy ganache; white chocolate macarons with peppermint candy cane buttercream; and spiced macarons with candied ginger buttercream.  Yum! Yum!  Click on the pic to get a closer look. (-;

Here's some pics of the macaron-making class. (-:

Day 150. French Picnic Love Inspired by "An Education" (SOLD)

I got the idea for this one after staying up too late and watching Carey Mulligan in the film, "An Education."

Oh, she was good in it!  No wonder she was nominated for an Oscar.  Remember me talking about Michael Fassbender in "Shame" way back on Day 40 ("You Transfix Me, Quite")?  Well, Carey Mulligan starred in that one, too, and matched his searing performance.

Anyway, please try to see this wonderful, coming-of-age British film set in the 1960's with a few enchanting Parisian scenes.

Official Trailer for "An Education"

Day 50 Mardi Gras-Someone Needs to Tell Tuesday

It's Mardi Gras--Fat Tuesday.  I hope you had a great one!

 

"Look, someone needs to tell Tuesday how FAT he's getting.  There won't be any room on the calendar for us!"

And now for a little French lesson:

  le mardi gras (literally, "fat Tuesday")

 Les couleurs de mardi gras ~ Mardi gras colors

Mardi gras has three official colors:

le violet   purple (justice)

l'or   gold (power)

le vert   green (faith)

Mardi gras' slogan is "Let the good times roll," which is translated literally into French as Laissez les bons temps rouler.

les jours de la semaine:  days of the week

   lundi   Monday

   mardi   Tuesday

   mercredi   Wednesday

   jeudi   Thursday

   vendredi   Friday

   samedi   Saturday

   dimanche   Sunday

À bientôt!