And Buttons in Order...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

Badgers in top hats....

Doodled up some little circle designs this morning, trying out some new pencil and paint techniques. Watercolor is a tricky thing and I just wanted to experiment with some things.

And I've been working on a story that has badgers in it... badgers wearing top hats. They are really fun to draw. The stripes on their faces make them look rakish, in my opinion.

Here's a quick sketch.

What's on your desk?

Marilyn.

How to Catch a Leprechaun.

A junior toymaker of my acquaintance asked me how to trap a leprechaun. Here's is my reply...

So you need to build a leprechaun trap. There are several things that you can make that will help with that just be careful. Leprechauns are very tricky!

First you could print out the fairy gold from here:

http://www.thetoymaker.com/Holidays/SaintPatricks/1Saintpatricks.html

Then you could make a trail of the gold leading up to either the Lucky coin box or the Fairy Cart. The leprechaun with collect the gold up to the box that you can prop open with a stick and some string. When he enters the box pull the string and you'll have caught him.

Or you could build the cart and have some small stuffed animal ready to help. (The Small Dog volunteered for me) Lead the coins up to the cart. When the leprechaun climbs inside have the small animal race around very fast in a circle until the leprechaun offers you a pot of gold to stop.

Another idea is that you could furnish a nice cottage made out of a box with fairy furniture . The leprechaun will be so grateful I'm sure that he would grant your wish.

http://www.thetoymaker.com/Toypages/29FairyFurniture/29FairyFurniture.html

And finally, what do leprechauns like to eat? Potatoes, Skittles, Lucky Charms, Gold chocolate coins, cream and green apples.

Happy Hunting and Good Luck!

Marilyn

“Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter.
Lullabies, dreams and love ever after. 
Poems and songs with pipes and drums. 
A thousand welcomes when anyone comes... 

That's the Irish for you!”

New Camera!

I have a new camera! It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5. You know what this means? Lots of photos of cats and koi.

 

Unlike a painter, a photographer starts with something finished and works backward. ~ Anonymous