Small Gifts - Oil Diffusers - Wood

I am working on small gifts and I decided to re-imagine a previous project.  I use essential oils in my everyday life. 

I was fortunate to find white quartz stones this week which worked well for my new diffusers.  

It gives these little wooden peg dolls a beautiful base to anchor them and provides a solid base.  The stone is gorgeous, smooth and feels luxurious which helps with mood one is trying to create. The wood works well to diffuse the oil and the base protects your surface from the oil. 

Here's another wood one which features a wood elephant carving. 

I have added it to one of the larger white quartz stones and it looks really good.

The diffusers generally have to fit into the decor of our living spaces so a variety of material and subject matter works well.

Of course, I had to upgrade mine as well. The purple string one is for lavender on my bed shelf for sleeping.  The blue and yellow one is for my Bergamot and Grapefruit scent for when I am exercise inside.

Just loving these!

Recent Snapshots - Zoo

I took a visit to our local zoo to see if I could supplement my collection of bird photos.  Last time I was there the exhibit was being worked on. 

I managed a decent photo of the Kooburra despite the narrowness of the bars of it's cage.  They did not laugh while I was there but posed quite nicely.

The exhibit is called Arctic Shores and houses 2 type of seals - Harbors Seals and Northern Fur Seals.

They were swimming and have a great time with those of us looking in.  

I love the color of the water and the bubbles they create with their rapid movements.

This is a Barred Owl.  There were a couple in the enclosure and they sat quiet as we the humans admired them from a distance.

I can imagine in his native environment he would be very hard to spot.  Nature is a wonderful thing.

It had rained most of the morning which delayed my plans for a visit.  As you can see the sun did appear occasionally between a very cloudy sky. 

The rain held off for which I was grateful.

This is the one winged bald eagle named Zeus who lives at the zoo.  Of course, it could not be released.

I love it's eyes which are quite piercing. 

I did not watch it feeding but I heard comments from others around who did.

I got a great photo of Lucy the Elephant as she was taking her walkabout the grounds. 

Of course, she had 2 attendants who accompanied her but I was glad not to have them or the row of people taking photo across from me. 

They had just given her a drink and a bit of a spray down from the water hose.   

Nice to see her out and about instead of on concrete.

This Brown Hawker Dragonfly was very cooperative.  It sat there for quite a while so I just kept taking photos from different angles.  Maybe it was having a nap.

I had not see a brown one before.

Excellent opportunity.

Here is a mosaic of three of the animals I photographed at the Zoo. 

The top right hand is a Red Tailed Hawk.  I missed the shot which had him with his wings spread and the red tail very visible.

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Through my Lens #106 hosted by Mersad.

Ornament - Baby's 1st Christmas

This is the ornament for the baby boy as he celebrates his first Christmas.  I found the elephant on line and added the words.  I printed it on vellum and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I cut the vellum with my Sizzix circle die. I rolled up the vellum circle and put it through the hole or the ornament and used a bamboo skewer to unroll it.  Since it was a round ornament I had to fill the space behind the vellum so I used soft white cotton balls which helps to keep the vellum circle front and center and goes with the baby theme.  I put the hanger back in ensuring the prongs went behind the vellum.