Home mandala to color AND Groovy Mandalas is available!!

First, the big news!! You can order and get copies of Groovy Mandalas NOW! I got some copies in the mail yesterday and will do a giveaway soon. But yay!! Groovy Mandalas is ready to order. The very last mandala in the book is my favorite one that I've ever drawn. It's complex, intricate, inspired by hippies like my mom and incredibly groovy.



Still hard at work at the color-by-numbers mandala book, but took a break to draw this mandala for you all.

Click the images below for larger versions to print and color. 

Small jpg version-

Large transparent PNG version-

Dove printable gift box

I hope you enjoy this dove themed printable box. Click the image below for a larger version to print on card stock, cut out, score folds, fold and glue together.

The last week has been pretty sad. I found out that a close friend had passed away. Sam McAlpine was one of the people who helped me through the grief of losing my best friend in 2011. He told me then
"The people we lose are never gone, they never die completely. Who you hold in your heart and who inspires you will keep on having an effect on the world."
Sam was brave, compassionate, smart and just a wonderful man. He will never be forgotten, and his impact on the world was huge because of the people whose life he improved and the ways he helped them. He will never be entirely gone, and will continue being an inspiration to so many people.

Common Goldeneye Ducks (photo post)

I'm not a serious bird watcher, but I do enjoy watching birds, it's relaxing. Today was a very pleasant day here in Anchorage so after going to the Eastern European Market we went looking for the one of the kinds of duck that will overwinter for as long as there is open water sometimes.

Common goldeneye, easy to identify, they have a big white spot on their cheek, a distinctive black and white pattern and they are fun to watch because they are pretty active. They don't just float around looking mellow and comfortable. They dive underwater, completely. Diving down to get food and come splashing up a little distance from where they started from. Sometimes 2 or 3 go down in the same area and all seem try to come up in the same place. There is a lot of flapping.

Along with ravens and magpies, they are some of the most active birds to just watch. For ravens and magpies, I just have to step outside my front door. These are in a few places around Anchorage, but the one of best places to view ducks easily in the Anchorage area is Westchester Lagoon. It's very accessible.

I'm looking forward to it getting warmer and getting out to see the sandhill cranes and other birds that will come back, but it's also nice to see the ones that don't seem to mind the winter so much. 

Young ducks, geese and seagulls- photo post

Today I had an eye appointment. Close to my eye doctor is a little man made pond that's teeming with ducks, geese and seagulls. This time of the year, you get to see lots of adolescents! You can click through to larger versions, but the larger versions are still resized to 25% of the originals.

These ducklings are divers. It was adorable watching them disappear under the water to pop back up a foot away.

Young seagull. Just fyi- they sound adorable squeaking out the normal seagull cry. It also kind of reminds me of  Felonious Gru! 

Really reminds me Gru.

Mama diving duck and her ducklings.

Just a seagull, but I loved the colors in this picture.

This duck seemed as baffled by my daughter wearing heavy, steel-toed boots on an 80 degree day as I am!

Goslings!

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Mother and child bird mandala to color AND a video

Hello! I hope you enjoy this mother and child bird mandala. It uses the same birds as this box.

Click on the image for a larger version, print and color or use for crafty things like embroidery or pyrography.

Small JPG version:

Large Transparent PNG version:

In other news, I made a video of some of the mandalas from this site and posted it on YouTube. It's set to music written by my friend Auriplane (who also created the Snailiad game), it was a lot of fun to make it it, just a simple slide show. I plan to make more videos, and some will be how to vids. 

Little Bird Circle Tags

A few people told me they really loved the little birds box last week. When I drew the birds I was thinking they might be cute in a few things including circle tags. I love circle tags. One of my favorite uses for them is using them on printable iron-on fabric to use as patches. They can also be used as gift tags, or glued to cut down skewers or long toothpicks as cupcake toppers, or printed on paper and used with spray adhesive as decals for scrapbooking. I hope you like this little circle tag!

Click on the image for a large version to print. Print on whatever medium works for your purposes.

This is an example of another circle tag that I made and turned into a patch using iron on fabric. The edges did start to peel up after a year of constant use. My son carries the bag daily and opens and closes it a few times a day. So if it's going through that kind of use, stitch the edges!

The first link is the circle punch I use. It's got some negative reviews so be sure to read the reviews! My own experience is that I've had to replace mine once in 4 years, and it got misaligned/broken because of improper use by a family member (it was upside down, trying to go through chipboard. He bought me a new one). I've used it on aluminum cans, card stock, and paper. It doesn't handle very thin paper well but does great on the printable fabric!
The second link is the printable fabric used for that patch.

Little Birds Printable Box

I hope you like this little birds printable box with a parent and child as much as I do. I think it would be cute for Mother's Day presents!

Click on the image for a larger version to print, print on cardstock, cut out, score all folds, fold, glue. Check out the printing tips in the tabs if you are having issues with my boxes printing too big. You might find a tip that will help.

Silly Geese!

The geese are getting ready to fly back south for the winter, and there are small flocks at various bodies of waters around town. This is one I found yesterday, and got some photos of some very silly geese. The last one is a little gross. Just a warning! They've been re-sized, and I'm considering putting some of them on one of the photo printing sites if anyone is interested. I love the one above!

 Why they call some lamps "goose neck"

This one needs a friendship quote at some point.

Quick note- this one got split reactions with my family and friends. You'll have to be the judge. Rosemary said it's a good photograph and life is messy. TG thought it was just hilarious. My darling husband flinched and says "Ah, so majestic in flight. So completely gross when they eat."

Fabulous week- with photos!

Mt. Susitna

The photo above was taken earlier this week. We hadn't planned on going to take pictures of Susitna, we actually went the other way for photos of ducks and other wild life. But while we were driving back into town, I was stunned by how pretty the sunset looked, and so we did stop for photos. Click on the photos to see larger versions.

I also saw this piece of graffiti-

Bee the love you seek, I love you all, Forever.

Here are some of the birds we saw at Potter's Marsh that evening.

Seagulls

Bald Eagle in flight

Ducks and a sandpiper

Remember when I said my raspberries had become a nice little thicket?

That started out as 3 canes 3 years ago. Next year should be amazing with all the second and third year canes. We plan to plant some of the smaller canes at my dad's house.

Raspberries and strawberries from my garden. Yum yum! The strawberries started a few years ago as a single hanging basket from Wal*Mart that my husband got me because I really, really wanted strawberries growing in my yard. They needed transplanting fairly quickly, the original plant wasn't in great shape. But it sent off lots of runners. I replanted some of the runners in 2 spaces in my yard. They've been coming back reliably ever since, and sending out more runners. So now I have 2 strawberry patches. Everyone loves to see the strawberries ripen. They are so sweet and big!

In fact, I'm going to go have some soon!

This weekend is our annual Greek Festival, it's always a lot of fun. Baklava and tiny cups of rich, dark coffee, music and dancing. Then Monday Michael has a job interview. My fingers are crossed!

I've been working on a pattern using ruffle yarn. It's a lot of fun.

Birds, Trains and Raspberries- Photo Post

These are just a few photos that my husband and I took this week. I hope you enjoy them! Click on the images to see larger versions. We went out to Potter's Marsh this morning. Some of the photos show a haze, apparently that's from fires in Siberia believe it or not! Tomorrow morning we plan go out for more photos, hopefully to find a some Dall sheep. The raspberries and strawberries are growing in my yard, and I'm just thrilled about how well they look. The raspberries especially have multiplied so much! We plan to make raspberry syrup as soon as they ripen!

Alaska Railroad Train

Strawberries in my yard

Raspberries in my yard

Arctic Tern-Shala Kerrigan, Potter's Marsh, Anchorage

Taken by Michael Simbeck at Potter's Marsh in Anchorage

Sandpiper- Shala Kerrigan- Potter's Marsh,Anchorage

Sandpiper- Michael Simbeck- Potter's Marsh, Anchorage

Family of geese- Shala Kerrigan- Potter's Marsh, Anchorage

Facebook Cover Photos

 Going through my photos to find the one I wanted for a cover image, I found a bunch that I thought would make good cover photos. So here they are. Click on the images for a large view to download and upload to FB, they are 850 pix wide by 315 pix tall. All have a small ©Shala Kerrigan in the right hand corner. Please don't remove the copyright information for the photo.

Pair of bald eagles

Dandelion clock

Dandelion bloom

Duck butt (I thought someone might like it!)

Duck

Fireweed

forget-me-nots

graffiti on a sidewalk

full moon

lilac

wild rose

seagull