Treehouse Jukebox: Adventures In Earth

I was recently typing in one of those secret words to prove I’m a real, live person leaving a comment on a blog…

…and the word was OMNAUT.

That’s kind of funny and neat, isn’t it?

In the word “astronaut,” the “naut” means sailor. (Star Sailor – pretty cool.)

So, what’s an omnaut?

A sailor of the primordial vibration, maybe?

Reindeer Presence
by Mario Milosevic

Some say you guide Santa’s sled
across the dark expanse.
But you are the true shamans
of the north, pulling our spirits
behind you across the frigid plains.
We follow your clicking heels,
your hot breath clouding
the sky and leading the way.
We see your antlers sprout
and fall each season,
like the northern sun,
every rising and setting
marking half a year.
Reindeer, you are keepers of time,
your souls always moving.
You eat lichen and moss,
swallowing the magic of the Earth.
You know nothing of us
but we see your other-worldly ways,
and we know your wild heart
is the only gift we ever need.

To all who celebrate, Happy Christmas Eve! Here are some interesting Christmas Trees I’ve seen in recent times…

This tree’s lights are powered by those solar panels.

Happy Winter Solstice to all my friends in the Northern Hemisphere!

Let’s celebrate both the darkness and the light today.

Playing for Change Peace: Through Music created this collaborative performance of Bob Marley’s “One Love.” The song is performed by artist around the world. Take a look (listen)…

I finally finished my quite overdue November postcard exchange cards. Oopsy!

But here they are. As usual, I cut my postcard bases out of cereal, pasta, etc. boxes. Works very well!

I didn’t start out with a theme. But I did use the same colors of paint for each and added a word (or two) to each. To some extent, I used the images from the cereal box cardboard that showed through the paint.

And a bit of glitter.

The End!

Here’s a little idea I had.

The Equal Exchange tea bags I have come in little paper sleeves. I felt like they had good potential, so I’ve been saving them.

This evening, I unfolded them, cut them in half, and then sewed them into a little notepad.

Front:

And Back:

I did a quick and sorta messy job on this one, but I like the idea. I bet there’s a lot of packaging you could reuse this way.

Yupper-doodle! I have some more fun contests/giveaways to report!

If you missed it, check out my first post on this.

Today is Day Two of the amazing December Modish giveaways! Go here to see the wonderful handmade art, jewelry, cards and more you could win.

If you are a lover of gorgeous papers, enter the Chiyogami giveaway for a chance to win a giganticly fabulous package of papers! They’ve giving away a pack of one of each of their 637 designs!

Just for fun, I did today’s Thursday Thunks meme..

1. Do you like waffles? Yes, I do! Yum, yum. But I might prefer pancakes.

2. Name 3 things that is within your reach right now, excluding anything to do with your computer/laptop. Half-empty mug of tea, handmade malas and bracelets, and crayons I made that are shaped like starfish.
3. Do you hang laundry out on a line outside? Ohhhh, I wish I could! There really isn’t anywhere to do it here and we are also not ‘allowed’ to do it (rental property). But please check out Project Laundry List.
4. Loss of vision, ability to speak or hearing – which do you choose? (you have to choose one….) Not a fun choice to make, but I would pick the ability to speak.
5. On a scale from 1 – 10, how are your computer skills? Well, we need to define the scale a bit. Is “10″ someone who can build a computer from scratch and write a program from scratch? Or is it someone who is good at Excel? It’s hard to rate, but I have very good computer skills. At the same time, I am no programmer.
6. Do you volunteer or donate to anything around the holidays? I like to do both all year round. I don’t do particularly more of there at this time of year, really.

7. If a person receives a DUI while in government office, should he lose his/her position? Depends what the position is, I guess, so not necessarily. If the position is something to do with driving safety, then perhaps yes. Otherwise, the issue should certainly be addressed, but the person need not necessarily be fired.

8. Do you take vitamins? No, I don’t. I am not a fan of vitamin pills and I much prefer to get my vitamins from real food.

9. Do you wear fingernail polish? I haven’t in many, many years. Years ago, I was a big fan of crazy, sparkly nail polish – often black. But not these days.

10. If every flower in the world only grew into one color, which color would you want? How about…various kinds of beautiful blue?

I have a few opportunities to win fun stuff to share with you!

First, my buddy Paul who writes the Toy Bender blog is hosting a big contest at the moment!

If you donate a toy to Toys for Tots this season, you can enter to win fabulous toy-based prizes for yourself or the G.I. Joe / Star Wars fan in your life.

Go here for full details!

Next up, today is Day 1 of 3 days of massive giveaways over at the Modish blog!

Each prize is a package of tons of handmade goodies. You’re definitely going to want to enter. Go here!

And one more today…

Visit Christine Mason Miller’s blog today. If you’re new to her art and writings, you’re in for an inspiring discovery.

Plus, today you can enter to win one of her mini collaged canvases!