Land of the Phoenix Part 2

The Dark Forest

A gasp suddenly awoke the man from his pondering. Anne had at last spotted the lost red flowers through the bushes and almost tripped over the back of the man. He jolted to his feet and turned half around, but then thought better of it and kept his back facing her.

“Turn around!” He growled, trying to sound as fearsome as he could. Poor Anne, surprised and confused, felt she had no choice but to obey. The man heard her spin around and sighed with relief. (Actually, he was surprised that she cooperated) He turned around and grasped her shoulder, astonished about how small and delicate she seemed.

“Go on, straight ahead. And don’t turn around!!”

“Where are you taking me?” asked Anne pitifully, she was shaking all over and was unable to raise her voice above a whisper.

“To the Sorceress; just wait ‘til she sees you and hears what you’ve done!”

Anne, of course, had done nothing but, after walking for a while, she started to believe that maybe she had committed some sort of crime. Things raced through her mind like her drawings, perhaps it was illegal in this land to draw. Or maybe pencils had been banned due to some horrible accident that may have occurred. Or maybe that flying stag was and endangered species and when she chased it she had scared it so much that id died and her kidnapper found it and was going to turn her in. She felt so terrible that she caused the death of the poor bug that she almost burst out crying.

Just then, Anne noticed that her captor was taking her towards the forest she had seen earlier.

“Wait!” she cried and stopped at the edge of the woods. “W-What have I done?” It was not fair that she had no knowledge of what crime she had committed and he scared her out of her wits and now he was going to take her into a forest that practically screamed death.

“Oh, don’t try that with me, you know exactly what you’ve done, now keep going!” The man replied roughly.

“But, I-I didn’t know it was an endangered species!” Anne cried in her defense.

“What?” now both of them were extremely confused.

“I didn’t mean any harm; I didn’t even know that anybody lived here…”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” the man interrupted, “But, I am sure that you tried to put a spell on me…”

“A-a spell?” Anne asked astonished

“DON”T turn around!” The man warned because Anne had begun to turn. She obeyed straight away, a little offended.

“The Sorceress will find you a great threat,” the man explained, “and I will get a great reward for turning you in. You’re certainly in a tight spot, angel, and soon your witching days will be over!”

The poor girl was so surprised at being called a witch that she forgot to object to being pushed into the dark forest.

Moments before everything had been going right for Anne. Yesterday she discovered this world while putting the Christmas decorations back up in the attic. Then, it had been winter here but when she came back today it was spring. Who wouldn’t be happy about finding a magical world?

But, with every good thing, there’s a bad thing. With every rose, there’s a thorn. With every glittering stag-fly, there’s a beast and a Dark Forest.

***

On and on he took her. The forest seemed to go on forever and soon her feet began to ache. During the walk, Anne sadly thought about her unfortunate predicament. Mostly, it was the Sorceress who haunted her mind; who was she and what would she do to her? It seemed like hours for Anne, as her head filled with ugly, green-faced hags, when the tops of the trees glowed orange and they finally sat down to rest.

But, as the two rested roaring from off in the distance came to the man’s ears. He stood up quickly and beckoned to Anne to follow him as the pushed down the path, knowing that the Sorceress knew of Anne’s presence. Something crashed through the trees and, just as he suspected, seven huge bears bounded over and surrounded the man and his hostage.

Peek Into My Room: Beading

Here is my desk where I do all my beadwork. I'm really glad that I have all those containers or else it would be a big mess!! One of my favorite tools is a little triangle tray, it scoops up the beads like magic or something, its great! Another useful tool is the clamp, you put it on the end of your string o your beads don't fall off while you're working. the blue mat keeps the beads from rolling around (it really works!)
Dang....I sound like a salesperson...

Land of the Pheonix: Part 1

The Attic

The old wooden stairs creaked under her tiptoed step as a young girl slowly ascended towards the big drafty green door. She put her sweatshirt sleeve over her hand and grasped the cold metal doorknob. As she pulled it open a gust of cold musty air and swaying spider webs warned her to turn back. But, ignoring the warning, she went on any way into the dark attic. She switched on a lone light bulb, though it didn’t really help light the room. Then, clutching her small black notebook, she approached a plain wood wardrobe that covered the left-hand wall.

It stood tall over her and beckoned her as if a secret lied inside waiting to be found. Should she open it and walk inside? If she did she might find a magical realm full of adventure, witches and lions! But, she didn't, the wardrobe did not belong to her. She did, however, take the key dangling from a hook on the side of the wardrobe, which is against her whole nature.

Earlier that week, Anne had fought a huge conflict with herself on whether or not to take the key. I could fill a whole book on all the excuses she made on not taking it. But, she had done it anyway, her curiosity got the better of her and she told herself, "I'll put it back when I'm done. No harm to anyone."

Now back to the present time: Anne turned around and walked over to the opposite wall and dug her fingernails into a square panel that was cut into the wall and pulled out the panel that had hidden a keyhole. She put the key in and turned it and, as it clicked, a door in the wall swung open sending out a cloud of dust.

If you think architecturally (I'm not sure if that's a word, but you know what I mean) then behind that wall should be the barn that's connected to the side of the house, but instead there was a tree. Anne brushed past the tree and arrived at a small open field as big as the barn should be. The smell of wildflowers filled the air around her and fresh spring breezes blew the trees surrounding her so hard that it seemed as if they moved. Anne looked around with wonder at the new scenery; she was glad of the warm weather, because at home it was January.

“It’s perfect!” she said out loud with joy. She immediately found a patch of lovely red flowers to sit in and took out her little notebook. Then she began whisking away with her pencil; the red flowers around her appeared on one page, on the next exotic looking blue flowers bloomed and tiny bugs crawled.

Half of a bird fluttered onto the next page. His head and wings were left unfinished because something had caught Anne’s eye while she was drawing. It looked like a dragonfly but had the body of a stag. Its little white antlers glittered in the sunlight as it perched next to her.

Anne could not take her eyes off of it; she had never seen anything like it. (Well, of course she hadn’t, have you?) And when the stag-fly buzzed its tiny dragonfly wings and zipped away, the girl chased after it not wanting to lose sight of that magnificent creature. But, the bug seemed to be suspicious of the golden-haired girl following after it and never landed so she could get a better look at it. It pranced, or buzzed, or whatever it did, into a dark forest and was lost to sight.

It was then that Anne became aware of her surroundings. She peered into the dark forest that stood tall and gloomy, looming over her like a giant waiting to devour her. But, she back away, defying the giant’s wishes and leaving the bug to whatever doom must lie beyond those cold branches.

She turned around and looked back to where she came from, but nothing looked familiar. The red patch of flowers was no where to be found; she must have run farther than she thought while chasing the stag-fly. Frantically she searched the ground for her little black drawing book. She would peer around bushes and trees and, every once in a while, would rush towards any glimpse of red only to find something other than her patch of flowers.

After a while someone found the things that poor Anne was searching for. He knelt down and picked up the black book and wondered at it. He had never seen any kind of book before. As he flipped through the pages and the animals and flowers grew around him, he began to wonder about the owner of this mysterious object.

At that very moment he heard a rustling from behind a clump of bushes and caught a glimpse of something blue. He crept over, in an inhumanly quiet sort of way, hid himself behind those same bushes and peered around to see who was disturbing the land. It was a girl with golden hair wearing the strangest clothes; a light blue sweatshirt and jeans. (Though, he didn’t know what they were called)

She was a creature unlike any he had ever seen and the sight of her made the pit of his stomach twist and curl and his heart raced. It was not a bad feeling, it actually made him happy, but it was strange and it scared him. He tore his eyes away and sat with his back to the girl. The way he felt when he looked at her could only mean one thing: she had put a spell on him. She must be a witch!

“It’s a good thing,” he thought to himself, “that I looked away when I did!

* * *

Asian bead Necklace

I'm really proud of this one! But I haven't thought of a name for it...any suggestions? It's made with cheapo plastic black beads and the red Chinese beads are made out of some odd rubbery plastic stuff....but they're really pretty to me!! The red rock chips are connected so its all the same necklace. It took me a while to figure out the technique but I got it. It's pretty clever really since I had to instructions or pictures to help me (Same with The Malissa) The earrings I made sometime after the necklace (since it took almost 3 hours to make) The diamond is actually made from a paper clip, and the rock chips dangle on straight pins separated by metal spacer beads. It was a long and hard job to find the right pattern and lots of paper clips had to be sacrificed, but it was worth it in the end!

Peek Into My Room: My Animals

Of course I'm not too old for stuffed animals, you silly!

Hey, these are special though....let me explain...

Bottom row:

I bought the sea turtle at Sea World in Orlando when we went for Peanut's (my other little sister) birthday. Wouldn't that be an awesome birthday!

Winifred the river otter (named after the otter in Redwall) is my favorite, she came from the South Carolina Aquarium, the first one I ever went to.

The dolphin is actually my sister, Luna's, but I had to put it in because it came from the Baltimore Aquarium, that was awesome!!

Rufus, the dog beanie baby, came from Arkansas actually....he's there solely for sentimental purposes. I have had him ever since I can remember and has been everywhere with me (and he's in surprisingly good condition) I love Rufus! (he also has an awesome singing voice, the other beanie babies on the block say he sounds just like Elvis!)

The white tiger was bought at the Natural History Museum in Washington D.C., that was a fun place. He is one of the most patriotic tigers you'll ever meet!

Middle row:

The clouded leopard came from the Zoo in Washington D.C. I love clouded leopards! Ever since I saw that episode of Planet Earth about China I have been fascinated by the animals from there; the clouded leopard (who has the awesomest tail and coat) pandas (well, you know why they're cool) and musk deer (deer with saber teeth!)

The bear came from Germany. It was special when I got it because we didn't live in Germany yet. My dad had brought it back from one of his trips.

The red-tailed hawk came from the St. Louis Zoo. I got that particular animal because in S. Carolina, a family of red-tailed hawks lived in our back yard, and that was a really great thing to me. (it also makes a hawk sound when you squeeze belly that scares away squirrels and make them do funny things with their tails!)

The last animal on the top is another otter. She is actually a back pack ( I had to put splash balls inside of her to make her sit up straight) but the straps wore completely off. I got it from my Grammi and Papa on year for Christmas when I was about 7 or 8 and it was the best thing ever! I remember sitting under their pool table with all my other presents (and a few "treasures" like rocks and screws I found in the yard hidden under the top corners of the table) and playing for hours.

There are a few extra things I have to mention like the blue blanket the animals are on is actually a shawl my grandpa sent from Turkey! Also, there are some animals not shown (oops, sorry) like a cute little teddy bear from Hawaii and a koala bear from Australia both also from my grandpa.

And I'm still adding on to my collection (I can't wait to go to France or Italy!!!)

Oh, and I don't have an animal from my hometown in Mississippi! *hint hint*

Mr. Turtle

I found Mr. Turtle stuck in a bucket in my grandma's backyard. I picked up the bucket up to move it but heard something clunking inside; at first I thought it was a big rock but it was a box turtle in the muddy water. After cleaning him off I waited for him to come out of his shell. It took forever but when he finally did he was very brave for a turtle. I could pick him up and his legs would still be walking :) I watched him as he headed for the bushes, there he buried himself halfway and curled back into his shell. I went inside after that (It was really hot out in the sun! Ah, the heat....it was felt good!) and when I came back out he was gone. I guess he probably went under the house to get cool, bye Mr. Turtle!

The Malissa

My first necklace, the Malissa (I'm naming them, its cheesy I know...) It's for my Aunt Missy, do you think she'll like it? It has copper sead beads with a green glass glaze, copper colored pearls, small chrytal beadds and a hand blown swirled glass bead. That's about $38 worth of supplies and people would sell it for about $64. :)

The D.C. Zoo

Here are the pictures I drew when I was at the D.C. Zoo:

That's weird....I didn't relize that I drew mostly birds...don't ask why that is cause I don't know...

I Recycle!

When I was 11 or 12 I begged my mom to get me these pants, my neighbor said they were cool so I had to get a pair! That was when I was starting to care about my appearance! Anyway, now they are way too short and too tight in the legs so I decided to try a project from the Sew Subversive book. I'm making a hip belt! Never heard of it? Neither have I, but it looked cool in the book!
I'm gonna cut the legs off as low as possible then hem it up with a ribbon. (Its an ultra mini skirt that I would never where in public on its own, so I where it over jeans and its a hip belt!) The ribbon and buttons were my own ideas! We have a bucket full of all sorts of buttons though most are not very colorful thats way we haven't used them all yet! But I found a bunch that would go perfect and tried different assortments, one of the first was a Navy look. It didn't feel right though, because my dad is in the Air Force and my uncle is in the Army. So I tried to find another look but I couldn't find anything better! So...I decided to go nautical anyway. Hey, my great grandpa was in the Navy so there!
After I cut off the legs and sewed the ribbons and buttons on, I had to find a shirt to go with it. The only thing that I owned that looked alright was a white cami. But, my arms were cold of course so, just for a laugh, I pulled the pant legs over my arms, which were still connected by a little piece of fabric. To my surprise it looked good! Remember, waste not! So here it is pinned on the cami, all I have to do is sew it. Ta Da! You won't find anything like this on anyone else! I recycled my old pants to create an outfit completely my own!

Black Panther

I drew the head without any reference, so I just used what I remembered... yeah, its not very good...

Kangaroo

Zeus and Trixie

As one my first real drawings (when I say that I mean using the techniques I found in a book) I decided to draw my aunt's dog, Zeus. I would've drawn my own dog but she was too hard XP

Yesterday I did draw my dog Trixie though. I was doing my Geometry on the floor and Trixie was laying roght next to me, I had to draw her right then and there for some odd reason so I did. I had no paper so I drew her right there in my math book (don't tell Mom!!)

See her, right there ^ teehee