Beautiful Songbirds...

Good afternoon, everyone!

Hope it's been a great day for you so far...I had a lovely one at the Park, taking some adorable 2nd graders on a fieldtrip...so much energy, and so much fun!

I have a few things to share with you today...I made a couple of cards yesterday--enjoyed making these so much!  Here's the first one...

I love this beautiful robin image from Crafty Secrets' "Birds and Botanicals" Images & Journal Notes booklet--just a simply regal bird--"The Singer"--which also comes into play later in my post...

This is a fairly simple card, lots of layers, though...some lovely manuscript-looking music paper, black lace and ribbon...and of course, plenty of chunky silver glitter--the real stuff I love so much!

Here's my second...

I LOVE this little girl!  Her very serious face as she attempts to guide all these beautiful songbirds in a song...makes me giggle!  This image is also from the "Birds and Botanicals" booklet--so many pretty ones to choose from!  I used another image, cut it up, and it's now the birdies that are popped up at the top and bottom of the main image.  Lots of Dazzling Diamonds on this one...not showing up too well in the photo, though!

I love that bunch of lilacs behind her--gorgeous!

These beautiful vintage songbird images started me thinking about another songbird that I love so much...

...this is my great-grandmother, Estella Vance Stapley.  I've talked about her in posts before, and probably will again!  So many stories that I'm lucky to have... 

Estella was a singer.  For as long as she could remember she loved to sing--it was a very important part of her life.  I'm told she had a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice...wish I could remember hearing her sing...

When she was a a young girl, in old Mesa, Arizona, her parents decided there wasn't a good place for the young people of the town to get together, so they built the Vance Auditorium in 1906...

...the family actually lived in the theater for a time, in back rooms and upstairs until they built their new home.  They had quite a large family...

Estella was a twin--her sister, Orella (not identical!) is on the center left in the white dress with dark hair...and Estella is on the center right, next to her father with the white dress and blond hair...what a beautiful family!

The Auditorium was used for all sorts of entertainments for the community...dances, concerts, church meetings, family gatherings, and when the first silent movies came along, they were shown there, as well!  Estella and her sister had the opportunity to introduce all the new popular songs of the day to the community--no radio yet in those days! 

There were two swings built on either end of the stage, and Estella and Orella would swing and sing all the newest songs...

"Daisy, Daisy"...was one she specifically remembered singing there, as well as

"Come Josephine in My Flying Machine"...so fun to know some of the actual songs she sang!

Here's how she looked about this time...this is her girls' basketball team photo from Mesa High School around 1912...

...that's Estella on the bottom left...love that smile!

The Vance Auditorium (later called the Mezona) was used until 1971 when it was torn down to make way for a motor lodge...pretty sad, isn't it?!  So glad a couple of old photos of it remain.  I so wish I could somehow have had a seat in that beautiful old theater and seen my Great-Grandmother doing what she loved best...

I hope you have a wonderful evening...sing something you love while you're cooking dinner for your family tonight...there's a songbird in each one of us, I think!

(Had to share the beautiful sunset from last night...just look at those amazing clouds!)