halloween swap doll and stuff about me

I was in vivonawhim's doll swap for the halloween Ball and this is who I made for
carla at carlafinley. I deided to use the hands feet and head made from ceramic. I found these at a thrift store in a box for $2. I have two more sets.
I had a set of short miniature pumpkin lights and she lights up when you plug here in.

Barbara at 123lavenderlollipoplane tagged me for random things about me.

I think there is not a lot left to know about me but I will go for it.

The rules are to name 7 things I like and then name 7 others to post on their blog.

1.). my nickname john dubbed me with when we were first dating is

"squeek'.

2). my nickname through school was 'hatrack' (last name hattenburg)

or 'stretch' because i was tall and skinny. much taller than the boys at that age except for a few.

3). I love to cook and bake

4). I love to sew.

5). I love tweety bird I always wear a gold tweety necklace john got me years ago for valentine's day.(i got a small tweety tattoo when I turned 50).

6). I am NOT much of a chocolate person. Give me good and plentys any

day.

7.) I am embarassed with compliments

Okay 7 others I am tagging:

1) paula

2) viv

3)vallen

4). connie

5).kai

6). karen

7).susan

I am off to do my laundry and pack my suitcase. I fly home tomorrow.

it is leafing! It is leafing!

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."- Albert Camus


I knew I would have a wonderful time here with the kids and Nakiah and Tovi Joi. I was not prepared for the beautiful autumn and the amazing colors every where I looked.
I think the kids got tired of me saying, "oh my it is beautiful, amazing, glorious but it is!!!


Nakiah likes to take me to the cemetery. It is truly beautiful here.

look at all the rustling leaves. We have fun walking through these every

day on the way to the coffee shop. We haven't been there in a few days

because of the rain and cold but today we need to get our 'lattes'.

The girls have chocolate 'wattes' as Tovi joi calls them. The people are so nice. The girls want to be like oma and they fix theirs with warm milk and whip cream and chocolate topping.( no coffee). So we walk down the street and nakiah says "I wonder if people are mad at you for letting us drink coffee Oma." HA

This lady is about five feet tall and stands on top of a gravestone.Nakiah tells me that a man's wife died and he loved her so much he put this lady

there to watch over her. Isnt that romantic? We go to her site every day.

This is one of the main roads thru the cemetery.

On our daily walk....walking on top of this little wall has become a ritual.

we found this toadstool among the fallen leaves and it is so pretty. In person it looked irredescent. That doesn't show up in the photo.

When u look around eastern washington it is more evergreens.


here the leaves are falling on us....


Their back yard. Salem the cat in the back is my foot warmer at night.

He disapproves of wiggly feet though and bites them in the middle of the night! OUCH
Hope you are all having a beautiful autumn wherever you are.

Now Who Can't Use a Good Laugh?

Good Morning every one!! you know how it goes when you travel and are going to be away for a month. Every thing you think you might need goes into the little 'must have and may be necessary' bag. Then you get to your destination and every thing stays in said bag for convenience and space constraints.
Some mornings are kind of 'that kind of morning' and I had myself one last weekend. I was slowly starting my day, visiting with nakiah and tovi joi and their mommy and reached for this:
onto my purple toothbrush it went. I merrily started brushing away....up down up down, 'blech this toothpaste has got to go. Maybe it is just getting old or something.' brush brush brush some more 'oooooh bad stuff.' Time for the tongue. gag gag gag WHAT THE h IS THIS?

I rush to my bag and pull out none other than this:
Brianna and Jason have a great laugh. Jason decides my mouth or tongue will not 'itch' all day. We laugh while I rinse and gag and taste all things good like REAL TOOTHPASTE, mouthwash, licorice, coffee and still the after taste lingers and lingers and lingers!!!

In the meantime brianna starts brushing her teeth and then starts spitting madly into the sink......................you guessed it!! She was so busy laughing at her mom she picked up the wrong toothbrush and got to have the same 'rush of gynecort' to start HER day.

It wasn't long before we were at the store for new toothbrushes!! Let that be a lesson to all travelers.
Must haves and 'maybe necessaries' should never visit in the same travel bag!

FAR AWAy FROM HOME

A lot of you know that I flew to the east coast last week to stay a month with our youngest daughter and her family. I am in upstate New york and it is absolutely beautiful here. The weather is very warm for Oct and I am enjoying every minute of it.

Mommy is doing her internship this month for her masters and daddy is working so Oma gets the girls all to herself!! I am 'homeschooling' almost 7 yr old nakiah and 3 yr old Tovi Joi has been telling every one that she is 6 since her birthday in APril!!
She likes to 'play school' as well

This first week has gone rather fast but it has been so full and fun. Mommy and Daddy help cleanup after dinner and put the girls to bed with their bedtime stories etc and Oma gets the rest of the night to herself for rest and relaxation.

I will never tire of 'Oma you are the best Oma in the big town" or those beautiful little hugs. I have to laugh every time I hear the 'big town' because it is a little village.

Several blocks away a new deli/restaurant/bakery/coffee shop opened.

The girls and I have taken a 'recess break' for a treat and a walk and friday we had lunch here. I LOVE it ....this is definitely ME. Brianna told me on the phone when it opened that she thought of me when she walked in. I love old stuff like this.


The deli/bakery section

Old advertising signs
an orginal phone booth that was here from a previous store started in the late 1800's.
Hot chocolate..................... sinful looking huh?
Oma this muffin has bootiful sprinkles and is so nummy
part of the seating area
front counter....... all old original wood cabinets/counters/display cases
candy section
I have been here three times for a latte and since brianna has school off tomorrow we just may have to walk down for breakfast.

GARAGE SALE FINDS

A few weeks ago I was driving to the grocery store and saw this sign for an estate sale. How could I NOT GO JUST TO LOOK right? No harm in that...........ummm never..............sure.

Actually it was about ten blocks away and the driveway was uphill---took a few minutes to think about walking up that baby with my cane.....once up I would have to come down as well.....both hard for me...........
Several people were walking away with small boxes or even large pictures bedding etc......all smiling................alright................a very good sign.

Up the hill I trudged feeling wonderful fun things calling out to me.
"Hurry come get me before someone else does. "

I was offered free lemonade or iced tea ...so nice ...and did the 'slow scan and walking from table to table.............of course chatting with the homeowners. "Moving?" No actually cleaning out closets and drawers and getting rid of stuff we never use."
I see................... .
u looking for anything in particular ma'am?
Well some times I don't know that I am looking for something until it calls my name but always looking for vintage craft supplies/jewelry
etc."
"FINALLy" popped up one daughter......I bet you want grannie's two boxes!"
I was led to two small carboard boxes crammed with craft looking stuff. How much ...of course is the leading question.
$20 each .......this is the last day and we cut the price in half .
SOLD .
They even carried the boxes to the car for me chatting as they
went.
No one in the family really makes stuff unless it is fishing flys."

So off I went to the store hoping I had something worth that kind of money in there.
I got home later and did the HAPPy dance and this is what I found:

bottles of gems including opals and probable birthstones.

like these including individual rhinestones of all sizes in GLASS bottles.
more gemstones and beads some very vintage looking.

these pretty colored drop glass beads with holes in the top

vintage trims as well as large colored glass prisms
even more beads and stones and trims
all these pearl necklaces and bracelets
even more vintage trim how did it all fit in one small box?

glass bottles of tacks and nails and clips and little necessities in a studio
more and more trims
interesting paper trims
more vintage beads and old pins hat pins etc
vintage doll parts lots and lots for assemblage art!!! woo hoo

jewelry findings
a vintage box of rings some with set stones a lot more without
vintage mercury glass beads unstrung perfect
more trim in this box
and enought rhinestone jewelry to 'bathe' in...............well almost!!

Lucky Lucky me!!

Halloween FUN

This was the last project I was able to do with the kids that come to the house each week. We had a ton of things we wanted to do this month.
I am now in midstate New york until the end of Oct.
These were hanging up the street the day after we made them.

Just little old paper stuffed garbage bags tied or rubber banded under the heads and painted with much DELIGHT. Tie or band off ears for
a sweet cat. Use tall kitchen bags for the ghosts and pumpkins and large black ones for the cats.
cut the bottom parts of the " halloween critters' into thin strips, draw a string through the head
and they make fun windsocks!!

DID I SEE THAT?

Since it is now officially fall I had to post these two pictures. Last month we were at the Lake with friends. These guys backed up to the boat launch with this washer and dryer and misc items. It seemed very
amusing to every one on the beach.
"Do they float?" "How many horsepower?" glib remarks barked out from the crowd were met with smiles and shoulder shrugs.

They eventually loaded every thing up on their boat and off they went albeit at a very slow speed.
Did you ever see something that didn't quite fit the scene and wished you had your camera to capture it on film?

Fun swaps and stuff!

Good afternoon every one. Here in the Northwest we are again having record high temperatures for this time of year. It is absolutely beautiful.The weather forecast calls for cooler temps plus some rain by the weekend but still much warmer than usual. I for one think it is 'lovely. I hope wherever you are you are enjoying 'perfect weather'.

I have actually been creating the last few months but haven't taken the time to post to the blog.

I have decided to go back to making every gift from now on. When the kids were little John and I would make almost every gift we gave. We both enjoyed it but found that some of the friends and family didn't appreciate the talent and time that went in to said gifts. As we grew a little more affluent and busier in our lives we gave more 'store bought' items and enjoyed it less.

With the national economics being what they are and the fact I have stashes that cry out to me on a regular basis, I am taking an oath here and now to MAKE every gift from now on.

I had to come up with a baby gift on Saturday. John wanted to just go buy a dress or something. It is for a girl. I held my ground and went into my
studio and voila. I found a poem online about little girls that was so sweet. I found paper I had that seemed to fit the poem and printed it out on the paper. I made a small box out of chipboard--though one could use cardboard etc. I taped all the sides together with duct tape. I made the opening 5 x 7 so I could place a picture frame and glass on top.( so the sides of the boxes were 5 x7 as well.)
I covered the four sides of the inside of the box with matching paper I used for the back. I used ribbon to cover the seams that showed between the bottom/back inside of the box.

I started pulling out all sorts of doodads that were mentioned in the poem: angel wings, snowflakes, cinnamon stick for cinnamon, pearls, daisies etc etc. I had enough to embellish the sides and bottom of the box.
When the inside was all complete to my satisfaction I placed the glass and picture frame on top of the box opening and secured it down with duct tape.

I covered the outside back of the box with felt and took wide plush ribbon to cover the sides. I used some pretty lace to cover the seam between the ribbon and the picture frame and then embellished that with some ribbon roses. I added a ribbon hanger when I glued the back felt on as well.

The shadow box can be hanging or sat on a shelf.

The couple that received this gift truly was delighted. They said 'oh it is so nice to have something unique and not another pink dress.'




This summer I was in a pinkeep swap hosted by the delightful Vivian @Vivswhimsy. I was paired with Fran from dollsthecanvasofmysoul.

She is very talented. Please go to her site to see her beautiful dolls.
She sent me this adorable pinkeep. I love her. I smile every time I use her. Fran also included some beautiful hand dyed lace. Thank you Fran I sent Fran this pinkeep. I used some of my cutter quilt stash to make this heart. I joined it together with ribbon using the blanket stitch. I then added lengths of ribbon with buttons/beads/doodads tied to the ends.
I then attached it to a brass candlestick and added a vintage brooch to finish it off.

Sarah from Gypsymermaidlife hosted The Witch's cupboard swap. (Please go to Sarah's site. She lost her home and everything in Hurricane Ike. If you want to help out she has information listed.)
My partner was Julie @CupcakeDD . She makes the coolest stuff! She loves vintage stuff as much as I do.
I had a vintage punpkin made out of orange yarn. I separated his head, arms and legs and glued them to this vintage Hershey's chocolate bar box. I thought it was fun and quirky.
I thrifted the metal sign.

I visited a liquidation store and halloween goodies like this below were 90% off. I filled it with some goodies for Julie.
I made the following basket out of vintage fabric stash. I lined this basket and then added a ruffled edge. I covered the outside with black coat sued

and added a vintage crocheted doily to the bottom portion. I embellished it with a few little halloween cats and spiders.
I thrifted this small black ceramic shoe and thought it would be perfect for a witch to have in her cupboard. I found a ghost design and glued it to a toothpick and added letters to spell out the B O O. A bat pin finished it off.

When Julie's package arrived it was so fun to open. She topped the box with long lengths of white and black wide ribbon and had wrapped everything in newspaper with great trim.
This crow sits on a tissue paper trimmed platform and looks very cute in front of my black halloween tree. His little witch hat is so cute.
Julie sent me a package of frosted gum drop garland that adorns the same tree.
SHe filled glass jars with bits and bobs and labeled them as 'eye of newt' 'naughty nymph dust use sparingly' 100% organic spun spider's silk' So clever! She also took a small plastic skeleton and broke into parts and labeled it 'bag o' bones'It was all wrapped up so sweetly.



My favorite item was this framed saying:
Home is where you hang your broom!
Thank you Julie! I have had lots of comments on the items you sent!!
I am off to hang some pumpkin lights to add a little more halloween decor to the place.
Make a Gift and give part of yourself.