Do As I Say,...

...Not as I do. Hahaha! A little explaination. First off, I am pleased to see that I am NOT the only one who would like to savor that forgotten period between Halloween and Christmas. I call Thanksgiving "that speed bump holiday" on the way to Christmas. Funny thing is, that no sooner did I post my rant (previous post), than I fell into some Christmas making projects (yes, I am a hypocrite- shhhh, don't tell anyone!). The temperatures have been below 40*F. so I have been cocooning and crafting is my natural response to being stuck indoors.

So first, I created these hymnal paper Moravian stars (scroll down to Nov. 20 post) for an ornament swap with Christian Paper Artists. Only this year I played with adding a dangle thingy and discovered the no-glue method of embellishing with junk jewelry. Just punch a hole with the post of the earring and punch through, fastening with th earring's back. No jump rings required either since dangle earrings naturally come with a way to hang them (genius!!!)! I am very pleased with how my ornaments turned out.

Part two of "do as I say, not as I do" is, when you are in a swap, please complete the swap in a timely manner (speaking as a hostess who has waited on stuff to arrive)! The altered paint can pictured is my VERY late swap to Donna K. who is also hosting the ornament swap so I am trying to kill two birds with one stone (or pack two things in one box for mailing). I took part in an "altered item" swap, a year ago almost to the day, and failed to complete it in a timely manner. Donna sent me a gleaming silver paint can for me to alter and return to her and I suffered creative block, then procrastinated about dealing with it. I took part in other swaps and all the time carried the shame of not completing this one altered swap. Donna had said she understood and just figured I would get it done when I got it done. I'm sure she wasn't thinking she would have to wait a whole year though! I'm sure she has given up on ever seeing her paint can-- ever again. And I'm sure I hold the record for the latest swap ever turned in!

Can I PLEASE Enjoy Fall?

The day after Halloween I was in Walmart for something and heard CHRISTMAS CAROLS playing in the store already! It offended my senses. Maybe I was hung over from Halloween candy, maybe I was a tad bit sleep deprived, but the sound of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" made me want to vomit. So I'm here to rant about not rushing the seasons and the holidays, even though the retailers would have us do so.

So in honor of my favorite seasons, AUTUMN, I made a card to send to a friend. The lovely paper models were cut from a vintage Simplicity pattern, glued onto a piece of marbled paper (from my coptic stitching friend Cindy), which in turn was glued down on an ugly

non-profit greeting card that had a barnwood scene on it (perfect to let peek around the edges). Embellishments are vintage seam binding lace and self stick felt leaves sent to me from friend Jennie who I am making this card for.

So go create something fall-ish, if not enjoy the day crunching through the newly fallen leaves, smell the wood smoke on the air and feel the autumn gale blowing (it's very windy outside my window today!) Happy Fall to you all!

Small Town Trick or Treat

The kids unanimously agreed, "this was the best Halloween ever!".

Like the past two years, we started the evening by driving to Higginsville (8 miles away) for trick or treating at the businesses on Main Street, where Grandma's real estate office is. The event started a half hour earlier than last year so we were trick or treating in daylight. It was a slow, tiring shuffle up and down the street getting the same candy from each business (the business association provides each storefront the majority of the candy). Victoria (12) kept saying, too loudly, "this is BORING! I am SO bored!" I personally was SO glad to make it back to my mother-in-law's office so we could go home. The sun set as we drove back into Corder so as we approached our house, we could finally see the synthetic, lightbulb illuminated jack-o-lantern I had left in our front window to greet guests. Although we had been out an hour already, the night felt like it was just beginning.

I had only meant for us to trick or treat down our street and come home, because I didn't expect many people to be passing out treats. But since it was a beautiful night (clear sky, 65*F.) and we had joined up with some aquaintences in front of our house, our laughing and visiting took us to the end of the street in no time and turned us east to the other side of town. A lot of houses were dark, but those that were lit up rewarded us with happy greetings, exclaimations over the cute costumes and hand fulls of treats or generously pre-packed treat bags. I had heard that the number of trick or treaters dwindled every year so folks didn't worry about rationing their candy. Great for us!

The dimly lit streets and uneven, or absent sidewalks made walking at night a thrilling adventure. Rebecca stumbled over her princess gown twice, the second time hard enough that I had to carry her a little, but as soon as she saw the next glowing porch light, she recovered and wanted her pumpkin bucket so she could continue begging candy. We only visited a dozen houses, but it took a lot of walking in between and the kids' treat buckets filled quickly, and conseqently got heavy, so we were tired after just an hour. Seth even stopped going up to houses with his sisters because his legs hurt. Now that's a tired kid when he's lost enthusiasm for getting candy! Ha! We had met neighbors we only knew from sight (but would know better now) and experienced a Halloween like the old days when kids were invited into a house, without fear, to admire spooky decor and pick out treats. We only covered a small part of town, but as we headed home, the kids and I talked about next year skipping boring Higginsville and trick or treating on our home turf. Although the night's walk was invigorating, and surely helped burn off the candy bars I ate earlier in Higginsville, next year I will involve the car!

Hitting the Deck

I had been avoiding joining most swaps for the past several months because I just could not commit to a deadline. I still can't, but have jumped into a couple. The Christian Paper Artist's third playing card deck is one I could not pass up. My design is very minimal. I was going for a simple, graphic approach-- that and I had to mail art today or tomorrow if I was going to make the Oct. 31 deadline at all! Decks will be selling for $7 each if you contact Linda by Nov. 3 with your order. She also has examples of the cards from other years on her blog, so stop by and see her.

Happy Birthday Rebecca!

Yesterday was Rebecca's 4th birthday which meant a picture appointment with the Thinking Chair. She is as precocious as she looks! There was a lack of cooperation on her part and a lot of begging and negotiating on my part. She kept wanting to lounge on the chair and I, of course, wanted her to sit up and smile pretty. At least she did the smile pretty part. :)For earlier photos to compare her growth, see my sidebar. I will be adding these photos to the collection.

Bedtime Tag

I sat down at my desk as I waited for the kids to finish fiddling around and get into bed (they suddenly remember 15 things to do right at bedtime- can you say ,"stall"?)

Sitting at my desk is a dangerous thing. I find things that suddenly relate and beg to be glued together. Doesn't matter that it is past the kids' bedtime. The untidy mess on my desk beckons.

I scanned the mess of clippings and scraps and rubber stamps that didn't quite get put away. I picked up an old newspaper scrap from my desktop, pulled out a scrap of scrapbooking paper (from a box) for color and glued them both down to a manilla tag. I stamped a diva (dug out of one of the 4-5 boxes of rubber stamps I own), found she was obliterated by the newspaper type, so restamped her onto a piece of yellowed paper, tore out just her face and placed it over the original stamped image. I found the manuscript words in my handy dandy mystery novel, decided they described "Beauty" so stamped that word above, but not before I had run across a butterfly postage stamp (in a drawer while looking for something else) and glued it down (almost any design can use a butterfly!) The diva I chose is not smiling, but she does look introspective and wise. I added some fibers and DONE- in about 20 minutes. My washy watercolor scan background is curtesy of soon to be 4 years old, Rebecca. It was another piece of clutter on my desk. Not everything on my desk is dumped there by me. :)

Sunday Afternoon Art Tag

*Take one manilla tag that's been taking up room on your desk for a month.

*Glue down some antique newspaper scrap.

*Add some antique wallpaper scrap.

*Rubber stamp some manuscript to fill in some of the blank area on the wallpaper.

*Rubber stamp a diva on the wallpaper.

*Rubber stamp her shoes on the bottom of the tag.

*Flip through an old murder mystery book for words.

*Glue down your "found" phrase, adding some rubber stamped words to complete the sentence.

*Finally, punch hole, add fibers and ta-DA!

Now go make a tag for yourself. :)