HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here's my pumpkin kitty.  I've had my eye on the pet Halloween costumes at Target for weeks and couldn't resist any longer. Here are some pictures of Dexter in a little pumpkin ensemble. He wasn't thrilled about getting dressed up and was a little hard to get a clear picture of since he wouldn't sit still for long, but he humored us. Gabby and Ian are relieved that there is a younger cat for us to fuss over when it comes to things like this. :)

I got my first white pumpkin, which I really like. I've seen lots of white pumpkins in decorating magazines and until last year I assumed that they had been painted white! :)  

Gourd

We have a ton of little kids in our neighborhood and were anticipating getting lots of trick-or-treaters, so we stocked up on candy.  Surprisingly only about 20 kids came to our door, so we have quite a bit left over. 

Fall Colors

Today was the first sunny day we've had in a while, so I decided to get some pictures of the beautiful changing leaves.

Adventures With Felted Wool

I just got done making my first wreath out of felted wool.  I bought a bunch of 100% wool sweaters at thrift stores and washed them in hot water on the high agitation cycle to felt the wool.  I then cut the sweaters into strips and wrapped them around a straw wreath.  I saw this project done a long time ago (I wish I could find the website) and finally had the time to make one.  I made a second one for my parents and still have lots of wool left over, so I may try some other variations and give them as gifts.

Here are a couple links to some cute wool wreaths:
http://recovergirl.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/wool-sweater-scrap-wreath/
http://felting.craftgossip.com/2008/12/11/miniature-felted-wool-wreaths-mini-felt-christmas-trees/

Here's another project I finished up this week.  I bought the shadow box and a thrift shop for a few bucks, then spray painted it white and added a variety of pink decorative papers to the back.  This would look cute in a little girl's room. 

Good Reads

I've been reading a lot about creativity lately, in an effort to spark my own creative energies.  One thing that I've discovered is that there is never a perfect time to start a project and that I just need to jump in and get to work.  For a while I was putting things on hold until I am able to get a special craft area all set up in the basement.  But by the time I ever get around to that, I could have made tons of stuff.

Eric Maisel, a psychologist who works with artists, has a number of interesting books, including Creativity for Life: Practical Advice on the Artist's Personality, and Career from America's Foremost Creativity Coach and The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance.  Taking Flight: Inspiration and Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings by Kelly Rae Roberts and Claudine Hellmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop--Beyond the Unexpected: New Techniques Using Color, Personal Imagery and Creative Surfaces were also quite inspiring. 

(I got these pictures on Amazon's website).

Recent Viewing

  

      

Bob and I cancelled our cable tv service a few months ago and I haven't really missed it.  Bob thought that I'd cave in and resubscribe after a week. :)  I wanted to cut down a little on my monthly expenses and started to realize that almost all of what is on tv these days is junk.  We had over 70 channels, yet there was often nothing interesting on.  It's actually peaceful to have the tv off in the evenings rather than having constant background noise.  And I'm able to keep up with what's going on in the news via the internet and NPR.  I think I've actually been more productive and gotten more crafts done since ditching the cable.

We don't have our tv off all the time though.  We have been watching some movies and tv series on DVD from Netflix.  I finally saw Seven Pounds with Will Smith, which is by far the best movie I've seen in a long time.  Morgan Spurlock's documentary series 30 Days had a couple interesting episodes.  Best in Show with Eugene Levy is hilarious and worth seeing.  Unfortunately the past two movies we've watched on DVD have been horrible.  Do not bother seeing The Human Contract or The Informers.  Wynona Ryder and Billy Bob Thorton are in The Informers; I really like both of them and was surprised that they would sign on to be in such a bad movie.  I wonder if they owed someone a favor.

New Camera

I just got a new camera and am so excited to be taking better pictures.  I opted to get a point and shoot camera for now, rather than a SLR since I wasn't ready to spend that much money.  I got a Kodak Easy Share Z915, which has a lot of neat features that will allow me to do some experimenting.

Making Progress

I love searching for treasures at thrift stores, flea markets, and antique shops.  But as anyone who enjoys vintage finds knows, they usually require a little work before they can be used--such as a good cleaning or a coat of paint.  My basement and garage are filled with many such items and this week I finally got around to addressing a couple of them. 

I bought this old window at an antique show last winter.  After some cleaning and repainting it was ready to be hung in my living room.  I will probably put pictures of some sort in the glass panes, but I haven't figured out what yet. 

I also bought this letter press tray last winter.  I thought I got a great deal on it (only $5), but hadn't taken into consideration the amount of work cleaning it would entail.  I spent over 1 1/2 hours scrubbing every nook and cranny with rags and q-tips soaked in Murphy's Oil Soap.  And then spent more time backing it with decorative papers (Amy Butler paper is shades of green).  I really like how it turned out though--it was worth the effort.

Fall Cleaning

This isn't especially exciting news, but it accurately reflects my life at the moment. The changing of seasons seems to signal to me that certain jobs around the house need to be done. Last night I rolled up my sleeves and cleaned out the fridge. The fridge was pretty full when I started, but once I threw out all of the items that were spoiled, I realized that we really have very little food. Apparently it’s time to go grocery shopping.

New Business Cards!

The new business cards for my Etsy store Quirky Crafty arrived in the mail today. I finally discovered the wonders of Vista Print and fell in love--they have so many great designs and their prices are quite reasonable. These pictures are really bad and don't do the cards justice.  The front side is in color and the back is in black/gray/white and lists by blog address. Now I just need to get my store stocked. I'll be selling handmade cards along with some vintage finds, to start out. Check out Quirky Crafty at quirkycrafty.etsy.com.

Bonding Time

We've had Dexter for just six weeks, but he's already settled in and become part of the family.  Gabby and Ian stopped hissing at him ages ago and now they truly seem to enjoy each other's company.  Ian is thrilled to have someone to wrestle with and Gabby is even acting more playful.  Here are some pictures of them napping and cuddling together. 

Scrap Journal

I made this journal entirely out of materials that would have otherwise been discarded.  Bob was no longer using the small two ring binder and it was collecting dust in his office.  The simple fabric cover is made out of a scrap of Amy Butler material and some embroidery floss left over from other projects.  And the pages include pieces of cardstock, attractive packaging from items I've purchased, photos that didn't turn out quite right, paint color samples, and envelopes; which are then embellished with scraps of ribbon and decorative papers that have had shapes punched out of them. It just goes to show, that even junk can be beautiful. 

Kalona, Iowa

Bob and I are making an effort to explore some of the little towns around us that have interesting things to see and that we've previously overlooked.  We spent this past Saturday in Kalona, Iowa (just south of Iowa City).  Kalona has a Mennonite community, lots of gift and antique shops, and places to get great food, such as the local bakery, the cheese factory, and the Tuscan Moon restaurant where we ate lunch.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from our little trip, because I forgot to charge my camera battery before we left.  The shots I've included here are of the items I picked up in the shops.

I was thrilled to find this stash of old green and turquoise Christmas ornaments.  I plan to use them in this year's Christmas wreath.  

I found some vintage children's blocks to spell Bob's name.  

This vintage shelf edging is really cool.  I'll probably use it in my craft room once I get it all set up.

These milk glass knobs are new and are perfect for the tv cabinet that I plan to repaint--they'll give it the vintage look I'm aiming for.

These pictures are not very good.  I definitely need a new camera.  My current camera is a Gateway DC-T50 5.25 megapixel that I got back in 2002.  I don't think that Gateway has even made cameras in years.  I'd like to get a digital SLR camera and learn some special techniques.  But I feel like I need to do some research on which model is best suited for me, before I spend that much money on a camera. 
  

Fall Crafting

The weather here finally seems fall-like (we turned our heat on for the first time this season and actually had some snow flurries yesterday--yikes), which has gotten me into the mood to start working on crafts for the holidays.  I have completed the first item on my crafting to do list, which was to make a wreath for the front door.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and the supplies cost me less than $10 thanks to a 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby.  I used a grapevine wreath that I already had for the base, wove leaf garland through the branches, and added a few decorative pieces with small gourds, pumpkins, etc.  I started making some Christmas ornaments last night and will post pictures once they are completed. 

A Day at the Races

Last Sunday Bob and I were invited to spend the afternoon watching the races at the Cordova Dragway.  We're not race car fans, but it was fun to get out and try something new.  One of Bob's coworkers competes and let us get some cute pictures of Bob in his car.  Hopefully we didn't do too much damage to our hearing--it turns out that drag racing is a very loud sport and my ears hurt by the time we left! :)