Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween all! This is our front porch. The trick or treaters were adorable. We only had about 40, this year.

Snow and an adorable pumpkin

We had snow today! Yep, all day. It was snowing light and then big fluffy flakes, then sleet then hail. I love the big fluffy flakes. I used to tell my children that we were in God's snow globe and he shook it. I had a coworker ask me how to make paper snowflakes last winter and I could not believe she had never made them before. I thought every child had made them, so here are 2 different options. You have regular 2-D Snowflakes,
and then you have 3-D Snowflakes. Take your pick. Either are fun to make.

Our UPS truck pulled up to the house this afternoon and much to my delight he headed right for our door. I love when that big brown truck stops out front. Well he delivered a parcel from none other than Jackie of Fat Jaks Originals. I was the winner of her Halloween Party giveaway. Yippee!

I think she must be a mind reader because she threw in a square of Ghirardelli chocolate covered caramel. One of my favorites! Yum!

Then there was this most adorable little pumpkin! I absolutely love it! She is so darn cute! I put her on display immediately and I will pack her away in that sweet black and white polka dotted paper until next Halloween and then the one after and so on. It will be like Christmas when I get to open the box each year. Thank you so much Jackie! If you have not seen her work, you must have a look. She is amazing! Thanks to Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist, I discovered lots of wonderful artists and fun bloggers. So again, Thank you Vanessa for throwing such a fun Halloween Blog Party!

Have a lovely Wednesday evening,

A glimpse of my work space

Okay, so I could only get a few pics of my space due to some of them being blurry. I can try again at a later date. I just love this illustration by Mary Engelbreit. The message is perfect. I have it on a memo board in my art space. I love my storage boxes. I buy them whenever they are on sale and label them and organize everything. I have them on every shelf. That top shelf has a piece of red painted wood that says I love mom. My son whom is 23 now, made that for me when he was about 5. So sweet. Yes I am a sentimental mom. I have a heart my daughter made and I keep their notes to me in my jewelry box. They are all precious to me.

Don't be scared. I try to keep it organized, I promise, but when I have many projects going on at once it looks like this and worse, much worse. Hey, how do you like my task lighting, yeah the bare bulb? I have recessed lighting in there but it is not bright enough right over my table, so I added this little doodad and it is wonderful, not pretty but very functional.

I love my paintbrushes. I use them all of the time and I just love the pot I have them in. My mother gave me this plaque a few years back. She always encourages those around her.

Happy Monday!

Kreativ Blog Award

Oh my gosh, would you believe that Twyla and Lindsey over at Two Crazy Crafters gave me the Kreativ Blog award, also? How sweet you two! Thank you! They are a mother daughter team that share in thrifting, collecting and flea marketing, together. Check out their blog. It's full of vintag goodies. Since I already listed 6 things that make me happy in the last post, I will move onto the 6 bloggers I will pass this award onto. Please take a few minutes and check each one out. They are all so unique and lovely.
Under the Red Roof, Wren Cottage, Joy to the Blog, Pigment of Your Imagination, An Enchanted Cottage, and Kristin Hubick Remember ladies to list 6 things that make you happy. ;-D

XOXO,

Creative Blogger Award

I was given this wonderful award by a new blogging friend, Lindsay. Thanks Lindsay! You are so sweet! She goes on lovely walks in her hometown in England. She shares images of quaint cottages and such. Very serene, so if you need to relax go check out her blog.
I have to list 6 things that make me happy. Hmmm...only 6?
1. Spending time with my family. I love having my son home from college on the holidays and all of us getting to enjoy one anothers company. It makes me feel like our home is complete.
2. A clean house. Not the cleaning part but when it's all done I love walking in and having it looking so nice and orderly. It relaxes me. It's such a treat.
3. I love to receive mail and emails. They make me smile. I love conversations in my etsy shop, comments on my blog and letters and packages in the mailbox or on the doorstep. It's like Christmas. I cannot believe I didn't get in on this blogging thing a long time ago. I have met so many wonderful kindred spirits here. It's been such a pleasure.
4. Our dog Chance. He is a Maltese and he is so adorable. He loves to snuggle up on my lap if I am sitting down and if I am not he will curl up nearby. He is my shadow. When I am not home, he is our daughters shadow. He whimpers when she comes home and does not pay attention to him. You can't help but love the little guy.
5. Creating and decorating. I love to be able to express myself in our home and in my artwork. When the creative muse strikes, I have to run with it. Seeing a before and after picture makes me very happy. I enjoy beautifying our surroundings.
6. Traveling. We have been fortunate to be able to explore a great deal of our United States and Aruba. Its so much fun discovering new places and learning about the local culture, shops, foods and art. I also love the architecture in various places. Photographing these travels is so much fun. My kids think I'm nuts always carrying my camera but I have to tell you it is nice being able to reminisce.
So there you have it. Hope you haven't dozed off yet. I am to send this on to 6 creative bloggers. hmmm...this will be way harder than choosing 6 things that make me happy because all of you are creative bloggers. Oy...Okay I am selecting: Dawn of Feathered Nest, Jessi of Scrappy Jessi, M.Kate of La Vie Est Belle, Sandy Michelle, Sharon of Manamoon, and Sherry of Esprit d'Art If you get a chance check out these wonderful blogs.

Tomorrow I will post some pics of my mayhem of a workroom. Yikes. No cleaning first, because I am in the middle of a crafting frenzy and I canot let such a mundane thing like cleaning stop me in my tracks. So BEWARE! ;-D

Enjoy your Sunday,

Fun Packages sent and rec'd.

Here are the 3 treat bags I sent out to the winners of my Halloween Blog Post last Saturday. Each one has 2 pumpkin lollipops, a handmade magnet, a handmade BOO tag, a bell necklace (either a black cat or pumpkin), a pkg. of stickers and a "bleeding" candle. The 3 lucky winners were announced each day in the comment section of that post. The winners were: Jenn , Janis
and Vanessa

I also was involved in a Fall Swap. Miss Harley Dee sent me this fun package of fall inspired goodies. She even handmade the card in the upper right of the picture. There were acorns, a jeweled pumpkin, a pkg. of feathers, a tag, some pretty ribbon a handmade drawstring bag and pumpkin spreaders. Wasn't she so sweet?! Thanks Harley!

Magical Musical Mirror

I found this beauty at the antique shop this past weekend. I fell in love with it immediately. It is small, beautiful and it is musical. I was so intrigued that it was musical. I tried twisting the ball (shown pulled out in both pics here) but it just kepttwisting around and then I tried pulling but it was hard so I pulled a little more and voila it started playing. I fell in love immediately, Oh I already said that didn't I?

It was made in Switzerland and it reads on the label in the back Liebestraum R'eve d' Amour Liszt. I took it into work and asked a friend what it said and she said Love Dream by composer Liszt. The music is so soft and pretty. I wish you all could hear it.

I'm so glad you came to my halloween Party!

Yay! It's so good of you to come! So you got the invite, I see. Well, I did light the way with luminaires so you witchy poos would not trip wearing those high heeled boots of yours.

Oh I love your bag and that hat! Black feathers are the latest rage, you know.

Check out this wonderful cat mask. It will be perfect for the masquerade party! Love it!

Oh you guys are so silly! Look how fabulous your costumes are! Did you whip those up or what? You are so talented!

Please come enjoy some treats! I made these specially for our party. They almost look too good to eat! Maybe we should just stand here and admire them. Naaaa... Crunch, oops, juice is running down my chin. How ambarassing! oh well we are among friends, right.?

For those of you with arachnophobia, please don't be scared. They are just little plastic toy spiders. I promise!

Well, if you are still hungry I came across this delectable recipe perfect for filling your tummies before we ride off into the sunset on our broomsticks. I know I'm a show off!

Grab your hats and your broomsticks cuz' off we go. Let's take a jaunt over to another party

Oh but wait, I almost forgot I wanted to show you how we can light our way, so we can get back here in time to go ghost hunting at dusk.

Don't be afraid! These luminaires are along the cemetery path, and if you want you can bring along a lantern. I know you're afraid of the dark but you can hang onto my purse strings.

We can come back and carve pumpkins! Don't you just love that ooey gooey feeling of the slimey seeds and the stringy insides. Oh and we can make Pepitas. Yummy!

Oooh...it's foggy out here! This haunted trail is scary! Please ride along side me close! Was that a lady in a white gown or was that a ghost? Quick this way~ follow the bats!


The graveyard is lit up, so we can see all the loveliness of it's eery tombstones. Let's play ring around the tombstone. Want to?

Oh no the fog is rolling in here too. Stay close and keep the broomsticks nearby in case we need to make our getaway fast.


Off we go now back to the party. Oh no it looks like the spirits have followed us from the graveyard. Quick pull out your tadpoles and the egrits and the leg of lizard. We must cast a spell upon them. Where's the cauldron? Oh darnit, I forgot the cauldron. This middle age is killing me.

Off we go now to enjoy the many other parties. We are social witches after all. Oh I almost forgot. I whipped up some ghoulishly fun goodie packs. 3 to be exact. I will be pick 1 winner at midnight for the next 3 nights and post the winners before noon each day after. Every good witch needs her scary sleep, right? eeeheeeheeehee!

Party and Latest Travel Photo Journals

Don't forget to check back on Saturday for the Fun Halloween Party! Will have some treats to win!

These are 2 travel photo albums I created most recently. Both were to encompass China a bit.

The black photo corners were positioned so that the photos can be easily placed on each page.

I used a mixture of wallpapers, cardstock and scrapbooking papers then embellished the pages.

I hope she likes them. They are being shipped off this afternoon to their new home. It is so much fun creating for people.