No Halloween for us!

We are opting out of Halloween this year. I'm so glad!

Last year I went kicking and screaming into Halloween. This year we convinced the kids that since they have to throw so much of the candy away anyway due allergies that it wasn't really worth it.

The kids are getting a trip to Toys R Us with cash to buy something and the candy of their choice.

More kaleidoscopes

rocks


wine charms

beads

my fireplace brick

I'm having so much fun making these!

My Handy Man!

I just had to share with you the awesome cart my husband made from scraps of lumber and spare parts around the house. I wish we'd taken pictures along the process but we completed forgot.

I painted the cart with Home Depot "OOPS" paint after he filled then sanded the seams and screw holes.

I'm excited about having fresh herbs all winter and the prospect of starting my own seedlings for next years garden.

**I have to mention that it wasn't just scrap lumber, it was reclaimed lumber from a catapult that my husband and the neighbor kid built one weekend this past summer to shoot water balloons.**

Another quilt

I have to preface this with the fact that I DID NOT piece this quilt top myself.

My mom picked it up years ago at an estate sale or maybe and auction. Since my folks are trying to pare down their possessions, mom gifted me with this quilt top.

My daughter loved it!

In keeping with our family's continued effort to renew, reuse and recycle; I am using a twin flat sheet for the backing of the quilt and an old fleece/wool type blanket for the batting. Since the batting is quite thick I'm just tying the quilt instead of hand or machine quilting. I will be sewing the backing up over the front as the binding though.

More wine charms

I made a few more last night.

I ran out of gold memory wire and my index finger was killing me so I had to quit. I do have some very plain memory wire but I like to cover that completely with beads since it's not as shiny and pretty as the gold.

Wine charms, chili and snow..oh my.

After getting dressed this morning I decided to accessorize, something I rarely do, and put on this bracelet. It got me thinking about beads, so since I had the time I made these wine charms.

The chili feast was a success. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. The ones that were taken are either blurry or have too many people that I don't have permission to post pictures of. Our neighbors have the perfect house for this large group so we could hardly tell there were that many people plus 2 dogs in the house!

Before noon today it started to flurry a bit and while we were at the chili feast it was snowing big time! The ground is still too warm for it to stick but the meteorologists were right about the arctic front!

Outside....

We're busy getting the outside cleaned up in preparation of the "Arctic front" the meteorologists keep telling us about. Leaves picked up, deck furniture and chiminea put away, as well as the bikes and terra cotta pots. We also got the snowblower set in it's usual spot next to my van in the garage. I'm sure there will still be a few little tasks that we'll need to do even after the weather turns but for the most part, we'll be done!

Today has been beautiful in the upper 50's, although the wind is starting to really pick up now. Likely blowing in that cold front.

I am planning to do some art at the beginning of the week. I have started a painting...a landscape. Not sure how it's going to turn out. If I like it enough to keep, I'll be sure to share it here.

Tomorrow is filled with our chili feast with a few of the neighbor families.

• 8 adults
• 15 kids
• 4 pots of chili
• 2 pans of corn bread
• adult beverages
  
• PB&J for the non-chili kids
• brownies
• treats
• Football on the TV
  

Sounds like a good time right! Hopefully I can remember to snap a couple of shots of the festivities tomorrow.

Digital kaleidoscopes

Just playing around with Paint Shop Pro 7.

Aren't these fun!!!!

Just for fun AB complete

There are so many things I love about altered books.

• The feeling of completion when I've filled up the all pages
• The way they never close completely
• The warped pages
  
• The paint that got smudged onto the inside covers even though I thought I was careful
• The colorful pages just begging to be touched

I'm definitely going to start another "no theme" book. I love the freedom and chance to express what ever it is that I am feeling at any moment. It also gives me a great place to practice techniques and designs.

Should we all just stop paying the mortgage?

If you have not read this article, you need to.

I don't normally rant but I can't let this go by without comment.

I hate the fact that we were responsible when we purchased this house 5+ years ago. We had a decent down payment from the sale of our previous home (which we skimped and saved and even borrowed from our 401k to make a down payment for 11 years ago) and qualified for a much larger mortgage but we chose not to overextend ourselves.
We thought about all the scenarios that would make buying beyond our comfort zone wrong; taxes going up, job layoff, injury, etc.
We looked at a couple of REALLY nice new homes that would have been SO AWESOME to live in but in the end....WE WERE RESPONSIBLE.
We made good choices and now we are being punished. We're paying for these people who decided that they needed a "McMansion" in the new subdivision carved out of the farmer's fields that he had to sell because farming just didn't pay the bills anymore.
We were responsible and didn't take out a home equity loan to remodel even though we have equity....we were responsible!
We didn't make ourselves "house poor".
We pay our bills on time, we don't go and buy the latest and greatest this to hit that market. We don't go out to eat. We don't go to the movies. We haven't had a vacation out of the state in 10 years. We're careful with our money.
But now I wonder, why? Why should we have skimped and saved and denied ourselves all the luxuries our credit would have allowed?

Palm painting

After a morning spent thirfting, I decided to play a bit this afternoon.
I know that my hubby was crossing his fingers that the front lawn would be mowed when he returned but that's not likely to happen. Sorry sweetie!

I used my "Just for Fun" AB to practice another tropical scene. I'm not satisfied with the one I created a while back for our upstairs bathroom. I have the vision of what I'd like it to look like but have yet to decide the medium. Maybe collage or another painting..who knows. It may be totally mixed media.

Life's short...play

I had a chance to play last evening. I broke out my "just for fun" AB.

Since I was in a sort of playful silly mood...likely because my sweet husband took the kids out and gave me some much needed peace...I threw down this fun polka dot tissue paper.

It just made me smile so I included my feelings of the moment. Or maybe it was just the wine.
Just kidding!!

What I've been up to...

got the blisters to prove it.

How about you?

Actually I have worked on this book some lately.

Other than that it's been fall clean up and house work...BLAH!

And the winner is....

Cindy McMath! Please email me your snail mail address, eh?
Thanks to all who stopped by for a visit!

Chocolate sneezes?!?!?

Has anyone else had this issue?!? When I eat Dark Chocolate, 70% cacao or more, I sneeze! I'm thinking I must be allergic to it. It's well worth the sacrifice but am just wondering if anyone else has experienced this weird phenomenon.

Sail

I decided to pull out my "just for fun" altered book to use up some scraps on my work surface.

Well, technically, the tall ship packing tape transfer was adhered to the cabinet door. Everything else was just laying within reach both on the desk and the small drawer that I throw random small scraps into while creating. Bigger scraps go into my color coded files eventually.

It was really fun working in an altered book again. It's been a while...

Ready to send...

I finished my With One Image challenge and am ready to ship it to Somerset Memories for their consideration.

Cross your fingers for me!! I'd SO love to get published again!

200th post with a giveaway!

I was shocked the other day when I was approving a couple of comments that I had 199 posts! I wanted to celebrate this occasion with a giveaway.

Remember this mixed-media collage...

It could be yours...

Just leave a comment and I'll randomly choose a winner on Monday afternoon.

Embellished jacket

My little girl told me that she wasn't going to wear this hand-me-down jacket because it didn't have any pink on it.

"It's too boy-ish mom!"

Well I fixed that with some whimsical flowers on the back.

Sailor ATC

For some reason I had a hard time with a child theme ATC.
I think it was because I wanted to use this image but it was so long and narrow that it was hard to work with in ATC size. Anyway, I am happy with my end result.

ART FOR AUTISM NOW

Art Now for Autism

http://www.artnowforautism.com

October 1 - 31, 2008

This online exhibit raises funds for autism awareness and research with 100% of art sales going to Autism Speaks. This year's exhibit includes the work of over 120 artists including artists with autism spectrum disorders. Prices range from just a couple of dollars to over $500. Be sure to check out our selection of one-of-a-kind puzzle pins for a donation of $25. There is something for everyone! Support the cause and get a wonderful piece of art, too!

I donated these pieces to the auction and also made the blue piece in this donated collaborative project .

Man ATC swap

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR MONITOR!
He is actually greenish.

My friend Elizabeth twisted my arm to join a couple of her swaps this month. They are both ATC swaps. I've completed the Men ATC's. It's funny though, this is not what I had intended at all for these but my printer decided to run out of ink part way through the printout. Since the guy had this funky green color to him I figured he had to be either from Mars, nauseated or radioactive. Obviously, I went for radioactive.

Now I need to come up with something fun for the Children theme ATC's. I have a couple good vintage child photos.