Happy Halloween

These jolly gents are waiting for the trick-or-treaters to arrive. Boo!

Mini Beaded Ornaments

Today I finished making my mini beaded ornaments. These are just under three inches from tip to tip.

I used this ornament kit. It comes with the pipe cleaners and all the beads needed to make 24 ornaments. I needed to supply the glue and the jewelry tools: wire cutters and two kinds of pliers. My kit actually had enough supplies for 25 ornaments. Bonus!

This kit uses only three sizes of beads. The big star bead forms the center of the snowflake. Each leg of the snowflake uses two smaller star beads and two round beads.

It was enjoyable to watch the snowflakes form, and fall in pretty patterns.

On   the second day, they multiplied like a storm.

Then, like after every storm, the snowflakes were shoveled together in a big pile. It's less than two months until Christmas. I'm counting on these to add a lot of sparkle to my theme tree this year.

Back at the Work Bench

I spent the day in my Studio listening to Radiolab podcasts, mending, and tidying. Then I made a new mess while making more beaded ornaments for this year's Christmas tree.

This kit has 24 mini ornaments. They're so little, you'd think they'd be quick to assemble. There are less beads, yes. But there's still six legs and a center to each ornament, meaning eight times to glue, clip, and bend the ends of the wires. My fingers are a little sore from getting poked all day.

It   was a great way to spend another gloomy, rainy day. My Studio is lit with bright daylight bulbs, which greatly helps my moods. I finished just over half of the ornaments today. If the weather is bad again tomorrow, I'll complete the rest. (If the weather's good, I'll go outside to play in the dirt! er ... or should I say ... mud).

Halloween Stichin'

This week I pulled out my needles, my aida, some Gentle Arts Sampler Threads, and a Lizzie*Kate chart from 1999 and did a little stitching. It felt awfully good to have a tapestry needle in my hand again.

I completed this little design, then made it into a greeting card for my auntie. The chart called for a spider charm, but the one I had I already used on a pillow. So I made the little spider with two sizes of beads and legs of floss. It's adorable!

I kept the inside very simple.

Here's what the spider charm looks like on my pillow.

Ready for Halloween

Project Pinterest 13 & 14

Jeanne took some time come by yesterday. It was raining, so we couldn't tidy up the yard as planned. Instead, we got to play with construction paper, googly eyes, streamers, and our old box of Halloween decorations. Our front porch is more decked out than it's been in years. I'll let these photos that Jeanne took speak for themselves. My favorite bit is the cat on the broom!
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High Flyers

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Black Widow ... she's got iris in her eyes

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Escape!

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Basket of Deplorables 

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Snake Attack

When we were done decorating the porch, we shrunk our heads and preserved them for posterity.

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Cat inspiration by Stencilease

Bat inspiration by HGTV

Fraternal Twins

From the archives

I grew these sunflowers a couple years ago. I didn't edit this photo until today. Much needed bright colors on a very cloudy day today.

Camping Out

A family of mushrooms decided to camp out in my Garden of Hope this week. They huddled together amid the bark and pine needles, hoping I wouldn't notice. I spotted one youngster in the middle of a somersault.

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This teen was doin' a  break dance while others looked on.

Then I caught these two smooching in front of the kids.

Well Done, Grasshopper

Last month, I found this fellow sunning himself on a rock.

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Disclaimer: I had my camera settings all wrong and my entire series of this creature was extraordinarily overexposed (see below). It's amazing what a person can do with photo editing tools.

Straight out of camera

Life on the River

Oh, to look out the window and see this view!

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Signs of Autumn - The New Carpet

After the rain. After the wind. A new carpet of leaves that stretches and stretches before me.

Signs of Autumn - Mill River

This pretty little park is just outside of Post Falls along the Spokane River. It used to be the site of a lumber mill. Not too many years ago, after the mill went out of business, some lovely cottages and condos went up in a development called Mill River. The city kept this part of the waterfront available for the public. It's a small stretch of trees, grass and river rock with a small dock folks use for fishing.

At this time of year, it's very very quiet. A lovely respite spot.

Smile

My half hour cleaning at the dentist took three and a half hours. The doc had an emergency come in before me, so I had to wait a bit. Then I ended up getting two tiny fillings. But, oh! My smile is pretty and bright!

Signs of Autumn - Neon

Sometimes it's hard to believe the colors in fall leaves. These look neon.

Signs of Autumn - Piles o' Pine Needles

After the storms of the last week, there's lots of clean-up to do in the yard. Dale got a good start on it. Time for me to dig in and help.

Rainy Weekend

What better way to spend a rainy weekend than with some fresh-brewed iced tea, a bowl of popcorn, and a movie?

#CornerOfMyHome

Meditation Mandala

Between starting a new medicine that my body is adjusting to, and being obsessed with the election coverage this week, I needed to find something to help me find my center. What better than a mandala to do that?

So I colored.

I played with my finished page in my paint program. I made this kaleidoscope. Very pretty!

Then I played some more. This reminds me of intricate inlaid wood. I think this is my favorite of the three!

Drawing by Thaneeya McArdie from her book Flower Mandalas

Signs of Autumn - Summer's Faded Rose

My rose bush grew only six flowers this Summer. Time to go to sleep until Spring.

Signs of Autumn - Leaves ... because

MORE leaves?

Why, yes.

Why?

Because ... leaves!

Handcrafted Birthday Card

Project Pinterest 12

I made a birthday card for a friend. I was inspired by a washi tape card I saw on Pinterest.

On the outside, I used black card stock as the base. Then I made the "present" using two different black/white designs of washi tape on white card stock. I bedazzled it with strings of black and clear Jot Gem Stickers, and a little piece of gingham ribbon from my stash.

On the inside, I used a piece of the marbled paper I made earlier in the month. The paper is outlined in multi-color Jot Gem Stickers.

The sentiment was my own idea, which I wrote with a gel pen on the front and a super fine tip Sharpie on the inside. I hope to take a class in hand lettering in the not-toooooo-distant future to give my cards more panache.


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Inspiration by Memories & More

Signs of Autumn: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green

I can't get enough of the color as the sun goes down and the leaves radiate their inner glow.

Return to Autumn

I'm home from my Portland trip. It was great to spend time with Jodie, with my sister Eleanore, with my brother-in-law Jerry, and my niece Angelica. Driving across Oregon and Washington was easy on this Sunday afternoon. There wasn't much traffic. I even got home in time for the presidential debate.

In Portland, I saw a new planting of the kinds of flowers we only grow in Spring and Summer here in north Idaho. It was a wet, wet, wet weekend. Due to cloud cover, I never caught a glimpse of Mt. Hood the entire time! Other than that, Autumn wasn't very apparent. But as I drove down from the high desert of eastern Washington into the Spokane River valley, all that changed. The trees are so pretty right now. The air is cooler. Fall definitely resides here.

Wedding Planning - Part 3

Guest blogger Jodie here. I really am the luckiest gal, you know?

First, my partner of nine years decides that it's a good time to Make It Official, so we get engaged. Then, my mom of 23 years (heh) decides that it's a good time to help me Make It Official, so she drives allllll the way to Portland to get me to stop wringing my hands, buckle down and make some solid plans.

That planning was yesterday's picture. Today's picture: the plans coming to fruition, possibilities blooming, excitement brimming. We went to Fabric Depot in Portland (at my Maid of Honor's suggestion — thanks, Marissa!) and ogled and petted the laces far more, I assume, than was appropriate. But, oh! Such pretty things. In the end, I think we'll go a different route: white-on-white cotton, perhaps, or eyelet cotton, since it'll be a pretty casual picnic-in-the-park wedding.

Now that Mom has successfully un-wrung my hands and gotten me genuinely excited about this whole wedding business, visiting a fabric store has sure started my wheels turning. Makes me think of the big measuring mat and rotary cutter waiting for me at home... and all the projects just waiting to come to life.

The Wedding Planners - Part 2

What a day we had today!

The morning was spent making lists, talking over ideas, and creating Pinterest boards. There are so many options available, and we wanted to narrow them down to those that fit this bride and groom.

Then we went shopping. Where, you ask? At a Goodwill Outlet! This is the place where items that don't sell in regular Goodwill thrift stores go to die ... or, more accurately, go to get sold by the pound!

We found a bolt of wide "white" fabric that will be just the ticket to make a muslin ... a dress before the dress ... to see how the pattern fits and if Mom has the chops to sew a suitable wedding gown. The fabric is "white" because, well, it WAS white at one point in it's life. There are large portions that are stained and dirty. But the fabric can be washed and used for the purpose at hand. We also found a few pieces of lace that will also be utilized on the mock-up dress.

We had about 11 pounds of "finds" ... and it all cost less than $20. We left the building "Junk Drunk." That's when you've waded through so many piles of stuff, and come out with usable finds, that you feel a little tipsy once you hit the fresh air outside the warehouse. What fun!

We celebrated with some soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden.

Life is good.

The Wedding Planners

I'm spending the weekend with THIS GIRL in Portland to plan her upcoming wedding. The adventure begins! First, a Mexican dinner followed by a trip to Ross to keep the Oregoning off my head (that's the local lingo for off and on rain).

Tomorrow the real planning begins.

Can you see her pretty purple hair?

Visitor

Look who came to visit me on my front doorstep.
Quite the contrast from all the Fall color.

Signs of Autumn - Fall Garland

How is it possible that so many colors exist on a single branch? Gorgeous!

Signs of Autumn - Sunflowers and Marigolds

My neighbors know how to put on a Fall show!