New Years Eve

Can you believe this is the last day of 2013?

What better way to end the year than by seeing me in front of our Christmas tree.

We hope that everyone has a happy and safe New Years Eve. See you all next year

owl show you something

I know my daughter will be quite upset with me if I don't show you at least a couple things she got me for Christmas this year.
It was a hoot to see that she bought me several owl related items. One was this electric tart warmer. She included 2 different packs of scented wax tarts.

She also gave me an owl towel, pot holder and oven mitt. Sorry didn't get a picture of those.

Loved this platter and pitcher that is now sitting on my hutch cabinet. Pretty tweet don't you think :)

I'll probably get in trouble for not taking a picture of everything but I just haven't been in a picture taking mood and the dark and gloomy days aren't ideal for taking pictures any way.

Blizzard in a box

I recently won a giveaway on Marie's blog, Spun by me. What an awesome surprise when I opened the package. It was like a blizzard in a box. So much nicer and more welcome than the white stuff that was falling from the sky.

The box was packed with little bags and each of those snow filled bags contained a treasure. There was the salt shaker snowman, the little red truck carrying home it's tree, a little bottle brush tree on a spool, sheep ornament, matchbox ornament, striped straws, gingerbread man wrapped with bakers twin and a sweet little mitten ornament. Marie is a very crafty lady and she just makes the sweetest things. I loved everything in the box.

It's snowing

Oh yes, we've got plenty of snow. We had a white Christmas for sure. I'm ready for it to all go away but something tells me that's not going to happen any time soon.

I don't care for the cold flakes falling outside but I made a few snowflakes of my own that I do like

These flakes were made with my sewing machine.

I stitched this on cheap craft felt because that's what I had and why not use it up

I turned it into a candle mat. This went in a gift basket that I put together for my gift exchange at work.

Merry Christmas

May your Christmas be touched with wonder and filled with love

Wishing you all the hope, joy and wonder 

that the season can bring.

Comments are off today

My tree

A little playing around with an app I downloaded last year on my kindle.

I hope you're all ready for the big day tomorrow.

Wish me luck

The next two days are going to be pure torture at work. I'll be way busier than I care to be and I know that people are seriously going to get on my nerves. Although I have posts scheduled for the today tomorrow and Christmas day I can't guarantee that I'll be leaving any comments. I'm afraid of what I might say if I do.

Today I leave you with my latest projects. I saw a tutorial somewhere for candle cozy's so I whipped up some of my own. I adjusted the measurements a bit since I was making them for the small candles as well.

These are pretty quick to put together and I plan on making quite a few of these to go to the craft show with me next year. 

Seeing as how I did all of these do you know what this means? 

I just may have over come my fear of cutting fabric.

Well I'm glad that's over.

Normally I'm very happy on Fridays but yesterday was quite a different story. I found myself annoyed by almost everyone and everything. I told my boss it was one of those days that made me wish I was still a smoker. When I was leaving work one of the stock boys asked me if I was done for the day and I said yes and a good thing too because if I had to stay any longer I would end up hurting someone.
The one bright side to being in such a foul mood was that I came home and worked all that aggression off by cleaning my house. I always did do my best cleaning when I was mad.

Moving right along, I'll show you something I did last week. Thanks to my blog pal Antonella from Quilling, Art and Expression I learned how to make these very cool gift card holders.

I didn't have a fancy border punch to do the white fur part of the coat so I just used some scalloped sciccors instead. I also painted that piece with some extreme glitter paint before I attached it. The belt slides off to open the coat and reveal the gift card inside. One 12x12 sheet of paper will make 6 gift card holders

When life runs you ragged

Make rag balls and decorate your life.

OK so I frequently complain that there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done. The simple truth is that I just don't manage my time very well. At work I am efficient as hell, at home I've gotten lazy and procrastinate. A perfect example is the bill I had laying on my desk that needed to be paid. I kept saying I've got to pay that today. When I sat down at my desk I pushed it aside and read my email, played a game or two of solitaire, read some blogs and then went and sat on the couch. This happens with other things too. I say want or have to do them but I keep pushing them aside and do other less important things.

The next time you hear me complain about not having enough time would you please remind me about this little problem I seem to have.

Not too bright

A while back I saw some candles on Pinterest that I liked. They didn't have instructions so I had to sort of wing it and figure out how to make them from the picture.

They aren't a very bright candle because they aren't even a real candle. They are made from fabric.

I sewed a tube of fabric with the end kind of pointed. Turned it, stuffed it and glued it to a clothespin. I tied a piece of string just underneath where I wanted the flame to be then painted in the flame portion. I used hot glue to make the appearance of wax dripping then covered the whole thing in glue and rolled it in a coffee cinnamon mixture. I did that several times so that it was completely covered and rather stiff. The purpose of the clothespin is to attach it to a branch of your tree.

A close up

And here is one completely finished with a little bit of decoration on it

Hopefully this week goes by fast because I'm already looking forward to the weekend and doing a whole lot of nothing. I'm already sick of snow

Kidnapped

The other day when I posted the pictures of my daughter, Duke and me, Sandra suggested that I play with them in Pizap. Although that is a great idea, my enthusiasm for doing much of anything has been next to nil lately. I told Sandra that she could kidnap my pictures, play with them and then I would have something to blog about.
Blog friends are the best because that's exactly what she did and today I have a post. Yippee!!!

First she sent me these

Then she had more fun and sent me these that she did in My Memories.

They all look so good I can't even pick a favorite, I love them all

Now what's my excuse?

The bear ate my blog post.

Thursday morning I woke up to much less snow than expected thankfully. However, by the time I got home from work, made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen I was ready to find the comfy flannel pants and a warm blanket to curl up on the couch with. Today is our Christmas party at work, tomorrow I've got cookie baking and hopefully getting some projects finished. I think I'm going to take the weekend off and I'll see you all on Monday

getting blasted

I'm sitting here writing this to schedule for tomorrow morning and I"m watching the snow come down. I'm seriously wishing I was a bear right now and could hibernate

Imagine a picture of a sleeping bear in this spot.

Due to the slowness I got tired of waiting

for the picture to upload.

Just pretend

I'm assuming that the accumulation out there is responsible for the horrible internet connection I have at the moment also. It took forever for pages to load when I was trying to read blogs I finally gave up on attempting to comment.
Hopefully today will be better

I never promised

I'm pretty sure I never promised not to post a certain picture I took of Amanda on Saturday. I recall her telling me I needed to delete it but I never promised I would do that either.

Moving right along, this is the picture in question

Her excuse for the weird face was that she thought I was only taking a picture of her shirt that she specifically bought for decorating.

Now the only reason I decided to post this picture was because of this one she took of me and Duke.

I'm pretty sure she waited until we both looked the most ridiculous before she snapped the picture.

This one is much better. I'm sporting my sassy new hair cut. I decided to go a little shorter than usual but it turned out to be way shorter than what I expected.

Another version

Are you feeling like you might be stuck on candy cane lane?

The candy canes I posted the other day were small ornament size. They were made by wrapping fabric strips around those plastic candy canes that Dollar Tree sells.

Today's cane is the larger size, roughly 25 inches high.

Instead of just wrapping the cane in fabric strips I did this one a little different. I cut a 1" strip of warm and natural batting and wrapped it around  in a single layer without overlapping but completely covering the cane. Then I took a strip of homespun fabric and added the stripe to the candy cane.

I also dressed this one up a bit with some extras. The snowflake came in a pack of 6 at Dollar Tree and I almost didn't buy them because I thought maybe they might look a little too chincy. Now I wish I would have picked up some more because I ended up really liking them and they worked well on those stick snowflakes I made too.

Although it seems like I've been very busy crafting, I really haven't been. I've been doing a lot of kicking back and relaxing in the evenings and enjoying every minute of it.I do have some more projects to show though if I ever get around to taking pictures

Candy Canes

Did you know that candy canes have been around for more than 300 years? Originally they were just plain white and straight sticks. The first historical reference to the cane shape of the candy dates back to 1670 when a choirmaster in Germany bent the sugar sticks into canes to represent a shepherds staff.

I made a few of my own candy canes but these are the non edible kind.

Something is better than nothing

I thought that maybe I would spend the weekend doing nothing but craft projects. I did do some but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. Turns out the weekend was much better for napping and lounging than crafting.
That being said, as I mentioned, I did do a few things. I finished up a couple stick snowflakes that I had started.

Then I decided to do a little playing with my photoshop elements. I haven't done much of that at all in a very long time. This is a little on the busy side with the gift bag that the snowflake was laying on but I still thought it was quite festive.

I also was on a short roll with my sewing machine. I was working on a couple embroidery designs that I purchased. I was doing good until I ended up with a HUGE thread jam. I got all the thread out and I think the machine is ok but it put an end to my enthusiasm for the day. Oh well, I'll get back to it another day.

Some things take time

Some projects require more time than others. For some, however, the person creating the project need a good swift kick in the butt to get moving.
I bought some material about a year ago with intentions of making pillow covers for the man cave. The material was perfect. When I spotted this in Joann it had man cave written all over it.

Now when it comes to fabric, I have all kinds of visions of wonderful projects in my head. I buy the fabric with good intentions of making things. When I get the fabric home the problem begins. My fears kick in. I have this ridiculous fear of screwing up when I cut into the material. I would hate to waste perfectly good fabric by screwing it up so instead I let it sit there where it will be safe and unused, therefore retaining it's status of perfection.

I finally convinced myself that it was time to cut and although I don't have a picture of the finished pillows they are completed and they look pretty darn good.

I wish I could convince myself that the world will not come to an end if I cut fabric wrong and screw it up. It's a shame that all this great material just sits there because of a silly fear. I think I may spend the day cutting fabric. Some I may cut right and some maybe not but it's high time I use some of it.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish all my friends all over the world a Happy Thanksgiving because no matter where you are, whether you are dining on turkey or bologna sandwiches, we all have things that we are thankful for. 

image courtesy of graphics fairy.

Comments are off today. Enjoy your day

Bundle up

The winds blowing and the snow is flying so it's a good thing I finished these.

It's hard to tell from the picture but this is a crocheted cowl. It's one continuous loop and it's about 4 inches wide. Not real bulky but enough to keep your neck warm.

This one is 8 inches wide and 30 inches long. It has 2 buttons so that it can be worn as a cowl also. With the buttons it makes it quite versatile in how you can wear it

This last one is a 4 inch wide scarf that is 49 inches long. It also has buttons on and can be wrapped around your neck a couple of times and then buttoned up. I did two of these and have been wearing the other one.

and I thought snail mail was slow

So my daughter reads on my blog that the picture she texted me of Duke is lost somewhere between my phone and my computer. I tried twice to send the picture of Duke's freshly groomed cuteness and it never showed up in my in box. That was Friday evening. Saturday afternoon she sends the picture to my email from her phone and believe it or not, not only did I get the copy from her but the two I sent myself finally showed up.
I suppose it all worked out for the best though because that gives all of you a second dose of Duke

So much for that idea

I wanted to post a picture of Duke that my daughter took the other day. She took Duke to the groomer for me and picked him up. He's looking quite spiffy with a cute turkey bandanna. She sent me the picture in a text message and I have tried twice to email the picture to myself so I would have it on my computer. My phone says the message was sent with the picture attached but it's NOT coming to my email.
I give up so instead you get a really old, really shaggy Duke

He looks so happy sitting there in the grass with the sun shining down on him. Won't be getting any of that this weekend, we're expecting snow.

60 grit

I would say that 60 grit is an accurate description of how my throat felt last Sunday. Coughing brought tears to my eyes. Thankfully after a day of downing a combination of hot and cold liquids my throat was feeling much better on Monday.
I wasn't lucky enough to get rid of the stuffy head feeling that has been my constant companion for the week though. I'm not quite convinced this is a cold, it could possibly be sinus issues but either way I have not been able to breath through my nose for days. Sneezing and coughing are two of my most frequent activities.
Boy I love this time of year. Hey at least it gave me something to blog about even if it is really boring material.

Long ago and oh so far away

Long Ago in a distant galaxy there was a blogger who actually posted to her blog every day.

Evil drones came along and zapped her energy and motivation and she now sits helplessly on her behind staring blankly at a television screen.

I hear the evil drones are considering releasing the blogger but as of yet it's still in the planning stages.

We had snow last week and I managed to escape from the couch long enough to stick my head out the back door and take some pictures. The second one I was pointing the camera up towards the outside light. I thought it looked pretty cool.

Teddy Bear Roll out

Kind of makes you want to go out and buy a few stuffed animals.

My lack of attendance

I seem to frequently be absent from my blog lately. I could try and come up with an elaborate story about where I've been and what I've been doing but that would require more effort than I care to exert at the moment.
The plain and simple truth is that with the colder weather I've been in hibernation mode.
Outside my window I see this

Of course it's pretty with the color but sadly a lot of that color is now on the ground and has been blowing up the street. It's been cold, rainy and we've even had a couple mornings that there was snow on the ground. It makes me want to spend all my free time curled up on the couch under a blanket either watching television or reading.
So with that being said, there are only so many times I can say "hey, I'm being exceptionally lazy and don't have anything to write about" Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you about how the computer has been boring me to death lately. Oh, never mind I just told you that. Ah well, If anyone needs me I'll be on the couch right after I get home from work.

Owl

Owl be enjoying the weekend as usual since I don't have to go to work. Owl be having lunch with a friend today and then hoo knows what.

I'm cheating today and all pictures are Microsoft clip art

I have a few owl jokes for you that I'm sure you'll get a hoot out of.

What type of books do owls like to read?

Hoot-dunnits.

What happened to the owl who fell in a well?

He got wet

what does an owl need after his bath?

A t-owl

What happens if an owl doesn't wash?

It smells fowl.

old fashioned dish washer

I unfortunately do not have the luxury of a modern dishwasher. I have to rely on the old fashioned style. Two cycles, wash and dry.

I've made a few of these sets and plan on making a few more. They'll make good Christmas gifts.

test your imagination

Don't worry there is no right or wrong here. Just a little test to see how close  you come to what things actually look like around here.

Remember the work going on in my back yard? Well when you think about it does it look anything like this?

Now imagine it being a little wider. Would it look something like this?

What if you were to add lots of rain. Would it then look like this?

Now imagine Duke going out in the back yard. Would he come in looking something like this?

Actually those paws don't look too bad in the picture but you should have seen the tub after I got done washing all that mud off him. He even managed to get it on his face