IT'S THE HOLIDAYS AT MY HOUSE!

I don't know HOW I did it as tired as I am, but I finished getting the house decorated for Christmas. I have MORE stuff out - LOTS - but I took pictures of the living room & dining/craft rooms to show you. Some of you have seen these things before. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. LOL!

This is Gladys, so named because she is a dead ringer for Gladys Herdman & that's why I got her! Who's Gladys Herdman, you ask? If you don't KNOW, have I ever got a TREAT for YOU! More in a post to come.

These are two ADORABLE ginger-people my lil' play daughter Courtney sent me last year! She knows I collect and ADORE gingerbread people & surprised me with them after Christmas! They are sitting on either end of the love seat and in the middle is the AMAZING quilted piece I received from my friend Em! WHAT WONDERFUL FRIENDS I HAVE!

You are now seeing the dining room table and its lil' display.

Here is some of my snowman collection. This year there are already two NEW additions! The little guy on the floor next to the blue canister came from Debb, my snowman in Viv's swap! He's VERY cute! And my other, a little sweetheart from Viv herself, is hanging on my tree. I need to get a closeup of him!

Goodness! MORE Santas!

And still MORE! These are by the tv.

Of COURSE, there's the tree! I wasn't feeling up to going all out this year but who KNOWS? It's technically not even DECEMBER yet. I may STILL add more! Over the next day or so, I'll take more photos of what I have out around the house. HOHOHO!

OKAY! I ADMIT IT'S MY WEAKNESS!

Ribbon. I can't RESIST it! Big, wide, wired ribbon. Small, dainty ribbon. Perky ribbon. Sophisticated ribbon. I LOOOOVE RIBBON! Today I made a trip to Hobby Lobby for glitter and a couple of other things. But I always - ALWAYS - check their ribbon-by-the-roll to see if it's half price. Ahhhhhh ... it WAS! And THIS time it was the glorious CHRISTMAS ribbon. I lost my mind. But I was actually more in control than I COULD have been had I CHOSEN to follow my greedy little ribbon-loving heart. There were over 90 - count 'em - NINETY - choices. I wanted one of EACH. I BOUGHT only 8. (Pat, pat, pat, pat ... that's ME, patting myself on the back for exhibiting such self-control. LOL!) Really though - could YOU resist? I mean, they're just so DELICIOUS! I'm NOT sorry! Nope! I'm HAPPY! And in about two weeks when the prices are marked down again - and they WILL be - I'm going to take myself right back & grab up a bunch more. Kai is HAPPY tonight! Her has RIBBON!

GRATITUDE

Just a short post today to let you all know how extremely grateful I am for each and every ONE of you! My blogger friends keep me company regardless of how early it is or how late on any given day. You are unfailingly there when I am feeling a bit lonely and need a little company. You hold me up when my health sucks and I feel like hiding under the covers and moaning or sometimes just throwing in the towel. You make me laugh when I least expect it and most need it! You make me think, and teach me new things & new ways of doing things. You inspire me to try harder, be better, be more of who I SHOULD be. And I am grateful. Truly, sincerely, abundantly grateful. Whoever said friends have to be people you see face-to-face? I say they are people you see heart-to-heart. HAPPY THANKSGIVING, my beautiful friends, to you & your families. You will ALL be at MY Thanksgiving table, even if only in spirit!

MR. & MRS. CARDINAL COME TO CALL

These two little birds are regular visitors to our back yard! I just LOVE them! Sometimes, if my sighted eye is in the right direction, I'll catch a movement from waaaay back toward the fence & there I'll see a splotch of bright, beautiful red in the midst of all the green. And then, as soon as I spot MR. Cardinal, I look around because I KNOW MRS. Cardinal is close by as well. It's lovely to know that Cardinals mate for life. Anyway, thought I'd share my tiny birdy friends with my blogger friends today! {By the way, I took the photo with my lil' $59 Casio digital camera. I was INSIDE (so you are seeing this through a window AND screen) the birds were FAR from the window, and all I did was hit ZOOM. Not bad for a cheap camera, huh?} Of course, I had GORGEOUS models! LOL!

JOYFUL JOURNALS!

Recognize those small counted cross stitch pieces I showed you all in an earlier post? TOLD you I had plans for them! And you all thought I wasn't doing ANYTHING over here, huh? LOL! You KNOW I have to make my lil' messes regardless of how I feel, what else needs doing, etc.! As you can see, I've been playing in paper recently! Now admittedly, I'm not so good at paper, but I still had a great time. And I sort of like my results! (Hope YOU do, too 'cause some of you will be receiving these. Hohoho!) The first one is MINE, tho'! My sweet friend Ele made me that darling spoon & no WAY is that leaving here! It's my soup journal where I can put my favorite soup and bread recipes! I added just a couple of recipes appropriate to each journal to start you off. The rest of the pages are blank so the recipients can decide what they want in the books! I DID learn something as I made these. "YES" Glue is truly the best paper glue I've ever used! It keeps the paper from 'buckling', a problem I've had with Mod Podge and all OTHER glues. HOWEVER ... that stuff is STICKY to the max! Even the least tiny SPOT of it will stick pages together. Sigh. How do I KNOW that? You'll see when you have to pry a couple of pages apart. Oh, they aren't TOTALLY stuck or anything - they just require a bit of - shall we say - EFFORT? (Sorry!) Still, they are quite usuable! Now - here they are - my latest endeavor. Ta-da!!!!

BOXED IN!

Simple, messy fun! My kind of project! Here are two lil' boxes I painted, let dry, then dry-brushed with a second color. This first box was painted with metallic brown, then dry-brushed with antique gold. I added 4 rhinestones (or whatever you want to call these doodads) and - for the lid - used VERY fine metallic brown glitter to cover a bought birdy. Note: the 'white' is just awful lighting.


This second box was painted with deep metallic blue, dry-brushed with silver, and finally given a light sponge-touch with a more turquoise blue. The lid? A big old silver bell! As I said - simple, fun, MESSY!

DECK THE HALLS - AND THE WALLS - AND THE TREES - AND, AND, AND ...

This is going to be a different kind of holiday season for me because I am just absolutely NOT up to wrapping, packaging, and mailing as I have always been in the past. ALSO, I have a 'kazillion' moving details hanging over my round head. But all that having been said, I am STILL very much in the Christmas spirit! I made these little crocheted cones recently and added the doodads last night. No, I haven't put any pressies in them - yet - but I plan to. I kind of like them! They are small enough to hang on a Christmas tree but not TOO small. And look! NO RED ONES! WHAT???? I MUST be more tired than normal! Don't be too surprised if some of you find these in your mailboxes AFTER the holidays when I finally DO get around to mailing. HOHOHO!

COLORED SNOW??????

I'm dreaming of a pink, white, and blue Christmas! HUH???? Not really! I was using my lightweight clay to sculpt something & decided to play a bit after I finished. Here are the results. First, here's my glittered pink snow person. (It just hit me - that's a SNOW CONE! Bwahahahaha ... sorry.) I used gems for the eyes and a piece of a vintage earring as an embellishment. Gave it a lil' hanger, and - viola! - a pink snow ornament.
This one SHOULD have been my favorite. And up-close it IS. But the lighting just wouldn't cooperate. There's a yellowish tinge to it that isn't REALLY a part of the piece. And I tried 4 times to photograph it from the front, but for some reason it was being contrary. So here is a side view. I call this one the Snow Ghost of Christmas PRESENT. (She's holding a heart-shaped Christmas gifty & she's perched on a cloud.) The bottom front of her gown sports a snowflake embellishment.

Finally, here is Brrrrrrro' Blue who's just hangin' around chillin'. He, too is in a cone! I forgot to add his light ice-blue bow to cover the wiring at the tip of his cone. It's there NOW - I'm just too tired to go take another picture. Visualize it! Heehee!

I'm a freak for polymer clay - especially the very LIGHTWEIGHT one. It was fun indulging myself a bit in some clay-play. I DID complete my snowman for Viv's swap. But no pictures till my partner receives it. (It's NOT clay, by the way.) All this snow stuff makes me ready for CHRISTMAS! Where are those gingerbread cookies? Where's that darned eggnog? HOHOHO!!!!

You're a TREASURE, Mr. Grinch!

Oh, how I DO love all the holiday programs, INCLUDING the cartoons. That's funny, considering at any other time, I deplore cartoons. Go figure! Anyway, I watch them all - A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty, The Year Without A Santa Claus (who could resist misters Cold & Heat Miser?) as well as It's a Wonderful Life (and it IS) the ORIGINAL Miracle on 34th Street*, A Christmas Carol (the one with Alistaire Sim) and White Christmas! I LIVE for the day after Thanksgiving when they all begin! THIS year, I got a wonderful bonus - the old Grinch arrived EARLY! And last Saturday night I sat and watched and sang the songs and - yes, I admit it - sniffled when his heart grew THREE SIZES! LOL! I'm such a sucker for a HAPPY-EVER-AFTER! Sigh!





* You DOOOOOO know that's the REAL Santa Claus, don't you? I'm CONVINCED of it!

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS QUIET AROUND HERE ... I'M BAAAAAA-AAAACK!

UH-OH! I'm back & I'm feeling veeeeeery talkative right now, so BEWARE! Actually, it's not REALLY that I feel talkative as much as that I have some things I need to share with all of you - my beautiful blogger friends - and my blog works more easily & quickly than emails for me. First tho', let me say that I missed everyone this past week and, while I had a relaxing and good time, I am GLAD to be back with you! Also, I did make a LOT of things (well, FINISHED a lot of WIPs!) but I can't show them. 'Tis the season, you know! Yet I DO have something to show you! I got home & noticed how Autumnish the trees look! Oh, they don't even BEGIN to compare with trees in places where people have REAL seasons, but for Houston, THIS is Autumn. I thought I'd share. The first is of the Mimosa in the back yard. You'd THINK it would look this way in the Spring, but, nope! This is Ms. Mimosa's Autumn outfit! Pretty, huh? The next is the tree directly across the street. I took the photo from my porch. The third is the tree right outside my office window - I'm looking at it as I write this. And the fourth (behind that weedy green thing) is the Cigar tree right outside my lil' bedroom window. It had to be cut down in 2004 because it was ROTTEN. But darned if it didn't come right back up like a Jack-in-the-box! It sheds its leaves from late October through mid November & isn't all that appealing, but it still represents Texas in Autumn. I wanted to make sure & document these trees so that next year when I am in Wisconsin, I can look back and shake my head over these poor lil' representations of the season. By the way, my people CALL this a Cigar tree (for whatever the reason) but does anyone know its actual name?

Now! On to what I need to tell you! Without chattering away, I will just say that currently, I am not in the best health! Understand, I am FINE, just not quite 100%. I'm telling you this NOT because I plan on hosting any pity-parties, but because it has direct bearing on the season already in progress. My energy level is at an all-time low, and I have a daunting job ahead of me. I have to pack a lifetime of things to move all the way up to Wisconsin! That's going to take just about every ounce of my energy! I WANT to do it, OF COURSE! However, I need you all to know that I won't be doing a lot of personal emailing (some - just not lots) until after my move. And I will keep you all updated via my blog. I will also check everyone's blogs - it's one of my greatest pleasures! - but I may be sloooow, so don't think I'm ignoring you! NEVER!!!! Finally, for those of you who have known me awhile, you know I am a true Christmas nut & always send small gifties to EVERYONE. I WANT to do that this year - but it's not likely to happen. I WILL make it up to you all on your birthdays and NEXT Christmas! I PROMISE - and promises are sacred to me!

Okie-dokie! My next blog post will be back to it's normal show-you-all-my latest-creative-messes! Aren't you just thrilled? Bwahahahahaha...!

A WEEK AWAY!

I thought this would be the easiest way to let everyone know I'm going to be gone for a week. I'm very tired & planning to spend a quiet week with my friend MaryBear. No pow wows, just us. So if I don't answer emails or visit blogs, you'll know why! But I'll be back around the 14th & hopefully back in email/blog mode by the 15th & I'll try to catch up then! Hope you ALL have a BEAUTIFUL weekend & entire next week! I'LL MISS YOU!

AND NOW WE CAN BEGIN!

I'm so proud & happy today because I FINALLY believe we, as a country, have stood, spoken, and been HEARD! And for the FIRST time in YEARS, I am going to speak the words, "OUR PRESIDENT" with genuine pride! I hope we all remember that one man cannot POSSIBLY undo or 'fix' all the damage that has been done - not in 4 years or 8. But he can BEGIN. And we can HELP by not being critical if things don't improve in a week or a month or a year. They WILL improve - we just may not SEE the immediate changes. That's okay, tho'. It's like losing weight. The pounds don't come on overnight. This mess our country is in didn't happen overnight either. I will pray daily for this young man and his family who have taken on the huge task of trying to reverse the damage done to our economy, our standing in the eyes of the world, our overall morale. I will pray for his continued safety and good health, for his strength to keep going forward, for his words to heal and soothe, for his efforts to increase our financial stability, and for his determination to bring us back to a point where we can say, "Aren't we GLAD we voted this person into office?" I already AM. Mr. President-elect, I am 100% in your corner!

SHOW YOUR SHINE!

Oh, BOY! Do you ever have a project tucked away in your mind - one that is itching to be made? For some time now, I've had one of those. See, the truth is, for awhile I was not liking myself too much. My health is 'iffy' to say the least, and that's caused a HUGE weight fluctuation, quite a loss of energy, and a number of other things which added up to my temporary defeatist attitude. But I KNEW the wrong-thinking was strictly health-related, and that beneath my bloaty, unenergized self, lay a Shiny Kai. (Okay! I hear you laughing!) Really, tho'! We ALL shine! We DO! Some of us shine on the outside because we are physically beautiful, and some shine FROM the inside because the beauty is heart-beauty. Would ANYONE call Mother Theresa UGLY? NO WAY! She was SOOOOO shiny! There are SOME lucky people who shine from within AND without. Yet, as I said, I believe we ALL shine! My shine is joy. As a rule, I'm pretty much ALWAYS happy. And if I'm not, I get over whatever is bugging me FAST! I'm a joker, a smiler, a hugger, and the poster girl for Jolly Fat People. LOL! Only, I really AM jolly 99% of the time. Soooooo, as soon as I got past my lil' pity party and REMEMBERED that I have SHINE, my project came to me. I call it: SHOW YOUR SHINE! And here it is:

I started with a small mask which I covered in holeless beads. (Those suckers are a MESS, aren't they? They travel in a million directions.) Then I took a canvas and painted it in metallic silver. With a comb (one I use JUST for creating) I did something of a checkerboard pattern through the paint. It doesn't show in the pictures but it does up close. I let all THAT dry while I prepared a second larger mask. That one I painted metallic gold. While IT dried, I went back to the canvas & covered it in a medium that leaves a beaded look. Back to the large mask. I painted the lips with metallic rose mixed into a bit of the gold. Then I used some copper-colored metal fabric to make 'hair'. Added the beaded mask and some beaded sprays to her face and a large spray behind her on the canvas. Finally, gave her a tiara. Attached her to the canvas, then put some mirrored tiles on the canvas (and two on her head) to accentuate the shine. For a final touch, I added a few random rhinestones. SHOW YOUR SHINE is my favorite project of this entire last year! It was FUN and it reminded me that no matter HOW dull I feel some days when my body refuses to cooperate, it's going to be okay because I am still shiny! SO ARE YOU!!!

Below is another birthday gift! It's a short-style crocheted sweater designed by Vanna White for her daughter. I made it for my best friend's darling granddaughter, Kami. I followed the pattern TO THE LETTER. Like my own daughter Leah, Kami is small for her age and tho' she wears an 8 ( and YES, my gauge WAS correct) the pattern was actually for an 8 - 10 so I SHOULD have used a smaller hook size. Jan, my best friend, said it was somewhat big on Kami but wearable. Hopefully, she'll like it enough to wear it again NEXT year when it should be a perfect fit!

Now I am going to work on an idea for a swap I just signed up for. It's at the right side of my blog & I hope some of you will click on and join in, too! Viv's swaps are deliciously fun and this one is perfect for holidays because it requires little $$ and CAN be quickly accomplished. I have a BUNCH of ideas! (Uh-oh! Somebody STOP me! I feel MULTIPLES coming on.)

I CAN SHOW YOU THESE!

WOOOOOHOOOOO! The postal service actually got something to its destination EARLY! I'm AMAZED! (Also happy!) My very dear & special friend, Helen, is having a birthday on the 7th of this month and - tho' I've sent her gifts for the past 3 years - unless I mail them WAY ahead of time, they don't get there on time. And if I mail them really EARLY, regardless of how many places on the box I write (in HUGE LETTERS) "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL NOVEMBER 7TH!!!!", she opens the box ANYWAY and then doesn't have a box to open from me ON her bd. Bad girl! LOL! For ONCE, the post office did its thing & she got it only 4 days prior to her special day.
At any rate, here's what I sent her. The first thing is an altered picture. Helen is from the Ukraine so I found a picture of a traditional Ukrainian dance outfit & 'put' Helen IN the costume! Then I covered a canvas with some embossed felt & went cuckoo with the embellishments! Helen grows GORGEOUS flowers so I had to include a small bouquet.

This other picture is of a capelet I crocheted for her. Like me, she works from home & is at her computer a lot. Needless to say, it's a BUNCH colder in NY than HERE, but I thought perhaps I'd make her something to cover her shoulders without encumbering her arms too much on chilly days. I know it LOOKS small, but I figured if it fit ME (and it DID) it would MORE than fit HER! I also sent her a paperback mystery 'cause she likes those! But I obviously didn't photograph that.
In a day or so, I'll show you another gift I made & mailed - soon as I know it's been received. Seeeeeeee? I AM creating.