Cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning some more.....

if I ever get my computer back and running the first thing I'm going to do is update my Etsy shop!

It looks so forlorn and lonely and unkempt to me...as I've been cleaning my studio I've found so very many items to list in my shop, things I'm now ready to part with.

No more shopping for me for awhile, I just have too much "stuff" right now! When it's cleaned up I can't wait to start creating for Christmas...................hope you're all having a great week!

Not to whine but.....

I'm still without my computer.....the "fix" was short-lived. When the computer tech tells you "I tried but I couldn't get it to act-up for me", well that's never good news now, is it? Because you know that the minute you get it home it's all downhill from there. And well, I'm unhappy to report that this time I was right, it lasted for a while and it was so nice to have my computer back........at least for a bit. Tomorrow back to the shop.

I'm using dh's tonight so I can actually update my blog. I want to show you some before pics of my wonderful (only one of them mind you) present from Melanie. Just the coolest metal cabinet ever! It was a green color but I painted it and you'll just have to be patient for the after photos. I love it to pieces and look forward to fixing up the inside drawers and then filling it with all my stuff.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, our holiday was somewhat "hijacked" because of a local football game, in other words most kids went trick or treating Friday night instead of Saturday. Made me extremely unhappy but nothing I could do about that. Dd had a wonderful time and what's more important than that? Nothing I tell ya! We have tons of leftover candy too, yikes.

Right now I'm exhausted because I took down ALL my decorations today, inside and out, and lemme tell ya, I have a lot of decorations. Just pooped but it feels good to get my house cleaned up and ready to stage the next holiday!

Have a great week everyone, hopefully the next time I blog I'll have a fixed/new computer.....

Computers can be a pain!!!!!

Wow, it's been a frustrating couple of weeks from a technology standpoint...and right before Halloween. I would love to have offered more items in my Etsy shop, but since my 'puter wasn't having it, it's too late now!

Oh well, onward and upward, there's always that little holiday called Christmas! And besides, I don't really need a holiday to create something cool, right?

I've been really busy cleaning and organizing my studio and getting dd ready for the big night on Saturday....she can't wait!

I did get up to Portland to see my best friend, Melanie. That was a blast and she gave me some of the coolest stuff yet! As soon as I get some photos I'll post them....meanwhile I hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween :).

A fun holiday project.....

For those of us with young ones at home...I know my dd asks every Halloween and every Christmas..."how many more days until_______", so I was searching the web for countdown calendar ideas and came across one that was perfect. I'm sorry I can't remember the particular site, but if you google "magnetic countdown calendar" you'll probably find it.

But then again, I'm going to tell you how to do it right now too!

Go get yourself a tin sign, one that will take magnets...mine was originally a Bar type sign, so I painted it black, and luckily the corners already had the lovely white scrolls. Bought this at Michael's. My fun images on the magnets were from Lisa's Altered Art, you must check her out! FAB, is all I can say!
Go get yourself some little pieces of thin wood (about 1.5 in.) also at Michael's. Right next to the wood pieces you'll find little thin magnet squares to fit on the back of the tiles you'll make.

Buy your images, cut them out, glue onto the wood tile, age them with inks, stick magnet on back of tile, then I used old orange game pieces from a lotto game for my numbers on each tile.

Then I used copper color stickles to outline my calendar days.....super easy and sparkly!
Then I had some leftover stickers that I applied to the calendar....my dd loves getting up every day and seeing how many days are left until Halloween. And next year we'll pull it out and do it again...

On a thrifting note, look what I found at Goodwill yesterday. Now I know not everyone wants an old beat up music stand, but I did and I was lucky enough to find one for $4.99. It's the perfect amount of chippy, adjustable, and lightweight...what more could you ask for?

This will be fun to decorate with, I have soooooo many old books and vintage sheet music....

Go create something fun people.......

Witch boots, haunted mantel, and a ledger....

Aren't these boots just the "witchiest"? Thank you Etsy.....where all things cool can be found.
I've been really busy decorating the house for Halloween, or as my dd calls it, "Hallowed Halloween", she just loves it to pieces!! She's going as a bee keeper this year...do you ever get tired of going to the stores and seeing the same old costumes, year after year? Well, that's where I'm at this year, really needed something a bit more "out there" and clever. So hopefully she'll be the only bee keeper at her school parade. Trying to find the bees is a bit tricky this time of year though, so I had to go online, but found some today so will anxiously await them and then start applying them to her costume.
Found this ledger on ebay, I really do need an intervention when it comes to these....I adore them! This one is large and just stunning with cool writing inside.....at least it wasn't expensive so I can't feel guilty for "winning" it.

It's been beautiful weather here, sunny but getting cold, 28 degrees tonight! Love it that way.

My big project this week is cleaning my studio.......again :(. Wish I had magic fairies to keep it clean, I really do.

Hope you all have a great week, and happy creating :)).

More Halloween to come......

Well, if you've not experienced the weirdness of a computer going rogue you're lucky!

Mine decided to do some really strange things on Friday that really scared me. Even worse was when dh got home and looked at it and heard the sounds it was making he said, "It doesn't sound good." In other words the hard drive was fried or the mother board (whatever that is) was history. Either way, all I could think about was.......what about all my "stuff".....my downloads, my purchases, my email, all of it........gone......

Well, because my dh is so talented..he got it going again, and needless to say I now have backup so I don't have this happen again.

PEOPLE, GET SOME BACKUP FOR YOUR COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you really afford to lose everything that's on there? I know I can't.

Just some advice, take it or leave it......I know what I'd do.......

Soon I'll be posting some new Halloween goodies in my etsy shop........stay tuned...again!

Kickin' Halloween into high gear.......

I've got so many ideas for Halloween goodies that sometimes I feel I'm spinning my wheels!

This is my latest creation....I'm really trying to work on using all elements of the paper items I find, in this case, books. So the covers can be used as either a matte board for a collage or re-use them for art journals. I don't throw anything away, so what to do with the book pages?

Well, even though this isn't my original idea (to crease the pages and fan them out this way) I find that this method makes a great and original "photo stand" for seasonal artwork.

This was so fun to make....
It will be listed in my Etsy shop soon.....along with some other Halloween goods.

Happy creating....don't you find it easier now that the weather has cooled down and we have a reason to stay inside? I'm loving it!!