Just because I can.

So, I love free stuff. I am a passionate and active Freecycle user, as well as a late night Craigslist "comber". I love to give things away to people that feel the same way- kind of like Christmas without all the emotional angst. When it works, it works, folks, and we all need that kind of love sometimes.

So, when I see a giveaway on one of my favorite new sites (The Pioneer Woman), I jump on it. Given the fact that she has thousands of entries already, I don't stand a Peep's chance in my Easter Basket in winning. It was fun, though, to contemplate a simple question like "What do you plan to do this weekend"?

So, here is my answer. Wish I could say that I was doing something wildly creative, but, unfortunately, my mojo is a bit slow at the moment, and I am feeling sort of self indulgent and soft. So, I will try to find some creative energy and do SOMETHING (as Dot at Dabbled.com is wont to say). We all need it sometimes.

So, here is the entry- wish me luck!

I am going to have a birthday this weekend. Not a major one, but enough of a milestone towards midlife that it gives me pause. I am going to cry in my soup for a minute, then look at my beautiful sons and feel blessed.

Then I am going to head out to a favorite haunt from my old life and get the biggest boba tea (with monster tapioca pearls- hubby calls them "turd" teas), and then off to my favorite bakery (yes, I have one, hence a few more tears in the soup) for a massive cupcake with more frosting than sense.

I wish that I could get into my tiny garden, but, alas, we are getting some sleet and snow tomorrow. Instead, I fully intend to blow my entire nonexistent income on pretty garden things that I can get online. Like the worm composter that I started bidding on before I realized I could make it myself? C'mom folks! Wake up! I need the money- bid up!

The Internet shopping world is like one big window- and I intend to make some serious nose smudges this weekend. I might even add this as a new post on my god forsaken blog- one that I haven't touched in 2 months. There, one birthday resolution done already. Thanks for the nudge.

Happy living to you.

Better late than never...

Christmas is never a dull time around our house, so it has been tough to get back into the swing of things! I did clean and re-organize my workspace, which was clean for a day before I started on a new project. More about that in another post. Before I forgot, I wanted to show you some of my Christmas presents for my brother- they turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Mosaics are actually a recent interest, but I have really taken to it. I actually have a background in painting, so I love to combine the two media in one. I have found creating mosaics with tempered glass to be the most fun- though they can be hell on my hands!

The clock was my first attempt- I got the "blank" at Goodwill and stared at it for a few months before I came up with an idea for it. My brother loves Montana- he has been there several times, and I had a nice sunset picture that I used for my color inspiration. The base was sealed already, so I just painted over it with acrylics.

When it was dry I puzzle-pieced the glass over the paint and grouted it as usual. The piece that I broke had a lot of larger clusters, so I used those first, then filled in the gaps. I liked the look of the grout flowing in "rivers", rather than being more regulated, if that makes sense.


I had the table already- it was a castoff from a store that closed in the mall. My brother went to Notre Dame, and loves the Blue/gold combo, so I sort of started with that in mind this time (being mindful of his other decor, of course). I sealed it and painted the base in the same way that I did the clock- though this time I just squirted the paint and sort of free formed it.

Here is a close up of the actual tabletop:

You might be able to see in a few spots that I ran a blade through the paint in a sort of marbling pattern- it ended up adding a lot of interesting effects under the glass. The gold is just faux gold leaf (it is sort of plastic-y, so it was kind of hard to cut into organic shapes). I just shredded it and through it on randomly at first, then moved it around until I was satisfied.

Just experimentation, really- kind of seeing what I could come up with! I grouted with a deep black, and it really came out dramatic- I had a glass round that fit on top, and it sparkles even more when the light hits it. Wish I had another table like it- I was sad to see it head "home" to Vermont. ;-)

Happy Living to you.

At least the tree looks good...

... though the photographs are not the best. Ah well, maybe Santa will bring me a nice camera for Christmas this year!

So the story goes- we have had the same tree since before we were married. A lovely, vintage model that was older than my husband, and a total pain to put together. The base was gerry-rigged, it swayed precariously unless we spent hours tinkering with the various arms- but it was beautiful when I finally finished trimming it. It was lovely this year, too- for the 15 minutes it was up! It didn't take long this year (after about 5 minutes of pretty creative swearing) to decide that we needed a new tradition. So off hubby goes- and comes back with this giant.

A full 9 feet tall, it just fits against the foyer ceiling. I must admit that I was pretty skeptical about how it would look, but I am warming to it. It is a pain to decorate, though- I might just make him do it next year!

One of the reasons that I love decorating the tree is that there are so many memories that we have collected together.

This year, the kids helped make some cinnamon-applesauce ornaments, and Dome has already made several at pre-school. It is so nice to have them really involved for the first time!

Here is one of my favorites- a ceramic "Cat-Fish". Pull the cord and his head and tail bobs! The "Tumbler" from the Dark Knight series - guess who picked that one out? The Dark Knight himself watches over the tree - perched at the angel topper's feet...

My favorite dinosaur (Ankylosaurus)...

My butterfly- picked up during our anniversary trip this year (husband gamely trouped through three towns in search of antiques (ok, junk!)- what a trouper! The pic is from Dome's first visit to Santa- and the only one pic that we have were he isn't completely hysterical...

I made these cherubs for our wedding- they are just plastic wedding cake decorations with a little bit of rub-on gold wax. A bit of ribbon and they look just lovely. The picture of Gromit (from Wallace and Gromit) just behind is from a set that I made for our first Christmas together.

And, of course- last, but not least! No tree would be complete without a Wobbegong shark- he even blends in with the other decorations. Talented, those Wobbes...

Still working on the hats and scarves (if you can call two bags worth of fleece and notions languishing in the trunk of my car "progress"), and hopefully I will have them done this weekend.

Oh my, December already?

It never fails to amaze me just how time speeds up as I get older. Granted, I am not that old, but every year it just goes faster. I was just finishing up my son's costume, then stuffing myself with turkey (did my first one this year, and it turned out great!), now it is time to finish up my Christmas presents.

I was very much inspired by all of the blogs promoting handmade items this year, but I have yet to work out the details. I love this sweet shawl on Laughing Purple Goldfish designs- I practically begged her to post the pattern, as I am not accomplished enough to try my hand at pattern making, and I just can't make heads or tails of some of the "easy" ones that I found online. I am still a novice, but I suspect that I could pull these off with some concerted effort. A few strands of funky eyelash yarn on the ends and I am in business.

I tried to link to the picture, but it crashed my machine twice. You will just have to use that extra calorie to click on the link- sorry!

This project is also on my radar- I have a lot of small kids to buy/make for, and these are fun and work up fairly quickly. I am thinking that I might modify the design into snow angels for two of the little girls- they are 3, and very girly-girl. The extra angel bling just might make up for the fact that they aren't Hannah Montana! The scarf will absolutely have to be purple, though. It is just a "3" thing. I have boys, so what do I know?

If I match up one of these with the sweet handmade fleece scarves over at Dabbled.com, I just might be the bee's knees this holiday season! Of course, robots will not fly with the girls, so I will have to come up with another motif to match the hats, but I am up for the challenge.

Of course, this color scheme would go great with this hat:



I love the repurposed glove idea- if only I could knit them myself! Ok, maybe not. 22 days and counting!

I also confess that I am totally addicted to surfing the offerings at OnePrettyThing. Definitely not for the faint of heart, these postings- or for the professional procrastinator (AKA, me!). Nice to look at, though. I can dream, I suppose- but if they keep coming up with a million good ideas that I desperately want to make but don't have time for? I just might have to kill them. In a very artistic and "homemade" way, of course!