A Spectacular Mess

No pictures - What I Love

2012-02-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

Simple and blatantly stolen from Pioneer Woman. Here we go:

I love ( in no particular order.)

My family.

Butterflies.

Hippos.

Color

Old keys

Old typewriter keys

Old typewriters

Old typewriter ink ribbon (I'll stop with the typewriter stuff, now)

Award Shows

The Kindness of Strangers

The Kindness of friends

Friends with jumper cables.

Friends with wine.

Friends who listen to me whine.

Kindness

Gentle Rain

Gentle Sunshine

The Magic Hour (right before dusk)

Sunrise

Sunset (cue Fiddler On The Roof)

Musicals

Magicians

Cameras

Good photos

BAD photos that make me laugh

Laughing

Smiles

A good joke

Animals

Sundays

My husbands footsteps

The sound of my daughter's car

True Love

A Full Moon

Friday the 13th (the day not the movie)

Sunday dinner

Lightning Bugs (Fireflies) in a jar

Lightning bugs being released from a jar

Fireworks

Floating Lanterns

A Summer Bonfire

Spices

Fresh Tomatoes

Farm stand vegetables

Farm stand flowers

Tornado Footage

Storm Footage

Fairy tales

My VW Beetle

MUSIC

Movies

Television

The Internet

Rusted, Dented, and Grungy

Creating/ /crafting - anything

Duck Egg Blue :o)

Vintage Christmas

Memories

Vintage Christmas Memories

Buttons

Old jewelry

Estate sales

Make your own list. See what you see. It's fun and maybe a little bit enlightening.

Pondering Originality

2012-02-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

I love this quote*.

I'm pretty sure that there are quite a few artists out there who will not agree.

I am not an artist.

I am a rather crafty person but not an artist.

VanGogh, Picasso, and Magritte were artists.

Not me.

Recently, I've joined the masses on Pinterest.

I hadn't done it because I had to join Facebook to get on.

I didn't want to join Facebook.

No reason. Just a choice.

Does anyone really want to know

that I went to the hardware store

to purchase new tips for my soldering iron?

I think not.

I jotted down the above quote a while back.

I love Pinterest.

Great ideas.

-BUT-

People/Artists

worry about being copied.

They post little signs about this worry.

I get it. I do, really.

Please don't write and explain it to me.

I understand copyright issues.

That being said, now I worry

that I might accidentally copy someone else.

All of Pinterest is on my desktop and in my brain.

So...

When I make this:

or this:

How do I know I'm original?

I get a lot of inspiration from many, many places.

I'm sure everyone else does too.

I understand not copying something

piece by piece

word by word.

But, with the Internet and everything downloadable

it is inevitable. Hopefully, these folks are copying and

making it their own. Making it a little bit different.

I think that tends to happen anyway.

If you can copy it exactly then you are probably copying

Monet, or Rembrandt, or Van Gogh

and making HUGE illegal bucks.

This opinion of mine may irritate some people.

And you may not know this about me

but,

my goal is

to make everyone in the entire world happy!!

And this thought is probably not going to help me achieve my goal.

I've seen my bow tutorial reproduced.

And you know what?

I don't care.

I took apart a bow to figure it out.

It's a fun project.

You can do it too.

You can even blog about it.

You can write another tutorial.

Don't.

Care.

I did this one too.

Make your own glitter out of

broken Christmas Balls.

I KNOW I saw that somewhere else.

Gosh, I wish I knew where.

You know,

every day

the only 3 things I have to remember to take with me are:

my asthma inhaler

my reading glasses ('specially since I work at a library)

my car keys.

Every day, I will leave the house without one of them.

Because, I can't remember ...

I'm too busy remembering the million and one other things

that I have to remember. As we all do.

How in the world, I ask you,

(Tiny hedgehogs. Aren't they cute?)

am I expected to remember

where

on the

WORLD WIDE INTERNET

I saw something?!

I think I made up these designs.

But- if I didn't, I apologize.

I wasn't stealing.

I just have a very bad memory.

And as Forrest Gump said,

"That's all I have to say about that."

Off the soapbox now.

Thank you for your support.

(and if you can remember where THAT quote came from you have a very good memory)

This was a little tongue in cheek.

I understand that they (the artists) want their

work linked back to their website.

But, I do worry...

A lot.

*I threw this little quote together in Photoshop. Feel free to steal, copy or use

King Midas Of The Buttons

2012-02-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

I saw an estate sale listed as having fabrics and notions. A LOT of fabrics and notions.

So off we went.

There was a slight chance of snow.

Lake effect near the lake

We are not near the lake.

We got to the sale and there were people standing outside.

Normal.

Once we got inside I scooped up some laces and odds and ends.

Then I headed upstairs where the fabrics where.

There, I found buttons.

TONS of buttons!!

Bottles, bags, and envelopes of buttons.

They were very inexpensive.

There were also old antique buttons.

I didn't buy too many of them.

But then I went back the next day.

Half price the half price they were already marked.

Some are truly amazing!

These are some of them.

I love the large middle one. It's stunning.

We drove further north and east to a few more sales.

The snow started to come down.

We stopped at one and I found this cool pocket watch.

I paid .50 for it.

FIFTY CENTS!!!!!!

I was thrilled beyond words.

Also this sweater closure thingy.

Pretty isn't it?

They had some newer jewelry that had huge price tags on it.

By the time we left it had snowed several inches.

Lake effect snow comes down fast and is huge flakes.

By the time we got home to our town

there was nary a flake to be seen.

I've lived in the Chicago area for 20 years

and I still am not used to the weird weather fluctuations.

I made jewelry this weekend, too.

And this is the back side:

The best part of this is the back.

I found this teeny tiny Marshall Field's tags on Ebay.

Marshall Field's was a HUGE department store in Chicago.

It was taken over by Macy's a few years ago.

Macy's in the same building.

But

It's not the same.

I loved this on the back of the gun.

What little girls are made of.

Gunpowder, Lead and Marshall Field's!!

More steampunk
This time I added octopuses.
I thought the plural of octopus was octopi.
It's not.
I looked it up.
You know.
In case you need it for
Words With Friends
I'm here to help...

And another Oz necklace.

A colorful pair of hippie/ gypsy earrings.

The sun has been shining a bit more.

Color looks really good to me right now.

Have a colorful week!!

We Got Us Some Valentines

2012-01-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

Last year this was a key chain. I never listed it and decided to remake it into a necklace.

It cracks me up.

It was cut out of an old Harold Robbins novel.

He was the "hot" romance/trash novelist of the time in the 60's and 70's.

Pretty racy stuff back then.

I added some fun old beads.

It's really long, too.

I have no idea WHAT this woman is doing.

I thought the picture was great, though.

More Romance.

This came out of a less trashy romance novel.

Romance novels are very popular at the library where I work.

The funny part is so many of the women who read them

apologize for checking them out!

This always makes me laugh.

And I say,

"We just check out your materials. We don't judge."

Then I wink and tell them to enjoy it.

The sweetest library story about romance novels is this one.

An older woman who has long since passed on used to

check out a lot of them. She was so much fun. I really miss her.

She was very outspoken and would just blurt out the most

hilarious things.

One day, she says,

"Do you know why I read this junk?"

I didn't know what to say.

So, I kept quiet and smiled.

She said,

"Because

I want to remember

what it was like."

That always brings a smile to my face.

And

A little tear to my eye.

She was a wonderful lady.

And that - is a wonderful memory.

I Fear I'm Completely Bonkers

2012-01-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

I've said this before.

But,

Sometimes I look at what I make and think,

"Lordy. Lordy. I'm Sybil"

I did not make this.

My friend Cameron did.

She has a blog called

Paint Myself Pretty.

Her art is gorgeous.

She does the most magnificent eyes.

She has a style.

I can spot Cameron's art from 500 miles away.

Me?

I'm all over the board.

I wish I had a style.

My style seems to be:

"Um. Mmmm. Girl. You is one crazy mess!"

That's not the style I want to be.

But, apparently

it is who I am.

Sounds like a song cue doesn't it?

I was going to plug in the song

"I'm Sexy And I Know It"

because it makes me laugh.

But-

I couldn't get it to fit into this blog.

So I'll post some lovely jewelry pictures.

I like buttons and old stuff.

See.

Old stuff. Buttons.

But then,

I need to shake it up.

And I end up with this:

Or these!

Dragons breath (Mexican Opal)

GORGEOUS to look at.

And then the next thing you know

I'm making these.

For Valentine's Day.

I did make some nice Valentine earrings.

I did!

See!

I can do pretty.

But then the dragons begged to be made.

And the frog asked so sweetly.

He looked ever the gentleman in his debonair top hat.

And before I could say

in my best Jim Carrey voice,

"SOMEBODY STOP ME!"

We were dancing and singing and grooving to the movin'

Go Here

So there you have it.

I'm completely

Crackers.

New Year Smiles

2012-01-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

So, here we are. The first of the year. Paraphrasing the Christmas song by John Lennon:

"And so it is New Years. And what have you done? Another year over. A new one just begun."

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87200230/4-dog-puppy-west-highland-terrier

I've been looking on Etsy.

Here's what I've purchased or had purchased for me:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheDecoratedHouse

Beau Bunny!

I adore him. He sits in my family room all year.

Yes. Even with the Halloween pumpkin.

It's kinda weird next to the Christmas tree but we aren't going to go there now, are we?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/collageOrama

Squeaky The Samurai Squirrel

He's waiting for a frame. He's going on the wall in my office at work.

My co-workers all have photos of their families on their desks and office walls.

I will have Squeaky and this guy:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ara133photography

It's not that I don't like my family. I love my family.

I just have a thing for rodents.

Don't ask.

They make me laugh.

Actually,

so does my family.

And really,
I ask you.
can you look at these faces and NOT smile?!

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I've been MIA

I could tell you that I've been to the islands.

I was invited to the White House.

I was appearing on the Martha Stewart Show

but that would be all lies.

The truth is...

I have this Etsy shop.

It's great!

Who knew Christmas was the busiest time of the year?!

This used to be my dining room table.

Then it became a shipping table.

Now it's just

well,

frightening!!

My dining room looks like a room on those newscasts

where they remove the children

from the deplorable living conditions.

Yup. I've created deplorable living conditions.

There's no pizza boxes.

No garbage.

Just mounds of tape, bubble wrap, postage paraphernalia and so forth.

But, I survived.

I met so many wonderful people that

it was worth every late night and early morning

that I spent creating the

deplorable living conditions.

This is the pile of fun today.

I finally made it out to my favorite antique store for more buttons.

My daughter said,

"Really. You really need more buttons."

Just to show you that I did actually

sort of

clean the counter up for breakfast Christmas morning.

My daughter refused to make cinnamon rolls for us

if there was any broken glass or staples.

Spoil sport.

I did get a nifty new Ott light.

It helps SO much.

There's no reason for me not to be making jewelry

well into the wee hours of the morning.

That's what caffeine is for isn't it?

I've been making these:

And

and

So..

and

and don't forget to have fun.

The Littlest Dragon

2011-12-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

The young dragon snuffled quietly.

Thin trails of smoke curled silently upwards over his head.

He looked at his mother with sad eyes.

One lone tear trickled down his little dragon snout.

"But...but.. I don't want to eat the villagers, "

he sniffed.

He wiped the tear away

with his scaly green arm

and sighed.

"It's okay,"

said his mother.

"You don't have to."

We're vegetarians.

Gales of November

2011-11-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Remember the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?

That's where the title to this post came from.

It's grey and gloomy outside.

But it is November.

Almost Thanksgiving.

And that means...

Almost CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

That's right.

I've been working on Christmas!

Fa-la-la.

Holly Jolly.

Have yourself a merry little...

Mess?

What is this you ask?

Well, dear readers, I'll tell you.

It's a bribe.

Yes.

I said it.

Bribe.

If you spend $20.00 or more in my Etsy Shop

I'm going to add a free pair of earrings.

While supplies last.
These are unsold earrings from my Etsy shop.

This is a

clean out my earring closet freebie.

Some of these earrings are from another season.

Some are "seconds" but really perfectly fine.

You may specify which pair you'd like to have.

If they are still available they are yours with your order.

Or..we can leave it as a surprise.

A fun surprise.

Not a nasty surprise,

say,

....

.....

.........

SNOW!

And we all know

Like it or not

Snow

coming.

May as well accept it.
Cold feet.
Blowing snow.
Cold cars.
Snow shovels.

I guess it's kind of pretty.

At least around Christmas.

Thank Fall

2011-11-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

I've been very busy with the Etsy shop.

I am very thankful for that.

I've met some of the most amazing people.

I haven't really met them.

You know.

Not in person.

I've met them through the various kinds of jewelry that I've made.
I make cheap jewelry.
Nothing expensive.
No Gold.
No. Platinum
Just Fun.
Cheap Jewelry For Classy Broads.
That was going to be my tagline.
My daughter gave me "that" look.
So I don't call it that.
Not out loud anyway.

Repurposed vintage.

I called these

Iron Butterfly.

I've found people like to wear their hearts

or at least

their words on their ears.

My favorite the White Rabbit is still popular.

He's also in Steampunk.

I love Steampunk. It's so much fun to build a necklace.

Heaven knows I have waaay too many little

bits and bobs of things.

Vintage Christmas items.

Yes.

It's that time of year.

I know this because it's crammed down my throat with the

force of ten

Steven Spielberg

Velociraptors!

But, really, it's still Fall.

And almost time to

Give Thanks.

and

Eat Turkey.

Because in a few short weeks -

He's coming.
And all the madness that ensues with Christmas.
Is on it's way.

Enjoy the quiet while you can!

Number NINE...

2011-10-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

And the winner is Number NINE!! Yay!! Number Nine.

Tell number nine what she has won, Bill!

Right, Kathy.

Number nine has won an all expense paid trip

for the

Bingston Monkey Boys!!

(yaaaaay...and the crowd goes crazy)

The Bingston Monkey Boys

will be bringing their unique brand of

Tibetan humor

to the home of

...

.....

.......

......

FAIRY YELLOWBUG QUEEN!!

Yay!!!

Email me your address please.

The boys need (kneed?) to come SEE you...

bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

( I randomly assigned numbers to everyone that wanted to be part of this drawing.

Then I used the Random Number Selector and randomly wrote this post. )

Monkeys(?) and A Gruesome Giveaway

2011-10-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

I'm running behind. Will do the drawing Monday night. You have one more day, kids!!

Here's the story:

Several years ago I was wandering through our local flea market.

I came upon a gentleman selling beads.
More often than not you see the same sellers at our flea market.
Especially, the bigger ones that set up stands.
I had never seen this man before.
Ever.

He had quite a spread. It was all laid out on a large table full of bead trays.

The seller claimed to be from Tibet.

Judging by his accent, his appearance and his small stature I tended to believe him.

He was selling a vast array of some amazing beads.

I purchased these two skulls.

They are beads.

They are 2 inches and quite large.

As he was wrapping them up he said,

"Those are hand carved monk knees."

Thinking he had said monkeys I just smiled.

They didn't look like monkeys but I wasn't going to argue.

He persisted. "Monks carve their bones into intricate objects

when one of them has passed on.

Those beads are carved from monk knees."

I don't know that this is true.

They are definitely bone.

And, I have to say

they look like knees.

I try not to think about it.

Smiling.

Knees.

Toothsome, even.

But

Knees.

That's all I can tell you.

It does make an interesting story.

And, by the way. I've never seen this man at the flea market since.

So...

Here's what we're doing.

I've Been To Oz, With the Gypsies!

2011-10-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

I was abducted.

The Flying Monkeys!!

No. Not really.

But, Oz has been busy.

The wicked witch, Elphaba, AND the flying monkeys

have kept me busy.

Turns out that she's actually a GOOD witch.

At least to me. (wink, wink)

And, the flying monkeys?

They are really just misunderstood.

Yes, they are!

They aren't cowardly like the lion

but truly are just as sweet.

I've been staying up late making jewelry.

And it appears

(whispered) I may be a tad "touched."

I've been sifting through books and books

hunting for words.

Special words.

I have lots and lots of

Blood.

SO much blood.

Which doesn't seem to lend itself to Christmas jewelry.

Gypsy.
That's another good word.
People like gypsies.
True story:
We were always warned about them
They'd show up in the lower fields
on my grandfather's farm in the summer.
We weren't allowed to play down there
when the gypsies were in town.

If we were caught going down to the lower field
we were threatened with a spanking.
I always thought secretly
"at least the gypsies wouldn't spank us."
I wasn't afraid of no gypsy!

These are nice gypsies.

I made this gypsy necklace.
Then someone asked nicely
so I made another.
The gypsies it turns out
aren't so scary either.

Want to see something really scary?
Hee-hee-hee

These are really, really large beads
And
honestly, they kind of freak me out.
I put them for sale in my Etsy shop.
But, I think they freak out other folks, too.
If they don't sell by the end of the weekend
I'm
going
to
give
them
away!
Stay tuned.
I'll tell you the story.
And it won't be two weeks later!
I'll be sharing the story this coming week.

AND
We'll have a give-a-way.
That is if you
want their
creepiness
in YOUR house.

BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA

Just Stampin' Away

2011-10-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

I love Etsy.

I have met some of the greatest people

since opening my little shop.

Remember when I said that someone had mailed me this?

Well it turns out that she was one of my Etsy customers

who just happens to work for one of the largest stamping companies around.

She sent it to me thinking that it could make some cool jewelry.

I was so surprised! And, thrilled.

Well,

I have been having a blast.

You use those stamps

and

this.

This crazy stuff stamps on everything.

So,

I did!

This is glass.

I haven't decided what to do with this, yet.

I was just tickled to death that it didn't smear.

I have actually never used StazOn before.

I had it in my suitcase of ink.

What?

You don't store your ink in a suitcase?

I store TONS of stuff in suitcases.

Back to the ink...

Which means I purchased it at some point.

Some sort of project in mind, no doubt.

And there it sat

Languishing.

Waiting...

FOR THIS!

I stamped this silver disc.

First I lightly sanded the disc.

Then I stamped it.

But, I don't own any of those little acrylic blocks

I did it using this.

I used the plastic lid of another stamp pad!

I didn't have the acrylic block.

Turns out -

It doesn't matter!

Didn't need it.

This worked

like a charm.

Speaking of charms,

I stamped this beat up piece of copper that I had.

Then I took the stamped bits

and made jewelry.

THE BLACK SPARROW

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

The spider is my favorite

I took out some hostilities

on a square piece of copper.

Stamped it with the new stamps

and

I ended up with this.

It's very cool.

Stamps and metal.

It's a good thing.

(sorry, Martha)

Stories. I Got Stories.

2011-09-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ingrid at Pottery Girl made me this spider pendant

which I promptly turned into a dandy necklace.

Sometimes I write little stories to go with the pieces I make.

I know it annoys some folks.

But when it's late at night

and I've been up making jewelry

I need something to while away the posting time on Etsy.

Here's the story for this one:

The mother spider was full of eggs as she lay tucked quietly into the crate full of silk ribbons.

She was ready to spring as soon as the lid of that crate had been pried open.

She had been planning her escape for the entire trip. She would have babies.

Lots and lots of tiny, poisonous baby spiders.

She heard the footsteps approaching.

The voices.

She heard the creaking sound of the crowbar tearing apart her crate.

Soon.

She'd be free, soon.

She readied herself to spring into the air...

Makes you want to buy this doesn't it?!!

How about Benny the skeleton skull?

Benny appeared pensive as he contemplated where his bones might have been laid.

He was a full skeleton just days before.

Trying to remember made his brain hurt.

Until he remembered, he didn't HAVE a brain...

HA! Well, late at night it seemed funny.

At the time.

I've also been making these:

BFFs don't you think??

Knock knock.

HOO's there??!!

hahahahahaha!

ahem.

sorry...

I make up stories in my head when I create.

Do you?

This tag is based on an evil magician.

He poisoned all of his assistants.

Slowly.

He was never caught.

Instead of using a rabbit for the rabbit in a hat trick-

He used an owl.

The owl did things for him.

Despicable things...

SEE!

Fun, huh?!

Just hangin' around.

Making stuff.

bwahahahahaha...

It Was A Very Good Week

2011-09-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Last week was a very good week.

It started out on Tuesday the 6th

when I realized that I had orders in my Etsy shop

for several sets of earrings.

I don't normally sell a lot on a Tuesday so I was pleasantly surprised.

I also received this in the mail:

I'm not sure why

or even how!

I know I didn't buy them

but they are really COOL!

Clear rubber stamps that are the very kind

I would have bought for myself.

Thank you to whomever sent them to me!

I stayed up until well after midnite makin' up the earrings

that I had orders for.

These!

I didn't give it alot of thought.

Several people had included them in some very nice treasuries.

Like this one.

That one night in October

6 Primitive Halloween Grun...
oldgoatprims
$15.00 USD
Halloween spooky jet black...
bookity
$24.00 USD
Gothic Orange Pumpkin Neck...
ShySiren
$26.00 USD
Halloween Mask - Crocheted...
DeweyDecimal...
$75.00 USD
Witch Sign Flying Broom Ha...
SlippinSouth...
$89.00 USD
Primitive Halloween Prim S...
wvluckygirl
$9.99 USD
Halloween Wreath, Howling ...
thechicadees...
$120.00 USD
Gothic Halloween Tags Spo...
Bluebirdlane
$6.00 USD
Morning in Spider Web - 8x...
UnaPhoto
$19.00 USD
Orenda Witch Owl With Her ...
PaxtonValleyFolkA...
Sold
Wicked witch. Unusual art ...
HoneyCase2
$25.00 USD
HALLOWEEN Poka Dot Burlap ...
funkyshique
$18.00 USD
Halloween earrings - TRU...
Msemrick
$10.00 USD
Halloween art Spooky Autum...
Raceytay
$11.25 USD
Halloween Cupcake Toppers....
KiwiTiniCrea...
$6.50 USD

Curator

Here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTExODc0NTR8NjY0OTA5MDM0/that-one-night-in-october?index=1

I took a good long look at it this weekend.

Holy Cow!

It made the front page!!

I had over 400 hits that day

and silly me -

I had NO clue!

That got me all goosed up and I made jewelry all weekend.

I made these

I got out the dye

Managed to make the kitchen look like a crime scene.

These

Bingo Bathtub Bunny

(the spinner actually spins!)

Very Halloweeny with a little bit of "Camp."

A pendant made out of a

Madagascar Sunset Moth wing.

I rescued the butterfly from a really awful

coffee table piece from the 80's.

Soldered broken china earrings.

More creepy Halloween fun

And I finished up with a pair of blue earrings.

They look like a hurricane pattern on the front.

I guess all of the hurricane talk

just has that on my brain.

After all this jewelry making

my brain is tired!

So I finished with jewelry from Oz.

Don't make me get my flying monkeys!

Hope you have a great week too.

You Had Me At Hell No

2011-09-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is a song. A real song!!

John Rich and L'il John perform it on a sixpack CD

that they made after Celebrity Apprentice.

It's good!

Click here.

It inspired these earrings!

I also made these.

I'm selling all three together.

That way,

you can wear either

Hell No!

Hell Yes!

Yes on one ear

and

No on the other.

Back to finishing these:

They are going to be necklaces for right now.

Maybe earrings later.

Gotta love True Blood

and

John Rich!

It's A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

2011-09-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

My husband and I took the train into The City.

Everyone calls Chicago

THE CITY.

That distinguishes it from all of the other cities, I guess.

The train was crowded.

I sat next to a giant sunflower seed eating gerbil.

She was disguised as a woman.

For 1 and 1/2 hours

this gerbil/woman

methodically ate sunflower seeds off of an actual sunflower head

which she held in a bag on her lap.

1. Pluck seed

2. Put seed in mouth

3.Crack seed with teeth

4. Fish seed out with tongue

5. Chew

6.Spit shell in hand

7. Deposit shell back into giant Sunflower Head bag

8. Repeat

The amazing part is that it had - rather - a rhythm to it

and

SHE NEVER STOPPED!

Not once.

Although, surprisingly enough

she was able to continue talking.

It was oddly fascinating.

And disgusting all at the same time.

Not as bad as the time I rode the train and watched a man shave.

Or, as my friend observed-

watched a man clip his toenails.

Yes.

It's FUN to ride the train into

The CITY.

We walked to the Wrigley Building

(The building that gum built)

Yes, folks, I'm here to educate you

To see a large crowd of people

and

THIS!

No. Those are just skyscrapers.

THIS!

Can't tell?

Wait. I'll get you closer.

It'a a giant 26 foot statue of

Marilyn Monroe

From this scene in Seven Year Itch

I don't know why she's there.

It's Chicago!

We do things like this.

Taking wedding pictures under the

Amazonian Marilyn is apparently

another thing we do.

We also like to set babies down next to the giant foot

and

stare, gawk and laugh at Marilyn's "nether regions."

Every man there HAD to stand under her dress and look up!!

It just had me and my husband laughing our heads off.

My husband refused to stand under her dress and point

so that I could get a good picture.

The artist had the good sense

to paint undies on our dear Marilyn.

I knew you'd want proof.

So, I took a picture.

She's pretty cool in a Sci-Fi sort of way.

We left there. Found some cool beverages.

AND - decided to take the river taxi to China Town.

I took some nice photos of the river while we waited.

The river taxi drops you off at a nice little park in China Town.

We walked from there to the restaurant and had a fabulous dinner!

We ate too much.

Had a great time.

Missed our train by 1 MINUTE!

Had to wait 2 hours in the train station...

But, it was a perfect day.

A beautiful day.

Cue Bono

here

I'd Catch A Grenade For Ya

2011-09-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

I had the day off yesterday.

The short story is:

I blew a tire

on the way to Michaels

to buy these beads:

And, while I usually try to buy Czech beads

or handmade beads

these just called to me when I first saw them

I should've bought them then!

All was going well until the tire blew out.

And I had to wait for the tow truck for an hour.

Then I had to wait another several hours to get the tire (s) replaced.

4 hours later.

I was at Michaels.

So,

I did it.

I finished the grenade necklace.

And-

I Love it!!

It makes me laugh.

Hopefully, someone else will love it.

I made this too.

It has more of a calming influence.

There you have it.

My schizophrenic mind at work.

Have a great weekend!

Here We Go, Here We GO

2011-09-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Here we go again!

Even though my daughter hasn't been in school for a long time

for some reason

Labor Day feels like the end of the year to me.

September is the beginning.

Fall is coming.

Yay!

Winter is coming...

I'll think about that tomorrow (she says)

and so forth.

Time marches. (cue violin music)

Thinking of that,

I made this.

This is the

skewed view.

Ah.

Here we go.

Then my brain took a sharp left turn

Albuquerque.

I am currently working on this.

I call it -

Before the Bathtub Bunny.

Made some cute pumpkin and spider earrings.

Leaf earrings.

Spooky BOO earrings.

Black Cat earrings.

And finally.

I started working on

the grenade necklace.

It's different than I was actually planning.

It's not finished

I don't think that there's actually anything called

a G50 Grenade

but it sounds cool doesn't it?

I think I'll add a ceramic heart to it.

I think it's going to make all the difference.

Don't you?

Thank you Bruno Mars...

Oh, I'd catch a grenade for you.

Put my hand on blade for you...

Famous Potatoes

2011-08-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Did you know that

"Famous Potatoes"

is the slogan used on Idaho license plates?

That's right.

I'm here to educate you.

I changed up these old 60's earrings.

I added olives.

I'm not sure why.

It seemed like the right thing to do.

At least that's what these beads look like to me.

This is the photo after I edited out

the "famous potatoes."

Rule #1 in taking a photograph.

Always, observe the background and foreground

before snapping the picture.

Obviously,

I didn't see the potatoes.

Hopefully, they aren't too noticeable.

I thought about adding a disclaimer to the Etsy description.

Something like,

Famous Potatoes not included.

I decided against doing that.

I made these too.

I love these deep yellow orange beads.

They just look yummy.

Between the famous potatoes, the olives

and the oranges all this beaded food is making me hungry.

I'm going to go find something to eat.

OH!

I almost forgot.

I made these too.

Made ya smile!

Not Bud Light but BUG Light!

2011-08-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

So, my husband is standing with a cup of coffee in his hand.

He says,

"Usually the shirt is off."

"uh-huh"

I'm concentrating on taking a picture of myself wearing

my latest creation.

A wasp necklace.

"What are you talking about?" I mutter.

My husband says,

"When people take pictures of their boobs or whatever

they are usually not wearing clothes. Just saying."

Which of course made me bust out laughing.

Oh.

Pardon the pun.

Then he says,

"WHAT is THAT?!"

"It's a wasp sealed in plastic.

I just know that there's someone out there

who right now

wishes she had this necklace!"

I marched myself into the bathroom

to gaze upon the beauty of this splendid piece

in the bathroom mirror.

When I was met with this sight!

GLOWS

IN THE DARK!!!!

hahahahahha!!!

There you have it.

My bug light necklace.

I think I'm going to put it in my Etsy store.

I'll see if it gets any bites!

And stop groaning.

I can hear you, you know.

Vintage Cheese Graters and Flying Saucers

2011-08-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

I saw on Etsy someone was selling rusted and painted

cheese graters.

They were being used for displaying earrings.

I happen to have one.

It's already rusted.

from years of use.

My family used to joke about the rust.

Really they were horrified that I still used it.

It was CLEAN!

It was just

well,

rusted.

I had a neighbor ask to borrow it once.
One look at it and she said,
"No thanks, Kathy. I'll drive to the store and buy one."
A kitchen object is really bad when you'd rather buy one than borrow one.

Much to my family's delight
I finally replaced it.
But,
I couldn't throw it away.
I've had it since my first apartment.
It's been a good friend
and given me more than a few
scraped knuckles!

Imagine my delight when I saw
an alternative use for it!
I put my Etsy earrings on it.

It makes a snazzy carrier/holder for earrings.

And it will save me a few bucks in tetanus shots.

I bought these vintage beads a while back.

They looked like flying saucers.

You may be asking yourself

"Why would you want these?"

The answer is...

I made these:

See!
They are HUGE!
They are made of
vintage Lucite and look like crystal.
They are very light weight, too!
And let me just say,
Do NOT
take a side view, closeup
Of.
Your.
Face.
when you are over 50
unless you have
TREMENDOUS
Self-Esteem.

Root C Anal

2011-08-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

So, I went back to the dentist to finish up the

root canal from hell.

And I said,

Doc.

Next time.

Smack me with a brick.

Zap me with a taser.

Then, I'll hand you an obscene amount of money

and it'll save us both a lot of time and misery.

He wasn't amused.

Sheeshk.

Some people have no sense of humor.

Speaking of sense of humor-

I made this necklace

out of a tiny Gin bottle charm.

I added tiny glass beads inside

to look like ice.

In case you like your Gin "on the rocks."

I soldered the whole thing closed.

It's kind of cute.

I'm not sure when they were passing these out.

I know it's old.

I'm hoping they didn't use to appear in those

children's gum-ball machines.

What did you get Jimmy? says Mom

Golly Gee, Mom! I got a bottle of GIN! says little Jimmy.

My humorous stuff doesn't usually sell.

We'll see what happens with this one.

It's a JEEP thing!

This one has gotten some interest.

I'm sure someone out there wants to wear a teeny-tiny

one inch Jeep around their neck.

Who wouldn't?

I even found an old Jeep key to go with it.

I reworked this one.

It's another weird little necklace.

Cinderella's broken glass slipper pieces.

Contained in a bottle to wear around your neck.

Create your own fairy tale.

I've been working on this one for a while.

I keep putting it down and then picking it up.

Do you ever do that?

I liked it before I took the picture.

Now, I'm not so sure.

The ivory flower beads,

well,

they remind me of teeth.

It kind of takes away from the charm

don't you think?

Perhaps I won't list that in the Etsy description.

Charming pink bracelet with teeth like beads.

No.

Doesn't flow, does it?

I'm happy with these!

Same tooth beads but somehow they work here.

I have this just waiting to be made into a fabulous piece of jewelry.

Nothing sells like a grenade necklace!

Inspiration from Bruno Mars.

Click on his name if you've managed to miss out hearing this song.

And, what's this?

Yeah.

It's a staple.

In the butter.

Dangerous butter, again.

I've really got to stop crafting in the kitchen.

Either that

or remember to

refrigerate the butter.

Mail Call!

2011-07-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Not MALE Call.

No, no, no.

Mail.

As in

USPS

I've been getting lots of mail.

I won two giveaways in

the Fanciful Twist's Tea Party

on June 25th.

Can this really be the end of July?

What happened to JULY?!

This Alice Sachet smells like heaven!

Actually,

It smells like lavender

but doesn't that

smell like heaven?!

Betty from The Gossamer Tearoom

http://gossamertearoom.blogspot.com/

made it.

Thank you, Betty!!

This is a fun blog party.

You can still visit here if you like.

Isn't this hat marvelous?!!

This was from Wendy over at

http://blissangels.blogspot.com/

Thank you Wendy!!

I also participated in Karla's Bird Song tag swap.

Karla's tag swaps are

hugely popular (as my friend Susan says)

and just way too much fun!

Here is the tag book I received.

I've created links if you click on the picture.

Seahorse Ranch

Morrison Mercantile

http://susannorwood.blogspot.com/

Crowns and Pearls

http://cheryl-comfort.blogspot.com/

Thyme to Spare

Karen (no blog)

Karla

Karla's Cottage

Thank you Miss Karla!! This has to be TONS of work but I always enjoy them.

I'm off to get a hair cut and color.

Maybe I'll surprise the Mr.

and have it done red

like the lady in the pirate book.

I'm sure I'll look just like her.

I'll let you know. (wink, wink)

A Fortnight of Carnage

2011-07-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks!

Holy Cow. How'd that happen?

I could tell you.

But,

then, I'd have to kill ya.

No. That's not quite right.

You'd want to kill me.

No one really likes to hear

about another person's ailments.

And believe you me,

I could drone on

and on

and on.

You wouldn't like it.

It all started with an innocent enough

root canal.

Yup.

The dreaded word.

r-o-o-t

c-a-n-a-l

They aren't so bad.

I've had a few.

But this one-

Well, it left me looking like this:

Yeah.

Really.

Suffice it to say,

It wasn't pretty.

interesting.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

But I got caught up on my Etsy shop.

Watched my tomatoes grow.

Made some fun jewelry

Recreated some vintage jewelry.

Asked a lot of questions following statements from the dentist

like this one:

Dentist: No. You cannot drink an entire bottle of whiskey before the procedure.

Me: Why Not?

I took fine art

and turned it into

campy earrings.

Does doing this make my jewelry

"fine art?"

...No.

I didn't think so.

I saw this!

I cried at the end.

For a lot of reasons.

It was sad.

And my Advil wore off.

And I made these.

The earrings are called

"It's Raining Men."

Do you remember that song.

Here it is if you don't.

CLICK here.

It makes me smile.

I like it better than

Rene Magritte's title

Golgotha.

My daughter says she thinks the song is creepy.

"Think of the carnage," she says.

I watched the video.

It is kind of creepy.

She's right!!

But

it still makes me smile.

:o)

Magritte.

He had no idea

what he hath wrought.

Flash!

2011-07-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's pretty toasty outside today, Kids.

So, I'm doing things inside.

One of our library pages is leaving this week.

I made her this book:

Here's the inside.

You write down 50 things you want to do.

Cross them off as you complete them

and continue adding so that

you always have a list of 50 things.

I was doing this for our college library pages

long before the "Bucket List" movie.

It's the same concept.

If I had been thinking I'd have taken pictures as I went along.

You could be reading a tutorial right now.

As it is,

Your own best guess on how to do this is good.

That's pretty much what I did.

I am a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of girl.

I knew you'd want to know that.

I also made her these:

Gwyneth Paltrow wore a pair similar to these

on the Grammy Awards this year.

And yes.

The bag of Sally Rand feathers is still out.

No.

I'm not taking up fan dancing,

but thanks for asking.

I also was doing research on

the green flash phenomenon.

Are you familiar with this?

When the sun goes down

sometimes

just sometimes

there's a bright green flash right before it

disappears on the horizon.

I've never seen one.

I've always wanted to.

But it inspired me to make a bracelet.

I'm really happy with it.

It's all sunset oranges and yellows

with a little Caribbean blue thrown in for effect.

It is of course, sitting in my Etsy shop

as we speak.

The green flash beads are flashier in real life.

But then again,

aren't we all?!

Sally Rand The Amazing Fan Dancer

2011-07-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

You are probably asking yourself

"Why am I looking at this?"
Well, dear friends,

I'll tell you.

I was working on some tags for

Karla's Birdsong Swap.

So, far, I've made 4 out of the 7 needed.

I felt they were lacking something.

But what?

I decided to change it up

and work on some different tags.

Tags, that have nothing to do with song birds.

And, I made these:

By the way.

I love this one.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Read the ticket on the bottom left hand side.

Cracked myself up

putting this one together.

Then this one caught my eye.

I focused on...

This torn ticket!

And if you think anything else

you should probably get your mind out of the gutter.

The Folly Theatre

Kansas City, Missouri

Sally Rand the famous fan dancer came all the way from Chicago

to Kansas City to perform her amazing fan dance.

Much to the delight of the Kansas City

male audience.

Notice the lovely, classical music that is playing.

Sally Rand did not have a stripper pole!

Why I am able to remember this infamous fact

and could not remember that my dentist appointment

was for NEXT Friday instead of today...

well, I don't have an answer for that.

But,

growing up in Kansas City I heard this story

and it popped right back into my brain

for some much needed inspiration.

Feathers.

It made me think of feathers!

And I finished the tags you see here.

Sing

The Nesting Instinct

On A Wing And A Prayer

The Birdman of Alcatraz As A Youth

The Cat That Swallowed The Canary

All thanks to Sally Rand's inspiration.

I'm sure she inspired a lot of other things!

In her day.

Just saying.

But for me,

she inspired these tags.

I guess inspiration can come from just about anywhere!

(Tags include art from Tumblefish Studio and Tangie Baxter)

Max Picks A Winner

2011-07-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

I bought blueberries yesterday.

I adore blueberries. I thought I'd have some

for breakfast.

I got up this morning and wandered into the kitchen.

MAX!

What are you doing???

What happened to your fur?

Ugh. I don't feel very good.

I think ate too many blueberries.

And it's not fur.

It's wool.

You made me.

Remember?

Yeah, yeah. Right.

Do rabbits eat blueberries?

This one does.

How many did you eat?

Mmmmm..

about 40.

Yeah.

40's right.

Say!

I have a great idea.

I need a random number generator

for the Tea Party prize winner.

You are the random number generator!

40 it is.

The winner of the Tea Party prize is

Alisa!!

Alisa said

:) That Max made me chuckle! Thanks for having me!

June 26, 2011 8:04 AM

Congratulations!

Alisa's blog is:

Life Is a Beautiful Place To Be

I need your contact info

and I'll send this off to you,

Missy Alisa!

Congratulations!!

How long are you going to

perpetuate the myth

that I'm a live rabbit?

Oh, hush, Max.

Just go with me on this one.

OK?

Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned.

2011-07-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

I love making jewelry

Actually, I love making anything.

And I love taking the pictures

for my Etsy shop.

I had forgotten how much I loved

taking pictures.

I took photography in high school

Years ago.

Waaaaay before Gaga, and Timberlake, and CeeLo...

( I love the way the jewelry looks against the old handwritten letters)

After I graduated highschool

the photography teacher was kind enough

to let me continue coming in

to use the darkroom.

Because of a teacher strike

school was in session for another month.

I loved experimenting in that old darkroom.

I loved the way it felt with the cozy darkness of that little red light bulb.

(It's the only light you can have in a dark room)

I didn't even mind that sour chemical smell.

That is until...

The day I experimented with

Sepia toning.

Today we do it with a click of the mouse.

Back in the day to get the photo to go

from this

To the soft antique look you see above.

you had to dip the photo into several

chemical solution baths.

I didn't do it correctly.

Clearly.

Because when that chemically treated paper

hit that solution,

the stench that rolled out of that darkroom

into the art room

was palatable.

And sickening.

It was lunch time and everyone was gone.

Except me.

I ran out of that room,

coughing, wheezing, and gasping for air.

I headed for the ladies restroom.

When I returned to tell the art teacher

what I had done

they were evacuating the entire third floor of the building.

The rumor was that someone

had deliberately set off

A STINK BOMB!!

And THAT person

was in big, big trouble.

When and if they were ever found.

And instead of explaining myself, I chickened out.

I went downstairs with the rest of the class.

Hopped in my little green VW Bug.

And,

drove away.

Yup.

I slunk away like the coward I am.

I went back the next day. It was all cleared out by then.

I never told a single person.

Until now.

Confession.

It's good for the soul.

Sometimes

2011-06-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

... in the dark of the night

when the scary thoughts come

Sometimes when you are laying
face down on hot pavement
feeling foolish and broken...

Sometimes when you feel all alone,

Friends are there.

They bring you fresh berries.

They help with your pain.

They offer solace in a pub over tacos and beer.

They call and send emails concerned about your well being.

They stop in to see how you really are.

And sometimes

the world is just a little brighter,

and softer,

and gentler.

And that concrete wasn't so hard after all.

Pssst! - Max Here

2011-06-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Come closer-

No. No. NO.

That's TOO close.

That's better. I'm down here now.

There's only 3 more days to use the coupon code

BLOGGERBUDDY2011

You get 20 percent off.

For every dollar spent

a carrot will be purchased for me.

I get ALL the carrots I can eat...

Shhhhhh...

Here she comes!

Everyone JUST ACT NATURAL!!!

Hmmmm...

That's weird.

Wonder how that rabbit ended up on here?

Don't forget.

It ends June 30th.

Say this to yourself,

"Max needs carrots."

Where's Alice?

2011-06-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

It's the day of Vanessa's Fanciful Twist Tea Party!!

Tea party plans had been made.

Max the Bunny and I went on a search for Alice.

Max asked the stone white rabbit

on the front porch if he'd seen Alice.

He just remained stoic.

And silent.

Max thinks he's a snob.

She doesn't appear to be in this pot

said Max.

Of course not, I said.

That would just be ridiculous.

And besides.

Alice in pot sounds so 70's.

Do you think she's in chains somewhere?

said Max.

Har-de-har-har.

Alice in Chains.

Very funny, Max.

Says I.

I'll look in here.

PEE-U

It smells awful.

Boy-oh-boy.

If she's in here she's sure gonna smell ripe.

That's not a very nice thing to say, Max.

What about here? At least she won't stink

if she's been in the flowers,

said Max.

Keen insight, Max

says I.

You gonna help

or are you just going to stand there

making astute observations?

Let's ask the Hedgehogs.

Say, you fellows seen Alice?

.......

No. huh?

Well, you keep munching on those bugs

and thanks for the offer but we've already eaten.

ewwww....

C'mon Max.

Let's get out of here.

Excuse me.

Have you seen Alice?

No.

Well, you certainly are invited to the party anyway.

Just follow us.

Howdy-Do Mr. Cheshire Cat.

Want to join the

WHOA

Where'd he GO?!

That's creepy.

Well, let's get this party started.

Alice or no Alice.

Out of the cup, Max.

And where was Alice after all of that?

Why in Paris, of course.

She went to see the Eiffel Tower.

And bring back macarons!

For reading all the way through

I'm having a give-away.

I'll pick a winner

for this necklace:

One week from today

July 2!

Am I entirely mad?

I'm afraid so.

You are entirely bonkers.

But, I'll tell you a story.

All the best people are.

The Princess And The Frog

2011-06-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time,

a beautiful, intelligent, self assured princess

wandering through the royal gardens

happened upon a frog.

The frog looked up at the princess and said,

I was once a handsome prince until an evil witch put a spell on me.

She turned me into the frog you see before you.

The frog prince hung his head and sighed.

One kiss from you and I will turn

back into a prince!

Then we can marry!

We'll move back into my castle with my mom!!

You can prepare my meals, bear my children, clean up after me,

launder my clothes, nurse my hangovers, maintain my golf clubs,

and forever feel happy doing so!

That night

while the princess dined on frog legs

she kept laughing and saying

"I don't think so!"

The End.

Thank you for everyone's well wishes.

It was appreciated.

She Flies Through The Air

2011-06-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

...with the greatest of ease.

This must be what Hyacinth Hippo felt like in Fantasia.

That's what I was thinking.

Right before,

"Holy cow! This is REALLY gonna hurt!"

and then

"$KJ%LK@#JKL@#$JK@L#"

Boom.

Good. I've stopped.

Wait!

No!

No.

No we aren't stopping!!!

Yup.

I'm going to hit that concrete with my face.

My teeth broke my fall.

Luckily, my teeth did not break.

But,

let me tell you.

They hurt.

And I was not smiling.

And now I'm laying face down here.

But instead of noticing

"Wow. We really need to scrape and paint that trim on the door."

It looked more like this:

After assessing the damage done to my body.

I ascertained if I could actually get up and make it back inside.

My husband works nights and he was upstairs getting ready to leave.

If I was laying on the concrete in the back he wouldn't notice it.

He'd assume that I was next door at my neighbor Susan's house.

I had to get myself back inside.

I'm telling you.

I HURT!!

And my foot was bleeding.

I busted my lip.

Scraped my cheek.

Because.

Because I tripped off of this!

A six inch stoop!!

A child can step off of a six inch stoop

and not injure him or herself.

Not me.

All I wanted to do was take some photos

of a pair of earrings I had made.

One trip and

I'm flying through the air.

It was a lovely swan dive.

And my first thought was-

I wanted to protect my beloved camera.

So I twisted my body to cradle it's fall.

I came down hard on my knees and side

and then smacked my face full force

into the concrete.

Good news.

The camera

is fine!

My right foot is fine.

My ankle is sprained a bit.

But my left foot?

Well, let's just say that

any chances I may have had

of being a foot model

are over.

I wrapped my poor bleeding foot up in a towel.

I headed to the couch to lie down.

I had my leg sticking straight up in the air.

You know.

To elevate it higher than my heart.

I'm crying.

I hurt.

I'm humiliated (because it was STUPID)

My face is scraped.

My lips are swollen.

And,

I look like someone wailed the tar OUT OF ME!

Now.

Hold that picture in your head a moment.

WHEN

my husband went upstairs to get ready for work

he left me in the kitchen washing dishes.

The next time he sees me

just a short 30 minutes later.

I'm laying on the couch.

A blood soaked towel is on my foot.

The visual I just gave you is before him.

He stands and looks at me.

Incredulous!

It must've been a sight.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!!!!"

So.

What would you do, if your husband asked you?

The Last Dance For Mary Jane

2011-06-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

It wasn't the blood that stunned the well seasoned female detective

when she first viewed the crime scene.

It was the number of times the gun had been fired.

Twenty-one.

The exact number of years that Mary Jane

had spent on this earth.

Someone's mighty mad to pull the trigger

twenty-one times.
Not to mention the number of times
that person had to reload.

The diamond engagement ring was still at the crime scene, too.
That was odd.
You'd think that the perpetrator would've taken that with him.
Sort of a souvenir of the entire incident.

Bits of Mary Jane's red corsage were scattered
all over the back alley of the dance hall
where her body lay.
Well,where bits of her body lay.
There were flower bits and Mary Jane bits.
With the red flowers it was not easy
to tell which bits were which.

The detective took a cigarette out of her case.
She put it to her lips and looked around for a match.
Ted's Billiards.
That's what the matchbook said.
Mary Jane didn't seem like the kind of gal
that hung out at a billiard joint.
And yet, that pack of matches
was lying right next to the body.
Someone had thrown the book of matches
at Mary Jane as the ultimate insult.
"Why you're worth no more than this pack of matches."
"And they were free."
But then, thought the detective,
maybe Mary Jane had been too.

One thing's for certain.
There'd be no
Bride Bingo being played at
this girl's party.
No sir.

Someone had meant for Mary Jane
to dance her last dance
and cover her last bingo square.
Someone
had wanted
Mary Jane
DEAD.

Mary Jane may not be dancing or playing Bride Bingo anymore
but the detective was sure
there were enough clues left
to find out
just who was
the last person
to see
Mary Jane Hopkins
ALIVE!

(Mary Jane's Last Dance Necklace available in my Etsy Shop)

Don't Call The Fire Department

2011-06-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is just a quicky blog post.

My husband has been threatening.

To call in the fire department that is

for an intervention.

Apparently, they do that sort of thing.

Let you know that your house

has the potential for a

hazardous fire.

Naw. I just made that up.

But, I do need to weed.

That's what we call getting rid of books at the library.

Weeding.

So I'm trying

Really.

To get rid of some of it.

Baby steps.

For me.

I love my paper stuff.

Some day, I'll tell you why.

It's in my blood and DNA.

I was raised in a paper store.

And that is a true story.

Well not IN the paper store, exactly.

That would just be weird.

I have some really cool stuff.

Some of it is in my Etsy shop.

Just 1 pack so far.

And it can be yours.

Baby steps...

Words

2011-06-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

Don't forget. I have a 20% coupon code for my Etsy shop through the end of the month.
BLOGGERBUDDY2011 will get you 20 percent off.

I love words.

I love the written word.

The spoken word.

Words in art.

Decorating with words.

Working with words.

Add pictures

and the same group of words

can mean two completely

different things.

Case in point.

I have a little drawer

full of cool stuff.

Like tiny wooden dance posters.

And

tiny, red wooden guns

and

a tiny little diamond ring.

I was going to make a necklace

with just the wooden ticket

and the tiny little engagement ring.

I was going to call it

Last Dance With Mary Jane.

Like the Tom Petty song.

Charming.

Right?

The story in my head was

Tom asks Mary Jane

to marry him at the dance.

That's why it would be her last.

Sweet.

Romantic.

Then one of the tiny red guns fell out.

Like this.

Last Dance With Mary Jane.

Now,

it means something altogether different.

I guess I won't be putting
THIS on Etsy.

Beetles , Cuba and UFO's

2011-06-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

A little trip through the time machine...

I went to the flea market this past Satuday.

I didn't get much because I didn't stay long.

I didn't stay long because

it was

miserably hot!

I bought this cute matchbox.

And some old maps.

A map of Florida that included Cuba.

Where apparently

we could visit anytime,

But -

It doesn't include Disney World!

Clearly, before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Imagine.

A world pre-Disney.

See!

I bought this tiny one inch plane to make into a necklace.

I sold the last one to a lovely person who bought it for her friend

who teaches flying.

I love when things sell for those kinds of reasons.

(Did you know that original beetles would float in water?)

And this tiny one inch VW Bug

that will also be jewelry.

I'm jazzing it up

Jerry Garcia style.

I just started. It's not finished.

I need to redo the peace sign.

And this one.

Looks like my first car.

Really. It does.

I don't think I'll sell this one.

It's a keeper.

...and this tiny one inch jeep.

Which I placed on the map.

Close to -

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO !!!!!!!

(cue loud creepy alien music)

Do you believe in UFOs and aliens?

True story

In 1972

I went on a trip with my sister and brother-in-law.

We drove across the country

from Kansas City, MO

Tucson, AZ

with a stop in Roswell

on the way.

We drove through White Sands, New Mexico.

My brother-in-law

drove off the road around the

DO NOT ENTER

RESTRICTED AREA

signs.

He drove

OFF THE MAIN ROAD

1972.

At the height of the cold war!

Near the White Sands Missile Range.

Out of nowhere came two big black cars.

One pulled in front of us.

One pulled up behind us.

Two men got out.

(They were not these men in black)

Also dressed in black.

They were definitely

"The Men In Black"

I mean, we never saw

WHERE

those cars came from

With all that white sand

you'd think you would have seen them!

A glance in the rear view mirror

and

POOF!

There they were.

They were not happy that we were there.

They definitely didn't want a bunch

of young fools driving willy-nilly
around a restricted MISSILE BASE!!

They escorted us back to the road

from whence we came.

It was scary.

Yipes.

Several weeks ago

my daughter called me on her way home.

She knows I love a good UFO story.

She told me to go outside and look up.
I grabbed my camera and hopped into the car.
I drove further out into the country to get a better view.

There were bright lights.

Very bright lights.

Brighter than the planes flying around.

I took these pictures.

hmmm...

What do you think these were???

The lights were very bright,

and moved erratically.

Could've been anything.

But I went home

before the

Men and Black

came looking for me.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Need For Beads AND A Coupon!

2011-06-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

I opened up my pantry.

It used to contain food.

Since my daughter moved out,

and my husband works nights,

I don't cook.

Apparently,

from this photo I also

don't clean my pantry.

I also house

toxic compounds

next to food.

But now that I think about it,

those crackers have been there so long

I think they've become

their own

toxic compound.

So, it's ok.

Good grief!

There's car wax in there!

Don't ask.

What I did find in there

was

WAY

too many beads.

I put them in a measuring cup.

They measure

one full cup.

Except I added more.

Now it's probably more like 2 cups.

These are really cool.

I never could figure out what to do with them.

They are glass and at least 10 years old.

Same with these lampwork beads.

See that freckle on my middle finger?

Isn't that weird?

It's always bugged me.

I figure if I was ever in a CSI episode

it would be my one distinguishing characteristic.

That, and my dental records.
Question.
If you have all of your teeth pulled,
how do they identify you??

These are things I think about late at night

when the television is off...

These were from my moon and star phase.

Want 'em?

The whole lot can be yours for Ten bucks.

I've also set up a coupon for blog readers.

BLOGGERBUDDY 2011

Gets you 20% off anything in the shop.

I'll leave the coupon up until June 30th.

Go crazy.

Go to the flea market like I'm going to do!

Have a delightful Saturday!!

Summertime

2011-05-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

..and the living is easy.

Fields are floodin'

And the water is high.

Well, you can't tell that here.
The screen was in the way.
And from the looks of this photo
the screen needs to be cleaned.

...moving on...

Today is glorious, though.
No tornado sirens.
No flooding rains.
Just sunshine
and
90 DEGREE HEAT!
Gotta love Chicago.
And when it's 90 degrees
and everyone is complaining,
I'll be remembering
hip deep snow in February!

I made these little guys in the last felting class.
they turned out pretty cute.
I don't think bugs were my favorite thing.

But it was fun.
It's always fun.
I think the reason it's always fun is mostly
because we stop at the local pub first.
Oops.
That's not why it's fun.
It's fun to get together with a large group of women
and stick needles into things.
Sounds like voo-doo
doesn't it?
Voodoo with beer.
Cheers!!

One problem, though.
Their antennas and wings don't want to stay on.
It probably has more to do with the beer
than my felting ability.
But I like to say
it's my
inexperience.
It sounds much better than saying
"Maybe, I shouldn't have had that last beer."
I'm not much of a drinker.
Two beers can make all the difference in
if my bug's antennas fall off or not.

Speaking of summertime, I made these.
They look like watermelon slices!
Ever wanted to hang watermelons from your ears?

How about ice cream cones?
I love these.
Apparently, being stuck in the house makes
me want to make kitschy things.
Well, it is Memorial Day.
The start of summer.
Go eat some watermelon, ice cream, and
chase it all down with beer
or lemonade.

Don't forget to hang your flag.

And a big THANK YOU to all our service men and women
who made this possible!!!!

Now, ain't that America!?!
(Great video - click here for music.)

Happy Memorial Day!

100,000 Pyramid - With KATHY!

2011-05-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

My daughter says that talking to me can be a bit like playing this game show.

Do you remember the $100,000 Pyramid show with Dick Clark?

The game show went like this-

There were categories and you had to guess what the thing was.

The example for this picture might be:

An egg

Your head

A glass window

a bank vault safe

a secret code

An the answer would be:

Something or things that you crack.

So. I saw this story.

And I thought it was terribly interesting.

BUT -

I couldn't remember what it's called.

So, the conversation goes like this:

It's fuzzy.

It's white but it usually isn't white.

It's a bird.

It kind of looks like a duck.

But it isn't a duck.

It has something to do with shoe polish. (huh?)

It's a baby bird, but there's something unusual about it.

The story was on Yahoo!!

And now, I'm frustrated.

Someone told me that as we get older we forget

ummm...

What's the word?

Not to fear.

This is normal.

The things we forget, the word is,

now I had it on the tip of my tongue.

...

Things that are things.

Things that are not verbs.

Things that are...

Oh forget it....

But I'm not worried.

And you should read that story.

It's cute!

Whatever the heck it's called.