Happy Halloween :)

As promised... another post by Halloween.. or.. ON Halloween since.. this is it ;)

So here's the update on the autumn painting from my last post.  Just a few touches added with bare branches through the bushes that you can't see very well here, and the ground.

 

Halloween costumes ... originally planned on doing a dryad/ forest spirit... then I found the little clip on horns... so I painted them up, added some furry little leg warmers and went with a faun lol My hood fell back from the wind, and you can't see the makeup very well... photos were a fail this year along with everything else >.<

 

My mom came up straight from work... where she was dressed as a clown. She was the only one who wore a costume, and she scared the crap out of her dogs this morning before she left... but she, like me, is never too old to enjoy dressing up for Halloween :) She has a costume on, but it was COLD outside, so she's bundled up in my Jedi robe lol

 This years jack o'lantern.... not as fabluous as last years, but the landlady grabbed the wrong pumpkin last night; I left mine by my door and hers were by the steps. I guess one of the kids had moved them around, and this morning when I went down to get mine, there was a bigger one in it's place... and it had a big flat spot that was just begging to be made into a face lol Despite that, the nose still ended up crooked, but oh well :) We brought him up stairs with us when we abandoned our trick-treater posts, and he's sitting in front of the tv where we can enjoy him.

And here's what the place looked like earlier. I had nothing to do with the decorating. Usually I add stuff to it, but this year I just didn't the time, or the will to stay out in the cold wet long enough .

 There ya go... a second post within a WEEK. Of course, the only reason I did one this soon, was because people were asking for another recipe... so here it is.

My great grandmother's recipe ->   Stuffed Bologna 

Instructions first, followed by photos of the process ;) BTW, Little Gram was what we called my great grandmother... because she was about 5' tall, compared to my gram, who was about 6' ;)

Octoberfest Bloghop

*shushes the crickets as she clears away the cobwebs*

Yes, I AM still here. I'm sorry for the long silences between posts, but I just haven't felt the blogging bug biting me >.<  But here I am, as promised, to celebrate my favorite time of year :)

 Due to far too much rain and cold these past few weeks, I was unable to get out and take photos of all the beautiful golds and reds, and sore feet have put a damper on my long walks in search of the colours that still remain... as of today, the golds and reds are already mostly browns and blahs :(  That said, I do have photos to share that I took earlier in the month!

Below are a few shots taken at the biggest fall festival in my area 'PumpkinFest'. These was taken inside one of the big tents, where they were weighing all the giant giant pumpkins and other veggies in hopes of finding a new world record.

 The pumpkins were all so large that they had to be move via slings and forklifts!  The one in this photo weighed well over a thousand pounds :)

I was bitten by the painting bug a few times this month, and an autumn themed painting was always on the list, but until yesterday, it didn't happen. Even now, it's still not finished but I took some pics to share anyhow :)

 To start with, I took red, burnt orange, and antique golden yellow, and just drizzled it in zigzagging lines across the canvas, then took a sponge and dabbed them all together.

 Then once it all dried, I took a skinny sponge brush, and added in brown and a soft powdery blue. This about three quarters done now, and completely sponged at this point. Next I'll take the paint brush in and do some detail work, so whenever I get that done, I'll share it again :)


I had several necklaces and bracelets planned and in the works, all with an autumn theme to share with you, however none of them managed to get completed. They're all laid out on bead boards, or still in sketches :(  I do however have some earrings to show you :)

 Some leaf headpins made by Shelley of Tori Sophia, paired with antique copper wire, and black and bronze tone Swarovski crystals.

 Another set of headpins from Tori Sophia , this time layered over some light jade leaves, with antique copper and green swarovski.

 A pair of charms that the photo really doesn't do justice too. Also from Tori Sophia, and with antique copper, I added some sari silk bits to the back of them. I did have some golds and browns with them, but the bluey green just popped better.

 And of course, what is October without skull jewelry? I made four pairs of skull earrings, but I seemed to have misplaced both the earrings and the photos of them, so here are two of them lol
Above are red swarovski crystals with red skulls - the bigger ones are magnesite, but the smaller ones are from Michaels and the label says reconstituted turquoise...O.o look the same to me, but then they could be... I never bothered to look them up ;)
Below are more of the tiny Michaels skulls, paired with some silver skull charms and links.

And to finish this off, I'll share with you my own, much altered recipe, for pumpkin raisin muffins. I use rice flour in place of regular flour, but changed it back to 'normal' for this post. If you want to use the rice flour as well, just add a quarter cup cornstarch as well.

1/3 cup veggie oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup brown sugar ( not packed)
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin ( NOT pie filling! I use E.D. Smith's Pure Pumpkin, or when they're in season, I get a couple small pie pumpkins and make my own puree)
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice ( you can make your own by using equal parts ginger, cinnamon, & nutmeg)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Combine all these into a bowl and mix until smooth. Then mix in 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup oat bran . Once the flour and bran are all mixed in, add 1 cup raisins that have been soaked to plumpness :)

Fill lightly greased muffin pans until 3/4 full, then bake at 350'F for 23-25 minutes.
I use the extra large muffin pans ( texas size, apparently) so they take longer.


There you go :) Some giant veggies, some leaf and skull earrings, and some yummy muffins, which I should warn you, are rather addicting.

Carry on throughout the hop and enjoy what everyone else has to share :) I'll see if I can't have another post up in time for Halloween :D

 Click here for the OctoberFest Blog Hop Participants List

Quick update

 If you're here following the BSBP#8 hoplist, click here -> BSBP

Sorry for the long silence. Been a bit distracted by some minor but annoying health issues.

For those anxiously awaiting news, Rafflecopter has chosen both winners, notified them, and I've already mailed off their prizes :)

The butterfly earrings were won by Jo-Ann, and she should be receiving them this week.

The mini spear earrings were won by Dyanne, and she should be receiving them either late this week or some time next week :)

Congrats to both ladies, and thanks to everyone who has visited, and for all the wonderful comments.

I have some jewelry and other projects in the works, so hopefully I'll get some finished and photographed for my next actual post ;)

BSBP#8

And here we are again, for another round of fabulous partnerships and beady goodness, hosted by the incredible Lori Anderson and her hubby Rick :)

Despite having an incredibly rough year, Lori has once again dived in and set up another great, world wide party, with close to five hundred participants! :)

This year, I was partnered with Audrey Belanger, a fellow Canadian. Audrey sent me a fabulous soup that I managed to stretch my wings with ;)

As a refresher .. here's the fabulous soup she sent me to play with...

And here is what I created while playing :D

To start, yes I know I said I'd push myself with the spiked to NOT do earrings... tough. I did however, take the two largest to make these, and I LOVE them. I've worn them several times now and they are officially among my favorites :) 

 Next I'll show you some of my foray into very minor chainmaille... and *gasp* 'mixed metals' >.< Which I ended up loving , I might add. Here is the little bird brass stamping form Audrey that added a touch of colour too. A bit of nail polish in an antique copper-ish tone. I also added the same colour to the clasp :) (btw, the open link there... I fixed it but didn't retake the pic, sorry >.< lol)

Sticking with the 'wings' theme, but detouring from birds to butterflies... some bright, summery earrings. Truth be told, these were NOT supposed to be earrings at all...I had these findings and stones all set aside to be a bracelet, and had created a little butterfly focal for it... then hated the focal and tada, the earrings were born lol

Back to the birds... a simple adjustable bracelet featuring some faux sea glass teardrops I bought ages ago and never even took off the strand until now, and some of the cute little copper birds I sent along with my soup to Audrey :) From the soup she sent me, I've used some of the Spectra rounds.. again, I had a different piece in mind that used all of these beads but in the end only the pretty teal ones jumped forward to be used.

The sari ribbon found it's way into two pieces; this bracelet is one of them. That beaded chain uses the amethyst rounds from the soup, along with the beadcaps. The chain was actually the first thing I made, intending for it to go with the focal... That clasp I made to go with the focal as well... then decided both the chain, and the focal ( which uses some of the little crystals from the soup ) , made the piece look to heavy. And so.. tada... bracelet. :)

Here is another piece that used up some long 'forgotten' parts of my stash. The clasp is of course, from my soup, as is the shard. The chain is made of some rather large copper coloured aluminum rings that have been sitting here mocking me forever.

The pendant is wood, and the bird image on it was originally silver in colour. I pulled out the nail polish to recolour it carefully, then glued on the little blue-green stone. There two cathedral beads hanging beneath with the shard and the wing ( also nail polished ;) ) are the same colour.

And of course, the focal.

After much hemming and hawing over what to do, I went with a simple brass chain paired with the sari ribbon. I think it works best with the attention being fully on the focal.

I found the weight of the focal kept making it hang crooked, so I used a bit of apoxy putty and a piece of brass wire to make a second bail at the back behind the tail. The two bails let the piece hang evenly and placates my ocd over things like that ;)

And so there we have another successful round of the BSBP... this one more so than previous rounds since I not only pushed myself outside my box a bit more, but I also finished my pieces EARLY! No last minute rush to get things done followed by midnight photos with crappy lighting and photoshop to try to make them passable >.< lol This year, they were done on time and the pictures were taken in daylight... albeit through a window since it was still a tad nippy outside ;)

Thanks again to our amazing hostess Lori and her equally amazing hubby, Rick, as well as all of the people who chipped in to help make this round happen.

As well, a special thank you to my partner Audrey for such a wonderful soup to play with :) I've decided that despite the fact that many of the pieces are 'not my style' for wearing, I'm keeping them and going to wear them :) See...? Still pushing myself outside my box ;)

 You can find the full hop list of participants here -> BSBP#8 HopList

Okay... you know what? I lied. I'm not keeping ALL of what I made. I think I'll share one piece with one of you :)

* Update ! The first giveaway for the butterfly earrings show above is over and the winner has been emailed!
 HOWEVER... for those still hopping, There's is a second giveaway now running, for a shorter version of the crystal spike earrings above. The spikes are about half the size as the ones shown, and I used a finer gauge copper for the wrap so the crystal wouldn't be hidden beneath it ;)

So if you'd like to win the spike earrings, just fill out the rafflecopter form and you're in :) There are two entries available, although only one is mandatory, so if you do both, that's two chances to win :) Blog subscribers, you have to click through to the actual post itself in order to see the rafflecopter widget. :) EVERYONE who entered the last giveaway on this post, are already entered! ( except the previous winner ;) )
 This will run the full week to give more hoppers a chance to get their entries in :)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Apologies, Bribes, & Family inspired fun!



And so I have finally managed to get around to blogging... past my self imposed deadline, but hey... I'm blogging ;)

One of the main issues behind my lack of appearance here has already been mentioned in previous posts, and that is my grandmother. After a very long, painful, and debilitating illness, she's passed on and found rest. She was in an excellent facility, surrounded by family, and passed peacefully. No one could ask for more.

Eleanor Anderson

 The photo above has quickly become everyone's favorite picture of her. I'm thinking it was probably mid to late nineteen seventies. No later then the early eighties. And I just now realized, that I have that headband she's wearing... it was one of the items I claimed from a box of miscellaneous a little while ago. Wow... okay, that makes it even more awesome and it's totally going into my memorial display I plan on making :D


Any how, as I was saying, a great deal has happened in the past month and it's contributed to my funk in getting things finished. My living room floor still has a large sheet of paper taking up the middle of it, acting as a backdrop for modpodging my baskets and some pendant experiments... I'm hoping to get the baskets finished today, or at least the smaller ones... if so, there'll be pics of them right here....



... if there's no pic right there, then I didn't get them done ;)

My brain has returned to its chaotic attempts to multi task things that really shouldn't be multi tasked... at least not by me. In addition to my making messes with glue, paper, and various base materials, I'm also working on my BSBP creations. While I am not done, I have managed to better my usual efforts on this round by having BOTH main ingredients, the focal and the clasp, already in use and mostly finished :) I'm also working on about three other soup pieces at the same time, which has reduced my desk space to zilch... not even enough room to set my coffee cup down... so I'm on the couch with the laptop instead ;)

 Oh and in addition to everything else, I'm dealing with a wee bit of guilt. I NEVER spend this much money on something unless I really really need it.... and I didn't really really need this... wanted, yes, and needed, but not really really needed.. ;) ,  so despite the cost and the resulting frustrations over learning the ins and outs of a new system without giving in and killing it, I'm really glad I bought it. And not just for the luxury of being able to write or connect anywhere ( ie - in comfort :D ).

Okay, back to the BSBP chat for a second. The reveal is coming up rather quickly... kinda shocked me how much time has already come and gone! I have pushed myself to go outside of my box even more with this round then in past soups, so of course, that has slowed me down a bit as well, but in a good way :) Can't show you the pieces yet, of course, but as I've mentioned before, I tried some extremely basic chainmaille, although I'm starting to consider the idea of trying more after this. I even ordered some more jump rings to replenish my meager stash. Also some mixed-media with a bezel clasp and some modpodge dimensional magic ( I didn't want to break open the resin and risk messing it up >.< lol It's been too long since I've played with it for me to confident enough to risk it on such an important piece ;))

I've also been finding myself rather missing making beaded chain, so I think I'll be making more of that soon, too... you know, in between all of the other various crafty bits I'm doing or thinking or doing, plus my poor neglected writing.. and my painting. Although I seem to have passed it on to my brother who after taking up dabbling in song writing a couple years ago, has now started painting, and he's rather good. He has even dabbled into mixed media! This is awesome to me since, he's really not a 'crafty' person in that way... his painting used to be limited to customizing dinkycars, and the other creative type work he's done since he was a teenager has been ripping various electronics apart and putting them back together again... or trying to ;) Or taking photos and playing with the apps to change them. See, it's never to late to get your art on, people! :D



'Crazy won't wash off' ~by David Steffen



'Medicated People' ~by David Steffen

As far as I know, he has no blog or website ( I know he used to, but haven't heard about a replacement yet lol ) but he is on FB  -  david.steffen.142   Not sure whether he'd accept friends, or if you can leave comments on his page, but you can still drop him a message and let him know what you think  of his work. I'm sure he'd be tickled :)

You know... I think since I DID say that I would keep up with blogging, and had set a deadline for myself that I missed... twice in a row I think, extenuating circumstances aside, I think I should do a little something to make up for that breach.

Anyone interested in a little giveaway? I think I should more interesting for everyone and make you all work for your entries :) Since it IS Easter, which religious intonations aside, is a day for Family, lets get the families involved this time :D hehehe

Share, either via a link in the comments below, or in your own blog post which you can then link to the comments below , an artistic achievement by a relative :) No matter how big or small, professional or non, and no matter the artistic medium involved... even if it's the newest drawing by your toddler... in lipstick all over your wall... ;) And yes, pets and really close friends are considered family in my book too :)

And yes, pets can be artistically minded too... if you've never seen it, then you haven't met the right pets ;)


Upload a photo of the artwork in question and share the link .. make sure wherever you have the picture, the settings are set for 'public' so we can all see it :)

Sharing the picture here on my blog will get you one entry .. writing your own blog post featuring this artistic endeavor , and then sharing the link to the post here... will get you two entries :)

What are you trying to win? Hmm... how about a little assortment?
Some cat's eye chips, a random selection from my Czech glass flowers and leaves collection.  Let's toss in a pair of polymer clay frogs, fish, and pudgy pink cats all made by Marlene Cupo. A couple lampwork orphans from Gail of Oregon Handmade. A little clap bird from Starry Road Studio. A bracelet bar from Firefly Design.   And, not pictured since I haven't made it yet, but a length of beaded chain in a 'mystery combo' .. mystery because it will all depend on what I grab when I decide to make it lol

Sorry for the crappy photos here... first time uploading pics form my camera on this thing and I have no clue about the editing programs on it yet lol I'll try to fixe them later ;)

so there you have it... rules above :D

Happy Easter :)

Having 'One of THOSE days' ...

You know the kind I mean... the ones where at every turn you find yourself wondering just why did you even bother getting out of bed... >.<

I'm not talking 'bad stuff' kinda day...

No.. this is one of those days filled with annoying little things...
.....and really stupid things...

 Really stupid things... that I myself have done >.<

Yeah... one of THOSE days.

Forgot to bake muffins last night, and my bagels were frozen... so woke up to no quick and easy breakfast this morning.. I had to COOK.. at four thirty in the morning >.<

And then... my coffee was too strong so I didn't drink all of it.

 I get to work to discover an order missing and had to head straight into the freezer to fix that issue... Me in the freezer at six am is NOT a happy thing >.<

Then I made a cup of tea and left it to steep just a wee bit too long... so extra strong luke warm tea... yum >.< followed by nuked, strong tea that went from too cold to tongue scalding hot in 30 seconds and then got forgotten about until it was back to being lukewarm again.. at which point I gave up and just drank it as is.

While making custard cups, we mix them in a big bucket and then pour half the mix at a time, into a jug to being able to fill the baking cups easier... When I gave the remaining mix a quick stir and went to use it to fill the rest of the cups... I picked up the big mixing bucket and awkwardly start to pour it into the cups... got about three done before it hit me what I was doing, and poured it into the jug first . By that point I just smirked and shook my head and my manager did the same >.< lol

And those were just a FEW of the little things >.<

I could put it off to my head just not being in the game lately. Lots of things filling my head so there's just not enough room for actual intelligence at the moment >.< lol

Everything from the BeadSoup and my designs, to trying to find a laptop that can do the things I need to do, plus the things I want it to do... and then try to justify to myself spending the money on it... and trying to do all of that and keep it to an amount that won't cause my brain to go into immediate panic mode and shut down >.< lol  Those are some of the little things filling my head.

Then there's the big, all encompassing things that the little things keep trying to distract me from. The top most being my gram, whose health has been on a downward spiral for a while now, is finally to the point that the doctors have stopped all further tests and medications, and declared that there's nothing more to do than see that she's comfortable. The days are full of the worry that the next time the phone rings, it'll be 'THE' call, but the hardest part of it for me is how painful it is for my mom. I'm one of those people that if my mom cries... I cry. doesn't matter if I see it or hear it, or just KNOW that she's crying.. wham... tears. >.<

I suppose, seeing as how my head is so full of stuff that it's perfectly acceptable to be distracted over, that my doing stupid little things all days is normal and perfectly excusable.

And if not, at least they serve to make me laugh at myself and help push the darker stuff back for a bit. Maybe that's WHY I'm doing it... maybe my subconscious is doing this stuff for the sole purpose of lightening the mood.

Yes.

I LIKE that excuse.

That's good. I'm sticking with that one.

I'm not going looney, my SUBCONSCIOUS purposefully made me put my underwear on inside out AND backwards today... in a fully lighted room ( no hiding behind it being dark as a reason >.< )... Yes... it was on PURPOSE... to lighten my mood.... and I never even noticed until about three hours later >.< LOL

Yeeeessss... seriously lol >.< That is just the kinda day I've had >.< Luckily I have no issues with laughing at myself :) It IS funny, and laughter is the best medicine.. and smiles can get us through the hardest times :)

Alrighty.. well hopefully I'll get my head on straight enough to take pictures and share some of my progress on various projects in the next post.... or maybe just share some pictures.. yeah... something anyhow.. lol

In the meantime, giggle with me over the underwear issue... I mean... everyone has done them inside out at least once... maybe even backwards once... but to do BOTH at the same time... Yeah, that takes a special level of brain fry ;) LOL

 And hey... in my defense.. they're boxer briefs and so they don't 'feel' wrong backwards... I just noticed the the tag at the front.. on the outside >.< lol

LATER! :D

Soup works and other fiddling...

See?! Still keeping up with this.. and no one has had to remind me yet :D

Although I did almost fall back into my trap... the one where I keep putting off blogging because I have something in the works to share... lol I stopped myself though :D Aren't you proud of me?

Anyhow, I've been eying this luscious soup Audrey sent me, and after doodling a bit, decided to just jump in.  I grabbed some super hard copper wire I salvaged from somewhere, sorted out some of my bead caps to go along with the ones from Audrey, and started to work with those amethyst rounds :) It is now official.. I have begun work on my soup pieces! :D

I would like to say, that I showed my mom the soups and she loves it too :D. She was up last weekend and we'd planned on my heading out to her place afterwards to dog sit while her and my dad went to visit my grandmother. Gram's health has been deteriorating badly, and the past few months have been touch and go. There were a couple times when we thought she was at the end of her rope, but she keep pulling through. Anyhow, as I was saying, I showed her the soup right after she'd said they were heading up to visit my gram, and she also noticed the same thing as I did... that the bird in the focal was a hummingbird, which happens to be my gram's favorite. With the way she is constantly in and out of the hospital, jewelry isn't any good for her right now, and she really only wears it when she's getting dressed up to go out, so the finished piece won't be going to her... but she'll definitely be on my mind and in my heart as I create it :)

Audrey really hit this one out of the ball park; my favorite colours, a focal with personal meaning behind it, and lots of little challenges for me to overcome and figure a way through :)

Aside from my bsbp fiddling, I'm also working on some baskets for my bathroom shelves. I have this beautiful wooden shelf my dad made me just sitting there empty ( because I don't want to clutter it up) so I bought some cheapo ugly white plastic baskets from the dollar store. Last night I sat down and mixed up some paint and painted all the trims, and today I'm doing a test run with some paper and modpodge on one of them. No worries, I'll show them when they're done, whether they turn out or not ;) I'm thinking I'll pick up some napkins of something to coordinate with them and have those as a liner... again, photos when I'm done :)

Well, no giveaway from me this time but I can't leave everyone hanging... so head on over to Grubbi Beads and check out HER giveaway :D Shop credit for her store! Whoohoo! who wouldn't love a shopping spree at Grubbi beads?!