Witch's cupboard revisited!

I told you about what I sent Amy for the Witches Cupboard Swap in this post.

Now you get to see what she sent ME!

Cute stuff, huh!?

Let's see what we have:

1. Vampire bat...okay...this rocks...it is a little bat finger puppet stuffed into the little jar!
2. Black cat energy pellets....cat food!
3. Shrunken skulls...little plastic skulls!
4. Troll eyes...candy eyeballs...gross!
5. Light of Truth... a jar of oil with a wick that you light. I am going to use it on the porch Halloween Night!

She also sent some cute Halloween cupcake liners and toppers to use!
Thank you Amy!!!!

Curly Girls latest

Curly Girl was at it again. She amazes me. Sometimes, she sits down and doodles like any other kid.

Then sometimes, she sits down, concentrates and does this:

Purfection.........if you want to see more, click on Curly Girl . The ones like this are under the category 'oil pastel.'

un doigt de troll.....

I am in Rachel's amazing Halloween swap. There are 20 people in it and we were to make 20 identical items and send them to Rachel. She then puts all the goodies into boxes and sends them out to all the swappers that joined.

I made this fun Chap stick cozy I found on Girl on the Rock's website. The pattern is free so go check it out....very ghoulish!



The little saying is in French (per swap requirements) and it says:

"One Troll Finger"

.....cracks me up how pretty it looks in French! HAH!

Halloween swap.........

I was in 4sisters in a cottage's 'vintage-y' Halloween swap and look what came in the mail this week!

First when I opened the box up it looked like this.........the back of the Jack o' Lantern had a note to me.


Then I pulled out the goodies.......even the wrapping rocks....gotta save that for next year's swaps. Can't find that cuteness in Slidell.

Little trees (she MADE them) for my table, a cute frame.....candy in the cool wrapper....

some cute little ornaments to hang on my Halloween tree.....

and this AWESOME little water globe thing...without the water...has confetti bats in it....


To top it all off, Leo found the box with the shred to be most comfy.........look at his eyes....pure kitty contentment!



Thank you Terri!

This is what I sent her in return.....

Three cone ornaments, cupcake toppers, napkins and kitchen towel, some pumpkins, a bookmark, and a cute jack o' lantern. The Cat is on a box that can hold fun stuff...very cute.
I also made her a jar of 'pickled peepers.'

Here is a close up of them...

I also sent some fun papers she can use for crafting........and our favorite Pumpkin Bread recipe!



Happy Halloween Terri!

Happy Birthday Ginger!

Today is Ginger's birthday! Our sweet girl is 6 years old today. Even with the graying around her muzzle, she is just beautiful!
For her special day, we take her to the pet store and let her pick out a toy and get a new collar.

Here, she is waiting patiently for the kids to blow bubbles so she can chase and pop them! She goes bonkers with this game. She still had her winter coat here...its not as shiny as usual. (Sssshhh...don't tell her. She likes to look her best.)

..... waiting for a treat.....


...and being slightly naughty by stealing Leo's bitty baby bear toy........ :-)
She can't resist this toy but being a good girl, she always brings it to us first before playing with it.


Isn't she lovely! We love you Ginger!

A little swap..........

The last apron swap I was in for swap-bot is over. I sent my partner this little apron to represent her love of arts and Frida Kahlo. I included a few other things to round out the package but forgot to take photos of them!

Curly Girls favorite apron.......

Last week, I received a lovely Thanksgiving apron from a swap I was in.
Curly Girl went ga-ga over it. Don't get me wrong, she goes ga-ga over all of them...but she REALLY liked this one because of the 'sparkly' ruffle.

I surprised her with one of her own. Now she can wear hers while I wear mine.
I would have made them identical because I have the pattern, but the only fabric store in town was almost out of both fabrics. I was lucky to even find this little bit.
So I copied a little apron I had and made her this one.

She has worn it for 2 days in a row now............. it has 3 large pockets that run across the bottom....made out of the little bit of 'sparkly' material the store had left.

The Big Apple...

I was in Shawnee's 2nd Flirty Apron Swap. This time around, we had to make an apron to represent out partner's dream vacation.

My partner would like to go to New York for shopping!

I found this cute fabric that I felt represented shopping and made her a craft apron. She lives with her folks and is an avid crafter....but she didn't mention cooking at all! :-)


You can't see the little pockets but there are several of them that run across the front of the apron. I did a decent job of matching the fabric up to 'hide' the pockets.

I included the required things.....like the apple and a few recipes. I added a tote bag, bookmark and a crocheted apple cozy because she travels a lot for her job. I'm sending her a pattern of the one I used to make her apron. She is from Australia and I don't know if they get the same patterns over there.



I hope she likes it!

Viva la Difference.......

Okay...so I go into vacuum my kid's rooms.

Here is what my son's bed looks like:

it takes him approximately 1 minute to do this..........


Now here is what my daughter's bed looks like:


Clover, all tucked in:


her beloved blankie wrapped around some babies to keep them safe:



and a bird hitching a ride:

I guess in the wild, birds DO sit on animals backwards.....

No wonder it takes her 30 minutes to 'make her bed....'

Little acorn box

I found this cute acorn pattern awhile back but never got around to making it because I couldn't find the right yarn.
Decent yarn is REALLY hard to find here. There are NO yarn stores. Really makes it tough!
I finally just gave in and bought something from the local Hancock's. It is the yarn that Vanessa 'Wheel of Fortune" lady has out.
Not the right weight...not chunky either.....so it wasn't really as big as it was supposed to be. It still turned out cute and I love the colors.

If you would like to make your own, go visit Roman Sock. Her amigurumi ROCKS and many patterns, like this one, are FREE!

Since it wasn't as big as needed to store crocheting supplies in, I decided to make it into a little house for this cutie!

.......doesn't he look happy in his little home?



BTW, I purchased the squirrel pattern so I can't give it away.
But you can get the pattern yourself from June over at Planet June....it comes with 2 other forest critters....all just precious!

Flirty Vacation Apron

I participated in Shawnee's Second Flirty Apron Swap. This time around we were to tell our mystery partner what our favorite vacation would be if we go could. We had to list a few for them to choose from.

I listed these:
attending the annual Chincoteague pony round up
volunteering at a sea turtle hatchery/release program
whale watching in Alaska

My partner surprised me by incorporating all into one sweet apron!
She made a reversible apron with ponies on one side and baby sea turtles on the other.
To represent water, she used blue bubbly fabric for the waistband and ties.







She also sent a recipe and a little book and bookmarks. You can see them in the pocket April is wearing. :-)

Thank you Sara!

Turkey anyone?

Look what came in the mail. Another new apron made just for me!
This swap was hosted by Lucy....... In fact, this pattern is one Lucy designed :-)

The apron was made by Nadine.

I love the colors of this apron, the fabrics are beautiful.



Part of the swap was to send a potholder, tea towel and pie recipe.......I cannot WAIT to try the pie recipe. The potholder is really neat, each square of fabric is a little pocket so you can use it any way you'd like.
And the tea towel will come in handy....especially with messy gravy around.....




To top it off, Nadine packed everything in this little tuille bag she had embellished with some of the leaves from the fabric. So cute!

Thank you Nadine I love it!

Don't Forget

I always worry that people will forget what happened 7 years ago.

So today, I ask you to stop a moment and REMEMBER.

Happy mail day.......

Saturday was a happy mail day. I got the wonderful apron I posted about Monday and 3 other swaps too!

This cute little kitty stuffie came from Marlena......if you look closely, you can see little pin prick marks.
Those would be teeth marks.
Oh yes, Leo stole this kitty when he was still in the envelope on the dining room table!
He took him to his tower. Naughty Leo, this kitty isn't for you.



And these great bookmarks from Dawn and cute Halloween cupcake toppers from Michelle.



The kids confiscated the bookmarks right away.
I didn't complain one bit though....it is such a blessing to have kids who love to read!

Here is a close up of one set of the cupcake toppers...they are embossed and so cute.
Sorry that the photo is a bit fuzzy.

Thank you ladies!

I'm a princess.....

Okay...so I'm not really a princess.

But I felt like a princess when I opened my Summer apron swap package from my friend Shawnee!

As most of you know, Shawnee hosts the Flirty Apron Swaps .
She makes the most beautiful aprons. I feel very fortunate to have received one.
She never said a word either....not a peep!

Look at this gorgeous apron....and check out the OOAK dish washing gloves she made to go with it!


She also sent me some "totally princess" goodies and a gift card to Jo-Ann's!

She really spoiled me. Just like a real princess.



Thank you again Shawnee! Now, where did I put my TIARA?

Crafty stuff.....

This past Spring, I got a really cute apple apron in a private swap. I liked the style so much that I made another one by using it as a pattern. You can't tell from the picture, but the apron is sort of pear shaped and the bottom half is split into 3 large pockets.
I am going to make another one for myself.

Here are some cupcake toppers and bookmarks I've made recently.

And lastly, some little Halloween ornaments for a swap I was in.

you caught my eye(s)....

I was in the Witches Cupboard swap. We had to make something a witch would have in her cupboard.

I thought if I was a witch, I'd have an assortment of eyeballs to use in various spells and potions...............



These are pretty big.....kind of fun and creepy. I can just imagine a witch reaching into her cupboard to pull out a little jar 'o' eyeballs! I did have a jar but was afraid it would break in shipping so I used an old blueberry clamshell.

I also forgot to add something...I've done that 2 times now....Need to S L O W down. I've since, put it in the mail........these:


At least I got it mailed off and it was out of here in time.

The winds were BLOWING!

That's right folks. We managed to make it through. We lost power and water for 24 hours. Other than lots and lots of tree limbs and debris in our yard, we were L U C K Y!
Many people in Slidell flooded again. Roads are still closed, we don't know yet about the schools....both of the schools are in bad flood zones so school may be closed for a few more days. We will find out more about that later.

Thank you to everyone who had us in their thoughts and prayers!

Curly Girl Arts

Our Curly Girl with one of the masks she made........


My daughter loves to draw. If any of you are interested in seeing some of her work, check out the blog I set up for her.
I set it up as sort of an on-line journal. This way, she can see how she has progressed over the years. I don't know if this is just 'a phase' or not but I hope not.
Of course, as her mom, I think everything she does is great.
My hopes are that one day she will take over the blog and have this history about her drawings and eventually, her own musings.....

Her blog is www.curlygirlarts.blogspot.com

Or you can click on "curly girl' on the right under the "Friends and Family" heading from my blog.

If you see something you like, feel free to leave her a comment...she really gets a kick out of them.
Plus, we all know how encouraging it can be when you get a nice comment.

Thanks!