20 years....

Happy Anniversary honey!

Halloween Party and giveaway!

Welcome to A Fanciful Twist's Halloween Blog Party!

My guests are arriving so throw open the door!

We've zombies and mummies and monsters galore!

Mr. Toad is on guard, keeping us safe

Keeping all the BAD goblins away!




So snack on a finger, enjoy some brew....
It's all very fresh, made especially for you.





All the guests are happily milling about
Some grinning quite oddly





Some flying about



The spiders are lurking and looking quite fearful
But looks are deceiving, they're really quite cheerful!



If you'd like, please play the Pumpkin Patch keys
The Monster Mash is sure to please...

But if the music and dancing gets to be too much, relax with "Headless" he doesn't talk very much.

Don't forget to visit other blog parties.  I'm right behind you, I can't wait started!

Before you go, I've a treat for you, just leave me a comment and you might win Frankie!  Isn't he cute?!   I'll add a few other spooky things to the package too.

 I'll leave this post up through the end of the week and do a drawing Halloween eve.  The winner is 
#2  JILL from life with nature girl!

Still beautiful

This time of year, our Morning glory perks back up and starts blooming again.  I just love it......

The side garden is taking root.   The deer grass is gorgeous with all the pink plumes.  

This area is still a work in progress but is taking shape nicely.  I chopped down the basil again and made another 10 basil puree cubes.   Now I have 4 pounds of basil butter and 27 basil puree cubes in the freezer.  Next year, we will start the basil on this side and add the tomatoes here as well.  It gets much more sun now that our Willow tree has gotten so large.

Wordless Wednesday

Cats and crochet

I am WAY behind on making pet beds for the local animal shelter so last week I grabbed a giant hook and started making them.  

Leo snuggled in for an afternoon nap.  Not thrilled that I disturbed him, but he did like the chin scratch.

Suki napping inside my crochet bag.....she loves Aunt Lydia's rug yarn!

One of the finished beds, she claimed it...good thing I made more....

Each November, I deliver about 25 pet beds to the shelter, along with food and other supplies. Given that I only crocheted THREE, I have a ways to go.  I may be sewing the rest this year!

Mojo

I had to take my time writing this post.  Mojo's death was unexpected and although that was a blessing for him, it knocked me off my feet.    He left us just 6 months after Ginger's passing.
In a way, his death was harder because it was unexpected...but it was also easier because we didn't have to euthanize him.  Having that choice taken from us was a gift.   Not an easy one though.  

First of all, Mojo was totally misnamed.  When you allow a 3 and 5 year old to name a dog you don't expect them to blurt out Mojo Jojo (the evil monkey from The Power Puff girls) 

Does this puppy look evil to you?



We should have named him Linus.   He insisted on dragging blankets or towels around....anything made of fabric.   If he got excited, he would try to drag his bed out for you to play tug of war with!  If you did laundry and had rolled socks, he would snatch them up for you to throw for him.

He was always getting into something but never did anything bad.  Of course, the cats hated that he would hijack their stuff....he especially loved to hunt for those little balls with jingle bells in them....which led to him getting stuck sometimes....I came home to this one day!



Unlike Ginger, Mojo never demanded anything.  He was so sweet and unassuming.  He couldn't get on furniture and was too heavy to lift...he HATED being picked up (imagine lifting a squirming 40 pound hot dog...)   Instead, he would squirm his way under your feet and let you use him as a foot rest.  Just being near was enough for him.

Mojo loved his toys.  While Ginger destroyed something within moments, he would carry his toy around for days, guarding it jealously from her.  Eventually, he would let his guard down and she would run off to disem"stuff" whatever toy he had.



Mojo knew geometry.  Seriously, he was pretty clever.  He would bring a ball to us to be thrown so much that once it got gooey, we would start kicking it.  He would see where our foot was placed and shift his body to the best position to get it.   He was so quick that no matter how fast you changed trajectory, he would snatch it up before it got past him.  I always said we needed to video it for youtube but we never did.     

I am so grateful that he was happy and playful to the end.    After Ginger died, he seemed so depressed.  Then a few weeks later, he was running around like a maniac, happier than ever. Dean said he was singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!"  

Our sweet little Mojo, Linus, Mr. Grumpy Pants is at rest now. (Seriously, don't y'all have nicknames for your pets?) We love and miss him.
   As our son said "I am happier to have had him in my life, than I am sad that he is gone."  But I'm terribly sad to have lost my little sidekick of 13 and a half years. 

Annual Christmas Ornament Swap

It is time for my annual Christmas ornament swap!  As always, this swap is for handcrafted ornaments.  Any medium is allowed so go crazy!  If your forte is paper crafting using old cards and bits of linen, that is perfectly fine.  You don't have to be an artist to join.  I'm certainly not one!

This year the theme is "Traditional Woodland"  

How did I come up with that theme?  Well, we had a tie in the voting and I am going to try to please most of the people that took the time to vote.

I suggest creating things found in and around a woodland setting.  Things like owls and other birds, hedgehogs, trees, flowers and sprites, pixies, elves, gnomes, acorns, mushrooms, toadstools, deer, chipmunks, etc.  You can also do Santa, snowmen and snowflakes because they can be found in the woods.  If you don't believe me, watch Frosty the Snowman! 

We are doing a "5 for 5"  swap.
What this means is that you will be sending me 5 handmade ornaments and receiving a variety of 5 ornaments back. 
Once you join, I will send you the flickr info so you can upload photos of your finished ornaments.  You can also post on the swap blog.
You do not have to have a blog or webpage to join.
There is no deadline to sign up but I suggest Nov. 1st.

To sign up, send me an email at valpowery(at)yahoo(dot)com with your name and blog or flickr link/info.  

This will be a USA only swap due to shipping.  I just don't know how long it will take to ship back overseas and I'm not sure of the cost.  If you really want to join but live overseas, email me and we will discuss.

Please create something you would love to receive and be sure to package your ornaments in a nice, re-usable box so I can mail your new ornaments back to you in it. 
Try to keep your ornaments light in weight and please take care when wrapping to make sure they are cushioned, etc.  We want all our ornaments to arrive in pristine condition!

Shipping: Please send in $10.00 to cover the cost of sending ornaments back to you.  This will also cover tracking.   Please include a return address label already filled out.

Ship in time for me to receive them by Thanksgiving.  I would suggest November 15th.  This will give them 1-2 weeks to reach me.  That way, I can get them in time to mail them out by the first week of December.  Sadly, I can't guarantee you getting an exchange box if your ornaments do not reach me in time.  (If that happens, I'll gladly return your own ornaments to you using the money you sent for shipping.)  
Shipping funds are important!  If you forget to include shipping, your ornaments can't be sent/returned until you have sent me the funds to send/return them to you.

If you finish your ornaments early, feel free to send them to me early so I can start organizing them.

If time gets away from you and you need to back out, no big deal, just drop me an email and I'll remove you from the list.  

Also, don't forget to grab the badge to put on your own blog to spread the word!

Tea berets!

When we were in Baton Rouge the other day, our son took us to a really nice tea store in the mall.  Dean bought several types, including one for me to try.

I decided to make a tea cup cozy like the one I made  Dean a few years ago....but decided his was too ugly!

I decided to make one for myself...but wanted to improve upon the style....

So I made a little beret instead!

much cuter...and super easy!