little thief

Mojo is just so sweet. He really LOVES to carry around a little lovie.

He won't tear it up but he will ask you to throw it for him.
Ginger destroys any toy I make or buy for them so they've been without any toys for awhile. So, now he is stealing the cat's toys again.

See? And see that black yarn chain?




It leads to the cat platform.
Kaela ties them to the platform so he won't carry them off. If he carries them off, Ginger guts them and I come home in time to clean up catnip!


So Mojo just contents himself snuggled up under a table, with his stolen lovie.

Just look at that sweet face *sigh*

Little Deer ornaments!

I have always loved the vintage ornaments that resemble teeny dioramas....but don't have any. So I tried my hand at creating one:


I liked it so much, I decided to share how I did it. Some steps weren't photographed cause I added things AFTER it was finished. (okay, so I'm not Martha. I don't have one made and another one going through the process....)
First, gather your supplies:

*a wee little box (mine is 1.5" by 2.5")
white spray paint
glue
scissors
tiny bit of polyfil or cotton ball fluff
miniature deer (miniatures at Hobby Lobby)
miniature trees (craft section at Hobby Lobby)
star sequins and 1 start shaped bead
variety of glitters
thick sparkly glitter glue
small amount of white sparkly felt

you will also need if hanging it:
yarn
tapestry needle
skewer

First, spray paint the little box white.




To make the 'sky' use a bit of glue and sparkly blue glitter...just a little. Put it on the back, top and both sides. Glue a few little sequin stars on the back at this point too.
For the snow, glue down a wee bit of poly-fil and tamp it down good. Let it dry and then pull the majority off. What you have left will be the snow. (see? no snow, no stars....I love hindsight!)




Take a little tree and cut the stump off.
You can leave it on if you need the height. My little box was so tiny, I opted to clip it.



Then, cut the stumps off the remaining trees you will use. I used one big tree and two little ones.



For the back tree that will be against the box, cut the back off straight so you can glue it onto the back and it will lie flat. See?




Then arrange the other trees around it and glue them down. Then glue down your deer.

Once dried, take your thick glitter glue and go around the trees and deer. Put a dot onto the top of each tree and drag it down with your fingertip. Do it lightly so you don't rub it completely off.

After everything is dried (again!) take a piece of the felt and cut a strip that will go around the little box.

Glue it down with the seam on the bottom.




If you want to hang it like I did you can use a skewer and put a hole in the top and in the felt. Be careful not to crush your little box. Again, this was something I should have thought of BEFORE I finished most of the ornament!!!! Oh well...that's what happens when you are crafting with wine!
Thread your yarn through both pieces and glue it together, this holds the hanger in place really well once dried.
Clip the knot as close as you can.



Once the felt is dried to the box, slather glue on it and roll it in MORE GLITTER!!!! Remember, glitter is GOOD!

Then, add a thick band of glitter glue around the front to hide the demarcation between the box and felt if you can still see it.

Now for that pesky little knot...

This is where you need a star shaped bead. Simply glue it on top of the knot facing forward. This part is tricky because the space is so teeny.
If you use white glue, you'll need to let it dry on its back so the bead doesn't fall off.
Here is a photo of the finished ornament again:



And here is what it looks like hung on my Year of Enchantment tree.

I love this angle, it looks so natural. I'll probably put it on my big tree though....and add glitter....maybe some more glitter........?

cat brat

How do you know when the cat you adopted has crossed the line from darling to diva?

When she refuses to drink water unless you turn on the faucet in the tub.....at a thin trickle.

And no, you can't use the stopper to 'save' some for her. She wants it FRESH.

Each.
And.
Every.
Time.
You.
Pass.
The.
Bathroom.




And Now? Now, she's got Leo doing it too!

What they say about cats having wait staff. Yep....its true.

Silliness

A couple weeks ago, we went with Dean to work. His station was shooting a college football game. He had worked 21 days straight and not seen much of us, so he asked us to tag along.
Having done this in the past, we knew it would be fun. You go up into the suite, you get great food, you get to see the game from the comfort of the box and still 'go' to the game.....total luxury!

Kaela brought her friend since Matt wasn't going. He was at a 'party.'

When we got there, we all quickly realized it wasn't going to work because the press box was already over crowded. See?


So instead, we sat and we talked and we sat and we ate and we sat and we watched people.

After awhile though, we started getting silly (the girls started it.)

First, they started posing....



then they starting snorting, laughing loudly and making faces...no one cared, all the other bored kids of employees were doing the same thing.


then the girls decided they wanted to sit on my lap...


and take photos...


but it is hard to take a photograph of 3 faces when you are holding the camera...


So while Dean was in the press box schmoozing it up and making sure everything ran smoothly, we acted silly...It was JUST what we needed and we ended up having a terrific time.

Poe revisited and a goodie for me

Laura was in my Poe altered art swap but didn't receive a package because it got lost in the mail.
We kept waiting for it to show up but it never did so I made up a package for her myself. The story she picked was The Black Cat...a really creepy tale!

Here is the outside of the box

and the inside...see Pluto's missing eye in the corner? Grisly!

I also made her a few things that relate to the story....a black cat book thong, a recipe that was popular with E.A. Poe, an eyeball ornament, a Black Cat chocolate bar, and some bath salts that surely would have helped de-stress the situation better than booze...
I made her a little Pluto, along with a noose! If you want to make your own black cat, I got the pattern from Gin's blog.

and look what I got in the mail!

Melinda knows I have a Halloween tree and made me this awesome tag ornament for it. Sorry for the glare but you can still tell how gorgeous it is!

Thank you Melinda!

Happy 16th....

This past weekend, Dean and I celebrated our 16th anniversary!

Without getting all gooey, I'll just say that I am one very lucky girl. I am so happy that God put Dean into my life and opened my eyes to him.

pumpkins and candy and cats, OH MY!

Kaela was the only one in our family to dress up this year.....she went as a maid in the Red Queen's Palace...complete with heart shaped lips!

She got a LOT of compliments on her outfit!

her sweet friend was a hippie!!!!

Earlier in the day, we finally did our pumpkin carving! Dean has been so busy with work that we kept putting off until we could all do it together.

Matt used a design print out....
but wouldn't let us see it until the big reveal!!!
Dean and Kaela went all artiste' on us and drew pictures and carved and carved and carved.... We even had Kaela's friend help scooping and saving the pumpkin seeds for toasting! Dean is the only one who got injured.....besides the pumpkins!
He managed to cut himself AND stab himself....a couple times each.
Lucky for him, we had plenty of girly band aids to help him out...
so on to the big moment! Matt's ghost

Kaela's big wolf and moon
Dean's howling wolf
and my luminary (power tools ROCK!)

and here they are together...



SPOOKY!