The last year ...

the last year ... as in the past year .... has flown by ... sometimes i really do see the clocks melting and time warping and passing all too quickly.  What can I say ... life is beautiful ... the fact that we have life is amazing just in it's self  ... and then the fact that we are born in country's were the standard of living is relatively good is yet amazing even more ... i have a roof over my head ... i can visit a doctor or hospital when i need to ... I have food and clean water ...

I am blessed with a beautiful family and extended family ... and wonderful friends and some pretty amazing blog friends ...

I am further blessed with this little misfit dog ... Honey

the last year ... as in 2012 and the end of the Mayan Calendar ...  is it the end of the world?   or the world as we know it?  or did the Mayans just run out of room on their calendar???  I guess we won't know till the 22nd of next December ... but no matter what, I am looking forward to the day ... In fact I am planning an "end of the world" party for friends and family ... which will also be known as a "before Christmas get together!"

One thing I do know, is that I don't know what the future holds, but I am looking forward to it ... and moving forward with it ... as I hope you do.

Wishing you all a brilliant New Year!!!


Linking up to Alphabe-Thursday ...

Saturday Centus ~ The Season

Ah, Jenny .... I am so glad we got our 100 words plus the prompt words back.  This week's prompt is:  It doesn't have to be that way.  Here is my offering ...

“Jon, it doesn’t have to be that way”

He glared at her. “Are you kidding me Sam?  I’ve had the plans drawn up since May, it took me two months just to write the computer program and I’ve spend thousands on the electronics alone, so yes, it has to be that way.  I’m not going to let that jerk Sanderson outshine me again.  This is going to be a red, white and blue Christmas that will blow away his pathetic, done before, lollypop lane display”

“But driving two towns over just for one string of lights?”  “Tis the season” she muttered to herself.  

I hope you all can click on the Jenny Button below and join us in our weekly short short stories!!!

December Daily .... errrrr

Well I wanted to a December Daily post, actually series of posts, but you know how it is ... life gets in the way ... and I'm not great at committing to things .... at least not recently ...

 I haven't really been that crafty ... I've spent a lot of time out of the craft room, but in November, I helped my daughter decorate for her "Movember" party!  I made this cute little mustache bunting for the wall!

 and I stuck mustaches to sticks .... okay, i did a lot more than that, made mustache decorations for the house .... big ones, little ones, all shapes and sizes ... it was fun!

 and now that December is here, I have decked the halls ... the first decorations out of the box were my two moose's ... or is that meese???  I made these guys about 20 years ago, and they still look cute!

 and the sun has been setting much earlier ...  it makes me long for soup and stews and cuddly blankets

 and i have  been busy, making cards ...

lots of cards ... which are happily off to friends and family ...

I hope you are happily busy getting ready  ... tis the season!

Saturday Centus - 16

I'm back ... yes ... after a couple of weeks of silence i am back and ready to post ... and there is no better way than to start off with a centus.

This week, dear tricky, dastardly Ms Jenny has challenged us to use 16 words ... it must be autobiographical and it must be about ourself at the age of 16.   Here goes nothing ...

At 16

      I lost you

             and I lost me

The road back,

            hard

   and lonely

Writing that was surprisingly difficult ...  and in my mind "at 17" by Janis Ian is playing in the background ...  well, off to grab a fresh cup of coffee, and read about others at 16 ... come join us!

Remembrance 11:11 11/11/11

from the internet

At this time, on this hour, on this day, I will be remembering ... my Grandfather, for serving his new found home, Canada in WWI, my Great Uncle, for serving in that same war, and my Great Uncle's only child, an Air Force Pilot, who was shot down during WWII.

My Grandfather (standing) and his older brother, my Great Uncle.

I will be standing in the November cold remembering ... seems like such a small small price to pay for freedom ...

The Pin from my Grandfathers hat (see the photo above)

I thank an honour everyone who has in some way contributed to my freedom, who help defend our Nation, who help others defend their own Nations ... for all of the PeaceKeeping Missions ... for all of the lives lost and dramatically changed ... I wish you all peace ... and eternity of peace ....

My Grandfather joins the force.

You will never be forgotten you brave soldiers.

Amazing Giveaway!

You have to go visit my blogging buddy Lynn, at her fabulous blog Trash to Treasure Art.  If you have never visited, now is the time.  She is a brilliant artist ... she is so talented and inspiring in so many mediums ... there is always something fun to find!

Right now, Lynn is having a 3rd year blogaversary ... and the prizes are totally yummy ... so do stop by her blog, the more the merrier ... and hey, you don't want me to win everything do you???  lol!

 Lynn is giving away this fantastic etched brass and antiqued book with charms

 and this fabulous journal

 and this amazing rusted tin necklace (told ya she was uber talented)

 and a surprise

and a whole mess of stamps ....

so run, quick as you can and check out her blog, her giveaway ends on the 18th!

thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Saturday Centus ~ The Dark

well Jenny has played a trick on us ... and a nasty one at that ... we have 25 words ... yes just a 25.  And the prompt is a picture.

Do not adjust your screens, that is the picture, just that wall of black... here is my take on it all ...

When I close my eyes

The world does not fade to black

It comes forward in micro splashes of light and colour

Dismantling the dark.

To visit other 25 word stories, just click on the Jenny button below.

Have a wonderful halloween weekend!!!

Autumn Sunshine

oh Autumn ... the most colourful of seasons ... filled with sharp contrasts, bright sun, or grey rain .... orange and red leaves against a pale blue sky ... a season of gratitude, thoughtfulness, feathering the nest for the long winter ahead ...

But if you are a 4 1/2 pound dog it means one thing and only one thing ....

No one is in the tennis courts!!!  on this mountainside community that means running free without fear of attack by coyotes, owls, raccoons and other creatures of the forest ...  

It means running full out with a friend ...

It means full out fun!

 A quick cool down period ...

 And a hug from my people!!!

Just another day in autumn paradise ... thank you all for stopping by!  Enjoy your autumn!

Doily cards!!!

Made some cards for a couple of friends a while back ... and i used paper doilies ...

I had so much fun with these I went out and picked up a couple of more packs including some 12x12 rounds ... perfect for scrapbooking ... and ya gotta love dollar store doilies ... the package reads ..."may contain up to 10 doilies"  lol!   I haven't counted yet but i am hoping for something near 10!

And speaking of cards, I got a whole bunch of Christmas cards made up the other day ... I am slightly ahead of the game at this point ... who knows what next week will bring!

Thanks for stopping by and peace, love and paper y'all!

Saturday Centus ~ The Seed

I'm back ... I have really missed doing my Saturday Centus posts, but I am back and joining in the fun.  This week Jenny challenged us with the prompt "I planted a little story seed".  I clocked in at exactly 100 words ... here's my take on the prompt.

I planted a little story seed several weeks ago … and oddly I haven’t written since. Somehow despite the lack of attention, this seed has flourished, becoming at once a strong seedling, with roots tentatively exploring the earth and with plenty of space to grow.  Little vignettes have branched off of the main trunk, and as these little vignettes grow, they begin to reach up to the sun for warmth and food and the sun gifts them with blossoms … whispered phrases, and conversations, names, setting and nuances.   And still I cannot commit them to paper.  My pen lies silent.

Thank you all for visiting and reading and commenting!  If you want to read other brilliant little tales, just click on the Jenny Button below.

Halloween Matchbox Swap ...

Yeah!  my package arrived from my fabulous swap partner, Amy Duff ... and wow!  her box to me was huge ... and stuffed full of so many goodies ... I was totally jumping for joy ... well, actually doing the happy dance, when i saw all of the creativity and goodness inside!

 All of the goodies were carefully wrapped and packaged ... i love the birds she stuck to the box, she also sent me several of the bird die cuts ... perfect for sticking in a halloween window!

 and is this not just the cutest card ever!  I love how she used the stamp for halloween!  and i love the stamp, super cute!

 A bag stamped with Alice in orange, and filled with metals and ribbons and felt for fall!

 Another bag, beautifully stamped and made and stuffed with a giant kit-kat bar!  I love treats!

 Very cool decorations!  i love the ball, i couldn't get a great photo of it, but it is filled with creepy bits!

 The matchbox .... love the side opening and the glitterey raven!

 and inside, stickpins!!!  i love stickpins!!! and an uber cool necklace!

and finally a slide box ... how totally cool is that!

I am the luckiest swapper ever!   Thanks so much Amy, I love it all!

And thank you all for stopping by!  Fall is here, Halloween is coming ... bring on the pumpkins!!!

To Blog or not to blog ... that is the question ....

and you might have noticed that lately it has been "not to blog" for me ...
see, I had an owie ... actually its a burn that is now a giant blister on my finger ... I was trying not to pop the blister, but it popped and now i can just bandage it up and type away to my hearts content!

I also haven't been crafting ... but I finally got up the nerve to finish my project ... the one that I burnt my finger on ... thankfully I love my little project ...

it's a whole lot of paper rosettes, it's actually Stamping Up patterned paper, because i wanted something with weight and that would not crush as easy as a vintage book page ... all glue gunned to a styro tree shape.  The base is actually a pin holder from Webster's Pages ... I just love packaging that you can use as part of a project!!!

and I just loved sticking the left over's in a vintage jar with a vintage crochet doily ... I think these will both look cute on the mantle ... well okay, i don't have a mantle, but they will look great on the table!!!   maybe surrounded by tea lights ... and I have beautiful vintagey white snow owl ornaments ... geez ... I'm starting to dream of christmas and it's not even halloween ...

anyways ... I'm finally able to blog and comment on blogs so I will be around to visit soon!

thanks so much for stopping by and visiting!
ps, Honey says "hi" ... well actually it's more of a "woof" ...

ps again, my first photo edit ... this looks so much better now!

Halloween Matchbox Swap

I did another matchbox swap over at Vintage Dragonfly ... this time for Halloween ... I had a blast making goodies for my swap partner Amy.  Now Amy likes vintage and shabby chic ... which totally had me stumped for a while, but i think i sent some pieces that were sort of in that style ...

 My little owl is doing overtime this month, starring in various little photo shoots ... he was a birthday present from my daughter meant for the garden, but he's just so cute i keep him indoors!  okay, okay, this is about the halloween swap ... i made a little card which I slipped inside of this envelope ... the envelope can be reused, and it has a pretty vintage image, and paper rosettes and a little star pin!

Here is the grouping again, only the owl is wearing this cute little pin as a hat ... these pins are so quick and easy to make ... just use a gluber, pleated ribbon and something for the center and you can whip these babies up in minutes!

I made this little mini book, filled with Alice in Wonderland images and Halloween'ish quotes ...the liquid in the bottle is again, glossy accents and alcohol ink so it moves around the bottle and looks think and gooey ..

 The actual matchbox ... okay, i really dont have a lot of Halloween stuff ... i tend not to do "theme" scrappy so not much in my stash ... so my version of Halloween is this long forgotten dress form, covered in webs and dust stashed in the back corner of an attic ... and behind it ... an eye ... the all staring eye .... just keeping it creepy ... i covered the eyeball in glossy accents so it looks moist like a real eye ... i hope my swap partner gets my vision ... and the dress form is kinda vintagey...

 Just a cute little vintage image in a black frame, once again with rolled rosettes!  I coved the picture in grey mesh so it has a different look to it, although it didn't really show up in the photo ... there is also a little black spider embellishment in the upper right corner so it appears that the girl is looking at it.

 This little "boo" bunting turned out so cute ...

The final piece was this necklace ... yes, I'm spreading my wings a bit here ... it has a heavy chain to give it that spooky factor ... and a vintage witch image ... i finished it up with a black rose button and a grey crystal ...

This was so much fun to do ... and now I am waiting patiently till the day my swap comes!!!!
thanks so much for stopping by!!!