I'm hooked!!!

These book thongs are really fun to make! I think I've got a new found love in creating these things! Here's a few that I made over the weekend.

Button Fairies, Book Thongs & Dotees?

My mind has been inundated this week with images of some quirky little crafts that I think I would like to give a try. One of them came up in a discussion in my Yahoo ATC group and that's the Button Fairy - what on earth? These are fairies whose bodies are made of buttons.. do a google search and you're bound to find some.

Next was book thongs.. creative name huh? I had never seen these before and I finally sat down this evening, took apart a bracelet that was in the pile of jewelry from the flea market last weekend (post of November 1st) and made a book thong. After struggling to get ribbon through the tiny beads (how on earth do people do that?) I tried some linen cord. It ties off nicely, the beads go on easily and I like the look and feel of it. So, here 'tis, my first creation in book thongs. I never have been into beading or jewelry making but really enjoyed making this and think there will be many more (as long as I can keep finding the jewelry at the flea market!)

Dotee dolls? Never heard of them! I haven't done much research on these dolls, but do know that they were started by a woman named Dot, who I might add makes beautiful stuff - you should check out her blog in my list. I've not really ventured into the world of sewing, other than the quilting that I attempted to take up a few years ago. While I love this art, I typically can't find the time to sit and do it. However Dotee dolls are small and the real work is in the embellishing so I might try this sometime this winter and see what I can come up with. Dotees are traded, much like ATCs and the Yahoo group that I belong to is planning to do some swaps of these in the future. I hear that there are often swaps on swapbot of Dotees.

My quest to know more... Post #1

I've been researching my family for years and only during the last 10 months or so have I ventured into the Military history. My Grandfather, William Bellew, was in the Army Airforce during WWII and was injured (lost his left eye) during a mission on July 29 1944. Already having his military documents in hand, I set out to find out what else there was to know - the rest of the story if you will. I came across a message board for his bomb group that put me in touch with a now dear friend in England, Chris, who lives near the base where Granddad was stationed. He is very knowledgeable in this area and, unbelievably, he managed to track down a living member of my Grandfather's regular crew! I was amazed and very nervous to call and speak to this man on the phone. He and his wife are just wonderful people and they were very glad to hear from me. He told me that Grandad volunteered to go up with another crew who was short a gunner on that day that he was wounded, and he was never seen again by his regular crew - they were never even told what became of him. He was glad to know that Granddad lived, returned home, had more children and lots of grandchildren.

Connections come in strange ways sometimes. It certainly pays to venture into other areas of the internet, such as message boards, rather than sticking to the records sites. You never know, a post might put you in touch with someone who actually knew your relative and you might make some really great friendships along the way! I called this post #1 because there's much more of this story to share... next week.

Flea Market Saturday! Two weeks in a row!

I hit the flea market again this weekend. The weather here was in the 70s so we just had to take the opportunity to go again. The flea market only runs on weekends till the end of November, then starts again in March. Now's the time to get the deals! Today we were in search of "old junk jewelry". I told the girls - if you see a glass case, keep walking... if it's just piled in a box or boxes, stop and look. We had a great time collecting odd bits of jewelry to use on a new craft that we wanted to try. Rather than buying only new beads, we wanted to try to get an older look to the beads - what better than old junk costume jewelry? Our plan is to use some of them for book thongs, some for mixed media art and some to alter some boxes. I just love the beads on the two choker style neclaces - they're not straight but we'll find a good use for them because they're so beautiful!

We also found this beautiful angel pin for great-grandma - the bead in the center prevented a very clear scan but the details can be see in the bottom of the body - just beautiful - she's gonna love it!! We also found a new teapot for her collection, since the last two I bought I couldn't hold till her birthday and ended up giving them to her as "Happy Day" gifts - a much loved tradition in our family. Grandma will be 91 this month!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Off to trick or treat and then many hours of Ghost Hunters Live!!!!!

Have a great evening!

Stayed up too late last night..

Last evening I was working on some cards (and watching Ghost Hunters) and stayed up much too late! Here's my latest addition to my ATCs - she was worth it!


This is me before coffee this morning :-)

Today my daughter's preschool class visited the local pumpkin patch for corn maze, hay rides - the usual fall visit to a farm stuff. Oh yeah, and the pumpkins!!!

It was a MIGHTY cold morning here, at 9:30, when we arrived at the farm the temp was about 42 degrees. Needless to say, we soon lost feeling in our toes and fingers and couldn't wait to come home.

The Challenge

My ATC group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATC_CONNECTION/) recently had a "Lucky 7 Challenge" where 7 people sign up, they received the exact same supplies for 4 cards. What a challenge it was. My first card wasn't so difficult, add a few pink flowers and glue down, done.

Card number 2 wasn't so easy. The supplies consisted of the beautiful background paper, a green plastic 'dome' thingy and the ladybug. I did the best I could. The scanner didn't like it much because the green thing was like 1/4" tall so that area is the only one that came through really clear.


For card #3, (again, not the best scan because of the embellishments) we were given the background, the lady, the butterfly and the button. The card worked, but by this time my brain was hurtin', I had made a VERY LARGE mess, and I didn't even want to look at what card number 4 had in store for me... it just got worse!



For card #4 we were given the background, the two charms and, would you believe, one of those plastic things that hold your bread rolls package shut. Not the "twisty tie" but the flat plastic thingy... what on earth can I do with this???? Well, as you can see (or NOT see) I decided to cover it, it's beneath the "Wild Wild West" on the card. You can see it if you look beneath the paper - it gives my 'sign' a bit of depth :-) The rules said we had to use all the items, not that you had to be able to actually see them! Hope that flies with JJ!!

The air is mighty brisk....

Today was a chilli and corn muffin day for sure! I wandered through Christmas-ville at my local WalMart today - just looking but couldn't pass up on some really cool tissue paper they have out this year and a couple of tins (for teacher's gifts). The cool air felt like snow and still does this evening. Oh yes, time for cold days a warm fire and baking cookies.. LOTS and LOTS of cookies!!

Yes, I know it's not even Halloween yet, but it's not my favorite "holiday". I can't wait for the colder days and then I feel the need to cook like crazy and make dozens and dozens of cookies (between 5 loads of laundry per day of course - housework must come first ya know). It is Christmas yet???


WOOLY BEARS!!!!!
Are these critters really an indication of the winter to come? Not sure but there sure are MANY of them here. The kids caught 80 this afternoon - yes, 80. This is about half of the pile - YUCK

Flea Market Finds

We had a really beautiful sunset yesterday (after it rained ALL day)


Today I felt the need to get out of the house for a bit - other than grocery shopping that is :-) We have a very large local outdoor flea market every weekend, so that was today's outing. We first hit a smaller indoor flea market where we found some old books for 10 cents each, perfect price for something that you're just going to rip the pages out of and use for ephemera. After spending a whopping $1.91 there, we headed to the outdoor market. I've been looking for an older, cheap dictionary, again for ephemera and found one today for even a better price - FREE! Yay! We also found a book of vintage postcards that had some really neat images in it so I went deep in my pocket for that for 50 cents. Well, I spent a whole buck today on my fun. Now it's time for a cup of coffee and email.

My not-so "Artsy" blog

While I still feel that I'm struggling with this whole blog thing, I must say that I'm loving posting something everyday.

I'm not as "artsy" as some of my other blogging friends but I love to dabble in all sorts of things that I see them doing. So to my "Artsy" friends that might venture over here at some point, don't laugh at my blog, just visit now and then and put up with me :-)))))

Today I want to post a photo of my Great Great Grandfather, Silas Kidwell. He has his truck all loaded with peaches for the local farmers market in Washington DC. I got this picture from my Great Uncle, Marshall Kidwell who I managed to track down while I was doing research on my Kidwell side of the family. Uncle Marshall has since passed away but I'll never forget him and the many bits of information that he shared with me that I never would have known had I not met with him.

Grandad Silas


Uncle Marshall


Another interesting note for today... I've been doing some research for one of my neighbors lately and while I've not found a connection yet, his family was from the same county as mine and so we're assuming at some point our tree branches will join together :-) I've already found a connection to his wife and my family (through an in-law) so it's only a matter of time!!!

Time for Halloween???

So I've delayed getting out the Halloween decorations this year. Not totally on purpose but more out of just "I don't feel like doing it today". Finally, I dug those two bins out of the basement and put some stuff out. Not really in the mood for the decorating thing but the kids like it, so what the heck. I'm sure they'll all be here to help me put it away in a week also (not). Our local store is already setting up their Christmas area - it's not even Halloween yet! Seems to me they do this earlier and earlier every year. I have to visit Christmas-ville every time I go to the store in case I missed something the prior trip - I just LOVE Christmas decorations!!!

Altered art of the day

My ATC friend Tabby posted some altered bamboo tiles on her blog today that I'm absolutely in love with, I immediately asked the good folks at skybluepink to add some tiles to my order which is due to ship early next week. Check out Tabby's tiles at her blog (crooked heart art) from my list. She does wonderful artwork, and is a FANTASTIC photographer - always breathtaking - everytime, AND she has a really cool sense of humor.