My Halloween Goodies

I have been a busy girl!  I love doing little houses..and here they are inside and out.  I always cut a little hole in the back corner because I like to add a string of lights to my "village".  I don't think 3-4 houses and some other little decorated items is really a village but it's what I call it and when I decorate, I will post a photo!  

 The photos loaded out of order, so scroll down and look at the big house and a photo of both houses together so you can see the difference in size.  I love them.  Lots of fun for me...now I just need a venue to sell them, as my etsy shop and my FB page are slow going to set up!

I also love to do "hangers" as I call them.  They are 4x6 and 5x8 in sizes approximately.  But again, fun projects for me.  I will be having projects  like these offered at COOL SCRAPBOOK STUFF in Poway as classes.  The same idea but different of course by season and my findings.  Most of the ones I would love to do but can't do as classes because I stumble over some of the goodies and only buy one..it makes them one of a kind.  Plus always buying with the thought "oh this might be a class" it not cost effective for someone who does not have a job.

My camera is poo!  I really need a better one, my projects are definitely better in person.  You can not see the details.

So this is about as good of a close up as I could get. You get the idea though.  Halloween is such a great time of the year, the air is getting crisp now and that means in just a few days I get to decorate.  I love the changing of the seasons,( I didn't say it was a big change!) but this it is for decorating seasons. Christmas is my fave but Halloween and Easter are right up there! I have houses and hangers for all three...but there is always room for more.  Happy Creating.

Home Sweet Home

Ta-Da!  So happy with how this turned out!  I love these found treasures.  I am a collector of art supplies.  I was up, northern California, visiting my sister and whenever I go to visit we MUST go into Berkeley.  On fourth street there are wonderful stores, Castle in the Air, Scrapbook Territory, and a wonderful Toy store too!  The toy store carries all of the OLD toys, wooden and vintage, it's great.  Castle in the Air carries fantastic goodies.  The german foil stuff, thick and fibrant crape paper, stringed puppets, mosses and mushrooms, just lovely!  The Home Sweet Home is one of the My Minds Eye cards to embellish projects with that I found at Scrapbook Territory 2 years ago and have finally "tacked" it down.  It hangs in my entry. The colors just make me so happy, every time I see it, it makes me smile and isn't it what it's all about!  Happy Sunday!

Summer's almost over....

After having the house closed up and the air running last few weeks, it was really nice to be able to have the house open all day!  The warm breeze coming through, I can smell the herbs from our garden, 80;s music playing in the back ground, it truly is a wonderful day to be working up in the studio!  I am working on some layouts for my classes coming up at Cool Scrapbook Stuff in Poway.  Working with, Teresa Collins Memorbilia line and Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells line.  Love them both.  I have not been scraping layouts, I don't know why. I get sidetracked with "other" projects, (my studio is lined with projects in progress!) so I am very excited to get back to them.  I have PLENTY of inspiration from my pumpkins.  My pumpkins are my nieces and nephew.  I don't call them by their birth names and they don't seem to mind..yet.  They call me Teta, which is aunt in "slave".  Again, you will see them soon enough in my projects.

Speaking of projects, this one was inspired when I was reading a bedtime story to my Beans.  It was a take on Twinkle, Twinkle if I can remember correctly. When I read this line for the first time, I got a little meepy.  I have a great love for the ocean, it is magical, just like the night sky at 2:00 a.m.  I get up often at 2 and go see what waits for me out my window...its like a breath of fresh air.  So, mind you I have had this sand dollar for about 15 years.  I had to buy the starfish and it took me 3 years to find the perfect piece of driftwood.  I bring this piece out as a centerpiece to decorate my coffee table for summer. And if my Halloween decorations weren't so cute it would stay out until Christmas!

Luka with a C!

 How cute is this!  Well, I think so! My cousin, Gina, wanted to name her little boy after the town that my Nani and Teta were from. They spell it Luka, which I spelled incorrectly on a previous post but my cousin wasn't sure how she wanted to spell his name yet at the time of the shower. All of her other children names they decided go to with a "C" instead of using a "K".  After the shower I changed out the "K" and made her a wall banner. This was her diaper cake and card. Off to work in the garden...

mmmmm..it smells yummy!

 I woke up feeling the need to bake..a family recipe that I tweaked just a bit, to make them just how I like them, a BISCOTTI that is not hard as a brick with that yummy anise flavor!  I grew up eating these goodies, when we would go visit her at the "ranch".  My Nani loved to bake and make other things with the goodness that she grew. Which leads to the next photo of her sauce pot with sauce I made from the goodness from my home garden. Yummmm..can you smell it?

 I will have to show you a picture of what I canned this last week  It is the base to the spag. sauce or can use as is with any veggie or protein. so good!

My Pumpkin, (Jonathan, my nephew) as this obsession with buttons, so of course, I made my this for his 7th birthday and I wish you could have seen the look on his face!  I used over 200 buttons.  It is the newest request for a gift from my nieces, but of course in pink, purple, and lots of SPARKLE!!!!  pictures to follow!

Nani and Teta

 Well since my earlier post I have been thinking-should anyone be reading my posts, this is probably my favorite project I have ever done. I came across this photo a few years ago and have it on the fridge, so I can see it all the time. Sometimes really special projects need to be starred at before I can begin.  The picture is late 1960's of 2 of my favorite people. Nani is on the right and her younger sister, my Teta, is on the left. Nani means grandma and Teta means Aunt in slave. They are from Luca a little town in Yugoslavia.  They were extremely close and this picture just captures a brief moment in time between them. I still enjoy weekly visits with my 93 year young Teta.  We make jam, can their starter sauce, make biscotti, crochet and just talk about the good old days.   I enjoy this time with her just like we did when Nani was here. This hangs now in my hallway and ALWAYS makes me smile. I wish everyone had a Nani and Teta like mine.

W

It only took me 18 years....

 Well not to decorate this super cute diaper cake that I created for my girlfriend.  Her theme was very specific, BABY GIRL and lots of pink!  It looks adorable close up, I loved doing this, so much fun and a big hit for party decoration and the top piece went on her dresser for a room decoration as well.

Now, the wrought iron is what I have been looking for..Lisa is a very happy girl!  Kinda of a funny story.  Well, my Nani was a big fan of wrought iron and since her passing I have acquired alot of her pieces which I love, but a 3 tiered shelf is a piece I have been keeping my eyeballs searching, it was hard to find, and find at the right price. I do have an obession with yarn and this shelf will be perfect for houseing it!  I have this idea it will control the amount of yarn I buy. If it doen't fit, I can't buy anymore!
I haven't worked out of the house since caring for my Nani, so  I create goodies, which I label "LisaLisaTreats", (story for another time) and attend boutique's or markets to sell my stuff.  I had found an antique store in downtown Murrieta that has markets and it seems the perfect venue for my stuff.  Madam Bleu, cute store, and when I went in to talk about the market details LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

 and of course, because it is going up in the studio I sanded it and painted it my color. LOVE IT!   and here it is upstairs with my mess of yarn.  I need to ball up all the scans to make them pretty but that will be soon. I am in the process of cleaning, rearranging my studio, so don't peek at the mess!

I've been found...

What a wonderful Sunday!  I have not checked in for some time but once again I hope to change that.  I believe that part of what made today such a wonderful day is that I have booked dates to start teaching at Cool Scrapbook Stuff in Poway, CA.  Teaching creative projects, does it really get better than this?  I am also pleased to say that what has kept me away, besides my garden, my progress for healing, between the severe fibromyalgia to ALL the family and pet members we have lost in the last 3 years is so overwhelming that some days are difficult to survive, but I have arrived to the step in healing to reach out again, and hopefully for good this time.  Gena having welcomed me to her newly relocated, beautiful store is so just what I needed and I am so very excited to be apart of the scrap world again...it truly makes my heart sing.  I look forward to keeping up with posts and showing you what I have been doing since my last post!  I did do the may crop but have not seen the girls since..LIFE you know!