October Blogging Day 4

O let us cast dull care away,

Again be children for a day.

Witches Goblins have their sway,

Tis Halloween, lets joke and play!

I can't believe all of the ideas I am having as I brainstorm posting a blog each day during October!  I have a little notebook with me all the time to write down the ideas!  I doubt I have the time to make them all.  Plus, I am only using things from around the house.  I am not going to purchase one new thing to make my crafts.  I may need to buy some items if I post a recipe or if I get around to planting some fall plants in my garden.  I have so many things that have been started and not complete and this is my excuse to get busy.  I'm sure we all do, or at least I hope I am not the only one who struggles with completing a project :)

Halloween Decorations Continued

I have tons of Halloween decorations.  I try to add to my collection each year and always enjoy unpacking the decorations.  It is fun to see the old items (like old friends), and then find the "new" items from the previous year.  Simple pleasures.

I got this cute Owl in Seattle a few weeks ago when my husband and I went on an Alaskan cruise.  We spent the night in Seattle and took a train up to Vancouver for the cruise.  We were walking around down town and I saw this cute guy in a shop window.  The shop was closed since it was later in the evening.  On our way home, we made it to the shop so I could buy him.  I am crazy about owls right now, and really "needed" him for my Halloween decorations :) 

Isn't he handsome?

Last year I made these little owls and pumpkins.  I spent way too much time creating the pattern off an owl I had seen in an expensive store....not to mention spending way too much money on pieces of upholstery fabric.  I have given most of my little owls away...but didn't make any this year.  Maybe next year. 

 

Halloween Crafting

I saw a cute paper pumpkin on Pinterest last year.  It was so cute!  The instructions were terrible, but I managed to figure out how to make it.  It looked exactally like the picture on Pitnerest, but I thought I could improve upon it.  I like my verson much better :)  I ended up creating kits for my card club and we made them last year during one of our monthly get-togethers.  I made this pumpkin yesterday and took pictures to show you how to make your own.  I think they would be cute as place card holders on a Thanksgiving table.

This is the finished project.  It is SO easy to make!

The supplies needed.

1 - 1 x 12 inch piece of card stock

2 - 1 1/4 x 12 inch piece of card stock

3 - 1 1/2 x 12 inch piece of card stock

(I got my card stock at Michaels and it has little bumps on one side)

Score each piece every 1/2 inch.  This is easier to do before you cut each piece. 

(So start with a piece of card stock that is 8 x 12 inch and score that before you take the

1, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2 inch slices).

Fold each piece at the score marks to make the accordian pieces shown above.

Next, tape each slice of paper, at the ends, so that it makes a circle. I use double sided tape.

Flatten each cirlce to  make a "rosette" like above.  I put a 1 inch circle (that I punched with a circle punch) to reinforce and use hot glue to hold in place.  Next stack each circle to make a pumpkin! 

Bottom - 1 /1/4

Then the 3 - 1 1/2 circles for the middle

1 1/4 inch on top of that

Very top is the 1 inch rosette.

I also found a little stick in the yard for a stem, and cut some leaves out with a leaf punch.  And, a little green ribbon and raffia.

Patterned Halloween paper is really cute, too.

 

Happy October 4th everyone!

Where ever you are, I hope you find time for a something that makes you happy!

~ Joeby

 

So Glad...

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

~ L.M. Montgomery

 

I am fond of L.M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud).  She is the author of "Anne of Green Gables".  A couple of years ago, my sweet husband and I went to Prince Edward Island, Canada.  It was fabulous!!

The story was based on some facts, and one is the house.  There really is a Green Gables! 

It was lovely there!  We walked along the trails that Anne would have walked along.  So fabulous!!

We saw this little lady on our walk. She has a little critter in her mouth. She walked only feet in front of us.  Totally startled me!!  But, she was on a mission and didn't pay us a bit of attention.  I think she was taking food to her babies :)

This was the first time I had ever seen a fox out in the wild.  My mom used to see a mama fox and her babies playing at their farm near Versailles, KY.

 

Halloween Crafting

I have been in a major crafting mood lately!  A few months ago, some of my stamping friends and I went to a scrapbooking convention here in North Houston.  I got some items to make a Halloween bracelet, and finally made it today. 

 

The little clear bubbles are little pieces of glass.  Put a glue dot on, stick it to the tiny picture, then wait for it to dry and cut out.

The round ones are for a bracelet, and the square glass is for a necklace.

I can't wait to wear my Halloween jewlery. 

 

A couple of my halloween gourds.  I love them! 

 

I hope that where ever you are and what ever you are doing you find a little time for enjoying October, and perhaps do a little crafting or gardening today :)

~ Joeby

 

Autumn

Autumn, the year's last loveliest smile.

~ William Cullen Bryant

 

Happy Day 2 of my October long blogging!

 

The pumpkin patch has arrived at our local

grocery store (HEB).  

I look forward to it each year :)

Isn't this mountain of pumpkins delightful!

I bought a few pumpkins, and will post a picture in a coule of days.

 

Halloween Crafting

 

I  made a new wreath for the front door today.  I love the black cloth ribbon with the green pompoms fringe on it!  I got it last year after Halloween at the cutest store.  "Picket Fences" in The Woodlands.  They have fabulous things. 

 

I also cooked yummy food tonight.  I roasted a chicken for a family in our church who are moving in a few days. I also made mashed potatoes, rolls, and gingerbread.  So much for my diet...

It rained here in the North Houston area today, so it was a delightful day to craft

and cook a big dinner. 

 

Where ever you are, I hope your day was wonderful!

~ Joeby

 

October Gave a Party

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came—
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
 ~ by George Cooper

 

This is a part of one of my favorite fall poems!  The rest is just as fabulous - you should google it!  It may become a favorite of yours, also.

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted to my blog.  Life has gotten in the way...

 

North to Alaska!

One of the best parts of the past few months, is my sweet husband and I went on an Alaskan Cruise! Alaska was our 50th state together!!  So cool to have visited all 50 together. It was a fabulous trip!  We sailed out of Vancouver, Canada.  So lovely...  After the cruise we drove from Vancouver north to Whistler. I think it was my favorite of the whole trip.  We need to go back when we have more time.  We were really tired of the plentiful cruise after a week, and while exploring Whistler, we found this fabulous bakery in the Olympic Village - Pure Bread.  We got a fabulous savory pastry (chicken, broccoli and goodness), and I got the best cookie I have ever had - carrot cake whoopie pie!!  I wish I had taken a picture of it, instead we enjoyed the beautiful weather, did a little people watching, and devoured our lunch!

 

Our first port on the cruise was Skagway, Alaska.  The shore exursion we purchased was a glacier lake kayak trip!  Of the entire Disney Cruise ship, only 6 of us were brave enough to participate.  Al (sweet husband) and I were the oldest ones... I can't believe how fun it was!  Especially after I got over the initial fear of falling in that freezing water.  I had actually never kayaked....we have canoed before, but this is different.  My arms were killing me that night, but it was worth it :)  Glacier water is an incredible blue color.  Such a great experience.

I will post more of the cruise later this month.  It was really beautiful.

 

Fall gardening!

It has been a very long hot summer here in South Texas...  However, my garden is continuing to produce a little.  I have eggplant, okra, onions, and lots of peppers.  I have pumpkin planted (not making many and who knows when they will be ready).  I also have sweet potatoes taking over our subdivision.  Those things really spread!!  I just hope all those vines are actually making some sweet potatoes.  We shall see...

 

 

Pretty much everything green past the 2nd bed is sweet potatoes gone crazy!  They are extra delicious when you grow them yourself :)

 

Halloween / Fall Decorating!!

I have barely managed to wait until the first of October to put our my Halloween / Fall decorations.  I love it! 

 

 

Part of my pumpkin collection on the dining room table.  The fun of mixing Halloween and Fall, is that you can remove the Halloween parts and leave the Fall - then add a few turkeys for Thanksgiving.  Autumn is my very favorite time of year!

 

 

 

All the orange, all the textures; I love it!!  The sweet little Scherenschnitte (German paper cutting) picture of the jack-o-lanterns in the center is tiny, and one of my favorite decorations!  I purchased on a trip to the East in 2005 (I'm thinking Salem, Mass, or the vacinity). 

 

I am going to attemp to create a blog post each day in October!  I think it will give me something to look forward to doing, and get me busy gardening, cooking, and crafting.  October is a fabulous transition month and worth celebrating :)

 

I hope that everyone is happy and healthy and looking forward to a beautiful October.

~ Joeby

To Plant A Garden...

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

~ Audrey Hepburn

 

Hi friends!

I hope that tomorrow brings rain to the North Houston area.  My garden is in need of rain, and not just my watering with a water hose.  It always seems to do better with rain from Mother Nature.  I did get out and water yesterday and put a little fertilizer on the tomatoes.  My leg is keeping me from tending the garden like I would like, but it does get better with each passing day.

I hope the lack of attention isn't causing my garden to suffer too much.  My potatoes look pretty pitiful, but they have looked that way in the past and have yielded lots of yummy potatoes to enjoy, so I am hoping for the same outcome this year!

I do not think my tomato plants have as many tomatoes as they have had in the past, but my husband thinks they look about the same... And, I have tons of cherry tomato plants, and I know that I only planted two of them....I think some were mislabled at our local nursery.  But, luckily we love cherry tomatoes, so all is well.

We are big fans of eggplant parmesan.  We really love the Japanese variety eggplants (Ichiban variety is pictured here).  I will post a recipe when I have plenty of eggplant to cook.

Basil and Rosmary.  I love having fresh herbs to cook with.  Making homemade pesto is a special treat.  We also like mixing homemade pesto with mayonaise for a yummy sandwich spread.  Hot paninis with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and pesto is so delicious!  When I get enough basil, I will post a recipe that I found for easy pesto.

The lizard population is continuing to grow.  I saw this little guy on a pretty red hibiscus.

Metal Sunflower, Pretty Mushroom, Red Poppy in the wild flower area.

 

Fridays in the Craft Room....

I finished this little Snowman a few days ago.  I started him before my leg trouble, and he was begging to be painted, glittered and dressed up.  It was my first attempt at using paper clay.   I will be doing more of this in the future!  I found the picture in an old Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Christmas magazine, and tried making him from the picture.  Luckily, you can go on line and figure out how to use the items mentioned in blogs and magazines (such as "paper clay").  You can google and pinterest search for everything!!  Makes crafting so much easier than just a few years ago.  I am really wanting to try making different shapes and designs.  I did lots of online shopping while resting.  Boxes of crafting supplies are beginning to arrive :)  I will be making many Christmas presents when it is too hot to garden this summer in south Texas.

I found this cute jar at WalMart and decided to organize my rickrack and different trims that I have collected over the years.  I think I need another jar since this one is full and I still have more to wrap around old spools and pieces of cardboard.  I can't wait to get busy organizing my craft room a little more.  It is in dire need to refreshing and organization.

I am itching to cook, craft, and garden like crazy.  To just be busy all day long. I am very fortunate that my troubles are small and will get better with patience and time.  Many aren't so lucky and I hope that I can remember that when my aches and pains are gone and be a little kinder to those

who need a helping hand from me.

~ Joeby

Windy Day in the Garden

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. ~ Austin

I have had a hard time gardening or crafting much these past two weeks.  Turns out my pulled muscle in my leg was actually blood clots (Deep Vein Thrombosis).  I ended up spending a night in the hospital - thankfully only one night.  I am on blood thinners, and totally on the mend.  I can't wait to get out there and dig in the dirt a little, and do some crafting as those clots dissolve.

My sweet husband has been doing a little gardening for me to keep things going.  I got a chance to take some pictures this windy & chilly morning.  It is very unusual to have a 45 degree morning in the North Houston area in May!!  I'm sure my tomatoes are loving it!

Tomatoes like cool nights and warmer days.  We are lucky to have those!  Once it gets warm here, the blossoms fall off rather than make new baby tomatoes.  So, planting early here is a must!!

I picked these pretty squash and cherry tomatoes on my walk to the garden this morning! I do not have good luck with squash here... Not sure why, but they usually die after making a few squash. I am hoping to get so many squash that I need to give them to strangers :)

I planted a very tiny (like 6 inches tall) fig tree in a really big pot two years ago.  This year, we have little figs!!  I really hope that they grow to maturity. 

I love figs!

One thing that grows well here, is lizards.  We have literally thousands of lizards here.  While I have been recuperating, I have been lying on the chaise in our bedroom.  It over looks the back yard, which has been very pleasant.  The brick window ledge outside my window is a lizard highway!  I know that I need to get up at about when, I promise, I can tell some of them apart...

A view of the back yard.  The big green tree (big bush) is the Meyer lemon tree that had about 500 lemons on it last year!! My husband cut it back a great deal, and we are worried that there will be no lemons this year.  It frosted when it was blooming, and all the baby lemons fell off.  I really hate to complain when we had such an abundance last year.  We do have a smaller tree near the back fence that has some lemons on it, so we will have a few for the holidays.

Wild flower area. 

I will try to take a better picture of it when the sun is in a better spot.  It is really lovely and wonderful to see the butterflies who visit the flowers each day.

 

I have a few crafts that I am planning on working on while keeping my leg propped up (in fabulous compression hose...).  I have also been catching up on all the magazines that I get and haven't looked at so far this year.  I have decided that I get too many magazines in the mail, and plan to cut back when the subscriptions expire.  We have a fabulous library near by, and I think I will go look at magazines there instead.

I hope that your week is full of peace, happiness, and perhaps a little cooking, crafting or gardening. 

What projects are you currently working on?  Send me a note and let me know!

~ Joeby



Beautiful Friday

A good garden, may have some weeds. ~ Thomas Fuller
Hi Friends!
I hope today finds you happy and healthy!
I have had a little trouble with my left leg (torn muscle, muscle spasms, swelling...not fun).  But, I'm determined to feel better this weekend and work in my garden a bit and do some crafting.
I like to craft as much as garden.  I feel like I need to do a little of both each day to feel like my real self!  I have a couple of cute Pinterest crafty things I intend to make this weekend, and will post pictures of them as soon as they are ready :)  I have been on Pinterest a lot this week since I am supposed to rest my leg as much as possible.
My garden is growing like crazy!!

The tomato plants have baby tomatoes everywhere!  I can't wait for fresh tomatoes.  I noticed spider mites on the beans (green beans, pintos and lima beans).  I sprayed them with an organic spray.  I hope to feel like checking on it later to see if it worked. When the bean leaves have a "suntan" look about them, look under the leaves and tiny little spider-looking bugs are there.  You can try blasting them with the water hose, but I couldn't stand on my leg that long, so I got out the organic spray.

 

Our wildflower area is also really beautiful right now!!  We get free seeds at our local Wildflower Festival each year.  My husband planted them last fall.  Come Spring, the flowers start coming up, and then we enjoy beautiful flowers all summer long!  Businesses give a variety of seed packages to those who visit the festival.  We open all the packages and mix them in a bowl, scatter the seeds, and wait to see what comes up!  So pretty, and attracts butterflys and hummingbirds to our back yard.

 

Speaking of butterflies, this little fellow is a Swallowtail Butterfly in the making!  I plant fennel each year just for the Swallowtails. It is fun to watch the catapiller grow each day - they eat a lot of leaves, but never move from the fennel plant until they go off to finish the process of turning into a beautiful butterfly!

 

I hope that everyone has a fabulous weekend!  We are looking forward to a pretty weekend here in the North Houston area.  I am looking forward to spending time with my husband, working in the garden a little, and doing plenty of crafting!

Anyone doing any crafting, or gardening this weekend??

Make it a great one!!

~ Joeby