laundry, Barbies, and hacksaws

Our washing machine is having issues. This is not acceptable, considering we are six,
and we get out and get dirty on a regular basis. The
good news is, we've always kept an extended warranty
on our washing machine, and even though it is now almost
10 years old, said warranty has WAY more than paid for
itself over a fairly short amount of time.

Anyway, we ("we" meaning my husband) were moving some
stuff out of the way for the washing machine man to
have better access upon his much anticipated arrival.

The laundry is right next to the art room.

DH: "You know, this bucket full of old Barbies
and hacksaws is a little disturbing."

Lesson: If you're easily disturbed, stay outta
my art room?

look what I get!

With everything going on, I'd kind of
forgotten about being the happy recipient
of a random act of kindness
from creative Therapy.

Look at that! Doesn't it make you wanna rub it in your
hair and stick it in your pocket? I finally had a chance
to take a look at their online store, and I'm tellin' you,
I was drooling all over the place--the stuff is just rich,
delicious, roll-in-it gorgeous. Go take a look--I like
this particular page of wonderfulness, entitled a Pocket Full Of
Whimsy.

Thank you, Ruby St. Designs, for the wonderful RAK!
I can't wait for it to be in my hot little hands!

talk about a wild ride . . .

Have you ever heard of Brief Psychosis Disorder? Me neither,
until about a week ago. If you'd like to know more about it,
I'll give you the recipe:

Get really stressed out about something. It doesn't
matter over what, but you have to be REALLY stressed.

Add not sleeping for a week or two,

Plus not eating correctly or enough,
(some people like this side effect--
losing 15 pounds in two weeks! I lost
7, and it wasn't even my BPD!)

And it equals=

A seriously messed up body chemistry and whacked out brain!

NOT good times.

Some women experience this after childbirth, which makes
sense, with the whole sleep deprivation thing.

Anyway, I'm thankful it is, indeed, BRIEF, and if you
had never heard of it, well, you can be thankful for
THAT!!

ugh, yikes, and bleah.

Christmas button angels (instead of fairies)

Here's a set of Christmas button angels made
with Altered Pages images.
I had fun adding some beads and embellishments.



Had to dig into my stash of vintage buttons, which is
always a good time. There's something very satisfying
about pawing through a big pile of shiny buttons!
These will make pretty little gifts, interesting ornaments,
or even some really nice gift tags. These two are my
favorites, but daughter likes these:



If you've never made a button fairy, and decide to do so,
be very, very careful--it is extremely addictive! There
are plenty of button fairies out there, but
Nancy has made some of my favorites, adding
flower petals to the wings. So pretty!

Yikes, I need to do the September Spread the
Love. Sorry, I'm definitely behind!!

what do you think about when you're tripping?

So, I was taking a little run (please bear in mind that
when I say "run," it actually means, "barely jogging")
around the Path we've kind of made up around our yard.
It's a pretty big yard, and no one can see me, and
that's a very good thing, especially when I'm out in
pink long john pjs and hiking boots.

Anyway, I tripped on a root, and for the whole maybe
2-3 seconds I was stumbling, arms flailing wildly,
attempting to regain balance, what was going through
my brain?

Was it, "Those rocks are going to break my jaw."

No.

Was it, "No one will miss me until they want food."

No.

It was, in fact,
"OH MY GOSH, I'm making JAZZ HANDS!"



Thanks a lot, Lola, for making me laugh even with the
imminent danger of having
rocks permanently embedded into my face!
(You should probably go visit Lola's post, if you care to
have clue what the heck is so funny . . . but I AM easily
amused! ;)

some more art therapy

The prompt at Creative Therapy last week was to
tell about a painful memory. You would think that in the
midst of mourning a death, that THAT would be it.

But you know, people die. We're all going to. It's what's
supposed to happen. It's when we do things we are NOT
supposed to do that things get ugly.

There's a folk tale, and it goes something like this:
There was a young woman traveling through
the woods, and as she was wading into the
river to swim across, a snake approached
her and asked to ride upon her shoulders
to the other side.

"No way! I know what you are--you will
bite me and I will die!"

"Now why would I do such a thing to you?
You've done me no harm, and if you give
me a ride across the river, you will have
done me a great service, and I will be a
friend to you and your family forever!"

So, despite her initial fears, and the
chittered warnings of the forest animals
around, her, the woman gave the snake a
ride across the river upon her shoulders.

As she reached the other side, the snake
bit her, and as she was dying, she asked
it "Why??"

The snake answered,
"You knew what I was. You knew my nature.
Don't act all surprised now."

The gem in the corner stands for all the good that
came from the bad--like, now I listen when that
little voice inside says "something isn't right,"
when my husband says, "something isn't right, and
when other people say, "something isn't right!"

Also, after you've been through something really
nasty, it should make you truly appreciate
every kindness, no matter how small--every smile,
every nice comment, even basic common courtesy--
wow, I honestly feel them all the way down to the
bottom of my toes! :)

just for fun . . . some silly Halloween atcs

Look, I'll just say it, it's been a really rotten
month. We all deal with things if different ways,
but
when I'm mad, I clean (and pray),
when I'm sad for someone else, I cook for them
(and pray), and
when I'm sad for me, I spend time in the art room
alone (and pray).

The other night I was home alone, albeit briefly,
and just started making silly things. I'd used
all three of these collage images before, but
put them in a different context, and they
make me laugh! They aren't fancy, just funny.



It's okay--YOU don't have to think they're
funny! But in case you do, they actually made
it into a kit at altered pages. The two collage
sheets aren't showing up below the sample
pic yet, but they're Cutie Pies
and Adorable.

Does that little girl not look like she's about
to lose her treats????

blog candy! Trick or Treat all over the web . . . (updated!)

Hey, and it's not just mine (you know, that
Spread the Love thing? Leave me a comment
any time during a month, within that month's
posts, and you're in for whatever is going
that month. This month is the sparkly.)

ANYWAY, oh my gosh, there are about a zillion
blog giveaways going on. I'm not even TRYING
to find them, they're just everywhere!

My favorite is with the birthday girl, the one
and only Collage Contessa.
She's having a party, and we're all invited!

Over at Stardust, Gems, and Ribbon, you'll find:
The prize includes…
A brand new ( still in sealed packet) Magnolia Tilda in
cherry dress stamp, 6×6 Papermania Naughty and Nice paper
pack, Papermania sparkly trims, brads, StarDust glitter,
paper tags and two sheets of bazzill cardstock.

My Little Card Blog has some goodies, too, as does Rosa, but
there's a challenge involved. Nothing
painful. But the deadline is Saturday.

And of course there is always the lovely
Inka--she's got some Gold this week. Now,
don't say you have nothing to do. Run along
and play . . . have a good time . . . make
good choices . . .

Okay, fine, I found another one, and it's for one
of my favorite books ever. Already own it, so
that will be one less person trying for it! ;)
Check it out at Sanna's art.

AND Rockin Robin!

conversations in my home & Halloween cat atcs

"Ugh. I really hate all the campaign commercials."

"You know, Mom, you really should just learn to enjoy them.
After all, they only come around every four years."

------------------------------------------

"Why are these dirty socks all over the hall?"

"Well, you know, it's our little code. I throw them off
the landing, and that's the sign I want you to wash them."

------------------------------------------



Cats in costumes atcs for swap.
My favorite is Mr. Bones.

vintage image atcs

Two of them went to Sarah in the UK, and the other
two to De in Australia. Now, if I had realized these
were going to travel, I probably wouldn't have
chosen the baseball card images, but maybe that's
a little exchange of my cultural heritage?



This Homerun baseball card atc uses a T-206 Ty Cobb image
from Altered Pages, and a 1916 Sporting News image, too.
(Neither are actual size, both are reduced.)



Imagine is an Altered Pages image with purple micro beads
and a little lace,




Spunky is another AP image, and you can't tell, but the
purple background is with twinkling H2Os, so it's all
iridescent and shiny. And, obviously, gold embossed
around the edges, using UTEE.




I really like the feathers in Bon Jour's hat--they came
from one of my mom's old hats that I used to play dress-up
with, and my daughter did, too. Now, the poor old thing
is pretty beat up (the hat,not my mom!), but the feathers
are still lovely. The corners are punched with the ticket
corner punch from Stampin' Up, which is another one of my
favorite atc touches, and her background is painted with the
twinkling H2Os, as well.

It's too bad the shiny doesn't show--those paints are amazing!