Halloween Ideas

Well I'm starting to think about things to make for Halloween already. I'm thinking of starting my spooky jars this year.

Here's a site I found that had a neat Dragon embryo:
http://www.curiousgood.com/?page_id=160

Here's a tutorial for making specimens:
http://www.miskatonic.net/pickman/mythos/bottle.htm
http://aranamuerta.com/2008/01/29/witches-kitchen

After looking at this book, I might just have to make some books as well.
http://www.miskatonic.net/pickman/mythos/france.html

Of course I really don't need anymore books in my house, LOL.

I'll keep looking.

Woodworking and stuff

Well I've been pretty busy. I need to post some pictures. I made 2 pairs of wrap pants for me and a ton of teacher appreciation gifts. I need to get pictures of the wrap pants still, but I got the fabric at MalWart in the $2.00/yard fabric section. So the pants only cost me $5.00/pair.

I've been reading alot lately too. If you haven't read The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward, you must read it. Its excellent. Its a paranormal romance series that is based on vampires as a seperate species. You must read it in order. She just released the 6th book in the series... Lover Enshrined. Other noteworthy books I've read lately are One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost, Midnight Rising by Laura Adrian, The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur, Vampire Interupted by Lynsay Sands, etc..... Yep I love books. Those are just some of the paperbooks I've read recently. I've also been reading some e-books.

Anyway I think I'm about ready to start some woodworking projects. I want to make a beanbag toss for the boys. I'm thinking about doing some woodburning on it, I might make it a skull and crossbones. I also want to make some chairs for outside. I've found some great patterns for some simple chairs:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Plank-Chair/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Folding-Shelves-From-Bunkbed-Ladders-and-other-Ins/
http://tech.cls.utk.edu/wood/projects/bogchair/bog_chair_mark_iii.htm
http://www.currentmiddleages.org/tents/chair4stargazer.pdf
http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/cached_files/27813_files/

I just need to go through them all and figure out what directions/dementions I like the best. I found a fabulous site for free woodworking patterns. http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/resources/index.php?cat=102

And since I'm sharing, LOL, check out this absolutely awesome shelving unit.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ten-Green---modular-shelving/
I wish I had known about it in college. I think they look way better than the old stand by of wood and cinder blocks. I like this other one too:
http://www.iamanangelchaser.com/products/booKrates/booKrates.html

I've been completely stuck on instructables lately. Its amazing what information you can find on that site. I love the steampunk crafts I've found. I might just have to do the boys room to mimic a steampunk-esque room. We'll see. Anyway, you'd think I'd have updated this before now since I've been on the computer alot lately, but I just forgot and got busy doing other things. I'll try to take some garden pic updates soon too.

Still gardening

I've been gardening my little heart out lately. I'll take pictures later of some of the things I've done. I've added more to the fairy garden, put in a small flower bed next to our garage, done some general clean up around the property, planted corn, started a new sidewalk/path, etc. I've also been reading. I haven't done many crafts lately. I've also been shopping alot lately, LOL. So I haven't been home (except when my little one was sick last week and was a snuggle bunny). Its starting to get really hot outside, so I'll be crafting more soon!!!

Indian girl Poppet

A friend of mine asked me to make a little Indian girl poppet for her neice. Her neice graduates from High School this year and her school mascot is the Indians. So here is what I came up with.









Here skin is a little washed out in the picture. Its actually darker and a little more yellow. I made the dress without a pattern. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Fairy Garden

I'm currently working on a fairy garden right in front of the house. Here's what I've got so far:



I made a mushroom circle out of ceramic mushrooms I found at a discount store. I've got hose guides in the front and a little frog prince. He watches over the bird bath. I tried to plant a lot of low growing ground covers. We will see how this works. I'm in love with it so far.




The butterfly's like it.



Here are a few update pics of the big garden.

Garden

In case you were wondering why the crafting has been going slow lately. Well I've been outside setting up a garden.



We have to garden in raised beds because our ground doesn't seem to drain. Plus we have alot of clay. Its just easier to garden in raised beds. Of course it back breaking work to fill the beds. But once you have them filled, its not so bad. We are working on the second dump of garden soil now. This is our kitchen garden. It will be filled with herbs and vegetables we use most in the kitchen.

Flower beds too






Check out my awesome birdbath:

I found it at Lowes.

The only way to plant mint, in pots, LOL:


Anyway, we still have 3 more garden beds to fill with soil and one flower bed.

The shoes done

Here are the shoes close up.





The pattern:

She's done!!! Introducing Sporty Poppet

I finally got the poppet made for my niece. She's really into sports so I wanted to make this special for her. I copied her school uniforms.

Soccer:


Close up of the shirt:


Volley Ball:


Skirt, Shirt and purse:






Face Close up:


Nekkid Shots:






The clothes all laid out:


I made 2 uniforms, one shirt, one skirt, a pair of shoes, socks and underwear and one purse. Ineed to tweek the shoes a bit. The grommets I used on it are not wanting to stay in the felt so I'm going to just sew around the holes. But basically she's done. I created all the patterns for her clothes. I had fun creating her.

My oldest son has requested one now. He's requested one with boy parts. So I'm hoping to start on that soon.

Books last week

I read a number of books last week. Easy to do when your kiddos are sick.

Paperback
The Undead Next Door - Kerrelyn Sparks - This is 4th book in her "Love at stake" series. I've enjoyed every book in this series so far. I reccommend it for a good read.

e-Book
Shards of the Mind - Theolyn Boese - This is book 2 in Ta'e'sha Chronicles - I love this series. Its a very emotional series. I can't wait til the next one comes out. Its nice to see the characters grow. The Ta'e'sha Chronicles are about a species of beings that are from another planet and can change into merpeople. You meet the captain and his family and their aquisition of a human mate. You can find it at Loose-id.
http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=670

I bought and read Camille Anthony's entire Werewulf Series. She also publishes at Loose-id.
http://www.loose-id.com/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=13
Multiracial and I guess multispecies I love a good werewolf story.

Its some good readin'

Crochet Chickens

I made Crochet Chickens for my youngest son's class for Easter.









They have plastic eggs inside them. My greatgrandmother made my brother and I some of these so I just had to make some of these for my kiddos. I made theirs 3 years ago and I use them every year.