My daughter and I are working together to make a Halloween House. I had seen one done on one of the online stamp suppliers and thought it would be fun to do. I ordered a couple of sets. They are cut out of wood and actually were made in Australia. We have only been able to get together once and in that session we did cover all sides with papers and then sanded down the paper edges.

Tomorrow we are getting together and hope to get a lot accomplished. I only have 2 weeks left before we leave for Fand it will probably take another 2 sessions to get it finished. They end up as a book that opens and you can then display it. I will show the couple of pics I took of just the paper covered pieces. will post on the weekend what we get done tomorrow. It is fun doing something with my daughter. She is more into the stamping and creative memory albums. She has been keeping them since the 3 boys were little. They will be nice for them someday or at least for their wives to look at.

PURSE AND POTS

Sounds like a funny title but it is what it is. I am making a bag as a donation for our Questers auction in Nov. I made a beaded cq one a few years ago and apparently it was a hit. I am never at the auction now as it is held an evening in Nov. when we are gone and the husbands are invited. One reason is they will bid more if they think it is something their wife wants. Method in our madness. I have to find a nice lining for this if I can't I have black dupioni silk I can use. I am also looking for a longer black fringe to go under the cream lace. I am not going to gussy it up too much as some would not like that. I will show you this again when I finally finish. What do you think about putting the doily on the back? Can't quite decide even though it is a particularly pretty one.

The pot part are two "down under" pots from Australia. I found the first clay one quite a few years ago and the blue one just this year. Brand new with a ticket still on it and I wonder if the person did not know what to do with it. You turn them upside down and fill with potting soil. Then you plant the impatiences or small begonias and let them sit for about a week or so until they have a chance to root in the soil. Then turn them over and water from the top and the flowers bloom from the bottom. I think they are nice to have something a little different.

BOOK FINISHED

I finished the book I was working on last week and it was a lot of fun for me. Change of pace. The ribbons are a little long but need trimming after I see how much they will curl with the heat gun which is at my daughters. Apparently the ribbon will curl
when you apply heat.

I based it on birds and butterflies. It is 7 pages joined together accordion style so there are actually 14 pages to decorate. I will show a few on here.

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Grandma (me) my 9 year old grandson and his cousin who also turned 9. It was our usual large family group and a couple of the older kids friends. Good time was had by all as usual.

GARAGE SALE

A couple of saturdays ago I stopped at a garage sale on the way home from water aerobics.I don't go out looking for them but if there is one on the streets I pass then I will sometime stop. This time I did and it was a young man who was clearing out his Mother and father's home that he is now living in. He had no idea on prices and every time I would pick something up and ask he would say just take it. Well I began to feel bad and told him he wasn't going to make any money if he kept giving everything away. Well we settled on me taking a carton and putting in all I wanted and then he said give me what you think it is worth. Well I did spy an old Royal typewriter like the one I had just found for my daughter and he had $5.00 on it. I grabbed it for myself but it needs a new ribbon and I have to order one or find one somewhere. They sell generic ones so may try one of those. Back to the box - the bottom was filled with new spools of 3" wide very nice Christmas ribbon and I proceeded to add a bunch to it. His Mother had dabbled in a lot of things and I bought 3-4 pair of good scissors including 2 pair of pinking shears. I have to go back and look at my pics because I can't remember what all I got. All the ribbon went to my daughter who can use it to decorate her home.
Well sorry folks I thought I had taken pics but I cannot seem to find them.

I did give him 25.00 for what was in the box and 5.00 for the typewriter. Maybe he made out better that way.

DOMINOES

I tried to take pictures of the dominoe necklaces I have been making but the finishing glaze makes it hard to photograph. This class was taken from Zinnia also. They were fun to do. Dominoes were found at the flea market and a house sale. One set has coca cola on the back and not sure if I took a pic of that. If not, will show more later.

The photos I used on this bunch were of Alice in Wonderland which we all had so much fun with in swaps and the gorgeous scene that Susan Elliott embroidered for DMC. I intend to make some with angels, Christmas, etc. I also have some mermaids, roses and old fashioned ladies to use. I bought the collage sheets that are made for domino size from a gal in NZ. What a wonderful world when we can place an order and pronto it is appearing on your computer from another country. There are also plenty on etsy.

MAKING A BOOK

I have been intrigued with doing some paper books, journals, etc. I do want to make a nice lace one with antique pictures of children but this time I started a paper book from a class with Zinnia of www.roses on my table.ning.com. This is the second class I have taken on line from her and am so pleased. She gives all the information you could possibly need via videos and verbal text and her classes are so inexpensive.

The first class was using dominoes to make necklaces, etc. and I will show you them in the next day or two when I get more finished.

This book is assembled so it will unfold like an accordion and will look nice on a mantle or table, etc.It is only 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 but looks larger when finished.

I have a few more pages I am working on and other then the cover these are not all fully embellished yet.

I have added a flower and corners to the front page and then various things inside. Basically the theme of this book is butterflies and pictures of children and gals with butterflies. I will show you more as I go along and then the finished book. I have enjoyed this so much. I think I just needed a break from CQ.

I added corners to the front page as you can see in the top (sideways) pic and on all the pages I used Tim Holtz's tape with sayings. The golden butterfly page I just added tape and I will add some ribbon but not too much as it is very busy as is. The other pic of the cover is before I added the gold corners. I am going to put them on the corners of the front and back covers only.

I will keep you posted as I go along.

KNITTING TIME AGAIN

I am back to knitting scarves again for the Special Olympic Game participants in 2012.
This year the color is a cherry red and bright navy. I only watch tv for 2 hours or so a night and this is when I knit or if I was travelling in the car like when we go to Florida I will knit. Last year I did not hear about this project until early Jan. and I knit until it was time to send them. IL had fulfilled their quota but MN needed many more so I packed them up and sent them to MN.

I am on #10 now and hope to use up all the wool I bought before Florida and will pack up what I have done and mail them off. When in Florida I will buy more yarn and knit again until the end of Jan.

If anyone who reads this likes to knit you can just go to Google and put in special Olympic scarf and it will give you all the info plus patterns. I really liked the rib pattern I did last year for some of the older guys and am doing it again this year. You can also crochet any pattern you like as long as you use the 2 colors specified and the size should be approx. 6" wide and 54 - 60" in length. It is for a wonderful cause.