Halloween Ornaments

This past week while I was visiting my sis in Oregon, I took some time out in the evenings and on Saturday to craft some more decorations for my Halloween tree. 

One of my favorites was this simple music paper rosette with a glittery witch glued to the front. 

The rosette is about 6 in. in diameter. I trimmed my 3.5" strips of music paper with my jumbo scallop scissors (a $ store find, the best buck I ever spent at Dollar Tree) and pleated the paper at every scallop. The silver glitter circle was cut from glitter paper with my new pennant die from Stampin' Up. The glittery witch came from MS crafts at Halloween last year. Why didn't I buy TWO packages?

My ghost is an old Making Memories chipboard shape I have had for years. The "paper" is real birch bark I found on the ground at my sis's house, from birch logs she got when someone cut down their beautiful birch trees! More black sparkly glitter paper is glued on the back for his eyes and mouth.

My little "boo" owl is punched from Stampin" Up punch and he sits on an orange paper rosette made from a new Tim Holtz Sizzix die. It makes two sizes and makes making "rosettes" a snap! The black circle is from my new package of sewing pins. Too cool to toss, so it was saved and re purposed into this fun ornament. I even added a MM Halloween pin. 

 The new tree topper for my Halloween tree this year will be this paper mache hat form I covered with old book paper and stained with a "black wash". 

I made some roses from black crepe paper to trim the hat, along with my glitter polka dot ribbon from Michael"s. To get the ribbon to lie flat to the brim, I pulled the top ribbon wire until it gathered to fit the hat brim. A little black bird and a big bow top it off!

My last ornaments are from a design I saw at Vintageimagecraft and is a free download and tutorial. 

They are too cute.  

I need to find an online source for the "bumpy" chenille as I can only find it locally at JoAnn's and you have to buy a pack with 10 different colors. And since you need 2 stems per color, you need to buy 2 packages. Good thing I plan to make some Santa's at Christmas to use the red and green. 

I hope to put up my "Halloween Tree" tomorrow and add all the new ornaments I made and decorate the rest of my house. Why did the weather have to hit the upper 90's this week? It does not feel like fall! May be my fall decorations will cool us off? 

Girls road trip

This past week I headed up to Oregon to visit my sister in Sam's Valley and a girls road trip to Portland. 

I drove up to Lou's on Sunday,  and we headed up to Portland on Monday. We had no set plans so we could stop when ever we wanted. Being a Monday, many of the antique and vintage shops were closed, but we found a few in Aurora and I found a couple of treasures. 

Our first stop in Portland was Fabric Depot a huge fabric store. We only have JoAnn's here in Sonoma county. I found several fabrics for some upcoming projects and gifts I want to make. 

Our next stop was Powells Books. It is a huge store and you can get lost in there for hours and we did!

After a quick dinner we looked for a hotel downtown, but all were full. We found a room by the airport and Ikea, and since that would be our next stop we stayed there. 

In the morning after breakfast at IHOP, we hit IKEA. I was looking for a cabinet or bookcase to hold my scrapbooks. I found one, with glass doors that will hold them perfectly and protect them from dust. Now I just have to build it!

Our next stop was Edgefield. An old county poor farm turned into a pub, hotel and gardens and much more. 

The herb garden was full of late summer blooms and very pretty.

We stopped in Gresham, Troutdale and several other spots and then headed home to Lou's. 

On Wednesday I went with my sister to the Antelope Social Club pot luck luncheon. 

Some of the ladies have been meeting for over 40 years!

After the luncheon we stopped at a few stores in Shady Cove. One store, Shady Kate's has this tree outside filled with ties. 

After we stopped in Eagle Point at the Butte Creek Mill where the water driven mill has been grinding grains for over 130 years. I remember visiting this mill for years on my trips to Oregon. 

 On Thursday Lou, her friend Aleta and I headed up to Grants Pass for lunch at Taprock. It is right on the Rogue River, a beautiful view!

After we ate we headed across the street to ShopRiverRock.  A nice day out!

Anybody lose their keys? 

On Saturday, Lou's friends Aleta and Ida came over to craft and learn some new paper crafting ideas. 

I had brought some supplies with me to craft some Halloween ornaments for my Halloween tree. I will post those when I put up my tree and Halloween decorations. 

Sunday I headed home with my loaded truck and memories of a fun week. 

Free Time??

This is day four of my unplanned extended vacation.

(I don't count the weekends, I usually had Saturday and Sunday off).

I thought I would get so much done!! Who was I kidding??

I have only accomplished one item on the list in my head I had made for my time off.

On Monday, I got up at the usual time and took my son downtown to the school bus stop. We have been doing this since school started, as it was on my way to work anyway. Well, on Monday, we did the same, but instead of me rushing into the Union Hotel Cafe for my coffee and rushing out the door after a quick chat with Melanie and the early morning gang, I had the time to sit at the counter, enjoy my coffee and pastry and just relax and visit for a while.

It was so nice and my first official check off of the list that I had planned.

But since that morning I seem to have not gotten much else done. I did some cleaning, some laundry, some cooking and reading. I have gone to town two days in a row, and since we are out here in the country, that is a big time stealer. Both were planned trips, but still seem to have eaten up most of the days!!

Yesterday I go to go to our local radio station KZST and participate in their "Listener Advisory Committee". I could tell them what I thought about the station, which was almost all good, as they are "local" and really support the community. Whether they never play my least favorite song again, there is no guarantee, but I could at least put in my two cents!

Today was an appointment with my hubby and Costco! Always an expensive adventure. We did take time to stop at one of my new favorites for lunch Chloe's French Cafe

I have done a big photo print order for an upcoming scrapping retreat, and a Stampin' Up order, as the end of the quarter is near and I have to reach my quota!  (Whoo hoo!, the big brown truck just arrived).

But I did get some sewing done :)

I made some new pillows for my couch. I was time to take off the slip cover and wash it, so I decided to make the pillows I had been planning.

The pillow on the left is linen, and I ironed on this graphic I combined from two images from  The Graphics Fairy She is a great source for free digital images! I have another pillow in mind and hope
to post how easy it is!

For the red ticking pillow I used napkin I bought at Kmart, with the little red rooster embroidered on the corner. I added the stitching on the right side to balance the red stripe on the left.

The big orange flower is part of my bigger sewing project I will work on when I return from visiting mt sister in Oregon next week.  

 

The orange linen I used was really stiff so my flower did not turn out as I had hoped. But is still fun, so I will keep it! It was practice, so I may make another and post a tutorial.

Hopefully after I return from my sisters I will be much more productive and post some fun holiday items I want to make.

Thanks for looking!

Berta

10 years later

09/11/01-09/11/11



I remember this day so well, as everyone else does, as it changed our lives forever.
Even if we did not know someone in the Twin towers, the Pentagon, or a farm field in Pennsylvania, it has affected our lives. It started as just a regular work day for me. Before I left for work here in CA, the news events were just coming in on the TV. I heard more and more as I drove the 40 min. to work. Each report worst than the one before.
The shock and dis-belief was apparent to everyone.

How could this happen?

Why would someone do this?

The sadness of all the lives lost, the pain of all the families and friends who lost loved ones
and were left behind to carry on with out their fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, sisters, brothers or friends and co-workers.

But despite the tragedy, we as a country united, just as a family would unite.
You hurt one of us, you hurt all of us.

I am so thankful for those who stepped up that day to do their duty, who rushed into burning buildings as others rushed out. Who helped their neighbor, their co-worker, the total stranger on the street.

It showed the true spirit of our nation.

My only wish is.....
that unity, that cooperation would extend always,
beyond politics, beliefs, disagreements to make this truly
the greatest nation on earth.

Changes

Today, Tuesday, is the first day of my last week of work at my current job.
I am not changing my job by choice, my job is changing me.
For the first time in my work life I will be unemployed. I will not have a reason to hit my snooze alarm 2 or 3 times and drag myself out of bed. Get ready for work and drive the 40 minutes to get there.

But I am not sad. I have known this was coming for a while now and I am thankful I have had time to plan and think about my future, many others have not been so lucky.
But what will my future hold?
I do not know.
Go back to school? Look for work in an entirely different job? Who knows?
I am thinking of taking a break and exploring what my future may be.

Change can be scary. Change can be exciting. Change is inevitable.
What we do about the change is what affects us most.