Look out Thanksgiving.. here I come!!

Here I am blogging again already.. part of it is due to the fact that we took this week off homeschool.. I needed a break and I am pretty sure the kids did too.. so I have been reading a bunch and doing some creating.. this week I have been redoing my decor to match the Thanksgiving holiday coming up.. lots of pumpkins .. lots and lots.. you saw the ones in the last post.. this time I took a Wee Folk Art applique pattern and made myself a pillow:

It has been so nice to make MYSELF a few things.. normally I am racing around completing swaps or Christmas gifts.. but with my decision to make baked goods as gifts this year- it leaves more time for creating just for creating's sake.. which has been much needed.. (although it does give me great joy to make things for others)..

I got myself some more Thanksgiving decorations from the store also:

I have prepared a couple things to stitch up too:

This for my Thanksgiving decor -

I really feel some cross stitch coming on.. haven't done any in a while.. and I have one more Fallen Soldier memorial to make..

I have been feeling a bit lazy this week.. we have a fall fellowship we are invited to as well as a movie tomorrow.. but the way I feel I doubt we will make it.. it's been a crazy week with field trips, piano practice, trying to clean my whole house including a mountain of laundry.. now it's time to rest.......

Much love and God bless!

One little, two little, three little .. pumpkins!

Yep.. pumpkins.. now that Halloween is over (and all the decorations taken down) I am getting into Thanksgiving mode.. and therefore the pumpkins are taking over.. since they are my favorite fall decor.. I decided to make some no sew pumpkins with some great tutes I found online (just google "easy fabric pumpkin".. the big ones were made with a toilet paper roll that has layers of grocery bags wrapped around it.. and then that is sat in the middle of a fat quarter and all the edges tucked into the opening of the paper roll.. then I got a stick out of my yard.. put glue on it and stuck in the hole as well.. I cut out a few leaves free hand.. and wah-lah!!

Here's my progress on that upcycled shirt cuff bracelet... it's going to take a while to fill it in.. and may end up being something that I work on off and on to not get burned out on it.. here it is:

That's about all I have to show as far as crafts go.. I have been doing a lot of reading lately.. one of those .. I've been reading a lot of true crime and memoir stuff.. so I am going off that pattern and reading something I have been wanting to read for a while.. I have seen the movie and liked it so much I felt it only right to read the book to.. so now I am reading:

Complicated mother and daughter relationships.. I know ALL about that.. high expectations our mothers have.. resenting them for it - yet always trying to still do that thing that we think will FINALLY give us the approval we seek.. It should be a good read .. if this pitiful library copy doesn't fall apart first.. I also checked out the audio version of Amy Tan's book "The Bonesetter's Daughter"..

This week is home ec week.. lots of cleaning and getting our house in order.. Im getting there.. only left with a little washing to do.. I will also be working on more fall decorations that I will share as I create them..

Much love and God bless...

P.S. If you would like to see all our halloween pictures and decorations.. follow this link:

Click here for my halloween pics

Halloween is nearly here!!

I've really been getting into my halloween decorations.. it's so strange because never in my adult life have I ever decorated for halloween.. not because of some "religious" conviction - I just never did.. I have always been a diehard Christmas decorator though.. I now have some friends who enjoy Halloween as their favorite holiday and have inspired me into the Halloweenie Spirit :-) I have already showed some of our meager decorations.. here are a few more:

This is my personally painted pumpkin.. it was so fun to do.. and harder than I thought it would be.. pumpkins aren't exactly a smooth surface... after finding some hair pieces of Jas' that we used for braids and fake ponytails - I came up with the girl I have named Coquette McPumpkin.. I told her she could wear my favorite pink cowgirl hat just until this weekend :-) The boys say she looks like me.. I dont see it:

These are some decorations the kids made and I put up.. they did quite well:

And this is a haunted cookie house we will decorate tomorrow - got this from walmart:

Here are some decorations to the front of the house.. I would've done more, but its so close to halloween now - it hardly seems worth it... perhaps next year.. I already have some ideas:

I also finally got around to making Harli her halloween scarf. I had some extra letters leftover from goodie bags I made the kids and added that to her scarf.. I think she looks quite fetching (no pun intended):

I can show a piece I finished off for a gift b/c I believe the recipient has gotten it already.. this is a piece of my husband's old shirt I upcycled.. I used a Sublime Stitching pattern.. embroidered.. painted the background.. and put in a mini shadow box.. I hope she liked it:

I am also using another part of that shirt on another experimental project.. this is the cuff of the same shirt that I doodled a design on and now I am filling in that design with embroidery- and will eventually add some beading.. I think it may actually work.. I intend for this to be one of my mom's Christmas gifts.. it's very easy to pack around as there's not much to pack.. I keep it in my smallest rubbermaid container and it even fits in my purse.. mostly I am using chain stitch and long and short stitch to fill in the spaces:

We have lots of fun things planned for this week... tomorrow we decorate the haunted cookie house.. Friday will be our big party.. with cupcakes.. spooky lunch foods.. games.. movies and fun.. we might even have a dance party with halloween music.. I see that rain is in the plans for Friday and maybe Saturday -so I hope we will get at least a little trick-or-treating in.. they would be very disappointed if we didnt.. we shall see..

Until next time, much love and God bless.

Look at me blogging again so soon!!

LOL .. Im baaaaaack!! It's amazing what I have time for when I take a break from swaps.. don't get me wrong - they are fun, but when you get over-zealous.. as I tend to do.. you get burned out..so it has been a real joy to get to some things I WANTED to do.. some just for fun.. some for family members.. as you have seen in my last post.. this week has been totally about what MOMMA wanted to do.. so I have been stitching.. it seems the cold weather affects what I want to create.. and in the colder months I tend to do more stitching.. The crayon tinted linens have been really appealing to me.. especially those of the non-traditional sort..so here is a goth version of the girl shown in my last post.. my friend Jody inspired me to change her up a bit..she is in black and complete with tattoos:

Next I did a badbird pattern I had been admiring.. badbird is a really talented artist with some great patterns - free and for a charge.. they are well worth it.. you wont find anything like the on the net.. This is pumpkin girl.. isn't she cute!! I did satin stitching on her stockings, bat on her shirt, and her eyes:

I have more stitching in the works.... be on the lookout..

I also got a request to see my sparse halloween decorations.. I still have some that we are making that is yet to be put up..this is my first year to decorate, so I don't have much.. but here it is:

In the above picture you can see some swap goodies I received (minus my black tree).. aren't they great!! I love them.. here are a couple more swap goodies that I treasure:

This was a pinkeep made by Jeanne.. she knew I loved pumpkins.. and it fits so nicely in my rustic/country decor.. I really love it.. and it's my first "makedo" ..it's really good for any time of year:

And this is an awesome sock monkey I got from Cherie Warhol in a private swap on swap bot.. she even sent a tray of cupcakes.. Cherie really pays a lot of attention to detail:

I also got this lovely RAK from a friend (fleasha)I met on swapbot.. this was so sweet of her and so unexpected. She knew I was bummed about being stiffed on some swaps on swapbot.. and how I admired her button stash:

I started my piano lessons this week.. it is so fun... I have to go today and get my books and my keyboard to practice on.. I might even do a video clip someday soon so I can show off my talents.. lol..

Until next time.. much love and God bless.

Facebook or blogger?

Well, I can't believe I haven't blogged at all in the month of October.. with all the facebooking I am doing.. I can't say that I am totally suprised that much time has passed.. all the things that I take time to thoughtfully blog here - end up as random status messages throughout the day on facebook.. in addition to family pictures and crafty pictures being posted.. the only drawback to moving in that direction is that my friends that dont use facebook couldn't see.. and I dont particularly care for that.. but with the infrequency that I have been blogging - I think my viewership has dropped dramatically. I will continue to blog - for now at least..

I have a few things to show and share.. first of all..

my boys are doing amazingly well with underwear.. we have the occassional accident.. and I have to remind them regularly to use the potty.. They are starting to look so much like little boys and less like babies.. I remember these days:

And now look at them.. big boy britches and all:

*sigh* On one hand you are so proud of them growing up.. and on the other hand it's so sad.. they are my last babies.. and this is the last time I will experience these times with my own children.. it's freedom and loss all rolled up together.. I think that never is their growing up so quick when you know they are the last babies you will have..

So this sad momma has turned to her pooch for babying.. and I have lost it.. officially .. now she has a wardrobe of her own.. this is one of her dresses.. and I love her facial expression in this one:

Also, as my mom's furry grandchild.. she gets spoiled too.. she found a cozy place to nap behind Nana who was also napping:

Also, I want to talk about blessings.. so often we thank God for blessings like cash, job opportunities, etc.. and they are blessings.. but we forget blessings that might not necessarily register in our minds as blessings at first..like hand-me-downs.. fortunately - I am not one of those people. We homeschoolers seems to have a tendancy to recycle our stash of books and educational tools, and dont mind having second-hand toys and clothes. I thank the Lord my kids feel the same way.. so when I bring home a bag of second hand toys it's like Christmas all over again.. you just know it doesn't even cross their mind about it being previously used before, or that it is less fun or exciting.. they all gather around as I take the treasures out of the bag and keep asking excitiedly "Is that for ME momma?" Lately I have been blessed multiple times.. with lots and lots of books, clothes, decorations for the kids rooms, etc. Especially exciting was a couple of Crayola Trace Sets we got.. these things light up and have several cartridges and pictures they can trace.. it was so obviously the hand of God.. it was given to me by someone who does NOT have twins.. but there were TWO of them.. God knows my boys, and knows if it was just one- there would always be a fight as to who would use it.. and we are practicing with their drawing and writing.. and this is a fun way for them to practice that .. look at them hard at work (and YES, I have one righty and one lefty):

Also, my nephew was born this week to my youngest BIL and his wife.. this is the newest Prudhomme: Isaiah Daniel.. ain't he handsome!!

Moving right along.. I have made a few things since my last post.. and here they are:

Strangely I have been in the mood to stitch, which I feared would never return.. and here is a Sublime Stitching pattern that I did.. sorta like an old school tattoo.. I am working on a gothic version of this one:

Also for my new nephew - I made these (I still have a blanket, bibs, and burp cloth to make):

I made these trick-or-treat bags for my kiddos.. I could've purchased some cheaper than what it cost me to make them - but having all my swaps done and nothing to make for selling - I wanted to do something special for them.. I like how they turned out:

I did make some more of my misfit dolls.. they keep getting better.. this has to be my favorite batch:

Here's the shadow box I sent out in Viv's Halloween swap.. I really like how this turned out.. it's my first one I have ever done.. unfortunately I haven't heard if my partner has received it or not - I sent it to Australia:

Last but not least.. I had a private swap for a sock monkey.. my partner wanted Andy Warhol.. so here's my version.. I made the clothes - and I am sooo not a clothes maker for dolls - especially if I have no pattern.. his clothes are made from an old wool blazer my mom was giving away.. so here's what I came up with:

Well that's about it for now.. I have a ton of books in my arsenal including Gregory Macguire's "Wicked" and the Mackenzie Phillips memoir "High on Arrival".. plus lots more.. I am going to pick one and take it to bed..

Until next time (and hopefully it wont be so long), much love and God bless.