Christmas Cards

I took some pictures of the Christmas Cards I hand made this year. I had particular fun with the silver paper and snow flake stamps. I used sliver and black ink. I wanted the cards to look elegant, yet simple and also let those who received them how much we care about them during this holiday season. I also didn't want the card to be too wordy. I like saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "holiday" wishes; however I had to make a choice on lettering size and decided to go with "holiday" this year for spacing issues. I tied the cards together with twine, which I think always adds an "old world" feel to any card. I got my stamps at Michael's Arts and Crafts store.


The outside:



The inside:

New Blinds: December 2009

My latest project has been putting up some bamboo roll up blinds into my son's room. He used to have vinyl blinds, but he had unwound it so many times the spring broke. I didn't really want to replace it with another blind that could break again. I wanted something different. The Bamboo filters the light and they are not completely private, so I got a privacy Roman cloth shade to cover the outside of the bamboo. This filters the light even more. I kept the blue curtains and curtain rod to add some style. I think it turned out pretty good and filters the light just enough for nap time. At night we close the curtains too for even more privacy. The blinds roll up really easy and we put the tie chords really high up on the wall so that my son will not be able to reach the chords until he is much older. This is an important safety feature to include if you have roll up blinds and children. Below is a picture of the finished product.



UPDATE: The Roman privacy cloth that is supposed to attach to the blinds did not work out. I would not recommend these at all. I taped them up many and finally took them off the blinds. They are attached to the bamboo with heavy duty sticky tape, but it just wasn't enough to hold things in place. I got rid of the floor length light blue curtains and picked up some short dark navy blue curtans with tab tops. These really block the light much better and my son can sleep in later then the crack of dawn and actually take naps in the room when the curtans are drawn. I like this set up much better. During the day I draw the cutains back, and roll up the bamboo shade about 1/2 up the window. This lets plenty of light into the room. I'll try to update this picture sometime.

Halloween Night and all the Delights.

We really enjoy the Fall time, even here in the Southwest. We don't really have a changing of the leaves, but the temperatures usually cool down at night, which is just lovely after a hot and dusty summer. Now if only we could get some rain. Another thing I like about the Fall is the holidays. Halloween is such a fun time and gives you the oportunity to decorate your house in unusual things. Here are some of the fun and unique things we enjoy having around this time of year.

Orange and black couch covers. Is that an eyeball sitting there? I also see a few dog toys there which are not a part of the decore.


Black throws with happy skelletons cover my living room chair while an end table with crystal ball glows an erie blue .


Spooky Village/ left side.


Spooky Village / right side.

One thing I really missed this year was a carmel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Our nearest one closed down right before October. I think they have the best carmel apples in the world.

I also missed eating a slice of one of D.L. White's amazing Halloween cakes.

We also usually watch the Nightmare Before Christmas on Halloween night after trick or treating, but this year I had to work and missed seeing the show. Every year is different!

This year trick or treating was a great success and passing out candy at our door was fun. We carved two pumpkins, and ate too much candy. All in all a great time.


The smiley pumpkin. Isn't he cute? I designed his face myself. My 3 year old tried to help me carve the pumpkin with a butter knife.


The Moon Pumpkin. This was my husband's design. I wish I had thought of it. I really liked it was simple, but beautiful.

Halloween 2009

Hallween isn't the same without some home made treats. I wish I had time for carmel apples, but I made some home made cup cakes instead. These were baked with unbleached wheat flour and vanila butter cream frosting, colored in a light tinted orange. I also added some Halloween sprinkles to give them a bit of variety to each cup cake. I think they turned out well.


Halloween isn't complete without a really big candy dish.


You must have candy corn!


This is part of our spooky village that we put up each year. This year my 3 year old was big enough to help and he did all the "fallen" leaves around the black trees. This is our "Haunted Tower Tours" is next to the grave yard. I wasn't able to include all the village buildings, but here are three of them. Each building lights up, or in this case the gargoyle flies around the top of the tower counter clock wise.


The House of Oddities. It seems like some of the moster's might actually escape...lets hope not.



The Gave Yard with spooky purple lights in the mausoleum. I think we may have an infestation of vampires living in there.

Birthday Card: steampunk

There is something special about making, receiving or giving a hand made card.

Below is an example of a hand made card I created. I did this card in "steampunk" style for my friend, D. L. White's birthday. I tried to include some steampunk elements like cogs and old fashioned type-writer keys, along with hand made paper, twine, and ink stamps. It was a blast creating this card for my friend.

The outside cover:



The inside:

First watercolor.

My son and I have been spending time doing some fun watercolor painting and this is his first creation. He had fun trying out the different colors on his pallet and playing with the water and brushes.



In this post is also my second attempt at my "Crazy Cricket" painting. I like how the shading on the big mushroom house came out, but the background blue just isn't as vivid as my first attempt. In this picture the cricket is actually playing his guitar.

What the heck is Steampunk?

(Mod computer case that looks like it came out of the 1800's by Jake Von Slatt)

Recently I have become interested in "steampunk". What is "steampunk" you ask? Well, it's a sub genre of fantasy from the 1980's where steam power was used in the 18th and 19th century. It's a combination of modern technology and Victorian design. It's the way some people wish the past was. What if the world was powered by steam in modern times? It is inspired by things like Disney's "2000 Leagues Under the Sea," and TV shows like "Wild Wild West" and "Firefly."




This is Captin Nemo's quarters inside his ship, the Nautilus.


The Nautilus:


Followers of "Steampunk" like the idea of making new things out of old. One of the leaders of this movement is Jake Von Slatt, who made his bus into a steampunk camper. It is complete with a homemade gas lamp over the dining room table and custom woodworking and staircase banister inside:

Watch video about bus camper

Watch video of Jake Von Slatt introduction to "steampunk".

There are many fantasy books involved in this genre, and those include: "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," "The Eyre Affair," "The Coral Thief," and "The Affinity Bridge." These are but a few of the items on the top of my reading list right now.

On the video game front, there is the new, "Epic Mickey" which is a game played in a Dystopian Disneyword and the concept art is eye popping.


I especially love the zombie goofie:



Here you can see the Mickey ears and Epcot Center sphere:



What a fun movement! This is an example of a steampunk Victorian bustle dress. Now all it needs is some goggles, a parasol, and telescope.




Example of a steampunk couple in full over the top costume at an event:



If you have a chance, visit D. L. White's blog because she has a really nice post written there "of clockworks, cosets and iron horses". I highly recommend reading her blog. She is a fantastic writer.