DIY Autumn

I've been craft crazy this week, all in the spirit of Autumn! Here is my new wreath, all oranges and yellows, hanging proudly on the door:

And a leafy felt draping, inspired by A Beautiful Mess, which adds a little colour to our hallway:

My big project, though, was more of a restoration than a creation.

Last weekend, a 3 foot wooden witch came to live with us. She used to be Justin's Grandma's, then his Mom's, and now she's ours!

She arrived in a trash bag, in several pieces, looking like this:

Her head had come loose, revealing about fifty years of lumps of dried hot glue! Her straw was a bit ratty, her hair was wild and had glue stuck in it, too. But Bella and I believed she could be beautiful again!

First, we gave her a hair cut, and scraped as much of the glue off her neck, chin and arms as we could.

(Bella is sad because I wouldn't let her eat the straw or the lumps of glue)

Then, we gave her a nice new layer of glue, fixing her head back on and sticking her broomstick together.

The glue was still pretty obvious in the space between her head and body, though, and her arms had goops of straw-glue that I couldn't budge. So... I gave her a dapper little batik bow tie, and a rather fetching brown felt cape, with a little pink button!

Now, she looks very sweet in front of the fireplace! I'm going to call her Mildred.

Yay for family antiques! Yay for hot glue! Yay for felt in all its forms!

xo

Things I Hate Monday

"Wait... hate?" you ask. "What happened to heart?"

Well, this week, I thought I'd share some things I naturally don't like, and a couple of ways to turn them into fun, good things!

1. Laundry. Doesn't this look familiar?

Solution 1:

Get this laundry lamp, so even if you can't be bothered to put the clothes away, it'll look like you meant to leave them out.

(Yes, even your racy undies, apparently!)

Solution 2:

Keep a stash of treats on the washing machine which you only get to eat if you do a load of laundry.

2. Ironing. Yes, one shirt isn't so bad, but I put it off and put it off until monster towers form.

Solution 1:

Round up some friends, buy rainbow-coloured Spandex suits, and iron on the go.

(I call the red one!)

Solution 2:

Download the New Yorker podcasts from iTunes (free!) and listen to a story while you iron.

It's like nap time... but things get done!

3. Sick people. Yep, Justin's been down with the flu this week, and it can be less than lovely.

sniffle sniffle

cough

ahhhh-choo

snifffffffle

Solution 1:

Wear a flu mask around the house, and decorate it like this stylish chappy in Mexico.

Solution 2:

Make him hot honey and lemon drinks, and since they're so yummy, make one for yourself, too!

Have a nice Monday!

x0

Tag!

The lovely folks over at Podgehodge tagged me for a photo post, so I counted through my folders and my tenth photo is...

It's me, years and years ago, hiking the Great Wall with my Mum (who's behind the camera!).

We'd heard about this fun 'off the beaten' track hike, which was supposed to take us to a lovely little village a few miles away. However, after a few hours, we reached a fence with a sign on it saying 'Military Training Zone: Danger!' and couldn't go any further.

Turns out, we got a bit mixed up, and started hiking where we supposed to end! It was still a lovely day out... and we really did have the trail all to ourselves!

And now I'm tagging:

Mike and Linda over at Station1528

and

MentalMulch and her cute cute doggies

I'd love to see your photos!

All you do is:

1. Open your first photo folder.

2. Scroll to the 10th photo.

3. Post the photo on your blog and tell the story behind it.

4. Tag people to do the same.

Danish Inspiration

I've been going through my photos from Denmark this summer, and found some shots that really inspired me. It's funny what stood out to me: rusty metal, peeling paint, and of course, anything red!

Roof tiles on an old house

The side of an old boat

Little red house with flowers

Little cottage window

I'm feeling a painting phase coming... with plenty of browns, oranges and reds. Watch this space!

Best of the Red: Supplies

Could there be a better time to make things yourself? Autumn is a season of such pretty colours, and the long, rainy evenings are the perfect excuse to start that craft project!

For the Sewer:

Little Bird and Flower Pattern Japanese Fabric by karaku, $8

For the Knitter/Hooker:

Strawberry Rhubarb Hand-Dyed Worsted Wool by Sanguinaria, $9

For the Scrapper:

Red Striped Tree Free Handmade Paper by QualityCraftSupplies, $5

For the Lover of All Things Cute:

Teeny Red Houses Cotton Tape by lillalotta, $4.25

Happy Crafting!

xo

P.S. We had a great weekend away, and loved the water park. It wasn't too too cold at all. Hope you all had some adventures too!

P.P.S. Thanks to fuelmyblog.com for making me their 'Blog of the Day' today! Welcome to any new visitors :)

Featured!

How lovely to find little Betsy in this colourful bunch, courtesy of Scoutie Girl!

All the items were selected from Etsy because the artists live in Tucson, Arizona... (ummmm, oops!) ....I guess I forgot to update my location when we moved!

I'm loving those pretty wallets... great colour choices!

We're off to San Antonio in an hour or so for a weekend of fun with family and friends, including a trip to a water park called Schlitterbon.

I'm preparing myself to be very cold tomorrow.

Have a nice weekend!

xo

A Little Bit of Nothing

I'm reading a SARK book and feeling colourful.

I'm drinking my third cup of hot chocolate (today).

I went for a walk and saw a man in his front yard trying to untangle a fishing line from a tree!

I'm pulling on my pink pink felty furry slippers and putting my feet up.

These are good things.

P.S. If you don't know SARK, click here!

Things I Heart Wednesday

I'm sort of loving these red red doggie rainboots... but don't they look like they're just made out of cut up juggling balls?

Bella would have these off (and chewed to pieces) in about three seconds flat!

I've been making a lot of soup for lunch lately, and the best is definitely cabbage soup, made from my friend Loreal's recipe, with chicken and sausage.

Yes, even my husband, the Texan, likes it!

He says the cabbage soaks up all the chicken flavour... so it doesn't really count as cabbage!

Pair it with buttery white bread... mmmm.

And, I'm enjoying the work of Sebastian Schonheit, a funky designer who takes knitting to the next level! Those needles must be, what, six feet long?

Nap time!

Happy happy happy

xo

Best of the Red: Buttons

This week, the buttons have it! I've been wowed by all the fun and fashionable uses for a nice big bright red button.

The "You Don't Want to Be Hit in the Face By Me" Button

Vintage Red Striped Button Ring by flapperfashions, $5

The "Why Stop At One?" Button

Knot Hat in Burgundy by RetroReproHandmade, $59

The "Buttons Just Want to Have Fun" Button

Red Upcycled Button Hairclip by thefeatheredelephant, $18

The "You Don't Actually Get the Button But It's So Cute I Had to Feature It" Button

Handmade Paper Hearts by thepaperbutton, $3

Yay for buttons!

Yay for it finally getting cold enough I can wear some things with buttons!

(I love cold)

In fact, I might go for a walk with Bella right now so I've got an excuse to get cozy in a jumper and some fingerless glovies!

Hope you're all having a good week! xo

Off the Needles

Funky chunky fingerless mittens! Knit very simply as a long, straight rectangle, and then sewn up to make them round, leaving a hole for the thumb. These are so much fun to make, especially with stripes and bright colours!

(Monkey proves that he can pat his head and rub his tummy while wearing mittens that really don't fit him all that well!)

What a Weekend

Wow, did I need that weekend! Starting a new job is very exciting, but I sure got tired fast, and so we had a lovely relaxing Saturday and Sunday.

And what's more relaxing that sitting beside a peaceful lake, doggie and husband at your side? We took the fishing rods out there, and caught a few ('small') catfish. It was great!

Bella enjoyed getting to sniff the fishies before we threw them back.

How pretty! You can't really see it in the photo, but there's a gorgeous white egret in one of the trees.

"Hey, you're supposed to be taking pictures of me!"

Best of the Red: Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved the colour red. And she searched all over the land for beautiful red things, and these are what she found:

"Oh, what pretty fabric you have."

"All the better to keep your coffee warm!"

Little Red Riding Hood Sleeve by andreacreates, $10

"Oh, what a sweet face you have."

"All the better to hang on your wall!"

Little Red digital print by katieCatherine, $20

"Oh, what a fuzzy lining you have."

"All the better to keep your ears toasty warm!"

Little Bird Riding Hood by TrilliumArtisans, $45

And the little girl brought the red things she had found back home and showed them to her little old Grandma, and there was much laughter and rejoicing.

The End

Things I Heart Monday

Happy Labor Day to you! Wasn't it lovely to sleep late on a Monday?

I'm really hearting waking up slowly with a nice cuppa hot choccie... with about half a pint of cream mixed in. (Shhhhh!)

I'm also hearting this awesome little yarn shop I found just across town in College Station, The Hook and Needle. They have the most beautiful colours of yarn, and I came away with these four lovelies:

They are supposed to be for making Christmas gifts, but they look so pretty piled up up my desk, it'll be hard to unravel them!

And when I got home, I found that the Hook and Needles ladies had stuffed my bag with extra goodies! Colouring pens? Yes, please! I'm thinking about taking a sweater-making class with them in a few weeks which sounds hard, but very interesting.

And lastly, I'm hearting trading. I'd never traded with another shop before, but the lovely Punkscrapper contacted me and asked if I'd be open to it. Yes, yes, completely yes! I've put together a little package of prints for her, plus my first ever listing, Mr. Embroidered Cardinal...

...and a little painting of a barn that I made after falling in love with Georgia O'Keefe's watercolours. Both are things I was sure would sell, but they never really even got looked at, so I'm very happy they've found a home at last!

In return, I'm getting lots of awesome felty fun, like this sweet like branch-like coffee cozy! Yay for trading!

I hope you've all got lots of be happy about, too!

xo

Off the Needles

My vertical stripy scarf is now off the needles... and onto the dog!

What a little fox.

She wouldn't go outside this morning because it was raining, so I might just have to make her a little raincoat and some rain boots as well!

It's just the perfect length for me, or for a fencepost.

And much softer than bark...

Can you tell that I like living somewhere where there's trees and grass and doggies and backyards? :)