skelly time!

 good morning bloggy friends!   well I think I have finished putting halloween out!  bonita and Boney were the last to come out.  I have my porch arranged differently then in years past and I dont like it as much but ehh.. whatever..  its done.  I might be getting too old for all this decorating!  lol.. its a lot of work.   nah.. just kidding, gotta decorate, no matter how old I get! Actually.. I am getting "older"  as I do have a birthday coming next week.   But birthdays are fun.. some people dread them.  I like having them!  and of course the alternative is not good.   

So anyways,  back to the decorating.  My  computer memory is full!  Ive had memory added to this dinosaur several times in the past.. but I dont think it can hold anymore.  (what does computer memory have to do with decorating.. you might ask?)  I can take pics.. but my computer says no more room!  so I have to keep going back and deleting old stuff....  pain in the butt!   or use my phone and send pics.. but my phone doesnt take the best pictures..   for now.. I'll just keep deleting old stuff.  

 Frannie photobombed this picture.  silly kitten.  she was probably wondering why I was outside looking in the window! lol!    my poor skellys, boneys in good shape, but bonita has a brittle bone disease.  her hip and hand broke!  poor old girl!   I do love my skellys..   maybe I should get another one.. oh wait.. I said I wasnt going to buy anything else.... I wont I wont I wont..   

and the skelly cat at joanns was gone.    I would have bought her..  I should have bought her before when I saw her...  

must stop obsessing about her....

LOL!

so yesterday morning I dyed some trees orange...

cause, you know...   I needed to have some more orange trees.

I love all my bloggy friends..   most of my face to face friends dont understand....  but I can count on you guys!  you get it! 

have a great day girlie pies!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo

all the better to see you with!

 Grammies and Torry pies just gotta have fun!  got up yesterday morning and needed to run to the store, so I called my little shopping buddy to see if he wanted to go.. of course he did.. because that means he gets to go to "coffee hortons"  that's  what he calls "tim hortons.."   He loves chocolate timbits!  It also means that grammie will probably buy him something.. usually a match box car and it was.  And it also means that he has to humor grammie and play her silly games!  he really did not want to wear these glasses...  but I bribed him. (lol.. we hadn't bought that match box car yet!)

OMG  Target has the cutest Halloween stuff and I filled my cart with the cutest stinking things...  then put it ALL back and bought a cute area rug and matching pillows for Bethany's living room..   an early birthday present.  I DO NOT NEED TO BUY ANYMORE HALLOWEEN STUFF.....  i do not.. i do not.. i do not..

Saturday the girls and I went and painted pottery for Jennifer's birthday.  we had fun.  It was a busy day.  we first went out to lunch at a nice place on the canal in Spencerport.   It was beautiful out, perfect for eating out by the Erie canal!   The cook brought out some bread for Marla and I to feed the ducks, which was fun for Marla (and for me! lol!).  Then Marlas other grandmother came to pick her up and we went to paint pottery. I did a cup and saucer.  I cant wait to see how it turned out after its fired.   When we finished there we all met back at Jens for pizza and apple crisp.  Jen had a nice birthday and she got some great gifts!   

And I brought left over apple crisp home, which was perfect for breakfast this morning heated up and yummy!

I supposed I should start getting ready for work.  I would so rather stay home and work on bears though! 

wont get any bear work done today as I will be babysitting after work tonight for my precious little miss Violet pie!

Have a great day!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

and this is what I bought...

 Happy Friday!!!   first.. here's a pic of my weekend treasures!  the pumpkin doll made by the awesome Valerie Weberpal and the other too, "hocus and Pocus" by Nicole Bowan... Both girls are from Earth Angels.  Awesome or what?  I know!  I bought a couple other small things.. but these were my main purchases.  Just the right inspiration to get started on my Halloween decorating!

I got all the bins out... eiy yie yie.. I really seriously have too much stuff.. I'm not using it all this year.. just my favorites!  (yeah right.. its all my favorites! God help me!   lol!!)

be right back.. need more tea....  

ahhh.. that's better.

so busy weekend ahead, tomorrow is daughter Jennifer's 33 birthday.  My precious daughters and daughter in laws and I are going to lunch and to paint pottery.   Then we're all meeting back up with the rest of the crew for pizza, cake and ice cream!   Other then that my weekend will be mostly devoted to bear making and Halloween puttering.  

I'm suppose to be back on my diet...

so that means I should not bake another pie.... 
(I made one the other day.. soo good!) 

even though apples are everywhere.  

'cause we live in appleville.  

I think I can smell them in the air outside...  

oh.. apple crisp..

apple sauce

baked apples

apple butter

apppppple pie...  

ok..

I have to shut up and go to work..

happy Friday!  Happy weekend!  Happy Halloween decorating!  and I think you should all make an apple PIe!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox!!

country living fair

 what a fun weekend!  we had a great time.  we left on friday around 2:30 and got to Kellys in Ohio around 7:30.  We picked up my friend Jan (in the green) and Jennifer drove my car.  I had everything checked off my list and was ready to go.  Except for one minor detail...   We had been driving for about an hour on the thruway when I looked over at the dash board, and saw that we were running on fumes!  I had forgotten to fill the tank!  like.. really, I know.  duh!   I had been talking about filling it and just totally forgot!  Anyways, poor Jennifer.. I felt the blood drain from my face and I said.. ."get off.. we have to get off now.. (she didnt even know what I was talking about! lol!) "I forgot to get gas....  "    You can imagine the look only a daughter can give you when you do something like that!  lol!   Luckily for us, when I realized it we were right near an exit and the exit was right near a gas station.  so we were really really really lucky, cause Im pretty sure we would have run out of gas on that thru way... and that would have not been good...  thank you God for watching over us and making me look at the fuel gage at just that moment! any later and we would have missed the exit.  not to mention we were 4 lanes over and she had to cross over all 4 lanes to the exit..    

dum de dum de dum de dum...!

  

 It was so good to see Kelly.  She is so awesome and I just enjoy her company so much.  She has a gorgeous house and she is a wonderful hostess.  I like her husband too, hes a really nice guy.  

We got there and then waited for Miss Marlene to get there from New JErsey!  This crazy girl drove like 10 hours to get to us.  she got a teeny tiny bit lost when she got close to kellys so we went and found her and went to dinner.  Every one had a drink and good food and we sat and chit chatted for a couple hours.

The next morning we all got up and ready to go to the Country Living Fair

Kelly had yummy berries and goodies for us for breakfast and everyone was ready and raring to go!  Jennifer did my hair with some pink hair chalk so I could be purty with pink hair!  I wish I could have pink hair all the time.  such fun!

 

Hello!  see! pink!

Anyways, we had a great time at the fair.  I failed to take pictures there.. just a couple of the girls.  I kind of hesitate to take any of the artist booths and goods because most of them dont really like you too and I dont really blame them.  

we did take the standard.. "I went to the country living fair" pic by the pumpkin pile.

 well, some of us did.  there ended up being 9 of us, so pretty hard to keep up with everyone.  we pretty much just wandered around trying to touch base every so often.  

One of the highlights of being there was that sweet Debby Messner came to the fair to hang out with me!  (us..lol.. you know me.. its always about me.. lol!)

 What a treat!  almost twinzies with our white hair.. we should have put some pink in hers too!  She spent the afternoon with us having lunch and walking around the fair.  speaking of lunch!

oh my goodness.  we waiting in line for quite a while to get this...   It was a corn cake topped with mac n cheese, topped with coleslaw, topped with bbq chicken meatballs topped with corn stuff....  and then the texas sheet cake!  It was delishous!  And, I have to admit.. I pretty much at all of that!  OINK OINK!

So anyways, we wandered around looking at all the great stuff..   SO MUCH STUFF to see!  and so hard to decide just where to spend your money!  

Marlene found a boyfriend there! teehee!

ONe of the best tents is the EARTH ANGELS tent.  Just them all by them selves good be almost enough of a show for me.  and that is where I spent most of my money.  It was one of the first tents we visited and it was the last tent I visited.  

Ive been friends with Valerie Weberpal on line for quite a few years now and was so happy to meet her in person!  I love her quirky creations and I was so happy to buy one of her pumpkin dolls.  

So then there was the ride back to Kellys after the fair.  Kelly actually lives about 2 hours from where the fair is held.  We got a flat tire! LOL!  so we took a road side break and had a little car party while we waited for the triple A guy.  Im sure he thought we were a bunch of kooks.. especially when Marlene asked him if his father was single!  LOL!

 Poor Jen had stuff going on on sunday and we were originally supposed to leave at 6:00 cause she had to direct choir at her church.. but there was no way we could drive home on a donut, so she had to make a bunch of calls to rearrange and cover herself, because we were going to have to find a place to buy tires in the morning... and of course that was a sunday!

 But we made the best of it.. (easy to do when youre with good friends!)  and sunday morning after we found a place to get tires and dropped the car off, we went shopping and out to lunch! 

The ride home was uneventful and we got home about 7:30.   Marlene had left about 9:30 am and she made it back to NY about 8:30.  

so thats pretty much the weekend in a nutshell!  Lots of fun.. lots of laughs... lots of eye candy and new treasures!   I havent had a chance to put my stuff away yet or to take pics of the stuff, but I will and I will be sure to post pics to show you!  

heres a little peek at the things I made for Marlene and Kelly last week that I took with me.  cute stuffies!  

Have a great week girlie pies!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

getting ready to go...

no pics.. no time!  just a quick check in.  getting ready to scoot off to Ohio with my daughter Jen and girlfriend Jan.  we'll be staying with my dear friend Kelly at her beautiful home.  Another sweet friend Marlene (mizz bee) is meeting us there and staying with us too. 

we wont get there til 8:00 tonight.   

then tomorrow..  its the Country Living Fair... I know there will be so much awesome stuff there.. cant wait to see it all..   looks like a perfect weather... kind of cool and sunny. 

I will be meeting up with our bloggy friend Debbie Messner from  cozy blanket blog!  and also with Valerie Weberpal from Earth Angels. 

Its going to be a good time and will fly by fast.  We'll be leaving there at 6:00 am sunday morning to come back cause Jen has to be at church to direct her choir.   

thats fine, it'll give me the day to dig out my halloween stuff!

Okeedokie..   gotta run!

I'll check back in soon as I can!

toodles bloggy pies!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

halloween crown tutorial

See, I told ya I'd do a couple halloween tutorials.  Heres the first!  A halloween crown.  There are great to put around the base of your halloween tree... if you have one..   and they can be made any size you like.  Im thinking that one of my skeletons may wear this one this year.  or a bear..  I dont know yet.  I really only made it so that I could show you guys how because Lynn at the weinnee ranch  asked me how!    So here you go:

First gather up all your supplies.. what ever goodies you want to use for your crown,  bits and bobs.  pictures and stickers.. trims and treats...  etc!    YOu'll need  2 coordinating pieces of heavy scrapbook paper and a wide ribbon.  Hot glue and I always use fabri tac glue.

 First thing, cut both pieces of scrap paper in half and then one of those halves in half again. 

  then glue the smaller halves, (which are really quarters now.. lol!)  onto each side of the bigger piece, to make a long strip.

   make sure both the front and back pieces are the same length.  You can trim them to be sure. 

 Next make a crown pattern.  I used a unfolded brown paper bag.

 You can do this next part two different ways, You can precut your crown pieces using the crown pattern and then glue the the front and back together with the ribbon sandwhiched between them at the bottom, or you can glue the ribbon in, glue the pieces together and then trace and cut out the pattern.

  

 I did it the second way.  

 Either way be sure to leave enough ribbon out at each end so that you will be able to try a nice bow to "close" your  crown.

 Next, its all about embellishing and finishing your crown.  you can do what ever you want to it, but this is what I did.  I used black tulle, cut into strips, scrunched up and glued onto the top back side of the crown. 

  this way you get a pretty little ruffle on the front!

 Next, I made like a "center piece" for it.  you can cut something out or used something store bought.. anything goes!

 I love these crow and skull embellishments I found at micheals.

 You can add as much or as little as you want to your crown. I finished off the bottom with some halloween paper garland stuff and black roses!

 Then I traced along the top edge of the crown with black glittery stickles.   

let it dry and then... Tah Da!  all done!

Easy Peasy!  simple simon!  if you make one let me know and post it so I can see.  this one is very simple and takes very little time, but you can get as elaborate as you want.  I want to make another one out of chicken wire soon...   when I get a chance.  

have fun bloggy pies!

Im hanging in my craftroom all weekend.. gifts to make,  bear orders to work on and fun to be had! lol!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

teatime chatter

 I just made this awesome tomato tart last night.  It was so yummy.. just want to share the recipe with you.. Cause youre going to want to make this!   Its the Pioneer womans tomato tart recipe.  heres the link:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/08/tomato-tart/  

I bought a package of mixed color grape sized tomatos at wegmans, but Im sure even with regular ol' cherry tomatos it would be delishous.  

IN the bee department...   the bee guy, called Spiderman came yesterday afternoon.   (what a cutie he is!.. Im just say'n)  anyways, they were in fact honey bees..   and I say were because they have gone away on their own.  He said that sometimes they are just passing through looking for a place to stay and luckily they did not stay here.  there still are a ton of dead ones upstairs.  Im going to wait another day or so and then go up and vacuum them up.  there were still a couple live ones up there yesterday and I think I shall just wait. Im so glad they went away on their own.   now hubby just needs to fill in the hole they were using with some expandable foam.  soon...  before anymore visitors come!  lol!

So what else is new??   bears  bears and more bears.  Im finishing up another order of bears this week and then starting the big order for Jane! this weekend will be devoted to bear making...  and then next weekend I'm going away to OHio to stay with my friend Kelly and go to the county living fair!  so looking forward to that.  I went with some friends in 2009 and havent been since.  I was thinking it was just 3 years ago, but went into the flickr archives to find my pics from when we went and sure enough.. it was 2009.   what a great place to go find treasures!  Jennifer and I are driving down and bloggy friend Marlene is meeting us there from NJ and we'll all be staying with my friend Kelly.  (who I also met on line years ago!)  

When I think back to going to the fair in 2009,  I think of everyones dear friend Elizabeth, from creative breathing!  I so miss her cheerful fun blog and her sweet sweet spirit!  anyways, I was so very lucky to be able to meet up with her while we were there.  a true highlight of that trip!  
sooo, I suppose I should get ready for work..   

I so wish I was a rich princess so I could just stay home and play...................

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala!

toodles friends!

whats the buzz?

uhg!  We dont really use our upstairs except for storage and I have kicked around the idea of putting my craft room up there, so I only go up there once a week or so.  I was just up there a week ago and there was nothing there, then I went up on sunday late afternoon and discovered freaken bees....

lots of them.  and lots of them dead on the floor in front of the window.  At first I couldnt tell what they were and was horrified because I thought it was rat droppings and was panicked at the thought of that!  Then upon closer inspection...  freaken bees.  I had gone up there bare foot and figgy and frannie had followed me up there so I had to quickly grab them and get out of there. thankfully I did not get stung.  

so with yesterday being a holiday and having the kids over,   we didnt really have time to investigate too closely, but I did figure out where they are going in and I could see, from outside, a dozen or so between the curtain and the window.  Not thrilled to say the least.  Tonys allergic to them, so is robert.  and I HATE them. 

so this morning I will make two phone calls one to an exterminator and one to a bee keeper and who ever can get rid of them fastest and cheapest and forever is the winner...  NOt thrilled that Im going to have to spend money on this.   Im going to Ohio to the country living fair in two weeks and had saved some money for that... guess what Im going to have to use to get rid of the freaken bees.. 

But, I need to get upstairs to my halloween bins!  Its almost time to get them out.. and this is going to keep me from going up there again.   Im not going up there until someone tells me they are totally dead or gone.

I know that the bee population is an issue for us all right now.. and I dont want to kill them.. (well, honestly I DO want to kill them..)  so I will check into a beekeeper.  thats all I can say.  I will check into it. no promises for anything further then that. 

Okeedokie...  thats all folks... Im out of here.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz