Halloween

WARNING... If you are faint at heart and don't like deceased people please do not open this post. It is not gross by any means no blood or guts or anything like that. This is just a different kind of post for me.

If you are still here I thought this would be a rather interesting post for Halloween. One day while I was at work my partner was surfing the web and came upon Victorian Era images. He went on to explain and show me pictures he found. I found it quite interesting that many photos were taking with at least one deceased person in the photo. I guess I never really thought about it before why people had there eyes closed. I just figured they blinked with the flash. Ummmm nope they were dead. From what I've read if you didn't come from a family with money or the mortician was not very proficient at his job the picture would be taken with the deceased person lying or sitting with their eyes closed.







As the mortician got better he then would sew the eye lids so that the eyes were open making it look as if they were not dead.



Sometimes it would be hard to tell which one was deceased.



As time went on a metal stand (almost like a doll stand) would be used for the deceased to make them stand and pose with their family. I don't know about you, but I don't like dead bodies first of all. Second of all I don't want a dead person's arm draped over me.



These last two freak me out... they look like real breathing people.





After this post you are going to think I'm just a little twisted, but things like this fascinate me. I promise I'll be back soon with one of my "normal" posts. Until then Happy Halloween everyone.

Where have I Been????

Good Morning friends!!! I have been busy crafting and finally furniture rearranging. I have a lot to share today.

Sheesh where should I start ?!?

Steve and I added another member to the family. NO not that a kind. ;) lol. We have another cabinet. Somehow I think cabinets are like rabbits because they just keep multiplying. Anyway, since we had a really successful weekend at the booth we treated ourselves.

Before... Obviously I'm not fond of white...



After a base coat of black Steve dry brushed red on. I told him I wanted to own a red cabinet and this would be perfect. He sanded some of the white chipped paint off first so it has a wonderful texture to it that you can't see in this picture.



I had to wait a few days for the paint to cure before decorating. But just as I could stand it anymore... I started in...



That being said I have moved some of my other furniture for the new pie safe and now for the corner cabinet. I know I told you I was going to put my fabric in the pie safe well, uhhh, I decided that it needed to be in my kitchen. Yep, I took the buttery down and moved it to my dining room.

The pie safe... now...





I've started on the buttery, but I'm still fiddling around with that. The fabric is on the lower shelves. What I want to do is make a curtain to cover the shelves that have my fabric on them. I will be decorating the top two shelves and covering the rest.



I'm still working on the dining room. As it stands I have a cupboard completely empty and don't know what I want to put in it. Crazy I know. I'm thinking quilts will go in it, but I'm not sure yet.

All the rearranging has been going on in between crafting. Since Saturday was so beautiful and sunny I got to work on things that needed to be stained. I normally use coffee, but I tried out using walnut hulls. It worked pretty well and the items stayed soft after staining them.

I already had to make a few more pairs of the red stockings as my Facebook friends cleaned me out. lol.



LOVE how these turned out. Only one pair of these left. Haven't had time to make anymore of these yet.



I also had time to get a special order apron and bonnet set order done. I have about 2-3 more special orders for these (not this color) to get done.



Then my BFF Rose's scarecrow she wanted is almost done...He still needs his hat and stuffing around his neck put on. I will finish him up today.



Other than that I'm trying to work on Christmas stuff as well as some more special orders.

OHHHHHH forgot to show you the special order chimney cupboards Steve built for a booth customer. We took them to her yesterday and she showed us her primlicious home. She had a beautiful home and she had to point out everything she has bought from us. LOL. She says she's our best customer. From the looks I believe it. She put one on each side of her fireplace. Now she wants Steve to build a linen closet for her bathroom. We may also have a special order fireplace board to do also. We are waiting on a definite answer.



I'm sorry, but I need to run. I have some crafting to do and a trip to the post office in order again. I went yesterday, but had more sales and need to go again today. I'm am LOVING it!!!! Thanks to everyone who has placed an order!!! I work the weekend, but I will need to get some things done to a point that I can finish them at work. My cross stitch will go on the back burner for now. Oh well, it can wait. Have a great day everyone!!!

Friday!!!!

It is finally Friday and the start of my 3 days off. I'm so thrilled and excited!!!! I am spending the weekend crafting and furniture moving. LOL. No no I'm not moving. I'm just going to rearrange my furniture to accommodate my new pie safe. Steve said he would help me so that I don't hurt my back again. My massage on Tuesday has helped me tremendously and my back is feeling great. But I don't want to be back in the same predicament so I will accept his help.

As I told you I went shopping at Pat Catan's on Tuesday. For those of you who are unfamiliar it is a HUGE crafting store kind of like Hobby Lobby but they are only in Ohio. I forgot that I still had a gift certificate left from Christmas from my parents. So, while we were in Wooster I just had to go see what they had. I found some great stuff.

OK, you all know I like my redware and yellow ware. Most of the pieces I have are reproductions, but I'm OK with that. Well, I happened to find these at terrific prices and had to have them. I'm working on a new home for all my pieces. This will be part of the furniture move.





Then as I picked the plates up and turned around I happened to see this for $6.47. Too cute!!!!



Then I found this awesome soap mold though I'm going to try it with wax.



I found a few other odds and ends of things to use in some up and coming things I'm going to be making. I'm not going to share some of the things I bought because it will be something I have never attempted before and not sure it will turn out. LOL.

This morning I made a special order bonnet and apron set for a customer. Believe it or not I actually used fabric from my stash. :) It just needs to be stained but I'm holding off until I have a few more things to stain. I also sold her one of my sets in my collection. Guess I need to make a new one for me.



Now I'm on to a special order scarecrow doll for one of my BFFs. He'll look a little something like this... I made this one a few years ago and just sold it in my booth recently so she asked if I would make her one. So when he is done I'll post pictures.



I took a break to talk with you, but I want to get him made so I can move on to Christmas stuff. Have a great day my friends and thanks for visiting. :)

New Additions

Yes, yes, I am back. I hoped I would have been able to blog a little earlier this morning, but I have only today off until the weekend. I went to a meeting at the school for my daughter, who is doing extremely well, and the teachers just LOVE her. I know that her choice to go to the career center was the best one! Her teacher even said she is doing excellent at web design. (Anyone else out there thinking what I'm thinking???) I think I deserve a selling website designed by her :) lol. Then it was off to Pat Catan's and Walmart. Boy oh boy did I get some great things at Pat Catan's!!! But that is another post. I also needed some supplies to make a few special request items that I got orders for over the weekend. I am super excited!!! I LOVE custom orders. Anyway, then off to my well needed massage appointment. My therapist went to a class on sciatica and she tried out some new techniques that were so awesome today. Now laundry is started and I have a meeting to go tonight yet.
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Since we last spoke I got a wonderful box from Lil Raggedy Angie. She is the most talented, funny, and one of the biggest hearted gals I know!!! Well, I happened to be perusing her selling page when what did I see? BUCKEYES!!!! I know it's sad that I live in Ohio and have no buckeye trees around. Anyway, I LOVE to decorate with natural elements so of course I needed them. So I ordered them right away. I pretty much stalked her by sending her like 3 emails and messages about them. Well, when the box came there was a little more then just buckeyes...



Little story about the buckeyes... I get the buckeyes out of the box and my son is sitting there saying Aunt Becky (my sister) said she would make buckeyes for us Mom. For a second I stopped and looked at him and said what??? Then I realized and said... hey Bailey you can't eat these. These aren't candy. LOL. He had never seen a real buckeye and thought all buckeyes were candy. LOL. Then he asked if you could eat the nut out of the buckeye. I said no but asked him if he wanted to try it anyways. Then I got the "MOM...."

She also sent along this awesome hand stitched scarecrow head. It is just too cute!!!! What a great addition to my fall decor!!!!



Then this awesome jointed hand stitched bear. So prim!!! He will look good with my crocks. The coloring is awful in my picture but he is a blue grey... hmmmm ok I changed my mind he will find a new home in my bedroom sitting on my child size rocker.



Last, but not least, this awesome ditty bag. It is soooo fabulous. I don't have anything like it and I already know where it is going....



On my new/old pie safe... Steve bought this for me while I was at work yesterday and brought it home and put it in my dining room... I originally wanted him to make me one just like it. We saw it at the antique store and snapped pictures of it so he could build it. But he says no that it was my birthday and Sweetest Day presents all wrapped up in one. I just LOVE him to pieces!!!! The screen is even ripped in places on the doors. I need to wash it down though it is pretty dirty.







Do you think all this will fit...



in here ???? lol I hope so....



Well, my friends I have lots of laundry to conquer and a pie safe to clean. :) I will be back Friday with my awesome finds today!!! Then I need to get busy and craft all weekend. Steve even said he'd take the kids and leave me all weekend if I wanted no interruptions. LOL. Tempting, but I think they can all stay :) lol

Back To Business

Thank you everyone for your prayers and concerns recently as I battled a multitude of health issues. It seems as though I have finally turned the corner and getting back to myself. I feel sooooo much better. I started to turn the corner only about 2 days so I haven't worked on too much in the way of crafts. All I have wanted to do was sleep and sit on the couch and do nothing or work. So, while at work yesterday I pulled out a cross stitch sampler I have been working on and off of for awhile now. I still have a bit to do, but it felt wonderful to work on something. Today I need to clean and get things organized since I have been down so long. The sciatica is responding to the anti inflammatory and I can now go up and down steps virtually pain free so now I can get busy!!!!

Since I haven't done anything much I thought I'd share my sampler progress... This is a pattern I found at a thrift store that was originally a kit. It was too good to pass up.

My Thrift Store Fabric Finds

I have a very long week coming up at work. Starting tomorrow and until the following Monday I have exactly one day off. I still am having issues with my health and hope they clear up soon. Basically, during my course of treatment for my sinus/bronchitis stuff the antibiotic killed all the good bacteria in my intestines and left the bad bacteria to take over. So, now I am on yet another antibiotic to kill the bad bacteria and and another pill to build the good bacteria back up. So far it's not working. I know I wanted to lose a little weight, but this is not a good way I decided. LOL. My sciatica is still out of control pain wise even though I'm taking an anti-inflammatory too. Boy this getting old stuff is for the birds.

So on a happy note I told you all I had a good haul on fabric from the Goodwill. The bad news it wasn't the colors with an extra percent off. OH well, I still got a percentage off just for being a frequent shopper :-)

First set is my Americana finds. The lighter is actually a sheet I think, but fabric is fabric... the blue has white stars all over it and the bottom is actually red. Yuck horrible picture.



I know not really prim but I'm sure I can make something beautiful for someone else.



I know a little more cottagy feel to it, but I have some other fabric it will go with just fine.



I actually like lavenders and purples. I also had found fabric just like the floral a LONGGGGG time ago somewhere.



These just spoke to me. That's all I can say...



Last but not least... calicos... the top is black with yes (GAG) hearts in the pattern. The other two are just different colored on blue backgrounds.



These are not just single yard fabrics. I have YARDS and Yards of fabric all for under $34. AND if anyone is interested I am willing to make even trades on fabrics. You have too much of a certain fabric and see something you like that I have let me know.

I have not been able to do much in the way of crafting due to the sciatica and can't sit long enough. This week doesn't look good either, but I WILL work on something or I'll go crazy. LOL.

New Christmas Pattern Available

Merry Christmas!!! Early of course. lol. Just a quick note to let you know Olde Homestead Christmas pattern is now available. Please email me to order.

PDF pattern is $7.50 includes color picture, chart, and legend.
Mailed copy is $10.00 includes shipping with color picture, chart, and legend.

UPDATE Playing With Wax

First, I apologize to some of you that I told I would be doing an update on my wax on Friday. Friday was not a good day for me. I was suppose to work, but for the first time ever I called off. I could not stand or walk at all. My sciatica kicked into high gear. It has never been as bad as that day that I was dry heaving from the pain. Then on top of that I had my other lovely side effect from my Z Pak still hanging on. So, today I head back to the doctor to get that little thing taken care off. I think having diarrhea (this is why you visit me because I always give too much info..lololol) for over a week straight is a little too long. I did manage to drag myself to work Saturday and Sunday.

So here I am today with my little update... I didn't like the corn so I threw them back into crock pot and started again.

First, this is what my wax looked like all melted down. There have been several questions as to whether or not you could make tarts this way... I can't answer that because I haven't tried it. OHHHHH I did try to add a little candle fragrance to it and got a better scent this time.



This time I didn't oil the mold but did dust it with cinnamon.



The results were good and bad. The good part is the corn still came out of the mold just fine after I put it in the freezer. The bad part is the cinnamon was absorbed into the wax. So the cinnamon doesn't make a difference.



Next step I sprinkled on the cinnamon and rub it in. These worked so much better without oil.



Now, I was also asked about what to do with the wax that is left over in the crock pot. If you are making items unscented you could just leave the wax in it and let it harden back up and just add more wax next time if you need it. Since I used a scent in mine I will probably throw the insert in the freezer for a bit and just pop it out and throw away what's left so I can use a different scent next time. I didn't have much left when I was done though. I use the freezer method on all my candles when I get to the bottom if I want to reuse the glass container they came in.

NOW... How the heck to put a hanger in them??? Well, I turned to you my Facebook friends for help. I got tons of responses and I settled on one...

So, have a seat and light a candle and let's get started... obviously you will need some kind of candle. This one was close to me so I lit it. lol



Next, grab some wire. I happened to have rusty wire on hand. Snip off enough wire to make a decent sized hanger. I decided to try it on my pumpkin guys...





Remember when you were told not to play with fire? Well, you will be breaking that rule today. Take one tip of your wire and place it in flame for just a few seconds. The heat didn't travel that far up to burn my fingers. It doesn't have to be really cherry red hot.



Now take the end that is hot and push it through the wax where you want your hole. It'll melt like butter... once it's through I just put a little twist in the wire to keep it from coming back through. I made two holes in mine so I just repeated the step.



AND the eagle...



I bought another cute jack o lantern mold last Thursday at Family dollar to make little bowl fillers. I'm just having too much fun with this now. :)

I moving very slowly today so I'm not sure exactly what I'll get accomplished, but guess what???? I made a haul on fabric again at the Goodwill. I know I need more of that like I need another hole in my head. LOL. I hope to feel up to a least taking pics of it to show you. Have a great day everyone!!!