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To be ready for Christmas crafting, I ordered 50 mini deer.  Preferably, I’d like to use vintage, but for how I use them the cost is just too high.  And I doubt my shoppers would notice if they were old or not.

The order came and the little guys were pretty cute, just what I needed.  But I did think the color was a little flat.

So I got out the warm, brown Stays On ink and rubbed some on with an old brush.  I felt like that helped give them some dimension.  

Most ended up coated with glue and a fine, snow-like glitter, so I didn’t replace the white spots.  I’m pleased with how they turned out, it was an easy fix, and so far I’ve used lots of them in my projects.  Yep, I’m full speed on Santa Season decor and have already been building up the sparkly inventory.

Pictures to come, and boy, will there be tons of them.

 

 

 

On our visit to see family in Georgia and Florida, we spent an hour or so on Fernandina Beach.

This wasn’t exactly a beach trip, between coolish weather and busy days with family.

When my sister-in-law and I saw a break in the clouds that coincided with a pause in our schedule, we grabbed our opportunity (and our jackets) and skeedaddled out to the sand to gather up shells, stretch our legs, and soak up any and all sun that was available. 
My teen niece from Wyoming didn’t seem to think it was chilly, even ran out into the waves.  My own feet, did not get near the surf.

It might even have been better weather back home in Kansas while we were on the coast.  But the key words in that sentence are “we were on the coast”. 

No complaints from me about time for walking on the sand! I was thrilled to be there, see family, and get this short but needed stroll to watch the waves.

Before hitting the shore for sandy toes, we walked through the town to have lunch.  It’s a pretty little place and the shops are interesting.

The best part were the photo ops.  Pirates and sharks galore! My sister, Bobbie, would’ve loved it, so I posed with each and every one. 

For her.

The next day, I woke up with a sore throat, so we cut the trip short and headed home.  I didn’t want to expose anyone else to my sniffles and since I’d been away so much since October, all I really wanted was my own bed to curl up in and blow my nose while getting caught up on my favorite shows.

This was my first cold in four years.  Funny enough, I was in Florida for that one too.

We took a new (for us) route home, on highways instead of interstates.  We decided it was the only way to go, we missed the traffic back ups in Atlanta, Nashville, and Chattanooga, plus saw interesting sights along the way.

 I was able to drive a few hours on the first leg of the journey but by day two, I simply wasn’t up to it.  Poor Rich had to do the whole day of driving while I sketched on old book pages.  At least on the smooth stretches of road. On curvy or hilly parts, the pen needed to be put down.  Between my dizziness from the cold and the somewhat twisty roads, I took some breaks in my work.

For the last two days, I’ve sat in front of the tv with my paints adding color to the stack of drawings that I made on the trip.  My timing was pretty good, two days of sketching, two days of painting, while feeling my worst.  Now I’m up and better, ready to hit the studio to mat and tag my doodles.

While I did get stuff done, I still am behind due to the faucet of never ending snot that I was dealing with.  Good Juju weekend is this week, and I still have some things to tend to there.  Luckily, my cold is ending in time to finish up and be there for customers.

There isn’t too much to work on, it’s pretty well ready to go, but there is still some fine tuning to be done, and photos to take.

I’ll show you the finished product next post.

 

 

Wishing you love.

 

This viscous weather across the country almost stopped our trip, but we managed to switch Sugarwings’ flight to a day earlier and avoided the snownado that was about to close downs flights all over.

Sadly, my boy and Dewdrop couldn’t leave NC because of weather themselves. So they missed our day at Magic Kingdom. We were down about not seeing them, then got a surprise call saying they were on their way!

They are driving all the way to meet us for one day at Epcot with us.  I burst out crying when I heard the great news.

I’m writing now from Liberty Square as we take a lil break in a quiet corner of a restaurant and refuel.  Time to visit a few ghostly buddies at the Haunted Mansion now, so I’m off to get spooked.

 

 

When we were invited to a croquet party, I was dubious about joining in.  I’m not sporty, have zero depth perception, can’t aim, and hate keeping score.

Oh my, I do not sound fun at all, do I?

Games are not my thing.

But when “proper croquet attire” was mentioned, I was in.  I’d watched Bridgerton, and I was ready to put on my best whites and grab my parasol to go be a spectator and have some good food, good friends and a glass of wine.

Before I knew it, I was sucked in, and realized that whacking that ball was more exciting than I thought it would be.  Next thing I knew, I was vying for third place to move on to the championship round.

Well, I came in 4th, but my husband let me be his partner and I got to be in the final round with him.

  We didn’t win, the title went to our buddy, Jim.

But I did receive two prizes! One for best dressed and for coming in second in the final round.

I think what pushed me over the edge to win for the costume were these magnificent, beaded tenny boppers.  I’ve had them for at least 30 years, and only bring them out for very special occasions.

The dress was pretty cool too.  I’d bought it to wear to Silverbella (I miss those so much!).  That was fifteen years ago, and when I put it on this time, I realized it didn’t fit quite the same.

My poor bust was halfway down below the bodice, so the top of the gown wasn’t filled out right.

Oh well.

As I age, I don’t care too much about where my boobs are or how things fit.  Which is good, because I have a feeling it just goes downhill from here.  Literally.  My chest will not be going back up to fill out any more bodices, this is as good as it gets.

And my sports acuity won’t be improving either.  Enjoying what I can, whenever I can is what makes each day worth getting up for.  I’m glad I didn’t put the pretty dress away because it made me look droopy.  I’m glad I didn’t opt out of playing the game because I’m not good at hitting a ball.  

Fun times are a gift that we have to open to enjoy.  Or at least be open to.

7

Someone special recently had a birthday and I knew she liked Italian micro mosaic and milliefiori glass. 

I had some pretty beads, and a mosaic that was missing some bits.  I did a repair on it by finding tiny quartz stones that fit into the holes and then filling in the rest with a clear coat, hard setting glue.  It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t look like it is missing teeth now.

It hangs from the gold chain by a clasp that can be used to switch it out with other charms.  My friend mentioned losing a lot of single earrings lately and I told her that she could take the earwire off of them and use this clasp to wear them as pendants instead.

I gifted her with some extra earrings too.

I had heard from others that they are also losing earrings, due to taking masks off and on.  I thought I was pretty lucky to have never, ever lost an earring.  Of course 90% of mine are made by me, and are easily replaced, so it was not as big of a deal if I did lose one, since I could usually make another.  Still, I thought it was kind of interesting to realize that I simply do not lose any at all.

So, of course, I lost one.

And not one I made.  The one time in my entire life that I splurged and bought some pricier ones for myself, because, look at that beautiful stone!  It’s layered quartz over mother of pearl.

I spent more than I really should’ve considering I am a jewelry maker, and here I go, losing one of those.

I thought back to where I’d been and realized that my mask had been twisted up in Costco.  People told me that I should call and see if it had been turned in, but I did not, thinking it wouldn’t do any good.

So, I did what I could to salvage my loss, and adding the remaining one to an opal p, pearl, rose quartz, and moonstone necklace I’d made.  

Then, during a lull at Good Juju while sitting with friends, I dropped my phone from my pocket and had to reach under a cabinet to fetch it.  There, by my hand was the missing earring!  Weeks later, and after multiple sweepings of the space.

So I guess my record is safe.  But I won’t be bragging about not losing earrings, or not ever breaking a phone.  Oops, I hope I didn’t jinx myself on that one!

 

 

 

 

 

While autumn isn’t exactly my favorite season, and I don’t do much in the way of decor, mostly just thinking of it as a countdown to Christmas splendor, I do slightly get into the tones of fall.

We were away in Florida for much of October, so I didn’t get to make Jack-o-lanterns and missed visiting the pumpkin patch, so my yard was gourd-less this year.

While planning a small bonfire gathering with friends, I thought I’d pick up a few mums to replace my dying summer blooms and brighten the place up. Instead, I saw a bin of pumpkins marked down to a quarter each!  I bought  all but the smooshiest of them and filled pots and tables with those in place of chrysanthemums.  Along with a few strands of lights and a couple of trimmed oak branches, the empty pots started to look festive on a pretty much non-existing budget.  

Christmas decorating is coming on quick for me, this is just a little side trip, so I was glad to not spend too much on it.  

It ends up being pretty cheap hen feed too.  Once I’m done with all of the pumpkins, I’ll be tossing them over the fence to the ladies.  

Win Win!

 

 

 

 

 

Terry and I have had a magical time at Disney World. She indulged my obsession to hunt Mickies too.

(Canada, Epcot)

Some are sneaky.

(Ratatouille, Epcot)

Like this one, very well hidden!

(Frozen, Epcot)

Others are pretty easy to spot. (Ariel, Hollywood Studio)

And some cannot be missed, like this coil of rope.

 (Living with the Land, Epcot)

My little eye spied a lot on that ride, but I didn’t get photos of them all  or on the Nemo ride, it was too dark.

This Mickey is hard to see, but it is lurking there in the deep shadow at Turtle Talk.

And while walking over a bridge at Epcot, I saw this rocky Mickey.

They can often be in signs.

(Figment, Epcot)

I can’t remember where this one is from.  But somewhere in Hollywood studios, maybe?

Instead of a mouse, these are hidden rats, in the wallpaper of the new Ratatouille ride.  Being a new and popular experience, it is very hard to get onto, but we set our alarm to be ready to hit the button to try to get in the virtual queue early in the morning and it paid off.  Six hours later, it was our turn to show up to get in the physical line for 45 minutes till it was time for us to spin around with a kitchen full of rats.  It was a clever ride, but even with ginger tablets, I was kind of dizzy and couldn’t wear the 3D glasses.  

I have seen these leafy Mickies a few times, but didn’t know where they came from.  Today we passed by just as the person sweeping the park finished making it.

Another fun peek a boo, is to look for Cinderella’s horse on the carousel at Magic Kingdom.  It the the one with the golden ribbon around its tail.  There is another horse with spots that form a Mickey, too.

To celebrate the 50 year anniversary, there are 50 golden statues throughout the four parks.  We made a game of finding them all, and doing some of their poses.

I didn’t do a great job of it, but at least I didn’t topple over.  That’s a plus, right?

And some poses were easier than others.

The statues will be there for 18 months, and you can get hints online about where to find them.  Most are pretty easy to see in main flower beds, but a few are in obscure locations, on balconies, poles, or signs.  

And the Mickies are everywhere.  Every time I go, I find more.  This one is on the Jungle Cruise dock.

If you find any good ones, let me know!

 

 

At the end of August, I was ready for a new mantel look, but not ready to embrace fall, pumpkins, or Halloween.

I kept it flowery like my garden outside. In the yard, the rose bushes are looking their best, and I am really enjoying those blooms. 

This look might be verging on too springlike, but I’m okay with it.

UPDATE:

After creating this landscape, I decided to add it to the mantel in place of the smaller, unframed one.