Really, I Don't Buy Souvenirs

 I really don't buy too many souvenirs when I travel.  There are only so many t-shirts or coffee mugs one can use when you get back home.  Sometimes I'll buy a fridge magnet, but that's about it.
So I wanted to share some pictures of  what I did buy on my recent trip to Washington.  First is these two antique clay mold dolls that I picked up in Olympia, Washington.  They are about 3 inches high and pretty lightweight. Not in the best of shape, a little rough around the edges, but I thought they were interesting and had character.  They feel really nice in my hand too, maybe the coolness of the clay?
There were only two of them left, so of course I had to buy both, couldn't leave one lonely you know.  Yes, yes, I know they are maybe a little on the creepy side. (Okay maybe a lot!)   But they called to me in a shop full of sparkly crystal doorknobs and crystal balls.  Who knows maybe they'll be worked into something for Halloween?

One of them even stands up all by herself, as long as one doesn't jiggle the table too much.  Pretty good since she's missing part of her foot....

And one fat quarter to add to my skull fabric collection.  This one cracked me up for some reason.  Must be all the crowns or maybe the pink background..  I found this in the Victorian Square building in Port Townsend, there was a bead shop, a yarn shop and a fabric arts shop all in one spot.  It was hard to leave with only buying this one thing...Wish I'd gotten the name of the place because it was really cool having those three businesses in one spot.  I tried looking it up for you, but my google-fu wasn't working.

Halloween Making Links

Not too much Spook=i=fi=cation has been going on so far, just bought these two sparkly word blocks at the drug store. I can finally say that I've gotten one of the boxes of decorations out so far, but haven't opened it up quite yet.

I've been putting it off because of a little matter of cleaning up the living room "enough" to be able to decorate. I know dust is a good spooky Halloween decorating accessory, but it is admittedly at "worst-ever" status these days and I'm not being too self critical here, believe you me!

So of course instead of actually doing this cleaning, I've been either napping (thanks to a looong extended recuperation from the flu), or reading crafting blogs and I've got a few crafty Halloweenie links for you to go and peruse:

Whip Up (a list of links!).

Owlsorts

WiseCraft

CRaftZine

A lot of these have some stuff that would be easy to do, some more involved, but all inspirational in their own ways.

So! Go make something!

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Here is how our Buddha statue looks by day, peeking out from behind the Christmas tree. I am quite moved by these pictures, the Buddha looks completely content (of course!) and perfectly placed there by the Christmas tree.

And the same view, but by night: And in some great Christmas decorating news, the missing box of favorite ornaments and the advent calendar the boys have used since forever turned up this Monday. It was in a very strange place in the very chaotic garage, "hidden in plain sight" shall we say? Anyhoo, Joy in Whoville when the boys caught up on hanging their little velcro ornaments on the advent calendar. What do you know, I've raised two sentimental teenaged boys. awwwww. And I was so glad to find all my PEACE ornaments and collection of stars. The tree looks much more decorated now, the pink pinecone isn't quite so lonely.

Sheesh, but where has this week gone? I messed up and forgot to get my 6 month bloodtest for my thyroid meds, and thus had been off them for almost a week now. It was amazing how quickly the crushing fatigue came back. Really, just like a day and half and I was back to how I was before I started that regimen. Finally got the meds yesterday afternoon and am feeling more myself again. Except for taking them in the late afternoon and then staying up til 2am (oops) making cookie dough. Ahem. I may need a nap before my parents show up for dinner today.

It was most definitely the wrong week to be curled up in a small ball all the time. But now I'm on a roll. But without the new holiday duds I'd been working on :(

Maybe next year, at least I'll have a head start on them.

We celebrate them all that we have a legit connection to (ie, not Eid or Kwanzaa, wouldn't feel right), Solstice, a secular Christmas and a secular Hanukkah. Respectful, and fun celebrations and a bit of contemplation are the order of the day around our home.

As you can imagine, it makes for a very festive month and lots of interesting conversations among our family members and with our friends and relatives about what these various holidays really mean to all us. Humankind's Quest for Meaning writ small in our little circle.

Hope your celebrations today, or earlier this week or later this month are fabulous and filled with joy!

Beady Snowflakes

I bought these wire snowflake forms at a local bead and quilting shop over the weekend, they're from BeadSmith. They're just three wires welded together in the center to make a six armed star/snowflake.
I used the whole range of beads that I own, glass, ceramic, faux pearls. Except for the seed beads, as those wouldn't fit on the kinda thick wires.
Really easy to do, just put the beads on and curl the wire ends.
I like the mix of shapes, sizes and bead types. No two are alike, just like snowflakes!
The ulti-Christmas colours version.
Yellow and gold looks really elegant here, I can see why people decorate with that as a colour scheme for the holidays.

I think this blue/green one is my favorite.
This one is really chunky, but I like the mix of beads quite a lot.
I'm finally getting the hang of using the round pliers for making the curl on the end. The wire is really hardened though and quite stiff. It took me a few snowflakes, and a little bit of bleeding (acck!) to be able to handle it easily.

Here are all eight snowflakes together. I then strung ribbon through and hung them up in my window. I may or may not gift these to people this year. I have a hard time parting with shiny sparkly stuff. Justcallmemagpie!