A walk in the woods on a dreary day

This is our woods behind our house. A few days ago Ethan asked me to go on a walk with him so

I said "yes" and grabbed the camera.

Here's our map. My daughter drew him a map of the woods and labeled all the "interesting" things down there.

Of couse all the nosey animals had to come along. Except Daisy... she stopped about midway there and laid down... she's old. We understand.



The woods are rather bleak this time of year. We have a lot of dead, fallen trees and our seasonal pond is empty.

Remnants of a campfire that we haven't used in awhile.

Ethan and Pete... a boy and his dog.

Dreary trees... the making of a tree house

Gotta climb the trees

Our neighbor's pond. It's so beautiful and peaceful. We don't have a pond like that... wish we did!

A dead pod of some kind... i think it's pretty~

pointy cactus

Abigail and Pete... she likes to climb.. he likes to annoy.

She's our poser...

... he is too, but just not quite as graceful as her

Black Jack isn't graceful either... they're boys

Me and my crazy hair... hiding behind my pretty walking stick that I found.

We walked to the very back of our 6 acres.

scary thorns....

I was hoping that something scary wouldn't pop out of this hole as I was taking the pictures!

More cacti... looks dead to me.

moss

... heading back. Ethan showing me a few places on the map that we missed.

Even the animals are ready to head back.

... i can see home in the distance.

Thanks for taking a walk with us.

More Goodwill Goodies....

Yesterday I had a couple of hours to kill while waiting for my daughter to be done babysitting. Before going to the grocery store I decided to look around Goodwill for just a minute. Of course I wasn't going to buy anything.... just look.

I found a few things... things I like to call "Goodwill Goodies."

I found the peacock feather wreath for $5.00!! My daughter had seen one months ago while we were shopping in Glen Rose.

http://charmednblum.blogspot.com/2009/08/shopping-in-glen-rose.html

I'm sure that it was a lot more than $5.00!

I'll be adding it to her Christmas gifts. She'll love it!

I got this bunch for $5.00. Great deal! Peacock feathers are really expensive these days. I was going to give those to my daughter too, but decided I'd just use them in some of my craft projects.

I've been wanting a new purse, but didn't really want to spend the money on one. I found this for $3.00. Excellent condition. It's Fossil brand. It's big and roomy just like I like too.

This cute little liz claiborne purse was hiding behind some other purses. She's so cute and only $3.00. I think I'll bling her out a little... maybe a vintage rhinestone pin or something. Any ideas?

And... I LOVE books!!!

As you can see I like to read all kinds of books. $2.50 for all three.

It was a good day at Goodwill~

mY LiTtLe eLf

Peace and Happiness and bakin' cookies

I'm busy, busy, busy today. Cleaning, shopping, putting the rest of the lights on the tree, making my FAMOUS Christmas cookies, wrapping presents, picking up kids from school... very busy.

But... I had to take a few minutes to blog and say hi and I wish everyone

pEaCE

and

hApPiNesS

this holiday season.

.....now I'm off to make my cookies....

Gettin' ready for the party....

I've had a jewelry party/sale for the past 3 years. The first two years I did pretty good. Last year... not so much. People are so busy this time of year. Weekends in December are pretty booked up so it makes me nervous to plan a party this time of year.

I've been trying to decide if I wanted to do it again this year.

Did I have enough stuff to sale?

Did I have time?

Will people come?

Did I really want to clean my house for company?

I decided that I did want to have it, so I got busy.

.....making a list of people to invite

.....creating some more things to sell

...making invitations

I've been busy creating. I'm branching out into other things besides jewelry. I've been making my altered antique bottles for awhile now. Lately I've been making these glass bead"thingys." I'm not sure what to call them.... glass bead decorations maybe? They could be fan pulls, or things to hang in the window or a tree or wherever. Any suggestions on what to call them?

Here's a glass bead "thingy" ... except it's not made of glass. It's made of chunky turquoise pieces and a bell.

Here's a glass bead "thingy"



and another one....

Here's my newest antique bottle...

sparkles* and feathers

This is an old avon bottle. I was going to send it to Goodwill, but then I thought of this idea... decorate the lid with jewels!











box of pearls~





old bottles~






vintage chandelier drops~





a necklace ... work in progress~





a new gypsy wind chime... another work in progress~

some vintage earring rings~

and some old, dirty bottles that my friend, Julie, found on her land~

Hopefully this stuff will go from laying around my craft area to a pretty little treasure that someone finds at my party.