merry halloween!

... there's a swap that I'm in that I've been putting of and putting off ...

I just didn't have any ideas!

.... the job was to alter a mousetrap ....

argh! you try it! it's a unique and puzzling challenge to say the least!

.... now I just wish I hadn't put it off so long.

I want to spend the rest of the day making loads of these for my friends ....

before Halloween is OVER!!!

B-O-O

H-O-O

a mini junk drawer?

28 tiny things that all fit into a matchbox:

I found an interesting photo pool on flickr ......

The International League of Championship Matchbox Stuffers.

I had to give it a go myself :)

Just a bit of fun ..... on a small scale.

Check out the link - there are some amazing pics!

hello sunshine

Dried grapefruit slices hanging in my kitchen window ....

... a fun way to have sunshine indoors all winter long ....

.... when we bring in our fir tree in December,

I'll festoon the branches with these golden orbs ....

*****

Here's the "How To:"

Slice your grapefruit into 1/4 inch slices.

You should be able to get about 6 slices per grapefruit.

Place a paper towel on a cookie cooling rack and place your slices on top of that.

Bake in the oven on super low (I set it to 170f).

After about 1 hour, flip the slices over.

Continue baking until nicely dried - but not brown.

About 4 hours total.

You can do this with lemons, limes, giant pomelos, yellow grapefruit, ruby grapefruit, even tiny kumquats would work. It makes a lovely and natural home decoration, gift tag, tree ornament - you name it!

a good day for tea

It's a dreary day here in Western Washington.

Snow is falling in the mountains.

Rain is falling here.

I'm staying warm and cozy indoors with my tea :)

Today's tea is "Orange Dulce."

Dulce means sweet, and this tea does have a natural sweetness to it.

I think it might be orange blossoms.

Do you see the heart shaped petal in the mound of tea?

I've also pictured my very cool fold-over tea bags ... so much easier than a ball strainer.

*****

Today is a good day for knitting too :)

These are the finished sweaters I made for my girls.

(Don't look too closely - you'll see the mistakes!)

But they love them - and feel an imaginary hug from Mom when they wear them to school.

This is a scarf I began ..... and it's got me excited for Christmas preparations.

Scarves and other quick knits are perfect, cozy, loving gifts to give.

This is a bulky wool on size 9 sticks.

The pattern is soooo easy!

Cast on 22 stitches.

Knit 2 Purl 2 - row 1.

Purl 2 knit 2 - row 2.

Knit row 3.

Purl row 4.

For row 5, repeat row 1.

For row 6, repeat row 2.

Purl row 7.

Knit row 8.

Repeat rows 1-8.

If this scarf doesn't come out very long (I only have 1 skein of the wool), I'll make a button hole and sew in a large button and it will be one you can button together .... more like a neck warmer. In any case, I'll show it when I'm done.

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Cheers! and Happy Tuesday :)

Please visit my other Tea on Tuesday friends:

Patty

Christen

Judy

Pat

art recipe

ingredients:

one line of pen to form the mountain

tea

wine

pressed fern leaves

beeswax

combine ingredients in the above listed order and enjoy!

carve your own

I saw this technique over on Annette Quirke's blog a few weeks ago and knew it was something I HAD to do! She has an amazing collection of her own carved stamps - and they're so colorful from much loving use - they look like candy.

This is what I needed to give it a try. I already had the Speedball cutter - and the erasers were found in the stationery department of my grocery store. Gotta love that! Geninne's Art Blog has a great tutorial if you're interested in trying it too!

on sweetness

Today is "tea on tuesday," but I just wasn't much in the mood for tea.

It's Hot Cocoa instead.

This morning I got to thinking about my blog(s), what does it all mean to me, why do I do it, and the evolution of it all.

I guess what got the wheels turning was listening to the radio while driving around this morning. KUOW is our local NPR station and this mornings guests were local women with food blogs. They were talking about blogging and the weirdness of it, the love of it, the compulsion of it, the community of it, the evolution of it.

Why blog?

Oh it's just so sweet!

Maybe it's weird taking pictures of tea, spiderwebs, summer flowers, art and other homemade things .... but it's all for love.

And the result?

evolution (aka personal growth)

community (aka friendships)

and sweetness.

Sweetness like this Hot Cocoa:

(recipe is from Jamie Oliver "The Naked Chef")

• Put some milk on to boil (but don't boil it)
• Add 1 tablespoon each of cocoa powder and sugar to a mug.
• Pour some of the milk, at the "warm" stage, in the mug to dissolve the cocoa and sugar.
• Plop in a marshmallow or two.
• At the "almost boiling" stage, froth the rest of the milk with a whisk.
• Pour into your mug, being careful to spoon the froth in over the top of it all.

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Please visit these other lovely bloggers for their tea on tuesday:

Pat

Patty

Christen

Judy

Jean