My Baby Brother Got Married!

I've gotten a few e-mails asking me where I have been... here is a quick pictorial shot by my hubby to highlight the wonderful event last Thursday!

Here is my brother dressed as a penquin... I think it is fitting he chose to get married dressed as a flightless bird as the wedding was at Walt Disney World. He fit right in with the other cast members.

And he's actually not that tall, he's standing on my suitcase.



Here is the Wedding Pavilion at Disney.

I officiated. Here I am walking to the altar.

Here is my brother giving the vows he wrote. He is crying and he is making me cry. It's the whole sibling thing -- he cries, I cry. He laughs, I laugh! I'm sure you understand.

Here are the two princesses of the day! Both are so beautiful! (But only one has glass slippers...)

And speaking of Cinerella -- check out this dessert!!! A white chocolate mousse filled shoe! (Much better than glass, if you ask me.) And that castle pattern on the plate? Some sort of wicked awesome chocolate stamp!

Dessert AND CAKE! My kind of wedding!!!

And the day after... I am morphing into Minnie. No big surprise there...

Happy Holidays to all of you!

The Secret Life of this Book...

So my friend Buzz had a birthday. And this is what I made...

She gave me this book to use in a project a couple of months ago.

And then recently I was hanging out in her office for a bit and she showed me one of her favorite paintings by Carl Larsson. Buzz told me that this painting looked like a good life to her - reading, cool air, a cat and a dog...

So as much as it killed me to change the life of the book, I created a book box and then recreated the painting inside of it.

This is one of my favorite projects yet!

Happy birthday, Buzz! And thanks to Susan for giving me the idea in a roundabout way!

Milk Made

Look at my new light sculpture!


What have I recycled now?







Did you get a clue from my post title?




That's right! It is made of the plastic from gallon milk containers!

It is 30 individual pieces that I hand cut from 10 milk jugs. The pattern was in ReadyMade magazine last fall. This one is pretty little... about eight inches across.




Watch out! I'm going to be milking this project for all that it is worth!

Make Me the Popular Kid!!!!

Hey! I took my pumpkins to instructables and I need YOU to vote for them so I will have fame, fortune, glamour, popularity, and terrific prizes!

VOTE HERE!

The pumpkins and I thank you in advance...

Recycled Jack O'Lantern Magic

Where have I been, you ask? I have been trying to remove labels from my food jars so I could make these darling Jack O'Lanterns!



All I can say is some of the adhesives used on food jars do not want to release the labels. Hot water and elbow grease is my preferred method of removal, but geesh! It takes a heck of a lot of work. It's almost scary...



This is the simple shape face. Darling, isn't he?




The paper I used to cover the jars is also recycled from a kitchen item I received from last Christmas! I saved it because it was these huge pieces of perfect orange and finally I found the perfect use!

And the black paper pieces are scraps from another project! I love it!



I'm going to place my pumpkin spice tea lights in them and place them in the window so maybe we'll get a few trick or treaters this year...

This recycling trick is a real treat!

Happy Halloween!!!

Help! I Need Somebody!

As Cathy would say, "Ack!"



And I am only reminded of this as my favorite SNL cast member Andy Samberg played Cathy recently on the show during Weekend Update.

I am so busy. If I could clone myself right now I would. (And just not anybody. I need somebody. Help!)

I would make that clone do the icky things like clean the bathroom and change the kitty box and dust the creatures I insist on placing in front of the telly to liven up the box of light when it is off.



If the clone (or Kelly B. 2.0) could do all the housework and mail out my packages and write blog entries, I could just do fun stuff.

And why was I entertaining the idea on Friday of posting something every day when I can't even blog once a week? I guess I should remember I was entertaining the idea. I took it to a show and out to dinner. I didn't invite it in to stay over...

Is anyone else out in the ether feeling crazy overwhelmed and the holidays are still a ways off?

I'm sure this will be better in the morning. And when I can stop adding new items to my to do list.

*sigh*













And you don't have to tell me it will get better. I know it will. I have no doubt it will. Sunday nights can just be a tad overwhelming is all...

A cheerier post is right around the corner. I can feel it!

Happy Monday to you and yours.

Top Five Reasons to Read Craftier Magazine This Month

The top five reasons to read Craftier's on-line magazine!

Number five... Awesomely cool layouts featuring awesomely cool products!!!



Number Four... Craftier somehow knows that you REALLY ARE craftier than your third grade teacher! Just like them!

Wow. How do they know?



Number Three... Mad Libs. Do I really need to _____ more?

Number Two... They include amusing pictures of costumed animals ready to go trick and treating. Yes. With dogs it is tricks first and then treats.

And the Number One reason to love Craftier?

They named ME Craftier Ambassador!

I am shown here with my tv boyfriend, Jim, my yarn 'do (very crafty indeed!), and of course the paint French mustache I give myself when creating art.

"La moustache est très importante pour l'art!"

So go read Craftier for yourself right now. You'll enjoy the entire thing. Cover to virtual cover.

Good Grief, Where Did I Go?

Hidy ho, friends in the ether!

I pulled up my blog and realized that it has been a little while since I posted. I wondered to myself, "Where did I go?"

The answer to that is: dreamland, the doctor's office, Vegas, the vet's office, a job interview, the kitchen table working on art, the garage working on art, the pool, around the neighborhood, the 1920's as I read Seabiscuit, the 1830's as I read an account about Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, the Emmys, the kitchen, I think the couch swallowed me at one point... but now I am here today. Writing. Realizing all the other things I need to catch up on too!

I hope you all have been doing well. I hope there are exciting and fun things happening with you. I am off to read blogs after this post so I can see what you have been up to lately!

And the Husband of the Year Award goes to...

Skippy Boisenberry McAllister!!!



What an incredible award! And you coordinated your t-shirt with the award! Well done, I say!



Skippy Dippy, you're the one!
You make my life a lot of fun!
Skippy Dippy, I'm awfully fond of you...

Skippy, you're the best husband a gal could wish for... you've helped me through so much this year. You are thoughtful and kind. You always have a good attitude in your pocket for me when I lose mine. You laugh at my stupid jokes almost as hard as you laugh at the good ones. You tell me to chase my dreams and then follow me, giddy with joy.

You listen to me grumble and you never grumble back. You smile at me when I cry because you know the downpour will only last a minute. You love me for exactly who I am. You want me to feel what I feel and be who I am and you love me every second.

I love you. Thank you.

I know you'll be good with the kids because of how good you are with the cats...



Sharing your patch of sun with Petey.



Giving Snoopy rabbit ears even though you know they are her ultimate enemy after moths and flies and birds and lizards.



Being self-effacing and giving yourself rabbit ears.

And there's what you do for me...



You enjoy the sunshine and every new day!



You continue to hug Snoopy even though she's not too sure about it.



You pose for my never-ending requests of strange and wonderful portraits.

Thank you for being my husband. You are the husband of the year every year in my book.

Boy Oh Boy! Boxing Day is a Brillant Blogger!

Shucks! I can't thank 13delanceystreet enough for nominating me as a Brillant Blog. I've enjoyed my conversations with her immensely so this really is the icing on the conversation cake!

Hmmm. Cake. That sounds good! Speaking of cake, I would like it alamode... here are my nominees for the Brillant Blog Award!

http://alamodestuff.blogspot.com/
http://vermillionrules.blogspot.com/
http://elisaannlindstrom.blogspot.com/
http://shiborigirl.blogspot.com/
http://wonderfulworldofetsy.blogspot.com/
http://dlpom.blogspot.com/
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Here are the rules for the nominees: 1) Add the logo of the award to your blog 2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you 3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs 4) Add links to those blogs on your blog 5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

And one more thing! I've had a lot of interest in what was going to happen with the frozen yogurt containers!

Well I created Yarn Barns! (Thanks to Barking Dog Designs for the name! Check out her shop!)

The delightful Yarn Barn will keep your yarn safe from playful kitties and curious children! This is the first design. I'm working on several others. Let me know what you think!

















The pig says "Oink!" The cow says "Moo!" The daisy says "She loves me!"

The Wolf is at my Door!

Yawn!

The wolf is knocking at my door today. So I made a box to honor him. I put it in my shop as a PIF (pay it forward) because I feel grateful to be walking around and recovering this week!


I am tired. But I set the goal of creating 100 items for myself again while I recover from my surgery.

At this moment, I have 25 separate items finished. I am about to start the remaining 75.

If I can get this wolf to stop knocking at my door. I know he'll stop knocking if I take a nap.

So maybe a nap first and then 75 items after that...

It's a plan.

How are all of you out there? Thanks for coming back after it being so long. I've missed you!

But now, I must go and dream about all my friends in the ether...

More soon.

Clouds in My Coffee

I think clouds are the theme today. The marine layer hasn't burned off yet. The layer almost looks puffy like clouds, whereas it usually looks like just a gray mass.


























Clouds make me happy. That is one thing I miss living here in southern California - clouds.



















I am feeling unfocused. My brain is cloudy.
























My vision changed yesterday so my right eye is cloudy.
























Yesterday I was a crazy painter. Today I feel like my creative focus is cloudy.
























But all these clouds will clear up soon.
























Until then, I will drink the clouds in my coffee. I don't mind clouds -- clouds make me happy. And I always appreciate the sunshine that comes later on...

Good-bye, Mr. Petey Pie

Yesterday was a hard day. We had to put Prickly Pete down. He had fractured his pelvis and his diabetes had come back in one fell swoop. It was a very hard decision. But when we saw him -- we knew it was the right one.

It was a sad day. My husband and I loved Petey like crazy. We miss him more than I could ever express.

Thanks for picking us at the shelter, Mr. Petersworth. We are so glad to have known you.