pookieville

My monsters are better traveled than me.

This is Etinne. This is Etinne waiting for her flight to Asia. Lucky monster!

 

I know what you think...

You think I am not doing anything. Well I've done TWO things. So there. One thing is that I put ( finally) batteries in my camera. Hoooooray! Thing two is that I have been sewing my behind off getting monsters out into the world!!

Wanna see how cute they look when they are all ready to go?

Can you see the excitement on their little monster faces? Well look harder- its there.

Also, last night I got to go to French General to see what kind of magical creative stuff Kaari Meng has been up to. First off, if you have never been to French General, go. Now.  It is like creative heaven. So much great stuff to look at you just don't know where to look first. Kaari has collected, found, maybe even stolen some of the most amazing fabric, beads and bits you will find. Most are old which makes them that much better, BUT get this, she in her creative genius has teamed up with Jolee's paper and is now producing French General inspired paper packs and bead button packs based on the antique versions. Really, I just wanted to lay on the floor and oogle them. Jolee has been around for some time, I respect the quality of their product, but it has always been kind of cutsis  for me. But now with the French General line, it is a whole different game. I just went to the Jolee site, and I don't see the products yet, but believe me it is gonna knock your socks off! So definitely keep you eyes out for it. I also had the opportunity to meet some of Kaari's family. Her equally talented sister Mollycreates wonderful cards, and teaches at French General when she is in town. On sunday she did a journal class and when I saw the sample I was bummed out I had missed it. Molly and I hit it off because we both are paperophiles ( yes I think I  did make up that word). Trash paper? No such thing! Anyway, a new friend found and a great new blog to read!!!

Happy Monday my creative Friends!!

random-ish kinda stories that are very self incriminating ~

I hate to perpetuate the crazy cat lady thing, and yet, I do it all the time. O.K.  So, here goes! I had a friend once, who told me a story of when a pet communicator visited her home.  When she encountered the cat, she informed my friend that the cat ( who had some kind of normal name)  said his real name was Water boy , and would like to be called that. From then on the cat was Water boy. That is the preface for my story.  

The other morning I was in bed, and Poe came up and walked all over and settled in next to me for a big ole' purr fest. This is a rare event. He is not a lap cat my any stretch of the imagination, and he tolerates only so much of that loving up business. I am still in a sleep stupor and as I pet him, he is just so happy and purring and all of a sudden a name pops into my head, and I know it is his. Ready.... Fern Dog. Hum... I am now a bit more awake, and and wondering why Fern Dog has popped into my head so strongly. I say it to him, and he licks me. You can imagine the look I got from Harry when I told him this story. That's right- nothing, he is used to this. And yet by the end of the day he too is now called the cat Fern Dog. I spent the morning in the yard and that cat shadowed me the whole time. Again, not his norm. He is more of the solitary kind of guy. I kept asking him if that was his name, and he would sit on my new plants. So, there we have it, Mr. Poe/Fern Dog. And I swear I am not crazy. much.

In other news, I was making these super cute bird seed hearts to hang in the trees. CUTE! Yes, well it turns out if you make them in little heart molds, and put tooth picks in them  to make the holes for the string later, and leave them on a cookie sheet to set up, your husband will eat one.  Poor husband. If you possible want one that Harry didn't try to eat, they are for sale at Zinnia,

Happy Monday my friends!

Dear residents of Pookieville~

Oh how I have missed you. It has been such a busy time.... Mr. H had hip replacement surgery and that has taken center stage in our lives for a bit. Happy to say that he is doing so much better than the Dr.'s expected and it has already changed our lives in  such a positive way. We are slated to do the other hip in March. 

So much "stuff" happened this last year. Very challenging stuff. The kind of stuff that makes you act like an adult. I am happy to say that the "stuff" didn't win. We made it through and we learned and we grew. I do have high hopes for 2012. I am looking for a more fun and peaceful year. To start it off I spent some time this morning doing one of my favorite things. Gardening in my bare feet and P.J.'s I want to wish you all a happy 2012 and hope it is filled with lots of P.J. gardening, or whatever it is that recharges you and makes you happy. 

xoxo

 

I am mostly sure my neighbors

don't know that I blog. Thank goodness. It turns out that H and I are mildly wicked. Here is our story of wickedness.

Friday was such a lovely day- one that begged to be napped during, and since I was busy during most of the day, I snuck a little late nap in. Needless to say I awoke 1 hour later, stupider than usual. Nap hang-over. It happens. It was nearing 7 pm ( don't judge me ) and I figured I had better start figuring for dinner. I tossed something in the microwave to defrost and headed out to water the yard, and hopefully get some of my brain working again. I came back in to H announcing that " Pizzashere!" and on the dining room table sat a huge pizza box.

me- "oh you ordered pizza..."

H- "no"

me - " is that pizza?"

H- "yes - didn't you order it?"

me-" I was sleeping"

H- "yeah I was wondering how you ordered pizza while you were sleeping"

My sleep hangover is in high gear now and I am feeling a little like Alice and a rabbit plus one pizza.

me-"you ordered it- right"

H-"nope- paid for it though- get plates"

me-" you really didn't order it?"

H- "nope- a man shows up at the door with pizza, I pay for it and start eating."

me- "so it is like magic pizza?"

H-"yup"

I still don't really believe him- and I am thinking I don't want to eat random pizza, but he tells me it is from our local place, so now I am all in. Who knew I was that easy? I open the box and start laughing- He really didn't order it. He could never have ordered this pizza- his standard order is pepperoni and extra garlic. This pizza is every veggie you ever saw on one half plus jalapeno, and the other half is goat cheese and basil! We dig in. I decide that magic pizza is tastier than pizza you order yourself- H agrees. Second piece in, H looks over the receipt to see what the order actually was. He hands it over for me to read, and what I see... is my neighbors name and address! We have just kinda stolen our neighbors pizza! I grab the phone and dial and of course have crust in my mouth as I explain to pizza girl that my husband thought I ordered, but I didn't , and he paid, and then HE ate it, and then I saw that it was supposed to go across the street... when you say it all in one sentence, with pizza in your mouth, I don't understand why she didn't get it. Silly girl. Second time through she got it. "You mean you don't live at XXX? " " That's right! but my husband ate their pizza - that he paid for. Please send another one to XXX super fast!" And so that is why Harry and I are kinda wicked. I have not seen the neighbors yet. I may never- if I am lucky. I don't know if they know, I don't think I want to know if they know or what they think of us in our wickedness, all I have to say is- magic pizza is really good.

Just a quick note...

My  amazing artist friend Joe has started a blog. Please stop in and say "hello". He would love it!

 

will you hold my monster??

A few weeks ago I was working at Zinnia which is random because I don't usually work there, and a woman purchased one of my baby monsters.
 She was going to send it to a friend in Switzerland.. I love that one of my monsters now lives in Switzerland. Today, Tamara sent me a link to flickr to show me what happened to another one of monsters. He is having quite an adventure. Please go check out what    Staci Lee has been up to- it made me laugh!!

 

 

I really don't mean to sound crabby, but lets face it, some mornings are harder than others- and I sometimes can't help but feel that it is pre-cursor to my day. Shall we begin? My hillbilly downstairs bathroom is so small that the sink is outside of the bathroom. Legally- it is not a bathroom if the sink is not in it. YAY for tax reasons, but super hillbilly none the less. And really no offense to hillbillies- I come from a long straight line myself. So, as I am carefully trying to get my expensive rosacea moisturiser out of the tube- I squeeze a tad too hard and a stream of it SHOOTS out steady line that goes across the sink and about 6 inches on the washing machine. Oh did I not mention that my washer and dryer are right next to the sink... which is much better than when we had the washer ,dryer and LITTER BOX next to the sink, because as you will soon read, I drop things.... So what is a rosacea faced girl to do- what any non self respecting girl would do, I salvage what I can off the counter and the washing machine and apply it my face. DUH. I am thinking to myself, hummmm I hope this isn't a sign about how the day is gonna go. I think it was. Next up, lets curl those eye lashes. Sounds dangerous. Not nearly as bad as after you fish the curler out from behind said washing machine after you drop it, and it is covered in so many cobwebs and spider bodies you wonder if you have every actually cleaned back there. Yes I have. To stay optomistic, you say to yourself, gosh remember when the litter box used to be there and you would drop stuff in there.... Oh a little hot water and soap will fix that- o.k. a little more hot water and soap. Next up- mascara. Really, am I brave enough today? Men, if you are reading there is a phenomena  that occurs during mascara application. The twitch. Something takes over your hand and arm and you just poke yourself in the eye with that wand. We don't mean to, we try to stop it by closing our eye, but instead we make a la brea tar pit mess on our lid, lash line and if lucky in our eye. I have to say that mascare in the eye is way better than the toothbrush with paste on it. Lets just say that minty fresh was not meant for your eye. You  with me so far?? Moisturisure on appliance, curler behind washer, mascara in eye. I was kinda afraid to try to get dressed as I might kill myself in the process. I am happy to say no one was injured during the dressing process.  AH- ready to begin my day! I grab my stuff and this red rosacea faced, la brea tar bit watery eye girl hit the road. It is gonna be a good day. I can feel it.

I love a swapmeet!

And an estate sale, well really even a good dumpster can make me happy. I probably shouldn't really tell folks that part. Yesterday, even though I need NOTHING, I went treasure hunting at the local city college swapmeet. It was great because the heat and the holiday kept the crowds away- well not all of them- I ran into these 2 nice girls..
 Michelle Caplin - and Hannah  of Hannahmade-

Lucky for me they like me. And lucky for me we were not shopping for the same stuff, cause they are younger than me and I am sure can kick my ass. I do have a rule though, if you flip me the bird, you pretty much get your picture on my blog. My Dad was the first one to find out that I mean it. I also met this cutie yesterday..

I instantly wanted to go home and take a nap in a bowl. How does he make that look so good?? Anyway, I did score some great finds. I got 2 lovely metal frogs that are now holding photos in my living room, and these beautiful cards...
I love numbers and letters- I might just hang some of these on the wall as is. They came in a set and I don't need all of them so some are listed on etsy now. Oh that patina makes me nuts!

Happy 4th of July to you!!

 

WHOOOOOHOOOOO!

I  got pulbished!!!!

 

In this awesome zine.....

this digital piece.....

 

which I am sure will be available at Zinnia-

( **giddy**)