A Photo A Day [Day 32]

Day 32

Tomorrow's my 29th birthday, the beginning of the end. Hence the tombstone as a reminder that I'm not as young as I used to be. Happy birthday to me.

I actually have a really good attitude about my birthday and see it as a fun excuse to eat lots of cake and blow my diet for a day or two. For those of you keeping score, the cupcake is for breakfast, not to be confused with the cake that will be arriving later in the day with my mom and little brother. I like to start the party early and make it last all day.

365 Project's theme this week: "Still Life"

Treasury Thursday

I can't promise this will become a regular feature but I've been having so much fun creating Etsy treasuries in my spare time. I think it's helped that I've been too sick and lethargic to do much else but lie around and muck about on the computer. It's like the ultimate in window shopping. Here you have a huge marketplace full of the most creative and beautiful products imaginable. There's a certain freedom to the process of putting a treasury together. There's also an art to it so I feel like it's something I improve at with each practice.

I wish I had more friends on Etsy so I could deliberately feature their items and drum up some business. Alas, I am a loner so I simply add whatever goods catch my eye. I tend to wind up with items I'd either like to buy or make myself, although some wind up in there purely for aesthetic purposes. Every time I'm done putting a treasury together I discover more and more items that I could have happily thrown in there. It's just as tempting to throw them into the shopping cart, but I resist for the sake of my bank account. I like to think I'm doing some good and helping out the sellers whose items I feature. This can't all be solely for my benefit!

'Cold Blue Steel, Passionate Plum' by Sourkraut

Inspired by my steel blue nail polish and the purple shirt I happened to throw on today. A happy accident with a beautiful result. Forget orange and red. Here's a sophisticated color combo for those cold autumn nights that are rapidly closing in.

Festival - 5x5 Fine... ara133photogra... $15.00	Plum Argyle Screen ... prettypennydes... $42.00	Night Storm - Kanza... PetalMix $32.00	Purple Plum -- Rose... ForevermoreCre... $12.50
Wrap Dress With Sha... Lirola $98.00	Tennessee, a Blue R... theredmagnolia $28.00	Simply Blackberries... Raceytay $10.00	Winter Blue, Slate ... AMIdesigns $18.00
Midnight Sky Hair P... MoseyDog $7.50	long horn wall look monkeyandsquir... $9.00	Capulina in Slate B... cindymars7 $50.00	Velvet Deep Purple ... luly612 $17.00
Dark Entries Deep P... ZenAndCoffee $18.00	Steel Boned Taffeta... BattieClothing $140.00	Purple Prose TheFeltElf $75.00	Over-the-Knee Croch... mademoiselleme... $40.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

'Greetings From Beyond the Grave' by Sourkraut

OFF WITH HER HEAD L... EternalAutumn $26.00	Raven leather mask ... TomBanwell $	Lil Reaper twolefthands $12.00	Bride Haunted House... heathersue $3.75
5 Crocheted Skulls ... DeweyDecimalCr... $55.00	Victorian Murder Sk... ChiStudios $150.00	Gravestone series -... quercusdesign $10.00	Exploited / mature ... ravenofskys $150.00
HITCHCOCKs HORROR s... JoyandWhimsy $19.95	Spooky Scary Skull ... HelloCrafty $	Graveyard Dirt Spel... anathemum $6.50	Zombie Apocalypse C... dollflesh $179.00
The Boneyard - 5X7 ... margaretlillia... $14.00	Flock of Black Bird... mrd74 $34.00	ZOMBIE DOLL with Bl... artisansagogo $22.00	DAY OF THE DEAD WED... dnacreations $18.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

I am madly in love with that Day of the Dead bride and groom in the last picture. Makes the idea of one day renewing my wedding vows so I can have the pretty dress and cake I missed out on by being too frugal the first time around even more tempting.

A Photo A Day [Day 31]

Day 31

Yeah, most of the fruit in my house is rotten and past being tasty. I'm still gonna eat it because I'm too cheap to throw it out. Snatch it from the Grim Reaper's clutches before he has a chance to fully claim it.

365 Project's theme this week: "Still Life"

One Lovely Blog Award

While I'm tempted to paraphrase that old quote about not wanting to be part of any club that will have me as a member and therefore sully it with my presence, I can't help but admit that I'm pleased to have been given the "One Lovely Blog Award" from two equally lovely bloggers, The Answer is Chocolate and Ladii Aponte.


I'd been putting off doing this since I was first given the award because of the pressure and time involved in coming up with 15 worthy candidates to pass the award along to. Not that I don't know of 15 lovely blogs but I knew it would be tough to narrow down the list of 184 blogs I currently follow to just 15 and, even worse, cut some of my favorites from the list. For the most part I tried to stick with the little guys, blogs without an abundance of followers that may not have been discovered yet despite their obvious brilliance.

Here are the rules for accepting the award:

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

I get that this can be a pain for those of you with busy lives so don't feel compelled to formally accept and pass the award along. Just accept my adoration. The 15 lovely blogs I have chosen are:

Ador
Adorn On a Shoestring
Bella Before and After
Catch a Falling Star
Closet Crafter
The English Kitchen
Finny Knits
From the Kitchen Of: Mrs. Bettie Rocker
Haunt Style
Made With Pink
Mega Spooky
My Crafty Crap
Thrift Core
The Train To Crazy
A Whisk and a Prayer

I hope you check them out so you can witness the astounding display of loveliness for yourself!

A Photo A Day [Day 30]

Day 30

I hope you all appreciate today's photo because I stumbled upon a snake in the process of taking today's pictures and nearly gave the poor guy a heart attack. Some might say he shrieked like a girl and jumped back ten feet as a result. As my husband was within earshot but didn't see the commotion that's the story I'm sticking with to explain what he may have heard.

I'll assume you're all far more talented at using Photoshop than I, but just in case you're not here's the tutorial I followed to get the black and white effect with a pop of yellow.

Bonus photo because I couldn't pick my favorite:



365 Project's theme this week: "Still Life"

A Photo A Day [Day 29]

Day 29

Naively, when I started this project just a month ago it didn't even occur to me that the person hosting the challenge might not make it to the end. I may have had those fears about myself but here we are at the start of week five and she hasn't updated the theme for this week or even uploaded any of her own pictures for over a week. Definitely not a good sign, but also not a reason for me to give up on my personal endeavor.

I've already been uploading my pictures to 365 Project mostly for the handy organization and easy method to share my photos with my friends on Facebook. Now they come to the rescue with their fun weekly themes. This week's is still life so this is my first attempt at that. Not sure I entirely grasp the concept but I'll give it a whirl as the week progresses.

365 Project's theme this week: "Still Life"

Join the Bag Swap At Sew, Mama, Sew!

I've seen numerous craft and sewing swaps out there that I wished I were creative or talented enough to participate in. Finally here's one that's perfectly suited for my skills: a bag swap! It's hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew!, which is a wonderful sewing blog, store, and forum that I've come to rely on for inspiration and technique tips as well as frequent chances to win free stuff.

You can sign up until Wednesday, September 29 and you'll be paired with a sewer with similar taste. The deadline for mailing your bag isn't until October 25 so you've got plenty of time to find just the right fabric and pattern to share with your swap partner. I've signed up and I hope lots of others do too. It should be oodles of fun!

All of the info about the swap can be found here at Sew, Mama, Sew!

Sharktopus! You Too Can Create Your Own Genetic Hybrid!

Regular readers of my blog may have noticed by now that I'm a little weird. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you one bit that the highlight of my week was last night's creature feature on SyFy, Sharktopus. Part shark, part octopus, all dangerous killer. As if the notion of a shark/octopus isn't compelling enough, after seeing the way poor Sharktopus was mistreated I found I'd developed a real love for that poor, misunderstood critter. Ok, ok, I may be glorifying this a bit. In reality the film was just what you'd expect from a SyFy original movie: horribly fake special effects, implausible plot, a lack of acting skills on display, and an unnecessary amount of scantily-clad women. Just what you need to entertain yourself on a Saturday night, right?


When I happened upon a toy rubber shark and a toy octopus in the dollar bin at Target today I knew what I had to do. Conveniently enough, the shark even had a perfect line of demarcation between his torso and tail so I was easily able to slice through him with a box cutter. In order to squeeze the octopus into sharky's torso I made two small cuts in the neck area so there was a little more give as I squished the octopus into place.


I may touch Sharktopus up with some paint to even out his skin tone and make him a little closer to the original but I do adore him just as he is now. I'm considering taking him to work with me tomorrow to spruce up my otherwise barren and impersonal desk. But then I might have to explain my weirdness to my co-workers too.