Spooooky Halloween!

Don't you just love Halloween? I certainly do! There are soo many great images, recipes, traditions, etc. on the internet these days. Vintage halloween is one of my favorite things...if you love it too, check out this site. Loads of fun!

HALLOWEEN
A gentle breeze rustling the dry cornstalks.

A sound is heard, a goblin walks.

A harvest moon suffers a black cat's cry.

Oh' do the witches fly!

Bonfire catches a pumpkins gleem.

Rejoice, it's Halloween!

-Richard Anderson © Copyright 1998

Inspiration..and the 50th Post!

"Negative complexes that arise along the way are banished...-your dreams will guide you the last part of the way-by putting your foot down, once and for all, and saying, 'I love my creative life more then I love cooperating with my own oppression.' If we were to abuse our children, Social Services would show up at our doors. If we were to abuse our pets, the Humane Society would come take us away. But there is no Creativity Patrol or Soul Police to intervene if we insist on starving our own souls. Thre is just us. We are the only ones to watch over the soul-Self...It is bitterly harsh to water them once a week, or once a month, or even once a year....They need us and need the water of our craft every day. Protect your creative life."

-Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"If you would avoid the... starved soul, name the problem for what it is - and fix it. Practice your work everyday. Then, let no thought, no man, no woman, no mate, no friend, no religion, no job, no crabbed voice force you into a famine. If necessary, show your incisors." -Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Autumn Day

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile."

-Wm. Cullen Bryant

Enjoyed a beautiful autumn day this weekend (though warm!) and wanted to share it with you -

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting

and autumn a mosaic of them all."

-Stanley Horowitz

Really lovely. Even found enough time last night to make these two paperweights. I really love the baby one; although I have to come up with a better way of photographing them!

Something as simple as flowers against a barn can be so breath-taking this time of year...

SOAKING UP SUN

Today there is the kind of sunshine old men love, the kind of day when my grandfather would sit on the south side of the wooden corncrib where the sunlight warmed slowly all through the day like a wood stove. One after another dry leaves fell. No painful memories came. Everything was lit by a halo of light. The cornstalks glinted bright as pieces of glass. From the fields and cottonwood grove came the damp smell of mushrooms, of things going back to earth. I sat with my grandfather then. Sheep came up to us as we sat there, their oily wool so warm to my fingers, like a strange and magic snow. My grandfather whittled sweet smelling apple sticks just to get at the scent. His thumb had a permanent groove in it where the back of the knife blade rested. He let me listen to the wind, the wild geese, the soft dialect of sheep, while his own silence taught me every secret thing he knew.-- Tom Hennen

Well, then...close your eyes!

I must say, I love this card! It's excatly the mood I'm in today, and I hope you are, too. This card (and other ones equally as fab) are by Leigh Standley and Curly Girl Designs. You can see more of her work at http://www.curlygirldesign.com/! And in honor of silly things, I made this today - -

Hope you have a wonderfully silly weekend!

Love My Vintage Girl!

I have always loved this little cutie, and use her loads. Now I've found a brand-new use for her so I can see her everyday; a paperweight! Check her out on Etsy, and she can cheer your day up, too!

My girlfriend asked for a Gratitude Journal for her adorable, very preppy daughter. This is what I came up with...

I am very into writing letters and notes to people that you love. I encouraged her to tell her idea why the idea of gratitude was so important to her by adding a little pocket with a stamped note inside.

Hope you're having a beautiful weekend...

Of Trash and Treasure, And Other Ponderings

Saw this on my travels over the weekend, and just had to stop and think how simply beautiful it was.
I need some help, girls. I really need you all to weigh in and tell me WHAT to do! Several years ago, when we all got together to divy-up my granmother's things, we found these shoes. My grandmother and I were so close, and I was immediately drawn to them. They were the shoes she wore on her wedding day. Now, practical as my grandmother was, (and tint, they're a 4 I think) she wore the heck out of these things. I mean they are WORN, girls!I must have put them in the trash a thousand times and kept pulling them out. What do you think? Trash or Treasure?? I simply can't decide. Do I try and put them out somewhere to be seen? Do I hide them in the attic? Or is it simply time for a trip to the dump? Help! Here they are - - -

Decisions, Decisions. Let me know. Anyway, some other treasure I found over the weekend...

Don't you love that vintage purse? I have a cocktail party this weekend, and I can not figure out what the heck I did with my sporty black cocktail purse! I just may take this one. Won't that get the tongues a waggin'! I found this old issue (and others) of a vintage homemaking magazine, where they feature homes, and they're floor plans. I love the way they so formally state the homes owners; ah, the pride. Click for a larger view - you'll love it.

Made this journal today. I love the way it turned out!

I didn't have the right filter on my lense, but when I passed this gorgeous field this weekend, I knew I had to take a picture.

Leisure

byW.H. Davies

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this, if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Where Does the Time Go??

I really am still alive. In case you haven't noticed, things have been crazy here!! Sadly, looking at the calendar, I see that things won't be settling down until the second weekend in November (and then -who are we kidding - it's Christmas madness. But anyway...) But God is good and He gave me a surprise chance to sneak out to one of my favorite antique malls yesterday. I promise to take some pics of some goodies I got - some vintage homemaking magazines you'll love, a great vintage purse...yum!!

When I saw this yesterday, I knew I was to heed the message, and take a deep breath. I hope it gives you some fortitude for your journey!

Have a wonderful Sunday - -