Happy Halloween!

I've been having so much fun surfing the web, looking at all of the blogs and websites out there. My hubby thinks I've been having TOO MUCH fun and spending too much time. Little does he know how much time I spend after he goes to bed! And I'm sure I've only scratched the surface.

How many of you out there remember making Christmas trees out of Reader's Digest magazines when you were little? Maybe you have to be as old as I am to remember them, but they were cool and fun to make. If I can find a magazine thick enough, I'll make one to show you. Anyway. I found a pumpkin that is reminiscent of those trees and I decided to make one. I got the idea at Creations by Kara. But I made a few changes. I used a really thick, hard cover book. I made my pumpkin shape and traced it on the book. Then I had my son cut it out with the scroll saw, cover and all. By leaving the cover on, it kept the pages from getting caught up in the saw blade and tearing to bits. (It also let's me use the cover to protect it when I pack it away.)

Then I removed the cover by slicing it off with an Xacto knife, cutting inside the cover between the cover and the front page.

With the cover removed, I rifled through the pages,

 "Fluffing" the pages so they don't stick together when they get painted.

I decided that I wanted to be able to close my pumpkin for storage, so I drilled holes to tie it shut instead of gluing it. When I put it away, I will just snip the threads, close it up and store it in the cover!

I threaded some really heavy carpet thread through the holes and pulled it up really tight and tied knots.

I trimmed the extra thread off so it wouldn't show and then pulled the two halves together, fanning out the pages.

I didn't have any wide green ribbon, but I did still have some of my Dollar Store leaves. (I think I'm going to get some ribbon, though, because I really like it!) Add to that some curly raffia and a piece of my treasured driftwood for the stem, and Voila!

My pumpkin!

 

My grandchildren really thought this was really cool. Wait 'til they get to make Christmas trees! Just remember, as you go through life...Attitude is everything! Until next time,

Friday Friends!

My knee is feeling better today, but still not back to normal. When I get up and walk around, it hurts for a good while after I sit back down. But it IS getting better, and that's what counts!

Today on Friday Friends we have a variety of goodies. I had a hard time choosing this week. Do you realize how much time I spend on this weekly post?!? It takes me HOURS because I have so much fun looking and I bounce from site to site and forget that I have a mission. Then I can't remember where I saw a particular project and have to go back and start at the beginning and work my way back to it. I'm sure I should be able to do this more quickly, but I do love to peruse everyone's blogs and websites. OK. So this week we start with A Diamond in the Stuff. (Cute name, huh?) I found the cutest little ribbon trees for Christmas. I have never much liked this kind of tree, but I really like these.

You'll find them at http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/2010/12/no-sew-ribbon-trees.html .

Next is something I feel like we should all have at Thanksgiving, and that's some way to show gratitude for all our many blessings. At Jelly Bean Junkyard, Karly has gone through some rough times, and her blog is her way to cope, to rejoin the world of the living. Go over and check it out at http://jellybeanjunkyard.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/tuesday-tutorial-give-thanks-gratitude-board/

Embellishing Life is where I actually saw the gratitude board first, but she linked back to Jelly Bean Junkyard, so I used the original one, but I liked both blogs, so the next project is from Jenny at Embellishing Life. I have seen a lot of wreaths made from paper and from book pages, but never one like this. It's gorgeous! I think I'll make one, minus the bats, to hang all year 'round. Maybe color a few of the roses on one side. I don't know. We'll see. Anyway, check it out at

http://embellishinglifeeveryday.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-page-wreath-embellish-for-any.html

Isn't it beautiful?

A close-up of the roses.

My last offering for the day is from Craft with Confidence. Its a sweet little bee ball that any baby will love. It's fairly simple to make and soft and cuddly. It has friends, too! A ladybug and a spider. Look them all up at  http://craft-with-confidence.blogspot.com/2010/09/bubble-bee-tutorial-bug-1-of-3.html

What child could resist these?

Well, that's all for today. Hope you like what I like. Have a good weekend and see you back on Monday. And remember..."Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." Henry David Thoreau

Pain-haze ramblings....

I finally figured out how to move the signature! Remember I told you I had learned how to put a signature on my blog? Well, when you put in the code for it, it puts it at the top left of the blog and it won't move down! Today I decided to try anything I could think of, so I moved it all the way to the right, and from there it WILL move down. Yay!  Sniff...sniff...I feel so proud...... :)

This will be a short post today. I am laid up in bed with a very painful knee. I don't know what caused it, but yesterday my knee popped really loud and really hard. Talk about pain! I thought I was going down to the ground! I was in the dressing room at Fashion Bug at the time, and I didn't want to alarm anyone, so I screamed silently while getting myself onto the little bench. I finally got myself dressed again and hobbled out to the car, where my hubby awaited me. He took me directly to the doctor's office, and HE put me on bed rest. He said if its not better in 2-3 days, he wants me to have an MRI. He thinks I might have torn some ligaments. Either that or I had a baker's cyst behind my knee that burst. Any way you look at it, it WAS NOT FUN!

A neighbor down the street and around the corner has done a super job decorating for Halloween. The picture doesn't do it justice, but its the best I could do, because there's just too much to get into one photo. Also, I want to show you my Dollar Store treasure. I bought the wreath, some leaves and pumpkins, cost $4, plus I got a bunch of Fall flowers at a yard sale, cost $2. Total cost, $6. Not bad, huh?

Lastly, I found this quote that I really like and thought you might, too. It demonstrates what is real and what is really important in life. Not the window dressing, but the real stuff.

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others." Audrey Hepburn

Have a good day and remember to keep it real.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch Saturday and it was fun! My daughter-in-law had never been to a real pumpkin patch, so it was fun to watch her as she wandered around, looking at all the stuff. And trying to pick a pumpkin! I think she changed her mind at least three times, but that's what its all about, right? We bought over 200 pounds of pumpkin by the time we were through! We couldn't even fit it all in the trunk. One of them had to go in the back seat with me and Halena. Next Saturday will be the great Hall Family pumpkin carve-off. Stay tuned for photos. For now, here are some photos of our search for the perfect pumpkin.

Part of the pumpkin patch.

Hiding in the corn stalks.

Two down, four more to go.

That's four....

The wagon is getting more and more full.

My little pumpkin girl.

Taking a little rest.

A good time was had by all, that is until we got to the scale and the register. WOW! 200 pounds of pumpkin at .26 a pound...you do the math.

Now I have a quick and easy project. I call them Spooky Spoolies. I have a whole collection of wooden thread spools and I'm finally ready to let go of a few of them. They are pretty hard to come by nowadays, so I hang on to them pretty tightly. The pictures will be pretty self-explanatory.

My little spoolie family.



Sorry its blurry. The mummy is wrapped with plumber's
 tape, or pipe tape, or whatever YOU call it.

A stick for the stem, wrapped in jute. Curly raffia and some leaves finish it off.

A green pom-pom for her nose.

The mummy and the witch have yarn hair. Wrap the yarn around two fingers about 15 or 20 times and tie it really tight. Cut the loops and trim to the length you like. Put some hot glue on the edges of the hole and stuff the middle of the yarn hair down inside. All the black lines are made with black fabric paint. Googly eyes for the mummy and you're done! The kids will love to make or receive these cute little spoolies, so make a dozen or two!

That's it for tonight. I'm so tired, I can't hold my eyes open any longer. Oh, yeah...my husband got home today, so maybe I'll sleep a little better. After all, my future awaits me. C.S. Lewis said, "The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." Have a great Monday. Gramma G.

Friday Friends!

Friday is for Friends! And our first friend is Bev at Flamingo Toes. She has some really nice tutorials for a variety of things. One that caught my eye was this necklace. I love the look of all those rings. Go to http://www.flamingotoes.com/2011/06/loft-rings-and-pink-beads-necklace/ to see the tutorial.

Next on today's list is Tai over at taidye. I found too many projects on her blog that I would like to feature so I picked just two. The cutest little mummy necklace uses a supply that you would probably never dream of and has big googly eyes. I love love love it!!!
http://taidyeoriginal.blogspot.com/2011/10/make-mummy-necklace.html

Don't you just want one?

She also had this cute clutch purse made with on old book cover. Check it out.
http://taidyeoriginal.blogspot.com/2011/04/celebrating-100-followers-book-clutch.html

Last but least today is Lauren at All Things Homie. She has a tutorial for some killer photo coasters made with ceramic tiles and tissue paper. See how she does it at http://allthingshomie.blogspot.com/2011/10/diy-photo-coasters.html

One last thing. I got an email from my good friend Jean today with a link to YouTube. You've got to see this video. You can bet I will be trying this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBF6bv4Oe4&noredirect=1 .

Now its time for me to catch some ZZZZZ's. And here's something for you to think about until we meet again. Dreams really can come true if we only have the courage to pursue them. How's your pursuit going? Later, Gramma H.;

Decorating for Halloween

How do you like the new look? I decided it was time for an overhaul. I needed something bright and upbeat. I love everything red, white and blue, but finding backgrounds is hard. I don't want just any run-of-the-mill background. It has to be something that speaks to me. I know, sounds kind of half-baked, but that's me....the half-baked gramma! Anyway, I really like this design and the swirlies make me want to take action, so its all good.

I have been reading the series over on Funky Junk Interiors about improving your blog, and I am finding it totally useful. She's calling it 31 days from blog to biz and so far, I have used something from almost all of them. If you want to partake of her wisdom, go to her blog and check it out. So far I have taken off the word verification, turned off the comment mediation, put my signature on the blog post page, linked my email to my profile, and a few other things I can't even remember right now. Oh, yeah! and how to put the link within icons at the bottom of each post! How cool is that?

Well, we hung our pumpkins and made some alien spiders to go with them. They are just handmade pom-poms with smaller commercial pom-poms for eyes with googly eyes glued to them, and long pieces of yarn for the legs. They turned out pretty cute. I kind of goofed when we made the pom-poms and we made them too long and not full enough, so they are kind of floppy-mop things, but that actually just made them cuter!

Any child will have a blast making these, both the pumpkins and spiders, but the spiders most of all. I put the biggest googly eyes I had on mine and we all love her! She was hanging from the pull-chain on the fan, but her legs kept brushing my son's head when he walked through the living room, so he moved her. Isn't he funny?

So, this is just a short post, but I will be back soon.  And in case you didn't know it, the pursuit of truth will set you free, even if you never find it!  'Night, Gramma G.

Mopey Monday

Today is a mopey Monday. My husband left Friday for Nevada (which is why the Friday Friends wound up on Saturday), my daughter-in-law and grandkids are all at school, and my son is at work. I should be enjoying the peace and quiet, but its just a little too quiet.

I saw this cute paper pumpkin on firstpalette.com and I liked it so much that I decided to make some with my granddaughter. We used different papers for ours and they turned out pretty cute. We used green curly ribbon to make the little vine tendrils and we're going to hang them on the front porch.

Its also the time of year for hot chocolate making! Every year I buy the stuff to make my own hot chocolate mix. Its one of our family traditions.

I don't buy fancy brands but I do like to use Nesquik for most of my chocolate mix because it has a lot more cocoa in it than the generic. I also use a lot more creamer than most people do. Here's my recipe:

Gramma G's Hot Chocolate

1 large and 1 small non-fat instant dry milk
1 really big powdered creamer
1 large Nesquik and 1 small generic chocolate milk mix
1 2lb. bag powdered sugar

Open 2 garbage bags (make sure they are NOT the odor killer kind) and put one inside the other. Dump all the ingredients into the bags and twist the top, trapping air inside. Now shake and tumble until well mixed. Trapping air inside the bag gives the mix room to move as you move the bag. When well-mixed, put into storage containers. It makes a lot...enough that I only have to make it twice every winter, and we are a family of six, plus I usually give some as gifts. Use 1/4 cup mix for a 8oz. mug of hot chocolate. Add marshmallows or whipped cream. YUM!!!

This big glass canister holds a little more than half of the mix.....

...and this largest Tupperware canister holds the rest!

So, okay, maybe today won't be so bad. I have the house to myself, I have plenty of hot chocolate, and I have my computer to communicate with all of you. Actually, it sounds pretty good, now I think of it. Think I'll go boil some water. While I wait, here's a thought for you. Living on earth is expensive, but it comes with a free trip around the sun every year! See ya later, Gramma G.

Friday Friends!

Friday Friends! are Saturday Friends this week. But I've got some really good links for you today. I've been doing some reading and searching and found some new-to-me sites that I really like, starting with Blue Cricket Designs. Rebecca Dulgarian does a super job and has some really cute ideas for Halloween that you need to look at, but I'm going another route. The post I really like and wanted you to see is a post called "How to break into the blogging world." I found the information to be very useful, and she has a sense of humor that comes out in her writing. Stop by and read this post and then check out the rest of her site. It's super! http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2010/03/how-to-break-into-blogging-world.html .

Next up is Becky at Infarrantly Creative. Now hers is an awesome site! I love recycling old furniture and other stuff and her Roadkill Rescue section is full of great re-dos. She is the mother of 2 small children and we all know how time consuming kids are, but she seems to find the time to share with us her great projects. I chose not a furniture project to share with you, but a recycling project that anyone can do. Here is the link for the tutorial for making a handy bag holder for you car or tote bag or beach bag, or wherever you might need one. So cute!

Find find it here: http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2011/08/wipes-container-reuse-and-a-giveaway.html .

Here's another DIY'n fool. :)  Her name is Jaime and she has three children and a love for crafty things. She has some ideas that need to be checked out and here's one of them. I love love love these adorable treat bags, and she says they will hold 3 bags of candy! She made smaller ones for birthday party giveaway bags, too. Such a good mommy...

Check out her blog and all the great ideas at:  http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com/2011/09/t-is-for-treat.html .

Now, before I forget, I finally finished my other pumpkin, the one with the book pages, and here it is.

Here's the front.

This is the back.

I put little eyeballs on the exclamation point.

And here are the two together.

 The book I used is kind of a funny thing. I found an old copy of the The Stand by Stephen King and I thought it was totally fitting. And...as I was tearing out pages, I found a page that told all about the printing, you know, the font and font size, type of paper, etc. And guess what? It was printed on archival paper!  My pumpkin will last forever! :) I gave it a light wash of orange to add just a little color and I really like the way it turned out. Now I just wish I had a mantel or coffee table to sit them on, but they look OK on the floor by the side of the TV, so it's all good.

I hope you are all getting in the spirit of Halloween (pun intended) and making some cool projects. Let me know if you are. I would love to have some guest posts. Until next time, think about this......Happiness comes through doors you don't even know you left open. Have a good one, Gramma G.