Marshmallows!

Ayesha brought me these amazing handmade marshmallows back from her trip to South Dakota. I had never had handmade marshmallows before but now I can't stop thinking about them! I got an email from Etsy the other day and low and behold people actually sell handmade marshmallows on Etsy! Now I have been trying to forget that I can buy them their and trying myself out of buying them but obviously I am not doing a very good job at it! :)

A Spooky Book

Yesterday I took my mom's class at Frenzy Stamper. It's nice to take a class and actually get a whole project done in one sitting! Here it is...



My mom is selling her extra kits on her blog so now that you are in love with this spooky book get yours while you can!

And here are the goodies I picked up While I was at Frenzy too!



This super cool ice cream parlor also moved in a few doors down from Frenzy. It is super cute old fashioned ice cream parlor and game area. It also has a cotton candy machine! I am happy to have treats so close to Frenzy! You know I love taking classes at Frenzy and desserts only make it better!

It's Getting Spooky Around Here!

I didn't get super crazy with Halloween decorations around here this year just because with Shannon's wedding and visiting Deb I feel like Halloween has been about three days long this year. I do realize that I could still add more decorations but to be honest I'm feeling a little lazy.

I do love my spooky center piece and am looking forward to showing you how it will transition into a Thanksgiving and Christmas centerpiece too!



I bought the black glittered pumpkin at Target, black and white sixletts from Hobby Lobby in the wedding section, and everything else is Gold Canyon!
Cobweb Twinkle Ties
Ivory Chimney Set
Floating Tealight Holders
Crystal Candle Stands
I love, love, love it!

Also, Have you been to Trader Joe's and met the pumpking Trees? If you said no, get in your car go directly to Trader Joe's, do not pass go, do not collect $200!



They are so stinkin' cute! Deb doesn't have a Trader Joe's so I even took some on the plane to her. The one I bought for Deb was even better than my origional one so I'm thinking that the later in the season it gets the cooler they will be!

100 Days

Quite coincidentally I decided to figure out how many days it had been since my last blog post this morning and realized it had been exactly 100 days. Weird right? (Yes, the math was really about the blog in case you are wondering.) 101 days with no blog post would just be ridiculous so here I am.

Ayesha and I just got back from visiting Deb in Texas! It's perfect how the school district worked in an October break so I can still celebrate Halloween with Deb. LOL!

We visited a pumpkin farm.



carved pumpkins, (I went old school. Mine is the far right.)



visited the Halloween Bootique,



and even had spooky dinner!



We also made Alonna a new wall mural for her room!


We had a great time & I can't wait to plan our November visit in AZ!

Collaged Quote Book Day Three

The end...

Collaged Quote Book Day Two

The middle...

Collaged Quote Book Day One

Here is a cute little collaged quote book I made over a series of Friday Art Dates this summer with the girls. It didn't start out as a quote book but I decided to collage it so heavily that the smallish spaces that were left seemed like a great place to write my favorite quotes. The best part is that if I find a new quote I love I can still add it to my book. :) Here's the beginning...

FYI

The last thing I should be doing is searching skull cameo on Etsy! I thought I would see if I could find the seller but I think it will be safer just to wait and ask Deb. LOL! (Do it I dare you! It might be sfer for you than for me.)

Speaking of Etsy I have to tell you about two sellers that I recently bought from that are really cool! The first one is Skull And Crossbuns. I noticed these cute little mustache stamps on one of the daily emails from etsy.


When I went to check them out I also loved these trees.

These stamps are so cute in person and I have no idea how she is carving so many yummy stamps!

The second shop is Mommies Ink. If you are looking for invitations of any kind I would totally recommend checking out this shop! Jen, the shop owner, is amazingly fast and has great comunication! I also think her prices are amazing! Now, I can't show you exactly what I bought because it is still top secret but here is one of her yummy designs!

Yesterday

Yesterday was an amazing and bittersweet day and although I usually limit my blog posts to topics that are rainbow and sunshiny this would be far to big not to mention.

Ayesha and I FINALLY got to take Jessica out for her birthday! Not that she was resisting just that we finally remembered to set a date. We went to 35th Ave. Sew & Vac. and out for lunch at Pedro's in downtown Glendale. Now if you have never been to 35th Ave Sew and Vac. it is hard to describe its fabulousness but if you love fabric as much as Jessica it is like your own personal paradise. All three of us found fabric we could not leave without. :) We had a great time!


Now if you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you may have noticed that Deb, Ayesha, and I are often adventuring about together. We have been known to be a little inseparable. We found out a week ago that Deb will be moving to Texas before the end of the month and it has been a little difficult to say the least.

Deb had already planned to be out of state this weekend for a family function before she found out about the move and when she returns her fiance will be loading up the house to drive to Texas. We will still have a few days before Deb leaves but as you can imagine her schedule is crazy. Yesterday happened to be the last day that we could all get together to do Girl's Night Out in our traditional form. We also scooped up Amber because we like to bring her along from time to time and because we love her too. We went to Postino's and had a lovely dinner of yummy bruchetta, we shared a delicious salty caramel sundae (salty for the chocolate covered cornnuts and cute pretzel rod), and we even got to sit in the couch area by chance and that was fun too! For those of you that know us in real life you will be happy to hear their were minimal tears but only because we tried really hard at the end and we know we will see each other next week. :)


(Deb is sitting on my side just in case you didn't know)
I also want to add that I am happy that we now live in a time of Facebook, free long distance calls, and Skype and Ayesha and I are looking at this as a great opportunity for an art exchange that we will be starting as soon as Deb is settled in. :)

As I was dropping Deb off she said, "Hey, do you want your birthday present tonight?" I knew she had bought my gift weeks ago even though my birthday is not for months because she was so excited about it and like I'd say no. LOL! Check it out.


So me. It can be worn as a pin or pendant and I know she found it on etsy but am not sure of the seller. I can't wait for October so that it will be cool enough to wear it with a cardigan and I'm starting the search for the right chain too. Yay Deb!

One Size Fits Most

Yesterday I made what I am affectionately calling my one size fits most skirt.


I decided that I need to call it this morning when I tried it on again and realized just how generous I was when I cut the elastic. The elastic does stretch a little bit right at this moment and I am fairly sure I could loose 10 pounds and it would still fit without going in to make the elastic smaller, but I am also fairly sure I could gain at least 20 pounds and it would still fit, hence the name.

I discovered the fabric to make this skirt in the fashion district on our trip to California earlier this summer. I actually found it in the Michael Levine shop that sells fabric by the pound. I think I bought enough fabric to make two of these skirts plus about 3 yards of black lining material for something like $4! Outrageous right? I loved its texture and while a one size fits most skirt might not be the most form flattering, (Just think about adding extra fabric around your midsection.) I still think it is cute. LOL!

An Exceptional Artist

I had the great pleasure of working with an exceptional artist today! It was my niece Keegan! (Formerly known as Baby Kakes and then just Kakes when her little sister came along. I now have permission just to call her Keegan from Buffy.)


My mom was watching the girls so I called up to ask if I could come play. Usually when I arrive the girls meet me at the door but today I could hear Keegan calling my name excitedly from the kitchen when I walked in she was already wearing her artist apron that my mom made for her and she immediately said, "Nene can we paint today?" My mom had told her I was coming to do a project and they had already taken all of the art supplies out of the closet.

(It is important to note that Keegan can say Jeane but I think because she calls my mom Nona she thinks that Nene is like my cutsy name for Auntie. I like Nene. :)

I had planned to read the book Elmer by David McKee and make handprint elephants.


We were having so much fun that when we were done with that little project we kept painting. Keegan titled this one The Storm. (She's a genius what can I say.)


And this one is Tinkerbell's House. (More in line for a three year old. :)

Summer of Obsessing

Apparently this summer my theme is obsessing over things. First it was the Showtime TV serries Dexter. I seriously watched the first episode of this series the week before school was out and did next to nothing until I was finished watching all 48 hours of seasons 1-4. Now, I never thought that I would find myself rooting for a serial killer but I never thought I'd read vampire books and somehow Twilight snuck up on me too. I am seriously thinking about adding Showtime to my cable package so that I can watch season 5 with the rest of the world! You should totally check Dexter out but only after you have put the kids to bed. I guess that probably is true for any show on Showtime though. LOL!

My next obsession, again a little surprising, is The Spiderwick Chronicles. One of my co-workers recommended I read these books over a year ago. (Yes, I only read fiction books from the childrens section. I'm a teacher, does that count? Adult non-fiction is so much more interesting.) I was at the used book store on Tuesday and noticed them in the young adult section and decided to pick up the first book. I just finished reading the 5th and final book in the series and learned that it was made into a movie. Guess what's next on my Netflix list?

Finally, I have been spending lots of fun time obsessing about planning the perfect wedding parties with Buffy and Krista but those are things I can not talk about here. 10-10-10 is just around the corner and Shannon is an investigator. (Can you hear my evil laugh?)

Treasures 4 Teachers Adventure

We have this cool place called Treasures 4 Teachers in Arizona where teachers who have a membership can go get lots of great stuff for their classroom either really, really cheap or for free. All of the items their have been donated and you never know what you'll find but it's like and art teachers dream. I have had several project ideas in mind but always thought I'd never be able to save up enough supplies for an entire grade level and then I found Treasures 4 Teachers. :) (I see about 650 kids a week so I plan to have about 150 of each item that I use for a project.)

This year I got really lucky when Treasures 4 Teachers received a grant and was able to give 50 free memberships to teachers in schools who received 301 money from the government. (I will of course have to renew my membership when it expires because this place is that good!)

My mom and I went last Thursday and I found so much great stuff! I got about 100 desk calendars for the kids to use as glue mats (It will be so much easier to grab a calendar to glue on and just rip of the page when it is too gluey that what we were doing before!), tons of metal robot supplies, loads of great stuff for printing including tons of plastic lids in lots of sizes (Yea, I don't have to save them all summer!), a bunch of labels for the kids to use to make stickers, oh I could go on forever. LOL! The shopping trip was fun and the sorting at home was fun too but next time I will take my Zip lock bags with me and have things sorted from get go. :) Here is some of the loot.

Double Double

My mom had a small class at her house on Sunday to make the Double Double book. She taught this class twice at Frenzy Stamper and I missed it both times so I was happy I could make it to class yesterday. If you look closely you might notice a few skulls. LOL!

Cleaning The Studio

Cleaning my studio is never as easy a task as it sounds like it will be. Granted I had a mountain of art supplies on my desk and had been putting off cleaning it for weeks. Maybe I should have taken a picture but if you are an artist you are all too familiar with what it looked like.

I can never just put things away it is a little bit like If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. If your desk is covered with Cricut cartridges you will have to rearrange your bookshelf, rearranging your bookshelf will remind you of all the great books you have been collecting so of course you will have to flip through a few of them, flipping through the books will remind you that a friend of yours told you about an online book exchange, which of course will lead you to your computer for a good hour of messing around, before you again remember that your task was to clean off your desk. :) Maybe I should get back to the desk. LOL!

I Should Have Mentioned This Earlier

My mom found this really great Etsy shop and website called Pretty Little Studio. After my mom blogged about how cute the site was Melissa, the seller, offered a 10% discount to the readers of my mom's blog. When I arrived home on Wednesday my goodies were waiting for me and they are fabulous!


If you are interested in checking out Pretty Little Studio you can still get 10% off your order until the end of the month if you read my mom's blog :) and enter the code janeeileen10 when you check out. I think I am going to double check that I got everything that I "needed" right now.

Running, Running

I can hardly believe that school had already been out for two weeks, I feel like I have been running the whole time.



Mom and I went on our yearly CA shopping trip with Kelly from Monday until late night Wednesday. We had lots of fun shopping and goofing around and I even experienced my first earthquake!

I had to be to work by 7:00 on Thursday but am now officially done with summer work until late July. (Of course that doesn't mean I won't be spending time reading professional books, planning for next year, and working on documents for the district office. A little secret is that teachers actually work a lot of the summer, just not with kids. LOL!)


Today I had a fun art date with Ayesha, Jessica, and Barb. We were arting with our sewing machines and I proved to myself that I am my mother's daughter and played the role of sewing machine whisperer with Ayesha's machine. :)

I think at one time or another all of our machines gave us grief even mine!


This evening I went to Val's jewelry party and tomorrow I have Jack's Second Annual Weennie Roast (a.k.a. birthday party). Things have been busy and fun here. I hope to get a chance to clean up around my studio tomorrow. I have bags of art supplies sitting about from classes, trips, and art adventures. Creating clean surfaces actually sounds fun!