Ahhh...ghosties and graveyards...

Wanna know something strange... among the many strange, and sometimes unusual, things... about me? I adore cemeteries. Really. I love them. Told you...strange.

I can wander through them for hours and hours, looking at the stones, wondering who these people were, how their lives compared to mine. I wonder about the loves they had, the hurts they endured, the joys they felt...what dreams they accomplished, what dreams they didn't...I've often wondered if the dead can feel my presence as we sometimes feel haunted by the dead...

It's not something that I can explain, actually, I'm not sure I even understand it myself, but I find a wonderful sense of solace walking through the garden of the dead. Each of those headstone represents a life...from birth to death, some very short, some very long...some having accomplished great deeds, some having accomplished only (what most would consider) mediocre ones. The history there is our history...




I've spent days and days wandering through our local cemetery. Even now, after spending all that time there, I still find things that are a total surprise to me.








For instance, not long ago, I had gone back out to the cemetery to find a tree growing very near a headstone that, I swear, looks like it has a butt sticking out of it. I thought, "how funny, I wonder if this is a message from beyond the grave..." The batteries in my camera had lost their charge just before I was tried to get a pic of it... so I went back out to get one. Honestly...how can you NOT find this funny?





I parked the car where I thought I'd seen the tree, but it turns out I parked one section too soon. While I was looking around I found this. He stands like a sentinel very near the entrance to the cemetery, facing east, as though he is waiting for his master to return. In all my wanderings, I'd never seen him before. He's beautiful.




Then, there there are the usual strange things...like this headstone... a double heart, the family name on it is Keefe. "Husband" is engraved on one of the hearts, and on the other side, you find a name, and a birth date....along with a Marine insignia....and nothing else. Do you suppose it was high hopes, or, in the end, a broken heart?





This is an interesting headstone...on all four sides you see the names of four different couples. There is a sentiment that reads "friends in death as in life". As I walked around it I expected to see some statement about a horrible tragedy taking them all at once. There wasn't one, the death dates for all of them are different.



And, like every other community,we honor our heroes...


Next time you're out wandering around, don't forget your local cemeteries. They aren't just a place for the dead or those mourning them, they are amazing places of history and wonder...each headstone a life, just like yours or mine. Each with their story, and each of those stories no less important than any other. Especially to the one who was living it, and those who loved them.


As is evidenced by this poignant note left by grieving parents...I mourn their loss for them...and can only imagine the grief of losing one of my own children. And I will continue to visit this grave and say a little prayer each time I am there.

We don't understand death, so we fear it...it gives rise to the scary stories of ghosties and ghoulies of Halloween as we begin that slide toward the shortening of days, and the darkness of winter. I take a different view...as a professor in one of my classes way back in college said..."You can't really say you've experienced all of life until you've died." It is the inevitable end for all things living...but rather than fearing it, let it be a reminder that you must live fully...to whatever YOUR definition of that is....make your mark, however big or small....and most of all, love deeply and unconditionally...that way you'll have no room for regrets.

What is that huge ball of fire in the sky???

Now I know why we've been given so many rainy days.....















So dreary, dark and dull....













Because, once our eyes become accustomed to all the grey...










When the sun comes out...we can really see the glory of fall...




My eyes had forgotten there was such color in the world...

I have engaged conspirators....

Yep...I've engaged conspirators...and, if this goes well, I may engage more...

If you've been reading the blog, you know that I make and "drop" all kinds of stuff for random people in my fair city to find. I've been dropping the ACEOs for a while, then I signed up with The Toy Society to drop hand made toys, and I then I decided I was going to do my own year long local art project of dropping one hand made thing a week. I'm wearing myself out.

So..over the weekend, I decided it was time to make another toy for The Toy Society. If you don't know about The Toy Society, you can read about it here. If you'd like to see what people all around the world are dropping for The Toy Society project, you can see the photo stream on Flickr here.

Originally, I wanted to make a monkey. Suffice it to say...didn't work out (but it will...it will...). It's really just a hop, skip and a jump from a monkey to a bear...and I've made tons and tons of bears over the years...so, officially...monkey turned to bear. Lots o'bears actually.

The pattern took me about an hour to get worked out, and I still have a couple of little things I want to tweak in the next batch, but hey, first bunch. Once I got the pattern worked out, I ended up sewing, stuffing and putting the face on seven of the cuties. Three of them I even got dressed...four of them are still staring at me in their nakedness wondering when in the heck they are gonna get dressed. It is getting cold out you know, and they are little.

Now to the three dressed bears. One I keep, of course, they are darned cute afterall. One I will drop for the Little Art project, and the other will be dropped for The Toy Society. So, now comes the tough part...where will I drop these little things? I tend to frequent the same places over and over, and I realized I tend to drop these things in the same places, over and over. This might be more interesting if they were dropped in a broader area. To be really honest, I'm not going to travel to other areas, I have to be home making more stuff to be dropping, and I'm just lazy, so I know I won't do it. So, how does one resolve this? This one enlists conspirators...yep, others who are willing to risk being labeled a terrorist for randomly leaving stuffed bears around town.

I ask myself, "Who would be crazy enough to do this?" Without any hesitation my good friends Connie and Kellye come to mind. Upon asking, both of them agreed to be a drop agent amazingly quickly. (Proves they may be as crazy as I am, or really good sports, or maybe both.) I got both of the bears together, along with the appropriate information for each, put them both in plastic bags, it's raining here again, and handed both of the ladies their package.








Kellye is dropping "BeBee" for me. She's The Toy Society drop.













And Connie is dropping this little one off for me for the Little Art project.







So now, it's not just me worried about them because they are little...Connie and Kellye are too...

Pumpkin cupcakes...

I love pumpkin. Something about it just signifies the change from summer to fall to me. While cruising the blogs that I read, I came across a recipe on Baking Bites for "Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes". They are described as a "recipe based on an impossible pie recipe. Impossible pie is a concept that is a popular "back of the box" recipe for baking mixes, like Bisquick".

I vaguely recall my mother making something called impossible tamale pie...or something of the sort, definitely was NOT my favorite, but I'd never even thought of using that recipe to make a pie sort of pie...if you could call it that. The photos on the blog are gorgeous, the cupcakes look just yummy...and, as I said, I do love pumpkin...and pumpkin pie is wonderful, so it seemed perfect for me to try.

For the first batch, I followed the recipe given on Baking Bites to the letter...or so I thought. Going back and reading the recipe again, I realize I only put in the brown sugar, and had totally left out the white. Still, they were not bad at all.

As many recipes I try, especially those with pumpkin in them, I wanted more spice. And, realizing I'd left most of the sugar out, I thought I'd add just a bit back. One of the key aspects of pumpkin, for me, when baked into a dessert, is that warm, spicy, fall sort of feeling. So, I tried them again...this time tweaking the recipe to fit what I like...

My version:
2/3 cup Bisquick
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and add liners to 12 muffin tins. My muffin tins once belonged to my Grandmother. I can remember baking with her when I was little, using them. (She had the patience of a saint by the way...I learned so much at her side...) At this point, I lightly sprayed the liners with Pam to make sure they released a bit cleaner.





Combine the wet ingredients together, then add the sugar, flour and spices, beating only until you see no streaks of the flour.






Put about 1/3 cup (see...I do sometimes actually follow my own directions, I'm using the 1/3 cup) of the batter into each of the liners, and bake. I baked mine for only 15 minutes rather than the suggested 20. Chill before serving.


Now, the only real difference in the recipes is the use of Bisquick vs. the plain flour, and the addition of more spice. I did delete the baking power as well...and shortened the baking time by 5 minutes.

Oh my goodness...if you like pumpkin pie, you will be crazy about these things. Either one of the recipes was great (even the one that lacked the full amount of sugar). I did enjoy the one with more spices a bit more...just a personal taste preference, like I said, I likes me spices...


I will be making these for Thanksgiving, and I will be adding the twist of making a thin broiled nut topping on them just before serving. A little like a creme brule topping, it's a thin layer of sugar, and a little bit of butter, along with some chopped nuts.

If that sounds good to you...to make the topping, combine 1/3 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I use a combination of walnuts, pecans and hazel nuts), a heaping 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of butter. I toast my nuts prior to using to bring out their flavor...you can do this on the stove top in a cast iron skillet...heat on low and continually stir or shake the nuts so they don't burn, or toss them into a pie pan and stick them in the oven at 375 degrees until they start to toast...shake them from time to time to prevent burning. Cool them completely before using for the topping. Combine the butter and sugar and blend together until they are crumbly. Add the toasted nuts. Sprinkle on the tops of the cooked and cooled impossible pumpkin pie cupcakes, and broil just until the brown sugar melts and is bubbly. Cool a bit, to make sure they are not going to take off the taste buds on your tongue...serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

I'm just not sure it gets any yummier than this...

Scenes from a weekend...

Scenes from the weekend...so far....





He's quite the beauty, and befuddled the dog while we were walking...I'd guess the sun felt as good to him as it does to me...












The holly berries are starting to turn red...










Pumpkin is turning into muffins....











And there are bears sitting on the windowsill...






More to come on all of it...as soon as I go collect more scenes from the weekend...

A sickie at home...

Our area is having a rough time with dealing with nasty bugs this year. The H1N1 virus has closed several schools in the area because they have so many absent, and there are tons of other buggies and boos going around. The Little One has caught one of them. When her dad brought her over last night she had the beginnings of a little fever. This morning she has more. Fever means staying home for her, and I am going to stay home with her today. Not so much because she needs me, as it is that I need to play the nurturer.

I'm ticking off a list of all of the things I hope I can get done in this "bonus" day. The laundry really needs to be finished, and I honestly MUST clean up the messes I've made of late. The dog hair tumbleweeds have been collecting in the corners again, I think they band together and plot before they come roaming out across the hard wood floors to make me crazy...and I really should attend to the pots of dead flowers outside. I need to check in on some folks, and read some blogs, and basically catch up. If I had a month I might get close to doing just that, IF I didn't take on any new projects, or add any more things to that "to do" list. And yet, what am I doing? I'm sitting here watching my local news, listening to the mutt snore gently over in his chair, his tail curled up over his nose, and sending good thoughts to The Little One resting soundly in her bed. (Ok, really, the dog is snoring more like a chain saw sounds, but the "gently" conveys such a better "feel"...I'm just gonna go with that.) I'm realistic enough to know very little of it will get done, I'd much rather spend the time I have cuddling The Little One.

It's one of those mornings where I am feeling amazingly blessed, sickie and all. I have a new day ahead of me. Looks like the sun is gonna be shining, the temps are going to be in the mid to high 60s. Everything is full of new possibilities and chances to take. My horoscope today even reflects it...it reads "Revel in the joy you are given today and share it with the people you love most." Sharing the joy we feel is like tossing a pebble into a pond...the ripples of that joy move outward and engulf others, who do the same. I like thinking I might spread a ripple or two.


You guys who read know that one of the things I enjoy doing to spread those ripples is give little things I create to strangers...the little angel wing shrine that was up on the blog for give away is going to Rose from Recreational Art.

Rose writes in her bio on he Etsy site..."I live in the most beautiful city ever! After I finished high school I was given the opportunity to move to Italy and live in Rome for 13 years. What a wonderful experience! Now I have moved home to St. Augustine, Florida and I really would not want to be anywhere else! I married the true love of my life and I am able to live near my family. I am home."

Does that sound like contentment or what? She's right about St. Augustine, it is an absolutely beautiful place to be...and to have married her true love would only make it more beautiful. Be sure to check out her Etsy site of you get a chance, she's got some really pretty things there waiting for you!

And now, I am off to get to all of those chores I need to catch up on...or, at least have one more cup of coffee while I listen to the gentle snoring of the dog...

Ok...I am sooooo over this...

OK folks, I thought it would be great fun to do this whole witch hat tutorial over the course of several days...but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO bored with it...so, here's the deal...here are a few pictures of the finishing process...if you want the detailed finishing directions...email me and I'll send you the PDF....and I promise to keep the next tutorial short...not for you, but for me...my attention span is obviously a tad short....

I promise...really, I'll keep the next one short...or will at least give it my bestest shot! My email is...ACreativeDreamer@gmail.com

Oh....and...to assuage any fears....if you ask for the PDF, you do not get constantly harassed by future emails, nor does your email get kept, passed out to others, nor sold. None of those things are nice.

Witchie hat...part three...

So...we're at the brim. The brim on the model is stitched in the same purple fibers as were used for the body, Sparkle Rays and perle cotton, and I used a byzantine stitch in varying widths. (See the diagram, it's easy, really.)







The graph shows the basic byzantine stitch, and the "varied" stitch that I used. It's really just a suggestion, you can feel free to vary it...or not...as you please. Never hesitate to change things, that is what personalizes something to make it your own!


Now, believe it or not...from time to time, when stitching an item such as this brim (with the hole in the middle of the stitching) every so often a miscount occurs. (I know...gasp, huh?) I can share with you stories that would induce horrible nightmares of the worst kind about the time I found out I'd miscounted while cross stitching The Big One's first stocking when he was a baby, only to find that the raccoon's tail was going to be about 7 stitches off. I won't though, I would never want to inflict that kind of nightmare on the innocent readers of this blog! I'll just share a tip I learned about stitching something round with a hole in it... like the brim.

If I were stitching this, I would start on one of the "long" sides (where my thumb is), fill in there for a bit until I neared the hole, then I'd go to the other "long" side, do the same and work toward the middle. IF it were to happen that you had made a miscount, you could easily hide it in the sort rows since they are not going to meet anyway.

For me, this is one of those instances where perfection isn't really required. I know, that by saying "perfection isn't required" that I have just made some people crazy. You know who you are. If you are one of those people who insist on the count being perfect, by all means count carefully and go for it. I'm just one of those people who prefers "unique" over perfect. Neither is wrong, it is simply a matter of personal choice. Go with what works best for you.



When you've finished the brim, you have something that looks like this...in my case, I think it looks like a purple donut. You can see that the Sparkle Rays use in the brim is minimal. I was nearing the end of the card and just didn't want to go to another one. Another hint I want to pass along...the Sparkle Rays, being a flat thread, really need to be stitched over at least three mesh to allow them to lie flat against the canvas. I'm lazy...and cheap.


And now, we have a stitched brim, and a stitched body that looks something like this...


We're ready to start turning the two stitched pieces into one witch hat! Look for the next post!