Up to my ears in projects!

I have been staying pretty busy working on some new things for the shop I sell handmades at in town. I made 4 large pumpkins and 4 of the medium size. I made these signs also. They are huge (4 ft long x 8 inches tall), so they were too big to try and sell online I think- I don't even want to think what shipping would be! As of right now anyway I don't use the "premade" stencils. You know, the kind that already have the sayings, etc already perfectly spaced out and all? No, I use alphabet stencils and do each letter one by one....tedious sometimes, but then I can customize my signs to say whatever I want and the only thing I am limited to is the font. The Autumn Gatherings signs above took me three hours to stencil- am I crazy?? LOL. Hmmm....may have to look at doing things an easier way. Hee hee! I also made some candy corns and a pumpkin with a witch hat. I used a pattern by Fine Country Living Primitives for the candy corns and a freebie pattern from a while back from Tennessee Ridge Primitives for the witch hat pumpkin. (You should really go check out her site- she offers freebies all the time and changes them about once a month or so.) All these are going into town, but I am adding one set of the candy corns to my selling site if anyone is interested. These will probably be my last fall handmades as I am gearing up to finish some Christmas things I am making for the Twelve Days of Christmas shop in Casper again this year. It opens Thanksgiving weekend (Black Friday) and time doesn't stand still for me....especially when I'm running after two little ones. Hmmm....maybe I could duplicate myself? I should be careful what I wish for. LOL. I'll try and share the Christmas stuff in my next post......

Jody

My selling site is open....FINALLY!

This was yet another intention of mine before I was living la vida loca this summer...LOL. But finally I have my selling site all ready to go and looking the way I want it and it is now open. Click HERE to go visit and take a peek. I added the remainder of my pinkeeps and my owls I just made on there. I have a few dolls I made a few months back on there, too. Well, it's late and I should hit the bed. It's snowing here tonight (we're supposed to get 6 inches or so....we'll see) and I'll have to get up earlier to get Sage to school in the morning. Toodles!

Jody

Those pinkeeps I promised....

Sorry I didn't get a chance to share them with you yesterday. I couldn't get very good pictures- I played with a few displays and wasn't happy, so I decided to just take the darn picture just as they are! LOL.

I made them using a pattern from 1804 Primitives. They are all about 3 inches in diameter, all have been aged (some more than others) and the bottoms are a reproduction zinc canning jar lid. Actually the light blue ticking one (in the middle in the very front row) I used an old zinc Ball lid for that one- the material for the pincushion is actual ticking material- very thick- so it wouldn't fit in the other lids. Most of the pinkeeps have vintage buttons, though a few don't. They are $7.00 each, plus shipping. A few have already sold, but I just added the ones left on to my selling site. Well, I'm off to work on some more stuff. Gotta take advantage of the "extra" time I have now. (Knock on wood....) Ha!

Jody

Just Finished....

Aren't they a "hoot"? LOL. I just finished these guys last night and just in time for fall. I've actually had them all sewn, stuffed and painted for a few months, I just never got time to finish them up till now. I made them from a Chestnut Junction pattern- they are about 9 inches tall and 8 inches wide. They are painted and sanded muslin with sculpted beaks and separate stitched wings.

~All are SOLD!~

Jody

My Halloween girls......

Ok, here are the girls......I love how each turned out! It felt really good to make a doll again after such a long break!
I was playing around with my photo editing program and thought they looked cool in sephia tone. Hee hee. Click here to go to their ebay auctions and see them in color.

I want to make a scarecrow doll next, but I'm not going to hold my breath or count my chickens before they hatch. LOL. We'll just have to see.....Hugs!

-Jody

Just Catching Up......

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. LOL. Since my last post in July we have been so busy going everywhere at once it seemed. My life during the week was nothing but cleaning, cooking and laundry, then we were gone again the next weekend.One of the weekends we were gone in August fell on Chad's 3rd birthday. It was a lot of fun. He got to celebrate with my mom and dad, my brother, his wife and the cousins Codi and Garrett.
After he ate his cake he opened his presents- one of his favorites was this Transformers costume he wanted to wear right away. What a face! He was pretty excited!

That same weekend we drove up the road from our campsite to double cabin which is in the mountains north of Dubois. This is as far as you can get with a vehicle- from this point on there are trailheads you can hike or ride horseback to go even further into the backcountry. Very pretty country. I was glad to see we still have some bits of snow/glaciers in the high country. The last 5-10 years when it had been so hot and dry in the summers the snow didn't stay up there in the summertime.

And yes, Sage is officially a kindergartener now! She was really nervous- I think mostly because her best friend from preschool moved over the summer, so now she had to make new friends. She is doing very well. They go all day every day here and are reading before first grade. Boy things have changed since my school days! I remember half days and taking naps in Kindergarten- not aymore!
A few weeks ago we took the kids and my inlaws to Thermopolis (my hometown) for the weekend. We took them swimming in the warm mineral water and went to see the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. It has come a long way since I was in High School. They now have a supersaurus skeleton that is the size of the whole building. I made Craig pose next to a cast of one of its rib bones. Can you see its skeleton behind him?
Then this last weekend me and the kids went hunting with Craig. The kids wanted a picture taken with it- they thought it was pretty neat. I normally don't like Antelope meat- it is extremely gamey tasting, but it does make the best breakfast sausage! We make our own and it is tasty! :0)

So now that school is in full swing and I only have one kid at home I have finally been able to work on some things. I am trying to work on my supply for the 12 Days of Christmas show I have in Nov and Dec, but I did manage to squeeze in a few dolls for ebay which I did get listed on ebay last night. I have to go get Sage up and ready for school now, but I'll post them here in a few hours or so. Be back in a few..... :0) -Jody

Did someone say Camping trip??

Sorry it's been a few weeks since my last post! We did a garage sale the weekend of the 18th and then this last wekend we went camping with my brother, his family and my parents and we had so much fun. We got back Sunday night and it has taken me a few days to re-coup! :0)

Boy, the kids wore themselves out playing with their cousins- that's my brothers two kids, Codi and Garrett with Sage and Chad.

We camped up on Green Mountain, which is only about an hour and a half or so from our house. The first day, we all rode our four wheelers to the top and were lucky enough to see this herd of wild horses. Most of them roam the Red Desert below and I'm pretty sure this herd lives up here year round. They didn't stick around too long and I was lucky to get this picture when I did....

When we rode around the backside of the mountain, we saw this little yearling hanging with some cattle....we really freaked him out and he let his curiousity get the best of him because you could really tell he wanted to run away but he wanted to check us out a little first. LOL.

One of the views from the top. You could see for miles and miles....

Thats my dad in the suspenders taking in the scenery. :0) I'm not sure what Craig is doing. LOL.

This was my favorite....this spot at the top is called Wild Horse Point Lookout. That's the start of the Red Desert below...

Our state flower: The Indian Paintbrush. It is so pretty and it was blooming EVERYWHERE there! I mean the were practically fields of them. Sage was bummed she couldn't pick them....we get in trouble with the state of we get caught plucking these babies.We even had our own private patch of wild strawberries right by our camper. They were small, but tasty! My little guy picked this tiny blossom just for me!

The second day we all drove out by the Oregon/Mormon trail area and hunted for agates and arrowheads. It was a lot of fun, but boy it was hot on the prairie! Whew! Luckily we didn't run into any rattlesnakes.

This is one of the landmarks along the Oregon Trail- called Split Rock. apparently when the emigrants were traveling, it could be seen for 3 days on their journey. Once they reached this point, it took them 6 days to reach South Pass City which is only about an hour and a half away....could you imagine that? Makes ya feel lucky we don't rely on covered wagon for transportation, eh? I think this area of the Sweetwater Valley is so pretty.

So that's been it lately. I haven't done any creating either. My mom had a bunch of her garage sale stuff stored in my craft room and now that her stuff is out, I have so much more room. I spent yesterday and today cleaning out and re-organizing, which it really needed. It was cool and rained all last night and all day today which really got me in the mood to start on Fall and Christmas stuff. There's something about the hot summer weather that makes it hard for me to get motivated to make Pumpkins and Candy canes. Ok, so I guess I'm trying to say the hot weather makes me lazy. LOL. I know the summertime does that to a lot of us! I'm waiting until I have a few things finished before I share my selling site, so stay tuned! :0)

Nine Years ago today.....

Boy, it sure doesn't seem like nine years have already gone by. I can still remember how hot it was in that church that day! Whew! Glad I opted for the sleeveless gown. LOL. Craig and I actually met our freshman year in college- I was getting my degree in Veterinary Technology and Craig a degree in Welding & Joining. We dated for two and a half years and then married in 2000. Our wedding present from Craig's side of the family was our honeymoon in Cancun which was so neat and probably the only time I'll ever get to do something like that. Oh, the memories....



I have to say that my signs have been well received! Since I have posted them here on my blog and also at the prim shoppe in town, I have taken quite a few orders for more of them, even though I don't have my selling site up yet, I don't mind at all- so if anyone see's something they are interested in, leave me a comment. I turned comment moderation on so that any new comments go right to my email, so your question won't be posted unless you want it to. Since working on those sign orders, I haven't had time to work on anything new to share. Maybe I will next week? :0)

There are signs everywhere!

Just thought I would pop in and show what I've been up to lately, and nope, its got nothing to do with the sewing machine...I've been painting these signs- and lots of them. I have 12 done so far, and all these will be going to the prim shoppe in town...a lot of friends don't know this, but this type of thing is actually how I started crafting about 7 years ago. I made signs like these and lots of tole painting, selling at local craft shows, and about 5 years ago is when I made my first doll. (And no way am I going to show you the first doll- it wasn't pretty! LOL) Don't get me wrong, I still love to make dolls, but sometimes it just feels good to switch gears and take a little break every once in a while......and the rest of them....the last two pics are showing a bit bright- the "white" in them is really a warm, prim cream color in person... They all range from 5 1/2" - 71/4" tall by 21"-52" in length with a sawtooth hanger or two on back. When my selling site is ready, I hope to make a few signs to put there as well as my fabric handmades....

Until next time! :0)

-Jody

What a beautiful Americana Giveaway.....

I just found this blog and had to share the news about this beautiful Americana Giveaway at Palmer Falls blog. Of course its obvious I love Americana and I know there are more fellow bloggers out there that do, too, so I wanted to spread the word! Hurry on over, she is drawing the winner on Saturday July 4th! :0)