Awesome looking recipe - I gotta try this

Mozzarella stuffed meatballs prepared in a crockpot. Um, yes! It looks very easy and tasty! Thank you Tasty! (on Facebook)

Halloween Contest Winning Costumes

So, now that it's October, I'm thinking about Halloween and some of my favorite past costumes.  I'm still undecided as to what I'll be going as this year, but here are some of the old costumes.

Last year my husband went as the Worlds' Most Interesting Man. I thought he pulled it off pretty good!  I made the sign to 'frame' him, which really MADE that costume. People were having their photo taken with him all night.

 

I went as a cupcake. I even made my hat that looks like a cherry with it's stem. On top of the red wig, it looked like a cherry on top. I'm wearing a name tag that says "Hello, My Name is Cherry". It was so much fun! People were trying to eat me all night long! I have a tutorial that tells how I made it. (It's not a very good tutorial because I didn't think of that when I was making it!)

We won the costume contest! I like to go all out for our costumes!

Cutest Kid Ever

Okay, this kid (who happens to be my great niece) is so stinkin' cute and photogenic!  I  just love her quirky ways. This was taken at her first birthday. I just love them and had to share 'em!

Rooster Zen Tangle Doodle Art

After my lobster doodle became famous (haha), I was requested to do a Rooster Doodle. Let me explain. It is well known in my family that I DO NOT collect chicken figurines. It's a long story, but I have a few chicken items from childhood - an antique chicken soup tureen that used to belong to my mother, a chicken candy dish that me and some siblings bought for our mom many years ago, and another item that escapes my memory at the moment. Anyhoo, I had them displayed together for a number of years on top of a small hutch. I made it clear that just because I was displaying chickens, didn't mean that I was a collector and to definitely NOT to buy me chicken things. Of course, that just opened the flood gates for my hilarious family to buy me chicken stuff at every turn. One brother and sister-in-law got me a small plaster/plastic rooster as a joke. Out of spite, I've made him my travel companion. He as traveled the world with me and I have the pictures to prove it! He's like a traveling gnome - he's just a traveling rooster.  In honor of dear little Rooty...here's my Rooster Doodle.

Lobster Doodle Art - Zen Tangle

I've been thinking about summer and the beach and seafood. I decided to doodle a lobster to hang on my kitchen wall. Here it is. What do you think?

When I had it printed, I added a border in the same color to help set it off. I love it!

Doodling Time Again

I simply love how relaxing and therapeutic drawing doodles is for me! Here's one I did for my daughter for her birthday last year. This is VERY her!

My most recent doodle is the Tree of Life. It is very Zen to me.

Christmas Projects, etc.

Where has the time gone? Seems like it flies by faster and faster as the days go by. I intend to post crafty things on a regular basis, but then I get so wrapped up in creating those crafty things that I sometimes forget to photo my process. Quite often, I just don't take the time to post them. It really is a time intensive process and it makes me so jealous (and much more appreciative) of those people who do it on a daily basis!

Today, I wanted to catch up on a few projects that I have done and forgot to get posted.

Last month I made a cool beer caddie for my brother and one for my nephew-in-law. I got my inspiration from a few I saw on Etsy. There are several versions and frankly, I liked them all. I decided on a fairly basic style. Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to finish it. (As usual.) I didn't have any good wood stain on hand, so I just had to use what I did have. It is a much lighter stain than I would have chosen if I had planned ahead just a little bit. Oh well, it was well received and I liked the outcome pretty good anyway.

I decided on the basic size and dimensions and bought some inexpensive pine wood to make it out of. Since I didn't prepare/plan very well, I just bought a couple of pieces of wood and some wood trim without really knowing what I needed. Next time, I'll know just what I need and won't have much waste. All in all, I didn't have much waste anyway.

The design I used on the end of the crate was a bird that has a special meaning to my brother. If I had a cool Cricut cutting machine, I would have created a much better stencil. As it is, I had to cut the whole thing out by hand. NOT VERY FUN.

I made a batch of home-brewed beer to put in the caddy for a much more personal and unique gift. I had a lot of fun making it and my brother and nephew-in-law thought they were pretty cool.