A farmer's life for me...

Had a gorgeous weekend! It feels more like summer than fall here in Michigan (and how often do I ever get to say that?) We took the boys to the Oak Haven Farm, and had a wonderful time.  One of the best places! Free admission and parking, and a ton of free things to do! They went through a kid sized corn maze, fed the goats, and played in piles of hay... Johnny made a "hay angel" and needless to say, they needed some serious bath time when we got home :) There was even a waterwheel and little pond with ducks :) The kiddie corn maze was their favorite.  We bought some caramel apples and much needed water (all that running through mazes, you know) and took advantage of the great weather.

I took some great pictures of my ridiculously handsome boys... this is Johnny:

 And here is my Mikey:

There is this little "house" set up to look like an old front porch.  I am pretty sure it is for display only and not meant to be an attraction to be walked on... but before I grabbed my little trespassers off the porch, I took a great picture...

Every time I go to a farm or orchard, I have dreams of being a farmer... I know it is a ton of work, but I long for quiet country roads and fresh berries waiting to be picked. I live in a subdivision in a house like pretty much every house on the street, next to a busy road... I am a country girl who grew up in an old farmhouse, where dad had a huge garden and mom canned vegetables and made her own juice from the grapes dad grew behind the walnut trees in back. I miss those days.  My mom has since packed her canning supplies in a box labeled "DO NOT OPEN EVER AGAIN" and has it stored in her basement (canning is work, I know), but I have that romantic nostalgia of summer days, carrying freshly canned goods to the pantry. Maybe she would let me have her canning supplies... Now I just need to find me a little farmhouse to live in :)

Treasuries Galore!

It's no secret I love treasuries on Etsy. I love looking at them, making them, and feel super fancy when I get featured in one! So imagine how fancy and honored I felt when I found out I was in not one, but two treasuries! I just revamped my Etsy store, so I am so glad that other Etsians are finding me again :) Thanks so much to Gaia's Gatherings for featuring my little witch hat in her spooktacular witchy treasury...

And thanks to Bubbletime for putting my newest creation, flour sack towels, in her pretty autumnal collection...

I love this time of year - witchy goodness and warm autumn colors... The boys and I decorated for Halloween this weekend, and then we carved pumpkins :) I made a delicious batch of pumpkin seeds (and ate waaaay too many) and plan on getting more pumpkins at the Farmer's Market tomorrow.  I think the food and the decorating are my favorite things about this time of year... and of course the Halloween holiday specials! I love Linus and his quest for the most sincere pumpkin patch...

What do you love about this time of year? I'd love to hear :)

Pumpkin bread, Glee, and the house to myself....

Ahhhh.... I have pumpkin bread in the oven, my Playlist going, and I am reading the blogs I love to follow. In the house.

Alone.

This is my first "real" day without the kiddos. Johnny had his first real day yesterday, but I went with Mikey to his first day. We were there for just about an hour, played with puzzles and playdough, and then came home. Mikey "helped" me clean my craftroom (which is fitting, seeing that he is the one that destroyed it) but it still has a way to go.  I have moved my poor craft room all over my house. It has been in the basement, the guest room, the "office"... and half the time I end up crafting in the kitchen anyway... but I need a place to store my goodies, you know?  Unfortunately, my darling boys are fascinated by all my goodies. They like to stack them. And dump them. And walk on them. And....

You get the idea.

I finally installed a hook and eye locky latchey thing on my craft door. No boys allowed. I had one of those baby door handle things over the knob to try to deter my little destructors, but they were too clever for me. They just figured how to tear that off and get in and have their way with my crafts :(  Sundays, when I am at the Farmer's Market, was their favorite day to do a little breaking and entering while Daddy watched them.  But no more! They are locked out, baby!

At least until they realize they can team up, find a chair to climb, have one spot the other, and unlatch the hook.

But until then, I think my sanctuary shall be safe. I still have some crafty corpses to dispose of, but my goal today is to get my room completely in order and get cracking on a custom order that is long overdue...

While I am celebrating my alone time, I have to admit I got teary after putting Johnny on the bus this morning. Mikey's bus comes at an ungodly 6:50am, and he grumbled at me and was basically ticked off, so there was no Hallmark moment for us this morning.  Johnny and I had to be at the bustop at 7:15am, and as we walked, Johnny looks up at me, and says, "Can we talk about Halloween, Mama?"

Of course we can! So we walk, hand in hand, talking about pumpkins and candy, costumes and carameled apples. I was fine until he got on the bus. I watched him get in the front seat. Totally fine.

Then he turns to look at me. A giant smile on his face, he puts one palm on the glass and waves with his other hand.  The bus pulls away, and I can still see that little hand and his bright blue coat.  The bus goes down our street, and I start bawling my face off.  I cried all the way home.

So now I am baking pumpkin bread (don't be too impressed - it's a mix), drinking a pot of coffee, and listenin to my playlist which is heavy on songs from the best show on television, Glee. It makes me feel better.

The studio... in real life :)

I posted pictures of my studio a few days ago, and have had such lovely comments from you lovlies out there! My parents are coming for a visit tomorrow, so I will have to tell my dad how well his craft table was received :) I warned readers to look quick, as it will never be that clean again...

I just brewed a pot of coffee (it is after 10:30pm) and plan on heading downstairs soon to my new favorite place in the house. I thought I would share some more pictures, too. I don't think I mentioned before that my creative space is only half the basement (which believe me, to a girl who used to scrap on the kitchen island while trying to cook pancakes at the same time... very grateful!) ... the other half is a family area. Ok, fine, it is the twins' area to wreak havoc. The make forts out of the loveseat cushions, bring every toy they own to spread on the floor, try to convince me that picnics in the basement are a good idea, and pretty much thoroughly enjoy themselves.

And if you look closely at this picture, you will see that it isn't a child-free zone...

There is about 12 inches between my work table and the loveseat. So much fun to try to stand on mama's table and jump onto the loveseat.

I have decided to pick my battles.





Yes, you can come look at the pretty papers.
No, you can't jump off the table.
Yes, you can arrange all my wood mounted stamps in a row.
No, the Crop-o-dile is not a toy.
Yes, you can pick two buttons to glue to make your "own card."
No, you can't taste the glue...

And so it goes. I don't think I have mentioned it here or not, but my boys turned four just last July, and they both have been diagnosed with Autism. If you are familiar with autism, you know it is a wide spectrum. Johnny's autism is more mild, whereas Mikey struggles a bit more. Mikey loves my craft area. His favorite thing is to line up all my stamps, and to line the edges of my table with his dinosaurs. Johnny makes arrangements of pictures, toys, and cups around my sewing machine. Here is Mikey intent on improving my collection of vintage books (that dress form is now in three pieces, by the way. They said it was a trophy and the boys hosted a race to see who would win it... the trophy lost).


While it can be a bit messy, and I may spend a few extra minutes looking for my distress ink (by the dinosaurs, of course! Duh, mom) I love it. I love that I can make a card, tickle my kids, sort some paper, play pirate, work on a scrapbook page, go outside and push the boys on the swingset... Don't get me wrong. Some days are better than others, and some days I can't wait for bedtime. And then there are those moments, when the house is still and quiet, I go into my workspace, see a T-Rex on my chair, and laugh so hard I cry.

Hey Cupcake...

The doorbell rang yesterday, and my two cutie little neighbor girls were at the door. They wanted to see if they could borrow some vanilla extract. They were making cookies with their cousin, and you could tell they were sooo excited to be baking from scratch (plus they like to ring my doorbell). I supplied the extract (I use it sometimes when I teastain fabric) and felt compelled to bake with my kids.

I used a mix, however. We made brownies, and the boys enjoyed the bowl-licking the best. After filling the baking pan, I let them have at the bowl with various spoons, mixing cups, and measuring utensils. I have never seen so much teamwork. These two were on a mission, and they were very dedicated to their mission:

Get as much chocolate on their faces as possible.

Of course my full attention was on my children, but I was also dreaming of the next card I could create. I wanted to combine some of the challenges... I am loving the challenges! So while I stirred and tried to keep the boys from putting their complete faces into the mixing bowl, I decided to do a cupcake card.

In my quest to see how many challenges I could do with one card, I was pleased to be able to use the sketch from Friday Sketchers, use circles as challenged by ABC, stitch around my papers for Creative Inspirations, and make this a little birthday card for Stamp Something .

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Bazzill

Embellishments: handpieced cupcake by me, fabric, button, stitching