Little Pumpkin Girl

Little Pumpkin Girl
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

My latest tea towel tour stitching. I just finished it up last night. I took a vintage Halloween postcard from flickr and drew up this design. It hought it was just too sweet. The owls eyes and my initials will glow in the dark too. I hope ThirdMargaret likes it!
In other Halloween related news, today is cleaning day so I can start to decorate! Halloween is my favorite time of year and I just love to decorate for it! I promised myself (and my hubby) that I'd do a deep cleaning before I put up the decorations this year. Off to get some dirt out of my house!

River Rafting!

River Rafting!
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Roamy's adventures continue today with a little tale about our rafting adventure. I wanted to go rafting so badly! My MIL also thought it sounded fun. The guys were chicken! They did end up coming along, but instead of white water rafting we went on a "scenic float". It turned out we went through a couple spots of rapids anyway, which was fun. We didn't have to do any paddling. The guide did it all. It was about a 3 hour float down the Flathead River. Roamy stayed safe and dry tucked into the front of my life jacket. The guide thought it was odd that a gnome wanted to come rafting. It was so pretty and peaceful just floating along the river in a big boat. Until I got splashed with water! When I got out of the boat it looked like I had wet my pants! As always there are 2 more Roamy Gnomey pics on flickr!

Another TTT5 Stitching

Day Of The Dead Lady
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Here is the Day of the Dead lady I stitched on Zombie_Queen's towel. I made her to match the gentleman that lilyvanilli had already stitched up. Lily found the large headed man on wikipedia. I couldn't find the matching lady so I took the original lady that I had already stitched up and altered the pattern. Did some drawing, tracing, and re drawing and came up with this. I love how it turned out and they match perfectly. I'm also proud that I used metallic floss! I bought some thread heaven and it makes the metallic floss a dream to work with! I used it for the seed stitching to fill in the dress. Gives it a great bit of sparkle. Her shoes are also metallic black to look like patent leather.
I'm stitching something Halloween inspired on the new towel I got. What fun! Can't wait to share.

Art Fest Was A Hit

Art Fest went well on Saturday. We made a killing at the art auction! My doll went for $65 to my Grama of course! I hope to have some pics of the art fest soon. I was too busy to take pics, but a friends son took some and he is going to email them to me soon. The vendors all had good days as well. I think many of them will return for next year. I bought a fantastic bracelet from one and a necklace made my the aids women from Uganda. I got heat exhaustion. It was terrible, but I survived. Lesson learned for next year; take time to sit down out of the sun!

Gnomey at Lake McDonald

Gnomey at Lake McDonald
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I missed yesterday so Roamy's adventure's are a day late!
Here is Roamy Gnomey at Lake McDonald. It is a huge lake. So pretty and serene. We had a fantastic BBQ by the lake this day for supper. There are pics of Roamy with his meal on my flickr. I like to call this pic "little Gnome, big lake."

JMAC Art Fest!

Sunflower Art
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I've been working like crazy to get our local art center's art fest to be a big deal this year. We were in danger of loosing it because of poor turnout last year. This year my wonderful committee has managed to turn it all around! We will have 24 vendors of different art and ethnic food. We will be having a live auction for the sunflower themed art as well. That part of the art fest has always made us a nice amount of money. With the wonderful variety we have had this year I think we'll make a good amount. The picture isn't all of the pieces, but a pretty good over veiw and all that I could fit into the frame. The next few days for me will be super busy. I have a taping for the local news tomorrow, a normal board meeting on Thursday, Friday night we are marking out booth spots at the park and getting tables and chairs ready to haul, and Saturday morning is set up and show time! I'm so excited and nervous as well! Here's hoping for a sunny day, lots of art buyers, and fun for all!

Waiting for the boat

Waiting for the boat
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Gnomey waited for the boat on the shore of Two Medicine Lake. We took the boat across to hike to see Twin Falls (pic on Flickr). Gnomey was ready to see our next cabin we were to stay in. It rained on the boat ride back. Gnomey was so glad to see the next cabin! I swore it looked like a garden shed with a bathroom, but he thought it was just right! Go figure!

All Hell's Gone To Hell

All Hell's Gone To Hell
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

This is my first design for the TTT5! I stitched this on Lilyvanilli's towel. Her theme was words. I chose the saying "all hell's gone to hell". A very wise, be it intoxicated, friend uttered this in a moment of frustration and we all latched on to it. It has become somewhat of a catch phrase. I drew the pin up and banner looking at reference pics of Sailor Jerry art online. He didn't have any devil girls that I could find so I made my own in his style. The only thing I didn't draw was the lettering. I used stencils for that. Look for my next designs on the TTT!

Love Is Shrine

Love Is Shrine
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I'm so proud of this! It is my first go at a large shrine. I made it for the IYP swap. I'm very new to paper crafting, but this was so much fun to make. I see many more shrines in my future. I distressed a plain shadow box. I also hand tinted the heart image. I made the nest from some crafting grape vine I had laying around here. The wings are feathers from a pheasent we ate last year. I watercolored the rainbow on a dictionary page. If you look under the left wing you can see the word Sapphire, that is why I choose that page. My partner's online name is TheSapphireMoon. I made the candles as well. The egg is real. My hubby's grandparents raise chickens of all kinds and they have some banty hens that lay tiny eggs! Perfect for my projects. Anyway, as you can tell I'm super happy with how this came out and can't wait to get started on my next shrine.

AlwaysInspired's House Of Whimsies

AlwaysInspired's House Of Whimsies
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Here is my whimsy jar I received in the swap on Craftster. Isn't it cool? It was chock full of goodies too. Tons of reclaimed jewlery bits, paper goodies, and plastic flotsam! How I love whimsies!

Running Eagle Falls

Running Eagle Falls
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I'm a day late posting Roamy Gnomey's adventures for this week, but I was off camping! This is Roamy at Running Eagle Falls. It was a wonderful hike and such a great falls at the end. Two other Roamy pics are up on Flickr as well.

MMMM wanna bite?

MMMM wanna bite?
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I made this cake box for the jar of whimsies swap on Craftster. My partner received so I can share! It looks good enough to eat right? If you want to see more pics hop on over to my flickr. I have a top view and an open shot there.

IYP Goodies

IYP Goodies
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I got my package for the IYP from TheSapphireMoon yesterday! It was a welcome sight after a long day of sitting. She made me a fab skirt! It is my fave colors, purple, orange, and green. She also made me a great dashiki in a gauzy fabric. I have a tank to wear under it and it will be great for dress up or casual. She also made me some fantastic jewlery. A necklace, earrings, and bracelet! All in my fave colors. Two keychains, which I needed for my art center keys. She also sent along some scraps! I love scraps! There is a mini jar of whimsies that was really fun as well. Thanks TheSapphireMoon for a great swap! I can't wait to share what I made for her as soon as her package arrives.