Happy Halloween!

Prim Halloween Wall Hanging
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

A big Happy Halloween or Samhain Blessings to all!
I thought today would be a good day to share the prim wall hanging I made for Woodland-Faerie! All my own pattern. I just love making prim things! Especially Halloween releated items. To me they just scream spooky, or spooky cute anyway. :) Off to carve a pumpkin and wait for the little ghouls and goblins!

TTT 5 Finished Towel

TTT 5 Finished Towel
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

My towel is home from it's travels. From top left corner: ThirdMargaret,Sonjabegonia,Paleangellex,me,Zombie_Queen, and center Lilivanilli. Thanks to all the great stitchers! I love my new towel and plan on putting a back on it and using it as a wall hanging in my new crafty space.

Dungeon Day 4

Crafty space progress
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

A progress shot! Just got things all primed up today. The shelf and desk still need primed and the shelf you can't see in the pic is half primed. More priming ahead and some actual color! Woot!

Cookie Message

Cookie Message
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Aaron (the hubby) has been looking for a job with more of a future for awhile now. He has always wanted to try law enforcement and had applied at the Sherrif's department a long time ago. The other day they called him! He went in for the first interview and came home filled with hope. After the 2nd interview he was pretty happy and hoping like hell he had got the job. On Wednsday the person who was doing the hiring called! Aaron was at work, so I offered to leave a message. The man first asked me if I'd like my hubby to work for him. I said "YES!!!" Then he said, "well tell him he has the job when he gets home." I was so excited! I was already in the process of baking Aaron cookies so I thought it would be a fun way to tell him the good news. He walked in and could smell the cookies, he went straight to the bathroom to wash up and when he came into the dining room and saw the cookie plate he just grinned and said, "that's cool!"
So here's to a job with a future and good cookies!

Sweet Little Birdies

Sweet Little Birdies
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

This is my last Tea Towel Tour stiching to do! It goes in the mail today. I stiched it on PaleAngelLex's towel that was themed with birds. I found this sweet little pattern on the flickr hoop love pool. So many fantastic patterns on there! I could stitch for a life time and never get them all stitched up. Sad to see my last towel go, but so excited to think that my towel will be on it's way home soon!

Dungeon day 3

Crafty space colors
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Whew! The ceiling is all sheetrocked after a couple of hours of work yesterday! It just awaits a couple of coats of mud on the seams. That will be done Tuesday along with the screw holes in the ceiling and walls. Then the painting can begin! We will start with the ceiling. It will be getting a coat of white to keep it bright and clean looking. Next will be the walls. I really only have 3 walls and 1 of which is only a half wall as the bottom section is the basement footings of concrete. The wall behind my desk will be Plantain green. The wall that is half a wall to the right will be Purple Majesty. The wall at the back of the room will be Mandarin Orange. The support beams, I think there are 4, will all be orange as well. I need bright happy space colors and nothing makes me happier than purple, green, and orange! I don't want relaxing or dull. I had thought of using brown and green, but that just isn't the vibe I'm going for so bright it is. Things are looking up!

Dungeon day 2

Uhg! That is really all I can say! I finished getting things moved out now or at least boxed up and out of the way. I started to paint the rafters and things just got worse! It just wasn't working out. So I called in reinforcements and we're going to hang sheet rock over the ceiling and then paint! It will look actually finished that way. Not a slap dash sort of paint job. It is turning into a bit more work than I thought, but I just keep telling myself it will so totally be worth it. I'm off to have lunch and then start on hanging the sheet rock.

The Butterfly Project #2

The Butterfly Project
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Here are the 10 butterflies that the older group made in my class at the art center. It was grades 4-8. The kids had a great time. The older ones are so quiet compared to the younger kids! It was crazy! I plan on making my sheet and sending them off to the Holocaust Museum in Huston on Thursday. We will have 35 total to send off. It was a great project and the older kids understood what it was for. The younger kids just think it is great that they are sending some of their art to a museum. Over all a great experience.

dungeon day 1

dungeon day 1
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I started on the dungeon today! The pic is actually just after I'd started removing stuff from the far right shelf that you can't see in this pic. There is more, but this is just what I saw when I got to the entrance. I have almost everything out of the room. Probably a couple more hours and it will be empty except for the huge shelves, my desk, and my sewing table, which I can't take out of the room. The painting will begin after that! I've made the Hubby carry out about 10 tons of trash! It feels so good to purge all this junk that has been holding back my creative space! I can feel the negativity leaving already!

The time has come.

So long ago Aaron (the Hubby) made me a nice little space to craft in the basement. It was all wonderful until the mess crept in! I've tried several times to clean it up and organize and nothing works! It just isn't a usable space right now. It makes me so sad to look at it! I've posted pics of it on here before after I've "organized" it, but it just doesn't work. So I've decided to start over! I'm going to remove everything and put it in another room temporarily while I redo. It is a wonderful space, just needs some improvements. First off, it feels like a dungeon! No windows at all! Dark rafters and this terrible ugly carpet that the Hubby got for free from work. The carpet keeps my feet warm, but it also holds onto things dropped on the floor like pins and needles. I think it is time to remove it and paint the floor. I'll add some rugs in the spots that I stand or sit for long periods of time. It also has 2 giant, hulking storage shelves used to store holiday decor and such. I plan on going through the totes and labeling them. This way I can possibly get everything on one shelf and use the other for my crafty storage for fabric and such. I also plan on painting the ceiling white to brighten it up a bit. I also want to add some color to the small bits of wall you can actually see. I need it to feel a little more like a creative space and less like a dungeon. Here's wishing me luck! I'll post some WIP pics as I go!

Wagons turned homeward.

Wagons turned homeward.
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Well, summer has come and gone and the snow is flying here. What a perfect time to end Roamy Gnomey's Glacier adventure. This will be the last Roamy Gnomey post until he goes on another adventure.
Our final night's stay on vacation was in Three Forks, Montana. We stayed at the little hotel there before driving the rest of the way home the next day. Gnomey was very glad we didn't have to ride in this all the way across Montana! I uploaded one more pic of Gnomey at the Montana state capitol. If you'd like to see him on a big skull giddy up on over!

My 1st Stained Glass

My 1st Stained Glass
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I took a fantastic class at our local college in the adult education area. It was 5 nights to learn how to make a stained glass piece. I even had homework! This piece probably took me about 7 hours total. I'm so proud of it! Playing with glass is a lot of fun! I hope to get to make many more. I may be getting someone's stash of stained glass tools to work with. This pattern just drew me in and after I started picking out the glass I knew it would be fantastic. If you'd like to see a pic of it laying flat jump on over to flickr. I want to try to get a better pic of it in the sun, but that will have to be after the SNOW melts! Uhg!

Bueller....Bueller.....Bueller

Ferris Bueller
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

When I found out that one of the towels I would be embroidering on for the tea towel tour was John Hughs themed I squeeled! My all time fave 80's movie is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I used to torture my family by making them watch it over and over again. I drew up the iconic image of Ferris laying with his hands behind his head and added my fave quote, "Ferris Bueller, you're my hero."
I think John Hughs would be proud!

The Butterfly Project

The Butterfly Project
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

I was sent this link by a friend who suggested that I should teach a class at my art center for the kids to make butterflies for the Holocaust Museum in Houston. http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html
I thought it was such a great idea! I found a butterfly template online and made them for each child. My first group was grades 1-3. They each made 2 butterflies. 1 to take home and 1 to send to the museum. They did many different techniques as well. Watercolor painting, paper collage, stamping, colored pencil, crayon, and marker. The 4 over on the right were made by my Auntie and I as examples of different ways to make your butterflies. Next week I am doing the same class with grades 4-8. I should have about 35 butterflies to send to the museum!

Montana State Capitol

Montana State Capitol
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Oops! I missed Gnomey Sunday again! I was busy baking apple pies from the apples we picked on Saturday!
We stayed a night in Kalispell Montana and then moved on to Helena. (For pics of Gnomey in Kalispell visit flickr.) Right when we got into Helena Gnomey insisted we find the capitol building so he could have his picture taken out front. You may have to squint sort of to see him way up on the hill, but he really wanted me to get the flowers in the pictures.

Bonnie

Bonnie
Originally uploaded by AlwaysInspired

Here is the latest poppet I've made. It was for a personal swap on Craftster. She is in her new home now so I can share! The person wanted a mini version of themself so I tried my best! I think she turned out super cute. She has a pony tail and long bangs, pierced ears, posable fingers with painted nails, painted toenails, and 2 outfits! She also has panties and a strapless bra. I think she turned out pretty sweet. There is a pic of her other outfit on my flickr account.

Happy Fall!

The house is now all clean and tidy! My decorations are getting put out slowly! I normally like to take 1 day and do it all, but between working and stained glass classes I haven't had time to get them all up at once! Someone suggested that I post a couple of pictures of my fave decorations, I think I will when I get the house done. Some of my fave things are hand crafted.
In other news, my stained glass class is a blast! I'm doing a simpler geometric shape to get the hang of cutting the glass and stuff. It is turning out beautifully. I have to grind tonight at class. I'm already looking for the supplies online so I can do some at home after the classes end.
Oh, and on a bit of a bummer I saw SNOWFLAKES today! Uhg! We never get much of a fall, but I'm just hoping to not wake up to a white ground tomorrow! If it snows this early it usually never stays, but seeing snow now will NOT make me happy!
Off to grind some glass! I just keep thinking "Happy Fall"!