Etsy for Charity

Don't forget to stop by the Etsy for Charity Shop. Today is the last day of their 1st Anniversary 20% of sale. Many of the donating shops are also offering 20% off in their shops. So please stop by and do some shopping for a great cause!!! Also. if you would like to join Etsy for Charity there is info on my page and on the EFC stores page about joining. It's easy, fun and rewarding.

Saucy's Zombie Jar Swap

I had never made a Zombie Jar before but decided to try my hand at it anyway and joined Saucy's Zombie Jar Swap. My partner was Mickey.

Here's the jar the Mickey and her kids made for me. It's a Medussa type lady with snakes in the jar and a frog on the top of the jar. It is really cool looking, my camera just isn't very good at taking pictures.

Then here's the sweet card she sent, some skeletons, the candy isn't in the picture because, you know, the kids already had gotten into it. Anyway, she sent some Hershey's Kisses Candy Corns that the kids loved and some other candy too.

Mickey had this "Caution" tape on the top of the package. What a cute touch!

Thank you Sasha and Mickey for a great and fun swap!!

Here's what I sent to Mickey.

The Zombie Jar

a bag of goodies for her and the kids, some homemade potpourri in a Apple/Orange Scent and some ribbon, fibers and buttons I hope she enjoys everything!!!

I've been Boo'd!

I've been Boo'd! It's a good Boo though!! Denise at Polka Dot Moon sent me a Halloween greeting to pass along to others. Once you get Boo'd your suppose to post this on your sidebar so everyone else know's you've already been boo'd.

Happy Halloween Week!!

My List for Priscila's Vintage Stocking Swap

Priscila asked us to post our answers to these questions for her Christmas Stocking Swap. So here goes:

What do you collect: vintage patterns, lace, buttons, head vases, planters, hankies, angels, vintage elves. I love vintage and shabby chic!!

What inspires you: seeing other people's creatitivity

Favorite pastime: crafting, spending time with Earl and the kids.

Whats one of your favorite vintage pieces in your home: I have a really unusual stand that my Grandpa made when he was young and gave it to me and the dolls that my Grandma crochet little dresses for when she was young.

What decoration or christmas item would you love to have: Anything, I love just about anything!!

What vintage piece would you love to have: I love vintage head vases and planters. I started collecting those little vintage elves.

Favorite Goodie or hot drink: I love coffee and flavored hot chocolates.

Any family tradition: The kids and I usually make Baby Bam, Instant Hot Chocolate Mix, chocolate covered pretzels and Spice Tea together and then bottle them up and ship them to our relatives and give them as gifts to teachers and other people.

Greatest Christmas Memory: Going to midnight Mass as a family, spending time with family and seeing the kids faces on Christmas morning.

Fall Swap

I was in Lori's Fall Swap and my partner was Angela. Angela sent me a wonderful Fall Swap package full of beautiful things. I love all the Fall colors and she had everything wrapped up so pretty with dried flowers for bows. I didn't get a picture of everything wrapped, but it was very pretty!
Thanks Angela!!! Your the best and you should be receiving your package very soon! I'm almost caught up on my swaps.

Am I Expecting To Much??

I'm going to gripe for a minute. I have mentioned before how many of the people in the town I live in act and talk. It is very offensive to me. I'm not prude, perfect or a goodie two-shoes, but I do find certain behaviors in adults to be quite offensive.

The kids have to catch a ride to and from practice because Earl is working and I don't have a car. Yesterday the kids had a football game and we were in the same situation. I really do appreciate that this one family and the coach take the kids to and from practice and then to the game yesterday. I really do appreciate it, BUT, I am really irritated with these people. Here's why, and tell me if I'm wrong.

Mallory came home one night and says that she smokes. Of course, she got my immediate attention with that one. She said that on the way to practice the dad, who is in his 40's, smokes in the van and there fore she smokes too. Whew, what a relief, but at the same time I am really irritated that this man is smoking in a car with my kids in it. Isn't it common knowledge that second hand smoke is bad for you??? I do realize that this family is doing me a favor but at the same time he has someone else's kids in the car and he should refrain from smoking. I mean it's only a 5-7 minute drive to the High School. He can't have a cigerette before they leave??? I haven't said anything because I guess the dad doesn't usually go with them.

Then yesterday the coach took the kids to the game for me. He's a nice guy and has a couple of kids. He's probably in his late 20's. Well, Mallory came home and was telling me about this song they were listening to on the ride home from the game. She said her and the other kids don't say the word Mother F!@#@r and the other bad words that are in the song just the good words. I said, "Your Coach was playing that music in the car with all you kids in there?" Mallory says, "Yeah, he always does." Well, the kids won't be catching any more rides from the coach.

We try really hard to teach our kids good values and cussing is not one of the things I want my kids to learn. I admit that I occasionally will say something that I shouldn't and Earl definitely has a potty mouth. I am always on him about talking in front of the kids like that and he does try not to or apologizes if them does (not that it makes it right). Earl's was brought up with a large amount of cussing in the household. I wasn't. My parents would occasionally say something like s!#t or damn it, but that was about the extent of the cussing in our household.

My point is, I think that parents should not smoke, cuss, play music with explicit lyrics and/or disrespect people of authority in front of other people's kids.....even if they are doing you a favor by providing a ride. I also think that if a child is spending the night with another child that the parents should not allow the kids to watch R rated movies or play the M rated video games. I think the parents should refrain from looking at things like porn on the computer when their child has a friend over. I don't think they should be doing it in front of their own kids, but that's not for me to say. All of these things have happened to my kids and it really makes me mad!!!!

I am so tired of my kids coming home from school and saying that someone called them a fag or someone said "F!@k you" to them on the bus. I am tired of people calling them wiggers because they have black friends. I am by no means claiming that I or my kids are perfect, but, What are people teaching their kids???? Obviously, not the same things that I am teaching mine!

Mallory asked me if I would home school her when we move in a couple of months. I am seriously thinking about it even though the thought of it scares me to death. It really scares me though as to what my kids are learning when their at school!

A Halloween Party and the Zombie Jar Reveal

My daughter and her boyfriend had a Halloween Party last night. We all had a great time and the kids loved getting dressed up early and getting to see their neices and nephews. Here's a few pictures that I wanted to share.

Lexie as Dorothy and Anthony as the LionJake as an Executioner

Ezie was a gangster

Mallory's costume eventually came off

but

the Prisoner Monster wasn't going to leave her alone.Ezie borrowed a mask

My Grandaughter Olivia was firefighter
Thanks Lexie and Jake for a great party!!

Now for the Zombie Jar Reveal.

If your my swap partner, Mickey, please don't peak!!

I have never made a Jar craft before and I wasn't to sure about this but my sweet friend AwtemNymf said to me

"Today is reveal day! I wasn't sure about mine either, but it's what the artists puts into it that matters! I like it and I'm not blowing sunshine up the patootey *haha*."

So here's my Zombie Jar

Thanks for your words of encouragement AwtemNymf! If you want to see some of the other ladies super cool Zombie Jars check out Saucy's Zombie Jar Blog. I have a ton of ideas going through my head.............now.

Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?

Ezie and Mallory came home the other day with a note from their school regarding a book about bucket filling. I put the note to the side to read later and this morning I finally got around to reading it. I am always so impressed with the Elementary School in our town because they started teaching the kids about respect, honor, pride, manners and other character building things in Pre-K and continue to teach these values through the 5th grade.


In our town I honestly think that if these values were not taught by the Elementary School a huge percent of the kids would never be exposed to them. These values are things that we have instilled in our kids since they were just little toddlers. I am huge on please and thank you's, respecting others feeling and things, treating others as you would like for them to treat you, and so on. Unfortunately, most of the people in this town cuss and fight with other people in front of their kids. Show disrespect to other people, the police and to their own kids. The only reason we live in this town is because it has very cheap housing, but we definitely have been paying the price. Hopefully we will be moving in the next few months. I will miss the kids school though. The Principal and staff are such wonderful examples to our kids and I really admire them for the work they do.

Anyway, back to the subject. The note is about a new program called, Bucket Filling, that the school has started. The program is based on the book Have You Filled Your Bucket Today, by Carol McCloud.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

"All day long, everyone in the whole wide world walks around carrying an invisible bucket. You can't see it but its there. You have a bucket. Your Mom and dad each have a bucket. Your sister and brother have a bucket. Your grandparents, friends, and neighbors all have a bucket. Everyone carries an invisible bucket. Your bucket has one purpose only. It's purpose is to hold your good thoughts and good feeling about yourself. You feel very happy and good when your bucket is full and you feel very sad and lonely when you bucket is empty. You fill a bucket when you show love to someone, when you say or do something kind, or even when you give someone a smile. But, you can also dip into a bucket and take out some good feelings. You dip into a bucket when you make fun of someone , when you say or do mean things. or even when you ignore someone. That's being a bucket dipper."

I haven't read the book, but I am once again impressed by Mrs. Shields and the teaching staff for initiating another program to help build character in the children of our town. Thank you Mrs. Shields!!! You are a wonderful principal and person!!
We are going to get some buckets for our family and write down things about each other and ouselves to encourage bucket filling. Be sure and check out the Bucket Filling site and the program.

I Have a Question

I joined Lisa Vollrath's Message In A Bottle exchange and I have to send a bottle out to a person who is willing to send three more bottles out. You get a plastic bottle and fill it with little goodies that can be used in art projects. Things like paper scraps, buttons, beads, stickers, etc.......... The cost to send the bottle is approx. $1.50-$2.00 depending on what all you put in it.


Anyway, my question is, would anyone like to be a part of Message in a Bottle?? If you would check out Lisa's site and get back to me and I'll send you your first bottle. I just don't want to send someone a bottle who doesn't want to keep the exchange going. If you would like to join in on Message in a Bottle let me know and I'll send a bottle out to you. Thanks!!!!

I Broke Down!

Jack Frost has struck again!

We had our third night of temperatures in the low 30's. I woke up this morning so cold and my bones felt like they're shivering.................... so I broke down.................. and turned on the heat.
I only turned on the heat for the lower part of our home though and only to 60 degrees. (We have 5 levels, with 1 room on each level, except upstairs we have 2 bedrooms on each of the 2 upper levels)

Jace is in a stage where he will not wear clothes. He only wants to wear his "big boy underwears" since he started potty training. I know he has to be freezing!! Earl said he started to turn the heat on early this morning but decided against doing it without asking me first. You'd think he is scared I'd get upset about it or something!?!? Surely I'm not that bad!! No, I wouldn't have gotten mad. I just don't like the house super warm. It's hard to breathe and it just costs way to much money, but I do hate to be cold!

My dad would probably die if he heard me say this because I can remember a young girl who came home from school a couple of times and was freezing and thought she would warm herself up by turning up the thermostat. The only thing is this girl turned it up to like, a 100 degrees, and then forgot about it. When her Daddy came home a couple of hours later to a HOT house he wasn't very happy with the young girl. There were 4 girls in the house............ so it must of been one of the other 3. wink! wink!

This is NOT a picture of my dad! It's just an image I borrowed.

Have a wonderful day!! I'm off to finish more swaps!

What are you all up to today? Is it cold where you are?? If not, I'm extremely jealous!!!

Jack Frost is Here and it's COLD!

Artist: Jan Piller

Jack Frost came yesterday morning for his first visit and he is definitely in Upstate New York again this morning. It is cold!!! BBBBBRRRRRR!!! I'm freezing! I am one of those people though that hates to turn the furnace on. Once you turn it on it's winter and it will be on for the next 6 months. Even when it's on I never turn it above 60-62. I hate to pay for heat, but I do hate to be cold at the same time. So I will have to put my barefeet into some socks today and put on my flannel shirt to stay warm. I also hate wearing long sleeves and socks, but with Jack Frost here to stay I guess I'm going to have to change my habits..........for awhile anyway.

Miss Rhea is having a 100th Post Giveaway!

Be sure and go over to Miss Rhea's blog for a chance to enter her 100th Post giveaway! If you've never seen her wonderful faux creations you've definitely been missing something!

Kathy is having a Giveaway

Kathy from Kat Collects is having a wonderful giveaway!! I hope I win!!! Everything she is giving away is fabulousicious!!!!

Fanciful Twists Halloween Party!

Fanciful Twist is hosting a Halloween Party. Be sure and go to her blog and check out the list of all the Party Guests for a fun and haunting Halloween ghoul time!!!

At my Party we have some silly games

The Chef will be Shrek and he will be serving some Rat Kabobs.

MMMmmmmm!

The court Jester is here for some added entertainment!

He's always good for a laugh!!

I brought a WereWolf as my date.

Handsome isn't he!!

There is a Doctor in the house just in case someone needs one!?!?!

and what Halloween party would be complete without the party guests

Thanks for visiting my little part of Fanciful Twists party!

Ya'll come back now!

Happy Birthday Cathy and Some New ATC's I Made

Happy Birthday Cathy!!!

I wish I was there to share your birthday with you!!

This is my sister Cathy and her husband Steve.

I hope you have a great birthday Cathy!!

These are my first 3 ATC's to make for a Club Creative (a Yahoo Group) that I joined. Angela, who makes gorgeous ATC's, is in the same group and that's how I joined.

These go to my partner in Germany and I receive from Angela. (Yay!)

The theme for was to make 3distressed ATC's.

I hope Ulla likes them!! I was pretty happy with how they turned out!

I bought the cute little bird nest eggs images from

KF Collection

I received the cutest giveaway from Suzie Buttons yesterday.

These are so darn cute and so much bigger than I thought they would be.
Thanks so much Suzie!!!
I love them!!!

Oh Yeah, She's Back!!

If you didn't watch the show, Samantha Who?, last season you missed out on a really cute show and if you did, Yay! It's back on tonight!!!

I never knew that Christina Applegate was so cute and funny. She is nothing like the role she played in Married with Children years ago.

In Samatha Who?, Christina plays a 30 year old woman who has a power job and was quite the B!@#H! She got hit by a car and had amnesia and became the total opposite of the person she was before. It is so funny to see Samantha shocked at most of the things that she did in pre-accident life.


The show was kind of sporadic last year and I didn't think they would put it back on this season especially after hearing on Christina's diagnosis of Breast Cancer.

On August 19, 2008 It was announced that Christina is cancer free after a double mastectomy, even though cancer was found in only one breast. I guess she has an inherited genetic gene so her chances of having Breast Cancer were increased.

I'm glad she's doing well and I'm so glad the show is back on this season!!

It's so darn cute!!