A Plate of Happiness

... Pumpkin Cupcakes ...

(recipe from Gayle at Planet M Files .... click HERE)

... with a little added cheer

as if you weren't smiling already at the sight of cupcakes

:) :) :)

.....

The "Party Picks" are newly featured in my Etsy shop .... click HERE

A Little Wishful Snowman

I've been working on this snowman "shrine" for a couple of weeks and finally finished him today. It's been a very rainy day - which gave me the idea for how to finish him and let him have his say about things ...

.... you see, he is rather perched on a soapbox sort of contraption there ...

... it says on the sides:

"into each life a .....

..... little rain must fall."

His response to that idea?

"let it snow!!!"

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he was just listed in my etsy shop today

(click HERE for the listing)

colors to dye for (pun intended)

step 1: you need wool and kool-aid

I used "Fisherman's Wool" which is sold in great big skeins (it's economical) in natural colors. I used an off white and a brownish color.

***

Soak small amounts of the wool in kool-aid and water.

For less intense colors like mine - just a couple of minutes will do it.

Be careful to really squeeze your yarn to get it soaking up the dye.

Wool is basically waterproof - so you have to really work it in.

***

Hang it up to dry in a place where it won't matter if it drips.

***

Mine dried over night.

You can see that the darker wool and the lighter wool dyed very differently ... except for the grape ... those 2 look basically the same to me.

I'm planning to make ski headbands like THIS one.

I'll use the natural wool for the background color and these yummy kool-aid colors for the stranded parts. (They smell good too!)

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... oh, and you might want to wear gloves (wink)

T is for .....

T is for Tenderness

Tender:

having yielding character

having the softer emotions

showing care or consideration

susceptible to emotion

delicate to touch

sensitive to injury.

I'll have more of that T, please.

***

Pat

Patty

Christen

Judy

Jean

an origami box with lid ....

.... just perfect for a chunk of homemade fudge at Christmas time.

(click HERE for where I got the pattern)

my favorite dish

... is my grandmother's candy dish.

She used to always have a supply of those strawberry hard candies with gooey filling.

Yum.

Now it keeps small 2 inch pieces of art (twinchies) that I've swapped with friends ...

less fattening :)

tea and 45 more days ...

... til Christmas!

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a gift of warmth

(harris tweed (click here for pattern) button down scarf)

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and a gift of cheer

(smocked fingerless mitts (click here for pattern) and hot apple cider)

***

Christmas always seems to broadside me and the result is a near nervous breakdown on Christmas Eve. My strategy this year: make a bunch of fudge with my sister to package up and tie with a bow ..... and knit small things here and there from my yarn scraps and stash. We spend a lot of evening time in front of the tv at this time of year - and knitting is perfect for that.

***

Wishing you a warm and cozy day!

Please visit these other Tea on Tuesday blogs to see what they're up to:

Pat

Patty

Christen

Judy

Jean

Jason Witt

work or play?

I thought I'd be real transparent and show you my work space

we are friends, right?

so I know you won't be horrified at the mess

sometimes I have to thank God for doors that shut

and a table to call my own

***

My work space is in a corner of the family room.

That is a huge improvement over where it used to be.

... in the laundry room ....

(my very 1st blog post about that).

The cupboard was a wedding gift from my very best friends in the whole world.

They must have had an instinct that I would one day NEED a cupboard that is off limits to everyone but me .....

"ask me first before you go in there looking for tape, glue or a stapler!!!"

jolly good

I've been working on some ideas for my etsy shop ...

maintaining my shop is always a struggle for me.

I guess I just want to play and "the shop" seems like work.

What do you think about this little jolly good fellow?

If you saw him in your wanderings, would you want to snatch him up?

Would $5 seem too high?

Just curious .....

tea and happy mail

Today's tea is Numi Puerh Tea sent to me by Patty. We recently played in a a teacup swap and as luck would have it, I drew her name and she drew mine. Of course, she sent more than just a teacup - and the teacup is not just a teacup either ..... isn't it beautiful?

She also loaded me down with all kinds of other goodies ..... like honey soap, fun ephemera, gorgeous postcard art, bottle caps (I love bottle caps) ....

.... a really cool altered sea urchin shell, a wonderful german beeswax ornament, and look what she tied the packages with ..... altered twist ties: "real life" and "happy go lucky"

Isn't that just such a cool idea?!

I think she must have included some of her Virginia sunshine too ....

look at what a beautiful day it is promising to be!

No rain in the forecast until Thursday! Yay!

Thank you Patty :)

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For the other tea on tuesday bloggers please visit:

Patty

Christen

Judy

Jean

Pat

... and cheers!

merry halloween!

... there's a swap that I'm in that I've been putting of and putting off ...

I just didn't have any ideas!

.... the job was to alter a mousetrap ....

argh! you try it! it's a unique and puzzling challenge to say the least!

.... now I just wish I hadn't put it off so long.

I want to spend the rest of the day making loads of these for my friends ....

before Halloween is OVER!!!

B-O-O

H-O-O

a mini junk drawer?

28 tiny things that all fit into a matchbox:

I found an interesting photo pool on flickr ......

The International League of Championship Matchbox Stuffers.

I had to give it a go myself :)

Just a bit of fun ..... on a small scale.

Check out the link - there are some amazing pics!

hello sunshine

Dried grapefruit slices hanging in my kitchen window ....

... a fun way to have sunshine indoors all winter long ....

.... when we bring in our fir tree in December,

I'll festoon the branches with these golden orbs ....

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Here's the "How To:"

Slice your grapefruit into 1/4 inch slices.

You should be able to get about 6 slices per grapefruit.

Place a paper towel on a cookie cooling rack and place your slices on top of that.

Bake in the oven on super low (I set it to 170f).

After about 1 hour, flip the slices over.

Continue baking until nicely dried - but not brown.

About 4 hours total.

You can do this with lemons, limes, giant pomelos, yellow grapefruit, ruby grapefruit, even tiny kumquats would work. It makes a lovely and natural home decoration, gift tag, tree ornament - you name it!

a good day for tea

It's a dreary day here in Western Washington.

Snow is falling in the mountains.

Rain is falling here.

I'm staying warm and cozy indoors with my tea :)

Today's tea is "Orange Dulce."

Dulce means sweet, and this tea does have a natural sweetness to it.

I think it might be orange blossoms.

Do you see the heart shaped petal in the mound of tea?

I've also pictured my very cool fold-over tea bags ... so much easier than a ball strainer.

*****

Today is a good day for knitting too :)

These are the finished sweaters I made for my girls.

(Don't look too closely - you'll see the mistakes!)

But they love them - and feel an imaginary hug from Mom when they wear them to school.

This is a scarf I began ..... and it's got me excited for Christmas preparations.

Scarves and other quick knits are perfect, cozy, loving gifts to give.

This is a bulky wool on size 9 sticks.

The pattern is soooo easy!

Cast on 22 stitches.

Knit 2 Purl 2 - row 1.

Purl 2 knit 2 - row 2.

Knit row 3.

Purl row 4.

For row 5, repeat row 1.

For row 6, repeat row 2.

Purl row 7.

Knit row 8.

Repeat rows 1-8.

If this scarf doesn't come out very long (I only have 1 skein of the wool), I'll make a button hole and sew in a large button and it will be one you can button together .... more like a neck warmer. In any case, I'll show it when I'm done.

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Cheers! and Happy Tuesday :)

Please visit my other Tea on Tuesday friends:

Patty

Christen

Judy

Pat