Happy Halloween!

Last night we carved pumpkins with the kids. The girls each got their own pumpkin but even the oldest needed a little help. I drew the Scooby Doo face (freehand from a stencil as a visual guide) and the supposedly "scary" face. I helped cut out part of the owl which was done by a stencil. My husband helped by cutting the top off of our youngest's pumpkin and helping all of the girls with "tight spots" in the carving. The girls were the ones who had to de-gut the pumpkins.

We also roasted our pumpkin seeds. Usually we just throw them in the oven with salt. They have never really turned out great. But this year we boiled them before baking and they turned out quite yummy! One bowl is salted and the other is seasoning salt. We will have to try to keep a few for the bunny and the hamster.

Tonight the girls are all dressing up and the older two are going with friends. My youngest has gone through many ideas for costumes (including a cereal killer (not a misprint)) but has decided on being the Crypt Keeper. My middle one is a cowboy and my oldest is a tourist. They both made up their own costumes and didn't do too bad of a job.

I better go. We are off to go trick or treating at the mall. Later we will go around our neighbourhood.

Have a Happy Halloween!

I'm on Twitter!

Actually I am not terribly excited about being on Twitter, yet. However, it may turn out to be a good thing.

What I found not to be a good thing was right after setting up my Twitter account, I set up one for my daughter. I left the room for less than 5 minutes and when I came back she already had a follower. I thought it was one of her friends so I clicked on the followers button. Good thing my hands are quick. I covered my two kids' eyes and told them to leave until I figured out how to delete or block this follower. Not only was the avatar blatant porn but the words that were typed were ones most adults shouldn't even read.

Now I am not sure if I should leave her with this account or not. I will monitor it fairly closely for now.

If you are on Twitter feel free to follow me there too!

http://www.twitter.com/carelebeads

My Little Paintings

My sister amazes me. Her name is Cathy Lendvoy and she is a very talented painter. She has painted since we were little and I still have one of her "early works". I unfortunately misplaced it as I was wanting to show it here. (I had it last week and showed one member of my family, but not one of them remembers seeing it. This is happening a lot in my house. Maybe our ghost is back!)

She has grown in her work (as you would have seen if I had the other picture. I will post it if I find it.) She paints many different things but my favorite are the scenery. The ones that are most amazing to me are the tiny scrabble tiles she paints on. The tiny details she puts into every one are astounding. Photos do not do these pendants (or her other paintings) justice. You really need to see them in person to appreciate them fully.

Here are a few of my favorite ones.

This one is a painted scrabble tile. I love how beautiful this looks. Dandylion seed never looked so good!

I want paintings similar to this pendant in a much larger size for my living room walls. I love the colors she used.

Look at the tiny detail on this one. This is a bit larger than a scrabble tile but it is still only 1x1 1/4". Wow!

She even has painted bookmarks. This one is 7x2 1/2". Look at all the detail! (I think only half of the picture came here with me. Check her site for the whole thing!)

Every painting is signed and dated. She puts so much work into everything she does.

Go to her etsy shop to see more of her work.

http://www.mylittlepaintings.etsy.com/

If you live near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan I will hopefully be bringing her pendants with me next time I set up at the Town and Country Mall on November 12 - 14, 2009. Come and see them there.

My Favorite Things

Browsing through etsy I usually stumble upon several items that I really like. Sometimes I find some very unusual things too. I would like to start sharing some of the things I find from the outstanding to the bizzare and so many things inbetween.


Today I would like to share two shops. Fleece Traveler and Grow Smart Games have great ideas kids would love. I know mine would. My Pocket Games would be awesome to take on trips or anywhere that kids get bored easily. It has five reusable game boards of common games like hangman and dots and boxes. It includes a dry erase marker for easy use.

Check out the shop for more info and many more games including Puzzle Pairs and I Spy Sticks.
Everything seems so simple yet so enjoyable.


http://www.fleecetraveler.etsy.com/

http://www.growsmartgames.etsy.com/

A Beautiful Wedding

Recently I attended my nephew's wedding. It was beautiful - everything from the couple right down to the decorations. Sunflowers, tulle, and raffia were everywhere. The wedding had a very earthy feel to it but was still very elegant.

At the wedding the couple each had a "jar" of grains (I can't remember exactly which ones they had). To symbolize their new life together they each poured their jar of grain into a larger one where they mixed. At the reception, the centerpieces for all the tables were large jars of these same grains. It was very nice and symbolic.

The cake was beautiful - three tier ivory with a purple fondant ribbon wrapped around gently from top to bottom. Real sunflowers were strategically placed around the cake to finish it off. My niece (sister to the groom) made it.

They had such wonderful memory keepsake ideas. Instead of a guestbook, they had 12x12 scrapbook pages with pictures of them on them. Guests would then sign these pages which will later be compiled into a book. But my favorite idea was the scrapbook pages they left on the tables. Everyone at the table was to leave the couple a message or some words of wisdom. Then before getting your food, everyone at the table had to get their picture taken on a large wooden swing which they had decorated to match the hall. The couple will later replace their picture on the page with the one the photographer took. What a great way to remember exactly who came to your wedding and reception.

We have had such bad weather lately, it was a miracle that the one beautiful day we did have was on their wedding day.

Best wishes to you both. We love you!

The Weather and Stuff

They have been talking about snow for about a week now and today it happened. After supper a blanket of snow fell over town. It came down in large fluffy flakes. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't actually want snow this early in the year, but it was beautiful. I love to watch snow. I love to play in snow. I just don't like the other things that go along with the snow - like the cold! (Wow, it has been cold lately too. We actually had to turn on the furnace the other day.) I also don't like the shoveling, ice, crapy driving conditions and drivers due to slush, ice, and snow. Thankfully we likely won't have to put up with those things for a while. The snow is supposed to melt. I am actually surprised it didn't yet. (update: after I wrote this I went to pick up my husband from work and I just about spun in circles on the bridge it was soooo icy!)

We had to bring our bunny inside. I don't have the heart to leave him outside when it is this cold. We were told he could stay outside all winter by people who have a bunny that they keep outside all winter. I couldn't do it. We brought our old dog kennel in and set it up downstairs. So far Fluffy is quite happy and so am I.

I am working on getting as many large hole beads made as I can before my next sale. I couldn't believe how many people were interested in them at my last sale (not to mention how many I actually sold). Now that I am making them, people probably won't want them any more. I swear that is how things happen. People used to go crazy for my bookmarks. So I made a ton and now they aren't selling as much. Actually a lot of my stuff isn't selling as well as it used to and I am not quite sure why. I am guessing I just don't make the right "style" of the day. Oh, well.

I did make myself a bracelet recently that I really like. I am going to make a few more for this next sale. It is so simple but there is something about it that I love. Hopefully someone else will agree with me.

This is my bracelet. It is dark transparent grey and every other bead has pink dicro in it. It isn't as easy to see it here but it does sparkle. The one thing I like about the bracelet besides how comfy it is and how awesome the beads feel, is the way I ended it with the rings and the lobster clasp. I really like the look and the feel of this bracelet. (I don't usually brag about something I made unless I truly mean it). I am planning on making similar ones in purple and etched clear, a celtic green one, and a red and black one so far. I hope they turn out as good as I think they will and I hope even more that people will like them.

Ok, I am done.
Good night.

Back to Work

I am back from the sale this weekend. It went pretty good for my first year there. I now know what to expect if I go back next year.

I just thought of how nice it would have been if I would have taken pictures of some of the booths and/or products that I liked. I guess that is an idea for the next show.

I am exhausted and I have to work at 7am so I am off to relax for a minute or two before I go to bed. (That sounds sort of redundant. Oh,well!)

Good night :)