HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

These are some photos that my niece and I took in one of the cemeteries in our city. This is just a very small sampling of of what it looks like.

The house is the caretakers home.

The steps are at the beginning of the cemetery, which is HUGE.

The are so many statues and monuments and mausoleums.

Some headstones have the actual photograph of the deceased set into the stone and covered in glass.

One grave has a statue of a dog laying next to his owners burial site.

There are so many that date back more than 100 years.

We took just a few pictures and were very careful not to intrude on anyone visiting or let them see us taking pictures in case of they might think that we were being disrespectful.

I thought for Halloween the photos might look best in black and white.

Boo!!! - "My Costume"

This is in response to Junker Jane asking everyone to dress up for Halloween!

This is also for Georgina of La Llorona Arts (scary!-she will know why! Ha! Ha!)

My little toy poodle "Louie" preferred not to be in costume!

My First Paperclay Doll!

Well, here's my first attempt at making a Paperclay doll! I definitely can see where I need to make changes and improvements. I think her arms are too thick and I should have put wire through the top of her arms rather than have it coming out of the ends. I don't like how her neck is so thick and the painting of her pink top was a bad choice and I don't like how I made the skirt! I just read how to make a transfer from a scanner copy with gel medium onto muslin and that's how I transferred my nieces face onto the fabric and then attached that to the head with gel medium and painted over her hair with acrylics. Hmmmm.... I'm not too happy with it. I also think she looks kinda scary (and not in a good way!) Oh well, my first try - try and try again right! LOL - I would really love to get some helpful criticisms and/or tips! Some please leave me some comments! Go ahead, I can take it! (I think., no I can - go ahead).

I GOT IT !!!

I went to the estate sale and got that chair I blogged about on Saturday! Half price!

I'm so happy! Here's a photo of it and also a close-up of the fabric. (I also got the portrait on the wall a couple of months ago at an estate sale too.) I'm almost done decorating my living room and almost every item was a "found" treasure! My highest priced item was $45.00! This chair was $32.50 and if I remember correctly the painting was $8.00! WaaHoo! I love saving money!

Since I don't really have any!

My Beautiful Chair

I'm going to go back to an estate sale today and see if a chair that I wanted is still there. Estate sales around are full price on Thursdays, 20% off on Fridays and half price on Saturdays. Since I am on a strict budget, I usually wait until Saturday unless I find something I will really regret not getting. I got this beautiful chair about a month ago. I was so excited that it was silly. I showed people at my "day" job photos of it and while some commented on how lovely it was, I could see the puzzled look in other peoples eyes. They are the people who always buy furniture in "groupings" and it must be brand new. And that's cool for them, I totally understand that because I grew up in a house like that but I LOVE the mystery and history of finding "special" pieces. I feel bad knowing that someone has past on but I feel that since I will treasure their things as special, that maybe "they" would be OK with that. I once went to an auction where all the furniture and personal things were scattered out all over the lawn in the bright glaring sunlight with people flopped down on the furniture waiting for the bidding to begin. It was my first "auction" and I had to leave because I felt bad for the owner having their treasures so haphazardly scattered about. Most of my friends said I was being silly because the owner had passed away and won't know, but my really close friends totally understood. I just think there's a difference between an estate sale in the privacy of the house and an auction with each item held up to scrutiny. One of the women at my "day" job said I should just go to auctions anyway and I would get used to them...but I don't want to get used to it. I might be strange but I feel like the previous owner would rather it be that way. Anyway, that's how kooky I can be and here's a my photo of my beautiful chair!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Well ! -I got an award from Pam from yoborobo --- Kreativ Blogger Award!

I'm still very new to blogging but I guess this means that I tell 7 things about myself that you wouldn't know, so here it goes!

1. I'm left-handed when I write or paint but I'm right-handed for everything else.

2. I only like to drink out of glass, not plastic.

3. I like elderly people and really listen to their stories.

4. My first thought in the morning is "What's for Breakfast!"

5. I know more dogs that I like than people.

6. I hate "window" shopping.

7. I don't understand when people are bored and have nothing to do.


I don't really have 7 bloggers to pass this on to, especially since Georgina from La Llorona Arts has just gotten several and Pam is the one who sent this to me! But hey! Thanks for the award!

It's over...sigh!

This morning I opened the backdoor to let my dogs out and at first I thought it was "spitting" rain, but NO! It was snowflakes!!! My dogs must have had the same thought as I did because everyone hurried out and did their "business' and ran right back up to the door! Luckily it was for just a couple of hours and nothing stuck but ... SNOW!

Needless to say, It's over for my garden. I ran some errands and then spent time tiding up outside, I had to bring in my glazed fountain and my favorite glazed birdbath. I left three more out for the birds and then I dug up a couple of begonias that looked like they where hanging on. I also brought in all my potted and hanging plants and brought in the metal ornaments. My garden looks so sad, just my beautiful yellow marigolds lining the driveway that are still hanging on and my catmint plants still have purple flowers. Poor things, it's supposed to dip to a low of 28 degrees tonight. I did hang some orange lights on my little dead tree and I have a couple of "ghosts" in the yards plus the pumpkin on the steps. Sigh...

I guess NOW I will finally start creating inside!

Dancing with the Dogs!

There was a Halloween pet costume contest at Wallace's Garden Center this Saturday. I entered Blue and Twinkle as "dancers" from the *Dancing with the Stars* TV show. I made a disco ball trophy out of silver duct tape and Blue wore a black suit coat and Twinkle wore a ballgown with a boa. They were a big hit and a lot of people took their picture with them, including the mayor, but unfortunately they didn't win. (Grand prize was a years worth of dog food, hmmmmm ... maybe they were afraid they would go broke supplying food for Blue!) Anyway we had fun and that's what it's really all about! So here's some photos of Blue, Twinkle, duct tape trophy and the actual winner- A Hula Girl Pitbull!

R.I.P. - Fagen 02/00 - 10/09

Rest in peace Fagen. I know you are now in a place where you are healthy again and running through the flowers after butterflies. A place where you can roll in the grass and sun your belly.

A piece of my heart goes with you. You were loved.