Monarch Post

winner, winner, pancake dinner

 
 My new sock monkey helped draw the winning name.... Congrats to Cindy @ Yapping Cat Studio. Yay! Email me your address and I'll get the giveaway goods in the mail for you!

 
Of course, she couldn't read the winning ticket herself, since she's still needing her eyeballs sewn on:)

I think I'll take her, and her eyeballs with me to the skate park this afternoon, I'll stitch while the kids are skate. Then we'll get to designing a wardrobe with that stack of wool and cotton tomorrow.

 It's early out all week at our school for parent/teacher conferences. Yesterday, Sophey and Jesse had their conferences, and they had amazing grades-- so we're heading out for some fun at the local skate park to reward those good grades today!

Last night to celebrate, I made the kids something sweet and new: Gingerbread pancakes and apple compote. Sounds fancy, but it was really simple. I found the recipe at messycook. It was sooo good! We all loved it. Jesse's friend ate over last night with us and said, "Everything your Mom makes is so good." Jesse replied, "Well, you haven't eaten everything she makes-- you shoulda been here when she made potato barf soup last month!" That's my kids-- always keeping it real, and me humble.  xoxoKelly

tales and a giveaway

Okay, here we go... I've been making more ornaments, and duplicates of these are here for you. Yes, that over-hyped giveaway is finally here folks...

So four handmade recylced, upcycled, sweet, sweater ornies could be yours-- for a comment:) How about your favorite or worst holiday story if you've got one too-- please do tell. Inquiring minds want to know;) Or just stop and say "hi!"

*****

So here's my Christmas tree decorating horror story: Christmas 1992. We had just moved back to Utah from a three-year Air Force stint in England. Mike had decided to take the Air Force early out option available at this time, and so we were able to settle down and buy our first home that October. We were excited to celebrate the holidays in our hew home as civilians. We had also promised the kids a dog after the move and house-buying. And so we did. We found a darling, young, spotted black and white shitzu mix at the pound. Ainsley instantly named her Spotley: in honor of herself-- Ains-ley, Spot-ley. (Because we are narcissistic like that sometimes.) Cute dog, cute house, cute kids. Christmas time. Life was sweet.

There was only one problem in the happy holiday homecoming story... I needed to have a painful, heel/bone spur removed before our military benefits ran out. Two days before Thanksgiving, I went in for the surgery. Two hours later, I woke up with a full cast (just below the knee) on my right leg. No one had told me any casts would be involved. No one?!! I was then told I would be in that cast for six weeks. I was an angry woman when I left the hospital... It was Christmas time, I had a seven-year old and an eighteen-month old baby, a new dog, and shopping to do. I couldn't drive. I couldn't walk. I had crutches. (There was no Amazon computer shopping back then.) It was icy outside. I had two pairs of sweat pants to wear for six weeks; jeans wouldn't go over my cast. I became an angrier woman in a hot pink sweatsuit. I looked ridiculous. Poor Mike.

Three weeks into cast wearing, it was time to get a new cast. The orthopedic tech asked if I wanted a colored cast this time. I somewhat sarcastically replied: ya, why don't you alternate the red and white cloth strips and make it look like a candy cane for Christmas... He did. Now I was an angry woman in a hot pink sweat suit with a candy cane cast on my right leg. And crutches. And Christmas fast approaching...

I think I'm making a long story longer here... Okay, onto tree decorating... Before my surgery, I made sure to bake dozens of our traditional gingerbread ornaments for the Christmas tree.  Four weeks in a cast had also made me a determined woman on crutches. I hobbled and hopped around the tree decorating the night away. I meticulously hung all those tucked-away gingerbread ornaments too. The tree was beautiful, and it was midnight. I hobbled to bed.

In the morning, I did my skip/hop/hobble downstairs to find a COMPLETELY DEMOLISHED Christmas tree. Almost every single ribbon hanger was empty of gingerbread ornaments. THE DOG HAD EATEN THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!! I learned that the cute new dog was apparantly part kangaroo, and could jump really high; while simultaneously eating gingerbread cookies. It never crossed my mind that I had made a tree bakery for the dog! (I grew up without a dog in the house.) I sat on the stairs and cried. After a really good feel-sorry-for-myself cry, I pulled everything off the tree and started over, minus gingerbread ornaments. I have never baked gingerbread cookies for a tree since, and I probably never will. As long as we have a dog in the house, anyways. Sheesh.

******* 

So tell us your stories-- good or bad about the holidays! And since you've stayed with me to the end of a post that was preeetty long, here's a little something extra.

 I've been making wreath brooches for my charity boutique this week.

They remind me of my grandmothers' and great aunts' pretty Christmas brooches. 

 
  

They're super simple to make. I'll post how-to's for sure next time:) 

And I'll leave this post up till Tuesday, Nov. 10th. Then we'll do a random draw. So pretty please... leave a comment or a story, I'd love to hear the tales!! xoxoKelly

P.S. If you are a local-- the MOTHERS WITHOUT BORDERS charity bazaar is this Friday and Saturday In Layton and Lehi, Utah. See above for details, and come if you can! 

Hallo-weekend

 
Well, that was a pretty long day or two wasn't it? Sorry. Halloween came along full swing, and I was feeling under the weather last week. It was a week I really wanted to enjoy-- so I did the best I could, in between a couple of migraines, and the last of a cold.

But we managed some yummy fun. I made all those mummy pizzas on the last post, and Sophey made these great cupcakes for Halloween. The decorating kits are from Wilton. We found the last package in Michaels (FYI) a month ago, and we tucked it away till last Friday. You'da thought we found gold. We've become baking geeks around here.

 

The zombie golfer had his bandages off by the time I got to his classroom party.So you'll need to imagine bloody, oozing bandages with golf balls glued to the bandages on top of his head. Nice, huh? Obviously, golfer zombies don't believe in wearing coordinated clothing with their bandages... And Caddyshack Rodney Dangerfield was out the door on Halloween night before I could get a good photo again. 

 

 But these girls werer happy to show off their costumes. Sophey the scary fairy and best friend Scarlett had a blast. (They could pass for sisters, couldn't they?)

And I'm working on finishing that giveaway I keep talking about... really, stay tuned. xoxoKelly

bandaged up

  
With Halloween coming up this weekend, I wanted to share our favorite Halloween food we've made the last couple of years. Somehow the photo I took last Halloween disappeared from my files. Is it trick or treat time already? So anyhow, I copied this photo from Family Fun. Mummy pizzas. They're a big hit with the gradeschool crowd. And Thursday, I'm making about a hundred mummy treats for the kids' classroom parties. I'm a sucker for fun Halloween food.

If you haven't already guessed, they're made from English muffin halves, pizza sauce, and strips of mozzarella cheese, artistically arranged around olive eyes, and then broiled:)

It's been a crazy few days here-- my Dad was in the hospital all weekend. He wasn't feeling very well, and with a history of seizures, the doctors ran every possible test on him. Nothing was found, and he was released. They're thinking he may have possibly had a mini-stroke. Scary. I wound up with yet another cold-- where is my immune system this year? And poor Sophey came home hurt yesterday, after being trampled in a fun run at school. Her right foot very scraped up, bandaged and bloody. When it rains it pours here.... And quess what? I just glanced out the window. Noooo, not rain. Snow. it's snowing here right now!! Sheesh. I'd better hurry and dig out some hats and gloves for today...

And tonight I'll be figuring out some sort of zombie golfer Halloween costume for Jesse. Any ideas you guys on dead-zombie-golfer Halloween costumes?

Be back in a day or two with something less gross to share. Thanks for putting up with my lame-o post today. xoxoKelly

a walking exercise in creativity

 
After dropping the kids off at school this week; I drove to the old area of our little town, and took some long walks.  I needed a change of scenery from my neighborhood walkabout. And what glorious scenery there was to see right now!

I think my favorite things about fall are the brilliant colors, front porches decorated for Halloween; how excited my kids are for trick-or-treating, and their endless costume planning. And candy corn, of course.

 
Love the old Grandma houses in this neighborhood... 

And all the pumpkin decorated porches.

 
The methodically decorated houses.

 
The sparsely decorated houses.

And the porches which seem to suggest lots of children living there...

 
I'll bet the Rodgers family lives here, what do you think?;)

 

And so with all that delicious, autumness inspiring me-- I got busy. I've wanted to try and make a fall garland out of recycled wools and fabrics for a long time, so I did. (I know I said I'd do the ornament how to's this week, but ornaments can wait a week, right?) Fall is wonderful right now...I'll do a giveaway too, we haven't done that in ages. Next week for sure!

I thought it would be really cool to make chains from the wool. I was really wrong. After ten chains; my eyes glazed over. After twelve chains; my eyes rolled back into my head. I nearly had a seizure. Ridiculously TEDIOUS, I tell you! 

 
I then had a much better idea: strips of garland. Yes, strips are good, and a garland happens in no time. But I still didn't want to sew all those strips together.

Best idea so far: garage sale scrapbook brads! I had a whole tin of them sitting by me, just waiting for a new purpose in life:)

 

  
 
  Strips now mixed together with those tedious chains. Much better...

 

Leaves brad-tacked on, and mantel draped. I think it makes my dated family room mantle really perk up, and say fall la la la la! (Sorry.)

Well, we're off to buy our pumpkins at our favorite patch-- our porch is currently pathetic. And I'm stopping at the fabric store to buy one of those quilty template things to use with my cool, new rotary cutter. I have strips to cut, and more garlands to make!

Have a great weekend. xoKelly

autumn stuff

Slow newsweek here, guys. I've been a crafting robot the last few days, hurrying to get as much stuff made as I could for the charity bazaar-- Mothers Without Borders. Mission accomplished, and a deadline met-- ornaments, red ribbons, twenty-seven bracelets, and a few random goodies delivered today. Yay!

The bracelets sold out last time almost before the boutique began. So I wanted to make as many as I could yesterday.

My favorite bracelets, the two Jesse made with the leftover findings.

 
On the home front, Sophey entered the school art/photography contest today. These are the photos she took around our house. It's gorgeous here right now. Nice work, sweetie.

***

  
 
And last Saturday, Ainsley, Sophey, and myself made our annual treck to "Witches Night Out". It's west of SLC, in a place called Gardner Village. It's a village of pioneer homes, now turned into fun shops.

 
We ran into some witch friends of ours.

 
This festival has grown so large, it really was wall-to-wall witches. So packed it was hard to get good photos. I'll bet there was a cool thousand witches strolling, shopping, dining, and literally dancing in the moonlight last Saturday. We unanimously decided it was kinda creepy hearing "Thriller", this year.

Snapped a blurry Glenda the Good Witch, while caught in the crowd.

 Shoot. Shoulda asked her if she coulda waved her magic wand, and turned a few piles of beads into bracelets...

 Always thinking of things like that a little too late. Dangit. xoxoKelly

And a big THANK YOU to Maria at GREEN EARTH ORIGINALS for donating her some of her beautiful beaded gracelets! Thanks again!

inspired ornaments

I found a box of perfectly preserved ornaments at the thrift store last week. Vintage 1970's stryrofoam, silk thread wrapped, red ornaments. Do you remember those? They frayed so easily, I was surprised to find a box of eighteen looking like new, maybe they never got used.

Anyway, I had plans to add trim and redo those ornaments; then I looked at the new pile of red and creamy, yummy wools I found that same thrift store day, and I got inspired... I made up a pattern and started decorating my own versions of vintage ornaments. So far, I've finished a dozen, with piles and piles of cut out ornaments to go... I've discovered it's a great way to use up odds and ends of trims, buttons, and beads.  

I especially like how the "tin" ornament caps turned out!

 

Next week I'll do a tutorial for you, if you're interested in making your own. Although they're so easy, I'm sure you could wing it and do just fine!

Hope you don't mind Christmas ornaments in October. I've always been one of those people who doesn't want to see Christmas in the shops until until Dec1! But the deadline for the charity boutique I'm working on is next week. So it's going to look like Christmas here for a bit!

I'm planning on filling my Etsy shop with my ornaments soon. I'm afraid if I don't do it now, the holidays will pass me by.

 Anyhoo, it's ornament-making time for a charity, Etsy, and my tree!  xoxo~Kelly

the pearlies

I love the internet. How else could you ever be exposed to so many ideas, people, and traditions?

Yesterday, I was hunting around Google photos for Christmas ornament inspiration. Clicking on one ornament with pearly buttons, (which I adore) led me to learn all about the "Pearly Kings and Queens" of London.

The Pearly Kings and Queens, is a charitable organization begun in the 19th century by a streetsweeper named Henry Croft. As a way to attract attention, Henry began sewing onto his suit all the pearl buttons he found along the streets as he swept.  Henry was part of an organization called the Costemongers, who sold their wares in London, and gave much in the way of charity to the 'down and outs' of London. 

 
The costumes are highly prized and passed down from generation to generation. Every year a new Pearly King and Queen are crowned.

Oh my gosh. I love it! Fabulous creativity + a good cause... And some cheeky attitude thrown into the mix.  What a perfect recipe for great design!

Here's the rest of their story, if you have a minute for reading The Pearlies. Can't you just see Dick VanDyke and Julie Andrews in those costumes?

Have a supercalifragilisticexbealidocious day! (Hope I spelled that right?!)  ~Kelly

  

clucking and crowing

 
Look who I found on my walk this morning! Chickens in the 'burbs. Gotta love it. Now I want a cute little red chicken coop, and some nice (what are these, Bantam?) chickens. But I'm afraid Winston the dog would have eggs and chicken for breakfast-- once. 

I'll have to keep the chicken dream alive... There's a farm girl lurking inside me. She wants to bake rhubarb and custard pies all day, setting them later on the windowsill to cool; while she sews calico dresses... and gathers chicken eggs for dinner.

Then there's the city girl side of me. She wants to carry a smart gold clutch; while watching the symphony in a satin sapphire blue dress, dining later at a sleek and sexy restaurant. Oh, ya.. 

And so of course, I live in the burbs... I am obviously conflicted. But tomorrow night, it's a city night. Mike and I are heading out to dinner (alone!) to a favorite, sleek restaurant. Can't wait. Sybil-the-city-girl is winning :0

 
Still working on projects for the charity boutique this week... Lots of half-laid eggs so far. More show and tell to follow next week when I'm finished hatching projects (har, har).

Today, I'm satisfied to crow about this-- Our Corbyn just received his admission papers to the University of Utah!! Yay! He's planning on starting spring semester. We're so proud of you!

 
More graduation celebrating to follow in a few years.  Cluck, cluck. Crow, crow. Well, now that I've used every chicken euphemism I can think of, I'll stop tormenting you :) Do you need a license to keep chickens in the 'burbs? I need to find out.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! xoxoKelly

Edit-- looks like they're called Barred Rock chickens. Nice name, for a chicken.

  

be-live!

 
Sophey is the prolific artist around here lately. She made this in school for me in between assignments. Complete with a stand on the back so it could sit on the kitchen counter or my worktable, she told me. I like the spelling of belive: be and live. How perfect. I put a penny by it for scale. Two inches wide X one inch high. Teeny tiny and a great big message...

I believe the universe is always working to support us in ways we would never expect... I'd been asking for more self-confidence lately.

   So I'm passing along the news for you today,

    BE-LIVE in YOURSELVES

   May all your dreams come true!  xoxo~Kelly