Monarch Post

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

so far, so good

 
Back to working on crafting ideas and projects for the Mothers Without Borders charity boutiqe today. I've suddenly depleted my fab vintage earring and button stash! Tomorrow, I'll need to hit the thrift stores and hunt for more.

Anyways, I decided some stylish AIDS Awareness Day (Dec. 1st) red ribbons would be a perfect place to start crafting for this charity. They could even double as Christmas tree ornaments after wearing on Dec. 1st! :)

 

After a few fancy ribbons, I moved onto felted wool ribbon making. One felted red sweater back made about thirty ribbons! Not bad, for an old castoff. Plain and classic red wooly ribbons for the Land's End crowd, I'm thinkin.

Gotta run! Take care and happy Monday to you:) xoxo~Kelly

loving it

 
Like about Tuesday, I realized my kids were out of school this Thursday and Friday. My crafting plans shifted into low-priority gear, while having fun with kids shifted into high-priority gear. Fall is really here now, the temperatures are apple-crispy. So refreshing. Yesterday, all I wanted to do was play with kids, bake, and hand sew things-- exactly what I managed to do:) (Don't you love it when your day  becomes your to-do list?!) 

I was also the spectator for a tough "boys vs. dogs" soccer match. I don't know who had more fun, or who won :) But they were all in seventh heaven for the afternoon...

 

And so was Miss Sophey. Haunted house painting and fall baking with Mom-- this girls' seventh heaven. She learned to bake a pumpkin pie yesterday too.

 
The finished" Haunted Henderson House". Accessorized with homemade clay flower pots. Sophey said, "It just needed a litle something more." She kills me.

And being the apple that didn't fall far from the tree...

 
she decorated the inside with old dollhouse furniture.

We decorated these little numbers too. Oh my goodness, can you say rich? Hershey's Kisses are now in candy corn flavor! (I'll post the recipe at the end for you.)

And then we decorated our favorite, old kitchen sideboard with our new art.

 
  
 
In and around and between kids, I finished a couple of cats for Etsy, and started on projects for the charity boutique. I've made about thirty Red ribbon pins so far... more handmade show and tell to follow next week!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  xoxo~Kelly

P.S. candy corn not included with cat-- who invented this stuff, and why do I like eating sugar-wax?

***HALLOWEEN KISSES COOKIES***

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Additional sugar

40 Hersheys candy corn kisses,unwrapped and then frozen. They melt too quickly if they're not frozen first.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.Cover and chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll in additional sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325 for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately press a kiss into the center of each cookie.

Press a kiss on a kid-- oh wait, that's my recipe ;)