Monarch Post

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!

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.

  

blossoming

"The Earth laughs in flowers" ~ E.E. Cummings

   This week the trees celebrated spring and popped into gorgeous shades of pinks and whites. After what has seemed like the longest winter ever ( Really. I'm serious, ask any native) in Utah, it's finally looking springy here. Although it snowed again this week, and it's still so cold, the trees bloomed anyway-- finally. Yay. Thank you, thank you, thaaank you! Yes, call me a tree hugger right now. I won't even care.

It really is my very favorite time of year. (I think I get high on the smell of dirt right about now) And so this week, my crafts take their inspiration from all the beautiful blossoming trees and flowers I swooned over on my morning walks! And I'll skip making dirt crafts, for now at least ;)

I made some more of my wild rose pin designs...

   

 

  They're listed in my Etsy shop now.

And my new apple blossom brooch design..

 

And if the Earth really does laugh in flowers, well, in my neighborhood this week, I think the Earth was doing one great big loooong belly laugh!

it's gorgeous in my neighborhood...

   How amazingly creative is Mother Nature..

  I mean, who would think of pink blossoms on old brown tree branches but Her! She's just way ahead on the style curve, in my opinion, anyway. Pink and brown just got trendy a few years ago, but She's been doing it for forever already!

 

 

  And that spring green!.. don't you just love it with pink!

   Everywhere I looked, I found pink on my walk. I'm lovin' it. Hope you did too!

 

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY everyone! Thanks you Beverly for hosting this event.

Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Love,

xoxoKelly

sneaking by

     Still entertaining company here this week, but while they're out and about, I'm sneaking some blog time in.

 My mother-in-law and I went to Salt Lake city this week shopping. We spent one whole day shopping away in the trendiest new outdoor mall. So much fun. I NEVER get away for a day of shopping downtown SLC anymore, and well, to spend time leisurely strolling through my very favorite shop, Anthropologie, it was to-die-for-fun.

 Here's a few shots of fab displays and wonderful designs I took on the sly...

  I love the displays as much as the store goods!

 

 

 

A flock of canvas taking wing... how creative!

 

Butterflies

 

teacups

 

and birds, a few of my favorite things...

 

 

Looks like my company just got home, we're off to dinner now... Monday life gets back to normal (whatever that is, these days) and I'll get back to a studio!

Take care,

xoxo Kelly

adventurous us in San Diego

    Just got back late last night from our San Diego weekend.  A mom and daughter weekend we'll always remember. We had so much fun. We managed to make our way around town (GPS's are wonderful inventions) and enjoyed the city sights, although we wished we could have stayed a little longer... there is so much to do and see in this beautiful, oceanside town.

   Who knew cyclamen could grow outside? I can't even grow it inside! It was perfect weather for our weekend-- mid 70 degrees.

       We made friends with the local wildlife...

  What a pretty pose.

  We strolled along the beaches and the harbors.

And then we decided to get adventurous. We spent our first evening on a guided ghost tour, visiting San Diego's most famous haunted house and haunted spots. Gotta love a good ghost story.

The house was pretty spooky, but the black cat that ran across our path as we walked up to the haunted house really gave us goosebumps.

    Our tour guides played their parts very well.

Our adventurous spirits didn't stop at haunted houses for the weekend. I really don't know what got into us this weekend-- but the next day we decided to head out to watch the whales. Yes, that's right. Ghost watching, followed by whale watching. Not even on my bucket list of to do items, but what the heck. It was an amazing four hour yacht ride. We sailed so far away from the shore; San Diego was only a tiny speck.

  And boy, did we have a guide who knew how to play the part on our whaling tour. Captain Ahab in all his sea-fareing glory! He entertained us for four hours with his tales and knowledge of the sea.    It was so fun. And we made it through without even getting seasick,   although we were completely exhausted the rest of the day. Barely managed to dial the phone for room service... It seems we are not hardy, sea-fareing women... more like wimpy land-loving, boutique shopping women (ahem), but we DID IT!!!

   The whales decided to pull a no-show, but the dolphins showed up in crowds for us. They swam and leapt through the air right beside our boat. They literally took my breath away. Don't we live on the most amazing planet?

 

At the end of our weekend, Ainsley hugged me and thanked me for everything. She said it was so nice just spending a weekend alone with me, because she hadn't had me to herself since she was five and her brother was born. I hadn't thought of how it might feel to be the oldest child in that way before.

I'm so glad we made time for this trip together.. I know we'll do it again, sooner next time.

Lots of love,

xoxoxo Kelly

weekend sunshine

        Don't you just love that old fire truck! I hope you do, because it happens to be my only photo from our getaway baseball watching weekend in St. George, Utah.

I'd planned on taking lots of photos our last day there, only to discover my camera was blinking a red battery light. And my charger was packed away... Oops.

 I'm running off again tomorrow for the weekend. Ainsley and I are heading to San Diego for a long planned, first time ever mom and daughter trip. There is one benefit to a husband who travels lots- free trips with those frequent flier miles... and it's use it or lose it time for our miles. So wish us luck. We'll have to be big girls and try to find our way around town, without Mike's built in radar.

Two weekends in a row of sunshine. My frozen February heart be thawed... This time I'll make sure my camera is very ready, and I'll bring back some sunny southern Cal. sunshine for show and tell.

P.S. one more thought about roadtrips... be prepared when you leave four teenage boys in a separate hotel suite for a weekend. They said they were bored and decided to dye their hair black! Umm, well at least that's the color they said was on the box... they are now sporting lovely shades of very strange, metallic black blue hair. Boys will be boys, I suppose..  Maybe we should have waiver forms for future trips :o

Be back next week with a dose of sunshine.

xoxox Kelly

Molly and Advent

   There's a tiny little "farm" tucked in between new houses at the corner of a subdivision in our town. The kids always want me to take this route out onto the main road.  My suburban kids love to see the sheep, duck, and goat who live in this five hundred square foot farm. 

Last week we noticed a new resident.

I had to stop and take her picture.

    

She certainly loved having her picture taken.  She gave me several nice poses.

   

 I think she's quite photogenic.  Just look at those big brown eyes and eyelashes!

 

 She really did love having her picture taken.  Walked right over for a closeup.

 

And then I noticed the stable.  And I knew I had to come back at night to see this sweetest manger scene.

        I met the owner of this beautiful, humble and so very special farm.  He was just coming out to feed the animals.

 

He told me her name was Molly.  She let me pet her for awhile. He told me he had planned to actually put a nativity scene inside the manger, but he didn't get to it this year.  I told him I liked it just the way it was. He said, "so you really like my Christmas manger?"  I told him I LOVED it.  He smiled. Our eyes met, and for a brief moment; we got each other. 

This December I've been learning what Advent really means. 

 With my Mom's health rapidly declining the past few months; I cleared my calendar of all things superficial this December. Just in case.  She's making it through, and now, in the meantime, there's been time. In a season I've never found time in before.  Before this year, Advent meant lighting three pink and one purple candle every December Sunday in church.  Not much more than a countdown until the big day. But now this season of waiting has taken on new meaning for me.  None of this intentional on my part, mind you.  But I think when I cleared my calendar I sorta cleared a space in my heart too, for lack of a better way of putting it.  It feels like a space where something new can be born out of love.  What, I don't know yet.  But this feeling has persisted all December.  It is hopefulness, expectation, wondering, waiting.  I don't know for sure what any of it really means, right now.  But I want to keep listening to Advent.

I know what I have learned for certain this month, and that is in every hardship, there are also blessings.  It's sometimes just a matter of stopping my car, and taking a few minutes to see what a good shephard has done- in a tiny town, on a tiny farm, with a string of lights and a star.

                            

 I wish a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all who celebrate!!  

Peace and love to you all.

xoxox Kelly

 

 

fieldtrippin'

 It's Friday already, isn't it?  Where did this week go?  I've been busy, busy, but not crafty this week.  Flying through malls and being Mom have taken up my week.

Wednesday, I went with Sophey on a fieldtrip to Sweet's candy factory and The Children's museum in SLC.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos at the candy factory, which maybe is a good thing after all-- me in a hairnet, not a good look.  But I did take quite a few photos at the Children's Museum.  It's a wonderful new museum, and there is plenty to inspire litle minds here...

    Art and sculptures hang from the ceiling.

  

  There all all sorts of creative play areas.

  My child seemed to spend a little too much time grocery shopping... we'll need to have a talk about this... she is a foodie though, and has big plans to become a "culinary artist" someday.  She told me yesterday, she wants to study sandwich making in London.  How funny is that? 

  

 

   I don't believe the original purpose of the crane was for hauling children... hope he survived.

  And if the culinary artist thing doesn't work out, well, I suppose we could always broadcast the local evening news .  And that's the way  it is....

I'll manage crafty in a post or two, I'm sure.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Love to you xoxoxo!

Kelly

bewitched

     It's become tradition for my girls and I to celebrate "Witches' Night Out" at Gardner Village near SLC.  It's quite the extravaganza at this historic converted mill.  Witches of every size and shape shop, dine, and cackle for prizes.  And they dance up a storm under the moon!  We like to have dinner, shop, and mostly just witch watch.

    I had a hard time getting a good photo because it's so packed, and there must be at least five hundred witches here for the evenings' hijinks.    Giant witches decorate the shop grounds.  Each witch has her own theme-- this one I related to...

    This witch is flying through the air on her bicycle-- her legs actually pedal.  Clever witch designers.

    Well, that's about it for my October weekend fun.  Yesterday, I came down with a nice October cold-- feeling really ugh and unproductive today. *sniff, sniff*  But Friday, while I supervised, my kids made this pumpkin cream cheese spread.  It seems like when they help make the food they're more inclined to eat it!  So here's the recipe for you and your little goblins:

PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE SPREAD

1 8-ounce pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 C canned pumpkin

1/4 C. sugar

3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.  Makes 1-1/2 C. It's good with club or graham crackers, and it would probably be good with apples and pears.

Take care and see you soon!

xo Kelly