Treats and Tricks

Today I'm participating in the "Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun" party.

Treats

Peanut brittle was one of my Dad’s favorite treats and I used to make him a huge batch each year. Now I make it for the 250-plus little costumed characters that show up on our doorstep Halloween evening. Preparing treats each year keeps us busy.

Updated Aug. 24, 2009: a smart and kind reader let me know I forgot a major ingredient. Please add ½ cup Karo white syrup to the ingredients list in Step 1. Thank you, Deb!

right-click to save to your computer and print

This recipe is super easy and, if you follow the directions, never fails. It is important to carefully study the recipe and have everything organized and ready before beginning.

I made thank-you Halloween cupcake treats for the staff of the hospital caring for my friend. I’m delivering them this morning so I’ve got to run in a minute.

Tricks

Our friend and nearby neighbor Brad decorates his front yard fabulously for Halloween each year. He and Maggie stand out front the entire evening greeting visitors and handing out treats. Brad took this photo of us in our costumes standing in front of his display.

Happy Halloween from my honey the Leprechaun and Mummy me in my shroud!

Finally It’s Done!

I’ve finally finished my Amy Butler Patchwork Handbag project from her In Stitches book. This was the September/October challenge for the In Stitches Sew-along group.



Talk about finishing at the last moment, this was one of those projects that I struggled with—mostly because of life scheduling but also because I'm not a quilter and the whole patchwork thing was not in my comfort zone. I'm pretty okay with the finished project except I do not like the zipper showing so much.

Glittering

Kristi of Sunnypond Home and I agreed to make and exchange Halloween cards. Her beautiful card arrived this weekend.

Isn’t this the cutest Halloween card?

You can’t see it in this picture but she wrote a lovely note to me in gold on the bottom of the inside of her card.

I made mine using the Harvest Moon picture and idea from Clarice at Storybook Woods and mailed it to Kristi in a black envelope addressed using a white gel pen.

I printed the card front and back on my computer and enhanced with just a touch of glitter and glue from Martha Stewart. The back is all black and has a quote written in white from John Kendrick Bangs:

Bring forth the raisins and the nuts—
Tonight All-Hallows' Spectre struts
Along the moonlit way.

In doing this small project, I learned that I need to know more about paper crafting as Kristi and Clarice’s projects are so much more glorious. The MS glue was smearing my printed moon face so I only used a bit. In retrospect, I would have cut out the moon shape itself and altered the text placement on the back instead of leaving the card square.

Buttons and Things

Michelle at Greetingarts sponsored an embroidered button swap. Our mandate: make and embellish five covered buttons—something I had not done before.

Since making my swap buttons, I’ve transferred that learning to make buttons for other things such as my Halloween party hat and the two Bend the Rules clutches I made. Learning new skills is one of the main reasons I join swaps.



Here are the gorgeous buttons I received. Update: sweet Michelle helped identify my mystery buttons. Thank you to all the creative designers for your beautful work.

• Butterfly: Michele of Calico Daisy
• Flower: Monica
• Robot: Michelle of Greetingarts
• Flower (on leaf card): Regina of Creative Kismet
• Leaf: Joy
• Puppy: Shelley

My offering was a crown cross-stitched using DMC 815 on a piece of 32-count clay Irish linen, two strands over two linen threads. The crown chart was a free offering from a French site.

I made a presentation card for each button.

Brownies' Food Drive

Each year some of our neighbors’ little girls let us know they'll be stopping by to collect for their Brownie troop’s food drive. On Saturday my husband and I bought environmental-friendly shopping totes and filled them with non-perishable food items for the Brownies' visit on Sunday. I hope Brownies visit your neighborhood, too.

Amy Butler Bedside Organizer

Here is the finished Amy Butler bedside organizer I made for my hospitalized friend.

The “Our Prayers for the World” Project

"With our thoughts we make the world" (an old Buddhist saying)

Today, Kristie and I took the prayer flag banner we made up into the Santa Catalina Mountains and found a spot in the aspens at Mt. Bigelow to hang them.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a link to the original post about the “Prayers for Our World” Project.

This is our photo story of the “Our Prayers for the World” flag banner creation.









And here are pictures from today’s trip up into the mountains.



My favorite place in the Santa Catalina Mountains is this grove of aspens—it’s a place my husband and I return to on a regular basis no matter the time of year. When we had our big fire, this small grove was somehow spared for which I am ever so grateful.



Kristie agrees this is the perfect spot.



No sooner had we hung the prayer flag banner when a wind picked up and golden aspen leaves started falling like snow all around us. It was gorgeous.



Our prayers started whipping around in the wind—it was a very spiritual moment.

Kristie brought yummy pumpkin cookies she made in the shape of leaves and frosted to honor our outing. She also brought a thermos of the most delicious hot spiced tea and apples.



We had a little feast sitting on the ground amidst the golden aspen leaves and talking about the ups and downs of life and how differently people handle their challenges.

Your prayers and ours are now hanging in the aspens at Mt. Bigelow. All of you who sent us names for the banner now have your prayers as well as ours going out into the world—our master prayer list held 64 precious names.



We wish you and your loved ones peace, love, and healing.

Blessings Friday

Your Comments

I always enjoy reading the comments you leave on my blog. They are often funny, quite encouraging, and very helpful.

Music

I’m enjoying music perfect for Halloween season that has more depth to it than stuff like “Monster Mash.” Jill Tracy and the Malcontent Orchestra’s Into the Land of Phantoms is a live recording of a 2001 Nosferatu film performance—the original score to F.W. Murnan’s 1922 silent vampire classic Nosferatu. I couldn’t find it locally so I ordered it from Amazon.com.



My husband’s review: “I don’t like it.”

My review: “I like it.”

You Make Me Smile Award Tag

Joni of Yummers! gave me the You Make Me Smile Award last week which came with a tag.

• Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
• The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
• At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names.

The Facts



Only numbers 3 and 4 are blessings but I have to list six, so here you go:

1. I am a grasshopper murderer. My husband and I stopped at one of the overlook vistas in the Santa Catalina Mountains and a pretty grasshopper was sitting on top of the stone wall. I tried to get a closer look which scared it so the grasshopper dropped down behind the wall. I leaned over and saw it landed right by this hole in the ground. Suddenly, a tarantula popped out and snagged that poor grasshopper. It was my fault.


2. Great heights frighten me so I went parachuting and then up in a hot air balloon to face my fear. I’m still scared.


3. A short story I wrote was scripted for a movie and filmed for the Sundance Film Festival.


4. In my purse is an antique book of Keats’ poetry that I carry around.


5. I worry that women with overly-large breast enhancements will fall over backwards into a big pool of water and drown because their “air bags” will pop up higher than their heads.


6. I can twirl my golf club really fast like a baton—a useful skill I’m sure.

I’m choosing the following for the You Make Me Smile Award:

• Anina of Twiddletails. Blog titles are so entertaining. Just saying Twiddletails makes me laugh—try saying it three times really fast.


• Cindy of So Inspired. I’ve read her blog since the birth of my blog awareness. She’s truly inspirational.


• Jody of Gumbo Lily. Don’t you just love her blog name? It makes me want to dance.


• Kelli of Africankelli. She has a wonderful giving heart—get over to her blog and join her fan club.


• Kristie of Fresh on Fridays. I love her blog subtitle: Proud Charter Member of the Fraternal Order of Onion Rings—she’s such a hoot and writes the most thoughtful posts on Fridays.


• Rosie of Rosie’s Whimsey. Her mission is the pursuit of happiness at home and in life—just like all of us.

Please, no more tags for me for awhile as I’m fresh out of confessions. I hope your weekend is full of joy and laughter!

Someone's Creeping Up My Stairs

A Halloween package arrived at my house yesterday from the super creative and sweet Laura of Beelicious. Laura is my Halloween Party Hat swap partner and made the most fantastic hat for me. You should see all the wonderful details Laura incorporated into her creation—it’s all amazing! Laura also gifted me with other Halloween delights: fun fabric, chocolate pumpkin candy, Halloween sticker book, Jack O’lantern and candy corn candles, and a great Halloween garland—wow!

Here are a few more of my own Halloween decorating projects.

The haunted fence wall was made using black crepe paper and I added an owl, mice, and cat silhouettes cut from black paper.

I draped spider web stuff on this embroidered Mola my neighbor and friend Eva brought me from her visit home to Panama and I framed. On top sits a bird graphic I cut out.

Someone’s creeping up my stairs!

This silhouette project was so cool to make using Martha Stewart’s

template.

Amy Butler Day

Here are my current works-in-progress from Amy Butler's In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects.

Bedside Organizer

A neighbor and friend seriously ill in the hospital needs something to hold her personal stuff and requested a bed organizer like the one I made for myself from Amy’s book.



She loves southwest designs so I’m using an upholstery fabric that matches her bedroom décor at home. The flannel piece on the right is for lining the eyeglass compartment.

Patchwork Bag

This is for the September/October Sew-Along which I’ve been procrastinating on actually doing. I’ve had the fabrics but not the energy. Just tired, I guess.



These are my chosen fabrics but I’m not quite sure about the cottage rose-looking piece on the far left. I like it a lot but am not convinced it works with my project. I’ll see what happens.

Hmmm…I seem to be in red mode for these two projects.

Amy Butler News!

• New patterns are posted on Amy Butler’s web site: Kimberly bag, Anna tunic, Sophia carry-all, and Lotus tunic and cami. Here’s the link.

• Amy has posted some additional free projects—fabric leaves, fabric necklace, sweet greetings portfolios, Nigella yoga bag—download PDF versions here.

• She has a pre-holiday sale going on—50% off her first collection of manufactured handbags, fabric journals, and pillows. Click here.

Bend the Rules Sewing

Meg of Make It Snappy figured out my mystery Halloween costume of yesterday—the costume theme is “blackmail.” I’m so thankful someone understood it—thank you, Meg!

Blog Problem Update

I appreciate your helpful comments about my blog stealing issue. So far I’ve discovered the miscreant hacked into my account so I have changed my password—something I recommend everyone do right away, especially if you’ve not changed yours recently.

Sunny Kristi of Sunnypond Home provided an excellent link to actions to take.

Bend the Rules Sewing Projects

These little clutch bags worked up quickly using the instructions in Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing.

Fat quarters were used for the exterior and lining, flannel from my stash for the interfacing, and I made a contrasting covered button for each clutch.



I photographed this bag using my knitting project as the background—a hand towel from Mason-Dixon Knitting.



This clutch is just right for Halloween.

The bags are really soft because of the flannel interfacing so I’m going to use them for my iPod.

Blog Concern and Question

I found out tonight that my blog has been copied verbatim—pictures, verbiage (as best I can tell), layout, the whole nine yards and translated into German (I think it's German) to sell pharmaceutical drugs I suspect are bogus. Even my blog title was translated to “Junie Mond.” It's a total mirror image except with the drug stuff added.

This was discovered because of a new authority rating given to me by Technorati. I went to see what this was about and was shocked to make this discovery.

Do ya’ll know what this means? Have you heard of this happening before? I can’t read German so I’m not quite sure what the purpose of this is but no one asked nor did I give my permission to do this.


Graphic from Karen at The Graphics Fairy.

Just to be safe as well as clear (I’m putting the old CYA adage into effect) anything I post on my blog originated by me or my husband is covered under U.S. Copyright laws and is not to be used, copied, or otherwise altered without our explicit permission.

I do not sell pharmaceuticals of any sort nor authorize my name, writing, or pictures to be used in association with such activities.

I’m going to be calm and not imagine the police showing up on my doorstep.

Busy Weekend and a Costume Mystery

This was a full weekend. My husband is off every other Friday so this week we spent Friday at Saguaro National Park East. Then, in addition to Halloween movie night, Saturday we went to the Tucson Miniature Show so I could see all the dollhouse miniatures, I made my daily hospital visits, and Sunday we went to the Pima Air and Space Museum, one of the largest air and space museums in the world. Whew!



Look at these great 1940s airline baggage stickers on display at the museum. There was such a strong glare on the glass the picture had to be taken from the side. I won’t bore you with the 75 million airplane and jet photos my husband took. But I will tell you that we actually got to board the Presidential jet that Kennedy and Johnson used, the one where Johnson was sworn in as Kennedy's body was being returned to D.C.

So many things to do that not much in the way of sewing is getting done lately but tomorrow I’m sewing two Amy Butler projects: the bedside organizer for someone in the hospital and the bag for the Sew-along project.

I have been cooking a lot, too. Wonderful aromas have been wafting about my kitchen lately as I make new as well as old family recipes.

Homemade Vegetable Soup



My grandmother, mother, and now my sisters and I save every single bit of leftover vegetables, gravy, rice, and so on. Each of us keeps a Tupperware container in the freezer part of our refrigerator and just add to it. Nothing gets wasted. When the container is full, it’s time to make homemade vegetable soup.

This weekend I made 16-quarts of soup. I divided this into meal-size portions for my big freezer. Martha Stewart has free printable freezer labels you can use, click here for the labels and you'll want the how-to instructions.



You can see one of the vintage porcelain Halloween witch napkin rings from my napkin ring collection.

Cemetery Walking Tour

I’m supposed to be walking more because of my knee replacement so, in addition to all our weekend walking activities, today I'm taking a tour I signed up for of Evergreen Cemetery to visit gravesites of a number of historical characters, including Sam Hughes, Levi Manning, Edward Nye Fish, Harry Arizona Drachman, and Thomas Jeffords. The only other cemeteries I’ve visited in Arizona are Boot Hill in Tombstone and the one at the Yuma Territorial Prison. I don’t hang around them much.

Costume Mystery



This is one of the costumes in my collection—very easy to make using my computer and printable fabric. I thought it was pretty clever but no one ever figured it out. The rest of the costume included my husband’s black U.S. Army Ranger beret and black jeans.

Can you guess what my costume represents?

Halloween Movie Night

Prepare your snacks, go to the bathroom for scary-parts accident prevention, get your comfy quilt so you can pull it over your head at the height of the mayhem, pop in a Halloween DVD, and turn off the lights. It’s Halloween Movie Night!

Movie Munchies

You need sustenance so here is a recipe for munching during your movie fest.


Right-click to save to your computer and print.

Ah, now you need a libation.



This is what my husband and I enjoy—a frothy root beer. We bought these old-time A&W glass mugs from one of their restaurants this summer on a road trip through Monument Valley. After washing them, I put them in the freezer still wet so they’re frosty cold and ready to go.

Scary Movie Survival Skills

Wait! You can’t start the movie yet until you prepare yourself mentally.

Variations of scary movie survival rules have been around the internet for a long time. But I read them each year to laugh and remind myself not to take all this Halloween craziness too seriously.



Haven’t seen one of these lists? Here’s a link to an old post by Scarlet Letters from the Literary Underworld.

The Movie List

Gory Halloween movies scare me so older movies are generally best for me. Even some of these have parts that have me fleeing into the kitchen to huddle behind the counter or clutching my husband for protection.



Okay, all your preparations are done--it’s time for the movie! Here are some ideas.

• Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
• Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Hocus Pocus (1993)
• House of Wax (1953)
• I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
• Practical Magic (1998)
• Psycho (1960)
• The Birds (1963)
• The Blob (1958)
• The Crucible (1996)
• The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
• The Fog (1980)
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• The Invisible Man (1933)
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1958)
• The Mummy (1932)
• The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
• The Thing from Another World (1951)
• The Witches (1990)
• The Wolf Man (1941)

Have a boo-ful time!

Blessings Friday

Many blessings were received this week. I am so spoiled that I’m going to have my name legally changed to Princess.

Gifts from Kelli



Kelli sent me a wonderful package. She sewed an adorable little patchwork bag for me and included a yummy raspberry chocolate bar, sweet little rub-on transfers to play with, and a cute stationery kit. And all because I loaned her a book—next I’m loaning her my car! Thank you, Kelli!

Gifts from Kristie



Kristie gifted me with these gorgeous Halloween towels when she came over to work with me on the Our Prayers for the World flag banner this past Sunday—they are the cutest things in the world! She also brought me two little gold seashells and a mermaid charm--does she know me or what? Thank you, Kristie!

Victoria Magazine

My issue of the new Victoria magazine arrived yesterday—the premier issue in the magazine’s reincarnation. I am so thrilled!

You Make Me Smile Award



The fabulous Joni of Yummers! has awarded me the You Make Me Smile Award. The first award received by my blog—I’m so tickled. Check out Joni’s cool blog and you’ll smile, too.

She also tagged me. Since I recently posted two other tags about me, I will do this next week.

Today’s Cleaning Recipe

Today ends my Blog Action Day week-long project to share natural cleaning recipes from my files. My final recipe was deliberately chosen as a tongue-in-cheek observation that despite our worry that the world is going down the toilet, we can do something positive to clean it up.



I found this recipe by Sandy Maine at The Herb Companion.



You’ll wonder about the sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (SLS) ingredient. This is a chemical powder often used in bath bombs and to replace soap for those with soap sensitization.

Resources

For more recipes and information about the bad chemicals in commercial products as well as the good ingredients we can use, Natural Health Hut Clinic, Educational Center and Organic Herb Farm is a great resource.

SLS powder: check your local herbal store for this. You can also Google for a supplier but here is one source.

Thank you for being part of my little world and have a wonderful weekend!

Halloween Wine and Natural Cleaning Recipes

This is so weird—adding cleaning recipes to a Halloween post. But I promised to continue my Blog Action Day offerings for the whole week. First up is Halloween.

How to Play Sommelier at Halloween

Wine gives me a headache after even just a tiny glass of it, so I don’t drink it. I only buy it for gifts. So, with all my questionable experience, here’s how I play sommelier when selecting wines at Halloween.

I go to the store and look for a bottle that has a plain black label around the cork (which must be real and not the screw-on variety) and the bottle glass is black in color. I don’t care what the paper label looks like ‘cause I’m just going to soak that bad boy off as soon as I get home and make my own label.

That’s it—simple, huh?

Sommeliers everywhere are now cowering in their wine cellars and whimpering uncontrollably over my atrocious behavior. We will pretend their moans are part of the Halloween ambiance.

This is a picture of some of my Halloween Merlot gifts. I modified Martha Stewart’s wine bottle label clipart from October 2000 to add our names on the label.

Ah, you want a link to her Halloween wine labels, don’t you? Okay, click here.

Wine always makes a nice hostess gift so this is one of my favorites to give during Halloween season. I cannot go empty-handed anywhere as it doesn’t feel right to me. So far, no one has complained about my wine choices.

Today’s Natural Cleaning Recipes

You only make what you’re going to use for this recipe.

I’m providing two recipes today, so here’s the second one.

I do a quick swipe with a broom and feather duster before scrubbing my windows to get off any extraneous dust and dirt.

The old adage about recycling black-and-white newspaper sheets to clean and shine your windows really does work. I use rubber gloves when cleaning in general but especially for scrubbing windows because the ink on the newspaper will get all over your hands.

Good Witch or Bad Witch?

Some things work, some don’t. On a recent shopping expedition to Jo-Ann’s Fabrics, I found two Halloween projects on the shelves I thought I’d try.



An iron-on decal and a fabric patch piece looked fun and easy. This also meant buying a white t-shirt and black hat with which to experiment.



The Witch with the Broken Broom

I started with the t-shirt. You iron the witch decal onto your item which transfers this plastic-kind of graphic.

This effort turned into a mess. Not only did the graphic not adhere well, it melted and smeared in some places—I’m sure I did something wrong. Whatever the reason, this witch isn’t flying anywhere so I’m calling her a bad witch.



Bat Hat

Here’s the hat project. You simply iron on the little fabric patch and you’re done--somewhat. It worked pretty well except a couple of places along the patch edge wouldn’t adhere. No problem, a simple stitch around the edge fixed that.



I probably won’t buy these pre-made gizmos again. I’d rather make my own stuff using my computer and printable fabric. But it was fun and I learned from the experiment.

Today's Natural Cleaning Recipe



I hope that the cleaning recipes I’m sharing so far demonstrate the truly simple ways you can make your own natural products at home. None are hard to make.



I found the shaker jar at a garage sale.

Swap Packages and More Natural Cleaning

Swap packages have been arriving and I’m providing another printable natural cleaning recipe and label.

Halloween Apron Swap

I’ve already shared the apron I made for the Halloween Apron Swap. Here is the lovely apron Elaine of Alphabet Studio made for me. It’s reversible which is pretty cool! Elaine said she’s never made an apron before and I think she did a grand job.

The apron’s inaugural debut was the making of homemade doughnuts on Sunday. I used the October 1963 recipe for Rich Refrigerator Doughnuts reprinted in this month’s issue of Sunset magazine. The recipe worked great and the doughnuts were delicious.

Vintage Paper Dress Garland Swap

Heather at Speckled Egg hosted the Vintage Paper Dress Garland Swap. We were to make 5 paper dresses and embellish them however we chose.

Here are the little dresses I made hanging on a tiny clothesline with miniature clothespins.

For my base dress, I used a free printable paper doll dress I found online. A bit of lace at the hem, collar, and sleeves in addition to gluing tiny little Svaroski crystals to the buttons on the smocking and my little dresses were done.

These are the sort of dresses I wore as a child as did my daughter. I love their simple clean lines and tried to keep that in mind with this paper dress project. My mother and grandmother would have loved this.

And here is the garland of beautiful paper dresses that arrived from Heather.

The dress designers (from left to right):

1. Lennea from Once Upon a Cottage
2. Rosalie Ackerson
3. Solorn
4. A dress from an unidentified designer (I really wish I knew who)
5. Amy Powers from Inspire Company.

Makes me wish I was a little paper girl and could have these in my wardrobe.

Today’s Natural Cleaning Recipe

This stuff is awesome. I use it to clean my sinks and tubs. It also works great on the water deposits on my glass shower door as well as my outside windows.

A powdered-sugar can with its little dispenser holes is perfect for the powder scrub. I bought it at Cost Plus (World Market) and love the little protective cover.

I use jasmine essential oil in the recipe but you can use some other kind if you like or even none at all. Essential oils are expensive but I feel like my home and time cleaning are worth it.

I already posted the recipe for super simple Lemony Furniture Polish on Sept. 11 here so I won’t repeat that one.

Blog Action Day: Natural Cleaning Recipes

Today bloggers around the web are uniting to talk about ways to achieve a better future in relation to the environment; each blogger chooses a special interest or topic to post about the environment. As I post this, there are 15,568 blogs with a RSS reach of 12,507,731 readers who have committed to participate today. You can read more about this effort here.

Junie Moon is one of the registered blogs supporting this effort. My chosen subject is making your own home cleaning products using natural ingredients. I dislike harsh chemical cleansers in my home--they are bad for Mother Earth and certainly bad for me and my family.



My search for more natural and gentler cleaning solutions began some years ago after developing some nasty and painful reactions to regular laundry detergents. Over time I began to notice other problems developing with the products I was using to clean my kitchen, bathroom, etc. Lots of research and experiments with ideas and recipes from the Internet and the library finally gave me an arsenal of safer cleaning products that I can make myself and use at home.

I’ve previously shared a few of the cleaning recipes I make on Flickr but I’m re-posting them on my blog. Because there are too many to post in one day, I’ll share two printable recipes today (as well as labels) and add one each day for the rest of this week to my daily posts.



For years I've been making my own laundry detergent. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and the results are worth it to me.



This detergent is healthier for me, cleans well, and has a wonderful fragrance. You can use other essential oils such as lemon, but I use lavender because its beneficial properties include being antiseptic, antiviral, and a natural bactericide.





This is the way I package my detergent when using as gifts. It holds two small bags of laundry powder—that is a sprig of the lavender I grow in my yard. The cardstock fold-over label was made on my computer. I call all my cleaning products “Clean Cottage” just for the fun of it.



I love this stuff--cleans countertops, bathrooms, fridge doors, stove tops, etc. I tie a strip of fabric around the neck of the spray bottles I use because...well, just because I like it.



This recipe calls for washing soda. This ingredient confused me when I first heard about it—what in the world is washing soda? Also known as sodium carbonate, washing soda is in the same family as baking soda but is processed differently. It’s an all-natural product that I get from Safeway’s laundry section. Look for Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.



You only need a minute amount of washing soda for this recipe only because it’s strong stuff. Don’t use it in a stronger formulation on fiberglass, aluminum or waxed floors.

I hope this helps you make your home a bit greener, too! Please check my blog each day for additional cleaning recipes you can use at home.

Tag, You’re It!

I’ve been tagged twice so I am taking care of the tag business today by combining the two.

Tag 1: Seven Facts

I was tagged for this by Hoganfe’s Weblog.



The Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Facts about Me

1. The beach (meaning any beach) is my favorite place to be.
2. I like banana and mayonnaise sandwiches. Go ahead and hate it—leaves more for me.
3. I’ve never had so much as a sip of coffee in my whole life.
4. Blue is my favorite color.
5. No day goes by without my crafting something, no matter how large or small.
6. My secret avocation is Chief Mermaid of All the Seas.
7. I collect mermaid stuff—goes with numbers 1 and 6.

Tag 2: The Name Game

Fiona at Dragonfly Crafts tagged me for the Name Game.

The Rules

List one fact relevant to your life for each letter of your name. Her instructions are “to write your own blog post containing your name game facts. At the end of your post, choose one person for each letter of your name to tag. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.”



More Facts about Me

J: I wasn’t born in the month of June, despite the obvious connection.

U: University of North Carolina at Wilmington—that’s where I earned my B.A. and M.A. degrees.

N: Needles frighten me so I shall never get a tattoo—I can handle sewing and knitting needles, that’s it.

E: Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite poets.

Tagging

Based on these two tags, I am tagging the following people. There is no requirement to play but it is a fun way to learn about each other. I shall leave it up to you whether you want to do both or only one of the tags. And I’m cheating; since I’m having to do two tags, I’m splitting the difference somewhat with the number of folks I tag.

Lydigann at Craftstew

A Pink-Bee at Fairiebees

Scrapnmoms Moments

Kristi at Sunnypond Home

Robyn at Happy House of Haas

Blessings Friday

Swap Opportunities

I’ve had a lot of fun and have been wonderfully blessed by participating in various swaps: learning new skills, trying new ideas, sharing my imagination, receiving wonderful creations, and making new friends.

If you’re looking for swap opportunities, here’s a blog devoted to indexing swaps called SwapDex.



I’ve just signed up for what will be my last swap for the year due to travel and other upcoming holiday adventures. The Deck the Halls Ornament Swap is hosted at the Home is Where Your Heart Is blog. Sign-up deadline is Oct. 15 so hurry over to read the rules and requirements.

Ribbon Spools

These lovely ribbon spools are a gift from my friend Carol. I read about and admired them on her blog WIP but couldn’t find them here in Tucson. She generously bought some and sent them to me—and refused reimbursement. What a gracious thing to do!

Art Doll



I already showed you the Amphitrite doll I made for my swap partner. Here’s the beautiful art doll I received from my swap partner Betsy. I love anything ocean related so she thoughtfully took that into consideration.

Wallace



This gorgeous bear was made by Saucy. His name is Wallace and I became his adopted mother in Saucy’s 200th post give-away! You can read Wallace’s adorable story here. Can you see his sweet little face? Oh, what a character he is!

Mrs. Mooney



This is the fabulous Mrs. Mooney. She made her way to my house via Karen at Mrs. Kwitty’s Cottage. There’s a wonderful story about Mrs. Mooney you can read here.

Wallace and Mrs. Mooney (she’s single again lest you think she’s being naughty) have become romantically involved; they’re going on a date tonight—what a cute couple!

The “Prayers for Our World” Project



This Sunday afternoon will be spent working with Kristie to finish the prayer flags and sew them into the final banner. What a blessing this will be and a perfect activity on a beautiful day here in Tucson.

Your Comments

Every day has become extra special because of the great comments you leave on my blog—what a joy to be able to share our creative lives with each other. Thank you so much!

I hope your weekend is chock-full of many blessings!

Making, Baking, and Sharing

Welcome to my house. Here are two decorations I made for the front porch.



This is a big floral arrangement I made in a large black plastic cauldron. We have a thing about sunflowers and ravens at our house.



And here is a closer view of the wreath I made for the front door. Come on in and I’ll share Halloween kitchen doings.

I try occasionally to tone down my tacky Halloween tendencies so I cross-stitched a simple pumpkin-theme hand towel. I would share the source but put the magazine with the pattern somewhere but where? Oh dear, I’m getting Junezheimers.



The October 2007 issue of Country Living magazine has the most beautiful cake on its cover that I just had to try. So this past Sunday was baking day at my house. I made the cake which I then gave to my neighbors as lately they’ve had a rough time with an injured child. They insisted we have a piece of the cake, too—oh, it’s so yummy!



That’s a goofy Halloween owl in the background. My husband insisted it had to be in the picture although I just wanted a picture of the cake. Ah well.

Halloween Party Hat Swap and Tutorial

Blogging and joining in swap projects are relatively new to me. I worry about whether my ideas and style will be welcomed. In terms of swaps, questions abound about whether the recipient will like my work and the packaging.

This is what I told my swap partner Laura at Beelicious for the Halloween Party Hat Swap. She sent me the loveliest thank-you note about her package that really gave me much more confidence.

Since Laura has received her package, I can post my project—both components were new challenges for me and, frankly, I’m tickled with the results.



Heather at Speckled Egg hosted this swap, tasking us to make a party hat decoration at least 10” in height.

Halloween Party Hat



The idea to make a fabric party hat instead of a paper version popped into my head the minute I read about the swap opportunity. So I made a pattern and set to work.

For decorating the hat, a band of black twill serves as the hat band. I made gingham covered buttons (which I learned how to do for the Embroidered Button Swap which ends Oct. 15) and then added a small bouquet of sunflowers along with a little raven. A little wood sunflower button on the very tip of the hat point finished it off.



Whipup and Party Hat Tutorial

I documented the entire process and am extremely pleased to announce that my tutorial for making the hat has been accepted by Whipup and posted today. Isn’t this the most amazing timing?

You can make all kinds of fabric party hats with the instructions, not just for Halloween. Here is the link to the tutorial.

The Witch’s Haberdashery

Along the hat creation path, I gave a lot of thought on how to package it. To me, presentation is just as important as the gift itself.



It seemed to me that a hat box from “The Witch’s Haberdashery: Fine Purveyors of Elegant Hats for the Discriminating Witch” would be ideal.



I found a vintage hat box on eBay that was pretty much falling apart but would perfectly accommodate the finished hat. I reinforced it as best as possible and recovered the inside, outside, and lid with pretty papers and added a length of black twill for a carrying strap.

Naturally I had to make labels for the box—I so love making labels.



A package of Martha Stewart’s Halloween paper banners was tucked inside as a little surprise.

Halloween Stitchery

Lest you think I’m lazy, here are some of the projects I’ve been working on.

Dancing Skeletons



I made some fun pillowcases for our bed (no room in my house is safe from Halloween). My husband chose this dancing skeleton fabric—he is such a good sport. The two felt pillows are some I recently bought on sale from the Smithsonian Store.

Black Hat Society



This is “Black Hatter” by Sue Hillis Designs. I wanted to make this just because it’s fun. The chart came with a cute little candy corn button which I did not use. This chart (including the button) is on sale right now at this link.

Light Your Way



I love this one. It’s “Light Your Way” from a little booklet of projects entitled “Trix or Treat” by Blackbird Designs. Using only one color floss makes a neat effect, one of the reasons I also enjoy redwork. You can find it here.

Feeling Stitchy has some Halloween fun stitchery going on. Also, this past Saturday, she posted a great card stitching tutorial.

Halloween Apron and Calendar

Halloween is so much fun—I just love it.

Halloween Apron Swap



Laura at Beelicious hosted a Halloween Apron swap wherein the aprons were to be handmade using Halloween novelty fabrics that are cute and fun but not gruesome or gory.



This is the apron I made for my swap partner Debi using vintage-look fabric and a complementary autumnal-print for the waistband, ties and pocket. I used the pattern and instructions from Amy Karol at Angry Chicken's Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew.



To go with the apron, I included a kit to make candy-coated pretzels, two jars of autumnal-colored sugar crystals, cookie cutters, and a set of black-handled wooden spoons. Everything was packaged in a soft-colored gold quilted box.

Halloween Calendar

I've shown you the cute recipe card you can get from The Vintage Workshop and here is the October calendar included in the same clipart package I bought. You can write in your personal details or add text via your photo editing program as I’ve done to demonstrate for you.



Each year I make a family calendar to give at Christmas for the new year using photos my husband and I choose from those taken during the year. Birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, etc. are always carefully documented so no one forgets any else’s special day. I’ve done this for years now using Microsoft Word for the actual calendar pages but the Vintage Workshop pages are so much prettier.

Good Deeds on Blessings Friday

Wow—I’ve enjoyed reading your good deeds and discovering such heart-warming stories of the wonderful blessings you share with others. You’ve given me so many new ideas.



Here are your names going in my Amy Butler Frenchy Bag. I made a card for each one of you with your name and a brief description of your good deed.



Here is Lynda, the gracious owner of the Quilter’s Market, drawing the winning card. As I told you the other day, Quilter’s Market is where I get my fabulous Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabrics, as well as the infamous Timtex. If you can’t find Timtex locally, visit their web site and they will fix you right up.



Congratulations, Thistledew!



Sharing your heart and time for others by volunteering at the Topsfield Fair makes the world a better place. You are a blessing and inspiration to all of us! Please send me an email (link is in the right-hand column) with your address so I can mail your package to you Monday morning.

Thank you everyone for participating in Junie Moon’s First Give-Away. I am especially appreciative that you’ve shared the blessings you’re giving to others.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Photography by Dub Scroggin who tolerates my strange ideas.

Halloween Recipe Box and Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style

The Case of the Haunted Recipe Box

While going through my overflowing files trying to locate Halloween recipes for the Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style party, I realized a Halloween recipe box is just what is need to organize my collection.

I bought an unfinished wood box at Michael’s and used some leftover black acrylic spray paint for both the inside and out, and added a graphic for the lid.



I’m slowly converting my Halloween recipes to card form for the box. Some free Halloween recipes found at Target last year inspired the card project. I like the idea of having different colorful recipe card styles instead of everything being uniform.

Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style



The following recipes are my contributions for the Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style extravaganza hosted over at the Overwhelmed with Joy blog.

Cinnamon Sugar Crisps

These are easy to make. I make this same recipe in another way by cutting Jack O’lantern faces into the tortilla shells first. When my children were small, they loved me to make these for their classroom Halloween parties.



Behold! Ichabod’s Slapjacks!

The following recipe comes from The Book Lover's Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature, and the Passages That Feature Them.

The authors cite a passage from Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow—a story perfect for Halloween. I’ve shortened the quotation here.

“As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn…soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel.”



Right-click to save the recipes to your computer and print.

Both recipe cards are part of graphics packages I purchased from The Vintage Workshop and then modified to add my recipe text using a photo-editing program.

Halloween Purse

Here's my Halloween purse.



I used plain black combined with a wonderful silhouette fabric from the Happy Halloween Collection by Maywood Studios Fabrics that I found a couple of years ago.

The pattern is McCall’s Easy Stitch ‘n Save #M5082. I modified it because I wanted to use two fabrics for the purse exterior instead of just the one called for in the pattern instructions. To do this, I laid the pattern piece on top of the two fabrics, figured out where the pieces should fit and worked from there.



This is not a repeat of the first picture; it’s the other side of the bag.

I especially wanted two different sections of the Halloween fabric to be centered just so on either side of the bag so that was taken into consideration, too. The colors in the tortoiseshell-look handles coordinated quite well with the fabric part of the purse.



Inside, I used a piece of the Halloween fabric to make the pocket. That was also carefully cut out so the “Happy Halloween” part was exactly where I want it. It looks great against the black lining.

Junie Moon’s First Give-Away

The Junie Moon blog is one month old today! I’ve had so much fun making new friends and sharing bits and pieces of my world with you that the time has zoomed on by. And looking back over the month, I realize I talk an awful lot. Oh well.
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To thank you for the blessing of your friendship, I decided one of you out there needs an Amy Butler gift set. So off I went to the bookstore yesterday where I picked up Amy Butler's Sew-It Kit: 15 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects for the Home.



Then I drove over to Quilter’s Market and picked up a yard of Amy Butler’s Temple Garland fabric from her Lotus collection.



And here is the whole prize package!



What You Need To Do

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post about some good deed you’ve done this week or will perform by 3 p.m. EST on Friday (which is 12 noon Tucson time). Please remember that a good deed must accompany your comment because I’m all about wanting people to share good will.

What I Will Do

I will print out each name and your blessing. Then all will be deposited in the Amy Butler Frenchy bag I made—seemed a fitting repository to me.



On Friday afternoon, the ladies at Quilter’s Market have graciously agreed to draw a name for me. This will keep things fair. I’ll announce the winner that same evening. The package will be mailed to the winning Good Deed Friend on Monday.

My giveaway is open to all my friends, no matter whether you live in an ice cave in the frozen north or a shiny silver saucer on another planet somewhere in the galaxy far, far away. A friend is a friend.

The “Prayers for Our World” Project Report

Kristie and I have collected a total of 53 names for the prayer flags project.

We are in the process of coordinating our schedules to make the flags. Then we’ll drive up into the mountains where the wind will carry our prayers everywhere.

If you have any last-minute requests for a prayer flag for someone, please let me know as soon as possible.

If you are discovering this project for the first time, you can read about it on my post via this link.

Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style

A a great virtual recipe party is about to begin at Overwhelmed With Joy. The second annual recipe exchange Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style starts this Friday.



Our hostess reports that last year’s party linked 81 bloggers together and resulted in more than 200 yummy recipes. That is quite a recipe haul.

Bats in My Kitchen

Much as I’d like to figure out how to conjure up a magical spell for washing dishes, I have to actually do it myself. I knitted two black cotton dishcloths with a simple bat design while watching Stephen King’s Storm of the Century on Sunday.



I hope you can see the bat design in the photo. This is pretty much the extent of my knitting skills—little cloths and some scarves using a simple cable stitch are about as far as I can go.

You can find the free knitting pattern here. The designer used yarn in the color Grape which is pretty neat, too.

Sam the Shoplifting Seagull

My sister sent this link to me yesterday and I laughed with pure delight over Sam the Seagull’s outrageous shoplifting behavior. At least he shares his ill-gotten booty with his friends.

Smiling Season Begins

As it is the first of October, our Halloween bins are coming out of storage. Boxes full of fun little treasures that make us smile.

The flotsam and jetsam of Halloween decorations have multiplied over the years at my house without rhyme or reason other than we like them. And we’ve had fun coming up with costume ideas for various and sundry parties. Halloween time is something we thoroughly enjoy.

I recently read an online article by an interior decorator in which she provides rules as to how to decorate elegantly for Halloween—any other way is tacky, she stated. Then I found a few blogs that assert decorating for Halloween or any other season is in poor taste. This made me think about how we do things at our house and why.

Seasonal decorating is a big thing in my subdivision. It’s a community effort that has us talking to each other and sharing ideas. Too bad the whole world can’t work together like this.

On Halloween night, we enjoy chatting with parents as they accompany their little clowns, ballerinas, and ghosts to our front door. My husband and I think the children are sweet examples of faith in the inherent goodness of people. These darling costumed characters go door-to-door with their little cries of “Trick-or-Treat,” trusting that it will indeed be a treat.

Good taste is finding ways to celebrate life in a way that brings joy and amity with others. A simple smile is always in good taste.

I’ll accept being tacky. As such, my tacky decorations are going up. And I’m smiling.