What I Did On My Summer Vacation

While on the island, I spent a lot of time just sitting back and relaxing.


But I'm a fidgeter and sitting still, not doing anything is not easy for me.


So I took my stitching case with me.


It was the perfect activity for me while there.


And I finished my Spring Sampler...


just in time for Summer.


Now I'm contemplating a Summer Sampler.

A Spring Sampler

Several weeks ago I signed up for Teresa's embroidery ezine, but I didn't really get a start on it until after it was just about over.

I don't know how much of mine is going to resemble her example. I've already changed it up quite a bit.

Which, of course, I'm okay with.
Free style embroidery is really difficult for me to do, because it is so random, so it's good to have hers as inspiration as I stitch my way though mine.

Are you working on any Spring projects?

She Just Can't Stop

...crafting Christmas decorations, that is! And I still need to get my Christmas cards made and mailed... ack!

Here is another project from Teresa's 12 Days e-zine.

A front door hanging, but I have put mine just inside my front door. I didn't really vary too far from her original design. But I did use different materials than she did... fabric, fringe and left over bits of this and that.

Like I said, I still need to get my Christmas cards done, but I SO want to make one of these! Oh my word! I think it's just gorgeous and would look so lovely hanging on the mirror above my dining room sideboard.
And also, I want to finish my Lineage of Love garland that I started in Pam Garrison's class, so I can hang it up too.

But, alas... I'm off to get those cards started! Have a beautiful day!

Making Me Smile

I'm coming off a two day Real Housewives (OC and NYC) binge... cloudy skies do that to me. But now, the sun is shining bright and it's warmed up a bit. I'm feeling like me again.

So I thought I'd share a few things that are making me happy this morning.

This blog. How can this bright spot not make you feel good? The colors, the music, all of it.

Love Letters ezine.

This is the only project I've finished so far, but regardless, I'm enjoying them all.

My Crocs. Hmmm... yep, something this frivolous is making me happy.


Velvety soft Lambs Ears.

I have an idea for some of these lovelies. We'll see if I can execute it in the next few weeks.

These little cuties. I've already pre-ordered my kit.

And I'm feeling some Marie coming on. Although this is the movie I feel I need to see first.

And last, but not least, A Year of Color and this magazine. These two things have been fantastic jump off points for my art journal. Which, I've been very good about working in lately. I'll share soon.

Well, now that I have some energy (thank you Mr. Sun!), I'm off to clean the house.
Have a beautiful day!

A Little of This and a Bit of That

A few things that have been keeping me busy...

I taught a card class for my Crafter's Business group. We had our holiday get together and part of our merry making was creating cards. I taught one and one of our organizers taught another one. Loads of fun!

Pretty kits ready to go.


And this was the final product. The great image is a French postcard download that I got from Ranjini of Scrapologie. She's posting a vintage Christmas image a day, this month, as a sweet holiday treat. She also has a selection for sale in her Boutique.

I've been slowly decorating. I got E to pull everything out of the attic last Thursday (I won't go up there... it wiggs me out and makes me wish, for a moment, that we lived up North where basements exist). But once everything was down and my house looked like a storage room (a very messy one I might add) I felt overwhelmed and left it like that for a couple of days. Yesterday I started opening boxes and placing things here and there. However, seems I'm not even going to use half of the stuff in all of those boxes.

My Farmboy was bitten by the Christmas bug a couple of weeks ago and agreed that it was time for a color scheme change. And quite frankly, I really like looking at my everyday stuff and didn't want to put it away, so the majority of it is going to stay out and I'm just accessorizing around it. Oh, and when the bug bit the Farmboy, he started picking out pretty brown and champagne balls which was totally crazy, because I had been trying to think of a way to convince him that that was what we needed, but hadn't mentioned it to him yet! Then last night, I went to Target, which I had not been to since before they put out their Christmas stuff and low and behold, those seem to be one of the popular colors this season... and I didn't even know. The planets are aligned evidently.

Teresa is in the middle of her Comfort and Joy ezine. The first project was a crown.

Here is mine. So far this is the only one I've done. I'm really hoping to do some more of the projects before the end of the week.

I finally tried my hand at bleaching bottle brush trees from the craft store.

For some reason I was shocked at how easy it was. I really love them this creamy yellow bleached out color. I got busy when I was doing the bigger ones and forgot about them. Note to self... forgotten trees sitting in bleach become brittle and have a tendency to look like drowned rats once finally remembered and dried. I would really like to find some really large trees to do this with. Like 10 -12 inches high. Anyone know where I can get some? There are a couple of vintage ones just this color at my local antique store, but I can't justify the price they want for them.

Let's see, what else. Oh, I've been making Christmas presents.

These are totally inspired by the article in the latest Somerset Life. And they really weren't as difficult as I expected them to be. That's always a good thing.

And lastly, I had E put up the Christmas tree last night. Would someone PLEASE convince my Farmboy that it really is time for a new tree!

He loves this tree so much because it's a symbol of, well several things actually, because he purchased it after his divorce. But I really think it's time. I "lived" with it like this last year. Yes, I know... you're as shocked as me. He did manage to get some of those dark areas to light up last year, but not all of them. It really is a sad little Charlie Brown tree with some of it's lights not working and branches drooping pathetically. I just don't know that I can pull off another Peanut's gang transformation again this year. He's coming home tomorrow night from being out of town for over a week now and I'm crossing my fingers that he will finally agree to a new one. So do you think I should leave it as is for him to see or maybe hang a few balls on it first. Let me know what ya think.

I'm off to finish decorating and do more creating. Have a beautiful day!

Kings and Crows

My Farmboy took the day off yesterday and surprised me with a special trip down to the Dallas Museum of Art. The reason for the little excursion? King Tut!


A little known fact about Alisa... fascinated with anything ancient Egyptian. I have been for a loooong time. I don't know why, just am. I have all kinds of books on the subject. I even completely get into Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series. This is fun, light reading, but I always get so into the story that I don't sleep at night... just read until the book is over. Love that Amelia!


(postcard purchased at the exhibit)

So back to the King. I thought the exhibit was, over all, really great. I was a little disappointed that Tut's death mask was not part of the exhibit, but we did get to see his possible grandmother's, as well as, her sarcophagus. That was pretty cool! And we got to see some of the jewelry items that were wrapped in his linens with him... jeweled collar and his gold crown. Plus quite a few of the items from his tomb. There were also artifacts from other tombs of the Golden Age. Oh, for me one of the coolest things, were the head statues of Nefertiti. Amazing!

This is another postcard image. We actually got to see this piece. It's a jar depicting Tut as a lion trampling his Nubian foes.

Now on to crows. I finished another Bellaween project. Seriously, I'm loving these so much, I think there is a chance I may continue Halloween crafting even after Halloween has passed!

My Farmboy has named this crow Russell. Ha! We are such a comedic family. He also pointed out how very Egyptian it looks. Which I thought was amusing considering the above.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful week so far and thanks for stopping by!

Bellaween Candles

So, you know how I have this Craft Show coming up? (My first one... thank you, everyone, for all of the great advice! Good news, I was thinking along the same lines as all of ya'll, so I think I'll be able to pull this off.) Well, I've been working so hard on items just for this show, that I short circuited my brain last Thursday afternoon. Yep... my creative well, as Rebecca Sower puts it, dried up. So my solution was to...
-go to a scrapbook crop Friday evening and work on my Halloween book.
-do absolutely nothing creative Saturday and Sunday.
-and on Monday, dip into the Bellaween projects.
I did just that and now my well is slowly filling back up.

The first Bellaween project was "The Shining", aka candles. So yesterday, between laundry and house cleaning and an ongoing email conversation, I decorated candles.

This was seriously what I needed and so much fun! I really didn't want to stop, but then Farmboys and teenagers needed to be fed. But I'm definitely not done!

Sorry for the not so great photos. Someone took the good camera to Austin with him this morning.

Hoping to fill my well up a little more today. Have a beautiful day!