Hey... It's the Month of Halloween!

Halloween can be fun ... for everyone. Fall season decorating with a touch of whimsy and here is a video on making Halloween costumes without a sewing machine.

One of my favorite magazines, Country Living, has an All That Glitters how-to in glowing gourds n' pumpkins with

the Midas touch. Get the latest issue n' be creative...

Look at some whimsical ideas you can do with a squash and other variations. For more great projects visit... http://familyfun.go.com/

This is Frank...

Dried citrus rinds give this seasonal squash -- and his companions -- their un-natural good looks. CRAFT MATERIALS:

Craft knife

Hole punch

Glue dots

Spaghetti squash

Two limes

Black craft foam

Duct tape

Toothpicks

Large bolts

Black permanent marker

Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Use a craft knife to cut a circle of rind from the top and bottom of an orange or lime for the eyes (a parent's job). Cut a slit in the remaining peel and remove it intact to use for ears, teeth, and other features. If you're making the witch, reserve the larger pieces of orange peel for the hair.

2. Clean the fruit from the rinds, then use scissors to snip out your character's facial features, as shown. Cut them a little larger than you want; they will shrink as they dry. To dry the pieces, bake them on a foil-lined cookie sheet at 175 degrees for 20 minutes, then allow them to air dry for about 1K hours (or until glue dots will stick to them).

3. Use a hole punch to make a pair of pupils from the craft foam, then adhere them to the white side of the rind eyes with glue dots.

4. Attach all the pieces with glue dots, as pictured. To make the ears stick out , tape a toothpick to the back, leaving about 1 inch of the toothpick exposed, then insert it in place.

5. Finishing touches Frank: Cut the hair from craft foam following the diagram at right and attach it with glue dots. Bore a hole on each side of the squash with a pencil, then insert the bolts. Use a permanent marker to draw the teeth.

6. Finishing touches for Witch: Cut a small mouth from the craft foam. To make a hat, cut the shapes shown at right from a piece of black craft foam. Roll the half-circle into a cone with a base slightly larger than the center of the ring, and secure the edge with glue dots. Tuck the cone's base into the center of the ring. For the buckle, double-fold a sheet of foil to create a square shape. Snip out the center, then adhere it to the hat with glue dots.

7. Finishing touches for the Mummy: Wrap the pumpkin in gauze, using glue dots to attach the fabric as you go.

8. Finishing touches for the Count: Cut a collar and hair from the craft foam, following the diagram at right. Wrap each around the pumpkin and attach them with glue dots, as shown.

Variations:

Have a safe, fun Halloween and don't forget the next day is All Saints... Why not plan a party?

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Froggy Went A Courtin'...

I remember so many years ago I spent combing the shoreline for these little creatures, to catch and save for that early morning fishing trip with my grandfather. We were going fishing for bass and the best bait was frogs. I love the memories, can still smell the lake water and still feel the little frogs wiggle in my hands. Oh, fishing tomorrow would be great; I'd rise before dawn and put on my fishing clothes. I'd gather my pole and fishing box and promised grandma as we went out the door that we'd bring dinner home. Those fishing morns with grandpa was the best!

There is an old folk ballad that every now and again resurfaces and several verses replay over n' over again in my mind. It's "Froggy Went A Courtin'", only he went courtin' miss mousie.

The interesting thing is that there are over 170 verses compiled and is commonly accepted that the earliest mention of the frog/mouse ballad is in The Complaynt of Scotland (1549 - see the Oxford Text Archive at http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/), where it is referred to as "The Frog Cam to the Myl Dur".

"Songs my father taught me to love"
Lew Dite with his tenor ukulele.

I just love the ukulele and I hope you enjoy Lew's rendition of "Froggy Went A Courtin'".

Blessings on this beautiful fall day,

Elizabeth

Oh, For a Home in the Dell!

How do you like my little cottage? Well, I've been in prayer for a little home like this, an 85% recycled home. I would like to see it painted white and surrounded with cabbage roses, peony's n' hydrangeas... just to name a few. I first saw this home on one of my e-newsletters, "TreeHugger" ... "Affordable Homes of Discarded Materials"... A Dan Phillips home.

Dan Phillips builds homes. But, as the Texas Country Reporter notes, there is something a little bit weird about Dan's work. The design is a bit unconventional, and so are the materials. In fact, Dan's houses are built almost completely out of discarded materials of all kinds, from picture frames to dishes.
"Every town has a crushing need for affordable housing, all across the country!" says Dan. And when he says affordable, he's not talking about a $140,000 house - but a $20,000-$50,000 house. His "Homesteading Initiative" is helping the working poor in Huntsville, Texas achieve the American dream by helping them build their own home in a way that they can afford. According to his calculations, enough good, usable materials are thrown out in his town to build one small house every week.
The only criteria for prospective new homeowners - $500, no bad credit and a steady job. As for his building philosophy: "Use mostly recycled materials. Hire only unskilled labor. And keep it small.” ...by treehugger.com
http://www.phoenixcommotion.com/index2.html
Meet a man on a mission determined to make cheap, affordable housing for the common man in an Earth-friendly way. Dan Phillips, Huntsville, TX. www.phoenixcommotion.com.



Why couldn't this idea spread across the country?

I do disagree about the dishwasher though... there are some of us who because of a disability or something find a dishwasher a lifesaver.

Sorry Dan, but we need our dishwashers...

May blessings surround you,
Elizabeth

Tools of the Trade...

As an artist, I appreciate the creativeness of others and the work they put into their art.

My son, Joshua, surprised me the other day with some of his own creative work as a webmaster. This video, he put together for an artist friend and I wanted you all to see it. This tool design would be great to use for websites showing floral arrangements for weddings, special events, and photography...

This is a collection of my friend Mark Stegner's Portrait Art. The accompanied music is "Sands of Time" from the album Positivity. by http://mcelway.com/

If you'd like more information about using a mosaic video for your products on your site please leave a message on http://mcelway.com/.

Blessings be with you,

Elizabeth

http://mcelway.com/

Green Seeds of Change

I am one of the many throngs of people who have concerns about the environment and becoming energy efficient. But I am totally against nuclear rectors... to me, it's like playing Russian Roulette with our lives. We human beings are so imperfect and because of this there are no guarantees that something couldn't or wouldn't happen. It makes me wonder where the mind of those in government are...who want to promote such energy; it's certainly not out of concern for their neighbors or anyone else.

I like this idea of William Boyle, who posted it on line last March...

"My green idea is in response to the Ontario government feeling the need to spend up to 40 Billion dollars on new nuclear rectors. If they took that 40 Billion dollars and put it toward outfitting homes with geothermal heat pumps, about $10,000 and 2 Kilowatts of solar panels at 20,000 dollars we could retrofit 1,333,333 homes to be essentially off the grid and not consuming dwindling supplies of oil & natural gas. The government does not need to fully fund these retrofits. I have just over 2,000 Sq ft. and spend between $450-$600 a month on utilities. If the government only offered a zero percent loan over 20 years it would only cost the Government about $1,000 a year in interest and clients about $200 month for the system and enable 40 million homes to be retrofitted making Ontario the greenest province and the cheapest place to live. We would be able to mothball all coal operated facilities and gradually retire the nuclear facilities as they age out."

We don't have to live in Canada to reap from this idea... we just have to have people who use their heart as well as their head when searching for energy sources. Energy is all around us, for ourselves and for our children, we need to be creative in harnessing a safe and productive way to use it. Think outside of the box!

 This is just one of the issues of concern we need to remember as we enter that polling booth in November.

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Ruminations of Autumn...

We are entering into another beautiful season... Fall
I remember as a child, living up at the lake, I use to dread after Labor Day... all the summer people left to go back to their lives in the city. Oh, the days became lonely, even the lake took on a sense of forlorn. The trees lost their leaves... the green color left the earth. I missed the heartbeat of summer.
Over the years my thoughts and feelings have changed... I'm immersed in the now of the moment and find such beauty with the changing color of the seasons. I love hearing the sound of geese as they gather to fly south and find joy n' comfort in watching the squirrels hunt for their winter food. To get up early in the morning for a walk through the woods, only hearing the sounds of my foot steps through fallen leaves and an occasional scamper of some small animal through the bushes... then late in the afternoon watching the Giddy cat catch the last warm rays of an Indian Summer day.

As autumn draws near, I'm looking foward to those morning walks and the welcome sounds of the time...

Blessings be with you and all you hold close in your heart...

Elizabeth

When you stop into my CabbageRoses Gallery look for my latest designs made with "Autumn" in mind.