LaffyTaffy, magic and little houses

Autumn is a difficult time of year for me but the magic of crafty friends on the internet means that when I go about in a grump for weeks on and and get homesick my friends are there to help. I lamented on Facebook that I was missing of all improbable things banana flavoured LaffyTaffy. Odd I know but it is something that reminds me of being a kid, trick or treating or just going to the store with my best friend for that magical elixir of sugar and chemicals to send us into the stratosphere..or at least spend three days staying up watching movies without sleep. My friend Lisa replied to my misery and said she would happily swap with me.
If you don't know Lisa's work, and you really really should, then visit her blog lil fish studios and be prepared to be inspired. I don't know Lisa all that well but I have chatted with her on twitter and Facebook a bit and I really must say I'm in awe of her phenomenal talent. We share a love of the Little House books and I knew I had to make a badge for her with a Laura Ingalls Wilder quote on it, if I had had a broken copy of one of the books to tear apart for paper craft I probably would have made badges from that too. The doll I made and sent her was simple and made with vintage mother of pearl buttons that I think little Laura Ingalls would have loved.

Lisa's package arrived last week and I think I am still stunned by the beautiful toadstools she sent me, the picture above does it no justice as there seems to have been no decent light for days here but having the art on my desk has kept me smiling all week... well that and the pieces of LaffyTaffy I have *NOT* been sharing with anyone. Mine Mine Mine!!!

Lisa also sent me a vintage matchbox filled with vintage mother of pearl buttons that have gone to live on my desk and will one day be added to the new dolls I have in the works.

forest child doll I sent Lisa

I think Matthew must think I'm crazy for the gleeful squeeing I did when I opened the parcel, though I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy from the moment we met, ( he still kept me though). I hope that Lisa was half as happy with what I sent her. I didn't take many photos of the parcel I sent as I forgot to (I know I'm useless) and though I wrote a story for the little Forest Child doll I sent I can't seem to find it at the moment. (no real surprise there either) Happiness in small magical things.

Home is the nicest word there is. - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Believe me....

'Believe me, heart's got nothing to do with it.' - Tin Man quote badge

I made this badge a few weeks ago when Matt ordered Tin Man for me. I may possibly have bribed him with promises of bakes goods and Mexican food. Tonight or tomorrow shall be movie night and I plan on watching Tin Man by my self if nobody wants to watch it with me. Its a syfy miniseries that is an updated darker Wizard of Oz, it was on the syfy channel a few weeks ago but it was the last episode of the miniseries so I couldn't watch that so I really needed to own a copy on DVD to indulge my inner geek...hell who am I kidding I'm a geek inside and out.

I have a bunch of crafting to do in the morning as it's been ages since I have made anything other than a few birthday cards and zombie badges and I really should restock my etsy shop with some more dolls and badges. Perhaps I shall make a few more geek quote badges. Any requests? :o)

little red queen

Ages ago when I posted about my moo mini cards arriving Jess of Kids' Napping? I'm Scrapping asked if I would like to do a little swap with her for some of my moo cards. I swapped with Jess before on the Nightmare Before Valentine's Day Swap I ran last Valentine's day. I may have taken a lot longer than I needed to to sort out what little treats I would send to her and what crafty things I could make for her. We emailed back and forth, mostly with me saying I haven't sent anything yet but that I was working on it.

After much grumbling with myself I finally settled on a vague Alice in Wonderland theme of things to send and started gathering together materials to make a small Red Queen doll. The yarn was the last thing I found and I think it turned out perfect for making a little Red Queen. I painted the little heart shaped mouth, eyelashes and eyebrows with acrylic paint before staining her with a mixture of tea, vanilla, and cinnamon. I must say that she is one of my favourite dolls I have recently made, though I must admit that each doll I make is a part of me and I love them all dearly. I forgot to take a picture of all the bits that I sent to Jess but if you mosey over to Jess' blog you can read her post about what I sent.

I have more red yarn left and found some white material with red hearts so I think it is safe to say I may jump back on the crafting bandwagon and sew another little Red Queen doll sometime soon.

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my last blog post. I really appreciate everything said and am trying to have a nice calm week and get back into crafting, and blogging though I have a cold so I can feel a little bit sorry for myself. *snuffle* *cough*

break: here be whining

hey everybody sorry I haven't blogged in forever but I took a break from blogging and the internets. Shocking I know but I needed some time to myself to sit and read, listen to random music on my ipod, read a bit more, sulk a bit and feel a bit homesick for the states. Autumn is my favourite time of year.... but not here. I have lived in England for 11 years and still sometimes I feel like an utter fraud. I can casually talk about the weather for about 30 seconds before my mind wanders off and I desperately wish to shoot myself in the head with an overly dramatic finger gun. I am utterly abysmal at small talk anyway so usually attempt to avoid it at all costs when on the school run. Thankfully I'm quiet and shy and only a few friendly parents talk to me anyway.

I have always been reserved and have a tendency to withdraw into myself for a bit, fall into an out of the puddles, lakes and oceans of depression. I'm ok just a bit down, I miss my parents. I miss the dogs. I miss the states at this time of year. I miss Idaho and California. I miss the autumn festivities of being in the states surrounded by autumn leaves, pumpkin spice lattes (I don't drink them I just like the idea of them), pumpkins, pie and just all things Americana.

This is my time of year, I really don't give a damn for winter and Christmas, Matt says that's because I'm a Grinch. I just say it's because I hate 98% of Christmas music. I adore Halloween, I always have, and Day of the Dead is pretty damn awesome too. I hate that the schools here don't do anything fun and Halloween related. Halloween is pretty much a bust anyway, maybe in another 5 or 10 years they will get it right. Maybe not.

I have so many things ticking over in my brain and I have taken the last few weeks to just curl up read books, magazines, fan fiction, and even plot out a few broken fairy tales of my own here and there. I am fine. See I said it so it must be true, it's just sometimes hard to remotely attempt to be vaguely perfect. Not that I am anywhere near perfect, if I was I wouldn't be this fat, this grumpy or this hard on myself for every little thing I think is something I am or have done wrong.

I have never been a bubbly blonde, my roots are very very dark but the last few weeks of having a break and having a week away down in Dorset have settled my mind a bit. I do love England and Dorset is beautiful though I did find myself feeling just a little heartbroken on the beach missing the Pacific ocean just north of Bodega Bay in California. I did find some pretty pebbles to bring home with me so that's all good right?

I find it strange that I have barely been on the internets for weeks on end and not done any blogging and here I am having a cathartic whine about nothing and everything.

I really think I need coffee.

And to work on some blog posts of a crafty nature.

I shall go bumble into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and see about working on something creative this afternoon while H is at his grandma's house.

Also I may need cake. Good thing there is some leftover from H's 8th birthday party. Yup my little boy is the grand old age of eight. He is still brilliant and sweet and an utterly charming, wild, loud, imaginative and excitable kid.

I'm ok and I'm happy but sometimes, sometimes I need to curl up and hide inside my head. I'm going to go put my ipod on and shuffle the laundry along and think a bit more.

Your regularly scheduled blogging shall hopefully resume soon.