Fall Sunburst Wreath

I found a straw wreath and twisted paper in my very cluttered, messy, can't hardly walk through craft room and decided to make something with them. I had purchased straw wreaths at Wal Mart a year or so ago when they had them on clearance. I had a bunch of the twisted paper that I had got at yard sales. I'm not that crazy about twisted paper, but I think this project turned out pretty good. It kinda grows on you.


Here's the straw wreath. . . (I took the plastic covering off of it)




the orange and yellow twisted paper. . .


I cut the twisted paper into 18" lengths and gently twisted and pulled them apart. . .



I folded them in half and cut the ends into points . . .


Then I wrapped the length of wrinkled paper around the straw wreath so that the points were on the outside of the wreath. I hot glued the wrinkled paper onto the straw wreath. I only glued it on the outside of the wreath where the papers met. Hold it down for just a little bit until it cools. Go all the way around, alternating the yellows and oranges. To hang it up I used one of the strips that I untwisted. I folded it in half lengthwise and tied it in a knot for a hanger.

By looking at the finished project below you can kind of tell how it was put together. I ended up with two yellows side by side and I put the orange hanger between them.

I hung it on my front door. . .

The more I look at it, the more I like it. It kind of grows on you.

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Poor Man's Silver

I'm participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday again, hosted by Colorado Lady. Go visit and see who else is posting their vintage thingies.

I'm posting about my collection of what they used to call "Poor Man's Silver." I love it, and it's a good thing I do, because I can't afford the real thing.

They started making these pieces in the 1930s and most made their way into people's houses as wedding presents. I've gotten all of my pieces at yard sales.

Here is my three tier tray. I used it recently to put cookies on that I took to a get together.


Here are my baskets, I put candy in these.


These are my bowls. They can be used for fruit or rolls.



Here are some of my round trays. I love the one with the plate in the middle.


Here are my long trays. I use these on the table for bread when we eat breakfast and supper.

Here is another large bowl and small basket. I've used this large bowl for fruit before.

These are very pretty and decorative items and can still be bought cheap at yard sales. I don't think I've ever paid more than $1 for any of mine. Many of them are hammered with pretty flowers, fruit or other designs. I can understand why they loved them, I think they are every bit as pretty as silver and you don't have to polish them. They store easy, most of the bowls and baskets can sit inside of each other and the trays stack on top of each other for storage.

Fall Colors

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Creepy, Crawly Spiders

I don't know about you, but this time of year we have trouble with spiders sneaking inside the house. They sit outside the front door just waiting for someone to open it and give them the opportunity to run inside out of the cold. We always have to look for them before coming in.

A few weeks ago when my son was going to class, he opened the front door and a huge black hairy spider ran inside. I couldn't get hold of something quick enough to kill him.
My husband said, "Why didn't you step on him?"
I said, "I didn't have my shoes on."
He said, "So what."
Well, he's crazy if he thinks I'm gonna step on a huge spider without my shoes on.
We checked under the couch and everywhere and couldn't find him, until later in the week I spied him in the kitchen. Well, needless to say that spider is no longer with us. It just gives me the shivers thinking about it.

Even though I hate spiders, I made one a few days ago. You don't have to worry about this one biting you.

Here are the supplies you need.

40 watt lightbulb, red glitter, googly eyes, black paint, black pipe cleaners, foam brush. I also used rubbing alcohol and mod podge.

I cleaned off the bulb using a little rubbing alcohol on a paper towel. I then painted it and pushed it down into the opening of the ribbon spool to dry. (I used apple barrel brand acrylic paint) I put two coats of paint on it.

After it dried, I painted the bottom of the bulb. I turned it upside down and placed it on top of a water bottle cap to dry.


After the paint has dried, cut the two pipe cleaners in half. Bunch them together and hot glue them on top of the bulb as shown below. You can glue them on separately or tie them together with black ribbon or fishing line if you want. Bend the pipe cleaners to look like spider legs. Next glue on the googly eyes. You can use hot glue or tacky glue for the eyes.


I then brushed on a layer of the mod podge and while it was still wet I sprinkled red glitter on his back. When it is dry, the white glue disappears and all you will see is the red glitter.


When he has dried, put him somewhere in your house. But, don't set him on the floor or someone like me just might accidentally step on him.


I know he's kinda creepy, but for those of you out there who would like to have a fake creepy crawly spider in the house for Halloween instead of a real creepy crawly one, give it a try.

Festive Cheese Ball

Here is a recipe for an easy and very tasty cheese ball.

2 - 8oz packages cream cheese
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1 t. lemon juice
finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine the cream cheese and cheddar cheese:


Add the Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice:



Mix well with fork and shape into a ball.



After I did that, I got a little creative and shaped it like a pumpkin. Use your fingers, a knife or handle of a spoon (or a combination of all of those) and make line indents down the ball. Stick pretzel sticks into the top for the stalk and cut bell peppers into leaves. Sprinkle the finely chopped nuts over the cheese ball.





Voila. . . you have a cheese ball shaped like a pumpkin. It would be great for a Halloween party snack or Thanksgiving day snack.

Also, if you're thinking of having a Halloween party, here's an idea for you.
Decorate an ivy bowl and fill partially with m & m's and miniature peanut butter cups.
Have people guess how much candy is in it. The closest guesser wins the container with the candy!



Hope you enjoy my cheese ball. It is very good. I make it at Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other time they get in the mood for one. Everyone loves it!

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Have a cup of coffee

I'm participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday again, hosted by Colorado Lady. Go visit and see who else is posting their vintage thingies.

I thought I would post a couple of my old coffee pots. This first one is for small gatherings. . .


but, if you are going to have a lot of people over for coffee, you might want to use this one. This enamelware coffee pot is huge and it is stamped on the bottom USN. I would say that stands for United States Navy. I really like this one.


If I'm going to have coffee, I have to have cream in mine, I don't like it black. I have some old creamers to pick from. The first one I got was the Shawnee corn creamer, I love it. I got it at a thrift store a long time ago for only 75 cents. I like the little cows, too. The blue creamer in front was my mother's.



To drink our coffee in, I have some colorful cups and mugs. I love the milk glass ones in the back, the Esso Tiger is on one of them. On the left is a stack of vintage Fiesta cups and on the right are Harlequin and Riviera cups. The little Fiesta demitasse cup in front is colored chartreuse. I really got lucky when I found it one day. I found out when I got home that the 50s colors in the demitasse cups are worth more than the older colors.


So pull up a chair and have a cup of coffee with me. Which cup do you want to use?

Halloween Blast From the Past

Halloween 1983

Im 1983 I entered a contest conducted by Kahn's. The prize was fixins' for a Halloween party.
I had forgotten all about it when one day the mailman stopped at my house and delivered a package. When I saw the return address was Kahn's, a smile came to my face. I never expected to win and this was a surprise.

What I won, to the best of my memory, were free coupons for a bunch of Kahn's hotdogs, a Halloween tablecloth, Halloween cups and plates, streamers and a Halloween 'pin the nose on the pumpkin' game. There may have been coupons for other things as well, but my memory leaves me at the moment.

We had a party that was attended by my sons' grandparents, my sister and her daughter (and a friend of her daughter's), and Charley's sister and her 2 boys.

We had a ball! I made clown costumes for my boys. We also had in attendance a vampire, a dog, a gypsy and maybe a dancer (I can't remember for sure what Terri Ann's friend came dressed as), but she looks like she could have been a dancer.



Some people don't get into Halloween, and that's all right. But as you can tell by the faces on these kids they had a great time dressing up and playing games, and I don't see anything wrong with that. I had a smile on my face, too.


For this game, they split into two teams and saw who could fill the little glasses up with Reese's Pieces first. They had to run across the room with their little plastic spoons filled with the candy and empty them into the glass. Below are Daniel (the dog) and my oldest son Charley (the clown) seeing how fast they can fill up the containers.



My youngest son (Andrew) had fun with the bowl of Reese's Pieces. He must have been the official stirrer-upper. This is my son who is the wood worker of our family. I've posted here on his craftsmanship before.



I apologize for the quality of the pictures. My scanner wasn't working, so I took pictures of my pictures, and they didn't turn out very good.

Hope you enjoyed my Blast From the Past Halloween post.

Thrift Store Bargains

I guess you might say that I have been spoiled by shopping at thrift stores and yard sales.

I'm not embarrassed to wear clothes from thrift stores. In fact, I'm proud that I can get good clothes without paying the high prices in stores. I just bought some sweaters at the thrift store. They are very pretty and like new condition. If I had bought them new at the store, I would hate to think what I would have paid for them. I only paid 25 cents each!


I also bought some more milk glass. The white plates are Pyrex, Anchor Hocking and Corning.
I think the milk glass would be very pretty to display at Christmas. I could put floral displays, candy or fruit in them. I love milk glass! I only paid 25 cents each for these also.


Here is a close up of the large plate. I think the edge is so pretty. It looks like little tulips on the border. These plates could be used to put candy or cookies in at Christmas and given as gifts. The plates could be part of the gift.



Do you do much thrift shopping? Do you save money by buying second hand clothes?
I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of. I know some people who would never buy clothes at yard sales and thrift stores. Why pay $20 or more for a pair of jeans when you can get them for $1 or less. I'm proud that I save money by shopping wisely.

West Virginia Book Festival

The West Virginia Book Festival will be October 10-11 at the Charleston Civic Center.
I'll be going to it on Saturday. It will be the first time I've attended it and I'm looking forward to going.

They have a huge used book sale, book signings, vendors and exhibitors, programs for children and teens, story tellers, poets and much more.

The hours are from 9am to 6pm on Saturday and Noon to 6pm on Sunday.

The West Virginia Writers will have a table at the festival. Anyone who has a book published and is a member of WVWriters can bring their books to sign and sell.

I will be there on Saturday at 12 noon with copies of Christmas Traditions. If any of you live in the area, come on by and say hi. I would love to see you.

I Just Had to Take a Picture

Doggie Chauffeur: "Where do you want to go today, boss?"

I couldn't resist taking this picture today.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, what would your caption be?

This and That

Sorry I haven't posted for a week. My how time flies.

There's not much happening out here in my neck of the woods. We've had a few visitors. On Sunday in addition to my son and daughter in law visiting, we looked out our front door and saw this handsome creature staring at us.


And on Saturday there was a bad wreck on the interstate and they detoured the traffic from I-77 onto Rt. 21 for over 2 hours. We had constant traffic on our road in front of our house. In addition to the hundreds of cars, we had tractor trailor traffic which we rarely see on our road any more.


We had what I call my 'little alien' visit me over the weekend. I hope you never accidentally bump into this little creature. It hurts! I was doing a little fall cleaning in my blackberry patch when the top of my hand started to sting. I kept searching until I found my 'little alien' under a leaf. It hurts like a wasper sting! I looked him up on the internet and his official name is 'saddleback caterpillar'. Zoom in on him for a closer look, he's weird!



Fall is arriving in spurts here and there at our house. . . this pitcher is old. I believe someone tried to imitate Fiestaware.


My kitchen table sports my peanut and candy corn mixture (which is just about disappeared now) and peanutbutter kisses cookies (which have already disappeared) on top of an old fall placemat.


Fall arrived outside this morning, too. The thermometer on the deck said 40, but the housetops said something different. It's a little blurry, but it sure looks like frost to me.


What have you been up to lately?