There Will Be Blood

I finally watched this Oscar and Academy Award winning film of 2007. Yes, finalement.

Originally a friend of mine showed me the very last scene of the film, and I never desired to see it after that. If you have seen this, you know what I speak of.

Nevertheless, this Thursday July and I got together to watch HP, only to discover we had already seen the film. Her backup netflix being this film, I acquiesced gracefully and settled down to be bored.

I was somewhat correct in the beginning (no I do not care about oil), but the cinemetography combined with the magnificent acting completely drew me in. By the end of the film I was hooked. Beautiful character performances; truly wonderful.

Winter Warmth

Now that I have almost completely finished painting my living room (3 woots!!) , I have been unpacking some of my decor accessories and finding them all homes. With the winter coming on, blankets and prepping my fireplace is of the utmost importance.

This little creature I found several months ago at Marshalls while shopping with my mom, and simply loved him!!! He's very vintage looking, but doesn't smell lol. I thought he would be positively comfortable in my blanket basket, and I think he is. His name... is Maurice. *grin*

Another true antique find is this old matchstick holder! I had seen a few different styles of this (black iron versus wood) and ended up buying this one for $10.00. I know anyone could easily make one, but I lack the necessary tools :/

Then I simply spray painted it white (of course lol) and mounted him in the corner of the mantle. I initially was going to put it above the mantle to the right, but as I have plans for an art piece above the mantle, I didn't want this piece to detract from the larger focal painting.

In the end I like it hidden away in this corner :D

I finally got to place all my picture frames above the mantle woot!! And now I actually have several more photos that are in the running, so I might be switching some things out, or they might qualify for the upholstered fabric board that I have yet to create... lol. Too many plans and ideas eeek!!

Ah I am still in love with the green and white. *le dreamy sigh*

White Porcelain Dream

I finally decided on a display for my porcelain tea pots, pitchers, and tea cups!!!

I have had a mild obsession for about a year now, and shopping around Marshalls and Home Goods has definitely not improved the situation!


I couldn't figure out the best way to display my growing collection though, until Tyler randomly handed over a shelf that came with her new house... What a surprise!

I then was vascillating between which wall to mount it on, because although asthetically I liked this wall next to the kitchen of while cabinets, my usual rule is to place some type of mirror across from the wall of windows/patio doors. The effect is to double the amount of natural light in my small apartment basically. In the end asthetics won out over function, and I am happy with my decision!




Since there is a chair rail on this wall as well, that added to the decision making process...

I am so in love with the green I chose splashed up against the white!!! Its just what I wanted! It just exudes freshness to me.


I also plan on purchasing a couple of clear plate holders from Hobby Lobby this weekend and adding in a couple of my porcelain plates to the background. Eventually I would like one or two more larger pitchers as well. Ah joy.

All Hallows Eve

This year I actually decorated... for a Party!!! This was not located at my abode, but due to Tyler's need to complete her kitchen cabinet painting project prior to our event, I got to do the majority of the decorating. Lights... were everywhere hehe.



This is the mantle, and I just added the pumpkin lights and my old creepy tree with some cobwebs for effect. I definitely think this turned out great!














I love this creepy tree....









Another project that was important to me to attempt was a hanging Happy Halloween sign. I purchased some simple cream colored card stock at Hobby Lobby, and then just drew out all the letters with a pen. This calligraphy style I designed myself!

I wanted to try to burn the cardstock to age it, but I simply ran out of time... :(

I am keeping the sign, so next year or maybe even this week, I will try that.

I hung it up in the dining room with black satin ribbon, and then made 4 bows to attach at the ends. The picture only shows 2, but I added the other 2 afterwards and it really made a difference.

I plan on making one for Christmas too but with pale gold paint for the lettering, white shimmery snow cardstock, and a pale green ribbon, to hang from my mantle like the lights above. I am really excited about that project; there is always room for improvement and most of the time I have to do a trial before I come up with better ideas.

There multiple other decorating details, but I did not have time to photo op them prior to the party, and Tyler took everything down before she said she would. I had several black lace spider web door frame hangings, a table runner, and a table cloth for the kitchen island that really looked wonderful. All the windows were trimmed in orange lights as well.

The entire atmosphere was wonderful, so next year it should just be even better! :D

This was my pirate costume! It really looks more like a muskateer, but eh. My story was I am really just a very successful pirate... who likes hats. I have a hat fettish apparently lol.

I am modifying the hat to go with the outfit more, but didn't have time to do it prior to the party. Upcoming blog post hehe!!

For the Love of Maria

All the fun shenanigans we get up to are too numerous to enumerate here, but here is just a taste!!!



The first weekend she came up to Dallas for Six Flags and shopping.

We ended up going on a Fright Fest weekend, and altough we didn't stay that night we did meander across some frightening individuals. You can see the fear in my eyes, right?

My lovely knitting buddy, enjoying a home brew of tea (not coffee what??!!) which hadn't quite had its calming effect yet... ;P She really does love me, I swear.

A couple of weeks later, I drove down to her place and we spent all day Saturday at Ren Fest!

There were a few items I simply couldn'y resist, namely another addition to my mask collection (this one is actually made out of leather and really comfortable!), a fox tale for my future forest nymph costume, and of course Pineapple on a Stick!

We had a lot of fun being simply silly.

Patio Projects

So I am still working on creating the right atmosphere for my patio, which is sort of ridiculous considering its soon going to be freezing weather outside not conducive to drinking much of anything outside. Yet I still forge onward...

This little bird statue I had purchased awhile ago, but it had been a very dark stone color, and the features of the bird were subsequently not as obvious. I just thought it was too cute and decided to spray paint it pale blue to make it more wimsical and happy.

Maria helped me out with this one, and although she doubted my brilliant plan at first, in the end she agreed that it was super cute! :D

I am keeping my eyes out for any other little statues that are the same style; I would love to have one or two more chilling on the rail of my patio.

My next project involved somehow using the birdcages. I have planned on filling them with different sized pillar candles which I still like, but they the functionality of that deterred me. I doubt I would ever put the effort into lighting them all often. Instead I decided to fill them with different types of moss purchased at Hobby Lobby, and entertwining xmas lights within.

I am pretty happy with the outcome, although I think a couple of lanterns done the same way might actually look better. The lights are invisible during the day becaus the cords are dark green, which I do like, They almost look just as good during the day. I might tweak the lights again do that more show through the bars.... Always in search of perfection hehe.

I needed something in that corner and I am happy with this idea.

These are my current lantern lights along with my teapot windchime! I doubt I will ever change these two, because I heart them so. They look so inviting from afar!

Owls by Candlelight

This year, just like the years before, I knew I wanted to create my own pumpkin patterns.

The theme I settled on was Owls, maily because... they are awesome hehe. These were my last two designs, the tree being the 3rd. I think that one is my favorite... maybe. I really like how the bark turned out, but then I also really like the stars and overall concept of the 2nd. They both have little owls though!


These two types of owls I plan on using in other designs as well, and I am thinking about creating a whole little line of forest creatures to use for sewing and other craft projects. I might have to bring out the clay for these hehe.


This is a close up of the 2nd pumpkin I carved. I really like this one...





This little guy was my first trial; he's holding his little baby on the tree branch. I like that idea, but I think the other owls are way better. I may try the same idea but using the other owl images next time... we will see.

I just love coming up with ideas for carving! I also was thinking about doing 3 different falling leaves with the veins and everything, but after carving so many... I just didnt find the time. There is always next year though!!!