Happy Beautiful Thanksgiving!!

Photo: Unknown

Just popping in....

I didn't want Thanksgiving to go by without saying how very Thankful I am to YOU...my visitors to HappyLittleArt....I love that you take time out of your own life to see whats going on in mine!! Thank YOU!
I hope you all have a Happy and Joyful Thanksgiving!
Hugs,

Wednesday's Word...Right on Time!!

Photo Via Sherbet Blossom

I feel happy today! I hope you do too!! Do you? I hope so!! I havent been very crafty though...trying to take care of the normal stuff...the everyday stuff...bills, laundry, cleaning, Snack Mom duties, shopping....everyday life has me busy...and I'm glad and Thankful and Content.

Thank you for stopping out of your busy day to visit me!! That was super nice!!
Hugs,

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!!!

Whewwwww....its been crazy busy around here...with what...I don't even know but I feel like I'm just going, going, going!! Ever feel like that??

Thanksgiving this year is at my house and I am pretty excited about it!! Someday...my Whole Family will be together for the Holidays and that will be pretty incredible...but this year both of my Sisters will be travelling here and that makes me happy, happy, happy! I'm hoping for a fun, relaxing...family love fest!! {Hoping, Hoping, Hoping!}

I decided I wanted to put out a few favors this year and so I made little pockets with candies in them....Butterscotch sticks and Ghirardelli squares...Yum! I think I only have to make 5 more and I'm done!!! I downloaded the Free {Yay and Thanks!!} tags here at Shingdig Parties and here at Hostess with the Mostess! They were the perfect little tags for these bags!

The goal will be to have a bowl of cute papers and pens available and have everyone write something nice about each person and tuck the notes into that persons pocket....Then they can take their pocket and read all the little notes inside!! Fun!!

I'm hoping everyone will want to take part....what a happy thing to take home with you! Little love notes from people who love you and you love! I can see a mini album coming on.....

I've also decided to give some sweet sticks out to the Kids..and a few adults{kids}!! I love these candies on a stick! Gummies, lace, licorice, Cinnamon squares, lemons, peach O's...all fun fall colors... and they are so yummy...I know for sure because I've already eaten one!! Bad.

So that's what I've been up to...how about you?!! Do you have some fun Thanksgiving Traditions that you would like to share?
Hugs,

The Race was on.....

WOW...the last couple of weeks RACED by...literally...it was all a flash...and quite a thrill. Whats been happening??!!! For me....A Friend of mine asked me to go on a quick trip with her...so..I headed out to NC and VA...Halloween weekend, leaving on Friday at 4:30am...Really...who flys that early? Why are the airports even open!? When my Friend and I arrived in NC we were slightly unprepared for the weather difference...it was F R E E Z I N G there...Thankfully my Sister lives in NC and was able to bring me a coat....We were there to meet this guy and go to the Races...

Now I'm not a true NASCAR fan, in fact I've only been to, I think, one other race but it was fun to go behind the scenes at the race track and to meet Jeff Gordon {#24} in person...it didn't hurt that he was also a cutie, nice and just my height...Just sayin!

We spent a lot of time looking around the garage on Sat., looking where we would be sitting on Sunday and just generally taking in the whole NASCAR experience....

On Saturday night my Sister and I headed out to the Woods of Terror in Greensboro, NC...What a blast that was!! It was so scary and my Sister kept shoving me to the front....I definitely didn't want to be the lead going through, but it kept happening....20 acres...20 big acres!! Outside...in the woods...in the dark...with scary dressed up people...and screaming everywhere...and chainsaws...and it was a TOTAL Blast!!!

Photo Credit: Unknown

I arrived back home Halloween afternoon and quickly planned a dinner of spooks....we ended up having Mummys {Wrapped hot dogs}, Fried Rattlesnake {Tatar tots} and Brains {Sweet and Sour Rotkohl} .....it worked out great..I didn't have to spend lots of time on it, {jet lagged and tired} Everyone gobbled it up...the neighbors even came over and ate all the leftovers!! Yay! Here are some of the crew...My Honey makes the best Michael Meyers eva! He stands around perfectly still and freaks people out!! Love! Ms. M. was a "Modern" fish. Her outfit was Cool enough to hang in and trick-or-treat! She picked out all the material and cut all the gills herself!! Like, Like, Love!! Ms. H.....of course was the Toadstool! All Fun!!

The rest of last week I spent getting ready for a craft fair. My Girlfriend, Marianne came over and helped me make lots of chocolate covered pretzels we took to the show on Saturday. {Thank you so much, Marianne!!} I have another show on Wednesday of this week but I'm already ready for it so I wont have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off this week!!! Wooohoooo!!
If you happen to be in the Bay Area please stop by the Holiday Fair at Monte Gardens Elementary Wednesday, Nov 9 12:45p to 7:00p at Monte Gardens Elementary, Concord, CA...swing by my booth and say Hi, I'd love to meet you!!

That's whats been going on with me...Whats been happening in your world?! I hope to be starting on handmade Christmas gifts this next week....so you'll be seeing some of that and I hope to update my shop soon as well!! I will re-open my shop on Thursday of this week! Fun!!
Cheers,

My Favorite Little Toadstool!!

I made my Daughters' Halloween costumes this year. A seamstress, I'm not...so we looked around online for "beginner" costume ideas....When my youngest saw a Mushroom costume on Family Fun she said that's what she wanted to be! Okay....looked super easy to make...

This mushroom cap was a little time consuming because of all the hot gluing but easy, easy, easy to make....You only need a couple of items to make it too!!
1 Sombrero
1 yard of red and white felt {which is on sale right now at Joanns!!}
Hot glue gun
scissors
paper {you could even use newspaper!!}
Bubble wrap

It came together fast and she looked adorable and the best part....she loved it!! My other Daughter wanted to be a fish, she picked out some fabric and cut all the gills herself and pinned them....I sewed them up and her costume is super cute too..however..I was unable to get a picture of her just yet...hopefully on Halloween!! They went off to a Halloween party last night and they were both a big hit!! Love that!!

Are you ready for Halloween? Did you make a costume? What did you make if you did?

Have a Happy Halloween!!

Word Day....

Photo via Pinterest

Working on Halloween costumes....be back soon....
Have a Great Day....

Tick Tock...You Don't Stop.....

I'm working on things for a couple of upcoming craft shows and I will also be heading out of town soon too...so I'll be in and out for a little bit....but mostly out maybe....

My Girls want me to make their costumes this year as well...A Toadstool, complete with Gnome and one wants to be an modern Fish..Adorable..but Wow..am I'm feeling a little overwhelmed...I hope I can get it all together....we still don't even have all the inside decorations up...

They {The Girls} did manage to put the dogs in their Halloween costumes and I just love this picture of THOR in his "Bad Dog" costume which matches his personality perfectly!!



Other Stuff in my World:

My "Smart Phone" decided to go swimming with me....it floated to the bottom in slow motion as if to say....hey look I can swim too...I don't think its very smart anymore. All my pictures were lost and the camera no longer works but I am thankful it is still working at this time...I have no upgrades available for 583 days!! ooops!!

We went and saw Footloose.....loved it...I did cry this time, unlike the first movie, only because the Kid had lost his Mother and this time I could kinda relate.

Heading into the City tomorrow to do the Ferry Building Farmers Market and visit with my God Parents who are in town from Michigan.

I have over 50lbs of candy in my office for some Sweetie Sticks I'm going to be making and every time I walk into my office I am greeted by the sweet smell of lemons, cherries, strawberries....its a good thing none of the bags are opened yet....Okay...I opened the Carmel squares but they don't really have a smell because they are individually wrapped! {and I haven't really eaten That many!!}

Tonight is my first Water Aerobics class....hope its fun!!

I'm off...much to do...Hope you're doing great!
xoxo

Wednesday Words....Late....

Wow...did time get away from me!! I didn't manage to even do Wednesdays Words....ugh....

Photo via Pinterest

I will have the minis/journals in the shop sometime before the end of this weekend!! I am still packaging some of them up!!
xo,

Mini Art Journal Fun!!!

A while ago, I bought my Girls the Smash Journals from K & Company {Okay, yes...one for myself too!}. I love the idea of it but soon realized that its just too big for me to lug around. The Girls like them but don't take them with them for the same reason and because they are too big for their already over laden backpacks. After seeing some of Amy Tangerine's albums I thought I would make something similar that I could shove in my purse and the Girls could tuck in their backpacks! This is what I came up with....

So Fun! Seriously. I sewed all these fun pages in there...like vintage atlas pages and vintage sheet music. Plastic overlays, a card stock card, graph paper, ledger paper, regular paper. An envelope and more. Ends up to be 40 pages to put pictures on,decorate, stick stuff too and of course write on!! Here is a peek inside....

I made lots of them. I'm doing some craft fairs this coming Holiday season and need to start getting prepared...They are packaged up with some Happy Little Bits to use for the cover and inside the mini journal...This is what the pink bits look like...I thought this would be so perfect for Breast Cancer awareness...

I didn't just make pink embellishments....I made the rainbow of colors...Whats your favorite color? I probably made one in that color too! Inside is fun foreign stamps, cork board tags, glittered clothespin, felt circle, paint chips and more!! So Fun!! I'll be putting some of these in my etsy shop tomorrow...fun part is you can pick what color you want your embellishments to be!!!

So, I've been busy, busy! What are you doing? The weather here has finally turned into fall....with rain and all! I kinda love it!! I love sweat pants and sweaters, rain boots and warm crock pot food!!
Hope your having a great week!! Thanks for stopping by!!!
Hugs,

Spooky Pillow Boxes!!!

Edited to add: I put a Kit to make these in my etsy shop!

Hello!!! Happy Tuesday!!! How is the start of your week going? Busy as always around here...and still feeling like I never get anything done.

Just a quick post today...wondering if you ever package up gifts in pillow boxes? You can make them or buy them in all different sizes and they decorate so easy and fun! I love them!!! I decided to make some for Halloween treats and stuffed them full of sweet candy {that I wanted to eat the whole time!!}

Using my hand dyed ribbon and some bling these little pillow boxes really came alive...love them...and they would make perfect classroom treats or party favors too, dontcha think??!!

Its so hard for me to be thinking about Halloween and Thanksgiving and the Holiday season when the temperature around here is still in the high 80s and 90s and I'm sweating in my house!! I like fall...I like the seasons....I love snow....its crazy that I still need to hit the pool to cool off!!!!

Okay....I'm going back to work...I am going to do a few craft fairs this season and I need to really start working on some projects so my table isn't empty!!
Hugs,

That Time Again......

Wow, this week has just flown by. I haven't really been creative. Just busy and lazy, I guess. I haven't cleaned enough either. I need a house cleaner. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Someone to come in and clean...really clean...not just straighten up but deep clean the mess?! ahhhhhhh, would be so nice!!

Its also been a long time since I've talked about Childhood Cancer...in fact, its been a year, this month. September. National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I don't talk about it often anymore but every time I look at Kolten I am reminded and therefore, never forget. Each September, I will talk about it and I will share because everyone, everyone can help in some way or another.

The facts about childhood cancer are just plain scary. Cancer is the #1 reason for disease related deaths of children. Over 12,000+ Children will be diagnosed this year and for the past 25 years that number just keeps rising. One forth of those children, 2300+ children, will not survive.

Childhood Cancer affects the entire family, forever changing everyone. I always say, our Family was one of the "lucky" families. Kolten survived and is a thriving young Man with a bright future ahead of him. His memory of the years in treatment are cloudy and that is probably a good thing. Sometimes, I'd like to forget too but then I remember, if I forget....you could too and what we need, is to be more aware and to help those families going through it and ultimately, we need to find a way to prevent it!!

You can help. You can. You can volunteer your time, your money, your stuff...it doesn't have to be huge. It doesn't. Imagine if 1 million people donated just $1...a dollar isn't huge but $1,000,000 is!! Know a Family who is going thru it? Offer to babysit, which can be scary but the parents need a break! Clean, cook or run errands for them. Have a skill? Volunteer it....call your local children's hospital and ask what they need and how you can get involved. Like to exercise? Run a Marathon that supports Childhood Cancer! Have a blog? Post awareness and ways your readers can help! Something simple can have a huge impact!!

Here are a few great links for you to learn more about Childhood Cancer and to find out how you can help! When you get to each site, you can look up Events in your area!!
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
CureSearch
National Children's Cancer Society
Make a Wish Foundation
Okizu Foundation {A Foundation close to my heart!}
There are a lot more places where you can help, too many to even list. Go in your own community and find places local to you that help and be a part of it!!

I know this was a long post!! Thanks for taking the time to read it!! I will be back later this week with something crafty!

Hugs,

Mid-Week Thoughts!

This weeks Words on Wednesdays...so true....



Hope you are having a good week!
xoxo,

Dreadfully Delightful......

Friday, Friday!!! {Did you just catch yourself singing that?!}

I've been working on some cute little paper bag pocket treats for Halloween!! Perfect for tasty gift giving!!

These are so fun to make...you feel like your creating a new little art piece with each one.

I used tiny paper bags. They are approximately 4.75" x 7". My friend, Mandi gave me lots of them to use! {Thank you, Mandi!} These are my favorite because they fit a gift card in the front pocket perfectly!! For Christmas I made dozens of them!! They look pretty awesome for Birthdays too!!

I love these spooky ones. I used regular Hershey bars as the main candy but you could use anything that you like. The bag of spiders came from Target last year and I hope they have some this year as they are the best...flat bottoms, perfect for gluing and realistic...Love them!!

Here they are all ready to go off to new homes! I wonder if I should put these on etsy? Maybe?!

My Daughter called this morning from school....she forgot her binder, could I please bring it...I told her I couldn't...I told her I had asked her a dozen times between last night and this morning if she had everything in her backpack and reminded her she said she did...everytime...I felt so bad and mean. I told her she would have to tell her Teacher that she had forgotten it. Her tiny voice quivered and she said Ok. I told her I loved her. I told her to have a good day. Her little tiny voice quivered again and I could tell she was trying so hard not to cry. We hung up and I practically cried myself!! Responsibility and Accountability...Right????? Right??? Its a good thing this is only the second week of school and we get to learn this lesson right off the bat....ugh....my poor little peanut!!

Hope you have a wonderfully, exciting weekend!!
xoxo,


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I've been working on some Halloween treats but I think its time for a dip at the pool!! What exciting things are you doing today? Hope its Happy!!
xoxo

You are the Apple of my Eye......

We are almost at the end of the first week of school and things have been going pretty smoothly!! YAY!!! I decided they needed another first week of school treat, so inside the Girls {and Honeys!} lunches today is this super sweet "Apple" treat!

After seeing pictures of them on the Pinterest, I was able to find the recipe on Gourmet Mom on the Go. I did change the leaves and used Air Heads candy instead of frosting for them. Using a small heart cookie cutter, I made two heart leafs per apple. I think they turned out pretty cute! I was surprised to find that the coloring was from Jello and not food coloring but after making them...and tasting them....Jello makes krispy treats quite deeee-lious!!!

Since no treat would be complete without cute packaging....I found the adorable and Free {Thank You!!} Apple of my Eye tag on Jam*n*Jilly! It was the perfect tag!!

Don't you think "Apple of my Eye"...is a funny saying?! According to the U.S. Apple Association...The "expression dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, when people conceived of the pupil of the eye to be, like the apple, a global object. The word itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon “aeppel”, which literally meant both “eye” and “apple.” In addition to providing the literal, vital sense of vision, the pupil was also regarded as the figurative "window" to the treasured secrets within each of us. Thus, the “apple of my eye” meant someone very beloved". Interesting, don't you think!!!

I'm going to "try" and spend some time cleaning my studio today so that I might be able to work in here...I feel the need to make happy things!!!!

Hope you have a Great day!!!!
xoxo,


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