Creative Chaos

Yay....and a Giveaway.......

 

I won!  A big thank you goes to everyone who voted for me in the Better Homes and Garden's Photo Contest.  It's very exciting as I never win anything.  But I can't rest on my laurels for too long though.   I need to get geared up for the big showdown with a felted scarved lightbulb snowman......  

So here's the story.....this adorable little light bulb snowman took down my friend Holly's tinsel dove in a close race.  Oh sure, he cute enough in his little hat and neck warmer, not to mention the perpetual smile on his face that that just begs you to vote for him. But there's another side to him that had no problem overtaking an innocent tinsel dove with a slew of votes.  Do not be fooled by his good natured appearance and friendly ways...he's out for blood...  I have no idea who the woman is behind this felted scarved light bulb snowman, but lets just say she has some big backers in her race to win.   She's like the Meg Whitman of handmade ornament contests.  So I need to start coordinating my strategy....television ads, political rallies, nonstop touring of the country to push my vintage wallpaper heart ornament agenda. Yes, she has the term "recycled" and a cute snowman face on her side.  But I have a glitter star....and that goes a long way.

So in between election strategy meetings, I've been working on some christmas crafting....

 
I'm not really doing too much this year because what I realized is that for the first time in two years I have a reserve of energy.   I decided what I really wanted to do with that surplus of feeling good is spend as much time with the boys, both big and small, doing things that I haven't been able to do in the last two Christmas's.   I felt like I was sleep walking through the holiday's last year and the year before.  However, this year, I really feel like I'm present.  And that's a good thing....It's like an early Christmas gift.  

So in light of that I'm going to do a Christmas Journal Giveaway.  I'm going to do a separate post for it tomorrow Dec 1st to jump start the month.   

I have a feeling this month is going to be good.......Talk to you soon!  Karin

 

 

Snowy Town is in the house.......

Last minute clearance inspections were conducted just prior to construction...... 

Strict building codes were enforced by the 10 year old general contractor who insisted on a row house design......

 

Because I felt so strongly that the Snowy Townlacked a point of view, I fought for, and eventually won, the slightly tilted direction of three houses and the creation of two hills.  All other request of mine, such as a couple trees in the village, were struck down by the narrow minded president of the housing commision.....
 

All trees and forest related items were to be constructed just east of Snowy Town in what is referred to as the Snowy Woods......

 

However, as you can see, Snowy Woods was hit by a dry spell this year.  Despite a compelling argument by the general contractor,  it was told to him in no uncertain terms by his mother that snow would not be purchased until after the black weekend shopping frenzy......

   

Despite all the infighting on the east side of town, Snowy Town West was slowly reinventing itself as the "go to" place to be this season.   With the arrive of Bumble and friends, it put itself on the map as a holiday destination spot this year....... 

Although it was experiencing the same La Nina as Snowy Town East, the leader of this community wasn't as vocal about his desire for snow.   He was just happy that is little piece of the landhad a restraining order against the ten year old general contractor from the next town over.   So no matter how many protest were made regarding the design, all reindeer were allowed to remain in a line smelling each others' tails........

 

Everyone eventually got over their differences and came together at the cozy cottage for a hot chocolate peace offering.......  

 

Ok...back to the attic for more boxes.....Karin

I'm still attempting......

 
to work my way.......

 
out from under this plate of food.   I haven't stopped eating since Wednesday afternoon.   I'm not to worried about it though.  I know for a fact one of my New Year's resolutions has something to do with exercising or eating less or returning phone calls on a more timely basis or something like that.  In any event, I'm not thinking about it until after New Year's because I just spied Ghirardelli's Peppermint Bark at Target. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Talk to you soon!  Karin

Don't hate me........

because I want to win a contest.  It's the Better Homes and Garden Ornament Contest.  Please vote for me.....pretty please. I want to win in honor of my friend Hollywho got shafted in last week's contest. If I go on to win the $1000, I'm going to split it with her.  She said she won't take the money. I said yes you will.  She said no she won't. I said I'll never talk to you on facebook again.  She said so what.  I said think of how much vintage wallpaper you can buy with $500.  She said ok.  I'm very convincing when I have to be.

You have to press the VOTE button at the bottom of the picture. Thanks So Much Everyone!!!   Click HERE for the link to take you to the site!

Ok....now on to crafting news.  Last night I spent a relaxing evening surrounded by glitter and glue.  I just created whatever struck my fancy......

 

 
 

Which apparently, from the looks of the pictures, is the top of boxes.   But I also started working with this fabric I got a few months ago.  I love it......
 

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to use it.....

 

Of course the annoying guy in the office also wanted to burn some late night hours to impress the boss.   Here is his free form Christmas Collage entitled:  Glue all of mommy's stuff on to a piece of cardboard.   From what I've heard through the grapevine Somerset is in negotiations with him for his own magazine.

 

So that's it for now.  I had to cut my crafting short so I could bowl with the boys on the wii.   I won!  Woo Hoo!    Talk to you soon!  Karin

 

Do your kids ever get hooked on a movie......

 
and watch it over and over?   Let's just say if I never hear the song "Everyone was Kung Fu Fighting.....do do do do do do do do do....with fists as fast as lightening....do do do do do do do do..... ever again for the rest of my natural life and then some after death, it will be far to soon.  Although, I have to say I now know it's "fists as fast as lightening."   To think for the past 30 years I've been saying it all wrong.  How embarrassing.

Ok...back to crafting.  I'm stuck on my pink tree box.  I like where it started going.  But I'm finding that I just don't know how to finish it.  Hmmmmm......I think I will just set it aside for awhile.

 

I'm working on some little ornaments with the cute chipboard from Maya Road.   

 

The new guy in the office wanted to work on some crafts also.  I gave him a Melissa Frances house to decorate....... 

I tried to tell him that he may want to go with another color scheme as his choice was veering dangerously close into Halloween territory.....

 

But, as we all know, there is always that one guy in the office who thinks they're a know it all and won't listen to you......

 

And then blames it all on you at the Friday afternoon staff meeting when asked whose idea was it to put "snow sprinklers" on the orange and black Christmas house.

 

And of course you're left cleaning up the mess.....

 

Talk to you soon!  Karin

 

Now that Hollywood isn't banging down my door anymore.......

I've managed to get some Christmas things done for classes at Paper Tales........
Of course I'm woefully behind in getting these scheduled. Hopefully there will still be some room on the calendar.  I'm really into blue this year. However, I'm trying to work with the little pink bottle brush tree on the box below.   I'm kind of stuck with the design right now and not sure where it's going at the moment......  

I've been working on this one for awhile.  I really like the red and cream paper......

 

And the roses I had on hand matched perfectly......
 

So many ideas. So little time. You know......the usual.  Talk to you soon!  Karin

Good bye Hollywood....it was fun....

Good bye James, my make up artist.   After sitting here since last Friday, I finally realized you were never coming back. I've been wearing my makeup since last week.  Just holding on to the artistically applied faced memories  At least we're friends on facebook....sniff...sniff.....

 

Good bye Chef Jamika.....You came into my kitchen and created authentic mexican food magic.   I'm still dreaming of those chicken enchiladas.  Cosme's dreaming of the day he can marry you.........In the meantime, I'm going to have to do.  But, you taught me well..... 

 

Good bye to catered lunches served everyday.........I really could go for a buffet on my lawn right now.....

 

Good bye fancy schmancy monitors that were housed in the garage.......

 

 

Good bye to my best friend Gail who came down for the day to do a segment........We decided that we love this picture of the both of us all made up so much that we are going to use it as both our families' Christmas card.....

Happy Holiday's from Karin and Gail and their families!

 

 

 

Good by Patrick my carpenter......who made my once impossible dream of hiding a wii Rock Band drum set a reality.......

 

Good bye Wanda my designer.....who not only picked out the perfect shade of paint for my family room, but also nudged me into putting my own art up on the walls....... 

 

Good by craft services table......you brought four days of joy to two young boys.   They will both remember your offerings for the rest of their lives.....

 
 

 
 

 

 
 
Although there were many good byes, we got to say a great big hello to a new room.  I love the color Wanda chose for the room.  The cabinet below the tv holds all the wii rockband stuff.....drum set, guitar, etc.   We also stained the table that is next to the chair.....

  

New curtains and curtain rods.....

 

A new ottoman with storage underneath.  The flaming fleece blanket, blue chair, Rescue Heroes dvd and green outdoor chair pad all made their way back in after the reveal......

 

Gail worked on this with Wanda.  It's a cork board for the boys to put their pictures on.......

 

It was so much fun.  Now, I need to start thinking Christmas crafting!  Talk to you soon!  Karin

 

I'm taking pictures of the new room as we speak.....

or type...or whatever.  Because I really can't take pictures as I type, I'm going to mosey down the hall the minute I publish this post and shoot the photos.   Hopefully, I will come back to post the follow up post.  I've been known to get sidelined in that room and not come out for hours.  So it's a toss up of when you will hear from me again.  

Let's refresh our memories......

Before:

Note the annoying broken leg in the room.  Thank goodness they were able to redesign that entire section of the room without any trace of fractured limbs.....

 

When repairing the crack in the plaster, I took down all the pictures on the wall.   A little known mexican/polish interior designer came in and put his own signature look on the wall.  Known as the youngest designer on record, he felt that a mini fire truck tote bag, pastel pillow and a Proteus traim drawing gave the room a point of view that was otherwise lacking......

Ok....I'm off to take the pictures.  If I'm not back in 3-4 hours, call Cosme to come to get me......

Getting ready for the Big Reveal......

 
I still have to take some pictures of the room.  I'm moving just a bit slowly today.  I'll be back with all the fun stories of the week......

 

I'm having a blast.........

 
 I have absolutely no idea who took this picture. But I was so excited when I discovered it.  I've been flitting around taking pictures of everything and everybody else, it was fun to discover an "action" shot!   The cooking host next to us is Jamika.....she is amazing.  We made authentic mexican dishes that were out of this world....or at least out of this country and straight to Mexico!  Even Cosme gave his South of the Border approval.

So, I've been up since 6:00 am...I'm exhausted...and I'm waiting for my friends Joe and Gail to arrive.   Gail is going to be helping out with the one of the projects.  Can't wait.  But I need to get some sleep so I can be bright eyed tomorrow.  

Here's a few photos of the fun.  I'll provide some commentary in a few days when I can keep my eyes open!   

 

Ok....Whoever points out the secret visitor that I strategically placed on the set wins some
thing fun from me......It's kind of like a Where's Waldo......
 
 
Lot's of cooking in the kitchen......

And in the living room........As a side note, immediately after "Spooky Town" was put away for the season,  "Snowy Town was immediately erected in its place.  Because the builders had access to only one cozy cottage and two trees,  colorful blocks were used as additional building materials. 

 

Ok....I'll be back with more fun.  We still have two more days of shooting.....talk to you soon!  Karin