The kids and I just got back from Maryland. I took them up there to see my Mom and sisters, and celebrate an early Thanksgiving. On Saturday I met Mom at an Amish Quilt Auction. It was held in a big barn on a farm.....and it was freezing! But, I had fun......and the quilts were beautiful!! I love the simple life, I wish I could live more like they do! I didn't take pictures inside the auction, I do believe they don't like their pictures taken, but I figured the horse wouldn't mind if I took his.
After the auction, we went to Mom's house. We spent the afternoon cooking and watched "Get Smart" ~very cute movie, btw. While I wrote names on Christmas ornaments for Mom's co-workers, she helped the kids make bath salts for their other Grandma and their Aunts ~How sweet was that!! I really enjoyed eating a Thanksgiving dinner that Mom cooked and spending the evening hanging out with the family!
OK...now that that is out of the way....Let's talk crafts! These next 3 pictures are of Mom's craft room. Oh...and while I was taking them...she was fussing at me about, I could of least let her clean first, lol....I told her not to worry, that you guys have seen mine, and it is 10 times worse than hers.....and Hers isn't really that bad.....Heck, she's a lot more organized than me!
I mean, come on....she even has room for an upright freezer! I could do a dance in the middle of the floor...and I tell ya, it makes me want to dance when I'm in there! She's got lots of good stuff! The whole wall to the right is Rubber stamps and ink!
And her craft room even has a closet...and a walk in closet at that!! We won't tell anyone how much material she has stashed in here!
I also got to visit with my sisters while I was home. I haven't seen my youngest sister, Joyce since Thanksgiving~last year, I wish we coulda had more time to talk, I miss her! And my other sister, Jess recently went to Dubai and Egypt, and I asked her to keep her eyes open for anything miniature. OH, I'm so excited, are you ready for this?!?! These are awesome!! First we have a small gold camel, with lots of little gems! His back even lifts up to reveal a hidden compartment!
And a camel carpet! Isn't it beautiful!!! I just can't tell you how amazing these are! One day they will go to live in my bf's mini Man Room! (when it gets built that is!)
Ok, well I'm off to unwind from the weekend. First, I think I will 'stalk' a few sites to see what's new! Until next time.......
I also filled 3 jars for Katie's Corner.....I'll blame it on Debbie...seeing all her pretty jars reminded me that I had some that needed to be filled, too. I still need to put labels on these......seeing as the printer died, guess I'll have to write some out! Oh...and I didn't have cork to use for these, so I made some stoppers out of polymer clay...the 2 on the left aren't so bad!?! (That one on the right looks like it's trying to get away, huh!!)
From left to right we have poppy seeds, chive seeds, and parsley seeds.....they won't be labeled this in the store, but I needed small things to put in the jars, and this is what I had....I still have 6 jars to fill, wonder what else I can find around here????
While waiting for that to dry, I cut out the baseboards for the daughter's room.
Then I went on a hunt for the left over flooring I knew I had hiding around here....cut them out and attached them to the floors. Good thing I don't throw anything away, or I would of been making another trip to Home Depot!
..............And then came the 'fun' part......and I say that with all the love in the world. You see I had to get the bf to screw in the little hinges, and that consisted of hearing him yell all kinds of colorful words for 30 minutes. Poor Fella, the kids have run off with all of our screw drivers, and the only one we could find was this tiny little metal one. It was quite the sight to see him with this little screw driver, vice gripes to turn the screw driver, and a paper towel to hold the screw driver as he turned it!! Way to much fun!!! LOL!! (For me at least!!)
Ok here's some advice: you really got to pay attention when marking your holes for the screws on this access door. Luckily the bf was paying attention and realized I had it set up wrong. (Check out the how the hinge is on the inside of the door, but on the outside of the side wall?) Good Save honey!! Then, we missed lining it up by 1/4 inch, so I had to glue the right side on 1/4inch below where it was suppose to go...this way when the door it shut, the door lines up to where it is suppose to go. I was not about to suggest re screwing the screws into the right place, after what I had just witnessed the first time around, no way!! HAHAHA
And while I was waiting for the glue to dry, I painted the baseboards for the daughter's room with 2 coats of paint. And once those dried I glued them into place! 
Then the bf cut out the crown molding for me. I find it funny how he props up his molding with another piece of molding, LOL: that's the carpenter in him coming out!!
Me, I use painter's tape.....
Well.....like I said, I got a lot of a little done or is that suppose to read a little of a lot??? Oh well, you understand........I hope:)
And, I got the inside of the side access door painted. I also glued in the windows and all the trim....I do want to add a piece of floor molding to separate the colors, but that will have to wait till I get the door mounted on the house...I want my lines to match! (See my oldest peeking threw the window? LOL)
And outside of the door is done. I still, really like the colors on this house! 
I took the left over clay and made these:
Then this morning, I decided to experiment even more with that stamp. I chose shades of blue, plus black and white. That stamp didn't work out as well for me this time, you can see the best one in the upper left hand corner, See the Aries symbol? The one in the middle, to the bottom, is today's Favorite! I used an eye stamp, and it worked perfectly! The one in the upper right corner, is the result of a mistake......See, some mistakes are great! I put eyelets into the pendants before I bake them. You can leave them in there when you bake it, and pop them out afterwards. You do have to push the clay that is inside the eye-let out after baking it, and reattach the eyelet to the pendant with a bit of glue. (These haven't been baked yet.)
So, when all was said and done, I had very little blue ones to cook....and a lot of left over clay! I took the clay, rolled it up together, and sliced it down the middle........I see 2 birds looking at each other......do you?
Then I took the left over clay from that, and did the same thing, again. It really gets my imagination going! What do you see??
I went digging through my stuff last night looking for a bouncy ball.......I still don't believe that in a house with 3 kids I can't find one bouncy ball.....Oh well, guess I'll have to get one next time I'm at the grocery store~ I wanted one for the nursery. Anyways, while I was digging, I found this bear. I do believe he was one of the first things I made out of polymer clay, in 1996. Not to bad, huh?
And today, I've been putting Katie's Corner back together. No need to worry, I found the Jungle Undies...you see them, there in the bottom right corner. The thought they were getting away! Hahahaha.......
The bagel was under the bed....along with the apple, What a healthy breakfast, huh.....all I need now is that glass of chocolate milk! The kitties are back on their perch, and the bear is nestled back on the bed. I even borrowed a pair of Barbie's shoes, I know they look a little too big, but, hey, If you saw how big my feet were, you'd understand, lol!!
I put the flowers back on the dresser, and found all the accessories for the tray. If you look close, you can see that she has her surf board stashed between the dresser and the white metal shelf. Maybe before she opens the store, she'll head down to the beach to catch a wave or two. And I even managed to wrangle the Jungle Undies back into their bag...they are in the bottom right corner of the picture.
Then I moved onto the store......I put everything back where it was, and even added a few extras. On the bottom shelf, I put out the stone pavers, in 3 different sizes! I put bricks in the silver bucket in the front, thought it looked nicer than trying to stack them on a shelf. 
Here's a picture of Katie's Corner. I still have room to add lots of treasures! That empty shelf in the back may get some jars of seeds....maybe some lavender, or sage, or even some catnip or something?!?!
The bottom floor, the actual store, looks like it's been robbed! Nothing's broke, so, all will be OK! I just have to figure out how to keep those freakin' cats outta my stuff!!!
Ok, back to the baskets......the first one I made was light green. I wrapped the clay around and around (I'm sure there's some technical term for this, it's just not coming to me right now.....coiling?), till I felt it was deep enough, then I wrapped the top with a braided piece I made. After I baked it, I white washed it with some acrylic paint, to tone it down a little. I think it makes for a good toy basket!
Then I used some gray clay I had....added some black sand to it~ this makes it look like stone when you bake it, to make more baskets. The one all the way to the left was made using a bigger hole disk in the extruder, then I went back and poked it all over to give it character...honestly, I think it has a 'turd' quality to it, It looked a lot better in my head! LOL
Then I got brave and decided to try and see if I could make a woven basket out of clay. I still need a top to it, maybe another braided piece will work. I definitely have to develop this idea a little better.........Think I can convince the boys to do a little more extuding for me??? Next time, I promise to write a tutorial! 
See, it works, right?? 
Even looks good from a distance....
The nursery is starting to look lived in. Small pieces of material folded up in different places, gives the illusion of blankets and clothes tucked away. There's lots of printies around the room, diaper wipes, baby rash cream, Q-tips, and diaper wipes!! The Care Bear came from a 25 cent machine...Although now that I think about it, I do believe it was one of the .50 machines. The blue tub in the left corner will be a laundry hamper. I plan on painting it a lighter color..... yellow might work!?! It was the top to a laundry soap container. 
~Found the sewing supplies I had stashed away. Set everything up to make it look like someone is working on something. I even used a 'sticker' to make the little blue dress. It is a Cinderella sticker from the Jolee line, I just pulled off the sticky stuff on the back of the dress and draped it over a dress form. I still want to add a little more to it, it needs a sash and some beads...and maybe a little blue bird or a mouse:)
I added one of my Mom's white blankets and a couple of magazines to the daughter's bed.
Then, I put a dresser in the parents room, and added a picture. The picture was taken where my kids go to summer camp; it will go on the wall eventually. Looks like my 2 bears have snuck in here to take a nap........The were getting all chewed up hanging out in the living room! Dang on Otis! 
In the kitchen I added the table and chairs behind the stairs. I more or less just wanted to see if they fit, and they do:) Before they become a permanent fixture, they need new seat pads! 
Then I came across all the little bears I made out of clay, and would you believe that I did NOT have one single green bear??? So, naturally I made 3!! And a horrible basket....lol....
I put one bear on top of the dresser in the nursery....
Then I donated my rocking chair from Katie's Corner so the second little critter had some where to sit.....I think the chair needs a small blanket and a book now....