Primitive Christmas Stocking

I'm in full force mode for Christmas now! I finished this stocking the other day and it is now listed on ebay. It's been awhile since I've listed anything there. Click HERE to go to my ebay listing for my stocking. I will be making more items, so be on the look out.

Saturday morning I went to a primitive and antiques sale at the Red Barn. Have to tell you this was my kind of sale! Lots of old worn rusty primitive stuff! I guess they have sales once a month from April through October. I will be waiting anxiously for when they start up again next year. Here are some treasures that I got!!

Hog Scraper, Early crock jug, Miner's lunch box and 3 spindles.

Here's my spindles after hubby cut them for me. Can't wait to use these to make some make do's!

Then on Saturday Hubby and I did some hiking around on the trails at Blackhawk State Park. This place has the most amazing huge oak trees. I didn't like the way my pictures turned out because I left my polarizing lens at home. So I went back again today and got some amazing shots. And it seems the leaves have turned more since then too! It was a gorgeous day. I think it was close to 70º.

I think these are some short of wildflower. The bees and little green flies were all over them.

Do you ever just look up when you are under a tree? Amazing isn't it?!!

I don't know what these flowers were, but they were kind of stinky. Pretty, but stinky LOL

Some very cool fungus growing on a old dead tree.

Don't ya just love all the colors here!!!

And here's a statue of Chief Blackhawk who the park was named after. He was the leader of the Sauk American Indian tribe who were in this area a very long time ago.

Primitive Halloween BOO Stocking

Happy Monday to all my blogger friends! I'm officially done creating for Halloween for this year! I finished up this stocking yesterday for a customer. She wanted a Halloween stocking, so I just kind of put things together that I had already had made that were in my finished but not finished box. I made the stocking and added them. I think it turned out quit nice!

Here is a little something I did today with some of the gourds from my fall display from last year. I dried a few gourds that I liked the best in my garage over the winter. I took my moldy gourd and under running water I scrubbed it good. Then let it dry for a few hours.

Couldn't get very much of the mold spots off, but that is OK because I painted it with acrylic paint, to look just like it was last fall! Don't ya think it looks amazing!!!

Now I can keep it to bring out every year!!!

I'm working a new more new Christmas items, so stay tuned for those updates!!!

Have a wonderful evening!

Update on Early Work Mercantile

I just updated my page late last night at Early Work Mercantile. Stop by and see what I have along with some other amazing artist there as well. I'm starting to get into the Christmas mood now that Halloween is almost here. Have to keep one step ahead of the game. Here's what I am offering this month.

"A" and "D" have been sold as of today.

And Mr. Jingles is still for sale.

Last weekend Daughter and grandchildren were visiting from NC while her hubby was at a seminar in NY. My daughter was here to go to her 10 year high school reunion. I can hardly believe that it has been that long. They grow up so fast. But it was great fun having them visit. They totally worn this grandma out! Harder now with 2 grands visiting, especially with a 8 month old crawling everywhere!

Here's my little Max just after he woke up the last morning they were here.

We did manage to do a lot in the 3 days that they were here. We made a trip to the pumpkin patch at Country Corner. They had a small petting zoo which my granddaughter loved!

Couldn't resist taking some pics of the goats. I'm a big goatie fan.

Miss Cora sitting on top of one of the giant decorated pumpkins.

Cora with her one apple she just couldn't wait to eat along with a wagon full of gourds and pumpkins.

And here is a little display I made up when I got home using a wagon that was my two daughters when they were little. I love my orange mums blooming in the background.

A Little Prim in my Home

I've been reluctant to post pics of my home because it's nothing like some of the primitive homes that I just adore. So here goes. The house we live in was my hubbies grandparents home which was built by them in the 1930's. One really cool thing, is that only family have lived in this house. We are the 5th family to do so. And another is when I was a kid, I used to draw pictures all the time of a house that looks very much like ours with a curvy sidewalk that runs from the house to the street. Every house I drew...curvy sidewalk was a must. Almost like I knew what house I was going to live in when I grew up. I know...I'm weird. LOL

The kitchen. I just took a loaf of bread out of the bread machine. hehe

Dining Area. Love the built in corner cabinets on either side of door. You can't see the one on the left.

Secretary Bookcase with curved glass door.

Big oak card catalog file. Got this many years ago at a flea market. Note the none prim lamp. :)

More Crocks

Parquet wooden floor in the entryway my father in law made. He cut each tiny piece of wood himself. And installed it like a puzzle. I treasure this the most in our house. He came from a family of wood craftsmen from Germany.

So that's a little bit of prim in my home. Hope you enjoyed it!

Fall Color Is Starting

Lately I've gotten addicted to a site called Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.

You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

While looking around there you can find some amazing photos and ideas to decorate your home. I happened upon a photo which had a link to Country Living website on how to make crow silhouettes that you can print out on your printer! Loved the idea, so I thought I would give it a try. Click on this link--->Bird Silhouettes for the tutorial. The directions call for you to use static cling decal sheets that you get at Office Depot, which you can only get if you go to their store. Can't get them online. I tried to find them. So I ended up buying something similar to print the crows out on. I used a product called Clear Decals For Windows by Avery. And the only way I could find this was by ordering it through Amazon.com. These decals are a little different from the static cling ones. They are a little tacky on the back but they can be peeled off and stuck back on. The crow on the bottom left was a little large for this window. I just wanted to show you the three different crows you can print. I was amazed at how well they turned out!!

Just noticed yesterday that the leaves are turning here in NW Illinois. In about 2 or 3 weeks they will be at their peak. I have several mum plants and one is in full bloom right now.

And I harvested my so called "Apple Gourds" What a disappointment they turned out to be. I contacted the farm that I bought the apple gourd from last fall about what happened to them. I sent them photos and they seem to think that the seeds that I planted, from the apple gourd that I dried over this last winter, had been cross pollinated with a snake gourd when it was growing. The lengths of these gourds were 22", 20", 17" and 13". I have no idea what to do with these giants. Let me know if you have any ideas. So I will be trying again next year. Not sure what kind of gourds I will be growing then. I have all winter to think about that.

So that is what I've been up to lately beside orders. I've been trying to keep up. I really need to start saying no to some people. I don't have time to work on new projects! And I will get absolutely nothing done when my daughter comes back home for her 10 year high school class reunion with my 2 grandchildren the end of this week!

Make your own Fall Corn Husk Wreath

This is a little something that kept me busy today. I saw this idea on one of my favorite blogs, from Suzanne of Chickens in the Road Blog.

My wreath turned out looking a little different then hers. I made mine basically the same way as my twig wreath that I made a year ago.



Here are the things you need to get started.

Dried corn husks
heavy gauge wire or a wire coat hanger
twine
scissors

First you have to have dried corn husks. About a month ago after eating sweet corn, I saved the husks and dried them outside in the sun. That took a couple of weeks. This wreath was made with a dozen ears of corn husks. It probably could have used a few more husks, but that was all I had. This wreath is around 14" wide.

Gather up a few husks at a time and wrap your twinge around them a couple of times, pulling really tight. I tried to overlap the bottom end of the husks to cover up the tied section of the husk before that one.

Just keep overlaping as you go.

Finished! 

I just tied some rusty wire on the back and hung on my back door.

 I found this single black oil sunflower growing in my big pot that I have my prickly pear cactus growing in the other day. Those pesky chipmunks must have buried some seeds in there from my birdfeeders. They are always doing this in my potted plants. 

2012 New Nature Photo Calendar is Here!!!

For the last month I've been working on creating a calendar with all my nature photos. And I received my copy in the mail today, and have to say I'm very happy with the company that made it for me!! In the photo below is a shot I took of October which is my favortie of all the months.

If you would like to purchase a copy for yourself, just click on the grey colored link button at the top of my right hand colum that says, Buy Now Lulu <----Click here. The cost is $15.00 plus $3.99 shipping. Once you order it you will receive it in the mail within 4 or 5 working days.

Im getting ready for the Early Work Mercantile update for tonight!!! So be sure to stop back later at Early Work Mercantile to see what I have new for sale!!

Fall is Creeping Closer

Wow...Here it is September already. I'm a little sad. I'm never ready for the cold weather. Still working on orders and Halloween goodies! I finished up my bat garland banner yesterday and listed it in my etsy shop last night. I don't know about you but I think bats are so cute!

And I've also been working on little barn wood Halloween wall hangings. This is a newer one that I listed last week.

I'm still keeping busy with raising my Monarchs. I let my 3rd one go on Saturday. But he didn't make it. It emerged on Saturday morning. I tried to let it go early afternoon but he didn't seem ready to fly away because he flew into the side of the house. So I put him back in his jar and thought I would wait till later. Well... later it started raining pretty hard and it didn't let up before it got dark so I put him outside under one of my hosta's out of the rain. That was a bad idea. The next morning I checked and all that was left of him was one wing. Some little critter got him for sure.

Monarch #3

I have Monarch #4 in the chrysalis stage right now. It should be coming out in a few days. I also have a two eggs that will be hatching into caterpillars within the next couple of days.

This is just a shot I took riding in the car other day. I love clouds!

Ok...well that's about it for now folks. Need to get back to the old sewing machine.