Let's play catch up

Hi

It's been quite a while since I've been here...

I have missed my little blog and my amazing friends.

This is what's been going on (the condensed version)

Remember when I was complaining about getting terrible leg

cramps last year?

I thought it was my back that was causing it, 

because I had hurt it moving a dryer,

well...

In January I went to the doctor 

and found out that I have diabetes.

THAT was the reason I was 

getting cramps.

So I went on a diet, started riding my bike 3 miles a day

and reversed it...my sugars are normal now, I've lost

weight and best of all, no more cramps!!

 Then two weeks ago my daughter moved into

 an apartment in Tempe.

 She's going to Arizona State University this year.

I'm very proud of her but I miss her so much.

The house is super quiet...my niece moved there too,

so it's just me & Helena.

Here's a video of her singing 

Bizet's Je Dis

Ive been working in my garden to distract myself

and I found a great surprise!!!

 baby pumpkins!!!

                                                             I didn't even plant seeds!

Toadstools in the corner...

 

overflowing buckets...

bright fuchsia bougainvillaea... 

I also wanted to let you know that 

I'm getting ready for Haunted Humpday

at the end of August...

If anyone has an especially creepy

scary story they'd like to share

I'd love to feature it!

Just send me an email.

well I think that it's for tonight.

I will be back in a couple of days with some

projects and updates on my gypsy wagon re-do,

and of course a give away or two:)

thank you for sticking around!!

see you soon!!

m

Spring birds

How are you today??

I'm doing well...other than a little back pain, I've been working

outside, outside, outside!!

Spring is definitely here! 

It's breezy in the low 80's

& I have to be out there.

That's the main reason I've been away..

You see not long from now 

the temperatures will be holding steady at

105+

so....taking advantage of this cooler temperature is a must.

Yesterday I sat out in the tiny "backyard"of my gypsy wagon and

created a little project using some of

my awesome Lisa Kettell products.

It's simple and it's a little tribute

 to this beautiful season.

Supplies

unfinished china doll head  

6x6 canvas

paper mache bird box

hot glue gun/glue sticks

acrylic paints: black, navy blue, medium blue, dark pink, light pink, orange, peach

oil pastels:dark brown, green, light pink, fuchsia, peach

red lace trim

Directions

paint canvas dark blue

add a bit of light blue for interest.

using the oil pastels, draw branches and flowers

paint china doll head peach, add facial details and hair color

cut the top part of the bird off

paint dark pink, orange and light pink.

Hot glue china doll head to bird body

add lace trim

hot glue to the canvas

paint feet on with light pink paint.

There's a lot of different things that can be done

with this one...

she could be a raven for Halloween, or a dove for Easter

her body can be covered over in sheet music

or she can placed in a little cage...

there's endless possibilities1

I hope you try this out & have loads of fun.

Visit Lisa's blog and artfire shop 

for a happy inspired day:)

 

Rain, moss, stars and blossoms

It's a windy overcast day..
 At 63 degrees, it's not cold but the intermittent rain that falls
 makes the temperature seem colder. 
I sit here, in my little wagon with the door wide open, 
to better feel the breeze, 
to breathe in the incredible energy that this magic day brings. 
I love to sit in here and let my mind wander.
The colorful sheets and curtains I have hanging right outside
fly around and
 snap sharply..

Music from the many wind chimes 

masks the whistling the winds makes as it dances 
over the trees.

 (As a child I was terrified of that whistling/ howling sound. In my mind it was a 
giant invisible monster that would whirl you up and gobble you down.)

It was warm last week... Hot even, high 80s.
Since my dad has gone, I've found myself outdoors more often.
Raking, watering, talking to the plants and trees, 

letting the smell of wet soil 
and warm sun push the sadness away. 

 I've been creating some garden art lately... 

 Metal mushrooms,

made from an old bowl and a dollar store waste basket... 

 Spoon and fork wind chimes

from yard sale utensils .. 

and a tin fairy house covered in moss

(also a yard sale find) 

 are the products of my 
imagination right now...

 
Oh! As I write this, I hear the drops tapping away at the roof.. 

sounds so 
incredible!

:) 

 For years the garden was dormant 
I thought a lot of the trees would have to come down, dry as they were,

 no amount of watering seemed to help.
They all seemed to be in a weird period of waiting... Wondering .
Now everywhere I look new life is springing up.. 

 An orange tree covered in blossoms and bright green leaves 
Pomegranate. 

mulberry,

 grapefruit

 and lime trees

 all pushing forth 

beautiful delicate growth. 

And look at this tree...it's just gorgeous!!

Last week as I pulled weeds and dodged bees I realized

that I'm grateful

for

everything

I have

and for the promise of what's to come. 

(I think the universe heard

my word of the year...)

Blossom!

Now as the day begins to melt away

the chill really starts to build..

how was is so hot last week!?

This weather is so bizarre.

It's getting cold in this gypsy wagon...time to go inside I think..

 gonna make a cup of cinnamon tea

to warm up.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my ramblings.

drop by soon

I'm going to have a 4 year blog anniversary giveaway!!!

 

giveaway winner

Hi again everyone!

It's time to choose the winner of the

Halloween crown!

I've said before that I have a love hate relationship

with giveaways.

Love giving goodies away

but hate that not everyone gets something.

Anyhow, I used random number generator

and the winner is

comment #10.

Tilda from Tea with the Squirrels

Congratulations!

Don't forget to visit Haunted Humpday

 there's a giveaway every week.

and sometimes, 

everybody wins!

I quickly also wanted to

announce that

I've been published in 

The wondrous, magical, sparkly

publication from the 

incredible 

Lisa Kettell!

It's available for purchase

at Lulu.com

alright...

I'm off to my gypsy wagon to stir up some glitter & spookiness!

I'll see you soon:)

This & That

Hello!!!

 I went thrifting on Saturday and found some things I'd like to show you.

First, I found this cute cardigan, $3

I thought this was a book when I saw it

but it turned out to be a jewelry box, $2

And OMG this!!!

It's twin size with no fading or loose yarn on it at all!!!

 

It was only $7!!!!!!!!!

I may use it in my Gypsy wagon, which I'm still working on by the way:)

This weekend, along with thrifting, I cleaned up my itty bitty studio

and found I have a few yard sale & thrift store finds.

This is a fruit basket, which I use for many many things,

 I just started hanging random treasures on it,

 like butterflies, fairies, cages, even necklaces and earrings.   

It was 99 cents.

The shelf directly behind it,

 holding the houses was purchased at the same time for two dollars.

 

This little cabinet is for CD's I think, but it's perfect for my paints, 

I got the idea from Anna at Frosted Petunia's

It cost $3. 

I should get going for now, my studio assistant is getting impatient for his dinner....

Have a great day, and I'll see you very soon!

Valentine's Day crafts

 

As soon as Christmas is over my thoughts are on Valentine's Day.

Pink hearts, dusky purple skies, 

chocolate covered cherries, red glitter...

I love it!

I thought I was getting better....

I was painting, creating dollies, 

working on the gypsy wagon, 

 hanging ice cream (that's another post altogether)

then,

SINUSITIS!

..........................

So my last post was delayed.

These are a couple of the creations I was working on while I was stuck recuperating .

 Found this cage at Michael's.

I used ink from a stamp pad to paint it

then crepe papered the bird and added glitter, of course:)

 The carnival Lulu doll from Lisa Kettell 

never fails to inspire me.

I just added some heart pics, trim and stamps.

I'm still not 100% yet, but I'm getting there, and oh man am I tired of being sick!

Meanwhile, the shops are filling up with red & pink

and that makes me happy.

I hope everyone is doing fine and YOU'RE feeling happy and healthy

in your corner of the world.

See you soon.

House Guests

Hello!
I hope everyone has had a great week.

Ever since the announcement was made about Le Mysterieux Carnival blog party, all kinds of weird things have been happening around here.
I hear odd music in the distance...candles light up of their own accord,
strange sparkles float around....

And last night just after the witching hour, a knock at the door!!
House guests!!!

A little early, but they were so excited for the party!
They're going to be staying in my gypsy wagon for now, but you can be sure they will be performing at the carnival...
I'll introduce a couple of them to you right now...

Connie and Stanzie..The Bat sisters...all dressed up in their best dancing costume.


And Francois the Fabulous!The absolute strongest strong man ever....created:)


There are a lot more of them waiting to meet you, and after the carnival you may have a house guest of your own.
Well it's time for me to go make some snacks for them all....at least it's just hot dogs and candy apples!

see you soon.

Cookies & Stuff

Is it hot or what?
It was 106 degrees today,(it's going to be hotter tomorrow)
so Helena and I decided to bake some dashboard cookies.

They're super easy to make..
you can use prepared cookie dough, unless you want to pretend you're martha stewart:)

get a cookie sheet, put the raw cookies on it, then set it on the dashboard of your car.
they're usually ready in a couple hours, depending on how hot it is out there.
it's pretty much the only thing you can do outside in this heat...

thank goodness there's an air conditioner in my gypsy wagon, I'm almost done adding the finishing touches.... finally!
Been filling it with trinkets and treasures from yard sales, thrift stores....







and lovely artwork I've collected from a lot of you.

I want to have a itty bitty teensy reveal type party thingie soon...with big prizes and fun stuff...nothing too busy, it's much to hot for that don't you think?
and speaking of prizes..later this week I'm going to announce the winner of the fairy love potion!!!
I guess I've rambled on enough for now, have a great week-end and keep cool..
Oh!we might get some rain this week!!!!cross your fingers.

Christmas swaps

Hello! are you having fun baking, shopping and savoring every single sweet minute?

I'm trying:)I've participated in a couple holiday swaps,
Wendy from Bliss Angels hosted The Christmas cheer tin swap, (thank you Wendy!)
This is the tin I made (which you have seen)

this is the inside,

Then Karen from Karen's Monday Musings invited me to join in an altered cigar box secret Santa swap (sheesh say that 3 times fast!)with her super talented friends in the Tucson Swap Queens group.
I was secret Santa for someone that likes Angels,
This is what I made..

this is the inside...

And this is what I got from my secret Santa...

The inside was filled with homemade cookies and peppermint pretzels...which are all gone:) so no pic!
I hope everyone is getting into Holiday mode, I've been busy decorating, even the gypsy wagon has a bitty tree in it..

Come back soon to get a chance to win a small bag of magical goodies on my birthday!
Have a great night!
Marfi

I won I won I won

Hello again..
I got a wonderful gift in the post today:)Don't you love getting fun stuff in the mail??
OK, I unwrapped the package and this is what was in it.....

and inside this (giant) glittery box was all this magical witchy goodness!
You see I won a give away from the super generous Celia at Adventures of the striped stockings!

There's so many wonderful things to play with in here!There are pot holders, tea towels, socks, stickers, butterfly clips, stamps,(there's even a dia de los muertos stamp) cookie cutters, a skeleton key, ornaments, acrylic paint, a package of hot apple cider and a gorgeous gypsy print for me to frame and hang in my gypsy wagon!!!
Thank you so much Celia!You certainly know how to brighten someone's day.

Since we are on the subject of give aways I have my own give away winner to announce...
It's Betsy at From the mind of alphabetsy
congratulations!
Hope everyone has a beautiful Sunday.
I'll be back soon:)