~my house is cuter than yours~

2012-01-12T19:08:00.001-06:00

a few neat finds i got today:

little NOS butter boxes from 1960 at a thrift for 49 cents. they were even still flat when i found them!

and some bottles of "pop" with retro graphics at big lots for 60 cents.
the"Pop Shoppe" has a website that is super cute with an interactive cartoon of woodlandish creatures inside a bottle! there is also a history of the drink, however i fear that the 2012 timeline entry is going to be a repeat of the 1983 one if it being sold at big lots is any clue. i tried the "lime ricky" and it is quite tasty....kinda like maragrita mixer....now there's a thought! what a minute....Zima! that's it! it tastes like a nonalcoholic Zima. are those still being made? just checked and sadly no. stopped production in 2008... shows how much of a boozer i am not! i am so out of touch, even beyond the world of hooch.

christmas decor

2011-12-15T09:18:00.001-06:00

here is a bit of the christmas decor. new idea for this year is another spin off on the electric candle holder deal to the left....putting bubble lights in it!

and as requested by ms. pagoda seen below is the display shelf that i used for the displaying of cluttered up little vintage christmas crap that normally doesn't all get put out due to lack of space.

and our main tree's theme is the simpsons.....( we made the Andy tree for my mom's house)

we doused it in a bunch of officially christmas simpsons ornaments along with previous BK kid's meal toys, parts from simpsons games, dvd covers and some printed out images on cardstock.

i am a bit grinchy this year. i did not decorate much more than shown in the photos. i teeter on the verge of hating christmas at times. too much to do, to make, to remember, to buy, to take out and put back up.

it will be over soon.... only a few more days to go.

2011-12-06T09:12:00.001-06:00

there are so many neat and clever ways to upcycle old suitcases.... mini bars, pet beds, tables, craft transports.... but i wanted to put this simple solution out there for during the holiday... a suitcase with a key/lock is a nice place to stash gifts. ;)

Andy Griffith Christmas Tree

2011-11-27T13:27:00.001-06:00

the theme for this year's tree is The Andy Griffith Show. We are HUGE TAGS fanatics around here. Pumkinbutt's first real hair cut was done by Russell Hiatt, the man Floyd the barber was based on.... We have visited Mt. Airy, the town Andy grew up in and Mayberry was based on, many times... all ate the porkchop sandwich at the Snappy Lunch....watch the show every night and quote the show on a daily basis. example: when someone is sitting around stalling i usually pull out the Malcolm Tucker lines on the bottom (see below) and insert whatever activities work, along with "going to Thelma Lou's". Here's the whole set up:

Barney Fife: [while relaxing on the front porch after Sunday dinner] You know what I think I'm gonna' do?

Andy Taylor: What?
Barney Fife: I'm gonna' go home, have me a little nap, and then go over to Thelma Lou's and watch a little TV.
Andy Taylor: Mmm-hmm.
Barney Fife: Yeah, I believe that's what I'll do. Go home... have a nap... and then over to Thelma Lou's for TV.
Andy Taylor: Mmm.
Barney Fife: Yep, that's the plan. Home... little nap... then...

Malcolm Tucker: [interrupting] For the love of Mike *do* it!
Malcolm Tucker [shouts] : Do it! Just *do* it! Go take a nap, go to Thelma Lou's for TV, just *do it*!

***

So enters the theme...

For the love of god! DO IT! Go make some ornaments, decorate the tree, go to Thelma Lou's for TV, post about the tree! Just DO IT!

i think i made about 8 different ornaments. They were all from images i found on the internet, printed on cardstock, and embellished a bit.

on the left is a combo of two images, a vintage TV set and i inserted a still from the opening credits. right, a christmas group shot, a bit of glitter on the wreath and attached to a round wrapping paper covered disk.

these are images of coloringbook covers with a bit of glitter.

left, cover of a TV guide, glitterfied. right, a autographed photo of Otis with a small bottle of hooch attached.

my fav episode, the pickle story. an image of opie with "good ol' store bought pickles" flanked with images of homemade canned pickles.

barney as santa image. i embellished the beard with some white yarn and put some snow glitter behind him.

"Toot, Toot, Tootsie Good bye!" Aunt Bee's solution to becoming a spring chicken again... Colonel Harvey's Indian Elixer! these are those stocking stuffer sized bottles of liquior with handmade decals by my stepdad. We also had little silver sherriff badges (from the kids section for cowboy parties) hanging on the tree as well. for the over-all-pull-it-together feel, we used those large multi color lights and doused the tree in silver icicles. Silver icicles were very hard to located and we opted to use the shredded gift bag filler from $ tree. cheap and effective!

Of course, i came up with a few other ideas for ornaments after the fact; such as making Ernest T. Bass rocks, mini boxes of Mircle Salve, sticks of dynomite for Jimmy the goat to eat, plastic kids handcuffs, fishing lures, images of deep freezers with the text "Aunt bee, just call the man!" on them....

2011-11-16T08:32:00.001-06:00

Look what i found on the side of the road last week! as you can see... FREE!

i painted it with some leftover house paint...

hmmmm.... what purpose did it serve in it's previous life?

oh... i see...well i was planning on using it exclusively for the displaying of nick nacks. i best keep a lookout for the sylvania rack police!

halloween decor

2011-11-10T07:54:00.010-06:00

Decor this year ..... uber cheap..... most stuff from the dollar tree. tombstones and paper die cuts from $tree of ravens. something called "halloween hay" stretched across the top came from Joann's. i hung 7 of these tombstones on the wall instead of doing the graveyard deal outside.

A framed tombstone rubbing that i put up every year. added the oh-so-creepy halloween hay along with a foam raven perched on top. off to the left is a paper die cut of an owl from $tree.

here is a bit of a shot of the "wall cemetery". in the middle of the display is a graveyard print from Madame Talbot Victorian Lowbrow . Also seen in the lower right corner is one of those typically used for christmas plastic candle holder do-hickeys. i used orange flicker flame bulbs and put several around the house...it looked very haunted mansion-ish! (the next picture below it is more clear)

various displays of vintage halloween stuffs:

i think the only thing i purchased new this year were the die cuts (ravens, bats, owls, spiders). not pictured but hung on the windows were the spiders and bats on the ceiling. when the fan is turned on the wings flap for an extra added effect.

belated halloween wishes

2011-11-02T19:48:00.005-05:00

i can't let halloween go by without at least some representation here, even if it's late and minimal. so here is the pumpkin for this year:

presented in "spooky-lit-vision":

and here is a last minute idea that pumpinbutt came up with that i thought was supercool: (it is on the back)

i had this idea to try random black paint rubbed all over the pumpkin but wasn't entirely happy with it... kinda reminded me of that cheesy faux wall paint technique of sponge painting that was so popular in 1992.

2011-05-05T17:54:00.001-05:00

here is another colaborative project of PB and i. he drew the face and i sewed it togther. what is it?! a jellyfish stuffed toy for the dog of course! by the look of the eyes i think it may be dead.

Wimpy Kid turns 7!!

2011-04-07T12:20:00.019-05:00

My "wimpy" kid turned 7 years old last month! Every year Pumpkinbutt has a themed party...Saying "party" is really putting it lightly. He has a full-all-out-mega-hullabaloo-birthday-athon. I don't generally post about them because after the ordeal i have to go into rehab to be cured off the Wild Turkey. Last year's partypalooza still haunts me....Star Wars. good god almighty. i may write about it at some point because i feel certain i must have been nuts. i am sure to receive a discount coupon for the local crazy house which will come in handy one day. after my mind cleared i vowed that this years party was going to be simple. simple enough that i can post about it and it not drive me to drinking when i relive the experience. i am motivated to post about this party particularly because there isn't alot out there on said theme of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (plenty out there on star wars!) and it may be helpful to someone. i have snagged my share of party ideas so this is my contribution toward party idea karma. i don't have photos of all the happenings and items so unfortunately some of it will have to be just read and left to the imagination...

Ok let's get this party started:

starting with the photo above, i got a roll of white wrapping paper from $tree and made it look like a large piece of paper using markers, a ruler and a circle cutter. At the bottom of the paper i left space for the guests to sign well wishes. the enlarged peoples (Greg, Rowley, Fregley) on the wall are on the same type wrapping paper. The balloons, streamers and partyware were black and white (like ink and paper). as the guests arrived we played Beastie Boys Intergalactic, referencing the first movie where it was played at the mother and son dance. Also to buy time while the guests arrived they each got to "Wimp Yourself". These were then printed out and hung on the wall for all to admire. many of the decorations were also the props for the games. very handy! In the book/movie Greg and Rowley become members of the school's Safety Patrol and have to help the kindergartens cross the street . hanging on the mantle are "the kindergartens" made from poster board and individually attached with velcro with a nylon handle on the ends. for the game, the kids wore safety vests and had to "hold the kindergartners hands" (nylon handles) and get them down the drive way without them disconnecting. sounds fairly easy....but not when the mean teenagers are chasing them (like in the book/movie)! i borrowed a remote control truck and placed photocopied images of the mean teenagers in the windows of the truck. the kids were awarded with packets of hot cocoa referencing the book where that is the perk of being a safety patroler. also seen in this image, on the mantle top were all the books with little battery powered tea lights lit. the disco light ball was another reference to the mother and son dance.

i liked how it appears the illustrations are driving. in the book they were actually standing and bulling Greg and Rowley.

another game yet also decor. The Loded Diper band stage corner. Loded diper (pronounced Loaded Diaper) is Greg's older brother, Roderick's band. For this game the kid's got to play the guitar loudly and badly while everyone cheered them on, took pictures, and requested autographs. now that i have seen the second movie another layer to this game could be to dance like Greg's mom during the performance! the bags on the shelf to the right, are the loot bags but again used them as decor until needed. in one of the books Roderick makes Greg's school lunch because his mom wasn't able to. so Roderick puts a note on the bag as mom would but saying something Roderick-ish. "Dear Greg, Remember to change your diaper after lunch. love mommy". ha! love it!

Another corner of the main party room has a cardboard tree and a free standing cardboard cut out of a little girl used for the next game. This game references in the book/movie an awful little girl named Patty Farrell and while on stage performing in Wizard of Oz, Greg (playing a tree) pelts her with apples! For this game the kids got to wear the tree and throw fake apples at the card board cut out of Patty with the intention of knocking it over. The kids loved this game so much they all went 3-4 times each. Even some of the adults put the tree on and knocked her out.

we also played two other games that required very little items and the parents participated as well. first, the cheese touch game which was like hot potato only they passed around a piece of real cheese inside a ziplock bag. the other was called the Shame Game which i found in a press packet online for a Wimpy Kid book release party. everyone stands up and as i called out situations if they are true they continued to stand, if false sit down. for example... Have you ever picked your nose in public and didn't get caught? of course you have so keep standing! the game continues until the last one standing, the most shameful one, wins. so back to the photo above. to the right is the entrance to the Haunted House! (i hung up a couple of black tableclothes from the ceiling to conceal it until needed.) In one book, Greg and Rowley decide to make some money by hosting a haunted house complete with live sharks. but only wind up finishing the hall of screams area where the kids basically crawl under a table while Greg and Rowley howl and scream next to it.... so wah-la! i put the dining room table next to the opening and made noises as each kid crawled through. on the other side i decorated the room with halloween stuff since it is a big part of the story in the books/movie. on the wall were cutouts of Greg and Rowley in their halloween costumes. and because i have plenty of halloween stuff this worked out well for me. i hung up copies of the Haunted House flyer that Greg had made on the walls along with bats cut from construction paper (already had on hand). for the cake i made a simple sheet cake covered in fondant to look like an open book. i wrote on it with food markers. that top right hand corner wasn't truly smudged, PB's name was there. for the snacks, i just went with premade easy junk food...pizza rolls, chips, candy...it's what Greg would have liked! i did make a large piece of the moldy cheese out of white chocolate and food dyes. i cut the circles out using the ends of a sterile syringe casing.

for the loot bag prizes i embellished pencils with shrinky dink Gregs. i made some Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do It Yourself type pages printed on lined paper and complied them into journals for the kids to complete at home. also with the loot bags was a copy of the "Wimp Yourself" that each kid made and the hot cocoa.

this was the cheapest party i have ever done. i may have spent 35 bucks for decor, goodies and food. i made several things out of a free refrigerator cardboard box. I had alot of stuff already on hand. the parents had just as much fun as the kids.

Oh! for the thank yous i used the form Greg had for his christmas gift thank yous .... but changed it to birthday:

i also made a Diary of a Wimpy Kid shirt for PB to wear so he would be dressed themely (not a word but works!).

and here is the boy smiling and enjoying his party! unlike last year where he put on a luchador mask, hid and cried. ah good times!

stick peoples* ties

2011-04-02T20:21:00.004-05:00

a collaborative project PB and i made. thrift store ties paired with his little drawings make for a great man gift. he drew the peoples on cotton duck with a permanent marker. i then coated them in mod podge and attached to the ties. the mod podge made the images really stiff. i am sure there has go to be some miracle substance out there (anyone?) that would have worked better but i just used what i had on hand.

* words are more fun when plural but still have a "s" attached when not needed... peoples!

terrarium cupcakes

2011-03-21T19:08:00.003-05:00

i made these cupcakes for pumpkinbutt's class recently. they are studing gardens/plants/ creatures right now. i also brought in a large container of real earthworms for them to look at. Then read a book to them called "Yucky Worms " which has interesting facts and experiments younger kids can enjoy, like how to know which end of the worm is the head or tail (the head is the end that heads down first in the dirt).

the cupcakes are covered in chocolate icing dirt, green tinted coconut grass, gummy worm on top and then placed inside a clear cup. i covered the tops with cling wrap for the complete terrarium look.

twit-a-fied

2011-01-28T15:50:00.006-06:00

pumpkinbutt's class is reading The Twits by Roald Dahl of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach fame right now. this week is literacy awareness week and i saw an opportunity to have some fun! The Twits is an extremely funny little book about an old married couple that are horrid and haggard and play mean tricks on each other that are actually pretty funny!
mr. twit has a long nasty beard that he never washes and food gets stuck in it so....
i started with having the class help me build upon this mr. mashed potato head rendition of mr. twit:

as we added peas, corn flakes and hot dogs the class " Ewww"ed so much that my original plan of us actually eating him didn't happen. i got this idea from a book i found at a thrift store. it is all food stuff based after many of Roald Dahl's works. Recipe and instructions below if you happen to be needing a mashed potato face and beard:

next i had pre-drawn beards on brown construction paper. i gave all the kid's dried foods (rice, split peas, cornflakes, noodles) to glue down. afterwards they sported their dirty beards:

pumkinbutt gave the activity a thumbs up!

one trick that mrs. twit played on mr. twit was tricking him into eating spaghetti with worms in it. i made the kid's some wormy spaghetti out of twizzlers and gummy worms and put it into little ziplock bags with an image from the book of the trick taking place.

another trick that she played on him was putting her glass eye in his mug of beer...

so i got "kid beer" (root beer) and made a label with mr. twit on it:

and them snuck eyeballs (marshmallow, life saver, raisin) into the cups:

so why all the tricks done by mrs. twit? because i dressed up like her! in the book she is a rude, ugly, fowl women, and i can relate! in the book it describes how she used to be good looking but with all the horrible thoughts she had it made her look horrible. so i told the kid's that their teacher and i are the same age....60, but the teacher looks so good because she doesn't think bad stuff like i do. ( their teacher is only in her 20's ) i then passed around a photo of natalie wood and said that's what i used to look like!

so here is the book's mrs. twit:

and here is my rendition:

hahahahahahaha! so freaking funny! as i would talk to the kids, i would call them "dirty little street urchins" and "varmits" but quickly change it too "little dears" and "sweethearts" because i told them i was trying to change my ways. they asked where mr. twit was and i told them he was at home trying to figure out how to use a stick of deodorant and a bar of soap. i wanted to start it off with that my parole office was making me be here as part of my community service. but these kids are too quick and would have questioned it and that would have lead to my not being allowed to have any more activities with them.
whew! it was fun but a lot of work. i spent about 4 hours on all this stuff for 1 hour of kid-crazy fun but i loved doing it. looking forward to the next book they read about vile individuals!

goody tins

2011-01-01T17:36:00.002-06:00

this year i revamped some old ugly cookie tins for my christmas gift goodies.

i bought tins from a thrift store and painted them with flat black spray paint. i had an idea that it might work like chalk board paint...not so much! so new plan was to highly embellish them with loads of ribbon and a cut out of a funny christmas card on top.
Inside i made coconut macaroons....

and peanut butter fudge....

i added my touch by drizzling everything with chocolate.

Robots Attack Christmas!!

2011-01-01T17:16:00.003-06:00

the decided theme for this year's tree was robots! here are a few images of the decor:

i made the ornaments from photocopied images of old metal robots and then added glitter/sequins/pipe cleaners and then attached them to mini pie tins, vintage light reflectors or just hung as is. also used the aluminum tree to continue the metal theme.

Then the christmas village was attacked!

above the village i put a few old ornament boxes for display. no robots involved, nor harmed.

asshole alert!

2010-12-02T09:19:00.002-06:00

LOOK FAMILAR????!!!!

APPARENTLY SOME ASSHOLE STOLE MY IMAGE FOR HIS OWN PERSONAL PROFIT!
david yerbury IS THE ASSHOLE'S NAME. I AM URGING ALL OF MY READERS TO REPORT HIM TO ETSY ALONG WITH CONTACTING HIM SO HE KNOWS THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNEXCEPTABLE!
I HAVE DONE SO MYSELF. AND CAN YOU BELEIVE HIS NERVE TO PUT HIS NAME OVER MY IMAGE!? AN IMAGE THAT HE STOLE ALREADY!?

CONTACT ASSHOLE

lil' coco dress

2010-11-19T17:58:00.001-06:00

i vamped up this little pink polka dot dress as a gift for my friend heather's little girl, coco. i got the dress several years ago from a thrift store and held on to it until she was big enough to fit into it.

i added the rick rack and made a mini attached apron with a little handmade girlie skull applique. i paired the dress with little girl's black fish net stockings.

2010-11-13T13:41:00.002-06:00

heather!!!! after years of searching i think this is the fabric you have been looking for!

gruesome graveyard

2010-11-02T17:17:00.001-05:00

the JOL this year was from a martha stewart idea and stencil. the pumpkin i got was apparently a concrete hybrid because i could not get the tools to touch it. i actually had to use a dremel to just remove the relief parts and a chainsaw to cut the top...well maybe i didn't use a chainsaw but looking back that would have worked. so this idea of cutting/carving less and adding black paint to bring out the features worked out nicely. for the duration of the photos you will get to experience ohhhhhh.....the gruesome graveyard! (say all italics with a spooky voice!)

dollar tree tombstones, severed hand luminaries (more on that in another post below) and tea lights.

light up bone lights, an old piece of a picket fence (that i could never throw out and now glad i didn't) and old moss i picked up from the ground of the local park.

black birds (i got on clearance several years ago post halloween) perched on the tops of the markers and in the background is the tree of the dead with hanging skeletons done by pumpkinbutt himself. we also had the green strobe going and the fog machine!

haunted insides

2010-11-02T17:13:00.003-05:00

here are a few shots of the inside halloween decor. on the mantle is a dead tree branch...free, moss...free, a few crows..1$ each from dollar tree, tombstone revamped (more on that in a post below)...1$, construction paper bats...had on hand.

these are tombstone rubbings that i did while visiting my mom in NC several years ago. i draped the tops with moss and then applied a few of those sticky stretchy mice. i bought the mice on clearance a few years ago not realizing that they were of this composition. i had no idea what to do with them until now. the sticky mice work awesome on mirrors and picture frames...oh the possibilities now!

the dolls are up all year 'round but i added to the display with a framed embalming certificate from 1939 that my brother fished out of a local dumpster behind a mortuary...i don't ask questions, like why were you dumpster diving there!? i am just thrilled to have it.

some of the vintage stuff. it's hard to come by when you aren't willing to play 500 bucks for it on ebay. i have been lucky enough to get most of it from thrifts over the years.

display of the universal monsters stuff. it looks better when just the little purple lights are on and the camera flash is not, but would have been blurry.

gravemarker portrait piece

2010-11-02T17:09:00.003-05:00

here is, in my opinion, an extremely cool and simple revamp craft project involving a dollar tree styrofoam tombstone. so it started as a styrofoam tombstone...

i then cut away the skull relief with a kitchen knife. then printed out a picture of pumpkinbutt and placed it accordingly.

i have future plans of adding spiders, moss and wording with a humorous twist (similar to "i told you i was sick"...not sure what just yet though...it will have to involve legos) i would like to do his name on it also a-la the simpson's tree house of horror credits (ex: james "hell" brooks). many unexplored possibilities!

creepy hand luminary

2010-11-02T17:06:00.003-05:00

meet the severed hand luminary! (seen in the background...kinda hard to miss). i was faced with the dilemma that cemeteries are just so gosh darn dark but wanted the lovely severed hands to not go unnoticed! so i came up with a quick and neat solution ...take plastic severed hand from dollar tree....

dremel a hole in the palm and insert a flame less candle tip inside (conveniently also from dollar tree). now it has become a flickering morbid addition to the dark cemetery grounds!

neat-o signs

2010-09-20T20:51:00.006-05:00

i spotted these signs while staying in cherokee, NC.

Adventure Golf

2010-09-17T16:17:00.006-05:00

During the summer Pumpkinbutt and i got the thrill of playing a round at Adventure Golf Pigeon Forge TN. It was full of wonderful kooky statues for neato photo ops!

pink castle! scary sharkey! wrecked pirate ship! water falls! yay!

pumpkinbutt exiting the pink castle. he is very embarrassed that someone would have the nerve to paint such a fine castle this horrid shade.

mom and i surviving a shark attack. note the "Caution" sign...i took some editing liberties...

my favorite critter there! once again, i got to play out my Ed Wood Bride of the Monster bit! if i was brave (and wanted to get the police involved to escort me out) i would have jumped into the water and thrashed around and screamed "hey! throw me that weeeskey!"

Below is my same act at the panama city goofy golf a few years and pounds less ago.

note to self: funyuns and soda for meals can have undesirable consequences in the ass and thigh regions.

bargain basement spirit board

2010-09-08T17:57:00.003-05:00

a major super duper score i got at Big Lots! it is constructed of metal and the planchette with hands is on a spring that moves from side to side!!!!!!

we have tried our best to contact the netherworld with it but being it's a factory second we were only lucky enough to make contact with the likes of Jasper the-fair-weather-friend ghost and the inventor of fig newtons.

giving a rat's ass bday cake!

2010-09-07T20:45:00.001-05:00

just had a birthday and felt it best to cover the cake in plastic rats

they were fun to pull off by the tails!
tried to get pumpkinbutt to lick the icing off them but he wasn't going for it....would have made a great picture!

34 rats instead of candles.

Peanut goodies YUM!

2010-06-04T17:54:00.005-05:00

here is a very yummy and simple recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Jr cookbook. this cookbook was reissued several years ago from the 1955 version. the neat thing is the pages have the old yellowed aged look to them but without the brittleness of an actual old book .

the recipe calls for just two ingredients, spanish peanuts and semi sweet chocolate, but i didn't have either on hand and i am damn straight not going to the store when i am sure i can find something to substitute.... instead i used salted peanuts and melted all the leftover easter chocolate candy along with the maimed buttless bunny. no, no, no. not from 5 month old rotten easter candy. we actually made these treats 2 years...and at that time with only 2 month old rotten easter candy. hey, it was refrigerated and that crap is chock full of preservative goodness!

see above, see below....pumpkinbutt posing as peanut goodie boy!

the treats really did turn out very tasty. hmmmm...now what could we do with the tons of upcoming leftover candy corn? something gift worthy for christmas i am sure!

for the "how-to" click on the recipe images above.

stuff from stuff

2010-05-21T18:42:00.008-05:00

i am not hip to the terms...upcycle, maybe? reconstructed, yes, there we go. i took a pair of guys cargo shorts that had been worn far past the expiration date (they didn't have much more to them than what you see) and fashioned myself a snazzy hip pocket deal. no no boo boo, it's not a fanny pouch. it is on my hip.

cut off waist and a pocket...

stitch together....

hands free and no more purse burden weighing me down!

but wait, there's more!

also on these cargo shorts were some small pockets that i made into backpacks for pumpkinbutt's g.i. joe mans:

spaceboy

2010-05-04T19:31:00.003-05:00

Recently pumpkinbutt's school had Space Day, where the kids could dress up as an alien (or space man)!!! we didn't have the least bit of interest in the astronaut look but something more like....

we decided to go with this attire...

Then using these fun facts about the film:
1.The trim on the aliens' costumes is made from masking tape, and their space boots are men's dress shoes covered by socks.

2.The filmmaker was on such a tight budget that the film's ultimate weapon, the "focusing disintegrator", was actually a Hubley's Atomic Disintegrator toy cap gun, bought for a dime, with a flashbulb added as a beam. (In some scenes the words "Hubley's" can clearly be seen embossed on the side of the gun.) Atomic Disintegrators can be bought today on eBay for upwards of $300.

I came up with this... .

The space suit is grey duct tape attached on a large black tee turned inside out and sleeves cut off.
The Focusing Disintegrator gun is a water gun from dollar tree spray painted black.
And the antennae... well, not an original idea from the film but super cute, are silver metallic pipe cleaners attached to a headband.

If i would have thought of it in time i would have found/made some kind of lobster...i mean Gargon, to further accessorized the assemble.

I must resume radiovision contact!

creepy pops

2010-04-14T17:21:00.001-05:00

Recently Pumpkinbutt got to enjoy these creepy clown jolly pops at school. Yikes! I asked him if he wanted me to order the shirt and/or cap but he declined.

Day of the Dead Decor

2010-03-12T17:48:00.004-06:00

For the Krewe of Hades Mardi Gras float this year the theme was Dia de Muerto rather than the ever standing Zombie theme of the years past. The craniums that generally flank the sides were given a skull-lift. Here is the one that I contributed. It was based on the design and idea of Phrenology.

Before:

After:

Each of the numbers corresponds to the original organs of Phrenology only with personal interpretations. For example 17. The sense of sounds; the gift of music = the band "The Dummies" (a band that pumkinbutt made up which is not quite music).
22.The sense of satire; the sense of witticism = MST3K.
6.Guile; acuteness; cleverness = Make Stuff! the cleverness part.

But at the end while they were decorating the float.. the bag-o-skulls got overlooked and forgotten! so now the skull just rests with the bar ware only dreaming of being in a parade.

easy peasy

2010-03-03T10:36:00.004-06:00

very simple yet very cute. premade pot holders and oven mit embellished with some cute fabric (it's by michael miller) for my mommy!

madonna of the cookie

2010-02-08T11:31:00.002-06:00

i recently found one of those Fred Flare Madonna toast stamps at a thrift store for 25 cents.Way cool yeah? think of allll the fun toast could become! this image directly below shows what it's suppose to turn out looking like...

Yet the below image is more along the lines of the real world... Not as cool. kinda sad, really. Probably why it ended up at the thrift.

so what to do?! use it as a cookie cutter! not too bad of an idea. especially if you strategically place it over a design resembling a radiating beam!

there must be more ways to use this thing....any ideas?

it wasn't a pretty picture...

2010-01-15T13:23:00.007-06:00

crafting Social Distortion stuff. here are some picture frames deals i made some time ago for someone that referred to herself as mrs. ness. the dice exterior parts were clocks that did not work. i trashed all the tick tock stuff and then inserted images of mike ness in their place. the circle frame part can be pulled off revealing a secret hiding spot for...secret stuff like obsessive love letters to the man or possibly even small offerings and/or sacrifices.

cute tin toys

2010-01-05T20:52:00.005-06:00

pumpkin butt and i recently went to see a collection of tin toys at our favorite museum of oddities in town. they have a small room that has rotating shows of interesting collections belonging to local people. hmmm... i am somewhat interesting.... i have several collections.... possibilities?

more tin toys

2010-01-05T20:49:00.006-06:00

here are a few more shots.

the showing before this was of salt and pepper shakers. i really thought i had posted about it but can't locate it. (they weren't allll that great anyway.) this is the same museum that had the doll house exhibit.

xmas gifties

2009-12-30T18:36:00.002-06:00

i made some containers/cookies as gifts this christmas. i searched for disgruntled holiday leer, added snark and stuck them to the front of cute glass cracker jars.

here is the final product:

the top layer consists of mexican wedding cookies (homemade) and the bottom layer is walnut brownies (box). the cookies tasted a bit salty to me so i drizzled melted chocolate over the tops. i would suggest omitting the salt or maybe find another recipe all together.

MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

1 c. butter
4 tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped nuts (fine)

Cream butter and sugar; add vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix well. Fold in finely chopped nuts and chill dough in refrigerator about an hour. Shape into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) about 15 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pan and while still warm, roll in more powdered sugar.

wishing you a bleak and horrid holiday

2009-12-28T16:37:00.004-06:00

the tree color/ theme for this year was black/red/ white/gothy. for the last 3 years it has been demanded by pumpkinbutt to be Creature from the Black Lagoon...which isn't bad but it certainly was time for a change.

i only had a few hours to pull it together. i am sure that way more could have been done... dripping blood icicles? ehhh. maybe not. that's a bit extreme. It is basically red and black ornament balls with plastic black rats,bats, spider webs and skeletons.

it's simple but turned out fairly well. here are two riveting close ups :

vintage stinky, rubbed off felty, christmas wreath

2009-12-18T16:44:00.003-06:00

there's been minimal crafting and free time within my world for oh.... two years or so. i happened upon an opportunity to get together with best gal pal, dixiedoll heather last week for some holiday craft cheer. yay!
i have been scouring thrift stores for 7 or so years collecting little vintage christmas stuffs. i didn't care if the eyes were missing, Rudolph had a non repairable bent antler or they reaked of that old plastic smell. misfit ornaments need a home too! I accumulated a decent sized box worth... but wasn't sure what was the best way to use them. Until I remembered seeing a huge wreath in an antique mall several years ago that was covered in these kinda odds and ends. Aha!
heather and i rummaged through the box and made wreaths together. Behold my results:

The box is still about 2/3 full. I plan to do some more adding to the wreath eventually... it's just not there for me yet. heather ran off with her wreath before i could photograph it. heather bought the wreaths at big lots for 10 bucks a piece. her's was red and she went with a simple approach, inserting a smaller plastic holly wreath in the middle with a plastic fireplace with Santa sitting on the mantle in the middle lower section. Very cute indeed! when i get an image i will put it up.

back from the dead!

2008-12-25T22:47:00.015-06:00

this post is going to move alot like a zombie but here goes.... in that vein here is a new piece of decor i made and wanted to share. it started out being one of last years christmas trees and has since lingered about. Over the past few months it has been used for a funeral themed birthday party, the dining room table center piece, general halloween ambiance and then back around to christmas. it's comprised of a few thin branches spray painted black, a strand of flame flicker lights (from target halloween), spanish moss, and little brains. I carved the brains from some yucky rotten green/brown floral foam i got at a thrift store. i was quite excited to find this foam because yucky translates so well to zombie brains. i then dry brushed the exterior with a bit of brain matter tinted acrylic paint.

i was asked to do a review type deal of a few products from Sourpuss Clothing several months back. it seemed to me that these products could have a tie in with some of the zombie-ishness going on around my place...because after making the tree i felt the need to make these brain cupcakes, with which i retrieved from the oven with a ever so cute tattoo flash hot pad from Sour Puss Clothing!
but it gets better......., it has a matching mitt!
and to accompany the cupcakes i mixed up some Zombie cocktails. (note the gummy brains and body part garnish)

with which i placed on these darling coasters (from Sour Puss Clothing).....

and then, while in a drunken stupor actual zombies* appeared scrounging for some brain matter (*as portrayed here from a page in My Zombie Pinup Calendar, i couldn't get to a camera during the chaos).......

i then used the legs of this nightlamp (from Sour Puss clothing) to jab 'em in the brain for protection!

i know....

2008-11-21T10:21:00.004-06:00

it's a really really late post for halloween stuff BUT this is an idea that can be used with any old t-shirt which is outgrown or stained that still has a great image on it. Seen below is a halloween tee of pumpkinbutt's that was outgrown along with having acquired a bizarre blue stain across the back. so i cut out the good stuff .... and sewed it on to a new tee! I used a really neat stitch option that is all jagged and irregular (used here as well) which in my mind translated as close to "spooky" as i could get.

Here is pumpkinbutt in his new tee pulled up over his head. this is generally the only way i can get him to take a picture...... if it allows him to be goofy with the proof being captured on film.

post halloween treats

2008-11-06T11:38:00.001-06:00

i know it's a bit late in some mind frames for halloween stuff but i have a few i wanted to share. first are the treats shown below. i found the recipe in a little free halloween idea booklet from my beloved Target. if Target is not carrying the pumpkin spice kisses anymore i am sure there will be something else just as interesting to try out in the same way.

so yummy i couldn't even keep the plastic mice away!

skellimingos

2008-10-23T16:04:00.002-05:00

(located in a yard near my house)
i'm not sure if this is a DIY deal, but it's pretty damn cool.

creepy!

2008-10-01T10:35:00.003-05:00

popular science magazine 1934

hey! i got a mention here

my little house

2008-09-23T23:16:00.004-05:00

lastly in the series of little house posts, here is mine. my grandmother gave it to me when i was little. it is made by marx. the house is metal and the furniture plastic. it's from, i guess the 60's, maybe 50's. it was already at least 20 years old when i received it :

the business side.

the kitchen

livingroom. i like how this picture turned out.

my naked lady sunning herself on the patio. bedroom seen behind her.

bathroom and nursery in background. the patio has a little pond. i have always been fond of that feature.

the peeping tom side.

more houses!

2008-09-11T17:59:00.008-05:00

nearby, there is a museum which showcases oddities (a petrified cat from the early 1900's) and other interesting collections (antique medicine side show bottles/containers). The current show is of DOLLHOUSES!!! the majority of the display consists of these huge handmade houses of various themes built by one lady. i certainly can respect the amount of time and energy that was put into them only my sights were set on these vintage darlings:

the houses were bolted down so i was unable to photograph the insides. additionally, along the background walls were reproduction vintage doll house advertisements:

a dollar a set! a DOLLAR a SET!

that magnetic one looks like fun and all for just 3.33!

it has a little yard and a little fence and a little swing set! and if there is a little dog there better be little poops too.

little house pace

2008-09-05T12:14:00.001-05:00

hello all! i am back, in a way, on a limited basis. i have surely missed MHICTY.

and on that note, since i will be posting minutely, here is a tiny sweet house i recently received. don't let the children depicted on the box be used to determine size. they must be rather petite because the house measures only about 5 inches wide.

i'll be back again, darlings!

2008-02-15T01:23:00.005-06:00

i have been away and will continue to be so for quite some time.
until i can return i wish everyone the same deranged enjoyment this gal is having of mere jelly being spread.

THRILLS!!!

2008-01-04T22:29:00.000-06:00

(promotional booklet frigidaire food freezers 1949)

why yes, there are thrills in the exciting world of freezing! that is if and only if you have a Frigidaire Food Freezer. "Many people think that they must buy a side of beef--or raise a garden to justify the use of a Food Freezer. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are many, many everyday uses for the Frigidaire Food Freezer." next listed within the booklet are easy items to freeze such as juice and of all things... ice cubes!

and one last word...
"remember freezing will retain the original quality of the food, but it will not improve it!"

so don't go thinking that stomach turning pasta dish you couldn't even talk the dog into will get any better after a few months on ice.

piehole-less

2007-11-26T21:38:00.001-06:00

circa 1951. the grand prize winner got $25,000!!!! that's a lot of money back now.
the funny face hamburgers (seen below) were my favorite in the booklet. the idea was from a 12 year old girl and she won $1,000.

recipe
(click to enlarge)

i recently acquired a few other neat old recipe booklets and cookbooks that i plan on displaying here. and because i have nothing else of interest to share i think i will space them w-a-y out.

peeperless

2007-11-25T18:52:00.000-06:00

i recently purchased this little guy at a thrift store for a mere 50 cents. i have named him eyeless eddie the optically impaired elf. the sad irony is it's his job to paint the eyes on the toys in santa's workshop. now we know why those "hand painted" figurines always look off.

i am not completely sold on the name yet so if anyone has a better one to offer, please do!

2007-11-08T01:10:00.001-06:00

courtesy of mikwright

derby bake sale

2007-11-06T23:41:00.001-06:00

i am a volunteer for the emerging roller derby team in my town. a few weekends back we had a bake sale. here's a sampling of what i made. it's record bowl/cupcake galore.

i made little plates out of 45s for individual cupcakes.

and used the regular records for sets of 3.
these cupcakes were made by another girl but were plain. so i added some chocolate eyeballs to spiff them up and then cuddled them together in one of my bowls.

also had a few with little plastic skates.

unfortunately the sale didn't do so great. this town is a tough crowd. at least i was pleased with my presentation.

items to view with bemused interest

2007-11-04T19:42:00.001-06:00

it has been some time since i have come across any interesting vintage finds until this past weekend. i happened across a yard sale that was nothing but vintage stuff. only the folks who were doing this yard sale knew this and were asking astronomical prices on most everything but....this really tall glass (nearly 8 inches), $1 and this set of melamine bowls, $10. the dinosaur is merely to help illustrate the TALLness of the glass, it didn't come with it.
i like the teeny feet! they remind me of little witches cauldrons.
the larger bowl has a rubber plug, i guess so it can be filled with warm water? thus the flaming "therm-o-bowl" mark?
if anyone has any info on these items i would enjoy hearing it! the guy at the sale thought the glass was actually a cocktail shaker but he didn't have a lid.

dead shakers

2007-11-02T17:48:00.001-05:00

these etched glass shakers are a DIY deal (not by me) but such a neat a idea. just thought i would show them....

criswell predicts....

2007-11-02T15:16:00.001-05:00

during a local showing of the film Plan 9 from Outer Space the dixie dolls (my crafty girl gang, in case you aren't aware) put together some vintage horror/ b-movie/ cult classic (you get the idea, the movies that the cool kids watch) inspired items to push on the unbriefed public. the photo below is of our table...it was dark...

details:

center top on the orange metal bucket are bottlecap magnets with movie images that were lovingly bejeweled and glittered up by the dolls. bottom left are shrinky dink tattoo flash ear rings (not movie inspired but still very nice and of fine quality)

top left are refrigerator clips, halloween themed. on the right are shrinky dink tattoo flash necklaces. bottom right are some new necklaces i have been experimenting with. they are made from shrinky dink material that prints from a home printer.
here are a couple of the necklaces close up. i think they turned out fairly nice. the process is to lighten the image until it looks washed out, print on the transparency setting, then the rest is shrinky dink old hat. oh, also seal the image with clear nail polish.

lastly are the tote bags. a really bad photo but the only one i have. a better view of a tote here. and the plan 9 bag sold. yay!

btw, did you happen to notice the tags i put on the items? toe tags....

halloween sugarcoated

2007-10-31T22:41:00.000-05:00

ghastly confectionery happenings in review, sorry to post them too late for recreation for the current halloween. but if you are like me these are treats fit for anytime of the year.

first, is this brownie cake (that just means it's a sheet of brownies with icing on top) pumpkinbutt and i collaborated on for one of my dearest friend's birthday...happy birthday again brent! we didn't have any pre-existing plan, and pumpkinbutt started by dumping black sugar sprinkles in the middle, which in turn brought to my mind a pile of dirt. so i then placed a glow in the dark skeleton in the heap. we charged the skeleton up with a flashlight and it turned out looking pretty cool....

spiderweb cupcakes. i found the idea online. i am not going to post an image of the original because it puts mine to shame. you can google it and have a good laugh at my shoddy rendition.

i love these!!! zombie hands emerging from the depths of a chocolate cupcake. i found this idea online also......ordered hands from here

book sale finds

2007-10-17T01:15:00.000-05:00

i recently attended the local friends of the library book sale (book sale past here). i acquired a few books on intriguing topics however this 1954 cake decorating book by the wilton's was a real find.

within the pages i discovered this cake idea:

i thought this cake was very interesting. it is to celebrate washington's birthday but since that is a tradition i have never been into i see it in a bit of a different light. it recalls to me the scene in the movie napoleon dynamite when pedro "builds" summer a cake as a way to ask her to the dance. he makes the cake with the script on top asking her out and then leaves it on her door step. now with that seed planted, i see this cake as something one would leave on the door step for their next murder victim. it's nice really... have some cake and just understand that i plan on doing you in with a hatchet!

baby vamp

2007-10-14T13:05:00.001-05:00

i bought this sweet little red velvet baby dress at a thrift store for coco...
then sketched up a flame pattern, cut it out of vinyl along with a bow, and adhered it to the dress with fabric glue. much better! now she matches her daddy!

and to compliment the outfit, i am altering a pair of fishnet stockings to baby size.

cutest fabric

2007-10-09T20:43:00.001-05:00

very cute halloween fabric i picked up at joann's recently, and on sale for 3.99 a yard! it's got vintage style beistle cats (as seen below)!

not sure what the fabric will become... for now, i think i am going to go for simple and use it as a tablecloth. perhaps a girl with more time on her hands could turn it into a dandy apron or a halloween trick or treat satchel.

thrift score!

2007-10-05T18:12:00.001-05:00

newest find and for a mere dime!

martha, martha, martha

2007-09-26T23:39:00.002-05:00

martha has put out a new halloween holiday mag this year along with having a few halloween inspired crafts in the living mag. have you seen these yet? oh martha, i am displeased with your offerings. waaay too many rehashed ideas from previous issues. to save you all some money i am putting up some of the best ideas (some old, some new) featured in the two current issues . seen above is the best and freshest idea she has to offer this year, entitled Harrowing Handicrafts. the spider webs and tatters are made from tissue paper. how to.

from here on out everything below was copy/pasted, not my words. i don't want any of the blame for the dorkish descriptions.

broomstick favors

Give witches-for-a-night a proper send-off with broomstick favors. You need two lunch-size paper bags for each broomstick. Unfold one bag, and push out its base while folding in the left and right sides. Using scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping short of the base. Cut thin strips into the top inch of the second bag. Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the shredded one; fill with candy. Insert a small branch 1 inch into the bag; cinch the tops of both bags, and secure with black twine.

spiderweb eggs

Ingredients

1 dozen large eggs
8 cups water
Gray sea salt, for serving
Freshly ground black pepper, for serving
frozen blueberries

Directions

1. Place eggs in single layer in a large saucepan, and cover with water and blueberries. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs one at a time, and place on a folded kitchen towel. Lightly crack shell on side with the handle of a whisk or a wooden spoon. Transfer egg to medium bowl; cover with cooking water. Repeat with remaining eggs. Let eggs cool completely in water in refrigerator.
3. Carefully peel shells from eggs. Serve with salt and pepper. Spiderweb Egg How-To: After boiling eggs, remove them to a kitchen towel. Using the handle of a whisk, carefully crack one side of the egg and transfer to a bowl to soak in the blueberry-tinted water they cooked in. Wipe up any spills quickly; blueberry juice stains.

spider picks

With scissors, cut the bugs off plastic spider rings (available at party stores), then puncture their centers with a needle tool (from crafts stores). Insert the toothpick into the hole from bottom; color tip with a black marker. Set out with nibbles, such as mini mozzarella balls.

tissue paper garland

Cutting the strings of shapes won't drive you batty, since the paper comes accordion-folded in its package. With black tissue paper you can craft bats, cats, rats, or witches; orange makes great pumpkins; and white is perfect for skulls and ghosts.

Trace or draw desired design across full width of a package of folded tissue paper; we used a cookie cutter as our guide. Cut along the outline, leaving a bit of uncut fold at both sides so figures connect to one another. You'll end up with several strings of five or six shapes each; tape together for a garland.

the record bowl....

2007-09-23T20:00:00.001-05:00

since a few of you asked what one was, here you go!

here's a link to a how-to.

bad kitty

2007-09-21T00:03:00.001-05:00

i have been making a few record bowls for an upcoming function and thought i would share this odd album cover with you all.

moonlight madness.... a man (?) in a tiger suit and a scantily dressed fishnet stocking wearing female tweaks his whiskers....i just can not interpret this scene as anything but a sick sexual role playing fantasy (but really, who am i to judge) or maybe this is the hallucinations concurred after OD ing on cherry flavored robitussin. didn't listen to the record yet so that possibly insightful bit of info is lacking. i am sure it's all about creating some ambience in regards to... "moonlight madness".

my new best friend

2007-09-12T22:54:00.001-05:00

i'd like to think that if i could run in the same circles as amy sedaris we would be best friends. i'd like to think that. i got her "hospitality under the influence" book as a gift from my mommy recently. have you seen it?! it's a book on entertaining, but my kind of entertaining which involves weird themes, unusual decor and interesting menus all reeking with sarcastic humor.
for instance, this cake:

there is also a chapter on crafts for hostess gifts... most are scrap craft kinda stuff and very goofy. she mentions in her book belonging to a craft club, the crafty beavers, where they make stuff while under influences that they give to nursing home patients as decor for their trays. i like that idea.

the photos and illustrations alone are worth buying the book. this one seen below is my favorite. and it has white powdered donuts....yum.
speaking of food, there are ALOT of recipes/menus and they aren't joke ones. they seem to be sound and quite tasty, covering an array of different cuisines. she covers basics like mac and cheese along with other less traditional ones such as shrimp and feta cheese appetizers in scallop shells.

her book also gives a glimpse into her personality and how she has fun with ordinary situations. she sells cupcakes to her friends for 25 cents when they come to visit. she has movie nights where she sets up a concession stand on an ironing board. she tells of beauty secrets such as to keep color on your lips after your lipstick wears off stain your lips prior with a cherry popsicle. she also recounts past family traditions such as when she was younger on her brother's birthday he requested eating duck but also requested that the rest of the family eat just spanish rice so they would envy him. now that's funny. she gives out helpful hints like "cashiers will notice patterns like ice cream at midnight three days in a row. the same is true for liquor. rotate your stores." point well taken and " buy organic lemons, if for no other reason than because the puckered tips make great nipples to stuff your bra." good idea!

the book is just so lovely and i must say, i like you too, amy...

screaming skull tote

2007-09-09T18:56:00.001-05:00

here is a fairly recent crafty type endeavor. really bad of me to photograph a black bag with a dark brown background...sorry, i wasn't thinking. the black tote bag is prefab from a craft store. i then printed an image of the movie poster, The Screaming Skull, which happens to be my desktop background, onto iron-on transfer paper. tangent: i thought it would be an idea, maybe not a great one but an idea nevertheless, for someone (not me) to have a "what's on your desktop wednesday", kinda like the illustration friday and whatnot. yeah.... okay, back to the bag. i then applied the iron-on onto a piece of cream colored canvas. then did some crazy stitching around the border.

the dixie dolls and i made a few of these with the intent we would sell them at an event. maybe something that has to do with scary-ish old movies and such...

rainy day fun

2007-09-04T20:21:00.001-05:00

pumpkinbutt merged goggly eyes and plastic toy foods together and came up with this:

i made this one. he's a mean cabbage...
cute huh?

memo...

2007-09-01T20:41:00.002-05:00

i have removed the link to the recipes which was previously off in the sidebar. i can no longer get into my flickr account because i was being stubborn and didn't want to change my account over. i have tried every way possible to get back into the system but can't. i can't remember my password and then when i fill all the info out to get the password it sends me back around to a yahoo account that i know nothing about having or have forgotten having ever set up, and guess what? i don't know the password! so for now, consider it dead. i have been doing some editing within mhicty and many of the links in the old flickr will not work now. i may set up another flickr account one day but right now lopping a finger off sounds like a better time.

Crap Hound

2007-09-01T19:58:00.001-05:00

i just discovered the most lovely series of magazines during the trip to atlanta called crap hound. it's nothing but clip art from front to cover. each edition focuses on a few items/topics. i have only been able to acquire edition 5 (hands, hearts and eyes) and the newest 6 (death, telephones, scissors).

******************

apparently the upcoming 7 &8 are to have a focus on church and state... i don't have much info on ordering but these guys may be able to help: reading frenzy

Rock and Roll Monster Bash 2007

2007-08-30T01:05:00.001-05:00

Also while in atlanta, heather and i went to the Rock and Roll Monster Bash. loved getting my picture with this guy (this could be why...).

first up, blastoff burlesque performed...i have big plans on making myself some of those bat pasties...

and the folks from Zombie Walk Atlanta were there doing free zombie makeovers...i should have taken advantage of it...

here's a person getting done up. i was so impressed with the amount of work these folks put into doing the makeup. along with giving someone that general zombie look, they airbrush the skin and apply all sorts of oozing lesions for the full effect. why again did i not do this?

heather and i with a zombie dude. this guy was amazing...stayed in character the entire time and came to the event already looking like this...i don't think he gets out much.

also at the fest was an array of artists and crafters with creepy wares. got to meet c. martin croker (involved in many ways with space ghost, but most importantly to me, he is the voice of zorac "I'm chartreuse").
other fun stuff to see and do includes but not limited to was a hearse show, a few decent bands, and my favorite all time activity, gawking at people.
Loads o' fun...waay better than drive invasion... hands down.

ICE

2007-08-27T22:45:00.001-05:00

heather and i went on a mini vacation weekend to atlanta a few months back. the main reason was to go to ICE (Indie Craft Experience), an alternative craft fair. just now getting a chance to post about it. and because it's not as fresh in my mind as it could be, i don't have alot of details to share...sorry. i wish i could blame it on drugs and alcohol because that would at least be a fun reason but no... anyway, back to our story. below is a booth, who's booth? the hell if i know, but i liked it.

my dearest heather, trying to eat a crocheted pastry. the girl loves her cupcakes....

me, at the esty booth. along the bottom edge of the table were crafty offerings. i hope i didn't mess up the karma by picking up this...er, i'm not sure what it is but it's cute. maybe a food item of some sort, i think it's living in a bowl.

here are some girls that know how to pose for a picture the way i like, all over dramatic-ish..unfortunately, i don't recall their shop name or i would give some props.

now meet the Geets... heather and i bought this little monster fam and toted them with us everywhere for little photo shots . the Geets got to go to IKEA and enjoy swedish meatballs among other "vacation in Atlanta" hotspots. they are seen here in the park in front of the world of Coke. they were just a few of many purchases we made.

if my memory serves me right, it was a very cool craft fair, lots of neat stuff ...i highly recommend going...maybe one day the dixie dolls will be representing.

it's an oooh la la baby soiree!

2007-08-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

one of my dearest friends, dixie doll heather got herself knocked up just so we could throw this cool baby shower soiree! we knew she and her hubby were getting a little girl and since the nursery is done up in pink and black with french poodle decor, we decided to carry that idea into the shower theme. we did our best to hose the room down with anything pepto bismal colored ala steel magnolias and briefly entertained the idea of even painting the walls pink. above image is the fabric i bought as decor for the shower and then to make into a gift...notice in the script it says Coco (this is the baby's nickname!)

princess heather at her throne. we all dressed in pink and black.

seen below is the hors d'oeuvres set up. the baby's nickname is spelled out in foam letters atop the table. the pink Eiffel towers are photo holders with ultrasound images along with french words and sayings relating to babies on them. heather's mom made the black/pink polka dotted table cloth. all the hor d'oeuvres were french inspired or within the color theme: croissant sandwiches, chocolate eclairs, strawberries and mini quiches.

here is a cheap decoration i came up with using paper plates and streamers suspended from the ceiling. kinda snagged the idea in part from martha stewart magazine.

here's the beverage table. more pink and black! heather came up with the neatest idea. you see that thing hanging on the wall? well that is a framed print that was already there of something that just didn't go with our decor and we just couldn't have that! so heather covered it in black/white polka dotted paper and affixed the extra ultrasound photos and frenchie saying on it. genius, really.

these, well, didn't quite turn out as i had hoped. they are pink tinted white chocolate little Eiffels. they are weeble woobles really...and not as pristine as i would have liked. not to mention these few took forever to make.

forgot to mention that it was heather's birthday as well as her shower! yay! here she is with her own little birthday cake i did up for her. notice the candles match the decor theme. the little crown was my birthday present to her.

here are the "petite fours" i made for the rest of the guests. they are actually upside down cupcakes.

the hat boxes are from coco's nursery. we put the thank you gifts in and around them.

close up of the "merci beaucoup" parting gifts.

okay, now for some other details. it's going to get lengthy here on out so stick with me if possible....

:games:
i didn't want us to play the same old boring shower games. i was able after some time of searching online to find a few suggestions that weren't the same sad overdone ones. first was the string game. i'm sure it could have a much punchier title but i can't think of anything right now...maybe "how huge is the pregnant woman really?". in this game, all the guests cut a length of yarn that they think is the circumference of mommy's belly, the closest guess wins. the second game involved giving every guest a disposable diaper and a permanent marker. they are asked to write a funny saying (ex: loaded! it's daddy's turn! beware of fallout! poops, i did it again...) on the diaper so that when the parent's are changing said diaper at 3 in the morning it will give them something to laugh about, maybe... the winner is whichever one mommy thinks is the funniest. the third game takes some prep work but it is humorous along with being a bit disturbing, if you are into that kinda thing. take photos of the mother and father's face foward. cut out nose, eyes, hair, lips, ears ect. then find in a magazine a photo of a baby's face/body that will as close as possible work ratio-wise to the features cut from the parent's faces. pass out pre-made forms with facial features and some personal attributes are listed (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, sense of humor, sense of style ect). mommy-to-be decides beforehand which of each features she would like for baby to have of her or daddy. the guests are asked to guess what they think mom will say, closest wins. for the visual part of the game put magnets or double-sided tape on the cut outs and place them over the mock baby face... it can become very creepy looking. to

:parting gifts:
example seen above with the merci beaucoup sign. to keep with a girly theme, the gifts were such things as pink lip gloss, pink nail polish, pink candles... you get the idea. the wrapping for them is pink netting on the outside with pink easter grass inside surrounding the gift then tied with matching ribbon.

whew, i hope i explained everything clearly, typing it all out was more exhausting than doing it...

2007-07-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

hello dears,
i am out of town so posting will be sketchy. i'll do my best! ~m

cutesy embroidery

2007-06-29T10:12:00.001-05:00

got these old transfers from my memaw recently (click on image to enlarge):

ahh geez.... too cute! the stewed pear makes me laugh.

since all of these sayings may not apply, i think it would be a better idea to just do a whole mess of towels in one design... "stubborn as a mule" would be fitting.

and for this set..."hot as a pepper" or better yet, "easy as pie"!

pumpkinbutt nursery

2007-06-25T11:04:00.001-05:00

As part of the 2 year shindig of mhicty i am giving a tour of another room in my real house (last year's here). This time it's pumpkinbutt's nursery. i sadly disassembled it last weekend. i tried my best to keep him baby-fied as long as possible but he's just not into pink fuzzy old teddy bears and rabbits like i am. (above image is from inside of the crib...my infatuation over these little darlings is best not discussed, i would be committed)

here is his crib.. yes, it's old and it's not up to code.. i can fit a coke can between the rails...he's fine...really! so on to the bedding. i made everything from an old white chenille polka dotted twin sized bed spread. bought both the crib and bed spread at thrift stores. actually... bought those curtains at a thrift store years earlier as well.

awww... there are the old cutesy fuzzy critters! the little bookshelf is the top section of a old china cabinet, got it at a yard sale for 4 bucks. the dresser was a hand me down. i repainted all the mismatched furniture so it would seem cohesive.

the laundry hamper (seen left) and the "Baby Tenda". get it? baby tender..baby tenda? ah ha! got both of these from different antique malls years apart. i have had a thing for old baby stuff longer than the desire to have a little bugger to put in them. years ago i used the hamper for magazine storage. the Baby Tenda is a pretty neat contraption really. the legs, seat and foot rest are all adjustable and the back of the seat converts it into a flat table.

this is the top of the Baby Tenda. those images are so flippin' cute i decided to make the wall hangings based after them.

one of four said wall hangings. they are made of white foam board (lightweight to reduce any injuries) and acrylic paint ( no lead paint here! just in case he decided to gnaw on them) i used a projector to get the images on the foam board, traced them in with a pencil and painted them in the chosen color scheme.

one day when i have my own little craft room i plan on hanging his head/foot board and cutie critters on the walls.

well, now it's on to transformers....

2!

2007-06-23T22:33:00.001-05:00

My House Is Cuter Than Yours has done turned 2 years old! i thought of just letting the day go by with not so much as simple crepe paper streamers but what the heck, let's have some cake!

i have many adventures and projects to report upon and will do so soon. thank you to everyone for the encouraging comments and emails. sorry if i have been out of touch, i'll make it up to you!

everything ablaze

2007-03-06T00:45:00.000-06:00

i am trying my best to put out fires as they occur but i can't keep up. i don't like to do anything that i can't place full intentness on. therefore, my house is cuter than yours is going to have to be shelved for a couple of months or so. in the meantime, peruse the Deep Freezer (archives) til i have something that isn't scorched to serve!

fame!

2007-02-22T22:31:00.000-06:00

here is the other 7.5 minutes of fame i mentioned recently! I am in the new issue of the digital crafting magazine creative TECHniques. yay! the article touches on dyi culture and the new crafters that take it on in the dot com world. i am in good company too, others mentioned are threadbared, plain mabel and tie on one (all are in my links section!)

(click on images to view article)

this issue also has a number of very cool craft ideas to check out as well...one involves shrinky dinks!

retro crafty memo pad

2007-02-21T11:04:00.000-06:00

here is a pictorial tute on the craft project i submitted for The Crafter Culture Handbook. it is a memo pad made from Jiffy baking product boxes. any boxes with fun graphics would be suitable. maybe even covering thin cardboard with japanese candy wrappers.... that's an interesting idea actually... i am posting this because i don't think the instructional photos are going to be included in the book (i haven't received my copy just yet). i see this as a supplement, if needed.

okay, so here is a quick run down of supplies/tools and such.

you will need: interesting box, paper cut to size (a smidge smaller than the covers, and as much as your stapler can handle going through), stapler, glue, decorative papers and other embellishments of your choice.

the how-to:

the box....
only a serving suggestion mind you.

cut away sides and bottom flaps (discards shown to the right), leaving front and back of box along with the attached top flaps (see left).

again, what to save.

this is the part i have a hard time explaining. with front and back covers facing each other insert pages in between top flaps (which have been folded inward). staple in place.

disguise boring inside of covers and flaps by gluing down decorative paper cut to size. for me, i feel you just can't get anymore decorative than black! shown in this image i used pinking shears on the edges of the pages.

the finished product.
at this point adding embellishments could be an option. glitter is always nice.

and there you have it...

show and tell once again...

2007-02-15T20:31:00.000-06:00

These two little cuties are vintage Asian chalkware bobbleheads with magnets on their lips so they appear to be kissing. i used to go through absurd phases where i needed certain items, and i was quite obsessed with getting a set of these guys. purchased on ebay, can't remember for how much. i collect vintage Asian stuff so... more to come, much more. a whole china cabinet full along with an entire dining room...like i said, i was obsessed.

here is a frontal view. awwwwww sooo cute! note the "Let's Kiss" motto on the bottom. just darling.

show and tell

2007-02-11T00:15:00.000-06:00

a new series on mhicty...show and tell! some of my favorite objects along with a brief story if there is one worth saying. don't want to bore anyone with dull narratives.

here we have one of my favorite little belongings...The Brain offering a little heart with his ever present scowl. my mom gave it to me v-tine's day 1997. i kinda have a thing for The Brain....he's just a little darling with his need for world domination and all.

Weirdness and Oddities

2007-02-01T11:03:00.000-06:00

tagged by Saucy for six weird things about me...only 6? ha!

1. i like to smell my son's feet to check their stinky rating. pickle feet, love it.

2. i have a dried wishbone collection. i figure i have better odds of getting my wish if i have a collection of them to break.

3. i would rather have a glass door knob from an old house than a diamond.

4. i wish i could get away with wearing aprons as clothing, or other more costumey kinda things...like, what's wrong with wearing tiny top hats or black plastic bugs on barettes when it's not halloween?

5. i like to dance seductively to Pulp when i am alone in the studio at school. mmmm....jarvis....mmmmm.

6. speaking of music... i like to listen to songs on repeat... the same song...for weeks. right now it's Radio Blast by the tiles.

Round #3!!!

2007-02-01T10:49:00.001-06:00

Round 3 will be open for sign ups starting on monday Feb 5th and not a moment sooner! go check out the deets ! I won't be playing hostess this round, sadly....school, school,school. i will be keeping my eye on the going on's though. Good luck!

Savory Salmon Slime

2007-01-30T13:27:00.000-06:00

Swapatorium leftovers:

Hello dear readers!

I have for you this month a dish from the Weight Watchers Recipe card set circa 1974. The recipe is from the Convenience Fish section (that term only brings to mind this: eww!) called Salmon and Savory Vegetables. I was intrigued by the image on the card and felt the need to recreate it. The bright yellow hue intermingled with the pale pink is not something you see everyday on your dinner plate, at least you hope not. I have never eaten canned salmon before and have been trying my best to steer clear of it. I must say, you folks owe me big time. Canned salmon is some nasty, gross stuff; the backbone is included along with a grey/green slimy funk (I'm guessing it was the skin) within the can. It's just icky, icky, icky.

Here are my results. Very unappetizing if I do say so myself.

I took two bites of this. The first because you have to start somewhere and the second to confirm that the first was as nasty as I thought it to be. If you are into canned salmon then by all means, try this recipe. I think it's some kind of vile and cruel punishment.

*** Recipe ***

2007-01-29T09:08:00.000-06:00

i'm over at the swapatorium today.

spiffed up scrub #4

2007-01-28T14:41:00.000-06:00

another addition into the new work apparel line that i am spiffing up for my best friend Kat. prefab fushia scrub with brown tonal leopard print accents that i added for pockets and tattoo chest coverage.

autographs anyone?

2007-01-25T12:35:00.000-06:00

things are starting to look up for me and it's about damn time. I AM IN A BOOK!!!!The Crafter Culture Handbook. i was asked a number of months back if i would be interested in submitting a craft project. i turned the idea around in my head for about .9 seconds and said hell yeah!

The publishers are sending me a copy soon and i am sooo excited! it's my 7.5 minutes of fame! the other 7.5 should be going down near the end of next month. i'll let you know more once i see myself on it's glossy page, but until then i don't what to jinx it anymore than i may have already.

you can pre-order a copy for yourself by following the link above. damn, i am in a book that is sold on amazon.com! i'm giddy!

spiffed up scrubs

2007-01-22T00:28:00.000-06:00

i must forewarn that these photos are of poor quality but hopefully the idea will still be apparent.

the only crafting i have been doing as of late is out of necessity. Dixie Doll Kat's work has decided to have everyone wear scrubs. Since she has a tattoo ( seen here) on her upper chest that they don't take kindly to i altered her tops as seen below...

(we like this one because the fabric print is of tattoos! yeah, that's right... sticking it to the man!)

The low down:
i added pockets on a couple of them or did pocket detailing along with making a little covering for her tattoo. i think it's a nice alternative to buying prefab expensive patterned tops. the plain colors are cheaper and Kat got to pick out what fabrics she wanted for the spiffing. Also doing just alternations didn't take as long as it would to have made the entire top.

i have 2 more tops to go which i'll put up in this post when done.

thank you eviedee for the kind comment you left, it came at a time i needed it.

more gifties!!!

2007-01-14T19:13:00.001-06:00

the gifts just keep coming! here are the lovely things my sweet heather and mike (aka the baron) gave me for christmas:

a full color Knox gelatin recipe booklet (loads of unpleasant looking foods in molded forms!!) , Santa Claus!!! (squeal!) on dvd and a large spider web stamp. it's wonderful to have friends that get me and know what i like.

i also got this sweet dress that heather thought would make a great apron. i have to say i agree.

close up of the print:

in christmas clearance news, i got 2 of these cute robot kid aprons at old navy for 3 bucks for pumkinbutt and myself. I have plans of us making up an army of cookie 'bots some day soon whilst wearing them.

i am so overwhelmed and busy folks... i'm going to try my best to not let the "house" here get too dusty. sorry for all the waaaay late christmas posting, but that's just the way it's going to be. if you don't like it you can leave me a rude comment with your email as your name calling me a poser for my lateness (huh?) and then delete it, and then not be bright enough to realize that the comment still gets sent to my email reguardless....and reminding once again that you leave your email as your name....wow.

christmas gifties! stuff i made...

2007-01-07T15:47:00.000-06:00

here are some of the christmas gifts i made for the fam and friends:

2006 edition pumpkinbutt ornaments:

an altered purse for my mom. i bought the black gingham purse at target and added a pocket to it of her hollywood heart throb, trace adkins, using iron on trasfer paper. i also made her a matching headband.

below are simple cardstock magnets i made for my mom as well. they are copies from stickers made by blue Q. i got the idea to do these from my friend heather, as she made me some for christmas last year.

As i have mentioned before i am currently in school finishing up my bachelor's degree in fine art (which is why "the house" here is a bit dusty) . my emphasis is in ceramic sculpture. i decide to make some pieces for the fam this year, even if they didn't really get it. they are platters but also function as wall art as well. it's hard to tell in the pictures but they have curved middle/edges and two oppesite sides wrap under to become the legs/wall attachment point.

the two below are smaller sushi platters:

i am really happy with the way they turned out and am now going to use this idea for a series of wall hangings for my final show. I think they lend themselves toward a fossil/relic look so i am going to work with that. i'm not sure if it was clear or not but the images on the platters are of women's bras. All of my work has to do with personal space and thoughts/emotions. I use a number of tangible items as metaphors for this, one being female undergarments. I choose bras for the fact that they are very personal being close to the skin and the fact that they are revealing but not entirely, like my pieces are. I am also into the idea of layers. Personal thoughts are often hidden under many layers as personal garments are. i generally portray this concept of layers through my work visually by having the surface treatment appear old and stripped down. hopefully this little explanation helps get across some of what i am going for.

christmas gifties! what i got...

2007-01-07T15:24:00.000-06:00

it's a bit late, but here are some of the things i got for christmas:

my mom got me a lot of neat stuff as she always does. Here are a couple of things. This chapstick by blue Q called Boss Lady(above). The packaging is so cute!
And! she got me a little black tree (below)! I had to decorate it up fast-like for a picture. Pez would be a really cool idea for decorating a tree actually.
my mom also got me lots of smell purty products, an autograghed copy of Martha Stewart's housekeeping tips book, a velveteen grey jacket and handed down her manual pentax slr camera to me.
I got a couple of vintage cookbooks that belonged to a great grandmother i never had the chance to meet along with an inscription from my great aunt inside them.

I bought this myself. a print of the Krispy Kreme building recently demolished in my town that i have been ranting about so much lately.

new year fortune

2007-01-02T23:32:00.000-06:00

i am sort of a superstitious person. On new year's i like to open a fortune cookie and make that my overall fortune for the year. i have a little bag of fortune cookies someone bought special for me and i only use them on special occasions. Here is the fortune i got:

Your energy is at a peak. Channel it into creative activities.

woo hoo for me!

just for you

2006-12-30T22:15:00.000-06:00

a forgotten holiday jingle... They Might Be Giants - Santa's Beard :

Cine Mexicano

2006-12-28T14:32:00.000-06:00

mary ann sent me these tarjeta postal precioso... which, if i recall my high school espanol, means beautiful post card ( can't remember how to do plurals, help me out peoples!) they are of vintage horror/thriller type films and are very suitable for framing!

i believe they came from this set : cine mexicano postcards. i really like these mary ann, thank you. i kinda have a thing for vintage mexican stuff like this. (as you may recant...these)

i am hoping to put up posts on christmas loot given and received soon, but all has not been doled out. i have a case of the holiday blahs and bah humbugs still lingering, along with a cruddy cold so bear with me please.

memo: my regular email (whistlebait(at) cox(dot) net) has done broke down. i think someone tried to shove a package in it (hope it wasn't anything perishable!) and it's wedged it's self in there fairly well and i don't know how to fix things like that. so my point is that if you have sent me an email in the last 3-4 days i haven't been able to get it and may never be able to. i am going to be using this one in the meantime: myhouseiscuterthanyours(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Jingles

2006-12-25T00:40:00.000-06:00

holiday greetings kind readers! For your viewing and listening pleasure i offer you my favorite songs of the season.

everclear - i will be hating you for christmas . this is my all time favorite, i listen to this song when it's not christmas. i designed the above ornament last year based after lyrics. (hopefully the song will just start playing when you click the link, but if not, you will need to scroll down to the music player and select it)

the Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)".

The Pretenders - 2000 Miles

Chris Isaak - Washington Square

MST3K - Patrick Swayze Christmas

Enjoy! now back to egg nog (spiked of course) and the fruit cakes (i don't mean the ones with the candied fruits).

i'm dreaming of a black christmas

2006-12-21T23:15:00.000-06:00

i just discovered the coolest thing ever! black christmas trees!
i can't imagine a more perfect thing. i have never been a fan of green trees, artificial or real. Here's a slightly amusing story about me that relates to that. When i first moved out on my own it was near christmas. i bought this small cheap artificial green tree to put up in my apartment. I wanted a silver tree real bad... so you know what i did? yeah, i spray painted that thing silver. I don't recommend it, not at all. It looked like a crappy green tree with silver spray paint splotches...so are you slightly amused? i have since then acquired a number of white trees and aluminum ones and now... i need a black one. i NEED it....

this town sucks

2006-12-15T01:20:00.000-06:00

You see this?

Well it now looks like this:

When I posted a few days ago about the remodeling of the krispy kreme, I didn't except that they were tearing the whole damn place down. I just got back from digging around in the rubble and deflecting bums. It's prolly not such a great idea for a 105 lb gal to be out at midnight balancing on broken timbers and glass shards alone but I did scored some lovely bricks as mementos for myself and a couple friends. These glossy red bricks were one of my favorite features of the building.

The strange thing is that the wreckage still smells like "HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW".....

Rorschach Kitmass Trees

2006-12-13T20:21:00.000-06:00

Pumpkinbutt and i came up with a interesting holiday craft...Rorschach Tree Art!

Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist , was the creator of the infamous inkblot test used for psychoanalysis. He believed that a subject's response to an ambiguous and meaningless stimulus (inkblots) could provide insight into one's thought processes; detecting such conditions as thought disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and psychopathy.

yes....psychopathy and the holidays...they are familiar bedfellows are they not?

"What might this be?" was the question that Rorschach coined as an introduction to a patient viewing his inkblot cards.

Here are a few renderings along with my pondering the question "What might they be?" in terms of the holiday season:

Plate I

This might be bubbles and fireworks....but it ends in a puddle of disappointment.

Interpretation: Yearns for mistletoe and several cocktails, but from past experience views that combination as generally having an undesirable and regrettable next day outcome.

Plate II

This might be an angry bearded face donning a pointed hat and doing quite a bit of scoffing.

Interpretation: Suffers from the fear of being on santa's naughty list.

Plate III

I believe this might be santa.. laying flat on his back with mittened arms out stretched, after being hit by a car, and left for dead.

Interpretation: Possible outcome of future events if i don't find these under my tree this year...

However, on the surface, these trees can be given as cutesty art, perfect for sending to fam this year in lieu of commercially made cards.....They don't have to understand why they are overwhelmed with their own personal demons when viewing these trees...Psychopathy and the holidays, my friends...Let's embrace it.

The How-To:

*cut out trees or other symmetrical holiday icons of your liking from construction paper.

*apply glue mindlessly

*fold paper in half. squish. open.

*apply shake 'ems (glitter)

*review the images and come to terms with your inner mind's workings.

2006-12-10T23:42:00.000-06:00

My Astro Olive Tree is on Charles Phoenix's
Astro Weenie Tree DIY club blog:

check it!

Astro Holiday Anguish Alleviation Hors d'oeuvre Tree

2006-12-09T10:21:00.000-06:00

It's the Holidays again and people are starting to have that need to throw get-togethers, parties and other such forms of beguilements. Some of these parties are quite enjoyable, meaning they involve an open bar. But then there are some that are dreaded and you know attending will be like having the very life sucked out of your ever loving soul. The likelihood of being invited to a party or two of this type is just inevitable. To help ease some of the discomfort of those awkward moments when you have to be civil to your ex and his need to bring his trashy skank ass new girlfriend (who invited them anyway?!), I present to you a show-stopping, attention getting, ice breaker (yeah, it does all that!) appetizer center piece to lighten up the need for antidepressants and cure the misery. It works like this:

You: "Oh, Steve...Hi, I see you brought a ' friend' "

Steve: "Yeah, that's Jenni. We met in a chat room for girls that like to dot the i's in their names with hearts but are sadden by the fact keyboards don't have that function. It is a real tragedy to her."

You: "Ah ha.. nice...Wow, well she sure seems quite friendly..."

Steve: "Why do say it like that?"

You: "Well, because she has been making out with the DJ for the past five minutes...(this is that awkward moment I spoke of)..... Hey! Have you seen this marvelous Astro Olive Hors d'oeuvre Tree I made?"

***The Astro Olive Tree***

I based the idea after Charles Phoenix's most amazing Astro Weenie Tree (that's him and his tree below). I opted for green olives, pepperoni and cubes of Muenster cheese instead..... No weenies. I'm a bit surprised at myself for missing an opportunity to use weiners again but I gotta mix it up a bit, ya know?

Charles Phoenix

Doesn't he look like a fun guy?

He got his idea from this vintage slide. Pretty funny!
By the looks of things, that tree is the life of the party.

But wait! There's more! An added bonus of merriment! If you make an Astro Weenie Tree you can submit a photo and accompaning story to Mr. Phoenix's blog for show and tell!

*********************************

The How-To:

For a visual guide watch Charles Phoenix's video. And it is true, the jars of toothpicks make wonderful percussion instruments.

The basic idea is to cover a styrofoam cone in aluminum foil, "glue" the base of the tree down to a plate with peanut butter (I used honey and it worked well) and just stick a bunch of food on toothpicks in to it.

********************************

Forward my calls...

2006-12-08T00:16:00.000-06:00

I'm over at the Swapatorium today! Hurry, before the hors d'oeuvres are all gone! And Thanks Barb for cluing me in on Charles Phoenix!

*~my house is cuter than yours~*