You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream For Halloween!

Yep, it is true...I love fall the best~est but it is such a delight to throw a fun~loving treat~fest such as Halloween right there in the middle of it all...cha, cha, cha!

So as this week of crazy~ness continues on it's merry way....I vow to harvest decorate the day lights out of the ol' place...and blog til the cows~come~home about all of the tom~foolery that is sure to ensue...and that there is a promise.

Take a peek...I hear the bins of pumpkins in the front of the grocery store calling my name. Pumpkin squash thy name is zippty~do~da!

Halloween~ie black chair and it's queen!

Isn't it cool?

Found it at one of my favorite Autumn bazaars

which is held in a farm grange hall.

Cool!

My pumpkin~heads~on~a~stick....I made these years ago

and still love 'em bunches and bunches

...don't you just love the {tattoo}

made by our {then} three year old? Precious memory.

Up close lookie~loo at the sticks...the fun~est part!

My other Christine Crocker Pumpkin~Head babydoll~of~love...on her throne....

...and the world is as it should be...

A harvest collar for my buddy...it is so cool lit up on a fall night...delight!

Years ago when I put this wreath together, you couldn't find {orange}

twinkle lights to save your life...so I painted clear ones with orange glass

paint...yep, I did...you know how it is when you have a vision....silly girl am I.

No words are needed...

Nope...no words...

A home can never have too much squash...

as you will clearly see in the upcoming weeks...

So I am off to make breakfast for dinner....delish! Take time this week for moments of grace, thoughts of gratitude and lots and lots of smiles.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Merry Autumn!

Enough Said!

Oh...yippie~ki~yeah!...Okay, now enough said!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Autumnal Surrender

"Give me the splendid silent sun

with all his beams full~dazzling,

give me juicy autumnal fruit

ripe and red from the orchard."

~Walt Whitman

At long last...it is almost here...cooler days, crisper air, the new angle of the sun, the brightness of the moon, sleeping leaves falling, geese in flight, and stars at night, soups on stoves, and sweet and lovely, lovely nesting....Heaven.

I am starting to get busy again...crazy busy...but I love it because with this busy~ness comes extreme creativity, and juicy, juicy inspiration...cha, cha, cha! It is a state of mind that us creative gals know all too well...lucky us!

So before I share what I am doing in my neck~of~the~woods...I want to thank Bella from Bella Casa ~ Beautiful Home for passing on an award to me....I am pleased as punch...and it is my first

award in blog~land! So Bella, my dear blog~land buddy...thank you!

I was also tagged...for the first time I might add...by Darlene from Darlene"s Days to list six random things about myself. So here is my silly list of silly things that when I mention any of these things to folks...they remark..."isn't that interesting"....but I know that they just think that I am silly...guess what....they're right!

One. My favorite vegetables are brussels sprouts...I could eat them 4 times a week, hot or cold, sweet or not...I love 'em bunches and bunches and then some.

Two. My hubs and I are both right handed and we have 4 kids and 3 of them are left handed.

Three. I hate to fly...don't do it...I did do it when our son graduated from boot camp...but believe me I was checking out train schedules all the way to the airport.

Four. Even though I my come across as outgoing and a silly~willy gal...I am actually very shy.

Five. I can wake up myself up without an alarm clock....I just think of the time I want to wake in the morn and I will wake at that time...weird huh?

Six. I have never seen Star Wars.

See...silly gal~o~rama!

I love Darlene's blog....check it out...it is truly delightful and a treat for the soul.

So our baby is going to science camp this week and we are deep in packing...and don't you know...it has been hot and sunny for weeks...and today it is pouring rain...just makes it cozier I say to her....she is going for 3 days and she has packed 10 sweatshirts...she was raised right!

While she is away I will pull out all the stops with the harvest decorating. AND...I WILL UPDATE MY ETSY SHOP....I will and that is a promise. I know once I get going...I won't be able to stop...and I gotta get going 'cuz I have a bazaar in early December and we all know how nuts it is to try and do much during the holidays.

I did do a bit of autumnal puzting...I know, it's a shocker ~ here, take a peek~a~loo...

Pun'kin cutie~pie~ness...

I really heart these dollar store wonders...

Pinecone tea anyone?

Garland of dried citrus and cinnamon and gourds and pomegranates and ribbon...Heaven!

Just a bit of what I have been working on....paint and fabric, thy name is happy~time...

A closer sneaky~peeky...

And no weekend in fall would be complete

without some living room tweaking....tweat~a~lious...I say!

And now I am off to finish dinner and fold a load of towels and make a quick roasted pumpkin soup a la Rachel Ray and wrap up the fresh baked banana nut bread for the freezer and roast some brussels sprouts {told ya} and read some more magazines and all the while being incredibly grateful.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Dollar Store Delight

I wasn't gonna spend a nickle today...not a nickle....so maybe I shouldn't have driven by the dollar store this morn....and maybe I shouldn't have parked and maybe I shouldn't have walked in...but I am so glad I did.

Take a peek~a~loo at the goodies that just leaped into my basket...imagine that...they just leaped in. Don't you wish that you invented the dollar stores?

Yep...at the dollar store!!!

Bumpy and grumpy and completely wonderful...

See the baby fake~o~rama gourds nestled in the cones?

I love the dollar store!

And then I was just trying to leave the parking lot....trying to drive responsibly and watch the road and then, out of nowhere....I spotted these in a bin in front of the grocery store....

These bad boys are real and just begging to be smothered in butter and brown sugar!

And....while, again, minding my own business, the store had these stacked at the end of an isle...

I bought it...just look at it...can you blame me? I wish I had invented that too.

So now I am off to watch a movie with the hubs and rest a spell...got a super duper busy weekend....volleyball game, farmer's market, painting doors, yard work and getting our daughter ready for science camp...and of course blogging til the cows come home and then some.

Happy Friday Night All ~

Smiles ~ Ramona

Just 'Cuz It's Broken...Don't Mean It's Done Fer..

You got that right sister... So my favorite weather gal on the tube said that fall is coming and it is coming soon...and it's got a 'tude.....you know...an attitude. So this week it has been in the 80s and 90s and next week...here come the 60s...and not a moment too soon for this gal. Remind me that I said that when I start to whine in late spring.

So I am in the garden this morn...watering my parched lawn and thinking about what to chat about on the ol' blog~ola and I glance down at this ~

And...I bet you might not realize that there are beloved pieces all over my garden and home that my klutzy self dropped...but being a pack~rat~o~rama...extraordinaire ~ I might add...I just couldn't toss 'em. So I did the next best thing....I tossed 'em in the flower pot.

See...broken...but not done~fer...

Here are some more items that I just couldn't toss from my world...take a gander and I am sure that you will understand why I totally deserve the EXTRAORDINAIRE award for my pack~ratty~ness.

Broken...

...or is it? Made ya look!

Ouch...now that's gonna leave a mark!

But wait...he never felt a thing...look at him...sitting there all rooster~y and all...

...And look at this poor dude...can't even begin to tell you what

happened here....garden ornament bar fight...I'm just guess'n...

Now...not so fast....lookie here!

...and here...that ivy has a mind of it's own and see the baby

gazing ball nestled in the pot? I broke the base for it or the wind did...

I like it better in the pot...what do you think?

I heart this tea pot a lot...it has been in many a blog photo....

yep, I heart it a whole bunch and then some....so imagine my dismay

when I broke the lid...what a klutz!

But I was not filled with despair for long....

You don't have to break a teapot lid to glean this idea...

Go ahead...glean away...but first go glean some cones.

Happy Really Late Summer....

Smiles ~ Ramona

An Apple A Day Keeps The Decorating Blues Away

Ahhhh, ain't it the truth. I really get excited about decorating with fruits and vegetables. As summer draws to an end and apples are so beautiful and the really interesting vegis are out of the fields and so lovingly displayed on our grocery shelves....I begin to look for decorating inspiration in the isles of our produce department. And don't you know that I will be a happy gal when we trot on down the lane to a nearby pumpkin patch.....yep, happy camper am I when that day comes. All of the wonderful squash and corn and gourds and, and, and apples! Lots and lots of apples. Apples love...can you feel it?

In the weeks to come I will share some of my delight in decorating with apples and vegis...but for now...I'll give you just a sample of what I am talking about.

Aren't they pur~dy?

Place apples in a cutie~pie bowl on the bathroom sink...

instant decorating unexpected~ness!

So fresh and yummy...just asking to be made into a pie~ola!

How 'bout pears in a jar...pear are BFFs with apples...don't ya know...

I have shown this before...but it is worth repeating...I love putting

apples around the base of my pots...and one day, in the near future, these

apples with change to mini pumpkins and gourds....Magic!

Have a wonderful week...I promise to chat more this week now that the insane pace of my volunteering is slowing down a bit...or is it....I don't know...I am too busy to tell.

Smiles ~ Ramona

A Rusty ~O~ Paint Chippin' Ladder For Pots And Such

I heart me a good ladder and there are many uses for those ladders that I heart. But of all the ladders that I have heart~ed the one that I heart the most is the one that hangs over our ol' noodles as a pot and basket rack. It is probably one of my most favorite things in our home. It was the first hokey~pokey decorating do~dad that my husband encouraged me to do....it is right up there with the straw on our dinning room walls and the gigantic rooster in that there dining room. It takes a special kind of dude to put up with my array of decorating mischief....cha, cha, cha!

It is rusty and chippy and warped and outdoors~y and I heart it big time...

It holds baskets and pots and this and that and the other things...

And...if you are wondering...I'm not gonna lie to you, it is a pain in the back~side to clean...

And...yep, I use everything on that o~rack~of~ladder...

Ahhhhh....ladder~love right here in my kitchen...

now excuse me while I go cook up some trouble and

I know just where to find a pot or two.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Denim Jacket Fall Festooned~ment Tutorial

I am a denim jacket lovin' gal...and from time to time and from season to season I like to embellish my bad boy denim jackets~o~love with this and that and the other thing that any season has to offer.

And so this late summer eve I offer to you a seasonal denim jacket ornamentation tutorial.

Please enjoy...and now I am off to get my tongue~out~of~my~cheek.

You can paint denim...just add textile medium to your acrylic paint....

You may have noted that this is an outdated, over~faded, funky~o~rama denim

jacket from way back~in~the~day...yeah....denim love...can you feel it?

Glean some leaves and a cotton hankie for harvest~y fun...

A mossy branch from a sleeping tree...and of course since the tree

is sleeping {shhhhhh...} all of the leaves have fallen...so check out this cleaver idea...

...simply clip that ol' leaf to that ol' mossy branch...instant foliage...

And no denim jacket is complete without a birdhouse peeking out of your pocket...

And no tutorial compiled by me would be complete without a rooster...

Consider the charm to be had with a pine cone corsage...

...and in a pinch, you could grate it onto your buttered toast...

Finally, a bouquet of sharpened pencils....yep, it's a great movie line...

So there you have it...I hope that this has sparked your creative denim juices...I think that Mr. Strauss would be proud.

Happy late summer all....

Smiles ~ Ramona