altered art necklaces

houston just cleared me to join a FAB local business for their Nov. and Dec. sales. whoot, whoot!  the name of the shop is Mama's Happy and they are located in Mound, MN. these women "get it" (and i get the distinct feeling they really ARE happy-and that shows). the shop is full of repurposed furniture, vintage finds and cool handmade goods. last weekend i
was busy making unique one of a kind necklaces like this.




this is just a teensy sample of what i will have for sale


                                                 the dates of the sale are:
                                                   Nov. 9-13 & Nov. 17-20
                                                      Dec. 1-4 & Dec. 7-11

Happy Halloween

            this is especially for Leslie Kaye, who really is the
                                   Queen of Halloween!

             p.s. I love crowns so why didn't I think of this? a tiara on a big white pumpkin!

p.s.s this is a re-post from last year----cause my friend Leslie is still and ALWAYS will be
                                            the Queen of Halloween!!!!

                                                                 xo, beth

merci'

my dear friend threw a party today. she is someone who lives in
gratitude. she inspires me. she is a good person, she finds joy in whatever life throws her way. today she treated some friends to a party. she simply wanted to let us all know that she loves and appreciates us in her life.


if you've never had Patty Cake-get thyself to Yum

 how cool is that? i felt so honored to be a part of her celebration-she had everything set up at YuM bakery and i felt like a little girl again-  at a kick arse birthday party-complete with favors to take home. (only thing missing was pin the tail on the donkey.)
girlfriend knows how to entertain let me tell ya.  thanks for a delightful afternoon cheri' marie and thanks for being so FaBuLoUs!!!




the motley crew



in my studio workin ...

it's fRiDaY...color me happy!

hot diggity...it's the weekend and i have just enough plans to keep me happy. hope your weekend is wicked good fun. i noticed when i went for a walk after dark tonite that there's the most "halloweenish" new sliver of moon out. i'm going to watch Bridesmaids later. am i the last gal on the planet to see it? my stomach muscles could use a good work out. just say'n.

Ode to October

as we bid goodbye to october,
can i just say
 you were beautiful,
 you were magical-
 perfect in every way.
 you showed us your glory, warm days,
starry nights,
you hung in there and kept pleasing
it all felt so right.
 your soft winds blew past me.
scarlet leaves drifted down-
and carpeted the lawns-
heck, pretty much the whole town.
we raked and we mulched and now
it's all really bare
could it just be august again and
time for the fair?

the end



 I don't want it to end.   xo, beth



all creatures great and small

my 28 yr. old "baby"--- in case you're checking in Adria  : )

our grandson seth and his two darling seesters



these are some of my favorite babies in the whole wide world. aren't they yummy?

most of them will remain unnamed to protect their innocence. (what's left of it any-

way. one of their 6 yr. old siblings came home from school today and said he'd

heard the "f" word.) seriously people.    : )

things i've never done ~

 something i read on another blog got me thinking about this. pondering if you will.
i am 53 years old and i have never:

1. ridden in a helicopter
2. had a c-section
3. learned to speak a foreign language
4. drunk a real cup of coffee
5. shot anything (altho my sweet girl has)

6. broken a bone
7. set foot in europe
8. swam with the dolphins

9. run a marathon
10. given anyone a black eye
11. gotten a tattoo

12. met a president
13. cared if i did
14. been to disney world

15.eaten squirrel

well there, it was good to get that off my chest.

nighty night! xo beth

Fall- you're the best

here's some fall photos i love...



one of my besties brought me back this pitcher from
a trip to Italy.




 napa valley



a halloweeeeeeen party at my girls



o.k. this is random, but it's josie on
her 1st birthday, i couldn't find it
the other day! punkin wasn't all about
the birthday hat. haha



this is in my backyard. how lucky am i?





girlfriend loves cowboy boots







my dula baby, Jos (love her)



duck opener in alexandria

i will leave you with this thought.  it could be fall 4

seasons of the year as far as i'm concerned.

xo, beth

my Singer and I

here's a project i tried today. i made these little gift bags. burlap is in right now and i considered making bags with it-but it's darker than i wanted...so dark that i didn't think my stamping would show up on it, so i purchased a yard of this linen like fabric in a great bone color. next i cut out rectangles that were 5 x 7 in. big. what followed that was me looking high and low, far and wide and finally finding my 30,000 rubber stamps. just kidding girls. i don't have over 100.
 i monkeyed around to find combinations that i thought would look french/cute and proceeded to stamp on the fabric. next i took the second side and sewed a bit of ribbon in the middle, app. 1/4 of the way down from the top to use as a tie and then sewed the 2 sides together, inside out. just turn them right side out, fill them and wrap the ribbon around and tie. this was a simple and quick way to make a one of a kind, reusable little bag. it felt good to sew but now i'm on to a crocheted headband. : )

my closet...

*shopping for clothes is like having a root canal to me*

consequently my wardrobe is pretty hopeless. wish these items were in my closet and i would so be wearing them to work tomorrow. help me rhonda-just go get it all and tell me what i owe you. thanks!

toys on the carpet~

this past weekend we had toys on the carpet. you know what that means right? yep, there were little ones in the hood. we had fun taking care of this little 3 and 5 yr. old brother and sister while their momma attended a wedding on a boat. i'm quite sure after seeing elexia in action-that had she been invited on the boat, girlfriend would have jumped ship and swam with the sharks. she's a hoot---full of piss and vinegar. takes after her auntie v. as a little girl. : ) brother aidan is about as perfect as a 5 yr old can be. i made them popcorn and we had an ice cream party, they got pancakes shaped like mickey mouse and their own little syrup pitchers. we went on a nature walk and swang on the neighbors swings....thanks kids for making my weekend fly by!

G.G.T's

here's the 6 Girls With Good Taste that
made it to Blvd. Kitchens thurs. p.m.

can i just say that if you haven't tried Blvd. Kitchens in Minnetonka yet-you should. (just not on a night i want to be there-it's crazy busy-hard to get a table busy) the reason they are so crazy busy is this: the food is excellent, the ambience is just right and the wait staff top notch. we are practically expecting an invitation to our waiter Dan's wedding. he was darling. we ate too much and then topped it off with cake & sparklers. we had a couple cool things to celebrate. there's just nothing like a good girl's night out to recharge my batteries.

xo, beth



i think someone was a little excited! tee hee



happy birthday little one~

two years ago today i had the privilege to be part of this sweet babies birth. her momma maggie is
one of my very best friends and she and her hubbie brian invited me to be their dula. i was on speed
dial for the last couple of weeks, checking in with them daily. (or more-this is a bff remember?) maggie had been admitted to the hospital earlier that day, almost 2 weeks before her due date because her blood presssure had spiked.  i got "the" call about 12  a.m. that the birth process had begun and i thew on my clothes, grabbed my bag and camera and  raced north
they live an hour away and i was so afraid i wasn't going to get there in time. well i did and after taking a wrong exit and having a heck of a time getting past security in hospital in the middle of the night...i finally rushed into their room to find them both semi sleeping and calm as all get out. they slept most of the night while i sat awake like the mother hen i am praying and waiting for the little one's arrival. even tho it's impossible-i've gotta tell you that i'd like to have one more baby. i'd like to experience a birth with an epidural folks. that's the way to go. i'd like someone to wake me up and tell me i'm dilated to a 10 and am ready to push! nice.
well it wasn't all wine and roses let me tell you, but maggie was amazing and josie kay hubbling burst into this world in the morning hours two years ago today, and our world has never been the same.
happy 2nd birthday to a precious blessing from above. thanks brian and maggie for allowing me to be a part of her story. buckets full of love on your birthday little one! xo em


the birth was imminent

                                                              

Josie Kay Hubbling~10-22-09

girls with good taste

that's what we are...girls with good taste. that means in decor, food and most of all friends! earlier this summer i woke up early one day and had time to just think. well i started thinking about how many of my friends i just never get to see enough of.
*

 i treasure my friends, and i'm talking cherish-more than riches, more than gold-they make my life better. they laugh with me and cry with me- care about my family and support me in so many ways. i wasted no time in deciding that i would throw out a random invite to 9 of them to join me in meeting for dinner every 6 weeks. well within 1 day i heard back from all of them and they were all in- in like flinn. so tomorrow evening after we've all finished work, we will come together to share some good food and drink and just catch up on each other's lives and laugh. these woman all "get it" they know what's really important and it's not how we look, or what our houses look like. come in your pajamas if you want. don't wash your hair-i don't care-what matters is the connection.

                                                                                                                                                                                

once a witch always a witch?

      dentures?  no just mini marshmellows and apples.

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

boy do i wish i had a picture of me in my halloween costume when i was in 4th grade.
i was a witch. if you are older than 40, like muwa, you probably know that you didn't just go to the
store and pick out a costume. oh no- nuh uh. i grew up in rural MN. on a farm-in the middle of nowhere-(kind of -at least not within walking distance of any neighbors) and there was nowhere to get a costume. so you figured it out -you scrounged around in closets and trunks and and it needed to be free, or close to it. so here's the dealio, our choices always consisted of something like: a hobo, a cat or pipi longstockings(if you were lucky enough to have long hair and some stiff wire). well a witch was what i wanted to be. i remember looking everywhere for some cardboard to make the hat. how hard could this be? HARD as it turns out. it was a production let me tell you, but with some help from my gram and several Wheaties boxes we fashioned a hat. it was black, it was tall and quite fabulous.

what i never took into consideration, was what it was going to be like to get in and out of the car in the wind, over and over that spooky, blustery Halloween night. not only did my hat break in half and blow away...at the last house of the evening, my little cousin, sister and I got out of the car, started towards the house and the wind caught my paper bag full of treats and blew it into the nexxxxxxxxxt county! one very sad little witch slunk on home where my gram made my big sis split her loot with me.  i owe her, for the candy and the cavity. 

                                                                xo, beth