Once in a Blue Moon

It does seem that I only post on my blog once in a blue moon. But tonight's moon really is a blue moon, that is, the second full moon in a month. And of course a blue moon occurring on New Year's Eve is even more special and rare. So as we stand on the cusp of a New Year under a blue moon, I raise my glass to you all. Let's take this year and enjoy what we love and hold dear and endeavor to cherish each day and each occasion to the very fullest. Chin, chin!

Now, don't I love these...

These amazing pieces and more wonderful art by Nick Bantock can be found at his site.

Sew and Sew

Now this is exciting embroidery! These jewels are the work of Aubrey Longley-Cook , for more of his fancy handiwork check out his etsy shop.

Whoo, whoo, whoo?

As I am sitting here I can hear the wind leaking through the keyholes and many cracks in our old and still poorly insulated house. I also hear the hooting of an owl in the tall oak tree in my front yard. I love hearing him out there. Perfect soundtrack for an October night with Halloween on my mind. So speaking of owls, how great is this one? This is Chillingworth. He is the creation of the wildly talented Ann Wood. Be sure to pay a visit to her site for a real "treat".

Cute little pears!

I love pears and I love baby buddha shaped pears! See more here.

I can't stop myself,

they are like potato chips, really ugly, with tentacles and suckers, potato chips, and you can't have just one.

I've made another one, and I like him pretty well. This one has a light inside it's head so that light filters out from his poppy red eyes. I've really had a lot of fun, figuring out how to make these and actually see them come to fruition. I must quote Adam Wallacavage here again for giving me the inspiration to make something I had seen, that otherwise could never own.

Adam Wallacavage: "I think it was the idea of creating the things I simply wanted. I've spent countless hours in my life scouring through flea markets and antique stores and decorative arts museums and I never had money to buy the things that inspired me. Or I felt this compulsive urge to acquire things that was kinda obsessive and not very good feeling. I basically realized that I had the talents to hand-make the things I wanted to see and it has been such a blessing to have gotten to the point of where I am now, where I feel I can have anything I can imagine, if I can figure out a way to make it."

I haven't decided whether or not to list this one. I really like having these creepy things hanging around my house. I'm sure I probably should not be decorating my house like the set of a spooky movie but it's what I'm feelin' right now and has been loads of fun. BTW I was really honored recently when etsy and Paste Magazine's Assistant Editor, Rachael Maddux chose old Pearl as part of their best animal themed items on etsy. It was HUGE for me, I am so flattered that my item would even be considered. I stay well grounded by the number of 'I can't believe that's so ugly' blogs that my stuff appears on. I kind of understand this as these are not for everyone and yes, creepy and yes, ugly, but that's what I was going for. Really. It is. What I was going for. Really.

What I did on my summer vacation.

Well, I didn't go anywhere for a summer vacation. But here are a couple of pics I found on my camera from summer. The first is my birthday cake. I haven't had a birthday cake since my mama passed away in 2004. She was a real stickler that I always have a cake. She would enlist someone to go get me the very prettiest cake every year. And of course me being me, I LOVED the corner pieces with lots of frosting roses. Guess I must have reminisced about that quite alot. So my darling little girl got me a cake with frosting roses everywhere and in my favorite color! Boy did we enjoy it!

"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple..." and pink skulls on my shoes. Love these comfy shoes. Would have died had my children tried to wear something so fugly. But in my bizarro reality think I may be rockin these. (Which is the exact reason that I fear for my sanity.) One hot July day, I mean really hot July day, (did I say it was a hot July day?) we found this guy. This poor little fella had fallen down into a barrell of feed and could not claw his way up and out. When my husband found him, he thought he was dead as he was totally unresponsive. But after a closer look we could see he was barely breathing, and totally dehydrated. So drop by drop, we gave him water, then pedialyte. When he regained conciousness he moved on to canned cat food. After a few days and an amazing recovery he was ready to rejoin his family. Since then I have seen him several times as we had marked him with a squirt of green livestock marking paint. Guess all's well that ends well. He's not sickly in this photo, but enjoying a scratch on the back from my hubby.

That's about it for the pics in the camera, but I am looking at the calendar hoping to take a summer vacation in the fall. We'll see.

I'm Baaaaack,

and I can't say where I've been. You see it's in the contract that I signed. Noooooooooooo, not really, that's a lie too. I haven't been anywhere and I haven't done anything, at least not blog worthy.

But, you know how you wake up some mornings and try really hard to get a good start, a positive start? I personally use my Stuart Smalley affirmations, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog gone it people like me!"

Unfortunately most days I don't even buy that line of crap and for those days there are these cards. Cards that get right down to crux of any situation. Believe me they have a card here for ANY occasion. Just don't expect any Hallmark hoo-haw. You can get yours at the Bluebarnhouse Store.

Babysitter's Club

I've been babysitting for several weeks. A teen-aged friend of mine needed a place to keep his chickens for a while. Actually it was 100+ chickens. The keyword being "was". Due to my swell animal husbandry skills in combination with his "not quite adequate" fence building skills, add to that an attack from a natural born killer, you have a recipe for disaster. There are now about 70 chickens and one very happy, healthy, well-fed skunk. My chicken numbers are dwindling but on the other hand, my skunk is thriving.

I've got places to go, people to see...

and things to carry and now, thanks to Roxanne at Cheetah Velour, I have the cutest aqua bag with the sweetest green lobsters to hold my things! Don't you just love it? Most days are fun but today was really, really, really fun! I love surpises and when I got my mail today here was this waiting for me. Thanks Roxanne for this cute crustacean bag and thanks for making my day special!

Run, don't walk...

right over to the Hollow Happenings blog and see the amazing photos from Heather's trip to the Galapagos. While you are there check out this season's ADORABLE babies!

As summer simmers...

I have found myself to be an infrequent blogger, very blase and uninspired. That is until I came across these images. Once more I am amazed and in awe of the creative genius that some possess.

Just when you think you've seen it all...

A sleeping giant was awakened in Nantes, France, the birthplace of author Jules Verne. This giant puppet was made by theatrical artistes Royale de Luxe. I have no words to describe the awe that I feel when seeing such creative people at work. via socyberty

This group of street artists is also responsible for the Sultan's Elephant shown here.

via Ronnie del Carmen

Congratulations! We have a winner!

Drum roll please......... the winner is.......

everyone who left a comment on this post. Chris, Kimberlee, Jeanne, Roxanne, Auntie J, Karen and SoRelleES, thank you for reading my blog and commenting. I have some of your addresses, but will need a few more. Please email me at cryssun@aol.com with your address so that I can get your owl to you asap.

Thanks again everyone for playing along.

Angry Little Owl Giveaway

I will soon be posting my 200th post. Which is very surprising as I am not usually a person who sticks to anything, unless it's a bad habit or grudge or some equally appalling characteristic. But I must say that I have enjoyed my blog and all of the new friends I've met through it. I have been so lucky to see your blogs and meet so many super talented people. So I'd like to celebrate by giving away one of my angry little owl lamps, I have many colors that you can choose from. Please leave a comment on this post and I will draw the winner's name and announce it on my 200th post.

Our Girl Pearl

Here she is! From the murky depths of my workroom to the cobwebby heights of my dining room. I present to you my latest creation.

Words from

Adam himself:
"Adam Wallacavage: I think it was the idea of creating the things I simply wanted. I've spent countless hours in my life scouring through flea markets and antique stores and decorative arts museums and I never had money to buy the things that inspired me. Or I felt this compulsive urge to acquire things that was kinda obsessive and not very good feeling. I basically realized that I had the talents to hand-make the things I wanted to see and it has been such a blessing to have gotten to the point of where I am now, where I feel I can have anything I can imagine, if I can figure out a way to make it."

Photo above: (Left: Maria Grazia Rosin, Center: Maria Grazia Rosin , Right: Adam Wallacavage)

The Killer Inside Me

No this isn't autobiographical, but instead is a movie that has been filming in Guthrie. Guthrie is the location of our county seat and our nearest real grocery store. It's a very neat old town with beautiful architecture in the downtown buildings and scads of stately victorian homes. The movie is based on a novel by Jim Thompson and will star Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Casey Affleck and my favorite Simon Baker from The Mentalist. They have sets around a really neat old house with cranes and the whole nine yards. Big exciting news from around here. You can read more about it here .

What? You don't love it?

And now I am a victim of my own success. You will never guess my surprise and momentary horror to find that while achieving my insignificant "Fifteen Minutes" that all reviews were not to be complimentary and some a rude reality check.

Before explaining that further, I have a confession to make. I haven't always embraced my bizarre and yet quirky dark side. I was one of "those" women. You've seen their blogs, filled with adorable cottages, darling crafts, comforting collectibles, cutesy kitsch and garnished with a healthy sprinkling of pink and aqua glitter. A few years ago I thought I could never get enough of the anthropomorphic salt shakers, faded floral pillows and the sweetly adorable. Truthfully I still love all that too. But while surfing the web I came across those who love Halloween as much as me, and blogs who embrace an affection for nature, some who like the things that are just a little different, but still amazing and awesome, you will find these blogs linked on my sidebar. I thought that TotusMel said it beautifully when she said:

"All the cute and the precious have been found. All the kitties and puppies have homes. The candy colored, the eco-friendly, the hipsters of the handmade are all duly covered elsewhere. Here I will find the slightly odd, the darkly beautiful, the elegant and steamy pieces of goodness. I am very particular in my tastes and though I promise you that I will share nothing but the most intriguing of my discoveries, you may not always like them. I must also confess that I have no real artistic nor fashion background to base my finds upon. These are simply discoveries dug up from the depths of etsy or perhaps elsewhere, brushed off and presented for your approval."

That is my thinking on the matter exactly. Cute has been done and done well. The things I set out to create were a little creepy and I wasn't reaching for beautiful, classy or cute either. So to find myself the topic of a post on the Ugly Things for Sale blog should really come as no shock. Guess I was just momentarily surprised that there was such a blog. But you can find my octopus chandelier right there next to the steaming pile of poo and the uterus earrings. It's all good though. There are those of us who create ugly and those of us who write about ugly.

I've got a few skeletons in my closet

Some in my kitchen, several in the dining room, a couple in the living room and a bucket full on the porch. I just know I'll have several bone related projects. Maybe this is why I have very few visitors.

It's Alive!

For the experiment to be a success...

Yes, I love Young Frankenstein or is it Fronkensteen? My own monsterous creation, the Kraken chandelier, has gone to live in Las Vegas. So I've been hard at work in my laboratory, working on more cephalopod lighting projects. I'll keep you posted if the experiment succeeds.

Lovely Wallpaper

Lovely wallpaper, that is, if you squint and cross your eyes a little and are very sure to not look too closely. If you do you will see bugs, creepy, crawly bugs, ants and cockroaches. Link via Neatorama

This may tickle your fancy.

I know a pun is the lowest form of humor. But seriously, what do you think of this chair by artist Elyse Hochstadt?

He strikes again!

My nemesis strikes again. This time in a more covert manner. You may remember my 'friend' the bobcat from this post. This week we lost our 2 cats in one day to a disease called cytauxzoonosis , which is a tick borne disease that is transported from bobcats to domestic cats. The disease lives in bobcats causing no problems but is usually (95%+ mortality rate) fatal to cats. The cats first showed signs of the illness Sunday and by the time we reached the vet Monday one had died en route and one had to be euthanized due to his poor condition. One of the major problems is the ineffectiveness of the flea and tick repellents. We have used Frontline on our animals with good results until recently. It seems that exterminators have begun using the chemical that is the active ingredient in this product to spray lawns for pest removal. As often happens the fleas and ticks have become "superbugs" and are now immune. Anyway there is no real treatment for this disease and the surviving animals are usually supported with extreme measures. Poor Poopy and Big Pussy were not so lucky. Both cats will be missed, in the words of Bas Rutten, "God speed and party on!" Here's a picture of Poopy, Big Pussy hated the paparazzi so no pics are available.

Housekeeping Made Interesting

You probably wouldn't guess that this is a dual purpose Horned Toad. Check it out here.