Today Inspired: Help Others

KeepHerKitty lives by the words of the Dalai Lama

The Countdown Begins Today!

Are you ready?

My Autumn Home Tour: 2014

So many bloggers are showing off their pretty homes adorned with the colors and textures of Autumn. Taking a look in another crafter's home is so inspiring. In that light I hope you'll be inspired by something I've done with our home for this most lovely of seasons.

Please come in, take a look at my vision of autumn and the season of gratitude.

The living room fireplace and mantel:

The mantel:

 Fall chipboard screen lined with vellum and illuminated with flameless candles (behind the screen).

Crafted with Silhouette Cameo, design file # 46939 by Megan Hardy Designs.

Happy Thanksgiving placard, Silhouette Design ID#65238 by Echo Park.

 Detail:

Autumn Shelf Art: various Silhouette files and stash paper and fibers.

Rafia wreath with cascading leafs and felt pennant bunting,

hanging indoors on the Summer Deck French Door.

Detail:

Autumnal centerpiece, with potpourri and holiday baubles atop the piano.

  

Reflections of autumn in the piano top.

 

Textured everlasting sunflowers.

Thank you for joining me here.

I wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving.

Kaye

The Great Turkey Invasion of 2014

It is officially Thanksgiving Week at our House:
The Turkeys Have Arrived!

In a Thanksgiving world full of chalkboard pumpkins, burlap napkin rings, and spiced pumpkin latte served from the bespoke beverage bar, the least urbane thing one could chose to adorn the banquet hall must most certainly be the honeycomb turkey. Long considered the silly (okay, tacky) table decoration of tasteless drug store shoppers, few bloggers and stylists are willing to let this crinkly-tissue bird of Thanksgiving past roost upon the table.

Call me tasteless. Call me tacky.

I love my honeycomb turkeys and I'm not ashamed to shout it to the world!

If my memory is correct these honeycomb turkeys are the first thing I ever purchased online from, of course, eBay! My flock of six beautiful birds has held a place of pride on my Thanksgiving table now for 18 years. I love pulling them from the storage bin, unfolding the tissue as the sound of crisp crinkling paper heralds their arrival and the advent of my most favorite holiday ever: Thanksgiving!

 The paper tabs that once secured the birds in open stance have long been broken, so I secure their full bloom with paperclips hidden in the folds. Look fast, they are only here for a week or maybe two. That makes their appearance ever so much sweeter.

Nostalgia at its finest: the Honeycomb Turkey.

It's hard to imagine why these honeycomb tissue birds are sadly extinct.

 

The Details: Autumnal Pumpkin Pennant Pillow

Last week I showed you my Fun and Festive Autumnal throw pillow cover on this post:

 Pillow Cover.

 Here is another look at the 16x16-inch pillow cover:

The Details:
The felt applique is attached to a homemade denim pillow cover with an envelope closure in the back. I didn't even add buttons for the closure, just your basic envelope closure. I keep a modest inventory of felt on hand for those felt craft emergencies. Actually, I believe one can never have too much felt! I love the texture and how it lends itself to so many crafts be it sewing, gluing, cutting, and/or pinning.

My felt comes from Commonwealth Felt, a division of National Nonwovens. The felt is superior quality, made in the U.S.A., customer service is terrific and shipping is crazy fast.

Check them out online:

www.commonwealthfelt.com

It may seem fastidious, but I developed an organizational system for my felt so I can easily create a color palette for a project, reorder a beloved color, and keep track of my inventory. Check out the 4x6" file cards with the product label and fabric swatch:

 On some swatches I've matched DMC embroidery thread to the felt, this also lends ease in planning a project.  On this particular project I used 12 different colors, some came from the scrap pile and with this system I was able to identify the felt type, color name, and product number. This would be most useful if additional material was needed to complete a project.

The pumpkin is done in FiestaFelt (100% acrylic) named "Orange" (I know - obviously right?!), with Loden Green FiestaFelt for the vine and Copper Canyon FiestaFelt for the stem. The background is Mellow Yellow in a 35%-Wool-65%-Rayon blend. I love this color and texture.

I used the same colors on all my autumnal felt adornments used throughout the kitchen-dining-living rooms to lend a cohesive theme throughout.

It would seem KeepHer Kitty approves as she enjoys the

Autumnal Pumpkin Pennant Pillow in her favorite chair!

Today Inspired: Luminous Eyes

My beautiful KeepHerKitty. And I was never going to be a "cat lady"!  Who could resist?
  

lu•mi•nous (lō´mə nəs) adj. [[ME < L luminosus < lumen, ]] 1 giving off light; shining; bright 2 filled with light; illuminated 3 glowing in the dark, as paint with a phosphor in it 4 clear; readily understood 5 intellectually brilliant – –SYN 1 bright --Webster's New World College Dictionary

Shot with Canon RebelXS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens
1/100 F2.8, ambient light, no flash, ISO 400
Image by Kaye Bailey
Beautiful Creature by God

Autumnal Pillow Cover

This is a quick and easy throw pillow cover to compliment my autumnal decor. I carried on the felt pennant bunting theme with two streamers waving above the freshly harvested pumpkin. I blanket-stitched the 12x12-inch golden felt background to a pillow slip made of denim.  The small touches like this fall inspired throw pillow add cohesiveness as seasonal decor mixes with everyday furnishings.

And it just makes me happy. Who can argue against that?

In Appreciation of Those Who Served

Veteran's Day 2014

"We must remember, only the dead have seen the end of war."

"We must remember, only the dead have seen the end of war," Dedicatory sign. Fort Douglas Cemetery, Salt Lake City Utah. I captured this image early morning 17 April 2014. The Fort Douglas Cemetery is the resting place of officers and men who died in the service of their country. They represent Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam Conflict. Also interred prisoners of war from WW1 & WW2.

Time Change: Nailed It!

This image is an oldie but a goodie from 2013. Makes me giggle every time I see it!  KeepHerKitty loves the fall time change and the extra hour of sleep. Spring time change...not so much.

Anything Goes Halloween Pumpkin

At 5:40 last night (Halloween) KeepHerKitty's pumpkin remained unadorned and sad. More importantly the KeepHer was not amused. So in panic crafter mode I fired-up the glue gun and opened the bin of spare parts from autumnal crafts of days past. By 6:00 we had this "anything goes" gourd and a pleased kitty who promptly ignored any further haunting night hoopla.