~Breaking News From The Northwest~

The Pumpkin Spice latte is ba--ack at Starbucks!!!!

Thank the coffee Gods. I have been waiting for months.

With the taste of my favor pumpkin latte on my lips I wanted to indulge another sense. My sense of smell. 

So with my little minions (Jack and Joe) we concocted a potion to make the entire house smell like autumn.

Thought you might want to indulge also: 

By the light of a full sun we mixed these ingrediants together 

*half an apple cut into the thiniest of slices
*half an orange cut into the thiniest of slices
*several cinnamon sticks
*a hand full of cloves
*a dash of nutmeg
*2-3 cups water

Toss all ingredients into a cauldron and watch it bubble and boil. Once it boils for a sec turn it down to simmer and inhale deeply. A sense of joy and an urge to eat pumpkin pie with fester in your heart.

This is to die for.

~My Man Thursday~ Colin Firth

He IS Mr. Darcy.

Colin is classy and tall and handsome and funny.

He has made some stinker movies but his good ones make up for it like:

Bridget Jones I and II

Pride and Prejudice

Easy Virtue

Nanny McPhee

Love Actually

Importance Of Being Earnest

English Patient

Circle Of Friends

The Secret Garden

Ohhhhhh. He makes me smile.

Falling Leaves Garland

I designed this garland last night and had so much fun I thought I would just pass along the how to's:

Supplies:

 Distress Ink in vintage photo

Versamark embossing stamp pad

Naturals hemp string- found in jewelry section

A small leaf stamp

Ephemera backing something with some stiffness to it.

Idea: Copy an old newspaper with card stock that way the paper is stiff and

you don't waste your newspaper or do the same with an old book

Glue stick

A large circle punch I used 1 1/4 size

Embossing powder, the distress embossing powder is really cool because

it gives you the rough weather beaten look but I also used gold and that turned out fine.

NOTE: I forgot to put two important items in the photo-tweezers and a heat tool.

Here we go:

Punch out circles. For 4ft of hemp string I used 13 circles. Double that because these are two sided. So in all you should have 26 circles for 4 ft of string.

 

Distress the edges of each circle.

Stamp the leaf on the front of the circle.

Drizzle on the embossing powder shake off excess powder and put back in jar.

Hold the circle down with something like tweezers so your fingers aren't in the way. The heat gun air is very hot and the circle is hard to hold with your fingers.  

Heat with heating tool until the distressing powder starts to adhere to the paper.

Distress the edges of  the white side of the back circle so when  you put the circles together the

white doesn't show.

Glue the plain ephemera circle to the front which has the leaf. But only glue them at the top until you can slip the hemp string through.

Slide the string through the edge that is not glued and then glue that edge shut.

It's a sandwich. Just keep adding as many circles as you want to the string.

There you have it. Enjoy.

With This Ring

Three years ago on my birthday my husband and I saved up some money to buy myself a unique wedding ring. I had always wanted something different and artistic.

This may sound odd.

Let me example, I had been married at the time for 17 years (tomorrow it will be 20 years yikes! time flies). I love my husbands ring that he gave me. It was his mother's and I cherish it but the diamond stood up and I was so afraid of losing it that I ended up not wearing it. 

So I began the search for something really unique. I don't know the correct jewelry term but I wanted the diamonds or sapphires to be embedded flat into the ring. I thought this would be less trouble and the likelihood of losing any of the gems would be less. I wanted something low maintenance but still artistic. 

I looked and looked. This was a big deal for me because I don't get to spend money on jewelry very often. There is always somewhere else the money has to go.  

My friend suggested that I go to Twist a cool shop here in the Northwest. So I did and I found a wonderful artist named Gabriel O'Fiesh I fell in love with his Orbit Rings. My friend has one and loves it. The rings are so beautiful.

My heart still flutters when I look at them.

Five Months Ago - I noticed two of the sapphires had fallen  out and the girl at Twist told me a diamond was cracked.

I was heart broken. I never thought I was hard on my rings. My old ring had lost only one diamond in 17 years. And I actually didn't wear this Orbit ring that much (to my dismay) because it was tight on my finger. I really didn't have the money to put into the ring but what could I do?

End of a long story and five months later, I had to pay $128.00 to get my ring fixed. The owners of Twist were kind enough to pay half.

Basically, the conclusion to why this happened was that I am too hard on my ring. I found out that Gab said, this ring probably wasn't a good choice for me.

What the What!

When I picked up my ring today the girl told me all the things I couldn't do while wearing this ring.

Basically live.

No clapping, no grabbing hand railings, blah blah blah.

If I would have only known. Now I guess I only wear this ring on special occasions and get yet another for every day use.

Note: Gab suggested he replace the sapphires which aren't as durable ( I wish I would have known that) 

with blue diamonds.

I am very happy with the new blue diamonds they are just as pretty as the sapphires. But now I am back to square one. I guess I need to get a ring out of the vending machine at the grocery store.

Oh well, a lesson learned.

Lilac And Fairy Bookmark

I just put my Lilac And Fairy Bookmark on Etsy

Lilac And Fairy Bookmark

Playing Around

I thought I would share my journal I just finished.

I guess I really haven't finished. Who knows what it will become. I will just have to wait and see.

Summer Lighting

No photo can conveys the beauty of tonight's sunset. The world has been cast in a warm burnt sienna glow. This is my favor time of day. It seems everything has a tan.

Twilight drops her curtain down and pins it with a star.

                                                 Lucy Maud Montgomery

~My Man Thursday~

Today is gloomy. It's supposed to be sunny later but this morning is blah! I'm needed some fun and humor. When I think of funny men one name comes to mind ~ Hugh Grant

 I love him in about everything he does.

Remember such classics as  Four Wedding And A Funeral

and The Lady and The Highwayman :) I actually own this movie.

When I think of Bridget Jones I think of Hugh and of course Colin Firth but there is so much to say about Colin that I must save him for another day.

Hugh maybe a scoundrel but he certainly is lovable.

Best Hugh Grant Movies:

Bridget Jones I and II

Love Actually

Four Weddings And A Funeral

2 Weeks Notice

Sense and Sensibility

The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain

Music and Lyrics

Notting Hill

I hope I am not forgetting a movie but you will notice The Lady and The Highwayman is not on my list :)

New Items On Etsy

Check them out.

I Have Been Busy

I've been burning the midnight oil so to speak. Frantically working on new swell stuff.
Tomorrow I am taking my goods into Penelopes Hope Chest to see if she will carry some of my product.
Her store is adorable with lots of treasures at really good prices. I am very excited.

I was also talking to Claire at Tea Thyme and Lavender Her store is a treasure trove. My garlands will be in her shop in the October. Stop by if you are in the area.

Claire is French and she makes the most incredible coffee. It's like nothing I've ever tasted. When she came to the states she spent years looking for someone to roast the beans (the right way). Well, she is happy to say she found someone and now with her Italian coffee maker and her filtered water she makes the best cup of coffee I have ever had. Her lavender scones are to die for. I get hungry just thinking about them.

Anyway, here is a sneak peak at two bookmarks I made to show Lynette at Penelopes Hope Chest.

Then the other side

Now my fairy bookmark

The other side

Each bookmark has a story. The background is made from a 1798 London newspaper. I then applied a transfer technique that I love to use. The embellishments are from a 1940's bracelet. The tattered worn look adds to the vintage feel. To me these really are art pieces and I hope they go to good homes. I feel they are my babies. (I need to get a life)

Autumn leaves are falling

I have also been working on my autumn garlands.

All of these items are for sale and you can email me at annmpep@comcast.net  if you are interested. I will waiver the shipping cost.

Have a great summer day!

The Ocean In A Vase

It was 97 yesterday in Portland. So we decided to head to the coast. Big mistake. The weather report said the coast was going to be 85. Yippee! We envisioned basking in the sun, flying a kite . . . 

But by the time we actually smelled the salty air we knew there would be no basking in the sun. 

We couldn't even see the sun to bask in it or for that matter, the ocean.

The beach and the water were covered in a heavy blanket of fog.  It was weird,  disappointing, and a whopping 55 with drizzle.  We kept going north to Cannon Beach and finally flew a kite but because we weren't expecting chilly weather we promptly hopped back in the car. We could see the blue sky right over the mountains and it called to us.

As we headed home the temperature went from

55 to 97 in less than a half hour.

Argh! This is why we don't live on the Oregon Coast. 

So I did what any self respecting sun seeker would do, I went to the Dollar Store,

 

bought some beach, and brought it home with me.

I bought some stiff green foliage, sand, and a vase. I added some shells and driftwood I had collected on a sunny day at the coast and tossed them together.

I took the green foliage and peeled apart the cluster of reeds so I could spread then out in the vase. Then I curled and separated them to give my ocean in a vase more life and movement.

Photos might look different because I took some yesterday and some this morning.