Stop All The Clocks, Cut Off The Telephone...

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever:  I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.


I am taking a break - to honor the loss of my beloved companion - my beautiful Willow.  I am sad - my heart broken.  For now I need space.  I wish you peace until I return.

A Sad Day....

In loving memory of my sweet Willow.  You will live in my heart and soul forever....

Petite Pairs Wedding Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  There Are Ups And There Are Downs
I've been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride lately.  Without getting into the details, let's just say a few tears have been shed and a few additional gray hairs have joined their friends on my head!  As I experience these ups and downs I am actually beginning to believe in the opposite of Newton's Law - I believe that what goes down, must come up...or at least can come up, if you just give it a bit of time.  There are times I can feel so low - feeling like there is no way I will find myself smiling or laughing again.  And then, with the passage of time - sometimes minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes days, I become aware of the curl at the edges of my mouth - an upward motion that sometimes turns into a giggle and even heartfelt laughter.  Yes, I know Newton's Law will likely visit me again - my up will turn into a down...but Michelle's Law will also be back to transform that down into an up - I just need to believe.
Today's card was actually a submission I made for a magazine...that didn't get accepted.  Oh well - I WILL keep trying :)  I began with a Crumb Cake card base and used my sewing machine to attach three layers of vintage lace to the card.  I then used Very Vanilla satin ribbon to create a faux bow.  In the center of the bow I placed a combination of a decorative label punched piece of card stock. a heat embossed vellum flower from Mixed Bunch, and a punched out sentiment from Petite Pairs.  This card makes me think about all of the textures of a bride's gown.  I hope you like it!

Out On A Whim Wednesday: Anna's Halloween Treats!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Your Creativity Inspires Others and That Inspires Others...And So On, And So On, And So On!
What I love most about having people over to create projects and stamp is that I get to watch them stretch their creative wings!!!!  I don't know what I love more - watching someone create something that they never felt they could create or watching someone stretch beyond the sample I provide and put their own life into the project.  They both bring me such joy!  For today's Out On A Whim Wednesday I decided to share with you a picture of the two treat containers that Anna made at my Halloween Stamp-a-Stack this past weekend.  She took the sample I provided and went out on a whim with it!  If you have been following my blog this week, you may have seen Vampari on Monday.  She was actually inspired by Anna!  The treat containers I provided as samples were both "male" - a dracula and a Frankenstein.  Anna decided she wanted to make a girlfriend for her Frankenstein.  When she was done she came over to me to show me her amazing creation!  The sample had inspired her to stretch her creative wings and then she inspired me to stretch mine to create Vampira.  When you create and share it with others, remember that you may never see the ripples of creative energy that you release into the world!  Just trust that it is there and will continue to reverberate long after you have moved on to your next creation!!!!!
I have to share that these bottles are recycled Voss water bottles.  I was actually somewhere in Texas conducting a training session and the venue served these bottles to all of the participants.  The crafter in me couldn't resist asking people to please not throw their bottles away!  At the end of the session I collected them all and put them in my luggage for the trip home (I'm sure security at the airport scratched their head a bit when they saw that my carry-on was filled with empty water bottles!).  I wasn't sure what I was going to use them for, but I knew they would be perfect for something.  When I was preparing for my Halloween Stamp-a-Stack the bottles caught my eye and the match was made :) 

Two Ways Tuesday: Googly Ghouls

For this week's Two Ways Tuesday I decided to share a few more projects using the Googly Ghouls stamp set.  I had a Halloween Stamp-a-Stack at my house this past weekend and these were two of the projects that we made!
The Googly Ghouls stamp set coordinates beautifully with the Ghoulish Googlies Designer Printed Kit.  For this treat bag, the images were stamped and cut out and then added to the tag.  The sentiment from Mixed Medley was stamped with Tangerine Tango and punched out before being added to the tag.  A strip of Howlstooth & Scaringbone designer series paper and a Window Frames framelit die cut create the backing for the tag.

This card was inspired by a card made by Connie Babbert.  I wanted to do a simpler card for my Halloween Stamp-a-Stack, so I used a Whisper White card base and changed the cauldron.  The cauldron was inspired by one that I saw on Monika Davis' site and she attributed it to Heather Summers!  Thanks gals for all the inspiration!!!!  I used the blender pen to color in the witch.

Vampari: Top Note Bottle Decor

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Things Left Untended Will Decompose
There is a house Buddy and I often walk by in the morning.  It is for sale now and each time we pass, the house looks sadder and sadder.  I'm not sure if the house was just abandoned at one point, but the grass went from being green to being brown and dried out.  There are holes in the stucco light posts in the front of the house - patches of gray and white paint.  If we do not tend to things - if we do not take care of them - they begin to decompose.  And, if we don't try to take steps to intervene, eventually they will no longer exist in their current form.  This is true of us as well.  If we do not tend to ourselves - if we do not take care of ourselves and our dreams, hopes, desires - we, and they, will decompose.  What are you doing to tend to and take care of yourself?
We went to a friend's house for dinner last night and we took a bottle of Campari with us.  Since I had a Halloween Stamp-a-Stack at my house yesterday, I decided to dress up the bottle :)  I began with a piece of craft felt that I adhered to look like a cape.  Next came the shoes, which began as extra large oval punches and got decorated with silver pen and Cherry Cobbler dazzling details.  The face was made from a Top Note base and decorated with punches and ribbon and then adhered to the bottle with dimensionals.  We decided to name her "Vampari"  :)  I hope you like it :)