Midnight Runs With Snuffleupagus, A Little Steampunk And Playing With Matches!

It has rained a great deal here, mind you I am not complaining. With the rain comes hours of me not having to drag hoses around the yard and the security that all of our young plants are getting enough water. The only draw back is that my 100 pound dog is a scaredy cat! He is so scared of thunder that he escapes from our yard and just runs. We have provided him with shelter and he is even on the back porch now, but still he will break open the screen door and just RUN!!! He goes through screen doors, over and under fences as if they were a mere stepping stone placed there just for his escape! So Tuesday night a big storm rolled in around 3:00 a.m. and before we could bring him in, off he went! My husband got into the car and me in my jammies, no glasses and no shoes jogged to the corner and back in the pounding rain and cursing the damn dog outloud! I must have looked like a crazy woman... I ended up returning home, changing p.j.'s and then crawling into bed. Hubby finaly returned to find what looked like snuffleupagus in our driveway.

We never did fully go back to sleep and I found that as the day went on I was merely a bystander. I don't even recall making dinner.... Damn dog has some redeeming qualities. I have not had any more raccoons eating my chickens, his big brown button eyes are adorable, he is a great running partner and having to pick up dog crap makes for one hell of a punishment for teenagers!

 Steampunk- An imaginary Victorian age, that features brass and copper clockwork and steampowered inventions that go far beyond 1800's technology. Steam powered mechanical wonders, optimistic gear driven computers, dirigibles, clockwork parts, and stuff like that.

So I am doing another swap. This one is a Steampunk charm swap at A Work In Progress. I chose to do this because first it is something I had never heard of, second it is sooo cool, and third it works with tiny little things (and I dig tiny little things). Also,  because I generaly work with items that are organic, like seeds, plants, shell, rock etc,  this is a new element for me. Well I have had so mush fun. I believe the host of the swap is still looking for 2 more people so if you're interested pop on over and give her a look-see. Here is a sneak peak at what I have done...

I really wish the details showed up in the picture. It is filled with little tiny gears, gems, springs and metal work pieces. But of course I also threw in some beautiful blue shell from a robins egg. They are all about the size of a watch face. I am so going to make more!!!

Bad Penny over at The Linen Shelf hosted a matchbox swap and I just had to join. I sent my decorated matchboxes filled with red sand, anise seeds, licorice root and feathers to England. Today in the mail was a package full of matchboxes. I was so happy to see all the different mediums people used to create their little boxes. It was a great swap!

 

I am playing around with the idea of hosting a handmade bookmark swap... what do you think?

A Work In Progress