First, a very happy birthday to our gracious hostess, Rita of Toltec Jewels!!! October birthdays are so fun! Just ask my little boy:
He turned two with a whirlwind of cake, balloons (that still float above his highchair) and joyous squeals. Rita, I hope your birthday makes you grin and giggle with the same enthusiasm and excitement!
Fall has always been my favorite season with October being my favorite month as it is in October that Autumn unfurls and blazes forth in all its colorful glory! The sights and smells and the feeling of the crisper air insights within me a frantic twitterpation that I only feel at this time of year. It is my most productive month, filled with crafts, day trips, baking, “fall cleaning” and ending with a bang by attending the Texas Renaissance Festival for All Hallow’s Eve.
Among the crafts I worked on this month was my Autumn Harvest necklace. I love it so much, I made another!!
I created the leaf myself, sawn from copper sheet, then hammered, formed, filed, etches, buffed and oxidized with LOS, creating the incredible swirling of colors not only on the leaf, but on the clasp I made, and the links and everything in between! Have I mentioned I totally love it?! I miss the colors of fall and at this time of year, I try desperately to round them up and surround myself with them in any way, shape or form I can think of!
Living now in the south, I tend to shy away from my oven for about six months out of the year. It’s just too darn hot! So when you catch a whiff of my infamous Banana-Craisan Chocolate chip muffins, you know it must be October and Autumn has arrived!!
It’s also a time I get all excited about fibers again. Crocheting and knitting have a long rooted history in my life, and I have always loved the wide variety of colors, textures and even smells of various yarns. It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I have taken up spinning, first on a spindle that the Muscle made me (and I continue to use) and now on a spinning wheel. Here is my latest favorite, a very earthy, all natural color tweed-looking ply I made:
Very rustic and soft, I think it would make a great little button down sweater jacket with wood buttons and square pockets on the front. Maybe some felted flowers in muted blues, greens and burgundy? Time will tell!
Here are a few more things that I absolutely love about October and Autumn:
The first leaf to change on my flowering pear tree..
the amazing changes in sunrises…
and sunsets..
sweet baby boots…
and cat naps on chilly days..
We always end our month of October at the Renaissance Festival. We live out in the country, so this is a time our little ones get to use their imagination to dress up, act silly, and beg random strangers for candy. I can’t help but feel a little sad every Halloween, knowing yet another great October has come to an end. But the sights we enjoy at faire are priceless and always find a way to make me smile!
Post Script…
When I returned home, I found that half the post did not upload, as I wanted to add pictures from Faire from Saturday, so I do apologize for having an incomplete post. I should have known better than to trust my not so smartphone to do that job right! Though it seemed it had all uploaded, indeed it did not. So, there is the rest of the post, if any happen to stumble upon it, and thank you again Rita, for including me in your birthday celebratory hop! =^..^=
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Mischelle Fanucchi http://www.micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Marlene Cupo http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com
Shaiha Williams http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com
Shelly Graham Turner http://shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com/
Shelly Joyce http://www.aujourlejour-shelly.blogspot.com/
Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/blog/
Pam Sears http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/
Margareta Saari http://magsinhelmet.blogspot.com/
Marita Suominen http://momentofjewelry.blogspot.fi/
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Jeannie Dukic https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jewelry-by-Jeannie/242288933007
Cheri Reed http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/
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Sorry for the delay in posting comments, but Sandy got in my way.
Wonderful blog post. Love pics of the kids. This time of the year is my favorite, but right now not so much. Thanks for the ray of sunshine.
Thank you, Marlene! I’m so sorry Sandy interfered with your plans, but glad you made it through safe and sound!
Love the necklace. The copper leaf is fantastic.
Spinning Wheel looks sooo interesting !!
Oh my gosh, it is SO relaxing. I get almost trance-like!!
What a cutie pie 🙂 and the necklace is lovely too. I love the iridescences of the copper with the warm autumn tones.
Thank you, Colene!
Beautiful work!
Thank you, Mama Zen!
gorgeous..! love…love it very much..! 🙂
Thank you!
gorgeous…! love…love it very much…! 🙂
Wow you made that leaf in your Autumn Harvest necklace?! Its gorgeous, as is the necklace!
You son is so darling girl!
AND I want a muffin!!
I DID make that leaf, Shelley!! I am quite proud of it LOL. And Adler is truly a doll. And he knows it. Here is my recipe, if you (or anyone else) is interested in baking!
Warning: I am a “little of this, pinch of that” kinda cook!
I double all my recipes, and these freeze really well if wrapped airtight!
Banana Muffins:
2 cups of sugar
2/3 cup of butter
Beat until incorporated
Add: 4 eggs
4-5 regular size ripe bananas (not the little ones-if you use the little ones, add a couple more)
Beat until bananas are a just a little lumpy
Add:
2/3 cup of water
3 1/3 cups of whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I accidentally used dbl acting once, and had awesome results, so that all I use now, but you can use regular too)
Beat at medium until all ingredients are incorporated, about 30-40 seconds.
Scrape sides, add 2 handfuls of Craisans, about 2/3 cups of ground flax, and 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips.
If you like nuts, you can add about a half cup of chopped nuts too.
Mix on low until everything is incorporated.
Use an Ice Cream scooper, and scoop into cupcake wrapper-lined muffin tins (super fast clean up!!)
Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes? Until nice and golden brown on top. (I have a convection oven, so I think that’s about right!)
Yeilds about 24-30 muffins!
Store in an air tight container. My last just fine on the counter for a week, then I refrigerate any after that, but we usually have none past the first few days =^..^=
xoxo
I absolutely love your copper leaf and findings. Gorgeous work, beautiful necklace.
Thank you, Kepi!
I totally love your necklace. It is so ‘October”.
Thank you, Shaiha!
I love the colors of the necklace. Your leaf is amazing.
This is so beautiful. I love this leaf. I love these colours.
*Drool* The colors are perfect and that leaf is amazing. ^.^
I just love the autumn harvest necklace! It has my colours and the oak leaf pendants is so awesome!
I miss the seasonal changes too now that I’m so far south. I miss wearing sweaters! Your necklace is lovely and that leaf is very impressive. Great job.
Thank you so much, Windbent! We almost moved back north, but then we got fantastic jobs down here, and now I just cannot picture us anywhere else!
Gorgeous,and definitely autumn-inspired!
I love this necklace…every last detail! The amazing colors in your leaf, the perfect wrapped loops in your beaded chain – the color variations in the stones. Hope everyone clicks on your photo to see all the autumn splendor in this piece (and your beautiful work) up close.
Thank you, Karin! I still can’t believe LOS created those colors! But Ive managed to reproduce the results, so I am excited to make more items that way.
Beautiful! The colours on the leaf are perfect – the whole necklace is gorgeous!
Beautiful! I want that leaf!
Gorgeous necklace…I love the copper leaf!
I love love love your necklace! It really is beautiful. The colors on the leaf are amazing.
Sonya
Lovely necklace! Doesn’t the copper work beautifully with all autumn colors?lol
If you miss those colorful leaves,I have several photos of them on my bloghop entry to share with you 😉
Thank you, Sandra! I hadn’t had a chance to hop through everyone’s blogs since we’ve been back-everyone has been under the weather since Monday. I just read your post-LOVE the pictures! And your necklaces! Very October!