Thursday, September 30, 2010

Judging for the Recycled Halloween Craft Challenge

Recycled Halloween Craft Challenge on Henthorne Handmade


I figured I'd go ahead and post the judging method so there would be no confusion when the winners are posted.


There are 3 judges:
  • Travis-The Randy of the group as he probably rated the most realistic of the 3 of us.
  • Me-The Paula of the group as I just loved everything.
  • Jason-The Simon of the group as he was the most critical of the 3 of us.

Each of us rated each entry on a scale of 0-10 in each of the following categories:
  • Originality-Pretty self explanatory.  It is ok to be inspired by something else.
  • Execution-How well the idea/plan of the craft was pulled off.
  • Photography-How well the craft process was photographed. (Quality of what was in the shots/Not Quantity!)
  • Explanation-How well the craft process was explained.
  • Recycled Content-What amount of the final craft was recycled.

Of course, if you didn't follow the rules, you weren't rated, as that would be unfair to those that did follow the rules.


The scores from the 3 judges were added together.  (30 possible points in each category.) That is your score!


What good is the vote you ask?  For every vote you received, you got an additional bonus point!  Keep in mind:  Just because you won the voting, does not guarantee winning the contest!  The judging ended days ago, but there is no winner, yet as we will not add the voter points in until voting is over.  (Midnight tonight!)  Get those last votes in!  :)

Agh! Ye found me treasure

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but there I go forgetting to hit "publish post" again!

Argh!  There be treasure in me in-laws house!  LOL  We stopping by Travis' parents house and much to my surprise, she had 3 boxes of '70's treasure for me!  They were craft supplies from Travis' great-grand mother!  So the pack-rat that I am, of course I wanted them, but I had no room!  So off to work I went... 


I got this box for $5.00 at a yard sale a few weeks ago.  Yeah!  5 bucks!  It is solid wood throughout!  And no that is not gold leaf.  That is real brass inlay!  The top and front look hand carved, too!  I was planning on using it to replace an ugly plastic bin that I keep fabric in (in plain view-for lack of a better place.)  Well now I have real treasure to put in my treasure chest!  :)


What is in it so far isn't even half of what I got, but at least this much is better organized.  (Who knew that I could organize?  LOL)  I have tons of ribbon and lace;  A pile of zippers;  Handmade patterns;  Vintage store bought patterns;  A book of iron on transfers;  Many loose transfers/buttons/this and that's...  Even some unfinished projects.  The whole time I kept thinking, I wish I could have known this woman!  She passed away 5 years ago.  I remember going to her funeral with Travis a few months into our relationship.

I'm still going through the stuff and my MIL says she has much more for me!  Some of it I'll save.  Some I'll use.  Some of it I have no idea what I am going to do with.  (I never really was the type for lace.  Some pieces of lace look handmade, too.)  Maybe I'll find use for it, or pass it on.....

So if anyone remembers that my niece was supposed to have heart surgery on her 3rd birthday:  It has been postponed.  We will be celebrating her birthday this weekend.  I'll post pics Monday!  :)

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I joined my first blog hop!


I joined my very first blog hop!  I am so excited!  I just visited, commented, and followed nearly half of the list of hoppers!  I am currently working on my list of blog hops that I plan to frequent.  I am trying to get better at scheduling out my blogging time.  I will be using "morning coffee" to plan out my blogging day by day.  As this plan gets more concrete, you will see me update my "blog hops" page.  Morning coffee is so appropriate since I plan to use it more in the morning anyways!  LOL  This way I can make my craft posts less sporadic!

Forgive the wordy, non-crafty posts lately.  I promise to improve your Henthorne Handmade experience!

BTW---Judging for the Recycled Halloween Craft Challenge is over!  All that is left is the voting!  Do not underestimate the votes!  This upcoming Thursday is the last voting day!  Winners will be announced soon thereafter!

What are your favorite blog hops?



Happy Hopping!


Saturday, September 25, 2010

Happy Birthday Blue

Today is the estimated day of birth of our dear little boy Blue!  I can't believe he is a year old already!  He is one of only 2 surviving kittens from a stray mom cat from Cottageville, SC.  The other kitten, sadly, was taken to the pound.  :(  I managed to snag Blue up at the perfect time!  Now he is the spoiled ruler of our home!  (Well, until our other little kitty, Meatball, gets old enough to take over!  LOL)

 Busted trying to stalk me!  LOL(above)

Look at that cute little tongue sticking out!  : P  (below)

 OK, Mom!  Enough with the pictures already!  LOL  (below)

Sangaree Animal Hospital sent Blue an animated birthday card!


Some interesting kitty things from the web:



Link up your own kitty krafty goodness here:

Friday, September 24, 2010

Voting Time

The Recycled Halloween Craft Challenge is now over!
Time to vote!  :)
Snag the button to lead voters to the poll here.
Vote for the winner of the Recycled Halloween Craft Challenge on Henthorne Handmade!

Pumpkin Linky Party!

This post is about all things pumpkinPumpkins are the most fabulous things in the world!  Let's share the pumpkin love with everyone!

Link up your pumpkin recipes here:


Link up your pumpkin printables here:


Link up your pumpkin crafts here:

An Interview With ANKH

I feel like I haven't let enough of "ME" shine thru.  So I decided to interview myself for your amusement.  Then I will be handing over the reigns to y'all!  Here goes:

What were you doing on October 14th, 2008?  WHAT IS YOUR ALIBI?

Uh...I was...uh...um.....

LOL Let's bring out the good cop!  LOL


On October 14th, 2008, I married Travis and ditched my biological father's last name (Kivett) for Henthorne.  I actually shocked Travis by taking his name.  We had been practically married for 3 years before we made it "official."  We felt like our marriage was between us and the cosmos, and had nothing to do with courts, or anything else for that matter.  But due to my health issues, we decided to do the paperwork with it.  (Don't put it past us to get married without that stupid paper!)  Anyways, we had the conversation before about me not taking his name because it is sexist.  I told him I would take his name if he would take mine!  LOL  But then I realized there is more honor in taking his name (that comes from a decent family) than there is in keeping mine (that came from an abusive deadbeat!)  So here I am a proud Henthorne!  :)


Did your mother really name you after the Egyptian symbol for life?

Nope.  ANKH is my married initials.  Adrian is my first name.  I actually like Adrian, but I am so sick of hearing "Yo, Adrian!" (From Rocky.)  Most of my friends call me Pumpkin or Niki.  Adrian is mainly used for business.


How old are you?

Depends on who you ask.  LOL  Nobody ever guesses anywhere near my actual age.  I was born on January 28, 1984.  That makes me currently 26 years young.  However, as I always say, every smart woman quits aging at 21!  LOL  I'd be happy enough if people quit saying I look like a teenager, tho!  LOL


Do you have any children?

Not human.  :(  I can't have children.  There is nothing more in the world that I want more than children.

(deleted my history with children because it is too sad!)

Every time I've tried to have one of my own, one of my or Travis' siblings got pregnant instead!  :(


Do you have any pets?

Spencer, my Pomeranian, is my baby!  He is every bit the roll of the child I can not have!  I nearly passed out last Monday while at the veterinarian's office!  I've been crying for the past 2 weeks!  My poor baby has a gall stone the size of his leg bone!  It, also, caused an infection that made him pee blood!  He is on antibiotics and prescription food.  The poor little fella can't even have treats anymore!  When I got his prescription dry food, I bought 3 cans of the equivalent prescription food to experiment with making him some treats...We'll see how that goes...

Travis has his 2 kitties:  Blue (whose birthday is tomorrow) and Meatball.  You'll hear more about blue, tomorrow.  Meatball is the only surviving kitten from 2 litters of kittens.  He almost didn't survive, too!  We had to bottle feed him.  We literally brought him back from the brink of death!  He used to be solid white (like an albino.)  As he got older, he got similar coloration to a Himalayan or Siamese.  Seal point?  I think that's what he is called.

My husband keeps bugging me for another snake.  I don't know, yet.  Our last one was 8ft long and then some!


Why do you blog?

I actually ask myself that a lot!  I enjoy blogging.  I also enjoy reading others blogs.  I spend more time on other people's blogs than I do my own, even tho I like working on mine more and most people don't return the favor.  Sometimes I have to leave my house and find a different internet connection so that I can even comment.  Something about blogger and my wireless device does not get along, and blogger doesn't care to help those of us with this issue.  I only have problems with blogs that have embedded comments.  If you google it, many, many people have the same problem.  Which means that if you have your blog settings set to embedded post, you are probably missing out on many readers and their comments!

Really, I don't know why I stick with it.....


Favorites & Least Favorites:

Colors:  green, orange, blue  (I like all colors, but I think white and black are lifeless if not paired with another color)

Food:  pumpkin pie (pumpkin anything really);  Coconut is awful!  I do like to eat really weird things, tho.  (like bugs)  I don't hunt, but I am not against hunting for food.  I am against hunting for sport, tho.  I believe you must eat what you kill.  (Unless you kill for the basic animalistic right of defending yourself.)

Drink:  I love herbal teas, cocoas, and coffees.  I don't really care for soft drinks.

Season:  Autumn  I love all seasons in certain respects, but Autumn is the only one I don't hate something about.  It is still warm enough to swim, but not too hot!  And the colors are beautiful.  It is the time of year for harvest!  Which is like heaven for me!  I don't like how hot South Carolina summers are.  It really isn't the heat I hate as much as it is the humidity!

Holiday:  Halloween, but thanks to me marrying Mr. Christmas, I'm starting to like Christmas, too!  :);  I hate my birthday!  I am usually depressed around then.

Hobbies:  Crafting  I love making new and useful things out of stuff that would otherwise be thrown away.  I love camping and hiking, too.  I used to (and sorta still do) like geocaching, but some bad apples have taken over my area.  They keep placing tons of caches that are against the rules of geocaching, and some are, also, against the law.  But apparently, they must be friends with the right people because if you report them to the moderator, the moderator ignores and deletes your report!  It is still fun to do if I travel somewhere else for it, but I don't have enough money to travel far away every time I want to geocache!


List some random things about you:

  1. I am obsessed with all things PUMPKIN!
  2. I have the memory of a 150 year old!  If I have something in my hand, I can forget I am holding it, and if I don't hear it hit the ground when I drop it, I won't know I dropped it at all!
  3. My phone spends 75% of the time completely lost!  60% of the time the battery is dead &/or dying.
  4. I am more likely to pull a tool out my purse than makeup.
  5. I can fix most things that go wrong in my car.
  6. I have scoliosis to the degree that I should've had surgery.  According to the docs, I should have been in a wheelchair by now.
  7. I have menstruated to the point of being hospitalized and had 3 blood transfusions because of it.
  8. I don't really know how to talk to people.  Some people can't get me to open my mouth at all, others can't seem to shut me up.
  9. I enjoy pampering my husband!  I don't know why, I just love it!  (pedi/manicures, massages, wash/brush hair, etc.)

Now, It is your turn!  :)
Ask me anything you want!  No question is off limits!  I will answer honestly!  :)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Guitar Picks From Sushi Box

I had a sushi take-out box that had a beautiful pattern on it.  I tried to grow moss in it.  I can't seem to get that right.  So I decided it needed to be something else.  I cut off the walls and used my iron (& oven) to flatten it.  The oven shrunk it and made it a bit thicker, too.  (Which I needed!)  Then I used my xacto knife to cut out the guitar picks.  I filed the edges smooth to finish them off.

I gave the first one to Travis.  While I made more, he played his bass guitar for me.  :)  


I apologize for the dark shot!

I ended up making 2 of them into a pair of earrings.  And I kept 2 for me to play with.  (pictured)  I did have more than those, but I already started giving them away before I remembered to take a picture!  LOL






Monday, September 20, 2010

Earrings From "Trash" Jewelry

I made these earrings out of beads that came from broken necklaces and some found beads. I didn't realize the mass of beads I've found and collected. I haven't made jewelry in such a long, long time that my "found crap" bin has a carpet of beads (and other odd things) covering the bottom! I swear I had to have been a squirrel or raccoon in a past life, because I am always finding and collecting the strangest things! LOL I walk a lot, so I find all kinds of things in parks, trails, parking lots, and such.




The ones on the left make me think of Autumn.
The middle ones make me think of The Nightmare Before Christmas. 
And the ones on the right are like the offspring of the other two!  LOL


I might just open my etsy shop with them!  I have been wanting a shop for a while now.  I already snagged the Henthorne Handmade sub-domain on etsy, but I haven't "stocked the shelves," yet.

I am linking up to:

Cubee Zombie for Halloween!

So a last week I followed links from here to there and ended up downloading a Resident Evil Cubee Zombie!  He is so cute that I just had to have him for Halloween!
Here he is:



Word of advice:  Print out at normal size!  Do not attempt to make a mini army of them by printing them smaller!  AHHH!!!  LOL


You should totally check them out!  Which of them are your favorites?

Like what you see? Let us know! :)