and a ............winner

a random number generator, has given us a lucky winner

of the stone house giveaway

the winner is comment number 32 left for me on oct 16th.

gayle at horizionview.net

congrats gayle. i need you to email me no later than tomorrow evening,

so that i can get some mailing info from you.

thank you all for joining with me to celebrate a100 posts . i had a fun time doing this giveaway, and i believe i will do a christmas giveaway too. thank you for all of your kind comments and well wishes. i so wish i could have had a prize for each and everyone of you that entered. blogland is full of kindred spirits!

halloween candy sticks

all you need to make these is

one dowel, 5/8" by 36"

saw to cut

sander or sand paper

white paint

halloween colored paint

small paintbrush

wood stain

cut your dowel into 5 sticks apx. 7" sand the edges smooth.

base pain them white. i spray painted my newer ones, the first ones i did, i just hand painted them with a brush. so which ever way works for you......

paint color stripe of choice. i start at the top, and holding on with my left hand, loaded paint brush in my right, i slowly turn the dowel. this is what you get at first. squiggly lines that aren't very dark. so you let them dry and then re-paint them darker and straighter.

when they look like you think they should, you can either stain them, or add a tiny narrow stripe in between the wider ones. i have done that. then when that's done, use your favorite wood stain and wahla, prim halloween candy sticks.
if you don't want them to look prim, don't use the wood stain.
stand them in an old jar, or an apothecary jar. have some fun with them. post some pictures.

last week end, we went back up the mountain and got another load of wood.......

this looks a little scary to me....... a tween and a chain saw......

some of the family came over, and we dug our potatoes................

and i read some fun blogs with some fun halloween ideas on them.

julie at tattered threads and willing hands shows us how to make these

ml at house of whimsy gives us this spooky little tutorial

oh, and sue has a giveaway, which i'm so sure has my name on it.........i need the scales.........lol she has invited us all to join...........

after you go sign up for her drawing, go here and learn how to make these jar jack o lanterns
and some yummy praline pie

and then......(because i can't seem to help myself).....................sue shares with us some recipes for


f.

u.

d.

g.

e.

how good does this look?

and this.........

and this one too......

and we don't want to leave this one out!

oh i have a weakness for fudge! sue's blog is very full of post after post of beautiful food. remember, i am a non lover of cooking! but i would love my food to look as pretty when it's all done and set on the table. lol

thank you all again for your support in the giveaway.

gratitude-attitude
today i have been trying to get fall and halloween decorations out and set around, and i am feeling very grateful for this old stone house that i live in. it was built in the very early 1900's, by my dh's grandfather who came from sweden and homesteaded this land. our home is built out of native sandstone and the walls are well over 2 feet thick. the inside burned once in the 40's and was rebuilt, this time to have a bathroom inside. my in-laws added siding when they lived here, and when we moved into the house almost 16 years ago, we built on and finished the room upstairs, added new windows and re-sided it. i'm also grateful that they who lived here before me, planted trees all around the yard. i love this old stone house and feel very privledged to be the care taker of it for this generation. hopefully the next generation will also find joy living here in the stone house.

have a good rest of the day......good luck trying to pass up the fudge!
♥