Focus on Life: Ordinary Everyday Halloween.

Livin' it up on Halloween Night.

Through the years, Halloween was a big deal in our household. Girl Scout Pumpkin contests, family parties sponsored by my work, trick or treating...

Now that the kids are grown, My son is spending a quiet night at home, but daughter Sara makes and wears an elaborate costume every year. 

There was a bit of a mix-up about the posting date for this week's Focus on life, so this week we revisit last week's post if you like, and post about our ordinary life as this week's prompt. 

Friday being Halloween..... I present a couple of snaps from my phone. 

Sara in her green costume, with a couple of friends at Chipotle

My "costume" picture, taken from a bad angle in the car. 

Let's see what the others have shared. 

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Focus on Life: Color - My Favorite!

What IS my favorite Color? 

I have problems with any question that starts "What is your favorite ______?" So when Sally Russick prompted us to use our favorite colors to fulfill this week's Focus on Life challenge I said "But I don't have a favorite color!!!" 

And truthfully, I love lots of colors, and combinations of colors. So I decided to go with turquoise (or maybe it's aqua). I do love this color that also is the name of a gem stone that is not always the color we recognize as turquoise. I happen to gravitate to this color to wear, both in clothes and in jewelry. And I am perfectly okay with the fact that much of the jewelry made with stones colored turquoise is dyed. As long as it looks good, and the color does not fade, I'm good with it.   

Everywhere I look, there is a piece of my wardrobe, looking good in my favorite color. 

And on my crafting table....

Polymer clay, commercial plastic, and dyed howlite.

I love all colors, so I am excited to see what the other participants have chosen. Join me? 

An InLinkz Link-up

It's Do-Over Time!

A tiny bracelet becomes a necklace and some earrings. 

Several weeks ago, I received this bracelet, made with pink dyed shell buttons, seed beads, and some tiny multicolored beads including some turquoise ones. Jeannie Dukic of JKD Studios and Whee! The People sends these pieces to us so that we can change her older vision to our current vision. 

This bracelet was tiny, and I spent quite some time trying to figure out something new and different I could do with it. 

I used the pink buttons with some tear drop shaped seed beads, and the tiny cream colored seed beads from the original design.  The pendant and the tear drops came from a strange, unfinished looking necklace that I bought at a yard sale. The seed beads at the back of the necklace just happened to match very well. 

And then, there are these earrings: 

You can see the turquoise beads and the yellow beads from the ends of the bracelet, which complement the big wooden fish, from another old necklace. I beg to be forgiven for originally thinking the fish were hedgehogs. 

This was probably my hardest Do Over challenge. It was just so darn small. I could see the earrings right away, but the rest, I had to really use my brain, to avoid making the same piece over again. I hope that you all like my work as much as I do in the end. 

Here are the rest of the participants in this year's challenge:

Jeannie K Dukic

Penny Houghton

Donetta Farrington

Louise Glazier

Molly Alexander

Veralynne Malone

Becky Pancake

Shai Williams

Renetha Stanziano

Rebecca Ednie

Beti Horvath

Focus on Life: Color - Twilight Time!

Looking around to find how colors change as the light fades. 

Our prompt this week for the October Color theme, is "The Color of Evening, or the Golden Hour."

I took a ride, going the "long way" to pick up my daughter from work. 

Here is what I found. 

What looks like a heavy industrial area is really just the roadside next to a transformer station. Interesting silhouette. 

I love the look of the evening sky on the still water of this pond.

A church in the fading light.

Detail of th light over the church door, the color boosted a bit in PicMonkey.

What have the others found while waiting for the light to fade? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus on Life: Color - Macro photographs!

Finding the real colors and textures around us....

This week, our Focus on Life prompt is to find interesting macro shots to share with you. 

Fall creates many changes around us, and many are small things we just walk right by.

I just looked around the fading garden pots by my door step.

A late broccoli sprout.

Cinnamon basil.

Flower of pink stonecrop sedum.

Center of a rudbeckia flower - I didn't even see the web until I got this on the computer.

Another rudbeckia, from the top this time. 

Sempervivum. This live-forever plant was almost killed by our cold winter last year!

I loved discovering the details we usually miss as the weather has it's way with our plants. What else do we have to look forward to? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus on Life: Color - Color Photography

Sampling the colors of fall.

October is here! Hardly seems possible, but the trees are turning, and color rules the day. But before the obligatory leaf peeper shots (and they are magnificent) take a look at the cauliflower I got at the farmer's market.

Our theme for October is Color!  It's everywhere this week, but I was particularly impressed by the maples, and this wonderful vegetable!

Purple Cauliflower
It never looks better than this!

I love the leaves in mid-change!

Luminous color.

Outside the u-pick place, the apples aren't the only red around!

What other colors have our friends discovered?

An InLinkz Link-up