With one pack of sculpty clay in colors, flesh, white, red, and green I made these clay Santa ornaments.

They are rather simple and kind of remind me of playing with Playdoh. Make a ball out of the flesh color and then make an even tinier ball for the nose. I used tiny black beads for the eyes.

The white clay part is a little tricky. Make some snakes and flatten them out. Twist them and shape them for the beard. The eyebrows are a nice touch.

The red hat is just a triangle. I usually try to press in the center a little so it looks like he's actually wearing it. Place a white ball on the end. The brim is just a snake of read twisted with a snake of white.

I added the green leaves and holly berries just because they are fun. The leaves are just teardrop shapes. Add the little lines because that's what makes it leaf like :-). I added a metal jewelry loop through the hat so I can put a ribbon on it.

This clay needs baked. Instructions come in the packet.

i am not quite sure what I am going to do with them yet. Maybe I'll attach them to some gifts.

Leave me a link if you try em.

For this project you will need some floor cleaner, some glitter and some simple, plain glass Christmas balls

Add a little bit of the Pledge with Future Shine to the ball. This stuff is sticky! Swirl it around in there. Make sure you get it all coated and DUMP OUT THE EXCESS.

Add the glitter. If you want to do multiple colors then they should mix them before dumping them in the ball. Shake...shake...shake. Dump out excess glitter. And recap. You can add ribbon or use the balls as place settings for Christmas dinner.

Have an easy Christmas craft. Leave me a link.

Dear Kermit Mug,

Thank you for holding so much necessary caffeine.

Thank you for being my favorite color.

Thank you for reminding me that in just a few short days I will be at the muppet movie premiere with my sister.

She and I grew up watching the muppets and I can't wait to watch them with her again and to share the fun with all our kiddos.

Cheers,

Kisa

No one knows how long they will live. No one can predict how much time they will be given on this earth.

Look at any obiturary page on any day and odds are you can find the very young as well as the very old.

This weekend we said goodbye to my husband's grandmother. A women who had 9 children, 25 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren and 7 great great grandchildren.

At the funeral this morning the pastor asked for just her direct decendents to stand and it was truly breathtaking. Her legacy lives.

Things I, as an inlaw, will remember. She always had those pink mint flavored candies. She loved to read. She always seemed honestly happy to see you. Her front porch swing. How good she was at tiddly-winks. How all her children were convinced they were her favorite. How she never wore jeans, but had slacks in all colors. How she knew her scripture. How deeply she loved her family.

I am blessed to have known such a woman and amazed at the memories my own children have of their great-grandmother.

I imagine, Raymond, her husband who passed nearly 20 years ago, was eagerly awaiting her arrival and that this holiday season they will be together again smiling down at they legacy they left behind.

RIP Grandma.

I work well under pressure.

Let the State Inspector show up in the cafeteria on the holiday meal. Our stuffing balls will be hot and fresh.

That's why I love nanowrimo because it forces me to write 1667 words a day.

I know what you are thinking? How does a non-profit organization force me to write 1667 words a day. That takes a lot of people more than a month to write. That takes a lot of people even longer.

Here's how...I don't want to fail. I am perfectly aware that this first draft will likely make little sense, i am perfectly aware that by not reading anything I've previously written except the last sentence is crazy. I am perfectly aware that making up the plot as I go sounds outlandishly stupid, but it works for me.

I am falling in love with my characters and as of Halloween they didn't exist. I want to be friends with Mandy, my protagonist. I want to visit the Center library in Indianapolis to see if my description even comes close to capturing its beauty. I want to fall madly and deeply in love again.

I participate in Nanowrimo to remind myself that I still have an imagination.

Are you participating? Why not be my writing buddy. We can encourage each other.

You can find me on nanowrimo as kisatrtle.

It's time to compose a frequently asked questions list for the handful of you who read this blog.

Q. ARE YOU REALLY A LUNCHLADY?

A. Unfortunately, I really am. Sometimes I think back to when I was at an age when all things seemed possible and remember that I too thought I could be both a backup dancer for Paula Abdul and an eye doctor. Then I realized that I can't dance and they don't let people who suck at science and math become medical doctors. That being said, as a lunchlady, I have danced backup at many an iRoar assembly and I have been first on the scene when random eyelashes land in random eyes. So I guess you could say that I am sort of a backup dancer/eye doctor/lunchlady, which sounds kind of cool.

Q. DO YOU REALLY WRITE ABOUT SPEED HUMPS?

A. Again, an unfortunate truth. Along with touring with Paula, I had great plans for writing a book. Turns out that unless you sort of know someone who knows someone getting a book published ain't all that easy. The newspaper, however, seems to go through "stringers" like most people go through tissues. A stringer is a fancy term for someone who strings the story together. In other words, you write it, they edit it, you okay it and then, if you are lucky, it runs in the paper. Stringers freelance for the paper and are not staff. Instead of writing fiction, I get to write about things like speed humps, press boxes, driver's ed costs and superintendent raises. The topics might be a little unusual, but my name is in the byline. Published.

Q. ARE YOU REALLY THE SIZE OF AN AVERAGE 7th GRADER?

A. This is false. In fact, most 7th graders are significantly bigger than me. I am the size of an average 5th grader. I am 5'2 and sadly that is all the taller I am going to get. My grandma never broke 5 foot and managed just fine. Of course, height is one of the contributing factors in my failure as a back up dancer. That and the fact that I don't have any rythm.

Q. BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE, DO YOU NEED A BOOSTER SEAT TO DRIVE?

A. Technically, this is likely true, but since I meet the weight requirements it seems like overkill.

Q. DO YOU EXPECT A LOT OF PEOPLE TO READ AND COMMENT ON THIS POST?

A. Of course. Every day, I continue to expect Paula Abdul to call and offer me work. I expect that at any given moment I will be given an honorary doctorate for something--what I'm not sure. I expect that someday a library book will have my name on it next to written by. I expect, but am not hopeful that I will be taller than one of my children. I expect one of you to send me a booster seat as a joke and I expect all 5 of you to leave me some comment love.

Of course, I have been wrong in the past.

This post was brought to you by writing prompt genius Mama Kat whom I am certain has a lot more comment love than I do and I blame it all on the fact that she is significantly taller than me.

Regular readers will most likely recall my fondness for Disney autograph books. I have made at least 30.

So when friends of mine were returning to Disney, I wanted to make the kids a new book. But I wanted it to be a little different.

I asked them who their favorite characters were and attempted to make the books in their shapes.

I was pleasantly surprised by how they turned out.

They are cut from the Disney & friends cricut cartridge at 8 inches. The front and back are mirror images of each other and the pages are blackouts.

I used a cropidile to bind them with a simple key ring. The key ring is embelished with ribbon.

Thanks for visiting.

There hasn't been a television show that I've truly LOVED since the season finale of LOST . When I found out that ABC would be launching this new series and that the writer's of LOST would be part of it, I could hardly contain my excitement.

Here's the gist, as I see it. Snow White has always been a thorn in the Evil Queen's side. The fact that she is alive even though EQ has tried to kill her more than once really pisses her off. She has decided now that Snow and PC are married and happy that she will stop at nothing to ruin it.

She creates a curse that puts all the fairy tale characters in a place worse than hell...um...Storybrooke, Maine. Time is frozen there. No one ages and no one remembers who they really are. The clock is stuck on 8:15. A brilliant shout out to the passengers of Flight 815 of LOST.

Even if you are not a fan of LOST, this show is compelling and so cleverly writen it will make you take notice. Here are just a few reasons I think you should watch.

This is Sheriff Graham. Personally, that is a good enough reason, but if you need more, I can provide. He appears to be the Evil Queen/Regina's huntsman. If you will recall, in Snow White the huntsman was conflicted by what he was told to do and what he knew was right. You like him even more now, don't ya?

Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gould is one of the most complex and cleverly written villians to ever make primetime. i mean he's no Dexter, but he is fantastic.

Emma Swan, the main character is portrayed by Jennifer Morrison, everyones favorite House character. She is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and the savior that will stop the curse. The fact that her name is Swan and that she will stop the black smoke curse is a direct shout out to the LOST writers. A sweet touch.

Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard is not you average Snow White. She isn't sitting back and waiting for life to happen to her. She is doing her best to give everyone around her "there best chance!"

Jiminy Cricket/Dr. Archie Hopper is worth a mention. He is 10 year old Henry's shrink. He gets the nod for best line in the pilot for "Giving into ones dark side never accomplishes anything?"

Of course, runner up would have to go to Regina/EQ for her line spoken to Emma Swan "Would you like a glass of the best apple cider in the county.". Everyone knows you should never take any apple products from the EQ. LOL

Finally, if you don't watch you won't be able to follow my oh-so-funny reviews which will begin next Tuesday and you don't wanna miss that.

Go catch up...you only have the pilot and episode two. Without giving it all away I will say that Epsiode 2 gives you a glimpes of maleficent and a handful of other villians, you see a brilliantly portrayed reaction of what it might be like to come face to face with your birth mother, you find out just how far evil will go and you fall further in love with the brilliant child actor Jarod Gilmore and his potrayal of Henry.

Oh...and you don't wanna miss Red Riding Hood and Ganny....so tune in!