Halloween Hijinks

I have to share what just happened. It's hilarious.

How to tell if your elementary school aged children will grow up to be entrepreneurs.

DH and I have been just roaring over what just happened. Apparently, two enterprising fourth or fifth graders, walking home after school, decided that it might be worthwhile to trick or treat on their way home! Dressed in their school attire and still carrying their backpacks, they rang the bell and cheerfully said, in unison, "Trick or Treat!" (Mind you, it was only 3 PM).

DH cracked up and said, "Go away! It's too early! Come back tonight." He was laughing at them and they were laughing back. Then, DH asked, "Do your moms know you're trick or treating now?" Both boys, and I LOVE this, honestly responded, "No."

These two munchkins figured out that they'd hit our house (maybe because the front looks kid friendly) or all the houses before the rest of the herd gets out. Then again, maybe they figured come back for seconds after dark!

Is that funny or what? LOL I love it!

Happy Halloween!

Mornin' Glories!

Well, I was up with the newspaper deliverers this morning. DH and I went out to breakfast before daylight! Now, I'm ready to go! I am going to pack the trick or treat bags today. Maybe do a bit of shopping.

Last night, for dinner, I made a mushroom and leek chowder that was so delicious! I was worried that my Darling Husband wouldn't like it, but he loved it. I always make a bit extra to share with a couple of dear hearts who live nearby.

I stated yesterday that I did a cybercrop this weekend. Here is a LO I did on Friday night using Jenni Bowlin papers. I haven't found the right photo for it yet. I am such a slow scrapper that I didn't want to lose even more time looking for the photo. I wanted to do the LO (and, as it was, I only got 5 or 6 done all weekend). Hope you like it. I added black glitter to the tiny black stars by the title and added copper glitter to the dots over the "I"s. The funny thing is that the black circle was a scrap I had from another circle that I trimmed down. So, I put it to good use. If you have any questions, please ask!


Our Shining Star

Aftermath

Good morning, I think!

My eyes are really tired this morning. I spent the weekend at a cybercrop - "at" being a relative term - and created a few new layouts. I have to tell you, I'll never win anything at one of these events due to the fact that I am just too darn slow!!! LOL I don't stand a chance when I take hours just to make one layout! I ask myself, "Why do I do this?" Well, I've concluded that the answer is that it gets me thinking about new ways of completing a challenge. A couple of crops ago, I decided that going for the prize isn't a motivator for me. The crops with point systems tend to undermine quality work over quantity work. I see that as a major waste of good cardstock! LOL The crops with random draws are much more fair. So, note to self - participate just for the joy of participating!

One of the challenges at the cybercrop this weekend was to create a photoless LO. I loved this concept. I've done it before, and did it by creating a structure with paper sculpting and then adding 2/3 page of computer generated journaling. I decided to participate in the challenge and to take a stab at doing something vintage looking. I've never done a a layout with a vintage feel. I'm not sure I accomplished it. I do like my layout, though. The PP is beautiful. Sadly, the photo doesn't allow you to see the details like the pearls on the butterfly, the heart locket that opens, etc.Thank you Nathalie, for catching the misspelling in the title. I corrected the original. Phew! I appreciate your telling me. *blush* Here it is:


Reflections of Me

Well, what do you think? Does it look vintage? The center is supposed to be a mirror. Anyone viewing the page will have their own image instead of a photo! I'm so clever sometimes. LOL I used a piece of cardstock that has a silver reflective layer. This layout took me about five hours to make. Pretty much most of the time was spent playing with different embellies just to get the ones that looked the best.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good one!

Finally - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle #2!!!

I haven't been procrastinating, I promise! Things just got in the way. Here is a way for you to use some packaging from Heidi Swapp products. Al Gore will be proud of you! LOL

To begin, you need some Heidi Swapp packages. Remove the black sheets.

Now, carefully cut the polka dotted strip away from the rest of the package. Save the rest of the printed top. If you want, you could save the black portion, too, for making alphas. For this mini lesson, however, we only need the strips and the printed top right now.

Cut your alphas or pull some alphas from your stash. I chose to make black alphas with my Cricut machine. You could use white alphas or black alphas, premade or home made.

Now, take your polka dotted strips and glue them to your plain black alphas. I also cut out the tiny flower from the top between Heidi's first and last names. That little flower was glued to the dot on the exclamation point.

Imagine all the possibilities for that little black strip and tiny white flower! Let your creative juices flow! Here is a LO I did using those alphas:


You Rock!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Bit Geometric

I just finished this LO of our daughter-in-law using this great olive green background PP that came from 4 Scrappy Sisters. I love the geometric lines of that sheet of paper. I went through my stash and looked for other papers that would compliment the base paper. I came up with the navy vine, the blue and white check, and the light green geometric shape. I think I got lucky! I did stitch around the edges of the papers. I chose a flower I had seen done on another LO because of the angled petals. I used my punch to punch the small journaling sheet. The colors are perfect with the photo's colors. Don't you think?

I promise I'll be back later with something fun - it was supposed to be done yesterday, but life got in the way. Hope you have some Heidi Swapp packaging laying around!! *hint, hint*


She's a Free Spirit

Thanks for stopping by!

Free to a Good Home...

scrapbook paper! Want some? It's not the newest, but it's pretty, LOL. Just leave a comment for me that you'd like some! Also, if you and I are on the same sites, you can also PM me. I like comments, though..... *giggle* The amount of paper I have is just tooo much! I keep using it, but it's not going down! I have enough Halloween PP to fill a page protector box. No CS, just PP! If you have a preference of holiday or color, let me know that, too! Now, keep in mind that it's free - so you can't complain!!! LOL If you live outside the US, that's fine, too! How about we do this until 10/31, OK? Speak up or forever hold your peace!!!


My Halloween Honey

This is a LO I did yesterday. The stitching is w/ green embroidery floss, but it doesn't look bright green. It's the last of the photos I'm scrapping of DH and last Monday's visit to the pumpkin patch, LOL. I need little kids to scrap!!! My DH is such a good sport. We WILL go to the pumpkin patch and you WILL let me take your photo!!

I've got a great lesson planned for Wednesday 10/24. I hope you will stop by and pick up another Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle strategy!

If you know what I need to do to make the photos on the blog get bigger when you click on them, I'd love to know. I just experimented and discovered that you go to Photobucket if you click on the image. It doesn't get bigger. Help! LOL
Have a good one!

I Have Too Much "Stuff!"

I keep making layouts using older papers only to find that my supply isn't really going down! What's with that? Are the papers multiplying by themselves? I'm even tossing scraps that I KNOW would be useful for a card or six! I don't get it. Does anyone else have more than a lifetime's worth of paper?

I'm heading off to bed. The sun isn't even down yet. I'm just in a frumpy mood. I'm cold. I'm dressed in winter clothes, there's a fire in the fireplace, I'm under a blanket. I think I'll go into the bedroom, turn on the fireplace in there, get my book and get cozy with my blankets, LOL!

My sweetheart took about 40 photos of me today so I might have some current ones. Not one turned out well. It might be my mood. My eyes look horrible. Both have ruptured blood vessels - something that is happening with more frequency. The doctor says it's from all the drops I have to use every day. My husband just thinks sticking the camera in my face and using the flash will make a good photo, I guess. He tried. I don't think he has much to work with when he is trying to make a miracle happen when taking my photo! LOL

Here is a photo that he took that DID turn out! What you cannot see on the photo of the layout is that along the crest of the mountains, there are "flames" of yellow just over the black and under the red. It looks like the mountain tops are ablaze. The red part of the sunset is my very favorite part. A sunset goes through so many stages. The red is the one that I find breathtaking. I can feel His presence in each one. Here is my latest:



Thanks for stopping by! Have a good one!

One Thinks & One Doesn't

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

This LO concept came to me last night while in bed. I almost got up to do it for fear I would forget by this morning! There are the two feline units that share our home. Can you tell which one is the smart one? LOL Both are the sweetest cats we have ever seen! They are so loving, POLITE, gentle, and, I think, have a sense of humor! Is that possible? They are 15 year old brother and sister Himmies who purr the second you look at them.

Each day w/ Purrna is a gift. She was given only weeks to live - 2 years ago! We can't have flowers or bows around because she will take them. She actually will pull them off packages and play with them. The shinier the better. Same thing with flowers. She will remove them from the vase w/out toppling the vase! She loves watching birds & butterflies from the window. She has an amazing vocabulary. There are words we have to spell because the second she hears them, she gets extremely verbal and pushy (crab and shrimp are two we MUST spell). Whenever her appetite starts to wane, we pull out the shellfish to get her going again.

Now, the boy is all rough and tumble. He prefers to race through the house and go "People Bowling" - trying to make us trip or, even better, fall. He loves to run across your feet or between your legs while walking. He tiptoes on the bed to see if we are asleep or awake. He knows his name - not many other words. He...well, he loves to stare into space or sleep. He is the litter box excavator. For him, it's a fun pasttime (ick).

If you look at the LO, you can see which of the two has more thoughts going on, LOL. I wouldn't give up either one. I hope, if there is a Heaven, that our "babies" - all of the ones we've ever had - will be there, too.

Have a good one!

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Great Blue Heron!

This lovely feathery friend decided to scare the padoodle out of my sweet husband. He was sitting in his chair when this monster flew overhead - looking like a pterodactyl! DH jumped up from his chair and threw me in front of the window. This gorgeous bird landed on the rooftop of the house just below ours on the next street. They are about 4' high and have a 6 foot wingspan! I wondered where his mate was because he waited and waited for about 20 minutea. None came. :o( We immediately grabbed the cameras and started shooting. This LO is to make sure we don't forget that these animals stop in the area to rest while migrating. I chose these three photos because I loved the colors of the feathers and the position of the head. After he rested, he flew toward the river. Maybe his mate was there already calling for him. I liked the "fish eye" look of the three photos. TFL!



DH was such a good guy on Monday that I took him to the pumpkin patch to be my child substitute while I shot photos! LOL The passersby were wondering why two adults were there climbing all over the display taking photos. Usually, it's children and scrapping grandmas and moms! Here are some of the shots I got. I just had fun with the LO (maybe a bit too much fun, LOL). The line of ghosts at the bottom are puffy and satin. I based the LO on them. TFL!



Have a good one!

Boo! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Well, things have been busy this week! I made a huge pot of applesauce and shared it w/ friends, baked three more loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread, made two layouts, took the laptop in, got flu shot, went out to dinner, did some shopping, and played Canasta! I had to pull out my slacks and actually wore a sweatshirt today because I was chilly! YES!!! Come on cooler temperatures!

On Monday, DH and I ran a ton of errands. Some are mentioned above. In the evening, we went to the pumpkin patch so I could get some great photos. Below is a LO I did with one of the 30 photos I took, LOL! People driving by must have thought we were crazy. Usually, there are children all over with scrapping moms shooting photos - not two grown adults! We had fun! Here's the LO:



What do you think? I spent most of today working on the bear holding the pumpkin. DH loves how the bear looks. DH is such a cheerleader for me! I have to keep pinching myself! I have to use up some of the old PPs I have. These are from who knows when. I tried to give them a new look by using the Hambly rub ons.



Now, for your lesson - a "no brainer" for sure. See the word "BOO" at the top of the page? Looks like Heidi Swapp ghost alphas, huh? Wellllllllllllllllll, those alphas are NOT ghost alphas!!!



Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!

Materials needed:

A plastic milk jug (rinsed clean)
A letter press like a Sizzix
Alphabet dies like Sizzix

Directions:

1. Cut your jug. You'll be needing the flat parts.
2. Select your alpha die.
3. Place alpha die on plastic segment, insert, press, and removet!

There you go! YOU'VE JUST GONE GREEN! You took something that you would ordinarily throw out and use it in scrapbooking!!!

**Since I shared this, if you share it, would you please give me credit? I thought it up all by myself and am just tickled!** If the idea is out there already, I didn't know about it, LOL!!



Thanks for stopping by. I hope you like the idea I've just shared with you!

A Gaggle of Geese

This morning, the geese were yammering their hearts out! They were soooooo noisy! I was too tired to get out of bed to see if they were in the air or not. They could have been down at the river at the bottom of our hill. They are sure noisy buggers! The night before, I went to sleep with an owl whooo, whooo, whoooing in the tree in front of our house. It was wonderful! I share these because they are so special. After living in Las Vegas for so many years, there was absolutely no wildlife - anywhere - just the two-legged kind. LOL

I worked on a LO yesterday. I wanted to get away from the traditional colors of blue and white. This was our son's first trip to the snow. We have no idea where that beautiful sled went. I'm hoping that it went into the storage shed. I hope you like this LO.

When It Feels Like Fall...

I have to get back into the kitchen and start creating foods with delicious autumnal scents. Would a nice big pot of butternut squash soup simmering on the stove do? You bet, and it's there! How about three loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread? Did that, too! I am sooooo happy the summer is gone! It's cloudy and 60° here today. Beautiful weather! Oregon Coast in June weather! Perfect! An Oregon day!

In celebration of this gorgeous day, I have a new LO to share with you!!! I didn't take photos of the steps along the way, but I have the steps ready for you. Here you go!



Materials Needed:

Basic Grey PPs - Infuse line - Instill, Saturate, Salt, and Invest
Chipboard flourish of your choice
Ribbon - May Arts Preppy Stripe
Brad - Bazzill
Heidi Swapp naked chipboard alphas
MM - Heidi rub ons in white
Adhesive
Ink for tag edges

Process:

1. Cut a wavy strip from the Instill PP. Leave the white border on both sides of the stripe.
2. Next, cut a strip from the Invest PP that is just a tad wider than the strip above. My PP stripes are horizontal.
3. Center the wavy strip on the striped strip and glue into place.
4. Using a hole punch, make a hole on each side of the "valley" found on the sides of the wavy strip. You will need six brown
scraps to fit behind the lower six holes (3 on the left and 3 on the right). Glue behind the holes.
5. Cut a 5 1/2" strip from your Salt PP. Glue this 3" from the bottom.
6. Butt your striped PP strips against the left side of the background sheet. Glue into place over the white Salt PP.
7. Next, create a circle using your Invest PP (the one you used on the left side as a background under the wavy stripe). Cut
out.
8. Position your circle so that it hangs off the bottom of the PP and connects on the left at the point where the horizontal
wide white strip meets the vertical strip. Do NOT glue on the right where the circle goes over the white strip. Glue
everywhere else, though.
9. Position and glue the two photos on the left into place. For the third photo, right side, add adhesive to the top, bottom,
and left sides of the photo. Leave the portion under the circle free of adhesive. Your journaling tag will slip under both
the photo and the circle portion.
10. Add your title, date, and flourish.
11. Make a tag for your hidden journaling. Do your journaling, add a bow, and slide under the last photo and right circle. I
inked my tag edges even though the tag is hidden.
12. Add your date using rub ons or a stamp.

Tah Dah!

I hope that these directions weren't too complicated. If you have any questions, let me know.


Have a good one!

The Love of My Life

Soulmate, spiritual, best friend, confidant, funny, loving, gentle... Oh, I could go on and on describing the love of my life. He's the kind of person most people love. Those that don't see him as a smart aleck! He is. This man has put up with me for 33 years! I think anyone else would have high tailed it out of here, LONG ago! The Lord knew I needed someone VERY tolerant, and so He sent me this wonderful man. I did this LO just for him today. The journaling is written on the blue strands. The circular strands don't look blue, but they are. The PP used is MME Bohemia. If you know the PP, then you know that it is a very light turquoise. The word, "He," isn't as green as it shows in the photo. If we can do LOs entitled "She," then we can do LOs entitled "He!"

Have a good one!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

It is just gorgeous outside! The sun is shining and the air is cool - a wonderful 78°. My sweet husband is planting bushes in the yard so that we'll have flowers all year long. He loves a pretty yard and does such a wonderful job of landscaping our properties.

I worked on a Fall LO today to share with you. The background CS looks darker than it really is. Picture a pale cantaloupe shade while the darker CS looks more like the color of pumpkin pie. It's not a fancy LO, but I liked the lines. I wanted to get away from the circles. I need to add a punched photo corner in the darker tone to place on the lighter CS (just for interest). I used fall photos but pictured a series of children's photos with a larger one in the middle. While I only used three photos, four or five small ones would also work well - especially with vertical closeups. My photos were wider than tall. It is also the type of LO that lends itself to a variety of PPs and colors of CS. Here it is:



If you would like to make one, you will need:

2 sheets of complimentary colored cardstock. I used two colors of Bazzill - a pumpkin shade & a pale shade w/yellow tones.
1 sheet of PP
Ink
pop dots
embellishments of your choice
adhesive
alphas of your choice

Procedure:

1. Cut 2 strips of the darker CS - 1/2" x 12"
2. Cut 1 strip of the darker CS - 3" x 12"
3. Cut your PP choice - 8" x 6 1/2"
4. Cut a mat for your center photo. Mine is green and measures 3 1/4" x 4 1/2." Choose a contrasting color.

5. Measuring along the bottom edge of the strip to the bottom edge of the CS, glue your first narrow strip 3" from bottom.
6. Again, measuring bottom edges, glue your second narrow strip 7 1/4" from the bottom.
7. Ink the edges of your piece of PP. Glue this approximately 1 1/4" from bottom (centered) and above the two narrow strips.
8. Lightly ink the long sides of your wide strip. Using the bottom edges of PP & CS, glue the strip 3 7/8" (just under 4") from bottom or just center it.

9. Glue your two smaller photos into place on the wide strip - left and right side. The wide strip will act like a border mat.
10. Glue your largest photo to the CS mat. (Step 4)Ink the mat edges. Place pop dots to the back center & corners of the mat.
11. Glue center photo into place.
12. Add your title. I used Thickers alphas for mine. Embellish to your liking using buttons, ribbon, brads, chipboard, etc.



Tip of the Day - When using rub ons, why fight the sticky backing and edges when trying to return the sheet to its cellophane package? Just cut the rub on right out of the package while cutting through the package, too! No more fighting!


I hope today's little lesson may be a starting point for someone. Please let me know you stopped by! I love hearing from you!

Have a good one!

The Joy of Scrapping

Does anyone ever run out of photos? I wish we had more from when our son was in elementary school. We would take slides. Those slides wound up in the garage. The garage was so much fun during the heat of any Las Vegas summer! The temperatures in our garage were upwards of 125° easily. The slides are almost worthless. It is so disappointing. So many memories are now gone. We didn't know then what we know now. I am just grateful that I have the photos I have.

The LO I did today was of a herd of Big Horned Sheep we saw last month at Zion National Park. They were no more than 30 feet from the roadside! It was so exciting as there were about 20 of these magnificent creatures running across the rocks, posing on the crest of a hill, two were fighting over a female, and one was rutting! The noise he made when he repeatedly slammed his head into the tree was so loud! I wondered if he got a headache. The setting was so perfect! Here they were on the red sandstone rocks of Zion. The Big Horned Sheep are the state animal of Nevada. Those in the areas by Lake Mead are very small compared to the herd we saw. These animals were as large as mules! So, in homage to this amazing experience, I did a LO to make sure the experience isn't forgotten. Here it is:



The background CS is a beautiful bright white. It surely doesn't look like it. I used the CherryArte Morocco line of PPs. The photo on the LO looks a bit on the red side - it doesn't on the actual LO, but when I shot the picture of the LO, it came out like that. I'm sure if I were skilled in Photoshop, I'd know how to fix the picture of the animals without adjusting the rest of the layout's color. The alphas are a distressed copper metal which is why there is reflection

Have a good one!

Happy Friday!

Some weeks are just better than others. I am glad this one is over. It's just been a hard week. Sometimes, despite the best efforts, things just aren't as good as you had hoped they'd be! So, to perk up my spirits, I'm posting a layout that I just love! I used Sassafrass Lass PP and a lot of scraps. I hope you like it!



It's funny, I love scrapbooking and creating layouts with our photos. Yet, for some reason, I'm not DT material! Am I hurt? No, not at all. I just wonder what I'm lacking. If you know, feel free to comment, LOL. I need all the help I can get! How else can I get better!

I've been looking for the Making Memories Tiny Alpha stickers. If you read this and know where I can find them, please let me know. I think they are so cute! I tried looking on line, but didn't have any success.

If you would leave a comment on this post, I'll select a name next Friday and send a RAK to whomever I pick! If you are not in the US, you're included, too!

It's Time for a New Lesson

Good Tuesday morning!

Yesterday turned out to be a much busier day than we had planned. I worked on the layout below yesterday afternoon and last night. I hope you like the results.



For today's lesson, you will need:

1 12 x 12 pc. cardstock
1 5 x 10 pc. patterned paper (PP)
1 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 patterned paper
1 6 x 8 patterned paper
1 3 x 5 1/2 patterned paper
1 2 x 4 1/2 patterned paper
rub ons or stamps
feathers
ribbon
ribbon slide
adhesive
buttons
alphas (I used Thickers)
ink

Procedure:

1. Ink the edges of your pieces of PP.

2. Take your piece of PP that is 5 x 10 and, at a slight slant, glue to the CS as shown below



3. Next, take your contrasting sheet of PP that is 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 and glue it, again on a slant, above the previously glued PP.



4. Now, you are ready to add the widest piece of PP. This one goes on the left and is angled down towards the left corner a little bit.



5. The next piece of PP is your sheet that is 3 x 5 1/2. I have chosen a PP that is of the same color family, but darker in intensity. This one is also angled down and to the left.



6. Your final piece of PP is a color that contrasts with your primary color. My primary color is yellow with blue being the
accent color. This piece of PP should be 2 x 4 1/2. You can see that it is glued higher but is still angled down and to the left.



7. Attach your photo. I angled mine sightly down and toward the lower right corner.

8. I next added my feathers, ribbon with side, borders, buttons, alphas, and rub ons.

I thought the feathers would be a fun texture to the page. Both of my boys were dressed in matching sweats. DS is missing a shoe which is why I have the arrow pointing to his little shoeless foot! And, then, the title was born!



I hope you liked this Monday Musing Mini Lesson that was posted on Tuesday. (ACKKKK) If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Now, I promised a RAK to someone who posted on Sunday's entry. DH picked a number from 1 - 6 and selected #4 who is Alison! WTG, Ali! Having him pick the number takes the pressure off me, LOL! Ali, I will be sending something to you.

Now, anyone who posts to TODAY'S MINI MUSING MINI LESSON will be eigible for next week's RAK! Also, if you are in a foreign country, you're included, too! Come on, gals - leave a comment so I know how I'm doing! LOL I don't know if doing a lesson is helpful or not.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good one!