Ghosts, Goblins & Ghouls...Oh My!

It's getting close.  Halloween is only 5 short days away (not that my kids would ever let me forget it...lol).  We went costume shopping last week and they each picked out their costumes after what seemed like hours of agonizing over what they actually wanted to be.  It was killing Tony and I...lol.  But they finally made a decision.  Brody picked "Snake Eyes" (some sort of GI Joe character) and Holly went the total girly route (anything to get to wear makeup) and picked a really cute little cheerleader costume.  It was killing them not to be able to put them on as soon as we got home.

Well, we all know how well, the "costumes in a bag" are made and I knew that if I let them play in them, they would ruin them before Halloween.  But they finally got a chance to don their new looks on Saturday night.  Some friends of ours had a costume party for their son's 5th birthday.  They were counting down the minutes on Saturday until it was time to put them on.  Finally, the big moment had arrived and you would have thought it was Christmas morning...lol. 

Here's a fun layout I did of all the kiddo's (young and old...er) in their costumes.  Some of those costumes were an absolute hoot!  These sorts of pictures really inspire me because they are always filled with tons of fun and fabulous colors.  I don't normally like to use the traditional halloween colors.  It just seems so typical.  So I used lots of blues, greens and purples in addition to the usual black and orange. 

We have a very busy week ahead of us.  It's the end of the quarter for the kids at school, so we have parent teacher conferences Wednesday and Thursday evening.  We still haven't made it to the pumpkin patch yet, so we need to accomplish that task tomorrow.  Friday evening will be spent carving our pumpkins.  Then of course Saturday is Halloween where we will get to customarily freeze our asses off chasing after the kids while toting our "little red wagon" filled with beer...lol. 

Next week is going to be a busy one too.  I was summoned to Jury Duty..YUCK!  Hopefully I can find a tactful way of getting out of it (still working on that..lol).  Then we have haircuts, girls night out (looking forward to that!) and a few other things.  So, I hope that I will get to check back in with everyone before the month of November is over...lol...but I'm no promising anything.

Ta ta for now!

P.S. Oh and just a little something to make you sick...only 58 shopping days until Christmas!

Happiness is....

Happiness can mean lots of different things to lots of different people.  Happiness to me is being able to watch my children play, laugh and grow into beautiful people.  Each step that they take on their journey towards the people they will ultimately become is very precious to me. 

Some of you skeptics out there are thinking, "Why on earth do people spend hours upon countless hours, not to mention all that money, on scrapbooking?".  I'll tell you why I and many other people out their do it.  It records every step of my children's journey in life.  But it's not only the journey that I love to record, it is such a creative outlet for me personally.  I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination.  I can't draw and  I don't paint.  But I do love to CREATE with my hands.  I get the chance to express myself through paper, inks, paints, fabric, stamping and so much more!

I finished two layouts yesterday about my children's journey in life.  The first one titled "Lovin Life" is about my darling daughter, Holly, riding her bike without training wheels for the first time.  It's such a big step for her (and me).  It's just one more thing to remind me that she is growning up way too fast.

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Happiness

I spent a couple of hours this evening just scrapping away.  Brody was playing the Wii and Holly was putting together, none other than, a Spongebob puzzle.  I love evenings like these.  Everyone is occupied and I get a chance to play a little. 

This photo is one of my favorites from our vacation this summer.  I don't know why, it's certainly not perfect, but nonetheless, it's still my favorite.  This is actually one of the quickest layouts I've ever accomplished.  It only took a couple of hours, but I think it's my favorite to date! 

 I hope everyone has a great "crafty" weekend!

How cute is that little butt?

Holly is such an independent little girl.  She thinks that she can do anything that she sees me do.  Most of the time I indulge her.  And in this instance, it was really cute. 

I was doing laundry and she said that she wanted to do it by herself.  So I said have it.  I mean, I literally hate doing laundry anyway...lol.  So she promptly jumped on top of the washing machine and proceeded to practically crawl in it to get the clothes out.  It was adorable! 

This is one of those layouts that I couldn't just focus on one particular photo.  There is a whole series that depicts the story.  So I left one color photo that stands out against the rest of the black and white images.  After adding some serious bling and lots of adorable embellishments, I had a great respresentation of the story.  Thanks for looking!

My Mom

I've always been very close to my Mom.  Sure, when I was a teenager we had a few rounds, but they never amounted to much.  She always inspires me with her spirit and energy that she has when it comes to life and it's challenges.  So the photos that I have of her and I are very near and dear to my heart.

When I scrap them, I tend to get a little sappy and take an especially long time agonizing over every detail.  I'm a comlete perfectionist (uuhmmm...which I get from her...lol).  I truly adore every moment that I get to spend with her and I'm so happy that we share a passion in scrapbooking.  Love you Mom!

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Good Friends, Good Times

A couple of months ago, I spent an entire day scrapping with some good friends.  I know that it is kind of redundant to scrap about scrapbooking, but I can't help myself...lol!  This layout includes lots of wonderful goodies that I picked up yesterday at CKC which has completely inspired me.  I mean two layouts in one day?!  I can't believe it...lol.  That is a rare occurance.

The "clock face" was made by using a laser cut piece of cardstock that I flipped over to the back and inked with a Versa Mark ink pad and then coated it in Zing! clear embossing power.  It really made the pattern stand out.

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Together

We were very fortunate this year as a family to be able to take a small vacation over the summer.  I'm still in the long process of scrapping those photos (because I only took like 200..lol).  I just finished this one about the Field Museum in Chicago, IL.  I used various October Afternoon papers that I got at the CKC yesterday, along with many other goodies. 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I've died and gone to heaven...

I spent the most fantastic day with Tara at CKC 2009.  IT WAS FABULOUS! I could totally do that everyday.  I'd put my family in the poor house, but I'd be one happy camper...lol!  There was so much to see (and buy) that I almost got a little over-excited.  Tara didn't help, she was as bad as me.  Everytime one of us turned around it was "Ooohhh!  Look at this!  No, come here and look at this!". 

I even got a new outfit.  It absolutely cracked me up! (The T-shirt is completely accurate.  I am a paper ho!)

I'm going to have an absolutely fabulous weekend with all my new goodies. I can't wait to show you guys some new stuff. But for now, take a gander at some of my fabulous finds (It's sad, but it wouldn't even all fit on my desk...lol.  I'm so bad!):

Construction is complete ahead of schedule!

It's finally done!  I've been working for several days (very late into the night I might add...lol) to completely re-design everything.  I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about HTML coding.  My fingers have curved sideways, my back is hunched over and I have several patches of hair missing...lol. 

Take a few minutes to browse around.  I've added several new elements and widgets that are pretty cool.  I also did all the graphic work that you see from scratch!  WHEW!!  I might turn into a  hybrid scrapper yet! (For those of my friends who don't scrap...A hybrid scrapper uses both paper and digital elements in their projects.  I could hear you scratching your head...lol!)  It was a long and sometimes painstaking process, but it was all worth it in the end.  Thanks for being patient!

Now I'm off to the CK Convention at the KCI Airport.  I'm sure to come back with tons of goodies that I will be sharing with everyone.  See you soon!

Under Construction...

So, I'm completely tired of the way my blog looks. I've decided to completely re-do it. Bear with me while I get everything put back together. I promise it will be better than ever!

54321...Blast Off!

So I had some downtime last night. Tony wasn't feeling well so he came home from work and went straight to bed. Holly was wiped as well and fell asleep at about 7:00. So I spent the evening scrapbooking. YEA! These are some pictures of our trip to Chicago this summer at the Museum of Science and Industry. I just love these cute little monsters from October Afternoon. I haven't had the occasion to use them yet, but I thought that this layout fit perfectly. I also found a hidden treasure in my stamps. This adorable little rocket ship is from Pink Paislee which I embellished with some of my Stickles and the new Liquid Pearls from Ranger. I was finding all sorts of treasures last night...lol. Thanks for looking! :)

Happy Monday!

I can't believe last week flew by so fast! I've really gotten behind on everything from cleaning and laundry to my favorite hobby...scrapbooking! I was actually able to accomplish a few things yesterday while the kids were outside playing (OMG it was quiet!...lol) and Tony was at the Chief's game.

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