Friday, October 31, 2008

happy halloween...

May you eat lots of chocolate and cookies and other sweets...
and not get a tummy-ache!

Sincerely,
Mr. Pumpkin, Bob the Builder, Mr. Skeleton IV, and The Candy Monster
{photos taken 10/27/08 before the UVU Halloween Party}

Thursday, October 30, 2008

halloween challenge...

I have a layout challenge up at the Making Memories blog today.



I'm sure you can't figure out WHO is on the layout based on the costume here, can you? (although he did mix it up a little bit last year...with the cloak and face paint)

Anyway, you can go here to see the entire layout and read more about my challenge.

P.S. No, that's not me in the video (yes, someone asked)...
it's Jenny Weston - from Making Memories...isn't she cute?!?

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

a halloween riddle...

It seems appropriate to share this card today:
{front}
{inside}

You can find it in Paper Crafts' Card Creations Volume 6 - which was recently released. :o)

And, yes, Josh has been a skeleton for 3 or 4 years in a row. Guess what he's going to be this year? Yep...a skeleton...again. Luckily, this is defnitely the last year his costume will fit...and I told him he has to choose something different next year. (even though we both know if he wants to be a skeleton again in 2009, we'll just buy a bigger skeleton costume)

Monday, October 27, 2008

gourmet...

No, not me...I WISH! (so does my family)
Paper Crafts' newest idea book might help me in that area though.
Paper Crafts Gourmet will be hitting the stores soon - and it looks like a great book. Not only is the cover amazing (and now I'm craving homemade oreos)....I've heard it's full of yummy recipes as well as Paper Crafted cards/tags/packaging to go along with them. Here's a fun sample from Alisa Bangerter that is included in the book:


Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits
Alisa Bangerter
This is a perfect recipe to pull out if you are short on time because there is no rolling or cutting. The cheese and garlic add extra kick to a plain biscuit, and kids love them. They are the perfect accompaniment to serve with soups or stews, and are great served with a salad.
INGREDIENTS
2 c. flour
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. butter or margarine
1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 1/4 c. milk
Chives (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until just moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.



And the supplies and instructions for the project:
Enjoy Halloween Tag
Designer: Alisa Bangerter
SUPPLIES: Cardstock: (ivory) Dye ink: (Black) Stewart Superior Corp.; (Summer Sun) Stampin’ Up! Specialty ink: (Mango Lemonade color wash) Stewart Superior Corp. Color medium: (black chalk) Craf-T Products Accents: (black brads) Making Memories; (chipboard bat, moon) Melissa Frances Fibers: (black striped ribbon) Pebbles Inc. Font: (Black Family) www.dafont.com Adhesive: (foam tape) Finished size: 3" x 4 1/2"
1 Make tag from cardstock. 2 Crumple tag and smooth out. Spray edges with color wash; let dry. Apply chalk. 3 Ink chipboard moon; let dry. Chalk edges and adhere. 4 Ink chipboard bat; let dry. Adhere with foam tape. 5 Print sentiment on cardstock; trim and tear edges. Chalk edges and adhere with foam tape. Attach brads. Attach ribbon with brad.

You can find out more about this special issue here and you can order it here.

a peek for Shantelle...

Last night I took some pictures for my friends. They ALL have the most amazing blue eyes - so gorgeous...I love how they stand out in the photos!

[click on the image to enlarge]
Anyway...I still have a lot to go through (I took 299)...
I wanted to let Shantelle peek at a few...I hope you like them! :o)

Sunday, October 26, 2008

my sweet girl...

Meagan let me take some pictures of her today in the cute hat we bought from our neighbor.
I love our other neighbor's red bush...and I know it's days are numbered...
so I talked her into letting me take a few pictures in front of it.
...and a few more with the pumpkins on the front porch...
[and yes, I was having fun playing in photoshop this afternoon]

just fyi...

[according to my cute little countdown blocks I made yesterday at Super Saturday]

Friday, October 24, 2008

i won...

I have a list of blogs that I like to visit often...for inspiration, ideas, and fun.
One of my favorite is Design Mom.
There are always interesting images, fun links, and oodles of inspiration.
Every once in a while, she also hosts a random giveaway.
Not too long, there was a giveaway for this gorgeous necklace from Lisa Leonard Designs.
I think it's beautiful.
I was shocked when I was chosen (from over 900 entries) as one of three winners!
Yesterday, it arrived in my mailbox!
Thanks so much, Design Mom and Lisa Leonard - I love it! :o)

Thursday, October 23, 2008

cornbelly's...

Last week the kids had Thursday and Friday off school for UEA. Brad was able to take those days off work (sort of...if you don't count having to take calls on his cell phone all day) and we spent 3 days doing lots of fun family things.

Thursday, we headed to Thanksgiving Point for Cornbelly's. We knew there was a corn maze...but we were pleasantly surprised to find lots of other fun activities too. There were huge jumping mats, tractor rides, slides, tunnels, big and small mazes, and so much more. I took tons of pictures (or course).



Everything was so fun...except the food (it was expensive and greasy greasy greasy).
We'll definitely be going back next year!

Monday, October 20, 2008

pumpkin cookies...

...my mom's recipe
...my favorite cookie recipe
...and now it can be yours too - because you asked so nicely! :o)



p.s. The last time I made these, I used my new kitchenaide to mix them up...I like the texture much much better when they are mixed by hand. They're still yummy when the machine mixes them...but I'm a texture girl, and it's better when they are mixed by hand. :o)

p.p.s In case you were wondering...I always triple the recipe.

p.p.p.s. I'm making these again for Super Saturday this week...i can't wait!
ETA: Yes, Karin, a cube of butter is 1/2 cup! :o)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

two times...

Twice.
That's how many times I've gathered up these ingredients
to make my favorite fall cookies ever. Twice in about two weeks.
And it's only mid-October.
I'm already craving more.
I may be going for a third time this coming week...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

little halloween decorations...

These were also for Making Memories - using the Slice.


A bat garland:



And a little transparent ghost:



I heard the Slice machines were starting to ship today...I hope it's true...I want to make some more fun Halloween projects soon!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

another halloween project...

I just thought I'd share another one of my Halloween projects -
these little napkin rings were made using the Slice to cut the spiders.
Of course I had to add some googley eyes...and more Spellbound paper, tags, and ribbons.

Monday, October 13, 2008

halloween shirts...

I'm so glad my big kids will still play along, and wear these Halloween shirts for me. (and Christmas PJ's, and Valentine's Day shirts, etc.)
I found cute shirts at Target for the 3 biggest kids...but nothing fun for Zach...so he only gets a hand-me-down this year.
That's okay though - these shirts really don't get worn a lot, so it looks pretty new ...and he's only 2...so he doesn't know the difference.

Now, if I could only get them to ALL look at the camera and smile at that same time...
...that would be a true Halloween miracle, lol!

Friday, October 10, 2008

a witch's brew...

My friend Shantelle says she's always wanted to host a fun halloween party. It was her turn to host bunco this month. She decided to combine the two and held an incredibly fun bunco/witch's brew on Tuesday night. Several weeks ago, she took witch's hats to everyone - we were supposed to decorate them (or not) and wear them to bunco. I was trying to think out of the box because I wanted to do something nobody else would think of. When I saw these cute little monster items at Target, I decided to turn my hat into a little monster party.


Here's my hat before I attacked it with the hot glue gun:


I rolled cardstock into a cone and put it inside so the top would stand up:


And the monster collection:


And a few items from my scrapbook/craft stash:



And here's what my hat looked like when I finished:


I know it's a little bright and gobby and silly...but my kids thought it was fun. Brad wasn't rude, but I could tell by his reaction to my lovely little hat that he wasn't overly impressed. It didn't matter though - I had fun making it and the kids liked it (Meagan's even going to incorporate it into her Halloween costume this year - she's so creative and likes to make up her own costumes). It was a bonus that I won the hat contest at bunco that night! The prize I won is the cutest little witch's broom with a sign that says "The witch is in/out" - it looks so fun by my front door!


Anyway, Shantelle really got into the evening and dressed as a witch from head to toe. She looked great! And she went all out for the dinner too. Here are a few pictures from the dinner spread:








She did extra games and incorporated some fun changes in our bunco game too. The prizes were amazing. Shantelle never does anything half-way. If she does something, she really does it and it's always incredible. It really was a fun evening - the perfect way to kick off the month of spooks and treats!!