A Little Bling Never hurts!

After my class Friday, I decided I wanted to jazz up my project(that's right, I said jazz up, it's more fun if you do jazz hands while you say it, too). I had taken some pics of the girls just for the project. We went down to this old historic house in downtown Mesa, I can never remember the name of it. It is on Center between University and Main St., it's an awesome place to photograph. But I seem to be cursed when I go there to take pics, because both times I forgot to check if my battery was charged, so both times I only got a few pics that were good. I totally recommend it if you are looking for a new spot to photograph. I wish I knew more about photography.

Homemade was a fun class, it was small but that is such a nice change. I felt so privileged, because I had the sweetest mom and 2 daughters in the class. They were here on vacation from Scottland, so of course I just wanted them to keep talking, I love listening to their accents especially to the kids. Well, I just thought I would quickly post these pics so you gals from class could have some more ideas on how to bling up your projects. John and Gabe just walked in from football so I must say good-bye, I feel like I haven't seen John in forever (since football season started) so I am goin to go get me some hugs and a kiss or 2.

Spooky Spirit

I have been in such a Halloween craft mode lately, it's all I want to do. My poor sweet husband has been biting his lip for a week now, because Sierra and I decided to bring a a big folding table into the family room so we could get crafty and be able to all be together. So yes my family room is still trashed a week later and I keep saying 'today I am totally putting all of this away" then the next thing I know I've got another little project, gift, card, invitations or whatever that will 'just take a minute" and then I promise "tomorrow I can totally clean it up" and here we are today; I am planning on making the invitations for Activity girls and a gift for a friend. So I guess tomorrow, hah haha.

I shouldn't feel too guilty, since John has managed to lose our fall decorations. So see I had no choice but to make some new ones. At least my ghosts weren't lost. I made the BOO banner and I'm thinking I totally need to make one for fall to replace it after Fri. And then maybe a Christmas one to replace the Fall one, and then maybe a Valentine one to replace the Cristmas one, and then of course we'll need Easter & 4th of July too. Oh will the crafting ever end? We hope Not, right!!!?

Do you think my kids are hungry?

I love Fall food. Of course living here in AZ, we don't actually have fall. We have two seasons here: Really Really horribly miserable HOT & not hot. I am happy to report it appears (don't hold your breath) that we have finally entered the 'Not Hot Season'. Thanks to the nice weather we can finally start enjoying yummy comfort food again, so tonights menu was Chicken Pot Pie (from scratch thank you very much). And since it was from scratch it took forever to make, which lead to very hungry kids. Max and Izzy were very anxious and excited as you can see, they went and got their chairs and sat in front of the oven singing Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Pot Pie. They were so cute to watch, which made it even more disappointing when neither would eat it, in fact they cried, oh happy dinner time, happy dinner time again. At least the big kids loved it. I made two pies and only one half is left. Now let's just say a pray that Max and Izzy don't wake up in the middle of the night starving.

Haunted Houses

I so forgot to post pics of the banner I made for Halloween. I had so much fun making this. I stole the idea for the beads from Creating Keepsakes magazine. I used some of the house shapes from the house books I made the teachers as a templated. I also made one other banner I hung on my front door, I'll post pics of it later. Right now I have to shower and get out the door. See ya later, alligator!

Gratitude

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. And each Nov. I teach a book that revolves around gratitude and being thankful. I started making the books for two reasons, 1- I am terrible about taking photos at thanksgiving and 2- for a family tradition. When I was a kid we would always have Thanksgiving at my grandparents home and after the food was blessed my grandpa would have us go around the table and say what we were thankful for. Grandpa has been gone now for 18 years, but I want my children to have that moment on Thanksgiving where they ponder gratitude. The books have been a great way for me to make more of a memory out of each Thanksgiving. The kids usually write silly things, like when Pierce and Avery wrote 'I am Thankful for me, myself and I', but that year my sweet Gabe wrote 'I am thankful for my Mom" which still melts my heart.
This years is a 6"x8" book called Reflections of Gratitude. I think it is important to Reflect back over the past year and truly take a look at all we have to be grateful for. One thing I am Grateful for is Basic Grey paper, because the moment I saw it, I saw this book in my head, which made me happy. This book is truly reflective, the front and back covers are clear acylic pages with a silver leafing technique (can't wait to show you gals how to play with silver leaf) The first page is actually a mirror, that we will be aging with alcohol ink. Everything is reflective from the mirrors to the silver stickles to shimmering tulle. So if you are wanting to reflect on gratitude this Nov. join me Nov. 22 at Scrapbooks Etc.

Homemade

Just a quick reminder Homemade is thisFriday @12:30-2:30pm. We'll be painting this wood frame with a great paint technique & creating a mini book in the opening. Hope to see you there.

Haunted Houses

It's time for teacher gifts!!!!! This Halloween I made them these super cute house books from Little Yellow Bicycle. These books rock, they come in black, which so saved me tons of time. There was soooooo much fun Halloween papers this year it made my head spine and my store credit dwindle away. The first picture is the gift bags, Sierra actually made the middle one herself. The second picture is from the inside of Izzy's book (cover is last picture) We used Imaginisce for her book. Izzy was so cute helping make it. She kept wanting to put 'purple jewelies' (rhinestones) all over it. The second book (if it actually shows up on the blog in the order it is right now?) is the book I made for us, I used Making Memories & My Minds Eye. My favorite part is how cool the crackle accents turned out on all the stickers and paper. I also got a little stickles crazy. Next is the book for Gabe's teacher, we used Cosmo Cricket on it. Last is Sierra's teachers' book, we used Little Yellow Bicylce in it and tons of stickles. Sierra and her BFF Melinna and I all stayed up super late one night Halloween scrapping.The girls really had fun. Sierra was going stickles crazy, she glittered everything she could. Hopefully I didn't ruin Sierra's fun by getting after her using almost all the stickles and most of the really good brads. I'm all for sharing but sometimes I must admit I'm not so good at it, especially when it sharing scrapbooking supplies I really like with kids. But I must at least give myself credit for letting the girls create whatever they wanted. They made 12x12 books, that's a LOT of supplies and lots of fun. Ok, I just realized it's 1:40am and I still have stuff to do. Tomorrow I'll try to post pics of the banner I made for Halloween. Halloween is soooooooo Fun!

Playing Catch Up

Ok, so as usual it has taken me forever to blog again.. Things have been crazy busy! But I promised I would post more pics from Izzy and Tianas' party. They were just so cute together!!

This is the placemats I made with a die cut at etc.











I made the Happy Birthday banner with Basic Grey paper and crete paper and some leftover embellishments. I must admit I really had fun making everything!
Well, I must get back to the house full of crazy pre-teen girls, sierra is having a late night with 4 friends, which is the noise equivalent of ten kids.