Freaky Friday The Final Edition

Happy Halloween!

Today should be a fun day for us. My son is 4 and has a fun day planned at preschool. Parents are invited to stay for the first 30 minutes and see all the kids in their costumes and watch them sing some songs. I have been getting little previews of the Halloween songs at home and I am sure it will be cute when all of them get going together.

We will be trick or treating tonight as well as passing out candy at our house. Some of the grandparents are sure to come by to see our little guy in his costume. It will be a great day!

My final item to share for Freaky Friday is pictures of our pumpkins we carved this Monday evening. I was sick with a cold, so it was not as much fun as years past, but they all turned out great and we can't wait to light a few candles in them tonight.

I look forward to seeing everyone's Halloween pictures on their blogs soon!

What have I been up to???

Take a look... I have been crafting magnetic picture frames and treat bags for my son's preschool Halloween party tomorrow.

Here's the treat bag topper graphic I made...

Credits: Eek from Funky Playground.

This has been a fun project. I cannot belive my little guy is having his first holiday party at school! He is growing up so fast. I want to make it special for him and all his classmates. I know they will enjoy all their treats tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

This is what my 4 year old son calls carving a pumpkin without help from Mommy.

Eeeek! It's Tuesday already...

Sunday morning I woke up with a cold, nothing major, but it really kicked my butt yesterday and I was down all day. So many things needed to get done, but they didn't. Oh well, cause the rest helped me feel better today, I am still stuffy and sleepy, but I am not feeling like death, so that's good.

So today I am getting caught up, or trying to at least. While I'm doing so, I just have to say Yippee! for Printworks Premium Matte Photo Paper.

Yes, I realize it may seem strange. I'm sick, I'm busy and frantically trying to get things done and what do I want to share? I want to share my love of photo paper with you. Seriously I am odd, but this stuff is fantastic.
Part of my to do list today is printing all the treat bag toppers for my son's preschool Halloween shindig on Friday. I need to get this done today! While we made a mad dash to the local superstore for pull-ups and allergy medicine, I remembered I needed photo paper. I grabbed a box of my fave kind and off we went.
After lunch I set off to the office to print and as the cute treat bag toppers rolled off the press (aka my color inkjet printer) I remembered how much I love this paper. It hold the color well without too much saturation and it looks fantastic. It brings my fun creations to life!
So, if you ever decide to do a hybrid project with your digi scrap supplies, I definitely recommend using Printworks Premium Matte Photo Paper. Check it out!

Make Something Monday

This week I am posting a tutorial on how to make a simple Halloween Foam Magnet Frame. I made these for my son's preschool class. Yes, I made 20 of them, but they are so easy that it did not take long at all.

You will need several large (11x17 I think) sheets of craft foam, a couple different colors, some tacky glue, scissors or a craft knife, Halloween foam stickers, adhesive backed magnet strips, and some 3D paint (aka puffy paint). I also used a white gel pen for drawing the lines to cut out on the dark colored foam.

The first step is to measure and cut out 5x7 rectangles of your foam. You will need one for the back and one for the front. I used black for the back and orange for the front of this one.

Second, you will need to cut a rectangle out of the center of the front piece of foam for the picture to show through. I made my rectangle hole 3x5.
Then you will add a bead of glue to the back piece of foam on three edges, leave the top edge unglued so it will be open in order to slide the photo in. Tacky glue will grab quickly, but still let you wiggle and reposition if needed.


Now it's time for the fun! Decorate with foam stickers and 3D paint. My son helped me at this step, he decided what stickers would be used and helped me place them on. He really liked being in charge of how they were decorated.


Once the glue and paint has dried, apply a couple pieces of magnetic strip to the back. That will allow your frame to be hung on the fridge so everyone can see your little goblins in their Halloween costumes.
Please visit Go Graham Go and Jolly Mom for information about this new meme.

Sunday Girly Sunday

Being the mother of a boy, I barely get to do anything pink and girly. So when it comes to my niece, I am all about the pink. I could not resist using this deep pink paper to scrapbook her birthday pictures from this past September. I think she would like it too!

Credits: Alpha from Nature Walk by Valorie Brown Designs for Funky Playground. All other papers and elements from Penelope by Sara Ellis for Funky Playground. Font is MA Fishy.

Scrapbook Saturday

Credits: Papers from It's Time from Two Peas In A Bucket. Acutal movie tickets scanned. Kung Fu Panda embellishments from LaurasDigitalScrap.

Freaky Friday Part 2

Welcome back for the second edition of Freaky Friday. Today we are going to take a look at the items I have outside my house in honor of Halloween.

1. A decoration hanging on my front door. My son painted these wooden shapes last year and I strung them together with some Halloween ribbon.
2. Two nice big pumpkins for carving.
3. My scarecrow, isn't he jolly?
4. Mini hay bales with some fake mums, some mini scarecrows and a metal jack o lantern head that holds a candle.
5. This is a wire angel that sits on my porch year round. I change the flowers in her pot for each season. Of course she has a few pumpkins nearby as well, we hoard pumkins around here.
6. Almost impossible to see but this little stake has a scarecrow on it and says Harvest Time.
7. A giant spider web spanning the shrubs in our front yard.
8. A giant spider we made to go on the shrubs with the web.

Halloween's supposed to be spooky, right?

This is as spooky as it gets when you have a preschooler. I so look forward to the days when he wants to wear something ghoulish with fake blood and guts. I really get into that stuff for some reason. I hope he does too when he gets older. However, for this year I will settle for another cute costume.

His first Halloween he was a skunk. We used to call him "stinky" so it was quite fitting and too cute for words.

The following year I made him a lion costume. Oh how I hated brown yarn after making that mane. Again, a very cute kid on Halloween though.

Then came his first time choosing his own costume...and of course it had to be a pirate. He's quite the pirate fan so it was fun and we all got in on the act.

I was happy to play along, even though it meant wearing a skirt in the cold to trick or treat.

My husband enjoyed it too, despite the pout he's flashing me here. Not sure what his problem is, maybe the clip on earring was hurting him. hehe

And of course the bulldog didn't want to wear his pirate shirt, but too bad, and the lil bugger is so lazy that he kept laying down every couple houses when we were trick or treating (as seen here).

That brings us to this year. This Halloween promises to be even more fun than the last. Now he's almost 4 and really getting into the whole idea of trick or treating and spooky stuff. He loves the Toy Story movies and said he wanted to be Woody. However, one day in Target he saw a Buzz Lightyear costume and HAD to have it. We bought it and tried it on at home, but it was to small. So off I went to find one that fit. I ended up at Toys R Us, and they had the deluxe costume that had wings as well. I KNEW this was the one. He LOVES it! So, while it may not be spooky or creepy, it sure is going to be a fun Halloween.

Wordless Wednesday

Credits: The Sky Is Falling by Krystal Hartley for Funky Playground.

Menu Plan Monday

This week's menu has a repeat from last week that did not get cooked, but should be enjoyable and easy to follow.
Sunday - Tuna Noodle
Monday - Tacos and spanish rice
Tuesday - Ravioli, green beans and garlic bread
Wednesday - Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn
Thursday - Beef stew in the crockpot and bread
Friday - Dine out (woo hoo)
Saturday - Home made pizza and salad

Make Something Monday

Felicia from Go Graham Go told me about a new crafting meme she and Jolly Mom are starting. I could not resist joining in on the fun and hope you will too!
Hopefully they don't mind digitally created items, cause I made a digital scrapbook page of course.

Credits: Pumpkin template by IsaScrapsForever, Cardboard alpha, flower, pine branch and pollen sprig from 30B by Lauraskathi at Funky Playground, Papers, string, apple orchard word art, red apple, and metal bracket from Caramel Apple by Babyyaks, Date Font is MA Brownie Too from Digital Design Essentials

It's Sunday...

and I feel silly! So I thought I would share this with you guys! It cracked me up:)

Kitty Criminal (Cat Music Video) @ Yahoo! Video

Scrapbook Saturday

This weekend I decided to take a little tour around Scrapblog and finally see what that was all about. It's a neat online application and you can make some quick and cute collages to share online with family and friends.

Freaky Friday Part 1

There's only two more weeks until Halloween! It's coming up fast! I have yet to share all the freaky, spooky fun we have around here for Halloween. So, I thought today and the next two Fridays would be "Freaky Fridays". Today we will start with the inside of my house, mostly the playroom, and I will show you all the Halloween stuff we have out and about.

Click on image to enlarge.

1. Spider egg sack with baby spiders, directions here.
2. My son's play table with his pumpkin placemate, tiny real pumpkin, and Halloween book.
3. Again in the playroom, my son's Halloween tree that he loves decorating each year, a pumpkin tray and a skull candle holder.
4. On the kitchen counter, a lil scarecrow next to my Kitchen Aid mixer.
5. Pumpkin buckets used to store toys on the playroom shelves.
6. A candy corn tray with my son's pirate pumpkin, of course in his playroom.
7. A pumpkin and skull candle holder in the playroom next to the toads and the mantis.
8. My Bath & Body Works pumpkin soap pump at my kitchen sink.
9. Chairs in my son's playroom adorned with a spooky faced orange balloon and his little trick or treat bag.

Halloween is so much fun around here, my little guy really gets into it all, so I have to have things at his level that he is allowed to touch and enjoy. No fancy stuff here, at least not until he is older, at which point it will be all about adult Halloween items. Mwah ha ha ha!

Next Friday...meet me in the front yard for pumpkins and a spider you wouldn't want to find dangling over your bed at night.

Fall Leaf Fun

Today we made Fall Leaf Collages. I'm sure I did this at some point in my childhood, but I cannot remember when. Following the instructions I read on Mom Spark by Renee, we heated our iron and got to work. My son was totally not into this idea today, but too bad. It was still fun for me. He did enjoy seeing the finished product.



Sorry these don't photograph well when it is cloudy outside. They look great when sunlight shines through them though, I promise!

Wordless Wednesday

One of our pet toads, stalking his dinner.

It's officially Fall!

Well, it finally feels like it at my house. Today the weather was cool and breezy. We put a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner (recipe here). Then we made Pumpkin Bread.

I love pumpkin bread and make it every Fall. Today my son helped me mix it, well he helped for like 5 minutes. I baked 3 loaves and 18 muffins. We'll be eating this all week. LOL Actually, a bunch of it will be taken to work by my husband and some to the preschool teachers and family and friends, so we wont be overloaded by it.

Here's my recipe...

click photo to enlarge...papers and ribbon from Grateful by MickeyB Designs, Pumpkin by Candy's Treats

Some pictures of the pumkin bread baking action that took place...





Even though it's officially Fall and that makes me smile, it is also a sad sad day here in my kitchen. My oldest and most beloved spatula suffered a fatal blow while scraping the bowl of pumpkin bread mix. Blue Handled Spatula will be sadly missed and very hard to replace (I can never find another one like it at the stores, the new ones are too floppy).

So, as I sit here eating warm pumpkin bread with a little smear of butter and a glass of apple cider, I feel excited at the thought of pumpkin carving, roasted pumpkin seeds, jumping in piles of leaves and Halloween being right around the corner. I also hope someone in my family can find me a new blue spatula for Christmas or there may be a shortage of baked goods around here next year. (hint hint)

Lil Stinker Layout

Here's a little something I made last night...

This is my dog, Rocky. He seemed quite pleased with himself when he learned how to get onto the sofa, so I had to capture the moment.

Credits: Lil Stinker papers and elements from Funky Playground.

Menu Plan Monday

This week's menu is:

Sloppy Joes

Pot Roast

Chicken Breast

Tacos

Dine Out

Hot Dogs

Tuna Noodle

Fairly simple and filled with stuff that is easy to make and all of us like, well minus pot roast being something my son will not eat.

However, the best part is I plan to make these this week...yummm.....

Credits: Background Paper, Sugar Button and Ribbon from Sugary Sweet at Funky Playground. Apple from The Sky Is Falling at Funky Playground.

I am already looking forward to Thanksgiving

We host Thanksgiving dinner at our house for my family and my in-laws. Things can be hectic this time of year, especially if I look at my calendar and to do lists longer than a second. However, when we sit down to eat dinner on Thanksgiving day, my whole body breathes a sigh of relief and then I scarf down my delicious food. The afternoon is spent cleaning up of course, but my stomach says it is worth all the work. I love Thanksgiving dinner and here are a few things I am looking forward to making and eating...







Credits: recipe card paper and elements from Autumn Dayz by Twinky Dezines.

Scrapbook Saturday

This weekend's layout was lifted from a layout I drooled over on Stacey's blog, Havoc And Mayhem. Take a look at the inspiration she provided here. I so loved what she did with her Crafty Crochet layout and I put it to good use on my layout above about our visit to George George Park over Labor Day Weekend.

Thanks for the inspiration Stacey!

In case you didn't know...

I have started writing a weekend feature for my friends at MomDot. I am contributing a weekly craft post, providing ideas, links and instructions. This past weekend was all about apples. I shared a project my son and I made last week using an apple stamping technique. Perfect activity for children and very festive for Fall. You can see the pics of my finished product at MomDot. Here's a sneak peek...

Creative gift wrap

I love giving gifts. There's something so fun about the excitement I feel when I choose something for someone and cannot wait to see them enjoy it. There's also something fun about wrapping it cutely and making it look perfect.

Last week I gave my husband a small present, a Hallmark Ornament. I'm sure he was thrilled (insert sarcastic smiley here). I choose a grilling snowman since he is King Of The Grill around here. I thought it was adorable and thoughtful since he has like zero ornaments. How can that be? My mom gave me one every year and saved them for me. Anyway, that's a whole other topic.

When I got home from the store I wanted to wrap it and decided the brown Hallmark bag would be perfect wrapping paper. I used the backside which was plain. I used masking tape to secure it because I thought that would look better than invisible tape.

Then I made a little label with lip/kiss marks and his name for the top. These are Avery Round Baker Labels that I design in Microsoft Word and print out.

So simple, inexpensive, custom and cute!