Happy Halloween!

Working~scrapping~being Mom

Work is busy right now. (I know I say this a lot but it really is.) Trying to finish up a project by weeks end. I spent a better part of the weekend programming at home(work) and the other part being a Mommy and wife. I am tired today.

I am co-room mother for Lindsey's class this year and we decided to put together these scrap albums for the children to scrap in throughout the year. So at the end of the school year they will have a nice keepsake to take home. I put together the album to get them started and they will add pages throughout the year. I took pictures of the children with the teacher for the cover and for the teachers album I took a picture of the class with her. I like how they turned out and I can't wait to see how the children will create their pages.

Second Grade Monkeys:




I am also finishing up Lindsey's birthday party invites. WOW she is going to be *eight*. *sniff, sniff*.

Mallory had her first taste of cereal over the weekend too. Just *Messy Cute*!

Art Calendar

Here is the finished *art calendar* I mentioned previously. I love how they turned out!

Cute Acrylic Albums

I have been seeing a lot of scrap albums using sheets of acrylic. Amazingly enough I found several sheets in my stash of stuff from a project I worked on a couple of years ago. I am going to play around with it some. They look like fun.

On another note here are a few more pictures from the weekend that I played around with in PSP.

*Fabulous* weekend

My Mother came in town for a surprise visit (a surprise for Lindsey) I love it when she is in town. We have such a good time hanging out. Saturday we decided to do some crafting, we made some really cool stuff. I also made an attempt at creating the *art calendar* I mentioned in my previous post. It was so much fun to make. I started one for myself, my Mother and of course Lindsey wanted a wall sized one too. They all turned out really cute. Pictures to follow later.

Sunday we took the girls out around town looking for cool places to photograph them. Lots of fun. Here are a couple of shots that I took, I have lots more but want to play around with them in Paint Shop Pro.

Check this out

OK, I stumbled across TracyU and her amazing art calendar journal tonight as I was reading an art blog. An *artful* twist on a daily calendar. Check it out. I am going to make one of these. It will definitely make me *happy* if I keep my daily *to do* list written on something like this. So awesome!

Dork'y

Yes I know this is a little on the *dork'y* side but I can be that way sometimes. These new Starbucks cups in our cafe' at work make me *happy* . I love the artwork on the bottom edge.

Reflecting back..

I was looking through some old photos and found these.

My how she has grown. I miss the *haircut* too. I love when we get to go to the beach. Hopefully we will get to make a trip next summer, Mallory will be walking by then. Should be fun!!! I need some beach photos with both of my girls.

Quick Weekend

Wow, the weekend is over. I do wish they were longer, I can't seem to get everything I want to do crammed into two days any more. Saturday was spent taking Lindsey to a birthday party and later in the evening a sleepover. I tell ya her social life makes mine look sad. But in all honesty I do not mind, I had time to do *things*, fly by the seat of my pants if you will, before I had the girls. It's their time now and as long as David and I get some time to go out once in a while then I am OK with that.

I got to create some *stuff* over the weekend, in between laundry and other house stuff. For the birthday party Lindsey went to I created this tag, so much fun to make.

I will be making more of these. A quick fix when I can't sit down very long to actually scrap a whole page. I also made Lindsey's teacher a little goodie for Halloween, I didn't get around to taking a picture yet. Will do that before Lindsey takes it to her tomorrow. I also started working on a collage/painting for my office at work. I really need to brighten the gray walls up some, if I have to be there then I need it to be a happy place for me to dwell.

We also had some major milestones reached over the weekend. First and foremost, Lindsey has had this *habit* since she was a toddler, I will not say what it is/was just that it has been a source of frustration for David and I to get her to stop. Nothing major but she is after all almost eight and it is time. I am EXTREMELY *happy* to report that she has made it two days, without ********. YOU GO GIRL. Lindsey also had her first *real* sewing lesson on a *real* sewing machine. She did VERY well. (it is in her blood) A fifth generation seamstress. By the end of the day she was threading her own needle. My Mother and Grandmother will be so excited.

Here she is sewing on my old sewing machine (now hers):

Mallory is doing great, she is getting to where she can roll over one way from her back to her stomach then from her stomach to her back again. She is also talking up a storm and laughing like everything is funny. She is going to be a talker for sure. She is trying so hard to sit up too, I know that is a few months away, but man she is trying so hard. She is going to be a mover and a shaker I can already tell.

Lindsey and I also got our *BOO* stuff together. I always try to do a theme and I like for it to be something that families can do together. Like last year we did cookie baskets with sugar cookie mix, a can of icing, sprinkles, and a decorating bag, something you can do together as a family. This year I went with a *Family Dinner* theme I put a chili mix, a Cajun cornbread mix, a Halloween dish towel, some Halloween cups and napkins and a couple of sweets for the children in paint cans that I altered. I try not to put stuff in the baskets that will annoy parents, like how many coloring books and crayons does one child need or candy since they will no doubt have way more than they will ever eat Halloween night. I let Lindsey pick who she wants to *boo* . When I first started this (2003 when we moved into the neighborhood) I had read about it on the Internet and thought it would be a fun way to meet the neighbors on our street, but it has since spread into the neighborhood. It is fun to drive through and see who has been *booed*. Now Lindsey likes to venture out away from our street and pick new people to *boo*. She gets a kick out of putting the stuff out, ringing the doorbell and running to get in the car before anyone sees her. I get a good laugh watching her. Anyway here is the finished product and the poem.

The Neighborhood Phantom

(you can change the name so it reads the name of your neighborhood i.e. The Normandy Meadows Phantom)

The Phantom haunts you happily from now through Halloween,and was delivered by a friend who (hopefully) was not seen.

The spirit of the neighborhood has come to wish you well,someone, somewhere, selected you to receive this happy spell.

You must display the Phantom on your door so all can spy that you're already haunted by this happy little guy.

Then fix 3 sacks with goodies like the one given to you, ring someone's bell and leave a bag and make them happy, too!

Happy Halloween!

Fill the gift bag with Halloween goodies such as pencils, silly putty, candy, juice boxes, candles, homemade pumpkin bread, or a seasonal dish towel. Put the Phantom and the poem in the goody bag, ring someones doorbell and run!

* You may only want to do this with families that you know in your neighborhood.

What the heck?

OK. I must say that I am extremely disappointed in the results of our city election. The incumbent has won yet again, meanwhile our city will surely suffer through a few more years of his non-sense. I am a little upset to say the least. I will just leave it at that.

In other news, the girls are really keeping me busy. They are passing *the crud*, as I like to call it, back and forth to one another. I am scared to slow down to much for fear that *the crud* will catch me, as it tends to do. Mallory, the poor thing, is dealing with baby eczema so she has been wearing mittens for the last few days to keep her from scratching up her face. Lots more going on too, but will not go into all that. Anybody else want to toss something my way to see how much I can handle? All while trying to work a full time job mind you (with some major deadlines). I always manage to make it all work and this should not be any different. I am looking forward to the weekend, will most likely being doing some storyboard writing this to get caught up.

I have been working on some things and will post pictures of those soon.

Productive weekend

All in all we/I had a productive weekend. I had several monogramming orders to complete and I am happy to say that I am caught up. I also listed a couple of my buckets on etsy. I am anxious to see how that goes. I also listed a couple of things on ebay, just trying to purge some unneeded items. I have several other things to list on etsy and ebay so I will be working on that this week. I need to start planning Lindsey's birthday party too, I am hoping for something low key and at the house. Will see how that goes.