Gettin' By

Who doesn't love a little cocoa?

I was thrilled to be asked to be the guest designer for Cocoa Daisy this month and even more so when I got my kit:

The November kit is called Autumn Glow and it's a lovely mix of papers from Basic Grey, Prima, Crate Paper, Melissa Francis and Jillibean Soup. Yum! Totally got me in the mood for fall. Here's what I did with the goods:

I mounted the die-cut Making Memories paper on foam squares for dimension, and added the flower cut from the 7G paper.  A swipe of pink paint makes the perfect background for my title letters.

I used a variety of the papers to make a patchwork background, stitching around the edge of each piece.  I traced some Heidi Swapp acrylic butterflies from my stash onto the pink paper and cut them out, adding rhinestones as embellishments.  The title is a mix of letter stickers and the font Arial Black.

I used the Making Memories letter stickers as masks, misting over them and them and them removing them when the mist dried.  I then wrote the word "happy" above the title and stitched two hearts with my sewing machine.  That velvet trim was my favorite part of the whole kit - it's so lovely and rich!

 

I knew these photos of Riely and her cousin Ava would work well with the Basic Grey papers.  I used the pink pattern, adding in a bit of red with the strips and the cut-out roses.  To add just a bit of texture, I sewed over the roses with random stitching and added two small glitter brads in the top left corner.

So if you've got some gorgeous fall photos, go grab this kit and make plans to scrap!  Add in a warm mug of cocoa, and you've got a perfect afternoon.  Thanks for stopping by today - hope you have a wonderful Monday!

If this post gets weird, blame it on the Sudafed.

I've spent this past week stoically attempting to NOT get sick. Because, really, I do not have the time or patience for this flu stuff.  I had felt the beginnings of a scratchy throat and sniffles and immediately began a regimented dosing of Zicam, herbal tea, Emergen-C and chicken soup.  But yesterday, I finally succumbed to the fact that I have a sinus infection and no amount of homeopathic remedies were gonna fix it.  So I headed to Walgreens, plopped my request card down on the pharmacy counter, and turned over my firstborn child for the right to purchase Sudafed.  And within 30 minutes of taking the pill, I no longer had the desire to shove a pencil into my eye socket to relieve the throbbing pressure.  Sometimes, drugs are a good thing.

Of course, in exchange for ridding me of my excruciating headache, the Sudafed left me with the feeling that my head was floating a few inches above my body, a disconnected sensation that proved to be less than conducive to performing normal mommy tasks.  So I napped.  A lot. And possibly reacquainted myself with the daytime programming on MTV.  Shhhhhh!  Let's keep that between us, ok?

Today I'm feeling much more normal and wanted to post my layouts from the November Jenni Bowlin kit.  It's chock-full of the newest releases from the JBS black & red line and will work fantastically with all those holiday photos you are going to be taking in upcoming months.  Here's what I did with the kit:

 

 

And with that, I'm signing off.  I need to run over to Walgreen's and try to bargain with that pharmacist about the whole first-born agreement.  I've got too many scrapbook pages with that kid on them to give him up now.  :)

Happy Friday!

A Rip-Roaring Halloween

Whew.  The weekend's over and I'm officially in need of a break!  We managed to cram plenty of activities into our holiday weekend, kicking things off Friday night with a trip to Boo at the Zoo.  Despite the cold temperatures, it was a festive atmosphere with plenty of activities and candy to keep our minds off the chill.
 

 

Hayden opted to wear last year's costume of a skeleton zombie because it allowed for more layers underneath than his more fitted oufit as Wolverine.  Riely had no choice but to go as Tinkerbell the Skier, because there was no way this mama was allowing her to brave the elements with no parka.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and we headed downtown for the annual Eerie Erie 10K road race.  Alison and I were able to catch a few extra minutes of sleep by carefully selecting our costumes for the race:

 

Pajama party, anyone?  We thought it was appropriate attire, since really, we would have rather been sleeping than running. I did, however, realize one disadvantage to buying your pjs in the girls' section of Target:  the crotch will probably be too short, and you are quite likely to rip out that seam the first time you bend over.  Oops.

The more serious runners in our group chose to forgo the costumes in favor of speed (which may have had something to do with not wanting to be seen running with the crazy Pajama Women).  Mike finished the race (his first 10K ever) in a highly respectable time of 57 minutes:

He looks thrilled, huh?  His attitude improved greatly later that day, when we cracked open the Sam Adam's Octoberfest to toast our running prowess.

Continuing the family tradition of speed, Hayden made a clean sweep of the Goblin Run, winning first place.  The sleek Wolverine costume may have attributed to his speedy finish:

 

Later that day, Ryan and Ali visited with cousins Darth Vadar and Kitty Cat in tow: 

 

 

The kids had a blast trick or treating, consuming their yearly allotment of sugar, and learning new phrases for the word fart.  ("Fluffing the lilly" became the new favorite, hands down.) Ah, good times.

Here's hoping your Halloween was a gas, as well.

 

The all-hallowed snow day.

Yesterday a big storm rolled into our neck of the woods, and while most of the surrounding school districts had a snow day, my kiddos had to go to school.  The snow continued throughout the day and around dinner time last night, we got the recorded call stating that school would be officially closed today.   Which was, of course, cause for celebration with extended bed-times and sugary desserts.

We woke up to lots more of the heavy, wet snow as well as freezing temps.  Our poor pumpkins are hibernating under a thick blanket of snow and will probably not get carved, as we will be too busy building a snowman (we'll have to add a witch hat or something in honor of Halloween.)  This was the view from our front porch this morning:

 

And the backyard, which has significant drifting.  Both dogs looked at me like I was crazy when I opened to door to let them out this morning. But I strapped on their St. Bernard keg barrels and sent them out anyway.

 

I'm sure you're wondering how my ficus tree manages to stay so green and lush in this winter weather. To get these babies to survive the frigid temps, you'll need highly-honed gardening skills.  Or about $79 bucks and trip to Home Depot.  Take your pick.  :)

Today, after the requisite time in the snow, we'll be snuggling up for movies, popcorn an possibly a little scrapping.  I'll leave you with a few sneaks from the November Jenni Bowlin kit.  For a closer look at some of the contents, check out Jenni's blog post with the new product lines - swoon!

 

 

Have a fabulous Thursday my friends - stay warm!

Evidence that Halloween is quickly approaching at the Dickinson household.

• The two youngest members of the family are keenly in tune with the broadcast schedule of  Goosebumps.  On Friday, I turned the TV on at the beginning of the show and merely four notes into the theme song, both kiddos were planted on the couch in anticipation.

• Monsters and many other mythical creatures are becoming frequent topics of interest, appearing in our reading material, on our television, and most notably, on an art project by Hayden:
  
  
  (It's Gellick the Toad from the DelTora Quest series, and was displayed at a student art show last week.)
  

• I am finishing up my guest design work for Cocoa Daisy's November kit, which will be available at the end of the month.  Here's some sneaks:

Happy Monday!

Proof that I can blog about something other than candy corn.

Looking over the past few week's posts, you'd get the impression that I do nothing but sit around here eating candy corn and blogging about it.  Not true.  I give equal time to other fall delights like Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses.   If only I had such devotion to housecleaning and laundry.  But at any rate, I thought I better show you all that I am capable of doing other festively fall activities.  Like taking the kiddos to the pumpkin patch on Sunday.  And here are some of my favorite shots from the outing:

{Hayden's quickly found this specimen for his carver}

{Riely selects a smaller version - but we talked her into eventually getting a little bigger one!}

{Picking a pumpkin right off the vine}

{Good thing I've been doing Body Pump - these suckers were heavy!}

{Sigh....this little grin just melts me!}

{Getting a better view from the top of huge hay bales }

{Back at home enjoying the much-anticipated caramel apples purchased on the excursion}

{So who's gonna share theirs with Mom?!?!}

See, it's not always about candy corn.  Here's hoping whatever your favorite fall treat is, you're enjoying the season as much as we are! 

Turning the blog into a garage sale {Minus the garage}

Well, happy Thursday! Thought I'd better do a quick post to let you all know that (1) I am not in a sugar-induced coma from all the candy corn consumption, and (2) I have not been buried alive by a falling pile of scrap supplies.  Though both could have certainly happened to me this week.

First, I have to share my recent find for storing the beloved candy corn and mellowcreme pumkpins:

{Courtesy of Ross and a whopping $14.99!} Nothing like finding a pretty & practical way to store your candy in bulk!

So this past weekend, my very handy hubby helped me transform my scrap storage from a coat closet (with one shelf and a hanging bar) into a much more usable space with deep, floor-to-ceiling shelves. And after removing all my supplies so he could install the shelves, I came to the realization that I have way too much crap. Seeing it all spread out in our foyer was the kick in the pants I needed to do a bit of purging.  And now I have a very large box of mostly new scrap supplies looking for a home.  Here's a peek of some of the contents:

Like I said, most of it is still new in the packaging, though some might have a few letters or stickers missing or a small section of paper cut from the sheets. It fills a Large Flat Rate box from USPS, and if you're willing to pay the postage of $13.50, it can all be yours :) SOLD!

But wait!  There's more!  I also found three brand new albums (still in cellophane) that I need to get rid of, too.  There are two American Crafts 12 x 12 D-ring albums; one is Pink, one is Kelly Green. SOLD! There's also a 6 x 12 carmine red Bazzill post-bound album + a pack of 10 extra sheet protectors and post extenders:

These are all brand new, never been opened. I'm selling them for $10 each, which includes Priority shipping. If you're interested, shoot me an email or leave a comment here.  I'll accept Paypal and mail your purchases out asap!  (And your payment will go directly to my Halloween Candy Fund for Orphans...or in other words - me!)  :P

Because, really, blogging can't compare with gorging on candy corn.

I've been a blogging slacker lately, I'm aware.  My time has been consumed with other pressing life events.  Like the mountain of freelance projects that I'm currently trying to dig out from under.  And children with activities and social schedules rivaling the Queen of England.  And calculated attempts to avoid contracting the hacking cough and other viral assortments said children keep bringing home from school. Throw in some pathetic attempts at laundry and housecleaning, and a stoic pursuit to consume an obscene amount of candy corn before the arrival of Halloween, and you've pretty much got my life of late. 

Not a lot of blogging fodder there, agreed?  Yet here I am, blogging about it.  I'll blame my lack of reasoning powers on the candy-induced sugar rush. Oh and incidentally, I discovered yesterday that when you eat a handful of mellow-
creme pumpkins and slug a large Rock Star for lunch, you'll have enough energy get out your beloved fall decorations (and that nagging voice in your head that says you should be doing something more productive than decorating shuts the hell up for a few hours!) 

So now I have a new fall wreath adorning the front door:

 

And a happy scarecrow rocking on the front porch:

 

And the entry table in the foyer adorned with autumn goodies:

 

Yes, those are bats guarding my precious candy corn:

 

And speaking of candy, I don't think I ever shared my Halloween treat bag toppers project that I did for the KI Memories Wicked blog party:

You can download templates and supply lists for these toppers at the KI blog link above.  They make cute teacher gifts for Halloween, that is if you don't eat all the candy before your kids can deliver them to their teachers.  Not that I know anyone who would do that.  Ahem.

And since I'm coming down off my most recent sugar high, I should sign off now and go take a nap. Have a wonderful fall weekend, my friends!

Welcome to my blog. Now go away.

Well, from that title you might think I'm just slightly crabby from spending an entire day with no cable, internet, or land line phone, huh?  Damn Comcast.  Luckily, today is dawning a bit brighter because all services have been restored and there is, once again, harmony in my little self-centered universe. 

So before I chase you outta here with my witch's broom, I wanted to share some projects I recently completed as October's guest designer for Paper Posies kits.  This was a lovely collection of fall goodies, heavy on the October Afternoon (yum!) and here's what I did with it:

patterned paper (October Afternoon) + die cut labels (Pink Paisless) + chipboard button (Jenni Bowlin) + flower (Prima)

patterned paper (October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup) + letters (American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin) + stitching + font (Problem Secretary)

patterned paper (October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup) + letters (American Crafts) + chipboard (Jenni Bowlin Studio) + flower (Prima) + ribbon (May Arts) + fonts (Helvetica Neue - recipe, Problem Secretary - tagline; Cursive Standard - title)

chipboard album (Maya Road) + patterned paper (October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup + Jenni Bowlin) + flowers (Prima) + buttons (Jenni Bowlin) + ribbon (May Arts) + twine.

And here's the point in the post where I direct your attention elsewhere.  Head on over to these links and check out the goodies here:

1. The October Gallery at Write.Click.Scrapbook.  The theme is "Eye on Design" and there are some amazing creations from the team!
2. Cool projects using Fiskar's corner punches - go check it out the ideas from these guest designers (yes, I'm one of them and I LOVE these tools!!) Here's the previously posted sneak of my project  - - - - - - - - ->

 

So, GO!!  GET OUTTA HERE!  Scram! And happy Tuesday (or as I shall refer to it, The Day I Got My Lifeline to the Real World Back.)

It's Officially Fall.

Brrrrrr! I woke up to 28º, but I'm not complaining.  (Any excuse to wear scarves and take a detour to the Starbuck's drive-thru for a hot latte, and I'll take it!)  So if you're feeling the fall mood like me, you're gonna need to get yourself one of the October Jenni Bowlin kits:

 

And if you're feeling really crafty, grab the Add-On Kit as well:

Yummy, right?  And oh-so-fallish. (Though you'll see from my pages the kit is definitely not limited to Halloween and autumn photos.)  Here's what I've done with them so far:

cardstock (Core'dinations) + floral template (Crafter's Workshop) + spray mist (Maya Road) + patterned paper (Basic Grey) + punch (EK Success) + stickers & flower (Sassafras Lass) + vintage ledger paper + bread tie (Nikki Sivilis)

This kit is perfect for those pumpkin photos!  I used the floral mask + orange mist to create a subtle tone-on-tone background.  The title was made from the left-over edges of the letter stickers. (The ones that are left on the sheet after you peel the letters off.) I trimmed them out, stuck them to the ledger paper, and then trimmed the paper to match the orange outline.

On a completely unrelated note, the carving technique we used on the left pumpkin (peeling away only the orange skin and not cutting through the flesh of the pumpkin) was AWESOME.  You don't have to clean out the pumpkin guts (bonus!) and the pumpkin lasts much longer without shriveling up and caving in like a little old man. :)

patterned paper (Basic Grey, Jenni Bowin) + template (Crafter's Workshop) + spray mist (Maya Road) + rub on (Jenni Bowlin) + stickers (Sassafras Lass) + flower (Maya Road) + velvet leaf

I love this quote from Jimmy Buffett and thought it needed a page of it's own.  This photo of the kiddos at the Denver Zoo was perfect for it.  I used the smaller starburst template + charcoal mist to create the background, and then applied the cream JBS rub on.  I added touches of orange with the title, flower, and file tab (I traced an actual tab on the orange JBS paper and cut it out.)  A few final touches include some stitching and outlining the title letters with a thin black pen.

cardstock (Core'dinations) + patterned paper (Basic Grey, Jenni Bowlin) + bingo cards (Jenni Bowlin) + circle cutter (Creative Memories) + stickers (Sassafras Lass)

Can you say super simple circles?  Yep, that's this page.  I used my trusty CM circle cutter to cut various sizes, lightly inked the edges, and layered them as a the frame for my photos.  I mounted the letter stickers on black cardstock and trimmed them out to give them a bit of pop.

patterned paper (Basic Grey, Sassafras Lass) + journal card (Jenni Bowlin) + flowers (Sassafras Lass) + rub ons (Maya Road) + rhinestones (Basic Grey) + fonts (Clarendon, Cursive Standard, Optima) + buttons

See, here is a decidedly non-fall page!  I adore this fun, colorful Sass paper and chose to highlight the aqua and orange hues.  The photos are printed super small (2.25 x 1.5).  I set up the title in Adobe Illustrator (but you could easily do this in Word, as well) and assigned each letter a different font & size, adjusting the baseline of each for a playful look.  I reversed it and printed it on the backside of textured cardstock, and then hand-cut it out.

Be sure and check out the entire design team gallery over at JBS Mercantile.  And stop back on October 15, when we'll be debuting a new mid-month gallery with even more ideas on how to use this kit.

Whew...that's one long post.  And even though it's wiped me out, I'm gonna be tough and keep my plans to attend another Body Pump class in about an hour.  Yes, you heard me right!  I'm not wimpin' out, people!  Besides, how else can I finish off that box of jelly donuts without guilt?  :)

Have a good weekend!