Happy Halloween!

I have mentioned before that I am not a big Halloween person, but I thought this year I would put at least a little effort into it. And now I thought I would share my little projects before the big day is past altogether!

A few of my friends and I got together to make these Halloween countdown calendars.  So clever -- it's just a muffin tin, then we cut 3 1/4" squares and put little magnets on the back to cover each cup.  We used our Cricuts and various other goodies to decorate each square, then stocked them with treats from the dollar store or the dollar bin at Target.  My kids LOVED doing this.  I'm excited to make another set of numbers for Christmas, for birthdays, whatever!  I will switch out the ribbon hanger for the various occasions as well.


Here's what it looked like with just the goodies, just to give you an idea of what I put inside.  If things were too big to fit, I just put in a little note.

When I was redoing my kitchen cabinets, I bought a little cabinet door at ReStore to practice on.  I thought it would make a fun door hanger, so I painted it black, distressed it, and added the little witch girl with cream vinyl.  Then I dressed it up with a few ribbon and fabric flowers.  You might notice that beadboard wallpaper is bubbling up a bit.  They are serious when they say let it dry for 24 hours before painting!  Sigh -- I started this project like a month ago and it sat on my craft table forlornly for weeks while I tried to find time to finish.  Got it up just in time!



And here, I'm sorry to say, is my one sad little attempt at decorating in the house.  I painted this witch shoe thing last year, and this year I added the pumpkins.  They came from the dollar store and I spraypainted them white and then with glitter.  I was hoping the glitter would be much more visible, but I think I had the wrong kind of spray glitter for that.  Perhaps next year!  I just added the bottle because I found it in that very cupboard, still wrapped up in the paper it came home from Joann's in.  I'm sure I had an awesome project idea for it at the time...

Anyway, Happy Halloween!  I hope you all have lots of fun and LOTS of chocolate!

Layouts at last!

I've been doing mostly cards and gift projects for quite a while, so I was so happy to get a few scrapbook layouts done. These three layouts are so different; it really makes me appreciate how scrapbooking can help us record so many different parts of our lives.

This one is me and my parents when I was right around one! I snagged this picture from my grandma's house when passed away, and it just makes me happy. I did this layout as a gift for my dad's birthday -- I started last year when I made him a layout and gave it to him in an 8 1/2 x 11 frame. This year I gave him a binder so he can put last year's layout in the binder and have this one in the frame. That way I know he'll look at it more! :) The size also makes it easy for me to make copies for myself. I'm planning on making lots more "blast-from-the-past" type layouts in the future.



Materials: PP -- SEI; letter rub-ons -- American Crafts; title letters -- CAC One Seventy font, cut with Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot; ticket corner and scallop edge punches -- Stampin Up; Flower punches -- EKSuccess; Tab -- Cricut (Fab Finds)

I love the story behind this second layout -- just one of those little everyday funny stories that NEED to be scrapbooked! When Sammy was a couple months shy of 4, we were meeting my BIL Chad's girlfriend for the first time. He was 31 and his lack of success in the romance department up to that point was becoming a real sore spot with him (not to mention with my MIL and his grandma!). When Chad introduced Esther to Sammy, he looked at her in disbelief and said, "Esther, I thought you were IMAGINARY!" Yup, had to get that one down for posterity! This photo is from that weekend.




Materials: PP -- Scenic Route; Stamp -- Stampin Up (dotted line jumbo roll); acrylic arrow -- no idea

This last layout is not my favorite ever, I have to admit. I don't think I've ever made a Halloween layout I really loved. But this is the fun event type scrapping that I've been neglecting lately, so I was glad to get it done. It's also the last Halloween we had my little sis Carissa (that's her dressed as Princess Fiona), and she LOVED Halloween and trick-or-treating with her nephews, so I couldn't skip those pics!




Materials: PP -- K&Company; Glitter stickers -- Martha Stewart; Glitter -- Provo Craft; Title Letters -- Cricut (Printing Press)

I was going to show you some fab decorations I made for our Valentine's Dinner using my new Stampin Up goodies, but I left my camera at my mom's house. ARGH! So stay tuned -- more good things to come!

Venturing away from paper for a moment...

While blogsurfing a few months ago I came across Bitty Booties -- an adorable pattern by Heather Bailey for sweet little booties that you can embellish to your heart's content. I totally fell in love with the idea, especially when I saw the hundreds of variations created by folks in the Bitty Booties Flickr Group. Holy moly, the possibilities are endless! It really satisfies my love for hand-stitching. These were my first go, which I thought would be perfect for Eliza for Halloween! I made a pair for my little niece Amelia, who is 9 days older than Eliza. They'll look so cute together tomorrow night! I've also got an adorable pink set in the works, as well as materials for a bunch more. Check out the Flickr group -- you'll see why I'm so intoxicated with them!