{bliss}

Happy Halloween!!!

and it's upload day at Peek!  Fall pages are the theme today, and I just love all the different papers the PDT has chosen to work with their fall photos.  This page makes use of my favorite fall papers this year: Scenic Route Salem!  Love 'em!  Also really, really love the font of the Mustard Moon alpha stickers.  I keep running out and keep buying more!  The felt frame and the flowers are from the Fancy Pants Harvest set. 

Working like mad on some projects I want to get out the door before I leave on Friday.  Which means they need to be in a box, ummmm tomorrow!  Eeek!  So I'm pretty scarce today! 

So excited about the Fiskateers Round Up.  Found out all the particulars for the trip and our itinerary last night, so I am super duper psyched now!  We'll be visiting the Alamo and some other sites around the city, with plenty of places to take photos!  I had better pack the spare memory card for my camera!!  I am so excited about the trip.  Stressing a little bit about my stopover in Cincinnati.  I'll only be on the ground 25 minutes if the plane lands exactly on schedule.  Basically I see myself running out one gate and into another!  I have my fingers firmly crossed that my luggage and I will both end up on the proper plane at the same time and arrive all together in San Antonio!  Just need to finish up my packing and I'll be good to go!

You can see what the rest of the PDT has done with the fall theme here in the PDT Gallery. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday and a very Happy Halloween!

what a week!

I can't believe that it is Saturday again!  It was such a busy, busy week!  Most of the week was spent running around trying to get stuff done before the girl' Halloween parties yesterday, and before I leave on my trip to San Antonio next week! 

I got the new lenses for my glasses, got new batteries for the camera, borrowed a suitcase from Mom & Dad, went to the Pumpkin Lighting on the town green on Thursday night with the kids, and split my time between two parties yesterday afternoon at school (that was a challenge!)

A couple good things:  this layout that was the Daily Peek on Wednesday.  I loooove that photo of Jon, and like the simplicity of the layout.  The theme for the DP was "Stamp/Paint/Ink" and I managed to do all 3 in this layout!  Lovin' my Brilliance Copper ink - love the sheen, and it is such a nice, juicy stamp pad!

My "Spooky Owl" was featured on the CI Blog this week.  You can check out the right up and download the instructions of how to make one yourself here.

Another busy week coming up next week.  I guess I'd better get busy myself to get ready for it!

Have a great weekend!   

happy "winds-day" as Pooh would say...

...I know it is only Tuesday, but it is unbelievable windy out there!  I think that this is our big weather change rolling in.  We had unusually high temperatures again yesterday and today as well (it is 77 degrees here right now - totally felt like a humid August day yesterday, instead of the end of October!  The trees have just given up and are dropping leaves left and right and they are blowing everywhere.  (I will admit I am sort of snickering at the neighbor who spent so much time on Saturday blowing his leaves around (what ever happened to good old raking, anyway?) and now has a whole yard full again!  lol!)

Anyway - it's Tuesday, and I feel like a kid in kindergarten on sharing day.  Lots to share today!  :)  First off, CI has gone DIGI!  That's right, Creative Imaginations is starting to offer some of their popular Signature collection papers in digital dowload form through Polka Dot Potato!  The first collection release is Halloween-themed and oh so cute!  It's called "Halloweenie" and features 11 papers, 12 tags, 3 metal word signs, 21 stickers and 3 border stickers!  I have heard that there will be several other Creative Imaginations collections released through PDP - I'll post them as they are released, so check back!

  I'm working on a couple CI projects today as well that I hope to have completed so I can post them before Halloween.  We don't really do a lot of trick or treating - our area is pretty rural, and there are neither streetlights nor sidewalks for the kids to be safe out there, so we usually just head over to my Mom and Dad's house in the afternoon after their school parties while they are still in costume and visit their next door neighbor as well.  But we do love Halloween CANDY, and I always have them go outside and Trick or Treat ME, just so they can have the fun of ringing the doorbell and waiting on the front porch for the door to open.  :)  I'm making them little Halloween trick or treat BE Sonia "purses" that I'm going to fill with goodies and give to them when they ring the bell on Trick or Treat night.  :)

  I'm such a sucker for seasonal products!  I love to decorate my house for the holidays - all holidays, and I looove to work with seasonal scrapbooking products as well.  Imaginisce has two adorable new lines coming - a Valentine's line called "Loves Me" designed by Sara Carling (she did their adorable Candy Cane Lane Christmas collection!) and Mindy Terasawa designed the "For Peeps Sake" Spring/Easter collection.  I love them both, and loooove all the embellishments that are being released along with them.  How cute is this acrylic stamp from that collection?  Nice to have some fun lines to look forward to after the holidays.  I believe they start shipping in December.  :)

I've got a couple things coming up in the next week or so, but I can't say much about 'em yet.  ;)  The most exciting thing coming up is my Fiskateer trip to San Antonio next weekend.  I can't believe it is only about a week and a half away!  Woo hoo!  I am so looking forward to meeting the rest of the Nifty 50, and think that we are going to have so much fun! 

So, happy "winds-day" to you!  See you soon!

October Afternoon County Fair!

Woo hoo!  Finally!  I cannot wait to get these papers, and best of all the stamps!  :)  Pat just got them in at the store yesterday - looooove 'em!  Definitely worth the wait!

How cute is this stamp set??

Finishing up some stuff today that I have in progress.  I'm still wiped from work last night.  Wow.  Even though the calendar says October 21, the Christmas season is evidently already under way! 

Speaking of Christmas, and stamps - I've just got to get these new tree stamps from Gel-A-Tins!  They are just too cute, and when I was going through my stamps, I discovered that I really don't have very many Christmas themed stamps, so I'm thinking I need to invest in at least one nice set this year!

I  love this set as well - between them, so I might have to get both!  That would take care of my Christmas stamp blues, now, wouldn't it?!  They've also got pine and candy cane scented embossing powder too!

I think I'd better get stampin' - lol! 

Have a happy Sunday everyone.  Keep your fingers crossed for the Red Sox tonight, it surely would be nice to see them in the World Series again this year!   

"Local Flavor" - 3 Fiskateers

I was asked to be one of the "3 Fiskateers" with a secret mission for October.  Our assignment was to journal about a special place in our local area and create a layout about it.  I chose Applecrest for my "local flavor" and journaled about trips to the orchard past and present.  I love the Heidi Grace "Harvest Row" collection I got to work with. The muted colors and great patterns look wonderful with my vibrant pumpkin photos!  You can read my journaling and more about the creation of the page on the Fiskateer blog. (May's post, October 19) 

This one uses patterned paper and sticker elements from Renae Lindgren's "Wizard" collection from Creative Imaginations.  I love the epoxy dragon sticker!  :)  I think that witch's hat has been a regular part of any dress up play the girls do for the past 4 years or so!  I wanted to do a little something different with this one, so the journaling is not about Halloween, or dressing up, but rather about Brigid's love of reading and her new love: the Magic Treehouse series!  I love that even though the collection appears to be "themed", you can go out of the box with it!  Thanks, Renae!  :)   

This last layout is one I did last night for May's blog challenge over at Fiskateers.  They are having a fun crop this weekend and there are all sorts of challenges and RAKs going on - love the Fiskateer community!   I also love these new Making Memories Noteworthy goodies!  That shaped paper is so awesome, and I love the subtle floral in that pink paper too.  Reorder time!  lol!   I will have to be placing an order for more of those teeny alpha stickers - I'm reaching for them almost every time I do a page these days!

Have a great weekend!

Pretty as a Postcard...

One of my favorite "fall" lines isn't really a themed line at all! The colors of Marah Johnson's "Marquis" line  work so well with fall photos that I can't resist reaching for them when I'm working with some of the farm photos I took last weekend.

I cropped the pumpkin photo to look like an "old school" Polaroid print, and like the way it looks so well, I'm going in search of a Polaroid camera! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Friendship

Friendship is the Feature theme today at Peek.  I tried to force myself out of the box a little bit, and try to come up with something other than Aileen and a friend, or Brigid and a friend - - I've done pages like that before for their albums, but didn't want to have to blur their friends photos to put them online and so forth and the second one is a real slice of our life right now (which just happens to revolve around Mr. Rogers Neighborhood - lol!) 

The first page is a "family" page as well as a "friend" page.  I couldn't wait to scrap this photo, and I just love what the page represents to me.  :)  The Indian Summer Foof was the perfect pp for it too, and I love the die cut chipboard that coordinate with the set. It's very simple, but I think that it is pretty effective.  ;)

This second one is all about Aileen's current fascination with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.  All activity ceases in our house at 11:30 am and we cozy up in the armchair to visit the Neighborhood.  Jonathan went through a major Mr. Rogers phase when he was 3, and it is such a pleasant feeling of nostalgia to watch the same shows with Aileen that I remember watching with him 17 years ago! 

Love the Jack & Abby stuff from KI.  Those little houses were just the perfect touch for the page.  And I want to thank Sharon again for the awesome binder punch that she got for me from Stampin' Up!

Lots to do today!  It's a typical busy Monday in my neighborhood!  Hope it is a wonderful day in yours!

Comfort Food

This week has been raw, rainy and windy ("proper" weather for October, at last!) and I have been cooking up a storm!  I made a giant pot of chili yesterday for dh and my favorite Potato Cheddar Soup.  It is from a cookbook I have loved for years and years called The Horn of the Moon Cookbook.  It's recipes from a famous vegetarian restaurant in Vermont, and I think I have made every recipe in it at least once!  lol!  This one is my favorite:

Potato Cheddar Soup

4 cups water 

4 cups diced potatoes (Yukon Gold potatoes are awesome for this!)

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup sliced celery

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 tbs unbleached white flour

2 cups milk

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp powdered mustart

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1/4 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp celery seed

1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh)

Bring water to boil in a large soup pot.  Add potatoes, onions, celery and salt.  Cook 15 minutes, covered over medium heat.

In spearate 2 qt saucepan, melt butter over low heat.  Slowly add cheese, then stir in flour.  Slowly add milk, spices and herbs to cheese mix, stirring with a whisk.  Add cheese mix to potatoes, then add tomatoes and stir.  Simmer on very low heat about 15 minutes more, uncovered.  This will burn easily, so stir often.  It is worth the caution!

Have a wonderful Friday!  I'm trying to catch up on everything that I didn't get done earlier in the week.  lol! 

Halloween Decor

I pulled out all the Halloween decorations today!  I had made this wall pocket for a call during the summer, so it is the first time it has graced my door for the Halloween season.  It (obviously) didn't get picked up, but I like the way it turned out!  :)

The pumpkin is from last season - I'm sure that I posted it last year too, but it is one of my favs, so I had to put it up again!  :)  I'm going to try to recreate a project that I did for CI for CHA so I can have it up in my house too.  I've got soooo much Halloween themed stuff - love it all!  And this collection from Heidi Grace is one of my favorites from last year, and the Jeepers Creepers collection from HG is one of my favs from this year.  :) 

Hope everyone has a great day!

Mama is happy....

This photo makes my heart happy!  It turned out to be a gorgeous day yesterday, so I was able to get everyone to sit still for a minute or two and mug for the camera.  I have a lot of goofy shots, and a few like this one that just make me say "awwwww..."

Jon heads back to college today and we probably won't see him until Thanksgiving.  *sigh*  So glad he came home this weekend!