Mail Time

Yesterday was such a fun mail day. I regularly read a blog Debby's Dares, and had won a chance to get some of the Fiskar's new Halloween and Christmas punch shapes. Not the actual punches, but 10 of each shape. I received such a big envelope just full of the punches, some are on paper that I haven't seen before. I had also won one of the bazzill monochromatic little albums from Lisa Bearnson's blog from Creating Keepsakes. She was giving away 25 of those adorable little albums a couple of weeks ago for a project started by Stacy Julian. She wanted everyone to take 10 photos of the people or items in their life right now and then put them into a small album that could be carried in a purse or put in a drawer at work. Then you are to open the album up each day and look at it to be reminded of all that is important in your life. I love idea and can't wait to put together my mini album on Saturday. Anyway, Lisa B enclosed some other fun scrapbooking goodies besides the mini album. I so can't wait to play.

Kristen's Halloween costume

This year Kristen has decided to skip the usual princess costume to be a cheerleader just like her older sister. When Sarah was in Kindergarten, I made her a cheerleader costume for Halloween. While Kristen liked that costume, she decided that she really needed a new one that more closely resembles Sarah's uniform. We found a pattern with several different designs on it and I managed to talk her into one that didn't have quite as much bling to it as the other ones, which is good because we had a hard time finding any trim that would work. I had the skirt almost made, when I had Kristen try it on. At this point I realized that I would need to trim almost 3 inches off of the sides so that the skirt would stay up. Wouldn't I love to have no hips like that child, however 2 children and eating way to many Halloween treats have given me hips. The pattern came with a pattern for a spankie. I wasn't going to make the spankie for Kristen, but after seeing how short the skirt is, I decided to go ahead and make it. I will wait for tomorrow night to get it finished. It is Kristen's bedtime and I have a feeling that I will need to resize the spankie also.

Haunted House online Class

On Saturday, I had the whole day free. Only one child at home and didn't have to go anywhere. Fiskars was having and online crop and I could play along. I was so excited. I decided to work on the haunted house cosmo cricket online class that I had signed up for. The supplies came in earlier in the week and I couldn't wait to work on it. Loved making the shingles for the house. That is a technique that I have never done before but it was really fun. I also enjoyed creating the windows for this house. Now all I have left to do is find the pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes.

Friday Night crop

So Friday night I went to my church's monthly crop. While I didn't get any pages finished to show you, I did manage to get all of Sarah's 7th grade year organized. Not bad considering she is in 9th grade. My goal for this school year is to totally get caught up with her scrapping so that I can stay on top of it, plus get a little of Kristen's done. Once I am caught up it shouldn't be too hard to stay on top of things. Or at least I hope not. Most months I am able to get to two different crops, one at my church Grace Lutheran and the other at a church in the town I live in, Church of the Open Door. I really enjoy both crops and hate when I have to choose between them. I think that what I enjoy the most is the fellowship with other adults. Of course in just 4 years, I won't have to go to a crop to be productive with my scrapping. Sarah will be in college and I will move Kristen into Sarah's room and convert Kristen's tiny little room into my space. Perfect for scrapping and sewing. In the meantime, I will continue to scrap at crops and in my messy living room, plus sew at my kitchen table.

Day of Creativity

Scrapaganza had a day of Creativity yesterday. You could pick from 4 different areas to create. They were offering two simple cards, a 2 page 12 x 12 layout, a fall clipboard and an ocean book. You had the chance to do as much or as little as you wanted to do. What is really nice about this, is that the girls were allowed to participate also. Kristen and I both chose to make the 2 different cards. The cards are really simple and hopefully I will remember this as the cards are a good pattern to use for making just about any style of card. Just change the paper and stamps to fit the theme.

July 4th Towels

Besides paper crafting I also love to sew. I have been sewing on and off since I was 9 years old. Hey, I can still remember the first outfit I made. It was a shorts outfit. Top and shorts. I made it out of some cheep white fabric first and then made a second one out of a green material with trim. This was not only my first sewing project, but the first sewing project that I entered at the fair. I was so proud of that outfit. Through the years I have made many things, however some of the favorite things have been clothes (dresses) for my daughters, however they are getting to old and don't want Mom to make them cute outfits anymore. A couple of years ago I purchased a Sewing/Embroidery Machine and love to play with it. One of the things that I have done quite a bit of is dish towels. I enjoy taking the feed sack dish towel and dressing it up for the holiday or season. These make fun gifts for people. The set pictured is a fun Fourth of July patterns that I downloaded from the web for free. There are all kinds of free patterns out there if you are willing to take the time to look. I entered them in this years county fair so couldn't use them for the holidays this year, but can't wait to use them next summer. Thanks for lookng

Hybrid Scrapbooking

I wanted to learn a lot more about digital scrapbooking so I took a class at Scrapaganza taught by Candi. This is the layout that we created. The hardest part was finding a picture of my teenage daughter smiling. I think that they forget how to smile for a while.