It Was Raining Men Here

This past weekend was the annual "Guy Town" at our house. My husband is a displaced South Shore, MA native. He is one of a group of guys that have known each other since kindergarten. Each September, for the past twelve years or so, three of them come to VA to play in a golf tournament with David. As our family grew, they stopped staying with us and now stay in a hotel, but we host them for meals and Sunday football. My kids absolutely love these guys and go a little berserk when they are here.

As a result, I was too tired to participate in the A Muse Fall Pajama Party on Saturday night. I ended up playing along last night with all the challenges and I'm ready to share!

The first challenge was to create a card inspired by your favorite Halloween candy. While I love candy corn, I really prefer the m & ms that come out of the treat bags for a quick chocolate fix.




Challenge # 2 was to create a card using fall colors. I made this card for someone who is super nice and always has a kind word for me. She has the card already, so I am glad to not spoil a surprise.



The third challenge was to create a card based upon a fall TV show. One that my husband and I love to watch together is "30 Rock." It is such a crazy show, but there are so many sly jokes that I always find myself snickering at it. Inside I wrote, "I want to go to there," which is something that Liz Lemon likes to say.



The final challenge was to make a thank you card. If you noticed, I made three of the cards with natural white card bases, for simplicity's sake. This card could not be easier. I didn't even use my stamp positioner.



So that is my PJ Party round up. I also worked on a calendar idea that I hope to share soon. I have to mail it out to my newest niece tomorrow!

Beautiful September

The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of activity for me. I had so many things I wanted to do with my kids this summer. We did get to do quite a few of those, plus one I hadn't planned. Can you tell what we did?



We went to the top of the Washington Monument. It had been years since I went, myself, and I figured my kids should go. My city-dwelling brother was good enough to pick up the tickets for us and we had a great time. This view, by the way, faces west toward the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and Virginia.

Last Saturday, we met some friends of ours out in Markham, VA to go apple picking. It was a great morning and the kids had a great time. I managed to get my husband to climb up to get the good apples for me.




While I was procuring prime cooking apples, the kids picked their own, literally filling their pockets.



I was in a hurry to freeze pies and store apples because on Sunday I was going to have a mini getaway with my husband, who was headed to NYC for a conference on Monday. My parents were generous enough to stay with our children Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning so that I could go.

I spent Monday walking around. I took in the southern part of Central Park.



This is the bench where I sat to read, near the Bow Bridge. It was a beautiful day!

In the afternoon I met up with this man.



And we walked through the West Village and had dinner. It was a nice thing to do, just some time alone, just for me. This is one of the things my sister told me I needed to do more often. I'm glad I took her advice.

I do have some cards to share, soon. Promise!

Fall Fast Approaches

Today it felt like fall. We had rain and cooler temperatures (and I feel like baking pumpkin bread). I also took my third child to preschool, finally, to meet her teachers. She was so excite to get there, but was rather quiet, which is unusual. It is only a matter of time, with her, though. Once she is in school three mornings a week, I'm not sure what the little one and I are going to do. I have a feeling we will be crafting together, like a mini preschool. She will be missing her "twin" very much.

Since my big kids have gone back, I've made some time to stamp for fun at night. I had a few Halloween stamps that I wanted to revisit. I had looked over on SCS at the Clean and Simple challenges and found one that was really intriguing to me: Black & White & 1 Bold Bright. I love making cards with white space, so here is what I made:



The little mouse is so cute, popping out of his pumpkin. I used a bright orange for the burst of color (and just a tiny hint of pink for the ears and cheeks, so I guess I cheated a bit). Easy and cute!

Here is one more that I made, using a new slate notecard. It is pretty close to black, I think, so it should count.



This card also could be for another CAS challenge: Pop It Up! I popped the crescent moon up, using the paper piecing technique. I added yellow twinkle stickers to the eyes and black flock to the cat's body, so there is a lot of texture to the card, too. Now that I think about it, this could also qualify for the latest A Muse Lounge challenge : No Coloring Zone. I didn't use any markers or colored pencils on this one! How is that for stretching my challenges to the limits?

I know I should share details, but my husband wants me to watch a movie with him and it has subtitles, so I need to pay attention.

To Adorn My Mantel

I really wanted to do a big project for the Halloween release from A Muse. I couldn't decide what to do, though. I thought about some more blocks or a countdown calendar, but couldn't find the right materials. Then, when I was cleaning out a drawers of mini albums and other knick-knacks, I found this accordion card (each panel measure about 4.25" x 5.5"). With a little creative positioning, I was able to make this Halloween mantle decor.

It might be a bit too busy with all of the images and letters, but my kids love it. They cannot wait for the rest of the Halloween "stuff" to come out of boxes and get displayed all over the house.

I took a few close-up photos of the panels so you could see a bit better.

I looked through my stash of buttons and found lots of black, orange and green to add to the card panels. And check it out, top left, another great use for my vintage label punch from Macgill. The BOO! fits perfectly!

The middle panels feature more buttons and lots of bats. I glittered the crooked house and used my distressing inks again on this project. It gives everything a nice vintage look.

The last two panels have some more of those flocked spiders. Creepy! (I also flocked the cat and crow on the first panels). There is that vintage label punch again, this time without the smaller oval. More glitter on the witch's hat and the pumpkins, too.

Today is the day that you can see all of the stamps, paper, ribbon and twinkle stickers over at A Muse Artstamps. Happy day!