Looking forward to DSD!

I'm looking forward to Digital Scrapbook Day next weekend.  For me it's all about the sales.  I usually have some intention of participating in activities, but it's always too overwhelming.  I can't decide or commit, plus I'm always trying to whittle down my shopping carts to what I can actually afford, and it takes time to make decisions like that.  I've tried to save up a little money so I can kinda go hog wild buying everything I want.  Been filling up my wishlists at a few stores. I will have more money to spend this time than ever before, but I wonder just how good it will feel?  It might not live up to my expectation.

I will also be hosting a game with prizes over at Scrap Orchard for Scrapping with Liz.  I'll post the ad here once it is finalized.

Other than that, I don't really have anything new to say.  Just some new layouts.  Oh, I did apply for a creative team but didn't get it.  I guess I should be used to that by now, but it's always disappointing.

I've been trying to scrap some of the photos I've taken in the last few months, getting "caught up" so to say, although I never really like to think that I'm "behind."  It is a hobby, after all.

This layout started out being about a piece of paper I found on my kitchen floor, with some words that Miller had written at preschool.  And it turned into this - just some cute pics.

Nostalgia by Paislee Press and Creashens; Time Capsule by One Little Bird;
XOXO by Gina Marie Huff and Simply You, Simply Me

These are pictures of Miller waiting outside the door to the preschool building on the first day.  He looked so nervous, but now preschool is his favorite thing.

Trademark by Lauren Reid & One Little Bird; Time Capsule by One Little
Bird; Storyteller by One Little Bird & Paislee Pres

I think this was the first year we've actually carved pumpkins since Miller was born!  He refused to touch the inside parts of the pumpkins.  I made a Spider-Man face jack-o-lantern, and the scientist did the big black widow (in the center of the small photo).

Stitching Fall and Spooky Stitches by Valorie Wibbens; Insta-frames by
Audacious Designs; Retro Ornate Frames by Paula Kesselring;
Photo action by My Four Hens

And a couple Project: Love, Me pages.  The first prompt was to write about something that you cherished but lost, or something that you should have cherished but didn't.

Midwinter's Flight templates by Amy Martin; Snapshots by Karen Lewis
Designz; Sweet & Simple #10 by Gina Marie Huff; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

And this was about how we can teach others to cherish the things that are important.

Midwinter's Flight templates by Amy Martin; Snapshots by Karen Lewis
Designz; Sweet & Simple #10 and Everyday Life Kit by Gina Marie Huff;
HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Thanks for stopping by my little blog.

My very own spider skirt, finally

A few days ago I blogged about becoming a Halloween party animal.  This is my first step.  Many years ago, probably before Miller was born (maybe even before I was married!), I saw a great idea for Halloween fashion in the Martha Stewart catalog.  I ripped out the page and put it in my Craft Idea Binder.  Here's the page from my binder.  I refer to the really cool spider skirt.

I think about that skirt every Halloween, and I have finally taken action.  I picked up supplies a few weeks back and have been sewing the last couple of days.  Want to see?

Did you notice the seam across the front - it runs right above the spider?  I made a terrible mistake of assuming my 60-inch tape measure was one yard long (my logic being that everything is measured in yards, so naturally my tape measure must be one yard long).  I grossly underestimated the amount of fabric I would need.  But resourceful as I am, I was able to piece together the fabric to create a panel big enough for the back of the skirt ... which accidentally ended up being the front.  But I thought the seam was so cute anyway, I'm glad it worked out that way.  I will wear a simple black shirt with my skirt, just like in the catalog.  I'll take Miller trick-or-treating in style this year.

As far as the details of the project ... I used an A-line skirt I already had as the "pattern" and just added length to it.  The spider web is thin black rick rack.  The spider body is craft felt.  The eyes are Swarovski crystals.  I don't know if it is washable with all that black trim, but since it will only be worn for a couple of hours each year, I'm not too worried.

This was the first time I have used my sewing machine in five years, but overall the project went smoothly, despite the shortage of fabric.  A needle may or may not have been broken, but I had a great time creating my skirt ... the spider skirt that I have daydreamed about for years.  It may not be an actual Halloween costume, but it's good enough for this party animal.

A Nero Wolfe Scrapbook Project

I'm a big fan of the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout.  I first learned of them several years ago through the A&E television series that ran from 2001 - 2003.  It was an amazing show and such a disappointment when they cancelled it.  Nero Wolfe, and Archie too for that matter, deliver some pretty amazing quotes at times, and I've thought about scrapbooking some of my favorites for a long time.

Just the other day, the scientist read me a Nero Wolfe quote he saw on Slashdot: "Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the misfortunes of their wealth."  That's a pretty good one.  One of my favorites is in the layout below and comes from the story Door to Death: "Women don't require motives that are comprehensible by intellectual processes."

So, there I was reminded of all the amazing Nero Wolfe quotes that I've read.  I'm not reading anything else right now so I might as well get out my Nero Wolfe books and re-read them again.  And then I saw a post on Audacious Designs about a scrapbooking project inspired by reading.  Here is my project:  I'll read the books, write down all my favorite quotes, and do a layout for each one.  That's all of the plan I have right now.  I may print them in their own album or maybe include them as a "chapter" in my 2012 album.  I'll have to see how many I do.  I'm sure it will take many months before I get through all the books.  Most of the quotes will be from Nero, but I'll include great ones from any of the characters.  Maybe I'll try to aim for 52 quotes.

Here's my first one.  I chose yellow, of course, because it is Nero Wolfe's favorite color.  And he grows orchids, so the flowers are representative of that.  And the overall elegant feel just reminds me of Wolfe, based on impressions from the A&E series. I like the idea of using the "and i quote" word-art on every page, as a way of tying them all together.

The Sunday Edition and Wishing Jar by Paislee Press; Nostalgia by Paislee
Press and Creashens; Quote by Nero Wolfe/Rex Stout from Door to Death

I'm hoping to get those books out of the storage closet soon.  I know I'll enjoy reading them, and what can be better than scrapping about something you enjoy?  I'm looking forward to this project!

Halloween Kits!

I've never been into themed scrapbooking kits.  I prefer the all-purpose embellisments like flowers and ribbons and buttons.  I don't really use themed illustrations in my layouts.  But I've always had a controlled love of Halloween kits.  I've been listening to The Digi Show, and a couple weeks ago one of the ladies said she really loves Halloween kits and seems to collect them more than anything else.  Well, to show you just how susceptible I am to suggestion, I have not been able to get Halloween kits out of my mind since.  And there are new ones popping up every week in the stores.  My love is no longer controlled.

Halloween is just so fun.  And it can be scary, which is also fun.  Being the boring person that I am, I've never been much of a partier.  But I remember the next door neighbors we had growing up loved Halloween.  They had six kids, and every year they carved about 20 pumpkins, which were all lit up along the covered walk to the front door.  Some of the pumpkins were huge.  They amazed me.  I thought it was so cool.  And their parents dressed up too.  I think they might have had Halloween parties, but those were more for the adults.

Now that I have a kid, I begin to see the value in partying.  And Halloween seems like a great place to start partying.  Probably not this year, but maybe next.  And I'm sure all the Halloween scrapbooking kits that I will amass in the next year will help with all my party planning and crafting.  Here are a couple kits that I've bought, and a couple that I wish I could buy.

October 31st by Valorie Wibbens

Spooky Cute by Scrap Orchard designers

Happy Halloween!! by Designs by Anita

Treats by Wendy Page

And here is a Project: Love, Me page that I completed the other night.  It's about Mom coming home.

Flea Market Finds by ETC by Danyale; Woodgrain Stamp Set by Karen
Lewis Designz; This Moment Elements by Sahlin Studio; Watercolor Splats 1
by mle Card; Sprinkles V.4 by Valorie Wibbens; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Adjusting to Preschool

I am getting used to the whole preschool routine, or trying to at least. Despite the couple of hours I have to myself each day, it actually seems like I have less time. Hopefully that is just the beginning-of-the-year stuff and it will settle down soon. Here are my most recent layouts.

This is my new favorite layout.  When I first saw the template by Liz, I immediately though of the lens apparatus on a camera.  The picture of Miller fit in perfectly with the photography theme I wanted to portray.  Normally, he just refuses to look at a camera at all, but occasionally he will give me this fake smile ... which is almost just as bad as far as scrapbooking goes.  But that's my life, and I love how this page turned out.

Recyclables 7 by Scrapping with Liz; Cardstock Stash by SuzyQ Scraps
Cardstock Basics by CafeJ; Froggy's Cardstock by Gina Miller
Storyteller by Studio Baers Garten

These are some cute pics of Miller dressed up in his snow jacket and bike gloves.  He wears the jacket around the house and calls it the Big Strong Woodsman costume (based on a Wonder Pets episode with a woodsman in a red jacket).  I didn't think much as I was taking the pictures, but when I viewed them they reminded me of pictures of Jerry Only from the band Misfits.  I was really into the Misfits when I was pregnant (Graves era Misfits, if that happens to mean anything to you), and we had actually considered naming the kido Miller Only (middle name Only).  I'm not sure how seriously James considered the name, but I actually considered it pretty seriously.  I almost regret not doing it.

Cardstock Stash by SuzyQ Scraps;
Summertime Solid Papers by Cheeky Monkey Designs

In the month of September, I didn't do any Project: Love, Me pages.  I think the iInspire prompts just didn't speak to me.  So this month, I am trying to get back on track.  I think I will do a single inspire-themed page for September, but I won't worry about every single prompt.  The October theme is iCherish.  This prompt was about what/who you cherish, and I decided to write about how I cherish rainy weather.

Traditional Temps I by Scrapping with Liz; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina;
Emporium DigiChick collab; Insta-Frames by Audacious Designs
Photo by Horia Varlan - Flickr Creative Commons

This page goes along with my idea of taking some self-portraits every once in a while to include in my Project: Love, Me album.  I think I will turn it into a 2-pager, with the opposite page just being some text about how I cherish my alone time.

Fun Fades, Fun with Opacity Masks & Misc Temps II by Scrapping with Liz
Paper stamp and ribbon by Vera Lim (freebies); Decorative Stitches and
Sprinkles V4 by Valorie Wibbens; Flowers by Wendy Page

Well, I think that brings the layouts all up to date.  I don't even have any in-progress at the moment.  But I do have photos on my camera that I need to get on my computer, so that's what I'll go do now.  Thanks for stopping by.