Trick or Treat! Blog Candy!

This is my 100th post, so I figure it's the best time to have some blog candy! I will have a fun package of goodies (that I haven't quite decided on yet - but I will) that will go to the winner. To enter just share your favorite Halloween costume. If you don't do Halloween or costumes, just share your favorite thing about Fall. I will draw a name on Wednesday the 15th.

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I know some people don't like Halloween, but I just love it - I love to get the girls all dressed up in fun costumes and luckily so far they have all wanted to coordinate (I let them pick what they want to be as soon as they are old enough to care), so it's fun to dress up together! I don't care about Trick or Treating, I just love to get them dressed up! Yes, I make their costumes, but I make them really simple! I love that they are unique from others, even if they are the same character. Here are some fun pics of past costumes...

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2002 - Kaylee's first Halloween she was a ladybug - I don't have any good pictures from that year, it was before I had a decent camera ;-P I just bought black sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt, an antenna headband, and then made a simple red 'cape' with black spots to complete the look. This is the only picture I could find - it's just of the costume!

EDIT: My mom found some pictures of Kaylee in her costume and sent them to me this morning - they're horrible quality, but you get the idea! Thanks again, Mom! Oh, and I tried to edit in Photobucket, but apparently it's not working tonight ;-P

2003 - Kaylee was a little devil and Brianna was an angel - our computer crashed and we lost the pics from that Halloween, but luckily I did have these pics from our regular camera, so here is what I scrapped. For Kaylee I made a jagged skirt from red fleece, found some warm red tights and shirt and some horns, then I made her staff from a stick and foam. For Brianna, I had a friend who had this outfit and gave it to me - it says "I'm an Angel" - I just sewed some silver sparkly garland onto the wings and then made her a little halo out of a stretchy headband.

2004 - The girls were princesses. Kaylee was Snow White and Brianna was Cinderella, but in a pink dress instead of blue. My awesome mom made their costumes for me that year - aren't they cute!

2005 - Kaylee was Princess Dora, Brianna was Sleeping Boots, and I was the wicked witch who put Boots under the sleeping spell - you'd probably have to see the movie to get it ;-) For Kaylee's costume I just made a simple yellow dress and jacket and sewed the ribbon on to match Dora - then I made her little hat out of foam and had some fake hair coming out of the top to match Dora's 'magical hair' - for Brianna I just found red sweatpants and a sweater and then made her monkey ears and tail out of some gray fleece I had around. Notice that we use sweatpants and sweaters a lot - it's Wyoming, you have to be warm for Halloween! Plus, then we can re-use them after you're done using it for a costume!

2006 - Kaylee was a Ghost, Brianna was a Spider, and I was a Mummy (a 7 month preggo mummy, keep in mind). For Kaylee's I just took a sheet of white fabric and cut it jagged and cut a hole for her head - then put it over yet another sweatshirt and sweatpants - white this time. For Brianna, I just sewed spider legs on a black turtleneck and attached them with clear fishing string so they would move with her arms - then I used yarn to create a web on the front of her shirt. Oh, yeah, and for me, I just wrapped myself with torn pieces of fabric and put some horrible make-up on. I look deathly, don't I!

2007 - Kaylee was Barbie the Island Princess (once again inspired by a movie), Brianna was her friend, Tika the Elephant, and Brailee was her friend, Azul the peacock - for her first Halloween. I really struggled making an elephant costume for Bri, but we made what we had work - I tried to sew ears onto a headband and of course found a gray shirt and gray pants. I didn't get very good pics from that year of Brailee ;-( just right before the church party and then she was sick on Halloween so I never took the chance to try and get better pics. For the peacock, I used cardboard and batting to create her feathers - I just sewed a bunch of shapes together to create the look of feathers - I also made her the little hat out of fleece and put it all over what else but a matching sweatsuit ;-)

2008 - stay tuned to see what the girls picked this year - I think this year is the simplest of all!

Family Ties

I finally got this layout finished - it's using this month's Cherish Challenge layout, Duplicate Patterns on page 64. My original title was just 'Family' but then when I finished the layout and after I had added the quote, I decided to add 'Ties' and I'm really glad I did - it's more complete now. I used Chocolate Rub-Ons and Chocolate Waxy Flax, even though the color in this paper pack is Cocoa, and I think they look close enough! The rub-ons were used to number the pictures and then on the tabbed piece that pulls out, it names who is in each picture. On the back of the tabbed piece there is one more picture of my cousin, Peter sleeping - notice there are lots of sleepers in these pics! I didn't get many pictures that weekend and I missed a lot of family shots, so I wanted to at least include all of the good ones I had. We got our new camera that weekend and I spent a lot of time figuring it out and playing around with it, so not all of the pics turned out.

Here is the pull out tabbed piece...

I created a 6x6 page as an addition to these two 12x12 pages since I had just a couple more pictures to add - it also gave me some more room to add more journaling - plus it was a good way to feature Riley who got Baptized that weekend, and Simon who was Blessed that weekend. Here are both sides of that 6x6...

Products Used (all CTMH): Perfect Day paper, Friendship Alphabet (large & small), Clear Embossing Powder, Chocolate Waxy Flax, Twill Ribbon, Simple Stitches stamp set

Thanks for looking! Oh, and my next post will be post #100, so watch for some blog candy!

Dear Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy has made three visits to our house within the last week - Kaylee lost her 4th (?) bottom tooth at school on Monday and her 1st top tooth on Wednesday - she was pretty excited! After she lost her first top tooth, she was trying everything she could to get the other one out - she tried floss, pliers, etc. She finally lost it while eating her breakfast on Sunday morning and we think she swallowed it because we never found it ;-) So she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and put it under her pillow with an empty tooth box. That sweet old tooth fairy still gave her a gold dollar - 1/2 of her normal rate ;-P

So now Kaylee is the toothless wonder - just in time for school pictures this week!

Ahoy, Matey!

The girls' school had a Family Night this week and it was a pirate theme. They were told to dress like a pirate if they wanted. Kaylee got really creative and found a ruffled white shirt and a vest, then she added a bandana. To top off the look, I made the girls some eye patches. I just traced the pattern on a black piece of CS and then gold embossed my pirate stamps from the Ahoy Matey stamp set and then attached the stretchy string. This is why I love having a craft stash - I didn't have to buy anything and they took about 5 minutes! The girls loved them, even Brailee, but she wouldn't let me take a picture of her ;-P Here are Kaylee and Brianna just before we headed to the school...Say Arrr!

Kaylee and her 'hook'

Brianna and her salute (?) - that was her pirate pose, anyway!

Fun with Gma Nae!

My mom came last week to spend some time with us - it was good to see her again, it's been 4 months! Here are some pics of her and the girls making Gaudy (sp?) Balls - they were specifically requested by Brianna. They also made some fun Christmas Countdown pockets, but I forgot to take a pic before we put it away with the Christmas decorations, so I'll have to get a picture when we get them out to decorate this year.

Thanks Gma Nae!

I wish I'd had my camera today!

We had a really fun bike ride today - we saw hundreds of geese! Brailee and T enjoyed watching them fly over us and kept watching for more. I was just amazed at how many we saw - we really picked a great time to head out this morning. Then, on the way home, we saw two deer! They got scared before we got too close and I was really bummed that I didn't have my camera to get a good picture. I did have my cell phone and took a picture with that, but it's far away and probably not very good quality. Plus, I don't have a cord to transfer pics to my computer - I really need to look into finding one as I have a lot of fun pics that I've captured when I haven't had my camera.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share!

October Challenges

Reflections Challenge

Title Topper - Photos - page 21

This is a page I made for the girls' dance teacher (that's her in the pics with the girls) - I made her one last year so I thought I would turn it into a tradition - I hope she likes it! She still has last year's hanging up in the dance studio. Products Used: Perfect Day paper pack, Silhouette paper pack, Friendship Alphabet (large & small), Adorning Corners stamp set (clear embossed on the black paper), Black Bitty Brads, coluzzle heart.

Cherish Challenge

Duplicate Patterns - pages 64-65

(my sample can be viewed here)

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Imagine Challenge

Follow the Lead - pages 70-71

Here are some pages that I created last year - sorry, once again I didn't get something NEW completed for this challenge, I already posted a new Imagine layout this month and just didn't have time to whip out another ;-P Anyway, I just love these bath pics of Brailee from last summer, especially the huge one I used on the left page - I just love her features in that one! I don't remember the paper pack that I used here, but I also used Summer Celebration Sassy Strands, Classic Alphabet DE (with two letters wrapped in the sassy strands), and some buttons from the Mini Medley Summer Collection.

Oops, forgot to add the *new* Originals Challenge - it's Right Spotlight - page 29 and my sample can be viewed below in my Fall Open House post - it's the card that says Love is Spoken Here

Fall Open House

Here are some pics from my New Idea Book Open House that I finally held today. I am doing an evening 'session' from 7-8 if anyone still wants to come by!

Here is my Make & Take - I made two different cards for some variety to choose from. I used the new Notebook paper with October's SOTM (Annotations) and new rub-ons for one card. For the other card I used the new Perfect Day paper with the September SOTM (Treasure Life) with a fun vellum piece that has the sentiment and holds the card closed. I used Originals patterns for both cards - the Annotations card was inspired/lifted from the SOTM artwork in the Idea Book - so easy!

Here is my table with new products - I don't have much, but there are some really great new products available - of course I want it all!

Half Way There!

Can you believe it? I am officially half way there at 20 weeks. Here is a belly pic - I have popped and can't hide it anymore, unless I wear really baggy clothes and then I just look like I've put on some weight, even though I haven't gained any weight yet - I think it's the 3 or 4 miles I ride my bike each day, pulling at least 70 pounds in the bike trailer behind me - that's quite a workout! My goal is not to gain as much as I did with Brailee - I gained 50 pounds with her and only lost 30 of it. When my dr. mentioned this time around that I had actually lost weight, I reminded him how much I gained last time and he looked back at my chart and he warned me that I gained the most weight between 20 and 30 weeks, so hopefully that doesn't happen this time around! But I am still feeling fabulous and hope to keep up the great excercise, even when it gets colder. My next ultrasound is next week so I'll post pics if I get good ones!

Arrr!

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! To learn how to talk like a pirate click here!

Monthly Word Puzzle Swap Results

I host our Unit swaps and we recently finished up this swap that we started this spring. We used the Monthly Word Puzzles and created 6x6 pages - I am putting mine in the My Creations Display Album and since we did 2 pages for each month, it will completely fill up the album! Anyway, here are the results - aren't they all great, we have such a fun variety!

{EDIT: I have noticed the slide show isn't always working, so if you would like to view all 24 samples, I have them posted on my website under My Art - just click here to view!}

Pool Party

Here is a layout I completed last week using Imagine - Role Play on page 106

I used this super fun, bright paper from We R Memory Keepers - I think it's called Frenzy? I also used the number 5 Solo, Hodge Podge Alphabet, and Do Nothing stamp sets.

Thanks for looking!

Progress Report...

I didn't realize it's been so long since I've posted! I've been busy creating but I'm not ready to share anything yet - I will post through this week with my latest projects. For now, here is our family update.

The girls are loving school! The only thing I don't get is this - before school started they were starting to get on each other's nerves and I was looking forward to them getting back to school and daily interaction with other friends. Anyway, wouldn't you know, Brianna complains when her sister doesn't play with her at recess! Then they come home from school and ask if they can invite someone over to play! They apparently have it all backwards, I just don't get it ;-) They are both so smart and such great readers. Kaylee brought home some little books as part of her reading homework and Brianna can read them! All of the word lists that Kaylee brings home that her class is practicing, she can breeze through them in no time and we never need to practice. So, she is beyond her reading homework books and onto harder books and words. I am very proud of both of them. Their school open house was last week and they had so much fun taking me around to meet their teachers and show them all the classrooms.

Brailee is having fun during the day without her sisters, but she's not alone. I babysit a little boy - he is just 7 months older than Brailee - and they get along so well! She likes having someone closer to her age to play with. Her big thing right now, she likes to say "Bess You!" when you sneeze or cough - it's just too cute! She has the funnest little personality and she just amazes me at how fast she picks up on things. David and I like to tease the girls about which of us is the boss. At first Brailee would play along and say "Mommy boss" or "Daddy boss" but the last time we asked her, she was so cute and clever, she pointed to herself and said "I boss!"

We made pumpkin cookies this weekend - if you haven't tried these yet, you MUST, they are SO good! I think it was my mom who gave me this recipe a few years ago and I have to make some every year at least once a month during the fall/winter, they are the best! They are so easy, soft, delicious, oh, and it's a Weight Watcher's recipe!

1 box spice cake mix (just the mix - no eggs, oil, water, etc.)

1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin

chocolate chips (optional - butterscotch and white chocolate are good, too)

Mix all ingredients and spoon onto cookie sheet - bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Here are some pics of the cookie making fun!

I had to give Brailee her own pan so she could spoon her own cookie batch ;-)

Lip smackin' good!

My first half map...

...well, kind of, anyway! The latest contest over on the PageMaps Blog was a Half Map Sketch. Since I usually only do 12x12 layouts, or at least square layouts, I challenged myself to participate and keep it at a half map size. I decided to do something that would still fit in my 12x12 scrapbook, so I took a 6 pocket photo storage page and cut it in half - that left me with 3 4x6 pockets on each side, so I divided the map into 3 sections - how's that for making it work! So I didn't know how to count this in this year's page count ;-P Do you think it counts as one page?

Here is the sketch...

Here is my version...you can't tell in the pic, but I used Liquid Glass and Fun Flock on the title 'Dream' and it gave it a nice fuzzy soft texture, like her blanket.

And on the other side, I just put pics of that same day - who knew I needed 4 pictures of her sleeping that day - she was just too precious! I think I am going to add some photo corners to the pics on this side.

Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip

So we went on our final camping trip for the season this weekend - we went back to my hometown of Star Valley and camped. David's parents went with us, and my family joined us as well. Spudd is my 'little' brother, Spencer - he's my younger brother, but he's 6'3" so not too little ;-P and he was there with his wife, Hannah. Grandpa T is my dad and he brought the horses. My Grandma & Grandpa Lancaster joined us for dinner on Sunday as well, so there were fun memories. We went to church on Sunday in the ward that I grew up in and it was nice to see so many familiar faces, and even a few friends who had come home to visit over the weekend!

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The weather was nice until about Sunday afternoon - it rained and Monday morning turned to snow, so we were a little cold and soaked as we packed up to head out! We still had fun, though, as we got to enjoy the great outdoors at least a bit!

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Oh, and don't you just love Brailee's hat, where she's all bundled up! She had a winter hat on, then her coat hood, but she insisted on wearing the bucket hat as well and wouldn't go anywhere without it ;-P

September Challenges

Sorry, I meant to have these post while I was gone over the first, but didn't get anything new done for the Reflections or Cherish Challenges before I left. So, today I quickly found some layouts I have done but haven't used the blueprint for a challenge yet and so here are the challenges for this month! I can't wait to see what is created!

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Imagine Challenge - Timeline - pages 30 and 31

These are Brianna's ultrasound pictures - I can't wait to do Brailee and Kaylee's now!

Cherish Challenge - Photo Shapes on pages 46 and 47

Sorry, I have posted these on my blog before ;-P

Reflections Challenge...Main Frame - Portrait on page 61