~Happy Halloween~

The forest of OZ! We passed down the old costumes and got N a new "Scary Tree" costume so we could do the "Wizard" theme again. I took about 300 photos in our forest this week now that it is FINALLY looking like Fall around here. I can feel a layout coming...

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for Christmas~

 I just love this star! It is really a Christmas tree topper that I picked up at Joann's. Not sure what kind of tree it is for since it weighs a TON! I used a 6x6 Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly paper pad to embellish it. Next I am planning to turn it around and do an Autumn theme on the other side...off to search for the perfect papers~

Creative Cookbooking Contest!

 There is a BIG contest over at Creative Cookbooking!!! Come play along, the prizes are fantastic!

To play:
1. Drop by the message board and sign up for the contest.
2. Create a cookbook layout by Scraplifting a layout from Graphic 45 gallery.
3. Use a Thanksgiving theme.
4.Incorporate a recipe and a photo.
5.Link us up to the layout you scraplifted.
6.Upload your layout to the Creative Cookbooking gallery and leave a comment on the Creative Cookbooking blog.

The winner will receive a gift prize of Graphic 45’s Domestic Goddess product line, an apron to keep you clean while you're cooking, wooden spoons, measuring cups and spoons.

Here is my design team example for the contest, I lifted a layout by Hilde Janbroers:

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes
2/3C brown sugar
2T orange juice
1t orange zest
1/2t nutmeg
2C shredded coconut
1/2C sugar
1t cinnamon
8 large marshmallows

Directions:
Bake potatoes until tender, then peel and mash. Stir in brown sugar, orange juice, zest and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, toss the coconut with the sugar and cinnamon. Press mashed potatoes around each marshmallow creating a 2-3 inch diameter ball. Roll the balls in the coconut mixture and bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

~Halloween Treats~

Here is another design team layout for Creative Cookbooking! This week we were sponsored by Cookbookin' and this is all product they sent me to work with. Super cute stuff!!! I began the layout by carefully cutting the banner with my craft knife to make it look as if the banner is blowing in the Autumn wind. I used some coordinating patterned paper behind the banner.

 

I frayed the edges of the recipe card with my microtip scissors. It took about 20 minutes to make all these teeny tiny snips! Well, maybe not quite 20 minutes but a LOOOoooong time :) I also used some purple Stickles to brighten up the treat bag and cauldron.

 

 This little black cat cookie was already adorable but after sparkling him up with some more Stickles, I think he is just super cute!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques

My tip this week comes from my life, or lack thereof, over the last couple of weeks. It is a simple tip, and while not exactly scrappy related, it kinda is. My scrappy output over the last couple of weeks has been severely curtailed due the the Swine Flu invading my house. So my simple tip is this: get the H1N1 vaccine.

~Oregon Grandparents~

 

The Oregon grandparents flew out for a visit a couple weeks ago. I am just now getting around to posting at the Swine Flu flew swooped in for a much too long stay right about the same time. Luckily, only N went down while they were here...well me too but it was their last day before I succombed to the nastier that I thought bug. Anyway, the kids had an absolute blast hanging with them. This was the crew at Cracker Barrel~

 

This is the greatest shot of my father-in-law at Opryland!!!

 

 Grandma and Grandpa with the two littlest at Opryland Hotel

 We had a Civil War Soldier's funeral while they were in town (his remains were found a few months back on a construction site) and this is us getting ready to go into the visitation at a local church.

 And they were here for our annual trip out to Gentry's Farm.

 C & B fought over Grandpa's lap, C won this time!

 

 We went to meet Jack while they were here too! It was a busy trip, I'm sure they went home exhausted but we miss them already!!!

~Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Brad Storage~

Brad's House

Welcome to Brad's House! This is a cute little shadowbox that I bought at Michael's for only a few dollars. I painted it white and hung it on my wall. It is the perfect size to store all my containers full of brads. The containers are meant for beads but they work perfectly for brads and eyelets! With this system, it it so easy to grab the brads that I want when I am on my way out to a crop.

 

~How I get the VEGGIES in~

We are on our second challenge: MAIN DISH, over at  Creative Cookbooking -Hop on over and take a peek at all the great recipes scrapped by the design team. I made Stir Fry for my "main dish"layout this week. I found this adorable little pan at Joann's and knew it would be just perfect for a stir fry page.

Then, I punched out some circles from the back of one of these gorgeous Graphic45 papers, inked the edges and added some floss.  I used the circles to make wall-hanging kitchen decorations. At least that's what they are supposed to look like...what do you think?

Stir fry is one of the best ways for me to get the kids to eat some veggies, and M had the leftovers for breakfast this morning!

~Little Stacker~

Doesn't he look thrilled!?! One day when B was 9 months old he grabbed a castle turret block and a ball and figured out how to turn the castle block so the ball would sit on top. He was ecstatic!!! I only took a hundred or so shots of him that day. Papers are Cosmo Cricket Lil' Man.

 

 

"Ma'am, you'll need another pizza."

That was what the fireman said as he finally coerced my oven door open.

It started so normally, Shannon and I were sitting at the kitchen table, scrapping away. (Told you it was for real Tim!) Eventually we got hungry so I whipped together a homemade pizza and popped it in the oven. All seemed perfectly normal. We went into my scraproom for just a couple minutes to make a couple die cuts and when we came back to the kitchen my nose told me there was something wrong. I went to the oven and tried to open it, LOCKED! Locked? Locked??? LOCKED??? I couldn't believe it. Why had it locked itself? I tried to override the system, no luck. Smoke began to seep out. Yikes, this was getting serious. My dad has always taught me how to flip breakers and to keep my breaker box well labeled. Thank you Dad!!! So, I flipped the oven breaker (clearly labeled OVEN) to OFF. Back inside I went to try and get the burning pizza out of the oven. Still locked, more smoke now. Well, I thought it would be alright since I had shut the thing down so Shannon and I went out onto the porch. We even ordered a pizza. A few minutes later, I went back inside the kitchen. Waaaaay more smoke and now the exterior of the oven was beginning to turn the most putrid shade of brown. That was it, that was the point where I decided to call 911. The firemen finally got the oven door open, the pizza out and then determined that the oven had malfunctioned somehow and the top burner was stuck on HIGH. I asked them what would have happened if I hadn't been home and they said, "Don't go there."

 

 Before

After

My tip of the day: NEVER leave your oven unattended.