Make a difference day + autumn days

Today my daughter's girl scout troop is participating in Make a Difference Day by making cards and care packages for our men and women in Iraq. One of the families has a son that is there. Can't wait to see what the girls come up with. Pictures to follow.

So much "fall" going on that I haven't been in the mood, or had time, to make those christmas cards. Enjoying our finally autumn-like weather. There have been too many 80 degree days in late October, nice, but....at the same time I really wanted those chilly days. I guess they will come soon enough.

Cute, Rusty pumpkin lanterns out front.

Thank You cards I made as a gift for our PTA group. I used a download from 2peasinabucket made by one of their digital designers (tia bennett) The school paper look was just so perfect.

Pumpkins painted by my three pumpkins :)

Pumpkin decor in sepia tones. This is right outside our front door.

Today's Doodle: #1, #2

#1 Pink Mums from the front yard make a wonderful "real flower" or dandelion stamp:
This was a test to see if they really looked good once stamped. I've seen this technique in many stamp/craft magazines. Not only did the flower's petals image show nicely, but it also reminded me of dandelions. Specifically, a rubber stamp of a dandelion that I have seen on many of my shopping trips. I didn't use paint as some articles suggested, it seemed too gloppy for a smallish flower such as this. I did use just a basic stamp pad [and I just happened to find the black one first, any color would look nice] hand drew the stem but now I think stamping the stem would look better.

#2 'Twas Doodling before Christmas:
Done over the course of many days. While shopping the internet for stamps to use on our Christmas cards this year. I love anything with branches, trees, leaves, wreaths, vines, etc. This one scene from the Basic Grey -- Figgy Pudding line of papers gave me the inspiration. It was so cute...It had a vine or wreath with almost bare branches; the middle of the image looks like a house. I chose to go with a quote behind the stamped image [idea from another site]. It's coming along. Found the perfect wreath stamp through the angel company...in a set named "christmas joy" And one more note: there will be some sort of hand drawn element on the cards this year.

a little messy...I know...fuzzy, sketchy lines and such, but that's how i doodle.


additional note: I will include more of the steps in the next posts. This just shows the "doodle" phase.

One week ago...

I started a blog post....then the kids got sick. Do I need to say more? Can't believe how time flies when you have a good idea in your head. Or, how the idea never really comes back full force the second time you try to express it. So, I had a pretty busy week and weekend with no, repeat, NO! fun creative time in between. Could make me cranky, if I let it.

I ended up just jotting down my thoughts in my idea journal and in a quick word document until I could get back here.

So, from the book of scribbles, I add here....

Tuesday Oct/ 9

#1 today

I sit remembering all the things I thought about in the car ride today.

Things I wanted to blog about --- my brain starts to wander and all of a sudden I have a blog post, but no where to record it. It’s a dilemma.
I think I should get one of those mini voice recorders so I can just talk into it with all my ramblings. Today I chuckled as I thought about that. It would make me feel ultra cool & hip. Like I was on some secret agent mission. Sprinkle in little Jason Bourne aka Matt Damon. And what if I had me some of that secret spy gear stuff on. On the other end, a person with a first letter for a name would receive my transmission.

That’s it - I gotta get one of those.

#2 today

I thought about redundancy in my life. I was returning a fleece blanket at the store. Why did I feel like I needed more blankets/throws? Why do I have so much stuff? I mean, why do I keep buying the same thing over and over? Well, in the case of cool plates and bowls and platters shaped like leaves, I love to collect those. But blankets? Really, I didn’t need anymore.

#3 today

There are some brand new ideas I have in mind for my blog and it all started with the idea from her newsletter of sharing what you love to create, or sharing how you create something. So, mainly staying true to scrapbooking, cardmaking and handmade art related stuff I will be adding some ideas called:

Today’s Doodle Not one everyday, but I find that while I am on the internet or chatting it up on the phone I am in some extreme-doodling zone, some are cool, some are just plain goofy, some bring more inspiration. Why not add them here.

How-I-Do Not a how-to, there are plenty of those out there, but more of a- this-is-how-I-do-it thing. I find that sometimes I try to re-create a card look I see in a magazine, but I might not have all the same materials. So its been a way of using inspiration I find in other places and brainstorming on how the same idea can be applied to a card or scrapbook page using a different technique. I simply think that I do this sometimes to save a little money since I can't go buy ALL the stamps/pretty paper I love, and there are just soooo many I fall in love with. Or maybe, a little bit of that DIY in me that comes from growing up with a mom who wanted to make everything from scratch [she still does-she thinks its very "practical"]

Still working on the names {actually, I’m liking those now}

I will find some of the latest doodles in the idea notebook and post it next.
The how-I-do will probably be the project I'm into now, which is Christmas cards.

Guardian Angels and Picture Day

October 2nd is known as the feast of Guardian Angels. So I took a moment today to thank my family's guardian angels. There have been many moments, as many moms or aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. also remember I'm sure, that have me thankful & amazed that even through a fall or something more serious sometimes, surprisingly, the little ones remain unharmed or come through it just fine. Even as adults sometimes we wonder how we made it through. So, yep, a huge thanks goes out to our guardian angels all around.

Now on to why this picture is so significant:

October 2nd 1999, my first lil'guy {above} was 6 months old. I was trying out my husband's very cool {but very confusing} Minolta camera with all the do-dads. {the pre digital days}
I propped the little one up on the blanket covered couch and hoped he wouldn't topple over. {he was just learning the sitting thing} Well, after a few toppled-over moments I decided to put two pillows on either side of him behind the blanket. A few more minutes of adjusting and we were good to go.
This was my favorite shot from those precious moments when it was just me and him in our pretend photo shoot. I thought nothing of the meaning of the day. Only thoughts those days were that my grandmother had just passed away and that I just wanted more time with her. How I wanted her to get to know my children, watch them grow, but knowing that was never going to happen was hard to take. I was just so sad all the time. I tried to focus on my little guy and the brand new baby that was growing inside me.

After I had the roll developed, days later, I took the pictures to work to show friends. A friend of mine was looking at this picture and commented that it was a beautiful picture and she liked the "shadows" and "They look like angel's wings" she said. I wanted to know what she was looking at because I didn't see that. She pointed them out. Right there behind him, on either side, the shadows looked like wings. As soon as I saw them I had chills. Good chills. So I have always loved this picture.

Fast forward to Today --- October 2nd 2007 --- its picture day today at their school. How funny is that? He has his most favorite shirt on, his thick, black hair is shiny and tousled, he walks out the door ready for school, he's 8, he better smile :)

for this I used my photo editing software, antique frame downloaded from designerdigitals, font is CK Becky from creating keepsakes, background color and little dots are made in the photo editing software.