MME December Sketch Challenge

Were Ella's PJ's made for this paper, or what? She has pink eyeshadow, blush and lipgloss on...we did mini-makeovers. I definitely didn't look as cute as she does!

MME November Sketch

This month at the My Mind's Eye blog, they gave a sketch as well as a prompt to use brown in the layout...which was the perfect add-on color to the Halloween ("Mischievous") papers for my little monkey! I'll post more halloween layouts another day.

Four Hands. One Heart.

I wanted to make a "thankful" themed canvas, and I started with the idea of cut-out hands made into turkeys. And then I thought, "how can I update that?" I love our hands layered and sewn together. Four Hands. One Heart. Made using Crate Paper's Farmhouse line; background is dictionary paper. Size: 8X8 inches.

Happy Halloween

 The little monkey did not like his costume. This is the only picture with his monkey hat on...and you can't even see the face.

 Of course, my little bumble bee didn't let me down and gave me several great pictures!

Cohen was always about 10 steps behind Ella. Although he couldn't clearly say trick or treat, he said something that I'm sure sounded just right to him. And if he was only given one piece of candy, he waited until they gave him more. It worked every time except once!

 We made it half a block before Cohen was all done walking.

kiss kiss.

 Cohen and I headed back for home while Eric and Ella continued trick or treating. Cohen suddenly sat down and began inspecting his bucket of goodies. So, I sat down with him and watched him take in his first trick or treat experience. Pretty sweet.

Our (very slow) walk up our hill back home. Just me and my guy. When we got home he handed me a sucker and ate the whole thing, happily watching tv before going to bed. Ella and Eric got home about 30 minutes later. She was so excited to hand out candy. She went and got a notebook and pencil and started "writing" down who came to the door, how many people, and what they were wearing. Very cute. Luckily, both kids went to bed without a fight!

Jack O'Lanterns

On Friday, Ella told me she wanted at pumpkins with a happy face, mad face and sad face. Daddy did a very good job following directions. It was pretty cold yesterday, so the pumpkin goop was pretty cold, too. Cohen had zero interest in the pumpkin carving and Ella made it to the second pumpkin.

December Daily Album

I am so excited about the December Daily album I made this year. I've made one the past 4 years. This year, I did a 6" X 8" and (don't laugh out loud) I got out the sewing machine. I literally had to dust it off and read the directions on how to thread it and away I went! I used the Simple Stories 25 Days of Christmas collection pack. When I was done, I still had quite a bit of paper and embelishments left, so I made a second, smaller album. Why not?! This isn't all of the pages...but you get the idea!

lil' pumpkin girl

Ella always looks so cute when she goes to school. She tells me how she wants her hair- which today it's in a side pony tail with a headband she got for her birthday. She owned nothing black or orange- so I found the cutest vintage-like pumpkin shirt and leggings and of course halloween socks. So stinkin' cute!

Future Jack O'Lanterns

I've had these Halloween papers since August, I believe, and I was really trying hard to hold onto them and save the crisp, new 12X12 pages for my Halloween pictures. But, MME (http://mymindseye.typepad.com/) has a sketch contest with the theme being Fall...so I just had to cut into those pages! There's a chance to win 3 entire collections! Whoa. That would be beyond excting!

A beautiful day

Thank goodness I brought my camera along to the park today. I love these photos! I have never gotten so many pictures of Cohen smiling!

Cohen playing hide and seek.

Autumn Crafts

I saw this craft on Elizabeth Kartchner's blog: Dear Lizzy (and she found it in a magazine). The kids painted canning jars that my MIL gave me years ago. They have a grid-like pattern in them with a smooth-finish square on one side. Pefect place for a pumpkin face. I put the face on with masking tape and put out four colors of paint (so I didn't end up with a pink pumpkin jar!)

They turned out better than I thought they would! A treasure to keep forever. I put battery-operated tea light candles in them. The next day at school, Ella painted a small pumpkin with glitter and sequins and they wrapped a fall themed bow around it with silk leaves. It is so cute and so Ella. It fits pefect in between the two jars.

This is my most recent creation, using my Sizzix Vegabond. I had a lot of fun making this. I worked for hours on it one Sunday while Eric and the kids were watching football. (It's not that shiny- just the glare from the lamp and flash.)

Some layouts using Crate Paper's Farmhouse line. I love love love pumpkin pictures!

A canvas I made also using the farmhouse line, with some of our family pictures from last fall. The prompt/challenge a few weeks ago on the Crate Paper blog was the word "Home." And this is what I came up with!