Tags and a banner, or both?

When I was given my assignment to make tags for this month for GCD Studios, all I could think about was how I’ve always wanted to create a Halloween banner for our mantle. I thought I’d combine the two projects and make a banner with tags!

I started by debossing my “Spooky” letters (GCD Big Alphabet Chipboard Letters) with the various Chip Art Tool designs. After I painted a black base, I added some sparkle with some glittery embossing powder. I also used an embossing pen to outline the spider web on one of the tags and embossed it.

I loved the idea of using glitter embossing powder, so I didn’t end up with inevitable loose glitter all over the floor!

I then painted each GCD Studios chipboard banner with black paint, crackle medium and then cream paint.  I adhered the letters with Pop Dots and trimmed with various GCD Studios patterned papers with decorative edges. The Paris Nights Decorative paper pack has strips of decorative edge pieces that worked great for this.

Next, I moved onto the tags. I loved the idea of each tag being its own distinct little gem.  I glued patterned paper to the tags and filed the paper to get precise edges of the tags.

I layered various stickers, punches and chipboard pieces for extra dimension. Here is an example of the start of the witch tag's assembly.  Every tag was also edged with Sepia Black ink from Color Box.

 

I love how, with these two tags, I was able to use patterned paper not traditionally associated with Halloween from the Lydia and Paris Nights collection.

The main features on these two tags are a spider I made with pipe cleaners and a crackle painted chipboard bird.

And lastly, this tag's focal point is this adorable sticker made to look like a piece of candy and lots of layers underneath.

Here's another look at the banner.

See that Trick or Treat framed art on the mantle?  I created this fun image to share with you, download here.  Just print it out and place it in a 5x7 frame you've already got around your house!

And lastly, because the assignment called for us to make a fall tag as well, I turned my fall tag into an embellishment for my front door arrangement. I think the house is ready for fall!

I hope you are inspired to dress your house with your scrapbooking supplies for the fall holidays.

Leslie

Halloween Banner Supplies:

Chipboard: GCD Studios (shapes, tags, banners and bird)   Patterned Papers: GCD Studios (Paris Nights and Lydia Collections and Making Memories)  Stickers: Martha Stewart & Making Memories Brads and Gems: Recollections  Ink: Colorbox  Stamp: Bo Bunny

Fall Tag Supplies:

Chipboard Tag: GCD Studios  Patterned Papers: GCD Studios  Chipboard letters: Heidi Swapp  Stamp: Inkadinkadoo  Ink: Colorbox Stamp: Stampcraft  Flower: Prima

Happy Halloween Freebee!

Thanks for stopping by for your free "trick or treat" download.  Hopefully you can find a little spot to place this little piece of Halloween art.  The image is 5x7 and ready to frame. (Print on photo paper for richer colors.)

Just click right click on the image and the download it.  Happy Halloween from me to you! :)

ode to Tucker

Welcome readers of Pet Blogs United!  In light of our feature there, I thought I'd use today's post to tell our Tucker story.


Tucker is affectionately known as "Clifford" the big yellow dog, by one of my friends.  She knows the story of how he came into our lives, how we (the kids and I) longed for a dog and how we finally convinced my husband to give us a golden doodle puppy for an early Christmas present in 2006.  And just like the story of Clifford, we loved him so much he just kept growing and growing!

Little did we know this cute little fur ball, who was supposed to grow to be only around 40 to 45 lbs, and be a medium sized dog, would turn in to the big dog I had always wanted, but never thought I'd have. (The last time he was at the vet, he weighed around 62 lbs.)

But before he turned into the big, loveable dog he is now he was one super cute, but wild puppy!!

 He spent the first several months of his life in the kitchen.  He was just too crazy to roam the house while not being watched every single second.  We eventually wised up and crate trained him, although I don't think he fits very well in that huge crate anymore...the one we thought he'd never out grow. lol

It wasn't too long before we knew, despite all the puppy training books I had read, that we needed a professional help. We enrolled in a well known dog training class in town and I'm so very thankful we found our trainer, Dick Russell.  He changed the whole ball game for us. His fee included one-on-one training if that's what it took and we took it.  My favorite quote of his, "He's going to be a very good dog, he just doesn't know it yet."  I thought he was being funny but honestly, I think it's true.  He was right, Tucker knows he's a good dog now.

He is my running partner and everybody's best friend. He's so full of love and has us pretty well trained too.   He certainly tells us he wants dinner. (Which is as early in the afternoon as he can manipulate by you to give it to him.) ;)

He is such a good boy and is very obedient around the house. He heels like a pro on the trail and loves to go on outings. Our most useful commands are "place" to send him to his bed  and "move", which is a general yielding command that is really so handy for making the big galoot move out of our way.

He does have few flaws, but don't we all.  He goes beserk around all forms of water, barks at the smoke from the BBQ pit, (read here) and can't handle attending a sporting event (read here). He also still likes to run off with pieces of clothing he finds around the house because having us chase him around the house to retrieve the item is the best fun in the whole world.

Needless to say, he is a very special part of our family. Even my husband, who was initially lukewarm to the idea of getting a dog, loves him dearly.

And being the scrapbooker I am he has a few layouts in which he is featured.

I'm sure he really misses the pool we had at our house in Louisiana, but he equally loves the snow here in Missouri.  He will sit out side and wait for it to come and get's all frisky when the flurries start to fall.

Here's a photo montage of a few of my favorite photo memories, so far.

And in case you are wondering, his absolute favorite treat...   a nearly empty peanut butter jar! We have a small stash of them stockpiled in the pantry for special occasions. :) He can lick the jar spotless!

So very good

First off, I have to do a little shameless mommy bragging.  Richard and I attended a picnic for Emily's 6th grade team on Friday afternoon.  The weather was fabulous and it was a great time to meet her new friends, teachers and parents. At the end of the picnic the teachers announced the first VIP students of the year.  (The award was based on being a good roll model for behavior, acts of kindness and the like and it was an award they didn't know about.)  Each teacher picked one student, so there were 6 kids picked out of 125 students.  The last name called was our very own Emily!!  We are always so proud of her and we were thrilled to see her recognized for the thoughtful and kind person she is!   She'll have some special privileges that go with her title.  I'm sure she's going to love that!

Saturday morning we headed out early for a Personal Best 5k Run sponsored by our church.  Crisp weather and a chance to run our personal best on the trail. Can't go wrong there. I don't have our times yet, but we all ran pretty good.  Richard and Emily ran together and finished soon after I did.  Which is awesome, considering it was Emily's first 5k and Richard hasn't done much running since his Ironman due to an injury.

The backs of our shirts carried my favorite verse from Hebrews 12:1b-2a

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

After a quick lunch, we were off to Emily's soccer game.  She had an amazing first half.  She was really going all out and aggressively attacking the ball.  During the second half she got knocked down pretty hard and physically and mentally crashed.  Bless her heart.  It was only 1 pm and she'd given her all.

Miles was in Kansas City for an overnight swim meet.  He continues to improve his time and do his best.  It was good to have him home earlier than he has been the previous couple of weeks.

Saturday night was spent with friends on their deck. It was a great night to just sit around and enjoy the fall air.

The problem with all the beautiful fall air I inhaled Saturday, arose on Sunday with sneezing and itchy nose.  Why is it that when the weather is so nice and it's just a beautiful time to be outside enjoying the fall, that it's the worst time for my allergies?  It's just not fair.  I'm not looking forward to our first freeze, but I know my sinuses will gladly welcome it.

Weekend recap and the crazy dog

Another weekend has come and gone. A Saturday filled with soccer, Miles out of town for a swim meet and Richard home.  A house filled with smells of homemade spaghetti sauce, Italian Casserole and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and church on Sunday.

It was a perfect day for soccer on Saturday.  Unfortunately, Emily's game was a little off.  She took a hard hit to her leg last week and seemed timid this Saturday.

Before the game, Emily was so excited that we agreed to bring Tucker to her soccer game.  I was more than a little worried.  Tucker, despite being well behaved at home, has a few idiosyncrasies. Namely water, smoke and excited voices, well and maybe an uncontrollable need to play with a moving ball.

We have all noticed over the last year how mature he has become. (Tucker turned 4 this August.) We thought he might be able to sit on the sidelines of a soccer game now. Well, he's not that mature and I doubt he every will be!  I think the dog could be old and gray and hardly be able to move and he still couldn't sit there calmly and watch a game.

As soon as the game started he went into hyper-freak-out mode.  Whining and then barking in a shrill, excited manner.  (So very annoying.) Needless to say one of us spent the game walking him around the park, away from the soccer games to spare the innocent bystanders his craziness.

I eventually tried sitting across the street, in the shade of a tree where I could still see the game at least a little and that was tolerable for both of us.  I figured I had my camera with me, I might as well snap a few shots.

He looks so sweet and innocent.  Like a big, huggable bear right? Nope, he's just a goofy dog who definitely has his limits.

Well, that's what love is right? Taking the good with the bad.  Loving despite the faults.

Finding Fall

Wednesday, after I went for my run, I walked back down the trial with my camera in tow.  My intention was to take photos of Tucker. I had an idea brewing. But while walking to the spot I had in mind I found a few leaves that had already changed. 

It took my husband, Richard to point out to me that this leaf looks like a heart!  I guess I was so infatuated with the yellow I missed it!

After I snapped a few dozen photos, these being my favorites, I positioned Tucker and got that dreaded beep from my Canon that indicates the battery is dead.

This is not exactly the shot I was going for, but he was being such a willing subject that I had to snap a few with my iPhone. He's such a good boy.

At least I have something to show for my efforts.  I never thought I'd find little bits of fall to photograph this early. :)

(In case you were wondering, that run I spoke of, not so good.  The pain in my lower calf/leg came back. Not as bad as before, but enough to make me turn around after a mile and head back. Bummer!)

Happy, Happy Friday!!

Finally!

I finally got a chance to scrapbook just for me.  Well, I probably should say I finally just let other things wait while I scrapbooked. :)

I printed this photo about 2 weeks ago and contemplated the journaling every time I looked at the photo on my desk.

The layout is a mix of GCD Studios papers (Ella Blue and Independence Collection) and goodies mostly from Studio Calico's September kit, "Back 40".

Today I'll need to address all the things I let slide yesterday, but it was worth it!

Finding "The One"

We have lived in Missouri for over 3 years now and I have felt like I've been trying to find a hair stylist nearly the whole time.

After the first six months of being here, I went to the same lady for almost a year probably.  I really liked her personally, but eventually I had to stop going.  My hair color was always too light and my cuts were often not as I told her I wanted or worse–sometimes my hair was uneven.  But it's hard to break up with a hair stylist you like.  I felt guilty for a while, but I knew it was time to move on.

Ever since then I have definitely been salon hopping.  I might have gone back to the same stylist twice, but after that I felt like there just wasn't the chemistry I was hoping for or I was not extremely satisfied with the cut.

I hope I'm not the only one who feels like there should be something else to getting your hair cut than just getting a great cut. (Which is of course the most important, but often I did not get.)  I look for someone I would hang out with.  Not that I want them to be my friend or looking to find a friend through my hairstylist, but it's so much better when you actually enjoy your time "in the chair" and have a happy, lively conversation.

All this to say, I think I might have found "the one".  I guess it really may be too soon to tell.  I guess I should take it slowly. lol  But she did give me an awesome pedicure a few months ago and I knew I liked her personality.  I made the call for an appointment to get my hair trimmed yesterday and she had an opening, which is just the way I like it.  I usually get the "overwhelming need" to get my haircut and want it as soon as possible, like the next day or so.  Yesterday, it was the feeling that my ends were crunchy and knew I couldn't stand it any longer.  (She liked that description and chuckled.  I knew we were golden after that.)

And if I knew beforehand I was going to blog about this I would have taken a photo of my hair after I got it cut.  I did snap a photo before I left for bible study today.

I think it looks really great (even for being slept on) and I can just feel it's a terrific cut.

Swimming and soccer and lots of blurry photos

That's what my days feel like they are filled with, soccer and swimming. Well, that and driving to and from, to and from, each practice and game/event.  So far all I have to show for these past few weekends are lots of blurry photos. :{

Swim meets for Miles are obviously indoors now and generally fairly low light settings. And given that the stands for high school meets are pretty far from the pool, it's basically a no-win situation for me and my current camera lens.

Emily had a double header this weekend and so I had two chances to capture soccer action photos.  I wish I would have reviewed what I had taken after the first game. Then I would have realized I was totally using the wrong settings.  I like this photo, despite the blurred action, because she's grinning and she totally looks like she's having fun!  (In so many of the photos she's very serious, very focused and her face shows it.)

I really could just do a complete head slap on myself. Clearly I had enough light.  Why I was shooting at an ISO of 100 is beyond me!

I recently finished my October projects for GCD Studios and I love them both.  Can't wait to share them.  Look for one around the 24th and the other will be in the GCD Newsletter and I'll provide a link when it's available.

I'm currently reading Chi Running.  So glad I ordered this book about a week ago, because clearly I need to improve my form.  On Friday's run, I pulled something around my Achille's tendon. It's nearly pain free now so I know it must have just been muscle.  I'll wait until Wednesday to give it a go again.

Tuesday is my bible study day for the next 6 weeks or so. Enjoying it so.  In the afternoon, I hope to get some work done in my studio!

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