Halloween Highlights

Here are a few pictures of our Stinkin' Cute Skunk. Micaela is a little under the weather but despite that she really enjoyed trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Happy Halloween

Ahh! Halloween is here and there are quite a few projects that I never got around to posting. I've been so busy with KA.
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So, here's a quick snapshot my little spooky tree and a few little treats. This is on a table by our entrance.
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Anyway, I was trying to make the tree look like it had been papered with the Trick or Treat ribbon but I am not too happy with the look. Since it will come down tonight, I am not going to worry about it.

The tree: Got the tree at Michael's with a coupon. Tag ornaments were done with tag punches, used Whimsical Alphabet for letters to spell out Happy Halloween. Other ornaments done with various circle punches and scallop circle, used images from Bitty Boos.

Little Treat Box: Covered matchboxes, got the idea from Cambria Turnbow

The jars are baby food jars-- I painted the lids with black paint, added a band and topped off with the scalloped circle and an image from Batty for You.

What's Cookin' Card: Haunting Halloween kettle and the What's Cookin' from the BBQ set that retired a couple of summers ago.

Have a great day! Tomorrow is November, I can't believe it!

A special card for my Dad...

Here's a card I made for my Dad. GASP... it's not all SU!

When I saw this lawn mower stamp from Hambo Stamps on Kirsten DuBosque's blog I ABSOLUTELY had to have it. We all know that good masculine designs are hard to come by. The lawn mower is really cute and I know any stamper would want to have this in their inventory. I have a personal "connection" with lawn mowers, let me tell you why....

Just a warning, I am going to do a little bragging on my Dad.

You'll notice it's an anniversary card and not a birthday card. Last week my father completed his 53rd year in business. In 1954, recently out of the army, my father started a little business in my hometown of Mission, Texas. He was 24! The company grew and grew, and today 53 years later MAE Power Equipment is the largest independent dealer of outdoor power equipment in South Texas. You can read more about it HERE. (My Dad is the gentleman on the far left in the photograph circa 1954.

My Dad's store has survived the invasion of mass retailer box stores (WM, HD and L). It's been tough but legendary customer service has pulled him through. His motto is: "We sell the best and service the rest".

Over the years he has received countless accolades, Texas Small Business of the Year and many others, most recently during his 50th year in business, the prestigious Dealer in Excellence Award from Yard & Garden Magazine, a trade publication. Here's a picture of my Dad and brother when they received that award.

My siblings and I all started working at my Dad's store as soon as we could walk and talk. When we were really young, it was our job to dust the lawn mowers in the show room, when we got older we were given other tasks. My Dad is now 77 and still goes to work every single day, he jokes that he only works half days now, from 7 to 7! All of us kids have moved on but my little brother Oscar (36) has stayed and the business will go to him someday.

Thanks for letting me share my Dad's story, I am really proud to be his daughter and I hope you like my lawn mower card!

Hambo has some adorable stamps, be prepared to giggle outloud as you look through their gallery. Monica, the owner is very nice-- please tell her I sent you!

Details about card: 53 from Whimsical Numbers (retired), Medallion from Wanted stamp set, Happy Anniversary from Hugs & Wishes stamp set, the stars and smoke blowing out of the lawn mower is from Haunting Halloween, and last but not least the lawn mower and mower sentiment are from Hambo Stamps. Also used: Dimensionals, Scallop Circle, 1 1/2 Circle, 1 3/8 circle punches, Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, Real Red marker, sponge daubers, Creamy Caramel Classic ink pad, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Confetti White, River Rock Card Stocks. Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke Craft ink and Clear Embossing Powder.

Out Little Cowgirl.... Outlaw Clip Board

I made this last night. It's one of the new 9" x 9" SU On Board Clipboards. I received it as an award for my sales in July from my upline Denise Sullivan.

I had been wanting to make one of these for a while and getting one for free was great! I knew I wanted to use the Outlaw paper and this 5x7 picture of Micaela. This was Micaela's Halloween costume last year, my hubby snapped this picture during our dress rehearsal. How do you like those hot pink boots?

Here's how I did it:

I adhered Outlaw Designer Paper with Modge Podge, sanded the edges and then inked them with Creamy Caramel ink. I did not Modge Podge over the top of the paper. I used the Wild West Alphabet for the name at the bottom and the stars, I stamped both in Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and then embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. I used the Really Rust and Sage Shadow markers to color in the letters and I thought they looked a little dull so I went over them with the Versamark Marker and then embossed them with Clear Embossing Powder. Embossing over the marker intensified the color and made the letters glossy. I colored the stars with the Creamy Caramel marker only. I used the Piercer from the Tool Kit to make holes for the brads in the center of the stars. The brads are from the Aged Copper HodgePodge Hardware box. The picture was matted with Really Rust, Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip card stock. I used the ticket punch on the corners. I tied a variety of ribbons to the clip and Ta-Da, it was done!

I am pleased with the results, my hubby is really liking all of my recent Outlaw projects, he told me today, "finally, your making stuff that isn't so foo foo". Ugh, Men!

These would make great gifts. You can check out all of the different On Board Clipboards on page 181 of the Fall & Winter Collection catalog.

109192 Large with 3 Clips measures 13" x 7-1/2" is $15.95

109190 Wide with 1 Clip measures 9" x 9" is $7.95

109191 Narrow with 1 Clip measures 4-1/2" x 9" is $6.50

Buzzard Casserole

This is a really good casserole that I make often. A couple of years ago, I made it for my Witch Party and all of the witches in attendance love it. I can't seem to find the original normal version, so in the spirit of Halloween, here it is in all its gory! Don't let the name fool you, honestly--- it's really good.

Witch Shoe

I made this cute witch shoe at the North Texas Shoe Box Swap last weekend. This is the swap, Tabitha Price brought. The shoe looked a little naked, so I added the scallop circle, punched flower, button and bow to the toe after I got home. Remember when you bought plain pumps and dressed them up with clips? That is what I was reminded of when I was making this. I had a bunch of different clips for all my pumps back in the early 90's. I was right out of college and trying so hard to look grown up and business-like at my first job at MCI. I wore business suits, panty hose and high heels every day to work-- Ugh, I am dating myself so I will stop.

This really is not that hard to make. It takes one 8.5x11 sheet of card stock. Ideally you print or trace the pattern on the sheet, then with a straight edge score all the folds. Assembling is pretty easy because it's completely symetrical. If you are interested in the pattern for this I know it's on SCS. I think they are darling. I'd like to make some with Bashful Blue card stock for a little Cinderella party for Micaela some day. Wouldn't that be too cute?

Boo at the Zoo

It was a gorgeous autumn day in North Texas. We've been planning for weeks to go to the Dallas Zoo with two other families. At the last minute both families had sick Mommies so we ended up going on our own.


Micaela is facinated with trains so we took the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) train from Plano all the way into Dallas. Taking the DART train was not faster just easier than driving in traffic, paying for parking, etc. Micaela enjoyed looking out the window and watching all of the people. (You know, you see all kinds of people on the train).

The last time we went to the zoo, it was my birthday (Jan 2005) and I was 6 months pregnant. We took this picture with the chimps.

Today, (33 months later) we went back to the same spot and took another picture. I guess this will be the spot where we take pictures every time we go back to the zoo.

Micaela enjoyed looking at all of the animals. It was interesting that many of the animals were being fed Halloween type food. The gorillas and chimps were eating pumpkins and the bald eagles were being fed rats (eek!). Here's a picture of one of the gorillas munching on a pretty good size pumpkin.

I think she was most impressed with the giraffs because they were so tall. Do you know how hard it is to get a 2 1/2 year old and a giraff to look the same direction? I have seven shots and this is the best one!

I won't bore you with any more pictures of our zoo trip, thanks for reading this far!

Outlaw calendar "a la Jan Tink"

I fell in love with Jan Tink's calendar the minute I saw it. I decided to recreate one using our Outlaw Designer Paper. This was a lot of work but I am really happy with the results. Using so much brown is really a stretch for me, I am more of a pink or red kinda gal. Nonetheless, here are all the pages one by one. The nitty gritty details are at the very bottom of the post.

I really studied each and every one of Jan's calendar pages and I learned some things along the way while I made my own.

• The average rings have a hinge that does not fit in the holes of our Jumbo Eyelets. These are 35mm. I contemplated using ribbon or rope instead of the rings but decided the coasters would stack better with the rings. I am looking for some thinner rings.



• The third hole on the Paper Piercing Template is really too close to the top, moving an additional 1/4 down would be better.



• Use the A-1 setting on the Crop-A-Dile to set the Jumbo Eyelets.

Here's the some more of the nitty gritty:

• Covered light weight coasters in each of the 12 paper designs.


• Used Sanding Block to sand edges and corners


• Used Creamy Caramel Classic Ink to ink edges and back side of coasters


• Used the Paper Piercing Template from the Mat Pack to mark the holes for the eyelets. I used the third large hole and marked the back, then flipped the template to mark the other side so the holes would be equal distance from the edge.


• Made holes using Crop-A-Dile


• Set Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets using Crop A Dile... 24 of them!


• Printed calendars using the website Jan recommended: I printed with brown ink on Confetti Cream card stock.


• Matted all calendars in either Real Rust, Chocolate Chip or Creamy Caramel.


• SU stamp sets in order of appearance: All Holidays, Elegant Inspirations, Doubleline Doodles, Garden Whimsey, Wanted, Baroque Motifs, Elementary Essentials, ABC Alphabet Lower, Booglie Eyes, Autumn Harvest and last but not least Fun & Fast Notes


• Used SU Ribbon: Chocolate Chip 5/8 Grosgrain, Caramel Gingham, River Rock Double Stitched colored with Really Rust marker.


• Used Markers to color: Really Rust for flowers on March page and Sage Shadow, Creamy Caramel and Really Rust for Christmas Tree on December page.


• Everything is stamped with Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and Embossed with Clear Embossing Powder with the exception of November. I used Vanilla Embossing Powder on the Happy Thanksgiving and Versamark and Gold & Copper Embossing Powders on the leaves from Autumn Harvest.


• Used photo corners from the On Board Blossoms & Basics assortment on the July page. I pressed the photo corners into my Pumpkin Pie Craft pad and then embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.


• Used Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware throughout with the exception of February & December: silver heart and star brads were dipped in Chocolate Chip Craft and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder to create a distressed look.

God Bless You if you read this far. Thank you for visiting my blog. Please leave a comments or questions and subscribe if you wish. And, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE sign the guest book at the bottom of the front page!

Thanks! MC2F

Keep Thinking PINK....

In celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, here's a cute little project....

This is a little Dove Chocolate Holder. When you open the flap, there's a Dove Chocolate piece adhered inside. (Earlier there was no picture of the inside)

Edited to add: I made a special trip to the store to get Dove Chocolate for the inside. As you can see, the Dove Chocolate piece fits perfectly inside the scallop circle.

Credit for this cute project goes to Vickie Maduzia. Mine is almost an exact CASE of hers. Vickie is a very talented stamper, she often writes tutorials for SCS and best of all, she is local and a very good friend of my Upline Denise Sullivan so we get to see her at trainings regularly. She just shared this project on one of the demonstrator groups I belong to. I just loved it! I am going to try to make up a bunch of these for my next MOMS meeting at church. Hat's off and thank you to Vickie!

Here are the directions as written by Vickie:
(She used Baroque Motifs for the background and I chose the large swirl from the Priceless stamp set instead. )

1. Cut Pretty in Pink cardstock 3 ¼ X 9 5/8. You can get two of these out of one sheet of cardstock. Stamp all over with scroll image from Baroque Motifs, using Pretty in Pink ink.

2. Score with bone folder in 4 places, as follows: 3” 3 3/8” 6 3/8” 6 ¾”

3. Punch a Scallop Circle in one end. Fold up the flap, and secure with 2 dimensional dots. Affix Dove Chocolate with a mini-glue dot.

4. Punch a scallop circle out of Shimmery white paper. Sponge around the edges with Pretty in Pink ink. Draw a dot in the center of the scallop, then snip “petals” toward the dot, to make a flower. Stamp Circle of Friendship on a scrap of pink cardstock with Regal Rose ink, then punch it out with 1” circle punch, and affix to center of flower with a dimensional.

5. Stamp greeting in lower bottom corner with Regal Rose Ink. Attach pink ribbon if desired, with mini-brad. The greeting is from Refuge & Strength.

KitchenAid

Just in case you wonder what in the world I do when I go to stores on behalf of KitchenAid, here is a before and after of a store I reset yesterday. This is the brand new Dillard's in Stonebriar Centre in Frisco. They have one of the best selections of Artisans in the whole DFW metroplex, 11 colors in stock. Aren't they gorgeous!

Colors from Left to Right.
Top Row: Green Apple, Tangerine, White, Metalic Chrome, and Majestic Yellow.
Bottom Row: Onyx Black, Gloss Cinnamon, Bay Leaf, Chrome ($500), Empire Red, and Caviar.

Creepy Crawler Photo Cube

Here's a photo cube I covered with Creepy Crawler DP. These cubes are from Oriental Trading. I love these, they are sold by the dozen and my customers love them. I tied a variety of ribbons from different manufactures on the wire stem and used Modge Podge to adhere the paper. These are a super quick project. One of my customers just made 250 of these to use as placecard holders for a Bat Mitzvah.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we took Micaela to the Original Pumpkin Patch in FlowerMound. This is our third year to visit. Micaela had a great time. This year, she really got into the whole pumpkin thing. She wanted to bring them all home. While there, we met up with our friends Kristi & Jeffrey and their daughter Kaitlyn. We had a great time taking pictures of the girls and even managed to get a stranger to snap a picture of all of us.

Our Little Pumpkins...

Both families....


The humidity and wind did a real number on my hair.


My favorite shot of Micaela...

I met Jan Tink!

This weekend my 5th Upline Sharon Armstrong and Milette Siler sponsored a huge meeting of demonstrators. One of the specials guests was Jan Tink from Michigan. We had a fabulous meeting. I was about to put together a short report but then I happened to wander on over to Jan's blog and she wrote a very detailed and lengthy one so I will just insert a link, in case your interested. Read about Jan's Excellent Texas Adventure here.

3-D Halloween Cookies

As I mentioned before,
I've been making
the rounds with all our trade partners.
You know, this is dangerous work because every store I walk into, I want to buy something. This past week I visited several Williams Sonoma stores. All the stores had these fabulous displays showcasing their new line of 3-D cookie cutters. These are so darn cute!

The 8 pieces come in this adorable Haunted House shaped box. Included are a pumpkin, a black cat, a haunted house and a witch. And they are on sale for just $17.99! These are exclusive to Williams Sonoma, you can't find them any where else.

Click here to see their website.

Flashback....

Five years ago this week in 2002, Troy and I took our first picture together. At the time we had been casually dating for about 6 weeks--just barely getting to know each other. This particular night, I was hosting a chick party... my first "Witch Gathering"-- just a bunch of girlfriends getting dressed up like witches for a fun time before Halloween. This party has since become an annual tradition. Back then, I did not know that a year later I would be engaged, a year after that married, the next pregnant and the following a mother. I think he sent this to his mother and told her I was the new girl he was dating--- I am sure that made an impression!
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Here we are... we've obviously both aged!


Here's me with two of my witch friends, Kristi -- friend from college and Judy-- friend from Bonham. Both these ladies have had perfect attendance at all my Witch Gatherings. Notice my spider web gloves...lol.

Thanks for letting me reminisce.

Susan G. Komen Foundation

Everyone is familiar with the pink ribbon but do you know the story behind the foundation?

It was one promise between two sisters. Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.

In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures.

In the early 90's my friend Kristi and I had the opportunity to hear Nancy Brinker speak at Visions, The Women's Expo. I remember crying during the presentation. At the time we were in our early 20's and breast cancer was not something we gave any thought to, but since then the pink ribbon and what it stands for has always had a special place in my heart. Now that we are 30-something, we both know quite a few women who are either survivors, are being treated or have passed away due to breast cancer.

Cook for the Cure®, presented by KitchenAid, gives those with a passion for cooking a way to support the breast cancer movement. To date, the program has raised more than $5 million through donation-with-purchase programs, fundraising events, auctions and grassroots initiatives.

You can host a Cook for the Cure party to raise funds. Download a whole party kit, by clicking here.

During the month of October all of us, Product Specialists are wearing this very cool apron during our demonstrations. This apron and and a whole collection of pink items including everything from appliances to gadgets are available from KitchenAid, check them out by clicking here.

Each pink product that is purchased and then registered at http://www.cookforthecure.com/ will generate a donation of up to $50 to Komen for the Cure. Add color to your kitchen. Add support to the movement.

During 2007, KitchenAid is proud to donate a minimum of $1,000,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in conjunction with its pink product collection. Cook for the Cure® is a registered trademark of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

I am alive...

Yes, I am alive! Thank you for the emails. I've been extremely busy. With the holidays around the corner I am going to be working alot of additional hours for KitchenAid. Right now I am resetting displays at stores all over the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. There are alot of trade partners in the DFW area (more than 25 Kohl's alone). I've also been asked to go to Mexico to help train a new team of sales people. This assignment is very exciting for me! The best part is that the training is going to be held in Monterrey where my Mom is from. That means I will have an opportunity to see some my Tia Lala (favorite aunt on my Mom's side of the family) and my primas (cousins) whom I haven't seen since our wedding in July 2004.

Although I've been busy with KA, I have been stamping late at night. In the next day or two I will share the projects my stamp club did this month and some Halloween items. Keep checking back!

Apple Cider Card Gift Set

Fall is in the air!

Here's a little card gift set I made using the new Apple Cider Paper. I just love this paper!

Here's what it looks like open. There are four cards and envelopes, two of each on each side. I used some of our new stitched grosgrain ribbon to hold the cards in place.




Here are the four cards and matching envelopes.



Here's a close up of the four cards.



I got the idea from basilefamily on SCS, she made one using our Cutie Pie Paper.

Recipe:
The folder is made with one sheet of Chocolate Chip 8.5x11 card stock. You score the long side at 2" and the short side at 5.5". I used our slit punch to make a hole for the ribbon to thread through. The motif on the front is from Baroque Basics, it was stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. The little tag stamp is retired. The envelopes were stamped on both side with the Polka Dot background stamp. I used Really Rust, River Rock and more Apple Cider for the cards. The words are from "Think Happy Thoughts" stamp set, they are stamped in Chocolate Chip on River Rock, punched with the 1 1/4 punch and layered on another 1 3/8 circle in chocolate chip. The flower in the center was punched out of Really Rust with the Spring Flower Punch, then all of it was layered on a Circle Scallop Punch and finished off with an Aged Copper brad.

We're going PINK FOR OCTOBER!

In an effort to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, get people talking about breast cancer, and raise money for research, we're going pink for the month of October.