All Hallows' Eve 2007

Just a few pics from tonight... we had quite a few kids come by... and a couple that stayed on the sidewalk or walked across the street instead [insert evil laugh here].

One more night...

I made these two cards w/ a brass stencil and translucent embossing paste. After applying the paste on the second one, I took a stipple brush & 'flicked' out the edges... turned out kinda creepy... me likey! After the paste dried, I brayered over the orange cardstock w/ black ink & quickly wiped it off of the image. Tore a couple of edges, layered it up, a little stamp here (Running Stitches), a little stamp there(Boo Bash), and voila! What do you think? Please leave me a comment!

I love me some Pink & Blue.....

I know... I have been totally slacking on the whole blog-thing. To make up for it, I have posted this lovely non-traditional Christmas color combo for your viewing pleasure. Pink Bazzill, TAC's Lilly Anna paper & eyelet, pink scrapper's floss, Belle Rose & Reflection Blue Palette inks, and TAC's Holiday Magic stamp set. I think a very simple elegant-yet-casual kind of look. I love the fact that it dangles and moves. This may be one of my Christmas cards to send out... I still haven't really started those yet!

Two days to Halloween!!! I have taken Wednesday off from work to do my final decorating & touch-ups (cobwebs, etc.). I can't wait!

Photos from tonight

Here are the cards/ project we did tonight. The top left is Vicki's, bottom left is Judy's, the nugget box is Toni's, and I did the purple snowman. We had a good time (as usual) and the next one is scheduled for November 27th at the Library. I believe Vicki & Jennifer will be teaching us new techniques this time.

What a day....

I am soooooooo ready for Halloween, as you can tell by the cards above that I created for my monthly class.

So, back to my day. They are still re-roofing our office building and today it reeked sooooo bad that I called the boss, and I must have whined enough because he said to take the laptop home to work on my residential projects. I don't know how those roofing guys stand it all day long, day after day. I think my lungs would explode... but then again, I am a bit of a wussy. Although, my male co-worker must be one too, because he was more than happy to work from home, too!

[heee hee, I called Mikey a wussy]

I actually got quite a bit of work done... I think it is because there aren't as many distractions here. You know, like the phone ringing, roofers hammering and dropping crap just above you, and co-workers acting like little brothers. If it gets bad tomorrow, though, I don't know that the boss will give in again.

Anyway, I also uploaded a canvas that I did as a tribute to my grampa. He has been a carpenter forever! I'm going to hang it up in my living room as soon as I figure out where everything should go. I just haven't made myself hang anything up yet (we just finished putting in slate floor & painted the walls). Sometime in the next month is HAS TO HAPPEN!

That's it for now, and I'll leave you with another Halloween card we did last month using bleach:

Finally!

Geez... the uploading is sorta working this evening. It took forever! Anyway, as promised, I posted a little Halloweenie somethin' somethin' to the right. This was the 'All About Me' scrapbook page that I did for seminar in June.

There was a challenge generated on Paper Wings to use ONLY scraps, materials and stamps that were on your worksurface. No adding! So, this was my response to that... four 4x4's (imagine that) using Genevieve paper, Simply Christmas, Tag Tidbits, Holiday Magic, and Be stamp sets, Stickles, and misc. ribbon. Lucky for me I was getting ready to do Christmas cards!

There is a bit of sad news. I just received a preliminary Final Farewell list for the current TAC catalogue. There are many awesome sets that are being retired... a lot of them are ones I already have and will not be able to show in future FunShops. There is also a few of our paper packs that won't be returning either. This means I will have to do some more shopping! I'll try to post the list here if I can download that sheet from the TAC website. Then just go to my TAC website: http://barb.ismyangel.net/ and you can order online or send me an email!

And!!! The Mystery Boxes will be available for purchase beginning November 1st! They're only $50 and you get waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than the purchase price! Last year, the one I purchased for myself had to be worth at least $100-$150 retail. It was awesome! I still have stuff that I haven't used yet (if you saw my room, you would understand!).

Later.

Another boring post...

Well, still not able to upload tonight... WTH? I finally get motivated enough to start this thing and now I can't even share photos (which was the whole point).

I went to Toni's tonight to see if she could help w/ pricing my Holiday Mart items. It's always nice to just sit and chat with someone after a long day at work. Thanks, Toni! I also entered my latest Stamp Club order... I've heard shipping times have been great, so maybe I'll get it by Friday or Monday! It always feels like Christmas when I come home to find a package at my door... even though the contents aren't 'mine', at least I get to see what everyone has ordered.

I get to work outside the office tomorrow, which is always a nice break, and I always seem to get more work done! Then I'll come home to get my shoebox card swap ready.

Sunday -- day of rest?

I am so tired. I reeaaaaaaallllllllllly don't want to go to work tomorrow. And since Blogger is still not letting me upload any photos, this will be my shortest entry [ no applause please ;) ]. Since I failed in my goal to do at least one creative thing a day (today), I will hopefully make up for it tomorrow. Until then, I'm out.

Saturday night and I'm where?

Yep, you guessed it! At home. The hubby is down at the American Royal helping out like the good little Shriner that he is! It's PBR night...no, not Pabst Blue Ribbon, but the Professional Bull Riders. It is a favorite event evidently (but not for me!).

Laurie and I went to the Creating Keepsakes Convention (CKC), popped into Archiver's, then on to an At Home America (AHA) party, and finally to the Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin... and all by 5pm! Yes, we are THAT good. I bought a few things at CKC for my Halloween scrapbook (that has yet to be started), some beautiful velvet papers that I plan on using for the covers of my next mini-albums, something for the babies' (dogs) pages, and some acrylic monogram letters. Got my freebies from Archiver's (I love coupons), ordered yet another pair of candle holders from AHA, but my favorite purchase of the day was at the Maple Leaf Festival... an awesome, grungy, primative-looking witches hat made of fabric, but has 'rust' all over it. It has to be that rusting solution that you can spray on anything and it will rust it... even paper. I can't remember the name, but that stuff is cool.

In case you don't know me, you must realize that Halloween is MY thing. I love it! Totally my favorite time & holiday of the year. Typically, I leave several Halloween decor items sprinkled throughout the house all year round... yes... freakshow. No, I'm not a goth chic (although I can't get a tan to save my life), I don't have black fingernail polish, and Marilyn Manson is just not for me. However, Halloween is the one time of year you can disguise yourself and pretend to be anything you want (or truely are!). It makes me feel like a kid again. I get to let go... maybe not to the point of frolicking, but you know what I'm sayin'.

My Halloween outfit of choice is a witch. I've got a huge cast-iron cauldron from my grandpa (that sucker stays out on the front stoop year round... man is it heavy). I've got rubber bats hanging in the tree, spider egg-sacks hanging from the eaves (thank you Martha Stewart for the instructions), ravens, a vulture or two, skelton hands, creepy black vines, spanish moss, and an 8'-6" tall mummy (made of teak wood, wire, paper mache, and cheesecloth). It sounds a bit trashy, but it really isn't! I love it all, baby! As soon as Blogger will let me upload a photo, I will.

Until then, I hope your Saturday night is far more eventful than mine!

Sarah at the PaperWings forum issued a card sketch challenge and this was my response. I used Bazzill cardstock base, TAC's Amelia paper (see ad in Simple Scrapbooks), The Magic of Christmas & Simply Christmas stamp sets, Jardin Moss, Bordeaux, & Burnt Umber Palette inks, Stickles (antlers, hooves & nose), and a couple of brass snaps. Very elegant layout, but cutting out the reindeer was a real bi-atch!

I just finished typing up instructions for a cute little wooden box that I altered. Have you ever tried to write down instructions for a project you've done? OMG! It takes forever! I had sent this in to TAC for a contest... it was a loser. Oh well.

The hubby is off to the American Royal since the Shriners are helping out down there. Rodeo stuff is just soooooo not me! [I know, you wouldn't guess that from some of the projects I do]

Well, I think I'm off to my studio to try to get creative. I'll probably just end up organizing things a bit, but I have been really trying to come up with at least one little card or project every night... sometimes it is really tough!

Can I make it to the weekend?

Toni @ http://www.stampingdiva.com/ issued a couple of card sketch challenges, so these are the two I created in response. They're 4x4's again, but I am on that kick right now. I used the Mulberry Meadow papers & Bazzill cardstock. The ribbon is May Arts, but it matched perfectly and I have a rather large roll of it (I gotta use it sometime!). The skinny heart was done with Prismacolor pencils & Gamasol.

Thankfully, tomorrow is Friday! Wooo hooo! I am soooooooooo ready for the weekend. What really bites is that Eric (the hubby) has caught a cold and more than likely will be passing the torch to me within a few days. I'll be pumping the vitamin C like crazy for awhile. Love You, Poot! Big KISS! [no, I'm sure he will not be reading this, but I like to say it anyway ;) ]

Anyway, thanks to Toni for issuing the challenge and I can't wait to see what everyone else has done!

Is it Friday yet [insert whining here] ???

I just can't seem to get motivated today. There is plenty to do at the office, but I have been thinking lately of how much I would like to be a 'kept' woman. Of course my idea of 'kept' and others may differ... bottom line is that I would like to be able to stay at home in my studio everyday, all day. I feel so much more accomplished when finishing a project here than at the office. Why is that? I get paid regularly at the office... that should be motivational, ya' think?! Who knows.

I should be getting my Stamp-a-Stack projects together for November... hopefully that will go over well since I'm ordering supplies for them this week. I've never done one, so we shall see how it goes.

I've been working on some of my Holiday Mart items in the evenings when I'm not completely draggin' bass (if you know what I sayin')... some cards (I'm totally hooked on doing 4x4 cards... they are the perfect size), little boxes w/ mini-albums inside, gift card / bracelet boxes, altered photo frames, little altered baskets (I have no idea what to put inside yet), and a few other little items. I need to get some photos taken so I can post them here and on the Paper Wings forum. Until then, here is an older project of mine... and altered wooden letter.

Ok, here we go! First entry…

OMG!! I was without internet & e-mail from Saturday the 13th around 5am (yeah, I was awake then) until 5:30pm or so tonight (Monday the 15th). We had a little storm here and somehow it fried our cable modem. Thor (my red-headed Lab-Shepard mix) woke me up shaking and wanting to bury his head in my pillow…wussy. Heidi (yellow Lab) was content on the floor on her daddy’s side of the bed. It did sound like the thunder was right above us and later I heard what I am assuming was a transformer blow.

[Thank goodness I had internet at work. I never realized how much I used the internet or checked e-email until I couldn’t!]

Saturday we had a full day of activities at the Abdallah Shrine Center. It was Fall Ceremonial, so Mama and I went to the Ladies’ Luncheon at Milburn Country Club…they had awesome entertainment this year! The Tin Lizzie unit put on a bunch of silly skits…you know, for a bunch of manly-men, they sure like to dress up in drag a lot! Definitely one of the best luncheons I had attended. After lunch, there was the Fezzing Ceremony, a short break for cocktails, then dinner and dancing. I was totally bushed! I swear, for being only 36, I felt like an old lady ready for bed! Sunday, I barely got out of my pj’s! Vegged out and watch movies all day. I love days like that.

Uneventful day today (Monday), but that is usually the case.

Creating Keepsakes Convention is Friday and Saturday at the KCI Expo and then Saturday and Sunday is the Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin. My friend, Laurie, and I are going to do the ‘Cannonball Run’ and go to both on Saturday…should be a full day!

I’d better list all of the specials going on at The Angel Company this month! See next entry!