Scrapbook Page

Halloween scrapbook page! One finally completed!

I have been thinking a lot about starting to scrapbook again...I mean, really getting back into it. When Bode was an infant (and slept a lot) I digitally scrapbooked every moment I could, and as a result, I now have a really sweet book to look at and to remember his younger days by. It has been about 2 years since I stopped scrapbooking. My life just started to be busier — I started working again, and of course Bode grew older and so didn't sleep as much as he used to. Scrapbooking time became sparse.

Last week, I made myself sit down and complete a page. It felt good to finally do it again, and I hope that I continue. I have thousands of pictures in my iPhoto which I would rather not stay there!!!

I also wanted to mention that Jessica Sprague, an absolutely incredible digital and hybrid scrapbooking teacher is offering a free class on her website. Here is the link:

http://www.jessicasprague.com/

I highly recommend taking it, and checking out her other classes that her website offers (photography, working with Illustrator, working with an Intuos Tablet, retouching old photos, etc. etc.) I have taken probably 10 to 15 classes and love them all!!!

And last but not least, I want to mention a super cool giveaway: Imagine Childhood is giving away a handcrafted wooden bridge construction kit that pretty much any child I think would absolutely love. And they are also giving away a $50 gift certificate to their store to another lucky winner.

Here is the link. Good luck!

http://blog.imaginechildhood.com/imagine-childhood/

Halloween-come and gone!

Wow, I can't believe that it has been since October 3 since I last posted. I guess I haven't gotten into the flow of blogging, but I'm not giving up yet!!! We had a really fun busy October, with many crafts, visits to the pumpkin patch, parties, and a mushroom festival...Oh, and of course Trick or Treating. This year Bode wanted to be a rocketship. I searched the internet for premade rocket costumes, and surprisingly could only find little Einstein's rocket costume, NOT what I was looking for. So I tried my hand at crafting a costume out of fabric I found at Joannes. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the result.

Here is my little rocket ship son! I remembered that I had a silver plastic egg (that nylons used to come in) stored in my art studio, and one of the halves came in handy for the tip of the rocket.

With Bode being a rocket ship, I of course had to be the moon, so I made myself to match the rocket, with lights (battery-powered) strewn through the front so it could light up (which of course you can't see in the picture).

After constructing the costumes, I talked to my friend about what she and her family were being and she said they were doing the space theme too...how coincidental...except she was the sun and the rest of her family ended up being aliens!

Here we are Sun and Moon:

This year was the first time that I ever took Bode Trick or Treating and HE LOVED IT!!!

(no surprise really). But I think he not only enjoyed getting the candy, he also enjoyed feeling brave and walking up to the doors and knocking. He insisted I waited at the sidewalk!!! I thought that was pretty cool.

I had to laugh at one of the houses that we went to...this particular house had a woman in her 70's answer, and she was a very kind and sweet person, but what made me laugh was that Judas Priest was being blasted from her stereo...no joke!!! Gotta love this town!

Apple Prints

I had been meaning to make apple prints with Bode ever since apples started falling mid-summer from our backyard tree. Well, the last of the apples finally fell last week, and so I knew the time had come that we needed to get this project done!

One of my favorite memories I have when I was a kid was making potato prints, and I remember doing them on white polyester fabric that had a thicker spongy quality. For this project too, I thought printing on fabric would make the end result a little more special than paper that one would typically think to use. Also the paint absorbs into the fabric to some degree making it less likely to smear and a neater choice overall. I had muslin lying around the house, so I mounted the fabric on foam core board, pulling it taut, and duck-taping it to the back of the board.



The materials we used were:

• apples sliced in half horizontally and vertically
• trays (the ones found in frozen food meals work great)
• folded paper towels to line the trays
• paint in the colors of apples (Green, Yellow, and Red)
• fabric-covered foam core
• Corn-cob holders (*these were great for picking up the apples, otherwise it gets messy quickly!)

Bode had fun dipping the apples and pressing them down on the fabric. At first I directed him to keep each apple into only one color paint and not mix them, but by the end I encouraged him to experiment, and the last print turned out to be my favorite with all the colors mixed.

Apple Print Number #1


Apple Print #2



Apple Print #3: My fave...

Halloween is in the Air!

OK, so I'm not really keen on the fact that Halloween items showed up in local stores in the middle of August. I was pretty much shocked! Is it me? Or have they (the marketers, that is) really jump-started the holidays in a major way in the last couple years? Maybe, it really is me, or maybe I just pay attention to these things a little more closer now that I have a little kid. Anything to make a buck, right? BUT, on a more cheerful note, I really don't mind the early anticipation when it comes to craft activities, especially, that is, when it comes to Halloween. Decorating the house with spooky props is something that I still remember doing and loving when I was a child. Things haven't changed for me much in all these years, except, that is, for the fact that now I have a son as an excuse to get down and crafty with! So in honor of the race to be the first one to decorate my house this season in all its spooky horrific gore, my son and I got crafting!

We did this really sweet "bat" craft I found on Family Fun's website last year that I was smart enough to bookmark. It is a really simple craft and ends up being a pretty fun interactive craft to have hanging around the house at Halloween time. Pulling on a string that hangs from the bat's wings make them flap; it is really cool. This is the link to the instructions. Enjoy!

The Start of Something New

Today is the first day of Autumn; it is also the day that I decided to start the blog that I've been dreaming up for months. I feel so lucky to be a mom to such a energetic, curious, happy little boy, and this blog will serve as a vehicle of documenting the adventures that we have together.

Life is something I realize that you really need to pay attention to, and give it your full respect, or it will pass you by in the blink of an eye. There is just so much I want to do and to share with my son. I hope I am able to pass on to him the things in life that I think are important...and that really comes down to teaching him how to live his life so that his spirit will prosper.