There Goes My Life...

Happy DSD!

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!!!  I know I am a wee bit early, but I won’t be around tomorrow between Christmas card mini-sessions and soccer tournament. I wanted to do a little enabling though! :-)

Make sure you pick up Jen’s new sketch set.  These have got to be some of her best ever (I know – she’s never made a bad sketch).  Both of these layouts use sketches in her newest set.

Shop this weekend for 40% off Jen’s entire shop!

And I have been keeping a secret for a few days that is fitting for me to reveal in honor of DSD.  I am so excited to have been chosen to be on the Guest Creative Team at Digital Design Essentials. Gina is one of the first names in digital scrapbook designs, and I am so honored to now be a part of her team.  Just giddy in fact! Here’s a layout I did with one of her newest kits Frightfully Fun.

Make sure you stock up at Gina’s sale this weekend, too.  Her kits work great with Jen’s sketches! ;-)

Opening night.

Last night was opening night for he Carriage House Players Christmas Production.  It was also Stewart’s acting debut! Of course I took along my camera last night and took a few shots backstage. Just wish I would have remembered by difuser..

After being a part of CHP’s summer production, I so wanted to be a part of the Christmas production.  Unfortunately, there just weren’t enough hours in the week for me to work it out.  However, Stewart’s girlfriend, Mrs. Carla is the director and she asked him to be an extra. He LOVES Mrs. Carla.

She is also filling in as an extra in the play, and is on stage with him the entire time. (Thank goodness!)

If is a very funny show, and Stewart is one of the most vocal extras to ever hit the stage! LOL!

Here he is with a couple stars of the show.

He was so cute last night after the show in line with the rest of the cast thanking everyone for coming to the show. With my little guy’s imagination I can definitely see more productions in his future. :-)

The maiden, the dragon and the knight.

Once upon a time in a not so distant land there lived a maiden and her little dragon.

The maiden loved her dragon very much.  They were constant companions and spent many days together. They shared many adventures.  They traveled to the seller of animals for the home, the loaner of books and the market.  They had tea parties and fought evil with their super powers.

The maiden had given her heart to a kind and brave knight many years before.

The knight loved the maiden and together they built a home.  The knight provided for his maiden and dragon.  He was their protector and they were his haven from the outside world.

Together they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Lady Liberty.

If you know Elizabeth you know that she is one of a kind. That’s why it didn’t surprise me that she wanted to be the Statue of Liberty for Halloween. The girls usually pick a costume that they can also use for the Storybook Parade at school (this was Elizabeth’s last year – Mom’s a little sad about that). She and Molly were looking pouring over this catalog when she saw it.

Since I always make the kids Halloween costumes, I was happy with the choice. I already had a pattern I could use and knew it would be pretty easy to put together. I found the fabrics at Wal-mart. You can’t really tell from the photo, but the texture of the fabric is perfect for this costume. I sewed the dress and then just draped the sequin fabric over her shoulder and pinned it. I found the torch online and Chris spray painted an old pair of sandals.

The crown was a little tricky. I couldn’t find what I was looking for online, but I also couldn’t figure out how i wanted to make it. I was in the craft department at Wal-mart when inspiration struck.  I found a craft foam visor and flipped it upside down.  Then I cut the points from a sheet of foam.  They are 1.5 inches at the base and 8 inches long. Wal-mart didn’t have either in gray, so I bought black and Chris spray painted them the same gray as her sandals. After the paint dried, I brushed on the Mod Podge and covered it in silver glitter. I think this would be a great 4th of July activity!

Drum roll please……

(layout credits here)

She was very excited with how it turned out. She wore it last night to Trunk or Treat/Fall Festival at church and this morning in the Storybook Parade at school. A big smile the entire time. That makes her mom smile. :-)

And I think these will make her friends at school smile tomorrow when they are attached to a treat. 

I’m printing mine now. It’s not to late to print yours. :-)

A different post.

This is a totally different post than the one you would have gotten if I had time to post this morning. You would have found me lamenting about how tired I was.  About the stress I was feeling over the Halloween costumes.  I would have gone on and on…  Honestly, I am still tired.  I am feeling much better that I was this morning though. Last night I was beyond exhausted when I finally got into bed.  I started on my costume Monday night. I finally just had to walk away from it.  I was about to have a breakdown over it.  I called my mom when I got back home from taking the girls to school yesterday morning and asked her to please come help me. She came to my rescue and we basically started over from scratch. When it came time for me to leave to go to Elizabeth’s fall party at school yesterday afternoon, she took it with her to have my aunt set the zipper in it. I picked it up after school and after the PTO meeting last night, supper, dishes and getting the kids in bed I finished it - other than hemming it that is. When I finally went to bed, I couldn’t go to sleep.  My mind was racing with all the things I needed to do. I still had to figure out how to make a major accessory for Elizabeth’s.  I needed to take up Molly’s dress a little.  I needed to hem my dress. I needed to finish off the neck of Stewart’s costume that I had forgotten about before….

I did not sleep well.

This morning after dropping off the girls at school, Stewart and I made a quick stop at Wal-mart before his school opened.  I found just what I needed for Elizabeth’s costume in the craft department. I finally remembered to get the bias tape for Stewart’s costume. I picked up an important accessory for Chris’ costume.

I came home and everything just seemed to start falling into place. Elizabeth’s was done in no time. Thank you to my wonderful husband for painting it for me. :-)

I quickly hemmed my dress and even made a hair accessory to match. :-)

I altered Molly’s dress and made her a headband. I even finished up Stewart’s! All this and still time to meet my trainer for a workout (the first in a week and a half). When I got home from my workout, I added the glitter to Elizabeth’s. So excited about how it turned out!

Tonight is trunk-or-treat and fall festival at church tonight. I am so excited.  This is the first time the whole family has dressed up.  I am betting this is also the first time Chris will have ever worn sequins. ;-)

Tomorrow I may talk about how tired I am.  About how exhausted I am from soccer practice four nights a week and games on Saturdays. About riding lessons on Mondays and play practice. About being booked solid with sessions. I will save all of that for tomorrow.  Tonight I am going to have fun with the family and relish in the sense of accomplishment I am feeling by actually finishing everyone’s costumes. Tomorrow I may talk about how tired I am.  Well… maybe after the girls’ storybook parade in the morning. ;-)

The cutest dragon.

Without a doubt this is the cutest, fiercest fire-breathing dragon I have ever seen.

I felt like I had slain a dragon by the time I finished his costume! Stewart’s pre-school class had their Halloween party and parade Monday, so I was feeling the pressure of the deadline! This was by far the most difficult sewing project I have ever undertaken. It isn’t perfect and the claw mittens may be a later addition, but I think he passes as a dragon.  I know he is very happy with it. :-)

As you can see above we had to tuck his big floppy feet up into his pants halfway through the parade. he kept stepping on them. :-)

Stewart was paired up with the cutest lady bug. Hattie is one of his best friends at preschool.  She is a triplet, and he just loves Hattie and her sisters Lizzie and Lucy. They were sooooo sweet together!

 

I think she likes Stewart a lot, too. ;-)

It makes me a little sad that this is their last year in preschool together.

Now I’ve got to get back to my costume!  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think.

Halloween treat.

Here’s a little Halloween treat. Heather has a brand new “Wickedly Cute” Halloween Kit coming out later today.  Let me tell you, it lives up to it’s name!

This photo is from last Halloween.  I have two costumes finished. Just three more to go.  I am beginning to get a bit stressed about it! I finished up (well almost)Stewart’s this morning and now am trying to finish Chris’.  I am so glad she is dressing up this year.  I haven’t even bought the fabric for mine yet! I need to have them all finished by Wednesday for our fall festival at church.  Stewart’s was top priority since he had to have his for school this coming Monday. His is MUCH more complicated than the Charlie Brown ghost he wanted to be last year. Why couldn’t he have picked something that easy this year.

Ok, back to work!  I have just a little while to work on it before time to pick up the girls from school and I have a photo session immediately after that…

Honor Student.

It’s now official.  We have an honor student!  Now that Elizabeth is in 3rd grade there is actually high honor roll and honor roll awards. This morning was awards day for the first quarter of the school year, and Elizabeth received her certificate for making high honor roll for the quarter. Molly had a great report cards with all “Very Good” and “Good. The only area she “Needs Improvement” is in controlling her talking. LOL! Both girls had perfect attendance, also.  So proud of them!

Their daddy is at school right now giving blood for their school’s blood drive so that they can both be heroes. :-)

Me?  I am up to my elbows in blue and red satin.  Can’t wait to get all the costumes finished. Just hoping I do get them finished! So I better get back to it! Chop! Chop!

One for myself.

OK, don’t fall out of your chair….. but I scrapped! I know! Amazing! When was the last time? I can’t even remember.  I’ve been thinking about the pumpkin patch lately. Truthfully, I have been trying to figure out when we can squeeze in a visit.  I remembered that I still haven’t scrapped our photos from last year’s trip, and that was when I remembered this photo Chris took of me. So this layout has been floating around in my head for a few days. 

So there you have it! I scrapped a page and it was all for me! Yea me! ;-)

Fashions by mom.

The girls were so excited to finally get to wear their Halloween dresses I made for them. It didn’t matter to Molly that I had forgotten to pick up a black tee for her to wear under hers. We just made do with a white shirt she already had. 

Elizabeth was all about her striped tights. :-)

Even though we were running late, I had to snap a couple pics of them before we left for church Sunday morning. In front of my giant Lantana was the perfect spot. I have been meaning to take a picture of it all summer. It has taken over the flower bed in front of the house. You cannot even see my Japanese Maple or Azaleas. We have a couple shrubs somewhere underneath it. I wonder if they are even still alive they haven’t seen the sun in so long. Can you believe that one bush you see there was from a single 8-inch pot? I planted three plants in the spring and it literally just took over. We have never had so may butterflies. They LOVE it.

Back to sewing. I am busy working on Halloween costumes now.  I am finished with Elizabeth’s.  I just need to order the accessories to go with hers. The girls both had ideas of their own for this year. However, Chris, Stewart and I have a theme of our own this year.  Can you believe Chris is actually going to dress up?!  I bought the fabric for his and Stewart’s yesterday.  When it came to $47 I asked myself why I didn’t just buy their costumes, but Chris reassured me that it just wouldn’t be the same! It’s just a tradition for me to make their costumes. I am just hoping I can get the remaining four done!