Mommiedom

I was once again picked for my fun Spiderowl Card seen here for the My Pumpkin Challenge.  There was some great stuff submitted and you so need to go check out this great blog where each month they use the Paper Pumpkin as inspiration to create some fun cards. I admit I am curious to see the inspiration for the next month with out "Notes" set that came a few weeks ago.


Thanks to the great ladies over there for the pick and of course the great inspiration to create!

Happy Halloween!!!

I am so behind this week- here is my column

http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/591935/mommy-confessions

I love this time of year- it by far is my favorite time. The coolness of the weather - okay slightly cooler weather here in Texas,  leaves changing and Halloween.

I had some ideas on how I wanted to decorate the house for Fall and Halloween this year. I created some pieces that will stay year round, some for the duration of Fall (till I switch out for Xmas) and than specific Halloween stuff.

I took my wreath that hangs on my brick wall and changed out the flowers than added the ribbon. I bought a bouquet of flowers from Hobby Lobby and just pulled them out. I didn't even hot glue them in. I kept the other flowers and when it is spring again, will stick them in.

I belong to a stamp club and my wonderful upline created these pages. I tend to forget I make them and usually file them away and I know I need to be better about using them as well as having them as inspiration.

I used both of the pages for our trip to Wisconsin over the summer.

When the new Stampin Up Fall Mini came in, I was instantly drawn to the new stamp set Toil and Trouble. It is a line from one of my favorite Shakespeare plays so I sort of wanted to get it. Of course I used it with the new Witches Brew DSP to create 6 fun cards all slightly different. I reinked my basic black pad and I got such wonderful stamped images plus I had fun using the paper as well as a centerpiece to one of the cards.

http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/588138/mommy-confessions

I finally purchased the make a banner set from Stampin Up and well had some fun creating the Halloween banner using the accessory set that you can also purchase.

It was trail and error to get it right for me. I tried using the included mister with the black but it came out purple. I than decided to dab it on which was much better.

I than created five separate rosettes which I love the look of but hate making them. I ended up hot gluing them all down after they came apart.

I than added in all the details and hung it on my cabinet I have (I always forget this is a great place to hang things up).

Here is a closer look at each of the banners.

I made this wreath for the front door and to be honest didn't love it at first. It needed something and I even asked others what they thought and got the same response. So I got more mesh ribbon because it seems like you can't have enough of that in a wreath.

Now I like it!

http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/583458/mommy-confessions

This week at retro sketches there is a fun sketch I used to inspire me to create a Halloween card. i sued both SU and Mind's Eye products which I think compliment each other.

Halloween is a little over a month away and I have been crafting pretty much since August for the holiday. It is by far my favorite holiday of the year. I love the colors, the costumes and the fall weather. This project has been pooping all up over on Pinterest. I have had tons of followers repin it just from me so of course I wanted to make it. Actually I made two of them because for some reason I wanted to. Not sure yet what I am doing with them both (maybe one will become a gift to someone).

It was an easy project but time consuming because you have to paint and let the letters dry which I did over night. It also takes time to cut and deco podge the letters and of course I did double it so it was twice as long.

The one modification I made from the inspiration pin was that I used paper instead of fabric. I really liked the three coordinating papers that I found at Hobby Lobby for each of the letters.

I saw a version of a layout that I really liked and thought it would go well with all the photos I took when we went to Old World Wisconsin back in July when visiting the parents. It was super hot day and my Mom was a trooper with the walking especially with her knee and it helped a ton that they had trams.

This is only a small amount of what I took and I am likely going to do another 2 page payout of the rest of the photos. The kids loved it there and want to go back next year just on a cooler day. We learned lots about living during the 1800s Of course my daughter dressed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder because they had special events going on.

Here you go:

http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/579962/mommy-confessions

As I posted on Monday, I redid the wall in my living room and pretty much had it up for like two days when I decided I needed to decorate for Halloween. My hubby said oh we are already going there with decorations.

I admit to playing around for a few days with everything in how it is set up there until I got it the way I wanted it. I forgot about my awesome boo sign I made and when I went in the craft closet, I saw it so I pulled it out.

I love my living room and every since my hubby and I redid it, I have loved the far wall but for the past month or so I have been wanting to change it up and try something new. Again, spending more time on Pinterest than I should, I saw a great idea for using shutters on the wall. I also have been so wanting to do a empty frame to accent wreaths that I like to hang up there. So I looked online and saw that the basic shutters at the hardware store were 26 bucks.

So the kids and I went there at like 8 am on a Saturday morning to buy them. I got the smallest ones. They also come in a deep red and I guess they also have paintable ones. The black ones work perfect for me, so I just used those. They are very light and hallow on the back side so two nails to balance it worked easy.

I than dragged them as they like to say into Hobby Lobby to look for a empty frame. At first I wanted a barn wood one but after I looked around, I found the white one which I liked way more.

So I came home, removed all the stuff off the wall and than started putting the stuff back up on the wall. Everything else I had around the house. I added in the wreath and will switch that out for the seasons. I than also added in the banner which had hung off the quilt rack.

I love how it turned out. It gives the wall a new look and I am fine to change it out as needed.

The kids went to our local library where the celebrated the second annual Star Wars Read day which encourages kids to read. They had a blast making their own lightsabers and Mr. L was so excited to see the Stormtroopers.

I have noticed I might stand a tad funny when I take my pages because I tend to lean some plus my hubby was sitting on the chair right there and I couldn't get the angel I wanted. Yes I could retake but it makes for a funny story plus he was laughing as I took the picture. He asked if I was taking pictures of pictures? Yes I am and proud of it.

This week I m still doing my pictures from our trip to Wisconsin. This page is our trip to the Racine Zoo. My parents and I took the kids as well as my niece to explore the very nice zoo Racine has. The kids loved all the animals and two months later, my daughter is still talking about the spider monkeys they saw.

I used all SU products. I typed up, printed and punched out the title to accent the pennants I put across the page. I am getting use to so many photos on a single page. It gives a big bang of photos in a small area.

http://leaguecity.macaronikid.com/article/575344/mommy-confessions

I was looking around Pinterest for some new recipes to try and this idea of a chicken tortilla casserole popped up. I looked over the inspiration recipe and though I could do my take on it, so knowing I had everything in my pantry or fridge, I set to work creating this casserole.


Ingredients

1 diced tomato
1/3 jar of roasted red peppers diced up
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of cheese soup
1 can (8oz) of tomato sauce
1 can of drained black beans
1 packet of enchilada seasoning
1 prepackaged (12 oz) of shredded chicken
1 can of mushrooms
2 cups of shredded cheese (I used Colby jack)
1 cup of frozen corn


I took all of that (reserve cheese for top) and mixed it a big bowl, sprayed a casserole dish, spread it the dish, and topped it with the two cups of cheese. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes and let it sit for 5 minutes.


It was a huge hit at the house. I had only about a third of the casserole left when we were done. My only compliant was from the oldest who said it was a tad spicy but she also thinks water is spicy!!

Okay, I admit that I might have way more crafts I want to profile for Halloween than Monday's so I am doing an extra one on Wednesday.  I love using Stampin Up's MDS and I so need to use it more. I was on the demonstrator site the other day and saw something that inspired me so much that I not only did one but two separate printables using the program.

I printed them up using my home printer and framed them up. One is sitting on my buffet and the other is on my wall with another free printable I had found. I will post pictures of all my decorations here as I  finish sticking them all up. I am so much more in a designer mode this year in getting it decorated just right so thanks Pinterest for that one!

I have been seeing on Pinterest pillowcase tops for woman and I wanted to make one. I used some cheap knit fabric off the remnant table at HL and also some cheap ribbon that caught my eye. I measured myself (I could have added a touch more but it works) and I sewed up the sides, left room for my arms and did the top. I think it turned out cute!




Of course after my daughter saw it, she thought it work as a dress for her as well. Now if I had more fabric I would make her one but sadly only had about a yard.

Spiderowl Spiderowl!!!!




So this month on My Paper Challenge is a combination of the the September Paper Pumpkin Wahoo! Stamp set and Owls. If you know me personally, owls flock to me and I love love the SU Owl punch.

Looking at the challenge and thinking about it, I instantly thought superheroes specifically Spiderman because of the background on the kit card as well as the Wahoo (that made me think retro Batman). My kids are super into superheroes and are always dressing up as Batman, Ironman or Spiderman.

I took the owl punch and punched out a red body and blue body. I hand drew on the red cardstock the spider print. I really liked how it turned out.

Here is a close up of the Spiderowl!!

I got picked for my fun rainbow Paper pumpkin card on My Pumpkin Challenge. Have to say it totally made my day when I saw that.  This f course is my fun card that was picked and such kind words about it.  I used both traditional stamping and MDS to create it.


WOHOO!!!!