I had a few minutes to play around with some digital scrapping tonight, and thought I’d share…this could be seriously addicting. You know, if I had oodles of time.
I realize this tutorial is a bit late for Halloween, but I got in a crafty mood yesterday morning when I was feeling all full of energy and thinking I could pull a quick little project off in nothin’ flat. So I thought I’d share the process with y’all and see what you think. I started out with these inexpensive pre-lit jack-o-lanterns from good old Walmart. I think they’re cute and friendly, but the orange, it’s way too bright for my taste. They need some white-washin’!
I learned this technique from Sandi’s blog: mix 1 part paint and 1 part crackle medium with 1 part water. Brush on, allow to dry just a bit, then rub off with a dry cloth. I followed that up with a dab of watered-down stain to age the look a little bit.
And there you have it: my version of a white-washed punkin’ head.
I found a link to this tassle making tutorial on The Shabby Nest last week, and knew I had to try making one of these! In an effort to avoid putting away all the stuff strewn about my house yesterday, I cleared off a bit of countertop, plugged in my glue gun and, voila! Not perfect, but fun nonetheless…gonna have to try it again!
I love Fall decorating, it feels so warm and cozy, and I’ve scheduled time to do it for the past several weeks…and then I’ve promptly been distracted and busy being busy and have accomplished exactly nada! So last night my darling Miss J gave up on me and literally dragged our bins full of Fall bounty out of the storage room and dug in. Which means that today, instead of sewing as planned, I have a lot of household stuff to process and fluff and find places for! Sheesh, I drive myself crazy.
My friend Arynne tagged me the other day, so I’ll finish off today with some random bits of information about me:
Four TV Shows I Watch:
1-Project Runway
2-Curious George
3-Everybody Loves Raymond reruns
4-Heroes
Four Favorite Restaurants:
1-Carrabba’s
2-In-n-Out
3-Roadhouse
4-Bajio Grill
Four Things That Happened Yesterday:
1-Miss J was pretty much meltdown-free
2-Miss M took a nap…those are sadly becoming things of the past
3-Had my in-laws over for a yummy supper
4-Started my fall decorating! 
Four Things I’m Looking Forward To:
1-Sewing!
2-A truly clean house
3-My birthday
4-Bedtime
Four Things On My Wish List:
1-Overcoming my tendency to not follow through on projects
2-Building a garage
3-A nice sharp pair of fabric scissors
4-An adorable winter coat
Four Things I’m Grateful For:
1-My family
2-My friends
3-My internet connection
4-Each new day!
Four People to Tag:
That’s it…my brain is now officially fried, so if you read this, consider yourself tagged!
I read this blog called Stop Staring and Start Sewing. Love that title–it’s exactly what I need to do, ’cause I’ve found myself floundering around, with 500 ideas and projects I want to get to. If I’m not careful, all 500 will crash around in my head and tire me out before I lift a finger! This is the situation I’m finding myself in this morning…I’m supposed to be working on Halloween costumes and handling some household chores, and instead I’m surfing and ooh-ing and aah-ing and wishing I was being productive. Blech.
Anyway, back to the point of this post: time to focus and get something done…just as soon as I run the potty-training duo to the loo and get us some lunch! (eye-roll)
At the request of my birthday girl, we took a little trip to the local day spa for some “mommy & me” mini-pedicures. If you asked me three years ago, I’d have told you it was beyond frivolous to take a seven-year-old for such pampering, but since discovering the joy of soaking and shaping and exfoliating and massaging those tootsies at the ripe old age of thirty-one, I’m of the opinion that every girl needs to indulge on occasion. I’m loving the groovy purple polish she picked out!
Inexpensive wood plaque from Michael’s + slap of paint + smidge of sandpaper + wipe of stain + Mod Podge + patterned paper + Mod Podge + a meaningful photo + Mod Podge + ribbon = something pretty for you. 
My husband’s family is the ultimate DIY poster family (think Tim the Tool Man Taylor…without the trips to the hospital). Their motto is: if you don’t know how to do something, you figure it out! They’ve (we’ve) done everything from concrete to framing to wiring to plumbing to drywall to tile to paint…and don’t get me started on the mechanical projects outside. Suffice it to say, they can do anything!
When my dear mother-in-law decided to rip down the 14-year-old wallpaper in her dining room and kitchen to make way for some new texture and color on her walls this summer, she didn’t know she was getting herself in for a bottomless remodel project! She ended up with new texture, color, pretty new trim, new flooring, and new fixtures in the bathroom just off the kitchen to boot! The project is finally finished…it just needed a few finishing touches, so I volunteered to provide some pretty roman shades for the windows.
I fit in pretty well with this crew, in that I like to do things myself…meaning patterns aren’t regularly consulted. I have made a few shades for my home in the past, and felt confident in my process and skills, so I just dug in. After a lot of measuring, some OH NO! moments, a really late night with a good chunk of ripping-out, and some improvising (the shades below weren’t supposed to have those cute stripes down the side, but they turned out way better after a “minor” measurement fiasco!), the blinds are installed and functional and we’re ready to tackle the next big project! After a nice long nap, that is.
Last Christmas, my mom presented each of her children with an original photo art print. Mine is her photo of the Garden Tomb at night. For this, I broke my tradition of letting new wall accessories sit on my floor for months on end before finding a suitable place in my home and hung it immediately. I’ve seen many pictures of the Garden Tomb…but can’t recall ever seeing it at night. I love seeing it on my wall, and knowing that it came from someone I love makes it that much more dear to my heart. Thanks Mom!
I was asked to come up with a few projects for my ward’s “Super Saturday” coming up in October (I’ll share the others later), and one of the projects was a “Heritage Cookbook”. I must make a confession here: I am not a scrapbooker. For many years I secretly longed to be…but just couldn’t find the time or space to dig in and do it. When digital products started to really hit the scene, I jumped on them…I like that I don’t have to find storage space or put everything away when I’m finished with a project. Even so, I’ve not yet spent much time playing with them, much less started in on real albums. So, here was a new opportunity for me. I was a bit overwhelmed…where to start? I enlisted the help of a talented lady in my ward and dug in using the French Countryside digi-kit from Shabby Princess along with ribbons and buttons from my stash.
I approached my 8×8 album as a record of my family’s favorite recipes…one favorite for each member, including grandparents. I’d love to expand it with pictures and recipes from great-grandparents…I need to get that done before they’re all gone. So, without further adieu, here it is, my first real album (sorry the pictures aren’t perfect, but you can still read most of our favorite recipes if you view the larger images!):
