autumn in Paris skinny

Here is another in the Autumn in Paris series;
the collage images are from Altered Pages.
This skinny card is also mailing off for a swap,

but before she goes . . .

My Grafico Challenges: Autumn
Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes PLUS brown
My Partner in Crafting Crime: Use something you got for free
(all of the ephemera!)
Lollipop Crafts: Thanksgiving or Fall
Sparkles Forum Challenges: Autumn

autumn in Paris

(The giveaways are posted HERE!)

Finished up several atcs, a skinny, and a 3x3, all with
an "Autumn In Paris" theme . . . here is the first:



You would think that the tag that pulls from the pocket
on the back of the atc would let you in on Ms. Lola's
secret, but no . . .



She doesn't kiss and tell.

;)

Lola does like a challenge:

Divas By Design: Use Metal
Friendship's Garden: autumn colors and leaves
The Three Muses: vintage collage/memories
The Artistic Stamper Creative Team: backgrounds
Creatalicious Challenges: distress your edges
Through the Craft Room Door: "fall" in love
Lexi's Creations: use a charm

welcome to my world.

This morning I was privvy to two sons discussing how
the furnace for one of their rooms is, in reality, a
little old man who lives somewhere in the basement--he
burns logs from the yard in a random guess as to how
warm the thermostat is set.

Said discussion was accompanied by a lively rendition
of The Star Spangled Banner, played by our daughter.

On the kazoo.

Welcome to my world.

What's happening with you this Thursday?

one last Halloween thing!

(The giveaway linkies are HERE!)



Still in the mood for mini books--okay, yes, I'm always in the
mood for mini books! Here is one inspired by the Gingersnap
Creations Horror Stories challenge. Was thinking of going
with classic horror stories, but ended up with the old horror
movies from the 1930s. There were many, many of them produced
then, but it wasn't too difficult to narrow it down to the basics.

You know the basic Halloween horror favorites-- Dr. Jekyll & Mr.
Hyde, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Werewolf of London &
Wolfman, the Invisible Man. But I did include a few other films:
Freaks, because I remember seeing it on TV when I was young, and it
scared me silly, plus Murder in the Rue Morgue, as a nod to Edgar
Allen Poe, who is credited with not only creating the horror genre,
but also writing the first murder mystery. A dubious honor, perhaps.

Kept the pages simple--the design and colors of the movie posters are
fabulous, and I wanted that to be the focal point of each layout.
This is a pretty long post--lots of layouts, and I'm not even boring
you with all of them! The cover has an orange glaze over some spots
made with rubbing ink through sequins waste holes, plus some violet
spray enamel. You can really see the sheen in this pic:


The chandelier is a wall decal, and there's a little glitter/
black microbeads, some satin ribbon. The letters are from a
vintage stamp set.


Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde


Dracula


Frankenstein


The Mummy


Murders in the Rue Morgue


Werewolf of London

Wanna make your own bound book? Here's how I made this
one: Super Simple Bookbinding Tutorial

Have a fun Halloween, everyone--save me a piece of candy?

:)

Look at all these Halloween challenges!!!
Gingersnap Creations--Horror Stories
The Paper Variety--Halloween
Creative Stamp Friends--Halloween
Shopping our Stash--Halloween--everything but the movie posters
I Brake For Challenges--Halloween
Sisterhood of Crafters--Halloween
Stampin' Royalty--Halloween
Fab'n'Funky Challenges--Halloween
Crafty Boots Challenge--autumn or Halloween
DYSU Challenge--Halloween photo inspiration Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde LO
Incy Wincy Designs--Halloween, orange/black/purple (cover)

Would you like to hear a story?

This month, the underlying (but optional) theme at
Gingersnap Creations has been, and suitably so for
October, Edgar Allen Poe. So, when choosing a subject
for this week's Color Challenge, it had to be you-know-
who, right?


Would you like to hear a story?
(Click image to enlarge it.)

The text in the background, part of it is a copy of a
piece of The Raven in Poe's own hand, and the other is
a bit from The Tell Tale Heart.
There is a fabulous array of Poe and Halloween inspired
artwork already posted in the last few challenges, as
well as all the great design team and visiting artist
pieces. Stop by for a little inspiration, and link up
your own art for a chance at some sweet treats--no trick!

:)
PS--There is still time to enter my own treats giveaway,
HERE, and you can even link up your own giveaway, too!

Friday Flashback--Thanksgiving Tag

(If you're looking for the giveaways--scroll down a post!)

So I have made tags before these, but apparently I don't
post them to my blog very often--these are from just
last year! But the challenge at Flashback Friday is to
repost our first tag posting, so here it is:



These were tying up treat bags of goodies.

I remember my first tags, they were for a tag book
swap on swap-bot in 2008, just looked that up, but
no pics there, either. Anyway, I LOVED that book. But
that was before I was blogging regularly, so . . .

It's always fun (and sometimes scary!) to look back at
the old stuff.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

:)

giveaways!! come and play with us!

My candy comments are closed, and the winners will be
contacted via e-mail, and announced later! Some of the
other candy links are still "alive."

Okay, it's true, I have a lot of stuff. I like my stuff.
But I also like to share, and it's always fun to get different
stuff--not necessarily new, just different, right?

So this is a destash giveaway, one for my cute card and scrap
friends, and one for my altered art type friends. You can sign
up for either or both, it's up to you.

You can also link up with a little giveaway of your own--it
doesn't have to be huge, maybe just an envie full of atc making
supplies--whatever is in your stash that you'd like to share.
Your giveaway "rules" are up to you, too, just don't try to make
anyone buy anything, okay?

Here are my "rules" . . .
Leave a comment and let me know which set of goodies you'd like
to receive--either cute, altered, or both--along with some way to
contact you if your blog profile isn't public.

For an extra chance, you can follow this blog, but please leave
another comment letting me know.

For yet another chance, let me know in another comment if you've
linked up below with a giveaway of your own.

One more--if you link this up in either your sidebar or a blog post,
leave me the link in a comment for another go!


Altered art stuff--vintage game bits, some vintage cards,
Valentines, buttons, lace and trim, vintage postage, cigar bands,
wooden picnic spoon, ephemera. In fact, there are a few more bits
and bobs not in the pic, and I foresee there being even a few more
things added, as well . . .


Cute card and scrappy stuff--lots of embellishments and trims,
some glitter, ribbons--bright, fun, stuff!

Let the games begin! Please leave a comment (or two, or three,
etc), and I hope you'll join in with a link of your own! This
destash-for-fun giveaway ends Nov. 9th.

Be sure to check out any links below for some more fun goodies!
Everyone has different guidelines and ending dates!

hedge apples everywhere I look.

Hedge apples, hedge balls, osage apples, osage oranges,
whatever you want to call them . . .



. . . all over our yard, everywhere, everywhere, little
landmines just waiting to trip you up and twist your
ankle.


But they do smell nice when they start to rot, or when
you throw them on the burn pile and they roast. There
are squirrels who like the hedge seeds, and squirrels who
don't, and when it gets super cold, sometimes the deer will
eat them, as well. (The hedge seeds, not squirrels.)


They have a fabulous, brilliant color, and a curious
texture--these really brighten up the sea of brown leaves
that have taken over the yard.

The kids like to play hedge ball with them. The rules
are simple: Someone pitches the hedge apple, and someone
whacks it as hard as they can with the bat. If all goes
well, the apple splatters all over everywhere. TIP: If
you should choose to engage in a game of hedge ball, be sure
to wear old clothes, as the splatters stain a nice toasty
brown color. Apparently you can use the apples to concoct
a natural dye.

Some people claim these repel spiders, but I can tell you
from personal experience that this ain't necessarily so.


You'll have better luck just making a cute centerpiece.

I just try not to trip on them.

Been tinkering around the art room, thinking about
having a de-stash giveaway. What do you think?
Sharing is good. I could even send it flat rate,
and include a few hedge apples!!!

;)

Halloween CAS cards--super fast!

So I had promised dear Jean at Altered Pages a new
Halloween kit, and had in mind a couple of things,
but time . . . well, it got away from me.

***sigh***

EXCEPT my daughter had a violin lesson, and hey, thirty
minutes is thirty minutes--why not make a bunch of CAS
cards?



Postcards, a regular sized card, and mini cards that
are the size of a postcard (4x6) folded in half. The
Altered Pages images are so cute, they don't need a bunch
of embellishing, anyway. A little black ink, a little lace,
and some Basic Grey papers from a few years back. Okay,
from quite a few years back--these are from 2005. I'm
going to punch holes in the mini cards, and use them for
treat bag tags.

I don't know how many cards you can crank out in thirty
minutes--I'm not that fast--but seven is a BUNCH for me!
How many cards can a CAS maker make if a CAS maker would
CAS cards . . . sorry, I need some coffee . . . maybe a
nap would be a better idea?

;)

Challenges:
Outlawz CAS (having a party right now, by the way):
using something old that's been lurking in your stash!
Little Darlings Challenges--Halloween or Fall
The Paper Shelter--Halloween
Clear It Out Challenge--Halloween
Tuesday Throwdown--Halloween
Karen's Doodles--Trick or Treat
My Craft Spot--Too Cute to Spook!

Have a wonderful weekend, my imaginary friends!

horror stories

I don't like them. They creep me out. I do NOT
appreciate a case of the heebley jeebleys, no ma'am,
no thank you!



Have you ever read The Tale Tell Heart? Whoo hoo,
we had to read that in school. It probably wouldn't
have the same effect on me now, but yikes, let me tell
you, it scared me silly back in the day. That's such a
great photo of Edgar Allen Poe, he looks so very much
like he knows something (it, and the spooky house in
the corner, are from Altered Pages). He had such a sad
life, very tragic. I suppose it's suitable that he is
considered to be the father of the horror genre.

If you like a good scare, or just a horror story now
and again, you may want to consider the new challenge at
Gingersnap Creations.

And yes, as a matter-of-fact, that is a real piece of
something's jaw . . .