Halloween day 5 (card)

Only one more day before Halloween. It seems like there some people that are trying to celebrate early, I was driving around town this morning and saw this one driver all suited up to be that scary guy in "I know what you did last summer" movie. Remember that scary mask? Yes that person even had the mask on. Now I wonder if the mask hinders him/her from seeing clearly on the road? LOL.

Anyways, I'm here on my last day of Halloween Posts. I have to say this is one of themed posts that I enjoyed a lot and hope you did too. Just sad that I didn't get any comments/feedback from all the other posts.

Anyhow, today I'm leaving you with a card that I made for the holiday....

Happy Halloween card

What I love about this card is that the papers that I used were from a different themed pack. I used some patterns from a school themed paper pack. I was inspired to use it cause the colors were very close to the Halloween theme, especially the glittered black paper. Don't you think so?


the tree stamp was purchased at the dollar bin at Joanns. Don't you just love those dollar stamps? I'm so addicted to them. Anyways, I stamped it with this orange glittery ink pad and I didn't let it dry very well before touching it so I accidentally smeared the ink all around. Before I got upset at myself, I realized that the smearing actually created the "spooky" feel to the stamped image so I kept it as is. Isn't it great to see your mistakes become new techniques?!


I finished it off with a stamped sentiment and an orange ribbon.

Before I go, I just want to share a picture of my family on Saturday night before we left the house for our Ward's (church) Halloween party......


recognize the guy in the middle?

He was named as "my cousin from Arkansas" but really he's just Mitch being hilariously funny!

Happy Halloween guys and stay safe!

Till next time,
Grace

Halloween day 4 (cookie recipe)

As if candies are not enough sugar for your kids, I'm here to share with you a great tasting cookie recipe that will be both enjoyed by you and your kids. *smile*

I got this recipe about two years ago from a Relief Society meeting (my church's women's group). It's a very old recipe that one of the sisters have been using ever since her kids were little. She now has over 10 grandkids!

Anyways I loved it when we made it during our women's activity that I decided to set up a cookie decoration activity for my kids and some of their friends. Here's some pics of that fun day!


Circa 2007
Can you tell that the kids favorite part of the activity is decorating? Marcus would sneek in some tasting of the candy decorations while we weren't looking. He has the mustache to prove it. LOL


Circa 2007.
I have to warn you that these cookies are really good and really big! They're supposed to be huge so if you don't want to have all that sugar in your home and system, cut the recipe in half.


Circa 2007.
We used cream cheese frosting. I thought it went really well with the pumpkin taste of the cookie.


Circa 2007
And if the cookies weren't enough, we made some caramel apples too. Yummy!

Pumpkin Cookie
from "Libby's canned pumkin" company

Ingredients:
4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
2 cups quick or old fashioned oats, uncooked
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspon vanilla extract
1 can (16 oz.) Libby's solid pack pumpkin
1 cup real semi-sweet chocolate morsels
assorted icings or peanut butter
assorted candies, raisins or nuts

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each additions.
Stir in morsel.
For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet; spread into pumpkin shape using a thin metal spatula. Add a bit more dough to form stem.
Bake at 350 , 20-25 min. , until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet; cool on racks.
Decorate using icing or peanut butter to affix assorted candies, raisins or nuts.
Yields about 32 large cookies.
Variation: Substitute 1 cup raising for morsels.

and of course, I can't have the activity pass without scrapbooking it. Here's how I documented the event...
The makings of a Sweet Tradition

Circa 2007.

Till next time,
Grace

Halloween day 3 (treat bags)

I don't know about you but I get to stretch my creativity when holidays like Halloween comes around. In my daughter's preschool class, they like to give treats during a special holiday and Halloween is always the first one. I'm always thinking of a better and cuter way to pack up the little treats and this year I went to my scrap stash.



I wanna show you how to "dress" up those fun treat bags without having to go to your local scrapbook/ craft store to buy new supplies.




to make these fun treat bag toppers you'll need:
-small ziploc bags (I used the ones that they have in the jewelry section of my craft store)
-scrap pattern papers (pick ones that are in the holidays' color scheme. I used black, green, orange and brown)
-ribbon (I used grossgrain and some satin too.)
-halloween stamp
-stapler
-scotch tape
-black pen
-candies or small toys/treats

others (but necessary)
-border punch


first- gather your supplies


Second- trim pattern papers to fit your ziploc bag. Just measure the top and then double the number so the paper can overlap on both front and bag side of the bag. Mine measured 3" wide and 4 1/2" long. Add a decorative border on one side with your punch if desired.


third- fold in half.


fourth- wrap some ribbon around one side of the fold.


fifth- stamp sentiment onto cardstock. I cut my cardstock into 1 1/2" circles before stamping my sentiment.


sixth- fill up the bags with treats. I personally think that one candy plus one toy is good enough for little preschoolers but you can fill it up to how much you want it.


seventh- place the folded paper over the top of the ziploc bag and then staple.


eight- handwrite your child's name.


ninth- adhere your stamped cardstock. I used scoth tape so it'll be sturdy and I also made sure I placed the circle over the staple for a cleaner look.

That's it! Easy Peazy! If you're doing it for your older kids' class or group, you can even get your older kids to help you. I got my six year old to fill up the bags with the treats while I made the toppers.

Seriously how easy and fun is this?!

Thank you for stopping by and see you tomorrow.

Till next time,
Grace

Halloween day 2

Is there anything that I'm NOT doing this week?! I'm having one of those crazy weeks with so many things to do and attend to. I got a wedding to attend, halloween parties to participate in, picking up my parents from LAX, november kit to dive into and a spiritual change being unveiled to me. Seriously, is there anything that I'm NOT doing this week?! hehehehehehehe.

Anyways here I am with another Halloween post. Today is a project based post.....

I've made these layouts a while back but since they've never been posted and they fit the theme, I figure now is the time to share.....

Every little thing they do is magic

here's a page of the kids last year with their costumes. I wanted the feel of Halloween all over this page so I sprayed glimmer mist on the orange cardstock for some shine and covered the two photo corners and chipboard letters with more glitter.


Remember that if you're putting glitter on any items, you need to tap the excess off and let it dry for 24 hours before handling it. Believe me you don't want to clean up that kind of mess! *wink*

Creating Mr. Jack

Here's a two page spread I made about our family home evening activity to create our Jack-o-lanterns. Eventhough I don't have that much pictures for this event, I still decided to make it a two page spread versus a single one so it won't look too cluttered and I can leave some white space in the layout.


the leaf vines were cut from a pattern paper. I love to dive into pattern paper for embellishments. They're cheaper than the premade ones and they're easily adaptable to any theme.

Catch you guys later.

Till next time,
Grace

Halloween week......

Hi all. Happy Monday. It's finally feeling like fall around here. This morning when I took Marcus to school, I felt the cold chill in the air. Both Maddie and I had to run back to the car cause brisk walking was making us shiver. Finally, we can bust out the jackets!

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about Halloween. Not only because it's a week away but also because that specific holiday brings so much "fun" spirit in the air.

That's why I've decided to focus my posts entirely on that theme. Everyday, I'll post something related to the event. It will be a combination of projects and pictures and even maybe a fun recipe.

So let's start, shall we....

Today I'm sharing pictures. We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday afternoon and we had fun.

One thing I really wanted from this activity is for the kids' to focus on the "picking the perfect pumpkin" rather than worrying about all the carnival rides. That's why I searched for a pumpkin patch that would not have all the distracting and expensive (I might add) rides and attractions. Luckily I found out that the CalState Pomona campus has a farm with a lot brimming with pumpkins. It was a ways away compared to the Pa's Pumpkin patch in Long Beach and the pumpkins are more expensive than if you would have purchased it in the store BUT the experience of it all outweighs the negative things.

Here's some pics of our fun activity....

I got really excited when we turned the curb and saw the lot on the corner brimming with all the orange pumpkins. This is just a side of the lot, can you believe that!?


When I went to their site, they advised us to bring our wagons cause the pumpkins will be heavy to carry from the farm to the parking lot. We followed their advise and we're glad we did!


There were so many good pumpkins, it was hard to pick the "perfect" one.


Maddie settled in with a small one. I guess she liked the one that is just her size.


Marcus had a hard time picking. There were too many choices to pick from.


After a while of roaming around, we finally settled in for two big ones and Maddie's small sized pumpkin.


and here's me with the kids.


Now all we need to do is make time to turn these pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns.

Have a great day and hope to see you back here tomorrow.

Till next time,
Grace

linkity links.....

Happy Saturday everyone. Just popping in here really quick to share with you two worthy links you might wanna check out this weekend....

GCD studios is having a sketch contest this weekend. Make something with this sketch made by one of our fab dt members....



there's some rules to follow but I'm sure you guys don't mind that. There's a really cool prize in store for anybody that participates. Hurry, this contest will close soon!

Are you a big fan of blinkies? Well Upsy Daisy just released some cool blinkies up for grabs on the blog. Here's my fave featuring the Chocolate line. How fun is this?!



Check the blog for all the other options. Oh and you'll have to scroll down a little to see all the blinkies.

Ok so I'm off. Got a lot of things to do today but all fun. We're planning on getting pumpkins today from a real pumpkin farm (that should be fun) and then we have a Halloween party at church tonight.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Till next time,
Grace

It's not too early for Christmas

Yes I think it's not too early to be thinking of Christmas. I know, I know you're thinking...but Halloween hasn't ever arrived yet. But with all the "busy"ness the season gives, it's always great to think ahead.

That's why I'm here to show some fun inspirations with Christmas in mind. Hopefully it'll get you thinking and creating. If you think about it, if you get your Christmas cards done and some Holiday pages predone before the middle of November, this year you CAN actually enjoy the season. :)

Celebrate the Season card set

this card set was made with the Spirit line. I love Upsy Daisy papers cause they're double sided and the designs are great. Really inspiring!

I really believe that Holiday cards shouldn't be one of those overwhelming things you need to worry yourself about during the holiday season. I think every family SHOULD send out cards cause sometimes that's the only way of communication to family and friends for the entire year. I say keep in touch with your loved ones but make it easy with three things in mind....
a. mass produce one design. Making 50 of one design cuts the cost, keeps the designing part less stressful and you can make the production easier by doing it in stages.

b. If you're not the mass producing type of person. Stick with a sketch and use that as a foundation for all your cards. Here's the sketch I made for these cards.

I turned it over and scaled it down to accomodate my many different sized cards.

3. Use your computer for the sentiment. I made mine in photoshop. Filled a whole 8.5 x11 page with it and cut it out with the paper trimmer. Cheaper and faster than stamps or rubons. :)


4. Use tools to create the little details that will sure make your cards have the WOW factor. I used my scallop scissors, border punch and machine stitching here.



Christmas 2008
PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION

This page was made with the Hot Chocolate collection. I also used some alphabet rubons and stickers to the mix.
I love pretending to be a professional photographer during the Holiday season but most of the time, getting one or two shots of my kids in a nice pose proves to be a challenge (to say the least). That's why when I scrapbook my "good" pictures, I always like to add my other "not so good" ones there so I can appreciate the better ones and also to remind myself of how fun and energetic my kids can be (even when I just want them to sit still)

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION

I love creating my own embellishments and here I used some fun shapes cut directly from pattern paper, added some pop up dots and viola, instant embellishments. And the best part- it's inexpensive and it definitely matches the rest of the elements on the page.

So there you have it. Follow these simple tips and you'll sure to have a happy Holidays.

Visit the site for more info.

Till next time,
Grace

"Remember when" mini

Hi all. Sorry I have been inconsistent around here. I got a TON of assignments to do. All good but sadly it's one of those things that I can't share it. Hopefully soon though :)

But luckily it's not all locked in secret. I have this mini that I made with my October Crazy Daisy kit and it's a fun one that I can't help but share.....

"Remember when" minibook

The 7Gypsies board book that came in the kit was a good base for my mini. I love that it's sturdy and the black color provided me with a great foundation.


I used the felt pattern paper for the front and back covers. I felt it was soooo pretty that it needed to be displayed really well.


I made this book for my husband. He doesn't grace the scrapbooks that often and yet he has a story to tell that I needed to document so I figured I'd make his his very own mini. I grabbed some questions for a Q&A book that I got which was from Simple Scrapbooks. I divided the sections into 7 categories (baby, child, teenage, young man, married, right now and reflections) and attached pictures that corresponded to that phase of his life.





I created the titles and questions in my word document and dressed up the circle titles with rubons from the kit.


To make this mini a quick and easy project, I stuck with using all the pattern papers in the kit and using only one sketch all through out the book.




The kit has TONS of embellishments in it that making my 5 pages PLUS this mini still left me with a few that can be used for a couple of cards. I really like that about this kit!

If you want more info on the kit. Visit the site here. You can also start pre-ordering November's kit now. Ooohhh I can't wait for that!

Till next time,
Grace

meet frankie....

I had a DT assignment from GCD studios to make a halloween themed project a week ago. I wanted to focus on the "fun" of the event versus the "scary" feeling you might feel with the occassion so I wanted to create a fun paper piecing item. I made an easy Frankenstein embellishment using GCD papers. After I made the paper piecing, my daughter named it Frankie, hence that's what we call him in our household.

Here's the pic of the project....

Altered trick or treat bag and card



after I made Frankie for the bag, my son said that "frankie" needed a friend so I made a card to match the bag and created a frankie head for a friend. How's that for both funny and spooky at the same time?



See more of fun Halloween projects over at the GCD studios blog today.

Have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

Grace-worthy updates

Spent some time today updating my website.

In case you weren't aware, about a year ago, I turned this great passion of mine into a business. I called my gig "grace-worthy designs". I made some updates today and if you have time, please check it out.

There's new classes posted...




Christmas cards order info


and reminder of my table sale on Saturday.

Stop by and as always, let me know what you think.

Till next time,
Grace