Witch Holiday is this???? I'm Confused!

Journaling:
Ok, the disclaimer first: This was my 5 year-old’s idea, not mine! Really, it was; I’m not just “blaming” him! Ok, well, I hope that you believe me…

I will admit that this is one of the best, creative ideas I’ve seen in a long time. It has a certain, “bah humbug” type appeal to me as an adult, though Christopher was only going for the “joke” factor. I am, in fact, inclined to leave it this way (with decorations of course). The bow that normally resides on the tree is beautiful, to be sure (I made it myself, after all), but…

I am the first to admit that I hate decorating for the holidays, especially Christmas. Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely love the end result, but all the work of getting there, and the thought of having to put it all away again in a few weeks, just makes me tired. And then the inevitable string or two of lights that won’t work properly that necessitates a trip clear across town to purchase more. And then convincing two small children to leave the ornaments alone, both for the ornament’s sake as well as our bare feet. Who wants to step on an ornament hook?

So I will say, that a Christmas tree with a witch hat on top makes me smile, in a cynical, Grinch sort of way. Perhaps after all, Halloween and I have more in common than do Christmas and I. Everyone expects a monster, a grump, at Halloween…


Supplies:
Brandy Murry Holiday in Lights
Erica Hite Bump in the Night
Amanda Sok Glitzy Christmas
Brandy Hackman Blossoms & Blooms Holiday
LD Deck the Halls and dreamed about you fonts


So do I win the prize for the most unusual tree-top decoration or what?! (IS there a contest around...anyone?!)

More Spookiness

A smattering of our holiday decor:




The "scary guy" as Michael calls him was a 50% off find at Target last year...love him! He sits in our storage side of the basement during the off-season and happily scares the kids when they go downstairs to check out the toy stash down there, lol.

Mom made the witch a number of years ago...she's way more cute than scary:)

Christopher designed the jack-o-lantern based on a t-shirt he has, and Jeff did the honors with the sharp pumpkin knife. I'll never forget the first year I convinced my parents I was old enough to carve a pumpkin. I sliced my thumb open and was too embarrassed/didn't want them to know I apparently wasn't old enough after all, and told them I had a hang-nail to explain the band-aid:) Methinks I'll supervise a little closer when my own children start cutting pumpkins alone.

It's been awhile since my last owl reference, so of course I had to show off our new doormat from Target!

Hallowed Halloween

I have more pictures to upload from Halloween, but my wireless connection isn't working properly right now and I cannot access my stash of pics on the desktop:(

The boys kept us in suspense until the last minute as to which costume they would wear. They opted to be the "Skeleton Brothers" as Jeff dubbed them. Mom actually made Michael an Arthur costume b/c he was infatuated with Arthur...oh well. And she made Christopher a mummy costume...oh well. Then she went to Salvation Army when they had their costumes on clearance about a month ago and this is what the boys fell in love with. Christopher's costume is about 1-2 sizes too small, lol...he didn't care.

Both of these pages are "recreated" quick pages from Cinzia Loosemore. Her "Tales of the Night" collection is awesome! I bought the whole collection and just recreated the quick pages she made in a separate kit. I changed the colors a bit to suit me too. In general I like these "white space" layouts a lot better when someone else does them, but I like the look here.

Fall Crafts

As promised! Here's what we did a week ago on the weekend: We got the ideas for the witch hats from HERE. I really liked their example so I actually bought the pack of digital paper, lol:) The second one is Christopher's...totally his idea to make lightning on his hat. Very creative! Luckily I actually had some glitter on hand (I hate the mess, so am not real big on glitter, and until 4 days ago I didn't own any Stickles either...now I'm the proud owner of one color. More on that later.) I laid down tacky tape and we shook the glitter over it together. The third hat is Mom's, and it uses DCWV glitter/embossed paper with a green shimmery hue that looks perfect with the glittery green "pick".

It was very difficult, surprisingly, to find fall themed ribbon here in town. Either no one stocks much/any to begin with, or they sell out long before fall is over. We eventually scoured Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, and Joann Fabrics. The paper mache cone is from Hobby Lobby and was in the Christmas section. The styrofoam cones in the floral section are totally the wrong size and shape for this project, so I was glad to get an answer from the Peppermint Creative team member who originally made the hat!

The Indian corn was a project in a parenting magazine from 2004. I dutifully filed the torn out sheet in a crafts folder and each year promised to do it someday. Well someday finally arrived this year! I spent about $3 on the beads and about $6.50 on shipping to get the fall colors I wanted:) The base is a chenille stem and of course the tie is raffia. Christopher had a lot of fun with this project.

And last, I copied the Halloween card idea from Adobeaddict at Jenn Wilson. Paper is Jen Wilson (a paper version is sold through My Mind's Eye), jewels from Hobby Lobby, and "Hooloween" sign inside is Mindy Terasawa. Christopher's version is the black card. The one card that says "happy" instead of "spooky" was for my friend Jennifer's birthday on the 30th. Hers of course has a birthday message inside as well.

Also note the button usage...I was in a challenge last month to use up buttons, brads, and eyelets. I even added some to my witch hat:)

TFL! Hope you all had a good Halloween...I'll post pics soon! Always behind, always behind...

Halloween in Spring

The boys have been playing a lot of pretend trick-or-treat lately, which inspired me to put the finishing touches on the 2007 Halloween pages and get them posted. Pretend trick-or-treat involves elaborate pirate, robot, and sometimes even cowboy elements from the toybox and closet, then going around the house banging on doors and walls and shouting an exuberant trick-or-treat. If you're lucky enough to encounter a person on the other side of the door (eg. the bathroom), you might even get a response and a pretend piece of candy:)

We'll let these guys & gals remain anonymous unless they tell me I can provide details:) Suffice it to say it was a grown-up party...

The Memory Bound staff Halloween party was an absolute blast!! The DCWV paper is perfect, don't you think? The haunted house die cut is the very cool, elaborate invitation we all received.

This the preschool party I blogged about here

TFL and have a great weekend! Happy Easter!

Harry Potter & Halloween

This is from the midnight party for the
final book. Friend Amy's daughter Sydney and I were there for
the party the whole night. Christopher stayed with us
until about 8pm dressed as Hagrid.

Journaling:
I’m guessing not many authors realize they are writing
a classic. Not until much later, sometimes even after
the author’s death, is something even recognized as a
classic. Not so with the Harry Potter septology. It’s
exciting to be of the only time when readers will not
have the ending available for them, or indeed, already
know much/all of the ending before actually reading
the series.

The long-awaited seventh and final book was sold at
the stroke of midnight (how apropos for a book about
wizardry and magic) on July 21st, 2007. Sydney DeGeest
and I are avid readers, so I made sure we had
preorders for our books and I stood in line in the
morning to get us 60th in line for our books at
midnight.

Christopher didn’t want to miss out on the party at
8pm, so he dressed as his favorite HP character (who
he knows from LEGO sets): Hagrid. Note his cap,
over-sized polar fleece jacket, and boots. Jeff came
to get him long before midnight, but he sure enjoyed
the sorting hat, the shrieking shack, the Ford in the
whomping willow, Professor Sprout (pictured) and her
very cool plants (lent from Reiman Gardens), drinkable
and stirrable potions, live owls, the choosing of
wands, divination, butterbeer, and most importantly,
perhaps, the treat trolley from Hogwarts.

I dressed as a witch trying to pass as a Muggle (thus
the strange conglomeration of mismatched and
inappropriate clothing and accessories). Sydney was
good ‘ol Hermione. Hastings bookstore had the best
party, by far and away.


Unfortunately the stores did not have an itinerary out
until very late, and I had bet on the Borders
Bookstore. So we started out at the Hastings party and
finished up and got our books at Borders. The only
worthwhile activities at Borders were a scavenger hunt
and a costume party. A very elderly man came dressed
quite convincingly as Ollivander, complete with an
ancient box that looked as if it indeed could contain
magic wands.

The journaling pulls out from the Bazzill library
pocket. Most supplies are Club Scrap (I got the kit
free!) and are pretty shimmery, which I think the
photo of the layout conveys. Also used HP font cut on
CraftRobo, a leftover soft fuzzy Jolee moon from a
baby set and wizard Jolee's.


The background is a scraplift of the sample layout on
the MM packaging the paper, stickers, and epoxies came
with. The brads are also MM. The Twistel is
compliments of Kris' garage sale at the crop:) It fits
through button-holes quite nicely, and looks really
cool splayed out then...dig into your old stash, come
on, you know you have some lurking in their
somewhere!! Font is Arrr Matey.

I LOVE the photo on the left...so much so that I
uploaded it by itself in hopes you can see it better.
:) You can see Christopher' s reflection in their door,
which is way cool.

Journaling:
How spooky is this ghoul?! Christopher went up to
“it” the first time thinking it was

a stature, so he lifted its arm up and let it plop
down. The second time, the ghoul made a hideous,
scary noise

and we wished desperately for a retrospective
videocamera! By the time I ran home (around the
corner) for the

camera, Christopher wouldn’t go anywhere near. Smart
boy!

Hidden journaling behind right page:
October 30
We could not have asked for better weather this year
for "Beggar's Night," that peculiar central Iowa habit
of trick-or-treating the night before Halloween. At
least we in Ames don't have to tell a silly joke
before obtaining the candy as they do in Des Moines. I
really don't get that...enlighten me if anyone out
there knows how that one got started.
Last year it was thirty degrees out and Michael's nose
was so cold, even with a winter coat and mittens on,
that our neighbors thought he was a clown with an
artificially red nose. And I promise we only took him
around our little circle street. This year it was a
balmy sixty degrees...btw, my poor laptop is so broken
that the numbers don't usually work...Santa, help help
help...anyway, Christopher didn't even have to wear a
coat over his thin Batman outfit. Thanks to Pauline
for finding him a great costume. Oh yeah, no
exclamation point either. I cannot LIVE without an
exclamation point on my computer, ARG.
I love how the picture of the ghoul--possibly our
neighbor, possibly someone/thing more sinister--turned
out. Christopher went up to "it" the first time
thinking it was a statue, so he lifted its hand up and
let it plop down. The second time he did it the ghoul
made scary noises, and I wished I had a videocamera to
have recorded Christopher' s poor, surprised, possibly
happily scared face. By the time I ran home and got
the camera and the boys came back to the house,
Christopher wouldn't come close enough to touch the
ghoul for a picture. But his reflection is in their
shiny door, way cool. I wouldn't sing my praises if
I'd actually planned it that way, lol.
Michael totally "got" trick-or-treating and was
basically trotting around the neighborhood waiting for
us to catch up. He did need help ringing doorbells,
but covered the trick-or-treat and thank you parts all
by himself.

Preschool Halloween Party

Christopher's preschool celebrated the weekend before Halloween. I don't have any individual shots of my children, and didn't feel it right to post pics of others' children, so here are some mood shots of the evening. We started out with a few adults/older siblings up on "Crystal Gnome's mountain" (otherwise known as the wooded hill at preschool) handing out goodies at stations. One station had candy, another had cute little pipe cleaner spiders, and my station had little spice bags made by another Mom. I was dressed as an Egyptian queen mummy, so I called the bags "embalming spices." My station was the most popular as there was a tub of "boiling" dry ice there. A few of the older boys stayed with me the whole time, stirring the pot and putting leaves and twigs in it.

Jeff carved the awesome owl pumpkin to contribute to the decorations. Michael was a tiger, same as for trick-or-treating. The preschool (Waldorf-based Prairie Flower Children's Center) frowns on media characters, especially violent ones, so instead of Batman, Christopher chose to be a sheep. One day a few weeks ago he came down from upstairs wearing my gray slippers on his feet, Jeff's socks on his hands, and a white handled basket upside down on his head and proclaimed he was a sheep. We modified the idea a bit for the preschool party and borrowed an actual sheepskin (which wouldn't really stay on, oh well).

I made the cream cheese pumpkin, above, and provided crackers. The stem is a large twisted pretzel, the eyes and nose are raisins (cut in a triangle for the nose), and the mouth, out of desperation, was made from a strawberry Tootsie Roll from Christopher's 4th of July parade stash (yes we still have a big bag left over, lol). I don't have a picture of the cheeseball at the party, but the Tootsie Roll got all warm from me molding it into a smile shape, and started to melt...it looked way cool, like a bloody dripping mouth! (Maybe not the greatest thing for a non-scary preschool party, but one of the other dads thought it was great.) And I have to say, this was my idea from start to finish...I'm not saying no one else ever thought of a cheeseball pumpkin, but I didn't/don't know anything about it. I don't come up with too many original ideas, so :-P

The children bobbed for apples hung on strings from the ceiling, played outside a bit, and then we played a game I found on the internet: I bought a skein of cool black fiber/yarn and rewound it in a ball. We sat in a large circle and the chilren threw the ball back and forth while the adults held onto the fiber until it became a large spider web. The kids all threw their pipe cleaner spiders on it and we bounced them up and down, then they ran in the middle and got all tangled up and giggled and giggled.

There was a quick story time, then cleanup. Unfortunately Michael continued his sometimes habit of hurting himself as we are leaving someplace (he got a huge knot on his forehead and a bloody nose this summer as we were leaving the Bible School picnic): He was standing by Gray on the stone stairs, and next thing I knew, a couple feet away, he had tumbled down one or 2 stairs and was crying. He bit his lip and needed one stitch below his lip...his first (and I'm sure, not last) stitch. So I had to take him to the ER where I work and have Dr. Fisher sew him up. He was fine by the time we got there and just wanted to explore. One of the nurses commented she could see how he could get hurt, as active as he is.

BOO

We could not have asked for better weather this year for "Beggar's Night," that peculiar central Iowa habit of trick-or-treating the day before Halloween. At least we in Ames don't have to tell a silly joke before obtaining the candy as they do in Des Moines. I really don't get that...enlighten me if anyone out there knows how that one got started.
Last year it was thirty degrees out and Michael's nose was so cold, even with a winter coat and mittens on, that our neighbor's thought he was a clown with an artificially red nose. And I promise we only took him around our little circle street. This year it was a balmy sixty degrees...btw, my poor laptop is so broken that the numbers don't usually work...Santa, help help help...anyway, Christopher didn't even have to wear a coat over his thin Batman outfit. Thanks to Pauline for finding him a great costume. Oh yeah, no exclamation point either. I cannot LIVE without an exclamation point on my computer, ARG.
I love how the picture of the ghoul--possibly our neighbor, possibly someone/thing more sinister--turned out. Christopher went up to "it" the first time thinking it was a statue, so he lifted its hand up and let it plop down. The second time he did it the ghoul made scary noises, and I wished I had a videocamera to have recorded C's poor, surprised, happily scared face. By the time I ran home and got the camera and the boys came back to the house, C wouldn't come close enough to touch the ghoul for a picture. But his reflection is in their shiny door, way cool. I wouldn't sing my praises if I'd actually planned it that way, lol.
Michael totally "got" trick-or-treating and was basically trotting around the neighborhood waiting for us to catch up. He did need help ringing doorbells, but covered the trick-or-treat and thank you parts all by himself.