Tuesday, October 26, 2010

B is for benefits

I love the benefits of having the world wide web in my home. The limitless resources. The instant access to information. It is definitely something my family benefits from!
So, I though I would help you benefit from me benefiting.
Makes sense, right?
I am posting a great list I found at the Crafty Crow of FREE Halloween printables!
 
 
 
 
Free Halloween Printables Round-Up!
One Charming Party halloween treat bag labels
One Charming Party
Babalisme Halloween girl paper dolls
Babalisme
Babalisme Halloween boy paper doll  We made these! I so appreciate the boy version too!
Babalisme
The Graphics Fairy trick or treat bag label I made this and shared it in am earlier post.
The Graphics Fairy
Paper Crave printable owl treat box
Paper Crave
A Fanciful Twist halloween printable
A Fanciful Twist
Rob Ives paper pumpkin printable
Rob Ives
via Paper Forest
Paper Trails halloween card printable
Each Penny Pretty
Two Straight Lines halloween tags
Two Straight Lines

Made By Joel scary cats match game
Made By Joel
Design. wash. rinse. repeat. halloween printables
design.wash.rinse.repeat.
Cheeky Magpie specimen tag printable
Cheeky Magpie
Urban Debris halloween printables
Urban Debris

We Love To Illustrate printable halloween treat boxes 2
We Love To Illustrate
FoldingTreeshalloweenmasks
Folding Trees
A Little Hut halloween note cards printable
A Little Hut
The Idea room halloween paper dolls
The Idea Room
Creative Mamma printable halloween box
Creative Mamma
The Decorated Cookie printable treat decorations The Decorated Cookie printable treat decorations 1
The Decorated Cookie

Blue Yonder halloween jokes
Blue Yonder
Chica And Jo cupcak collars pumpkin
Chica And Jo cupacake collars candy corn
Chica And Jo
Living Locurto dress up dog
Living Locurto
The Idea Room don't eat frank halloween printable
The Idea Room
Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat. jack-o-lantern lolli
design.wash.rinse.repeat.
Cheeky Magpie tombstone printable
Cheeky Magpie
PaperGlitterhalloweenlabels
Paper Glitter
Craftily Ever After keep calm and scary on print  Remember how I found this earlier and almost choked? Yep ,still love it!
Craftily Ever After

Creative Kismet halloween print
Creative Kismet
Paper Glitter halloween pencil topper and stationery
Paper Glitter
Paper Glitter circle and oval tags
Paper Glitter
Fun With Mama halloween games
Fun With Mama












  These last two are the direst link. Just click and print!











Monday, October 25, 2010

B week

B is for belonging.


What do you belong to...
Who do you belong to...
What belongs to you....
Who belongs to you...

I belong to them.





























I  also belong here.






















And I belong to this great country.


























Thursday, October 21, 2010

A is for Autumn

When we lived back east/ish in Ohio, something magical would happen every Fall. The leaves on the trees would go from green to a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors.
The vibrancy of those colors is what was so amazing.
IMG_0016
What I realize now is how little you actually appreciate things like Fall leaves when you live in places with trees and seasons! People would hire landscapers to do Fall Clean-ups, where they basically come in and strip the trees of all the dying leaves and pile them up and haul it all away! The tragedy of it all still boggles my mind. I mean don't the leaves fall for the soul purpose of allowing us to rake them up into great big piles and then stand backwards and put your arms out, close your eyes, and fall backwards into the pile?


Living here in the desert of Arizona, you miss out on Autumn leaves.
But fortunately, we have places like Hobby Lobby to help us all pretend that we have an actual Autumn. We can go there and buy all the fake leaves we want.
Sad, I know.
It's like all the people we see with fake snowmen in their yards and icicle lights at Christmas time around here. You just sort drive by with a sad expression of pity for all the lack snow.
Because it is A week for my Illustrations of Life Project: A is for Autumn.
So, without further ado. My version of an Autumn Wreath.

It is so easy to make I feel like it is redundant to even tell you how to make one!
Oh well, here goes.
IMG_0004-2
I found 3 of these metal stars at a garage sale for .25 apiece. ( I hate when I read that people find things at garage sales and fix them up. All that means is that the rest of us can't go buy on too!)I just spray painted it with some spray paint from another project.
IMG_0011-1 IMG_0018
Then I went to Hobby Lobby while they were having a 50% off Fall sale. Grabbed a few of these lovelies.
IMG_0020-1 x 2 of each except the white pumpkin
I originally was going to buy a couple packages of the loose leaves that come with I think 10 or so to a pack. But then I saw the display for the garlands and they were so much fuller and this one even had pinecones on it too! ( no before pic )
IMG_0017 the wreath was .25 at a garage sale.
I gathered my supplies. Wrapped the garland in a big circle and attached it to the wreath with white twist ties that you can totally see and that bother me to no end. I am OCD so a normal person would tell you to randomly stick the accent pieces into the wreath, but I'm not normal. There is no rhyme or reason to the way I did it ( other than to me) so, randomly put your picks anywhere you please.
 IMG_0016
 IMG_0014-1
I hung it from my door with one of those great removable hooks that you just pull the sticky tab and it comes off. Not sure if it is supposed to be permanent, but I am pretending, and have used it all year. and yes my door is dirty. It's dusty here ok. And we just had a major dust storm not too long ago. Yep, we are lucky enough to get dust storms. So all you people that are snuggled up to your cozy little fireplaces when it snow, think of all that your missing out on.
Like dust. On your front door.
And Cactusmen instead of snowmen..







I linked this!







Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A is for Attitude

Late on night, it was a little after 9, the doorbell rang.

With a sigh of exasperation after battling with the kiddos to get them to bed ,even though they were all not tired- and obviously starving and- Oh yeah, I forgot I really did have homework- and just one more kiss goodnight-and we don't have to listen to you the first time because Dad isn't home.

I dragged my weary self to the door, ready to do battle with whatever hapless solicitor schmuck had the bad fortune to ring my doorbell at this late hour.

All 4 kiddos also felt so inclined to come tumbling down the stairs, ignoring my vehement yell-whisper to stay upstairs, to see who it was.

And I am now even more angry "Because now if it is not a salesman but a serial killer we are all dead instead of just the brave self sacrificing mother".

However when I opened the door, this is what I found.......

Candy Corn CUpcakes

A nice big container full of these lovelies.

My attitude was now changed from eye-rolling annoyance, to humility and gratitude.

It might just be cupcakes.

It might not seem like a big deal.

But I am ......

Humbled for the time and effort it took to make these.

Grateful for the laughs and smiles it brought into my home.

So, thank you to whoever took the time to bring joy to a weary mothers home.

Thank you.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Letter a week challenge

As part of my illustrations of life project I am starting a letter a week.

This week is ......

A

For my A week I am going to start of with a picture I have titled : Always.

Hilary and Josh's Wedding 9-4-10 310Even though there is that stupid watermark again,

this lovely photo of my Husband and I at my sis's wedding was taken by the lovely and talented Miss Emily Johnson.

Thank you for capturing this moment for us. Your talent is limitless and we are lucky to know you.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Paris Thomas. This is a beautiful story.



I laugh-cried when I watched this. He is one of the funniest people. But I especially appreciate his testimony.