New pumpkin photos and birthday photos

Had Rhi's 9th-birthday-non-bonfire-no cousins party tonight. She was a little unhappy about the bonfire and the cousins, but she managed ok. We had dinner (chili for the adults, and tomato soup for the kids). After cleaning up, got ready to watch a movie (she picked Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). Had cake and ice cream. I'm really pleased with the birthday candle photo this year - I think that's the best one yet.

(taken after dinner and before cake)

(this is her pumpkin birthday cake)

(the birthday candle cake - I kept forgetting to buy candle holders, and found these letter candles at Walgreens. Since she is nine, we only used "HAPPY BDAY!"  instead of the whole word birthday. She was pretty happy with it, but the candles melted FAST. I won't be getting those again!)

Managed to remember to get new photos of the JMC pumpkin the other day too. And I am really happy with them, they are much clearer than the first one. And no, I still didn't find my tripod, but I sat on one of the kitchen chairs and propped the camera on the back of the chair. Worked pretty well.

(closeup of the carved area)

Played around with the camera settings a bit.. was able to get this photo, which I think is REALLY cool. I love how dark the background is, with just a little bit of fire color coming through.

Not sure if I will be around to post tomorrow.. so if not.. Happy Halloween everyone....

What? She's how old??

Monday, my baby girl turned 9 years old. I haven't posted until now, because I have been waiting for the weather to clear to get some 9-year-old photos.. but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. So here is one of my favorite pics from this summer.. LOL {This is what I got when I told her to do something silly for the camera}

Another thing that it doesn't look like will happen is her birthday/costume/ dance-around-the-bonfire party. She was so looking forward to that, but it has been raining for the last two weeks. The ground is wet. The wood is wet. The trees are.. well, you get the idea.  This bonfire was this summer, around the 4th of July. She had a lot of fun dancing around it. {Maggie wasn't too happy about it, though}

She is rather musical, and likes to drum on things... when we were carving pumpkins the other day, she liked drumming on the hollowed out pumpkins to see what they sounded like.

She told me she wanted Jason to come over for her birthday. I told her she'd have to settle for her cousins. LOL. Hopefully we'll be able to do the Traditional Cake Photo on Friday - when we went to get the candles for the cake Monday, we found an empty mouse chewed box. Darned mice. But Rhi was just as happy with a plain birthday cake and no candles.

 Happy birthday, baby girl.

Pumpkin carving

Today {ok, yesterday LOL} the kids and I carved pumpkins.

My daughter, though - I don't know what has gotten into her. She has become a squeamish little diva.. {insert rolling eyes here} and wouldn't even touch the pumpkin guts because they were gross. So the boy and I had to have fun with that...

LOL I love that picture.. I can't wait to scrap it!

Anyway, I ended up carving her pumpkin, while she directed the carving the whole time. The boy pretty much did his own, and it turned out awesome. Here are their pumpkins with lights on and lights off.

The cat was done using a pattern from a book that came with the pumpkin tools we bought several years ago. Which gave me the idea for my pumpkin... So I got on my computer, messed around with an image in Irfanview, and got started.

This is the before shot {which I forgot to take BEFORE drawing the line for the top}

Taped down my image and poked the holes around the outline like the directions for the cat said... {which I thought looked pretty cool in itself!}

Knew I wouldn't be able to carve all the way through, or I would lose the center pieces in the flourish.. so this is what I ended up with {minus the top}. {In case you were wondering, I mostly used a paring knife and a potato peeler}

And here it is lit up {couldn't find my tripod, so the photo is a little blurry, and I have to carve an extra air hole before trying again, but here it is anyway...}. My mom didn't think it would show very well, but it turned out better than she thought. My daughter, loving Jason almost as much as I do LOL, thought it was "Pretty darned cool, Mom!"

I think it's pretty darn cool too.

And the winner is....

KIMMY! Congratulations Kimmy!

Thanks for commenting, everyone, it really helps to know that people actually read this blog, and I'm not just spouting off for nothing.. LOL

Holy cannolli

How did I come to have almost 10,000 hits on my blog?! Seems like just yesterday that I started this thing up {ok, not really}, but I remember wondering what the heck I was doing, and why on earth would anyone want to read anything I wrote??

Ah well, I still think that sometimes, but anyway...

In honor of reaching 10,000 hits, I will be giving away a RAK - an envelope of goodies along with a friends ATC - an extra from the set I made for the Hero Arts ATC Swap.  Goodies will include some of the lace on the ATC, Prima flowers, and other embellishments. If I reach 10,000 hits by Saturday at 12 midnight central time, I'll also include a Scrap Pink ATC, made for an AMR swap in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Here's how to enter - post a comment with the current hit count {the counter is at the bottom of the page.} and something you like about a friend.

For an extra entry - follow my blog by clicking the button in the side bar.


Keep the comments coming - I will close for the RAK SUNDAY at MIDNIGHT CST.

{SAS}sy Scrap Pink Crop, and Framed again.

The {SAS}sy Scrap Pink Crop is this weekend. Lots of great challenges, and some games, have been posted already! I'm hoping to get a little time to play, but I have to work this weekend, so who knows.

And my Beautiful Girl layout was framed today on Savvy N Sassy :) Yay. I love that layout.

Crop layouts, Queen of the Crop, and @jmcofficial and...

The Pimp My Bra crop is over now, and my goodness, there are SO MANY fabulous layouts that were done this weekend!! Check out the gallery HERE.

I didn't get as many challenges done as I had hoped {Thanks Jason ;)}, but I did get three regular challenges done, won 4/5 quickfire challenges {"Make a card... the first one to post their picture wins"}, played bingo, and shopped at 6 of the 7 Blue Light Specials {who can resist Basic Grey at 50% off?? I can't!}

This layout was done for the Audrey Hepburn Challenge - we were challenged to make a beautiful layout using 2 photos, lots of flowers, and either pearls or gems.  I had paper that matched about as perfectly as possible, and inked it to look like rust {the Tsukineko StazOn Rusty Brown is PERFECT for that - matched Jones' rust perfectly!}. Also used a whole package of prima flowers {the cream ones} and a ton of Fancy Pants flowers {the pink ones}. Title letters are thickers, which I inked a little to make them fit a little better. Calender is from Jenni Bowlin, and journal card is from Dream Street Papers. Stamps are a Cinderella set

This layout was done for Jennifer's challenge "My Will". Her son is autistic, so her challenge was to use one of the autism pictures she posted. Many of those pictures incorporated puzzle pieces, rainbows, butterflies, hearts and angels.

I have been wanting to scrap this picture for a while - it was taken last year when we went to Hannibal to see the LST ship. There is a little shop called PuddinHeads which is a mix of antiques and handcrafted things, and very fun to visit and see what's new. I had asked them to sit on the bench outside so I could take a picture.. and they of course, got silly.

AND - *whoohoo* I won the Queen of the Crop!! They did it a little differently this time, instead of counting points, draws were given for completing certain things (a certain number of challenges, the BLSs, etc), so that more people would have a chance to win. Which I think is fabulous! And this time it was me. Woohoo! My prize for that is one of the kits from the store, so I need to check them out and see which one I want. I wish they had more of the Halloween kits! Would love to have another one of those!

So why didn't I get more layouts done this weekend? LOL well, you see, I found out Jason was on Twitter, so have been sucked into that whole thing. It was worth it though - he's tweeted me three times on there. {Yeah, I can see a layout with that too.. LOL} Anyway, he's @JMCOfficial, so if you twitter, and like country music - there ya go. OH and another exciting thing - "Where I'm From" won a songwriters award at the ASCAP awards - it was written by Joe Leathers { @joeleatheres } and Patrick Davis { @PDMusic }. Patrick sings too, and has done a few shows with JMC. He has a great voice too - hope to hear more from him!

I've been framed again!

Made this layout for the Helen Keller challenge at the Pimp My Bra Crop on Serendipity. And today it was chosen for the Frame of the Day on Sassy N Savvy!

Here is the challenge, as posted by Lisa:

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. “ Helen Keller

Helen Keller…a woman whose life was void of sight and sound from a very early age. Yet despite her physical limitations, she went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities as well as someone who campaigned for women’s suffrage, worker’s rights and socialism. A true inspiration.

Often we take things such as sight and sound for granted. It isn’t until we hear the story of someone like Helen Keller that we realize how fortunate we are to have all of our senses.

Challenge guidelines:

With this Helen Keller inspired challenge, I want you to scrap something you often take for granted. Because her world was void of light, you must use a black background. She also lived without sound so there will be no journaling allowed. Create a title that carries your message…one that is impactful. Finally, use a minimum of 3 raised elements to represent the Braille system.

Here is the layout I came up with.

My thing I take for granted - my daughter. There are times that I get so busy doing other things that it's hard to remember she needs to have play time with mom too. And that really is something I don't want to miss out on, she is growing up so fast already. And no matter what.. she loves me unconditionally.

The raised items are the flowers and the flourishes - they were hand cut from a piece of the embossed/glittered Laundry Line paper (the dotted paper is also from that set). At first I only did three, but it didn't look right one the page, so added a few more. They are attached with pop-dots.

The crop is still going until tomorrow - stop by and check it out.

MINE

Maggie doesn't want to share...

Serendipty Pimp My Bra Crop

Today, tomorrow, and Sunday is the Pimp My Bra Crop over at Serendipity Scrapbooks!

Come and join us - there are multiple challenges, Bingo games, and lots of inspiration and special sales for crop attendees!!

And don't forget to

JMC on Fox 4 Atlanta

Here is the video from the Fox5 website of the performance this morning

JMC on Good Day Atlanta, POTD, and a trip to Ohio

Being an earlier riser today {REALLY early for me.. I don't usually get to bed until 3:30 in the morning} because Jason is going to be on Good Day Atlanta this morning. Nope, I don't live anywhere near Atlanta - but they have a live streaming feed on their website, so several of us HTF's are up early so we can watch it.

{photo from www.jasonmichaelcarroll.com}

My turkey ATC was chosen for Photo of the Day on Serendipity. I made it for a paper piecing challenge for the AMR crop, and plan on using it as a prototype for a Thanksgiving ATC swap. Have to find some google eyes though.

Thursday I have to take my mom to Ohio, to pick up the new puppy, Robin. {His whole name will be Fingerlakes Robin Adair}. I'm not real happy with how the transport happened {way more notice to get off work would have been nice} but we are grateful to the lady that is bringing him that far - he is coming from King Ferry New York. The worst part of this trip? I have to work Wed night. And Friday morning. So we have just one day to get there and back again. Not really looking forward to it. But unfortunately, we don't have any other options. I'll post pictures later in the week.

Make A Wish layout

Gloria's challenge at the AMR crop was to use this sketch and make a layout.

Here's my layout - I used pictures taken the same day as the photos on the layout I posted earlier - Rhi likes to make a wish every time she sees a dandelion puff in the grass.

The white letters are Doodlebug rubons, which I have had FOR-EV-ER. The backing was crumpled, several of the letters were damage, and I got tired of storing them, and thought this would be a cool way to use them up. The red paper was precut - I added stickles to it. The trees were made using QK dies in my Cuttlebug - since trees get extra points this month, I sat at work and made a bunch of them during my dinner break.

I don't think I'll get all the challenges done,  but we'll see. It's a little cold here for scrapping {still waitng on my brother to finish putting the wood furnace in}. I just hope he gets the bathroom finished before I have to go to work on Monday - this is what it currently looks like! {The big glass block window was there when we bought the house, he is just redoing the walls since Rhi karate chop kicked a hole in it. I would have had him cover the window, but I didn't want to not have the natural light in the bathroom!}

Star for the Day, a new ATC and twitter

I made this layout for Kristin's border circles challenge on Serendipity - we needed to use our border punches to make three circles.  I actually did 4, because the one under the star is a double layer.

I think some punches line up better than others, but I think they look very cool.  I used the MS doily, Fiskars threading water, and the MS picket fence punches.

The photos are a couple from the photo shoot we did a few weeks ago. The layout was chosen as the Star for the Day on Scrap Attack for 10/8/09.

Closeup of the picket fence border punch circle.

This is the atc that I made for the Swap Addict's Anonymous fruit swap. I wasn't so sure about the apple at first - it's a QK diecut, and I didn't realize when I bought it that there would be a border from the bottom piece around the top piece.. and it bugged me. A lot.. But then I inked it, and it looked better, and darn, doesn't it look like an apple core after it's been sitting on the table for a bit? LOL.

The brown PP is from the DCWV Crafty stack. The red used for the heart is MME. Love how the patterns are so similar. The background is Kraft, stamped with a script  background stamp. The "i" is a thicker sticker covered with MS glitter pen, and "apples" is done with Penny Black stamps. Everything is {of course} inked and distressed. Thought it needed something more.. and since this month is extra points for stitching, I sewed on the button and added the extra stitches on the square and the heart. And I think that's one of my favorite parts. I made 10 of them.

And.. gosh.. Twitter. I have been avoiding twitter.. because I need another computer thing like I need another hole in my head.. {eyes rolling}. Then I found out Jason is on Twitter. So over I go.. I must confess I have mixed feelings about it.. it's cool to be able to see what everyone is doing.. but all the @name things.. it's like hearing half of a cell phone conversation! Kinda confusing! But we'll see... I've already found out that Trace Adkins is going to be in St Louis around my birthday next year.. that would be a cool show to go to! And found a couple of my scrappy friends there too.  If you're over there, you can send me a message @jmcarrollfan

Blog award!

Michelle gave me a blog award today!!

Thanks Michelle! Check out Michelle's blog here - it is a new blog, but very promising, so check it out!

Here's the info on the blog award:

* Say thank you and give a link to the presenter of the award
* Share “10 Honest Things” about myself
* Present the award to 9 other bloggers whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design or to those who have encouraged me
* Be sure to tell the 9 bloggers chosen that you are giving them the Honest Scrap award and provide the guidelines for them

Here are 10 things about me. Some you probably already know, and some not..

1. (The Given LOL) I am obsessed with Jason Michael Carroll. Nah, really? Seriously, he is a great musician, a really nice guy, and um hot. I have been to 5 concerts because they are fabulous - he is a great showman, loves to interact with his audience, and has a lot of fun doing it.  I listen to his music all the time - it's my favorite driving and scrapping music, and am working on a JMC album. Actually, 2 - one is a smaller one {8x8} that I hope to be able to give to him someday.
2. I don't feel old enough to have an almost-teenager for a son. My son will be 13 in just a few months. How did that happen?! It seems like just last week he was a baby.
3. I dabble in writing stories. Yeah, I know, you'd think I'd be better at journaling.. but that's why I just dabble with writing. LOL
4. My favorite winter food is chili with noodles. And I love hot apple cobbler for dessert.
5. I still live with my mom. LOL well, technically, my mom lives with me {since it is my house!} Works out really well most of the time. I am so grateful that she is here, because without her, I would not be able to do most of the things I do {work nights, stay on the farm, homeschool the kids and still work full time, and I certainly wouldn't be able to get as much scrapping done! Plus she is a fabulous cook! Much better than I am!}
6. I like cats better than dogs. Sorry. I know I should like them all equally. But I like that cats can take care of themselves better - they don't need to be walked in the rain. They can be left alone for a couple of days with a bowl of food and a bowl of water, and I don't have to worry about them. They don't bark.  And I like their little purrboxes.
7. I am terrified of flying. I have been afraid of flying most of my life, but was actually doing a decent job of getting over it until Sept 11th happened. Now, I don't even want to go to the airport. The last time I went was to pick up my husband when he came back from Iraq. That was 5 years ago. Which is too bad, because I would love to see Ireland again, but for now.. if I can't drive there.. I won't go.
8. I have had grey hair since I was 12. Yep, really. I blame my parents - that's when they got divorced. Most of the time I color it red.. have been thinking about doing a different color though but I always chicken out, and go back to red.
9. I have tattoos. Some of you may know that already. They are on my shoulders. One is a unicorn head with a star at the tip of the horn, and the other is this:

Well, without the words.. just the heart with flames. I've had it since 1989.
10. While I am glad my DH is out of the Army... I miss seeing him in his uniform. The dress one, of course, not the fatigues.

I am giving this award to the following people - They are all people that I follow, and admire, and weren't on Michelle's list LOL. {Click on the blog name to go to their blogs!}

Wendi - Scrappy Day in Paradise - I love Wendi's work. She has done some fabulous cards and layouts.
Susan - Creatively Savvy -  Susan's work is amazing. I want to be Susan when I grow up. :)
Ellen - Today I am Thankful For... -  Another amazing scrap artist - I love her challenges.
Lisa - Takin' Life One Day at a Time - More scrappy goodness here!
Kristin - Memories by the Pageful -  Kristin has also done some great challenges. I love the layers she does on her pages.
Nadine - My Scrap'n'stuff - Nadine has some fabulous layouts!
Peggy - Peggy's Projects -  Peggy is super nice and has some fun layouts too!
Pat - A Scrappin' Nana - Pat has done some very pretty pages, and some fabulous cards!
Ann - A Day in the Life Too -  Ann has done some fabulous projects, and takes some gorgeous photos!

Sketch layouts, and Bra Pimping

Realized I had not posted that promised sketch layout ...

I used one of Beggahuna's sketches for the Oct 1st Sketch Challenge at AMR. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Beggahuna's sketches, and I can't wait until she starts posting some new ones {she has been taking a break this summer}.

The sketch called for a 4x6 photo and 3 smaller photos. I wanted to use some of the photos from Jason's Mason City concert, because I have several series of photos, and they are from far enough away that they are pretty small. And I think I was channeling my Inner Susan for this layout, because I think the layering came out SO well! All the papers are from DCWV. Flowers are Heidi Grace and Bazzill Basics {the large pink one}. The crown pieces are actually iron-ons that I picked up at WM on cleareance. Gems, of course, are Prima. Butterflies are {I think} KI Memories - again, picked up on clearance. Alpha rubons are Making Memories. I hand stitched the stitching on the black strip - I thought more would show, but the page kept asking for more flowers. I didn't have shaped paper, so I used one of my Clear Scraps XL shapes to trace the shape on the star paper.

The other day, I did another Jason layout, with pictures from the Carlinville concert.  This layout was made using Susan's sketch for the 10/1 Daily challenge on Serendipity.   I really like Susan's sketches {as well as her fabulous layouts!} and I am glad to see that she is starting a Saturday sketch challenge on her blog. Check out her work here: Creatively Savvy

 I chose the pictures I did, because I wanted to use the really cool alligator-ish paper I found in the specialty paper section at Hobby Lobby. I knew as soon as I saw it which pictures I would use it with. Again, I didn't have it pre-cut in the right shape, so I used an XL shape as a template. Which made it a little bigger than the sketch, but it worked out. The center circle was made by tracing around one of my mom's little apple plates.

The blue cardstock, which is a little hard to see, was crumpled and then sanded - it looks like a worn pair of jeans, and almost exactly matches Jason's jeans in the photos. The rest of the papers are all DCWV, as are the chipboard embellies {from the Rock Star line}.

 I stamped the journaling on precut strips, then snipped them to fit the space I had, inked and edge distressed them. For emphasis I put several parts of the journaling up on popdots {"up front and center", "literally", "(And I did.)"}. The smaller boot picture is also up on pop dots. Title letters are thickers. Gems are Primas and some flourishes from the line at WM.

This was a fun layout to make. I loved how close we were at the concert, and these pictures were taken to show that. {plus, I kinda have a thing for cowboy boots LOL}

Have a couple of more layouts in the works - don't worry, they won't all be JMC layouts LOL. Working on one with the trio of pictures from Nicole's challenge, and will be working on the numerous old Halloween photos I have. {Halloween layouts earn bonus points this month for the Team Challenge on Serendipity} Plus I have several atc swaps I need to get done - themes include fruits, circles, Twilight, Pink (a breast cancer awareness swap}, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a friendship swap sponsored by Hero Arts (which means I'd better go through my stamps and find one that's made by them!}

And speaking of breast cancer awareness, don't forget the Pimp My Bra crop at Serendipity Oct 16-19 and the Scrap Pink Mini Crop at Scrap Attack Oct 24-25!

Twisted Cherry has designed some fabulous albums for the Pimp My Bra crop - you can get them in the Serendipity store!

And the best part about these albums?? Kristen is going to donate 50% of the proceeds of albums sold through Oct 31st to the National Breast Cancer Association!

Hope to see you at the crops!

JMC and NRS partnership

New post on the JMC website (http://www.jasonmichaelcarroll.com/):

"Hurry Home" To Address Runaway Crisis and Awareness

The National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) and Jason have formed a partnership to raise awareness about the runaway crisis in America and the help that youth and families can receive by calling 1-800-RUNAWAY.

The announcement comes after the recent release of Michael's second single, "Hurry Home". A song about a father and his runaway daughter and the struggles each faces during a challenging time, "Hurry Home" poignantly portrays the love of a parent whose overriding wish is simply for the safe return of his child.

Carroll personally experienced the effects of what a runaway episode can do to a family when his aunt ran from home when he was a young boy.


"I was so young when my aunt left home that I grew up not knowing who she was - just someone we prayed for every night," says Carroll. "For all the families who are missing someone dear to them, and for all the young people who need a hand getting home, or staying home, I hope that what we're doing can help bring attention to an important issue and to the great resources available through NRS."

To learn more about NRS, visit www.1800RUNAWAY.org.


I think this is just awesome. And there isn't a more perfect song/video to help get the word out. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is...