halloween treat bag toppers...

Classic: today I woke up to one of the most grim days ever in terms of weather... really dark, raining heavily - a typical Scottish day, really.  I then read on the internet that October is to be a "heatwave" month... one of the warmest on record.  This week, in particular, is to be very warm "as far north as Glasgow" (and I quote).  Is someone having a laugh?  It's around 2pm here at the moment and it's like the middle of the night - almost no daylight whatsoever! 

Anyway... here are some of my Halloween treat bag toppers.  I've stamped the kids' names on the back in black ink surrounded by some more stamped orange stars.  They were easy to make, but I think they look quite effective. The base cardstock is Pumpkin Pie from Stampin' Up! and I've distressed everything with black ink.  The photos aren't the best, I'm afraid... did I mention that we have no daylight?!

Erin has a pumpkin outfit for Halloween and Marley has a Scooby Doo outfit... I couldn't find a matching pumpkin outfit for him. 

september mini book...

This is my mini book made during September and vaguely based on Shimelle Laine's "Learn Something New Every Day" concept... I started off in the right way with the front cover (got the title right!), but thereafter the similarity ends.  It doesn't bother me that I didn't follow the format... I genuinely didn't think I would, to be honest.... I just wanted to do a September mini book with an entry for each day. Some days contain "learnings" (this reminds me so much of coaching I had at work when we had to write down our "learnings" at the end of each session!), but most entries just contain a note of something or several somethings that I've done that day.  Most entries have photos, but not all of them.

I've still got a few bits and pieces to finish off in relation to the last four entries (when I was on holiday in Aberdeenshire and didn't really have time to do the entries on a daily basis), but aside from that I'm pretty much finished. I quite enjoyed it to begin, but almost sawed my head off by the end of it... I have a very short attention span!  I'm pleased with the finished product, though, and I think it was worth doing. If nothing else, Erin will be able to pick it up in years to come and see what her mum was up to in September 2009 - that was my overriding interest when I was making the entries (rather than the "learnings"), as I think it's probably information that she would never gain knowledge of otherwise and it might be quite interesting for her (in an odd way)!  I'll seriously consider doing another book next September!

You probably can't see it in the photo, but I've "drawn" around the front (and back) covers with lime green Stickles.  The covers themselves are chipboard which has been painted black outside and misted brown and bronze inside. The front inside cover has a clock image done with a clock mask and mists.  I've used distress inks - mainly browns and greens - and other inks/stamping (particularly autumn stamps and leaves) almost everywhere.  There's newspaper on the front cover too.

I love the this photo of Marley on the first page after the tags etc on the inside front cover.  The frog on the opposite page is one of those window sticker things which my brother obtained from some fast food place and was going to throw in the bin on the 1st of September... hence it made it into my book under the entry for that day!  I cut a mini page protector in half and stuck the frog to the back.

Every single page started as a plain white page.  Each page was inked around the edges with beige ink, stamped with green leaves and then drawn around with a black pen.  I used that as the core of the book and then worked from there.  I've also inserted ledger-style brown straight-edged pages between each of the scalloped pages.  I stamped the date in the top left or right corner of each page. Some days have two or three pages, but most have just one page.

I've used this green transparency to mark the half way point between the entries for 15th and 16th September.  The first half of the book is by far the best and I'm really pleased with it. The last quarter is pretty dull, to be fair... you can tell that I had lost interest!  However, I refuse to spend much more time on it... recently I've decided that it's a waste of time to keep trundling on with something you're bored with.  I've just got a few missing bits to add to the last few pages and I'll call it a day at that.

sad

I am officially the saddest act ever... I'm waiting here with excitement for my new tumble dryer to be delivered!  I mean... how sad is that?!  Long overdue, though... ours is broken and utterly rubbish.  I do have some photos to share, though, including this cute one of Erin with Dolly the Mamas & Papas doll... her favourite doll (so far).  Lovely and sunny today - a proper autumn day.  It was nice yesterday too, but I think it's to rain tomorrow.

Got some nice scrapbooking stuff in the post this morning, including these lovely little kraft coloured envelopes... can't wait to use them.  I think they'd be good in a mini book.

high five

Marley did a hysterical thing today... I'd been hyperventilating waiting for the UPS man to deliver my Stampin' Up! order... he eventually appeared at 3.30.  Marley is trained to do a "high five" either when you say "high five" or when you hold your hand out flat at a height... it involves him slowly jumping up (not aggressively; he gently stands on his back feet - a bit like a dog-meerkat) and putting his front paws on your hand and then quickly jumping down again. Unfortunately, the poor mutt thought the UPS man wanted a high five when he held out his hand with the signature machine!  Marley gently put two paws on the machine and went back down to sitting position waiting patiently for a reward for his efforts. I swear I had tears running down my face and the UPS guy was in hysterics (probably made his day, I think!).  I wish I'd managed to catch it on camera. 

Amongst other things, I got two lovely packs of paper... one blue-toned one and one Christmas set... think I'll use them to make cards, though, rather than scrapbook.

I got Erin a pumpkin Halloween outfit from Sainsbury's yesterday... cute matching pumpkin slippers too.  I also ended up buying a pumpkin t-shirt (it was only £2.50 and I couldn't resist) and some funky autumn-coloured tights.  I haven't bought baby clothes from Sainsbury's before, but they had quite a few nice things. I also couldn't resist some Russian doll vest/t-shirts... loved the colours and they were only £8 for 7... which seemed like a bargain.  I put one on her this morning and they look even better than I expected (and the quality feels pretty good too).  I have a serious baby clothes addiction, I think... between that and craft stuff. The end product is that I'll be walking around like a tramp and Erin will be dressed beautifully (and I'll have enough paper to wallpaper my way around the world at least twice).  I just need to get Marley's halloween outfit and then I'll be all sorted. I'm having real difficulty finding a pumpkin outfit for him, so it's down to a choice of wonder woman, scooby doo and tweetiepie (found on the internet).  I have a feeling that he doesn't want to wear last year's spiderman number again.

mini books

I've decided that I'm working on too many mini books at once. I mean... look at this pile!  I chucked the one I'd been working on back on the pile this morning and heard the thud... and immediately thought it merited a photo.  Disaster.  I need to get some of them finished and moved out of the "to do" pile.  I get bored working on one thing, you see... but I think it can be suffocating to have too many on the go at the same time (with the result that I get nothing done).  I don't seem to have much free time nowadays either (babies take up a lot of time - but I'm not complaining!), so that makes it twice as bad.

I managed to make four identical cupcake birthday cards last night (well... I finished them off this morning).  I needed three for October birthdays and I kept a fourth as a sample for my Stampin' Up! sample folder.  If you're interested in more info on how to make them, click here.  I was going for the autumnal look!  Autumn is by far my favourite season.

It isn't raining today, so that's a result. I suppose there's time yet!  (Black clouds were looming, but seem to have passed by without incident).  I've had to put the heating on twice today, mind you, but it looks like quite a nice day aside from that... and we've even had some sunshine!

I'm absolutely starving, so off to get some food. I don't seem to be eating well with Erin on the scene. I feel as though I'm running from one disaster to another and don't have time to make any food!  I suppose it will just take me time to adjust; she's three months old now - time flies!