HaPpY HaLloWeEn

Greetings ghosts, ghouls and goblins,

Here they are, my first Trick or Treater's of the night. Two of these little ones are almost always my first visitors of the evening. My niece and nephew make my house their first stop and then off to grandma's house they go. Usually a 35 minute drive for mom and dad but now she's only about 15 minutes down the interstate. We like that.

This little witch is my Angel,

and Travis is none other than Darth Vader. I think he will forever be a Star Wars fan.

This is my oldest niece, Christina. Chrissy is my brothers child from a prior relationship. Bad things were happening in her home and she is now in foster care. My brother has stepped forward and the system is now integrating her into their home. Things are going well and she is loving getting to know her younger siblings better and learning to trust more. We are praying that soon she will be permanently placed in their home. We would be grateful for your prayers.

We had lunch at Pizza Hut today with Bobbie and our granddaughter. I love Pizza Hut's buffet. They went off to visit friends until the witching hour. In our terms that is 6:00-8:00 p.m. being trick or treating time. She will trick or treat our house last and stay the night so mommy can go hang with friends. We are going to watch the comedy Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder. I love that movie. I had some fun playing around with pictures today and came up with these.

Creepy Monster Face...

My version of Mona Lisa...

Uhhh, I don't know...
Too cute to be scary...
Screeching cat!

Happy Halloween everyone, Be safe and have fun!

And Happy Harvest to those that don't do Halloween.

Fall is such a nice time of year.

Tess

Today's Message is:

Life is short,

Break the rules,
Forgive quickly,

Kiss slowly,

Love truly,

Laugh uncontrollably,

And
never regret anything that made you smile...

******

OK, I admit it. I got this from a forwarded

e-mail. But I thought the message was well worth repeating.

Today is Wednesday, hmmm, humpday.

So have a great day cuz' the weeks half over.

(That could be good or bad depending on your to-do list. Take it as good, ok.)

Tess

Brixton Lane Paperie: 31 Days of Fall {B-Day Giveaway}

Greetings All,
Do fly by and wish Jessica a Happy Birthday. Enter her wonderful birthday giveaway too. Tell her why you are thankful. I knew immediately what I was thankful for. God's gift of health to my Bobbie Jo.
Brixton Lane Paperie: 31 Days of Fall {B-Day Giveaway}

Later,

Tess

A Fun Day at the Zoo

Greetings all,

It's been a quiet Sunday here. I've had a chance to look over some pictures taken yesterday of my granddaughter and to write another article for AC. Hubby and I had a movie date this afternoon, we seen Saw VI. For those of you that like that type of film you won't be disappointed. Laundry is about done too. It's been a good day.

Please go read "Black Cat Halloween Costume How To" over at my AC site. It was so much fun to put together. The tutu took me a week to make in my spare time. Seems I don't have much of it anymore; time that is. Not since I found Face Book anyway. I must learn to watch the clock while on there or Face Book steals my time away. LOL

Careful now, there may be animals hiding in the tall grasses.

My granddaughter wanted to be a Fancy Black Cat for Halloween so I obliged. It was fun browsing around the internet looking for ideas and then getting together all of the things that would be needed. We did a trial trick or treating run yesterday. The local zoo had a trick or treating day yesterday and I took my granddaughter in costume. She is 10 now and getting close to the age of not being accepted as a trick or treater and yet she still loves dressing up and meeting new people. She really showed interest in all of the little kids and loved all the different costumes she seen. We even seen a Grouch in a trash can. I didn't get a picture and wish I had. We seen lots of animals and she even got to touch a few lizards and a big snake. Yuck!! Fearless she is when it comes to animals. This is the little gal that held a baby alligator, remember. Fearless!! So hear are some of the pics. Do go to your local zoo as it's a wonderful stage for beautiful backgrounds for photos with all of the beautiful fall colors.

I wonder what species of cat is sunning itself here?

We got to see a baby too.

There's that black cat again.

This wizard told wonderful stories about the creepy crawly things.

She really did touch this snake. It took two "witches" to carry it around.

Beautiful!!

Trick or Treat


You all have a good week now, ya' here...

Tess

matsutake: How to transfer inkjet images to wood

I found this at mod podge rocks and just had to share it with you all. matsutake: How to transfer inkjet images to wood

I Sewed a Newspaper Banner with my Elna

Hi Folks,

A few weekends back I went to my favorite book store, Hasting's. While there I purchased the GreenCraft magazine from the publishers of Somerset Studio. I had read about the magazine in other Somerset Studio publications and on the net. I love this magazine and have already attempted making a craft from one of the pages. On pages 62-64 Maya Donenfield talks about making banners from newspaper. (After reading my blog post click on Maya's name to visit her blog.) On page 64 of her article is a lovely valentine banner that I fell in love with. So many people make such wonderful things with paper and their sewing machines. I received a new Elna for a gift from hubby several years ago and have been afraid of the idea of sewing on paper. What if I mess up my machines settings? I didn't dare. And the needles, I knew from reading on other's blogs, that sewing on paper dulls needles quickly. But I loved this valentine heart banner and wanted to make one for my boss. You see she's been on vacation in Alabama and while their she got married. I wanted to make a banner to decorate her office for her return. I decided to go for it.

I loved painting on the newspaper, made me feel like a child again. I started with a paint brush but ended up using my fingers mostly. Also I did not have enough red paint so I made my own by adding black and pink to what I already had. I decided to cut out the hearts by free hand instead of using a template so they would not all be uniform. I changed up a bit from what Maya had shown in her article. I decided to make my hearts a bit puffy so I cut two hearts the same and sewed them together leaving a bit of an opening and stuffed with just a touch of pillow batting. It looked great and my machine handled the paper just fine. After that first heart was completed I was hooked and off and running. In my spare time (not much of) over a week I made enough little hearts to create my banner. I let the paper dry overnight before even attempting to handle it. I wanted to spell out "diane & daryl". I sewed them all together leaving space in between each and then used letter stickers to spell out their names. Next I finger painted clear glitter paint over each letter and heart front to add a bit of sparkle. It turned out great and Diane loved it.

Above is the entire banner placed on my scanner.

Somewhere in all of this is their wedding date as I used our local newspaper from that day.

Congratulations Diane and Daryl, May you have many happy years together. :)

I am definitely going to make more of these. I am thinking of finger painting a few pages with fall colors and cutting out leaves. Or how about shades of green and cutting out Christmas Trees? They would look so pretty strung along the dining room wall. I could use buttons and glitter and puffy paint to decorate them. Oh and how about spelling out my granddaughters name to place above her bedroom door. She loves pink and hearts. Pink hearts! Oh but not just yet as grandma is making her Halloween costume this year. She will be a fancy black cat. We bought the ears, tail and a half mask at Wal Mart. She has black gloves, leggings and black faux fur slippers too. But best of all, I am making her a black tutu. And fur cuffs too. Oh but this story is for another blog. I plan to have a photo session with her before Halloween.

Happy Sunday Everyone and Have a Great Week Ahead,

Tess

Christmas Card Quotes
The sparkle and beauty of Christmas cards may not be the only aspect of a favorite Christmas Card. The Christmas Card Quote inside may be just the thing to warm a friend or relatives heart this holiday season.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/2276461/christmas_card_quotes.html

Greetings all,

I have some wonderful news to share.

Billie and Derek (a self portrait)

My lovely youngest daughter has started an account on imagekind. Billie Jo is a wonderful amateur photographer. She has been behind a camera since she was a child. I would say photography is more an obsession with her than a hobby. I've always felt she should pursue photography as a career. Billie and my son-in-law both found themselves unemployed Dec.31st, 2008 when the factory they both worked at downsized by eliminating an entire shift. My son-in-law has since gone back to school. LAst night I mentioned using her photography as a way to possibly bring in some much needed funds and she went for it.

Please do take the time to visit Billie Jo on imagekind. Leave her some comment encouragement too and maybe even make a purchase if you feel so inclined. She only has 2 photos submitted so far but I am positive with some encouragement (from other than mom) she will be adding more.

A few photos courtesy of Billie Jo:

A Kansas sunset over the lake.

View from the ferris wheel.

She loves this face.

And this one too. (They have 5 cats)

Their God daughter, Aria. (Her favorite photo subject.)

Thanks for taking a peek and have a wonderful rest of the week.

Tess

Looking for Fall Foliage
Fall Foliage is scarce this year here in Kansas. Mother nature isn't painting the leaves as early as some years past. But if you look around you just may find the signs that Autumn is upon us.
http://www.associatedcontent.comslideshow/30259/looking_for_fall_foliage.html

Diary of a Crafty Chica: Caption Contest: Martian Chihuahua With the Measles

This is hilarious and oh so cute at the same time. Check out Kathy Cano-Murillo's marvelous Chihuahua:

Diary of a Crafty Chica: Caption Contest: Martian Chihuahua With the Measles