diane, I hold in my hand a small box of chocolate bunnies

we don't do much for halloween these days...but i have the fondest of memories of going trick-or-treating as a kid in some great home-put-together costumes (many of those covered by winter coats) in freezing october halloween nights common to colorado. i remember going to a school dance on halloween in junior high dressed, along with my best friend, as a pair of dice. try dancing with a cute boy while wearing a box the size of a washer/dryer. yeah. bad idea.

tonight will find kirk and i welcoming mom (marti) for a visit with a cool jack-o-lantern, lots of candles, caramel apples, warm chex mix & pumpkin seeds (i'm going to try not to burn them) and some classic creepy movies the likes of young frankenstein and the 3rd man. should be fun!

hope you have something fun planned to help you get your spook on.
(did i just say, "get your spook on?" *sighs and shakes head*)

i leave you now with some scenes from my all-time favorite, and in my opinion the best in television history, creepy show...
(to turn off the spooky tunage...click the || button to the right --->)







David Lynch was just too cool for TV.

happy halloween everyone!

progress...

is a good thing.

the photos to the left are my progress on the mysteries of me mini-album class mentioned in earlier posts. i really like how things are coming together. and guess what folks? i SEWED! yep - me, the girl who would have failed (not kidding) home economics if her mother had not baked her a pie for extra credit.

not only did i sew, by hand (me and sewing machines don't see eye to eye,) but i sewed 4 different stitches - and didn't have to start over once! i am normally not this thrilled with myself, really, it's just that i was going to take the easy way out and glue/staple these pockets together, but i just decided to try it. needle & thread, and guessing at various stitches. they aren't perfect, they don't look like they were done on a machine, some of the stitches are loose, but by golly, i'm proud of the darn things!

the cover (middle photo) for the mini-book turned out pretty too - i used some pattern paper to match the inside of the bigger book, a tag dyed with tea and blue liquid ink, and i SEWED on a scallop trim, and added the other embellishments as directed.

this is going to be a really cute project...that ms. kartchner has such a flair for cute!

inside the mini album are going to be stories, tickets, photos, thoughts, little journal entries about a variety of topics. having a great time, even if i do have to fit in the creative fun after 12 hour workdays and stay up until 3 a.m. dyeing tags and poking my poor fingertips with needles! :)

thanks for stopping by, and have a good one, everybody...

artsy craftsy goodness

as promised, some of the creative stuff i've been working on lately:

first up, some birthday cards for the october babies in my life.

















next, those coffee sleeve notebooks i was talking about...









aren't they cute? and...EASY! wouldn't that christmas-y one make an adorable little place to keep all of those holiday shopping lists this coming winter? tutorial on how to make these on the way, so stay tuned!

lastly, i mentioned in a previous post that i signed up to take a class taught by Liz Kartchner, called "mysteries of me." this weekend the first two lessons were posted on the class site, and i got started this afternoon. we are making little mini-books that will be kept in re-purposed vintage books. pretty sweet idea, huh?

so far, we've gutted the book and made it into a little box, decorated the front cover, and started to prepare some of the other items to begin the mini-album soon. i found a really neat old book of poetry by robert frost amongst some old books...the cover is super-distressed and a beautiful teal color.

while i hated taking a knife to a book of such classic proportions, the pages were in pretty bad shape and falling out of the binding, so...i chose to look at it as restorative surgery and re-cycling instead of torturing classic literature. :)

here's my progress so far:

i had to put some new paper on the inside cover as an end-paper as the original was tearing from the cover. i also added some gaffer tape to help strengthen the binding since it was tearing away from the pages.

i left some of the pages in the bottom, and cut using an exacto knife about 1 inch deep to make the "pocket" where the mini-album will fit.

used rub-ons, stamping, and some other goodies on the front cover.

i love it so far!

p.s. my sunday dreams noted below came true except i traded coffee for iced tea because for some reason southern california has decided to send autumn away for awhile longer and invited summer temps to come back...much to my dismay, i am so over this hot weather!

hope you all had a great weekend, too, and are gearing up for a productive and happy week.

ahhhhh, sunday....

i'm going to do everything in my power to make sure my sunday is all about coffee, staying in my pj's, creative projects, hanging out with my love, and being as lazy as can be. how about you?

luckily i didn't party too hard last night so my sunday morning is a little brighter than johnny's...

fall favorites

oak glen, ca.
pumpkins. apples. cider. squash. scarecrows. weather-beaten red buildings. cornfields. old wheelbarrows near autumn flowers.
life is good.

oh....hi there, october!

can you believe it's october? this year is moving along like an energizer bunny on crack who's had a few too many shots of espresso! not that i'm complaining - i LOVE autumn: october, cooler weather (finally!), pumpkin spice lattes, breaking out the slipper socks and flannel sheets, spicy candles, and the beginning of the holidays...

so, in addition to cleaning out my craft room and getting rid of some items i just don't use (keep watching for more sales on ebay,) i've been digging in again and finding the creative spark that seemed to be buried this summer in work, heat, and lack of energy.

i found a cute way to recycle those starbucks coffee sleeves (it's all those pumpkin lattes i've been drinking - photo to come later), started collecting items for my next "december daily" album, and signed up for an online class called "the mysteries of me" taught by elizabeth kartchner, who is very talented and just too cute - looking forward to it!

outside the craft room has been positive too! Work at Walden has finally started to hit a manageable plateau after a crazy busy summer; i've developed some new time management habits that are really helping me get more done both at home and at work; kirk and i have decided to start practicing songs again in hopes of playing some local gigs; and i'll begin working on what may be the final year of "heidi's jingle bell jam" very soon!

i hope you're enjoying fall as much as i am so far! stay tuned for photos/videos of some of these projects and a few holiday giveaways as we head toward halloween...


p.s. does it get any better than nat king cole singing about autumn? no. no it does not. :)

go kim!

below is one of my good friends since way back in college.


her name is kim, better known to me as kimus thomus, who is inspiring us all with her marathon training and her persistent striving to work through the loss of her father, who was her "daddy long legs." she is documenting her grief process HERE.

everyone faces loss. and while i know this could happen at any moment, i can't imagine losing any of my parents (now that i count kirk's parents as my own, too) or how much pain i would feel.

nor can i imagine actually running a marathon. but i CAN imagine how proud she's going to be when she crosses that finish line next week, and i know her family and friends will be just as proud.

we're all cheering for you, kim! rock that marathon, girl!

i'm cleaning the studio...

...which means fun things for someone else!



If you are interested, the Ebay listing can be seen if you click HERE.

Happy Stamping and Good Luck to all who bid!