I live with Harry Potter

Yesterday my son's school had a "Literary Parade".  The kids could dress as their favorite literary character (no cartoon characters or monsters allowed).  They were to bring along the book from which their character came and they could also bring a small pumpkin decorated as either the character or as a sidekick. 

Is that not the cutest Harry Potter you've ever seen?  And that's his owl Hedwig. 

He said a few other kids dressed as HP but they didn't have the lightening scar.

Huh???!!!! 

Isn't that the most defining feature of HP??

Ever since we got the HP glasses and tie a few days ago he's been wearing them around the house (and out to dinner last night) because he likes to look like a nerd.  LOL!

trick or treat disney style

Boo!

Bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth, huh?  I think this has been the longest hiatus I've taken from the blog since I started blogging about a year and a half ago. 

Busy, busy, busy! 

I've been working on lots of layouts and projects, mostly for Scrapbook News and Review.  I'll share them as I can.  Some of them you can see throughout this week during their daily Halloween email newsletters.  Sign up now if you're not already receiving them.  There are some AMAZING projects by the staffers on there.  Lots of great Halloween ideas!  You can see many more in the upcoming Octobert/November double issue premiering Sunday 10/31. 

I began my hiatus with 5 days at the Disneyland Resort.  Our hotel was awesome because it had an entrance right into California Adventure (which, truth be told, I love so much more than Disneyland...is that wrong?). 

We met up with some friends right at the beginning and hung out for a little while for the Disneyland Halloween celebration.  They close the park early to general admission and you have to have a special pass to be in the park for the evening.  (Translation: They get you to pretty much pay double to be in the park all day long on that day.  Mmm hmmm.  It was fun but not THAT fun.)  They have a special Halloween-themed fireworks display with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme, a special Halloween parade with the characters dressing up in costumes, and trick-or-treating. 

The boy dressed up as Woody (I think this is his third Woody costume since he was 2 - the boy LOVES Woody) and the girl was a punk-y version of Alice in Wonderland.  Not intentionally, although I think it looks ADORABLE.  In my haste to pack I overlooked the footwear aspect of the costume so she ended up wearing her All-Stars. 

Loving this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch!

So, I set out to make this layout really quickly and wouldn't ya know it, I decide to get all fancy on the ears and ended up spending waaaaaay longer than I wanted to on it.  Oh, well.  I think it's pretty cute!

I tried to make the Mickey ears look like a real hat by sewing the words.  Yes, with my sewing machine. 

This Friday the boy's school is having a Literary Parade (apparently we can't do Halloween in school anymore?) where the kids can dress up as a literary character - no cartoon characters or monsters allowed.  The boy has picked Harry Potter and I can't wait to get him all dressed up.  They can bring a small pumpkin to carry which can be either a miniature version of their character or a sidekick.  (If I get it done) the boy will be carrying a white pumpkin made to look like Hedwig.  I'm so proud!!!  I'll definitely share pics.  He's already been wearing the HP glasses all around and he looks like Harry! 

So, do you do Halloween?  Any big plans for the weekend?

Heidi

p.s.  Tessa from Precocious Paper is challenging everyone throughout the month of November to develop an Attitude of Gratitude.



Every day in November she'll share on her blog something she is grateful for.  I will definitely try to follow her lead and play along.  Goodness knows my gratitude attitude could use some developing!   Check out Tessa's post here to see how to play along.

Happy Autumn

A couple weeks ago Scrapbook News and Review ran a 10 day special newsletter campaign with fall tags by 10 artists complete with step-by-step tutorials on how to make the beautiful tags.  In case you happened to miss out on the newsletters, check out the SNR forum to see them.

In the meantime, here's the one I included:

You can better see in this picture that it's a transparent tag.  I was going for a stained-glass look.  I used some Barbie packaging and alcohol inks.

For a step-by-step tutorial on how to make this IMHO gorgeous tag, check out the SNR forum, this post.

See that gorgeous orange flower on there?  It's a Precocious Paper Briday Satin Blossom.  They come 3 to a pack, 1 large with a pretty rhinestone center and 2 smaller ones like the one on the tag. 

And if you like that flower, wait until you see what I did with EIGHTEEN - yes, that's right 18 - Halloween Precocious Paper flowers in a very special week of  daily Halloween newsletters by Scrapbook News and Review that will begin mailing out on the 24th.  I'll even have another tutorial for you.  If you're not already, sign up to receive SNR's newsletters before the 24th to check it out.  You won't be disappointed.  There will be TONS of Halloween eye candy - layouts, cards, inchies, ATCs, special projects, and quite a few tutorials. 

Well, off to Disneyland for the first time in three years.  I'm so excited to see my kids' reactions.  The Boy was just barely 4 and The Girl was a couple weeks shy of 2.  I'm pretty sure they don't remember much and now they're tall enough (and hopefully brave enough) to go on most everything.  We're even Trick-or-Treating with Mickey Friday night!  Can't wait!!!!!!!

Have a great week!!!

p.s.  Don't forget to check out the new challenges up this week:  Pink Ninjas on Wednesday, Sketchy Thursdays on Thursday (go figure) and Scrap That Poetry on Friday!

Precocious Cards

Yea!  My first couple projects for Precocious Paper!!  Every Friday Tessa will be showcasing a few projects from a couple of the DT members.  Be sure to pop over there to check out what Suzy made, also!!

I knew the second I saw these Ecru Botanical Fabric and Felt Flowers in the Precocious Paper Etsy store that I would be pairing them with this yummy super wide striped ribbon.  (I know I am soon going to be kicking myself for not buying more than one roll of this ribbon.  It was a Michael's Halloween edition and they sold out of it fast.) 

A simple card but the flower and ribbon are so larger-than-life that they carry it off easily. 

I also went simple with this birthday card:

And, trust me, the light brown in the animal print ribbon and that in the flower are much closer in color than they look in this picture. 

This is another Fabric and Felt Flower from the Fruit Punch Bouquet.  This particular one is made with Amy Butler fabric.   These Fabric and Felt Flowers are just amazing.  HUGE.  (To give you an idea, the top card is 3x6, the bottom is 4-1/4 x 5.)  And with so many layers - they're just lush.  I'm going to have a really hard time giving away this card but it's going to a good home.  ;o)

This weekend only (thru 10/10/10) you can get 25% off the products featured on the Precocious Paper blog (including these two flower collections I've shown you) in the Precocious Paper Etsy store!!!!  Check out the blog for details.   Awesome!!!!

I can't believe we're looking at a Saturday without any birthday parties, events, or anything formal scheduled.  I'm so excited!!  I feel like it's been forever since we've had one of those beauties. 

Hopefully The Girl is feeling better tomorrow.  She was feverish all day, sleeping quite a bit of it.  Here's a piece of advice, something we all learned today.  If you feel like you need to throw up, don't squash both your hands up to your face like you're going to sneeze.  I'll leave that up to your imagination.  LOL. 

Thursdays Is Going to the Dogs

Happy Thursday!!!

First of all, check out the new digs over on the Sketchy Thursdays blog.  Diana outdid herself with our gorgeous new header and background!!! 

Second, check out all the amazing inspiration being provided by our brand new DT for this sketch:

Yes, another very simple one by me.  Hmmm...maybe I'm subconsciously looking for some calm in my constant sea of craziness right now.  LOL.

And I went very simple on my layout, too. 

One thing I've always loved about my dogs is that they're both VERY expressive.  I happened to capture a couple of hilarious moments a few days ago of my hubby and Dr. Stinky Wrinkleman (yes, that's his official name).  I thought I'd cartoonize it a bit...

Stinky exists to eat.  And I just know he's always thinking, "What the heck is wrong with these people??!!  Why can't I have food 24-7-365??!!" 

Come, play along with us.  This week we have a really cool piece of art up for grabs by Angie Delarie Scrapbooking Products.

Have a great day!!

Heidi

Lift Up Your Eyes

Today marks the first anniversary for the Scrap That Poetry challenge blog.  Congratulations Jennifer!  You have created such a wonderful site and this anniversary is testament to this in this fickle online world where challenge blogs come and go in a blink of an eye.  I feel so lucky to be a part of this inspirational blog and included amongst the amazing designers and guest designers, both past, present, and future (3 new members of the DT will be announced on Monday!). 

The current Scrap That Poetry challenge is the poem "The Rock Cries Out to Us" by Maya Angelou.  This is one heck of a looooong poem but it is full of tons of scrappy fuel.  And, in case the poem isn't enough to get your creative juices flowing, Jennifer has also allowed me to create a sketch for additional inspiration.  You don't have to use the sketch if you want to play along with us (but I hope you do, lol!). 

I enthusiastically jumped on the chance to stay on the STP DT for the next term because, as I told Jennifer, I have found inspiration numerous times with the STP poems to scrap favorite pictures I been previously unable to work into a design.   And today's poem was no exception.  I love this beautiful moment in time captured on film of my daughter.

"Lift up your eyes upon

The day breaking for you

Give birth again

To the dream...

The horizon leans forward,

Offering you space to place

New steps of change."

You have until the 14th to play along with us!  We'd love to have you share. 

And please, bop on over to the STP blog and wish Jennifer a Happy Anniversary and let the amazing DT know just how beautiful their creations are.

Have a great weekend!

Heidi

Cub Scouts & Coming Home

I went really basic with this week's Sketchy Thursday's sketch.  I left it up to LOTS of interpretation.

This week my son earned his first few Cub Scout belt loops and his Bobcat Badge.  

The Bobcat Badge is a big deal.  It signifies the scout has learned the Cub Scout Promise and the Honesty Connection, The Law of the Pack, the meaning of Weblos, the Cub Scout Sign, handshake, motto & salute, and "A Bobcat Requirement". 

All the boys who earned this patch were called up onto the stage during our Pack-wide meeting with one parent.  We painted different colors on specific parts of our Scout's face which recognizes their accomplishment. 

• The blue is from the sky. The blue paw print of the Bobcat on your forehead is the spirit of the bobcat, and to remind you to do your best on the Cub Scout Trail.
• The yellow is from the sun. The yellow marks under your eyes will help you see the light of the Cub Scout Trail, and symbolize the bright spirit of Cub Scouting.
• The white on your nose is for purity and to help you know right from wrong as you go along the Cub Scout Trail.
• The red mark on your chin is for courage to always speak the truth.
• Finally, the green mark on each cheek symbolizes the spirit of nature to guide the Cub Scout in living in harmony with the great outdoors.

I am so proud of my little dude!  (Other than that uber cheesey grin he has on his face for the picture, LOL.)
 
This week's Pink Ninjas prompt is "pretty in pink".  Well, of course I had to make a page about my little girlie. 
 

 
This is her going-home-from-the-hospital outfit.  She's one-day-old here.  I call this her "Driving Miss Daisy" look so I went with some old-fashioned looking colors and pattens. 
 
Thanks for stopping by today!

Precocious Paper

I'm so excited!!!!

I made the Precocious Paper DT!!!! 

I just LOVE Tessa's gorgeous flowers.  The girl has skillz!!!!!   Check out the Precocious Paper Etsy Store!! 

And although the DT term doesn't officially start until October, I used a Precocious Paper mini Satin Bridal Bloom on a fall tag I created for a special series running in the Scrapbook News and Review newsletter right now.  It's a series of 10 or so fall-themed tags created by both SNR staffers and a few readers and each will have step-by-step instructions for how to make them.  Mine is in today's newsletter!  Go sign up for the newsletter to see it!!!   Here's a tiny sneaky peek:

Speaking of SNR, the new issue comes out on Sunday.  Have you subscribed?  Every month they pack the issue full of over 400 projects including layouts, cards, ATC, inchies, and other special projects.  That's a steal for under $5 and you're being green and saving room by not having a paper magazine!

Plus, have you seen the newest Sketchy Thursdays sketch?  LOVE it!  I had a whole slew of Disneyland pictures all lined up ready to scrap this sketch but life interfered and I didn't get it done this time around.  I definitely still plan to use this one because it's perfect for the D-land pictures and I'll be sure to share it when I do.

Hope you have some awesome weekend plans.  Tonight my son will be having his first sleepover ever.  I'm nervous.  I'm just glad his first sleepover is at our house.  And tomorrow is his birthday party at a place called Makutu's Island.  This is the first time I've held a birthday party outside of our house and I'm soooo excited!!!!  No clean up!  Woohoo!!!!!

Heidi

Happy Birthday Little Man!

I can't believe my little man is SEVEN today!  He's so grown up!!!!

Look how BIG he is!!!!

Showing off the ~ahem~ fart whistle and other goodies the birthday fairy brought him overnight.

See that piece of paper he's holding?  It's hard to read in these pics because I had to stand so goshdarn far back to get his whole huge self in the pictures, but every year I take a picture of him holding a piece of paper that announces his age.  Due to having to be in class at 8:10, this is the first year since he was born that I haven't been able to take his picture at EXACTLY the time of day he was born, 8:22 am.  Guess I could've technically followed him to school and taken his picture in class but I'm guessing neither him nor his teacher would've looked too kindly upon that, lol.

6-years-old

5-years-old

4-years-old

3-years-old

2-years-old

1-year-old

Happy Birthday Little Man!

And just because I couldn't resist it, a pic of him the other day in his Cub Scouts uniform...

First Day of School and Playlists

Wow!  Somehow Scrap That Poetry's and The Pink Ninjas's prompts have fallen on the same day again! 

Let's start with STP.  The new poem is "First Day of School" by Eddie Garcia.  This poem really spoke to me.  I finally had inspiration for scrapping the very traumatic before-school scene of my son's first day of Kindergarten. 

My son was so sad but he tried to keep up a brave face. It killed me to watch him from afar try to be brave standing in line with all his new and unfamiliar classmates until his teacher led him off to his new classroom. He finally ended up crying a little bit and tried to hide his face in his shirt. I didn't want to make it worse by running over to him so I just stood back and took pictures. Since that day, over a year ago, I have had a hard time even looking at the pictures, they make me feel so sad. The first few lines of the poem went perfectly with these pics.

Remembering my first day of school,

Scared adn feeling I'd become a fool...

Afraid of being left alone,

Away from Mom & Dad

My comfort zone...

I remember being taken away by a lady saying

We were going to have fun today...

...

I was feeling very lonely and sad...

 
I feel such a sense of relief having finally scrapped this moment.  This part of his school story deserved to be told and claim a place in his Kindergarten album.  (Truth be told, I'm happy these pictures are finally off my desk!  I'm so done with that guilt trip!)
 
I must qualify this story and tell you that when he came out after school he was beaming.  He'd made his first bff and most of the rest of the year was awesome.  Whew!



On to happier subjects...
 
So, what's in YOUR playlist?
 
That's what The Pink Ninjas want to know!
 
 

October/November 2010 issue

 
Mine is all over the place.  I have over 1000 songs on my iPod and I have lots of different playlists catering to my different moods:  All Time Faves, Teenage Dirt Bag, Love Rollercoaster, and Pop Crap to name a few. 
 
So, what's in YOUR playlist?  The Pink Ninjas want to know!
 
Have a great day!
 
Heidi

the standoff

This is by far one of my favorite pictures ever.  It's just so stinkin funny!  Girls vs. Boy.   Haves vs. Have Not. 

It's Thursday!  The layout:

April 2011 issue

The Sketchy Thursdays sketch:

I went pretty literal this time around.  What can I say?  A great sketch by Diana!!!  And just how much am I loving the new Jillibean Pasta Fagioli line??!!!

You may remember a few weeks ago our call for Etsy sponsors? 

Beginning this week we're having  four fabulous Etsy sponsors with us.  This week's lucky random winner

will get ALL FOUR Etsy shop prizes!!! 

Hop on over to the Sketchy Thursdays blog for all the yummy prize descriptions (and while you're there, be sure to hit all the Etsy sponsor sites to check out their awesome shops!).  

Be sure to check out all the awesome inspiration our fabulous DT made for you!

And play along with us!!!  Post a direct link to your layout on Mr. Linky in the ST sidebar.  You know our weekly prizes are awarded by random.org, right?  You can't win if you don't play!

I have a wonderful day of organizing and cleaning planned.  Woohoo.  ;oD

- Heidi

p.s.  There are only a couple more days to send in your Sketchy Thursdays Design Team app.  You know you wanna!  What are you waiting for??!! 

Welcome SNR Readers!!!!

Hi there! 

Thanks for stopping by!!  Welcome to all who arrived here by way of Scrapbook News and Review! 

For those of you who may be new here, I'm Heidi.  I'm a papercraftaholic.  I don't purport to be particularly good at it, but I love it and try my hand at anything I can!!!!  I'm mainly a scrapper but an occassional card sneaks in there and lately I'm really getting into art journaling.  

So, today, I thought I'd share one of my newest technique obsessions: gesso/paint transfers.  What's that, you say?  It's the process of transferring a picture - usually a photocopy - into gesso or paint. 

You need to use a photocopy, or if you are lucky enough to have one, a laser printed copy of the picture you want to use.  This technique doesn't work very well with ink jet printers because it's the powder from the toner used in copy machines and laser printers that transfers into your gesso. 

Closely crop your photo so as little of the white paper will show as possible.  If you have a clearly defined edge on your picture go ahead and cut it out.  If not, as is the case with my camera pictures, I like to tear the picture out which gives any white paper surrounding your picture more of a feathered edge.  (Note: Your picture will be reversed when doing the transfer so if you have any text in your picture, print it reversed.)

Next, paint your base with gesso (or paint) and immediately lay your picture onto the gesso.  Make sure you have complete contact between your picture and the gesso, smoothing out any air bubbles with your fingers.  Allow your gesso to completely dry, at least a few hours but it's best if you can leave it alone overnight. 

After the gesso has dried, saturate the photocopy with water.  I have a little spray bottle I use for this.  Once saturated, use your finger to rub off the paper.  Keep rubbing and re-saturating with water until most of the paper has rubbed off.  I say most because if you rub too hard you run the risk of rubbing your image off. 

And voila, your image has been transferred into your gesso.

I made this for a set of mini canvasses I'm making of various vintage camera images. 

You can then paint and embellish as desired.

This is still a work in process - I'll share when I have them all finished!

I also recently used this technique on a layout I made for my friend and Pink Ninja Master Ally's birthday. 

Does this woman not have the most beautiful eyes or what?  (Or eye in this case, lol.) 

I transferred the image of her eye directly into the paint on the paper.

As you can see, I rubbed just a tad too much in one spot but I think it lends to the overall effect. 

I also used the gesso transfer on the junque journal I recently shared.

I hope you enjoyed my quick mini tutorial on gesso transfers.  I feel so lucky to be a staffer for Scrapbook News and Review because you can find lots of these types of tutorials and projects in the pages of the magazine every month.  And there's always lots of discussion on the forum about techniques and ideas, too.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope to see you again!

- Heidi