Halloween Decorating Fun!!

 Halloween is almost upon us...are you ready??  I think I am just about done with the house decorating, now to get my kids costumes done!!!  I've been up to my eyeballs in finishing up the cardboard cutouts and banner for The Middle Child's Nursery Rhyme Day!!  All that is left to do is the actual character painting...and thankfully my friend Kathy, the artist will be here later to help me!!  More on those later...back to Halloween decorating!!

I have had little spurts of free time here and there, so I've been checking out what's happening around our crafty little blogosphere.  Have you seen the Literary Pumpkins?  LOVE them!!  I found an old book under my carport...must have fallen out of the Goodwill box!!

I chose not to put a jack-o-lantern face on it, just a couple of pretty little ribbons...

Over at Craftaholics Anonymous I found these little cuties...

Loved them so much I cut up TONS of paper strips and circles so our GS Junior Troop could do some at our last meeting!!



And thanks to my sweet and so TALENTED friend Melanie...I've become obsessed with these wire pumpkins...

The big one was purchased a couple of years ago...the smaller one is the one I made using some floral wire from JoAnns.  But, of course, I didn't stop there...

The bright orange one is using jewelry wire...

Then I tried wired ribbon!!!  See OBSESSED!!  Did ya see the little coppery one?

Fancy huh?  My obsession was really RESEARCH, see my friend Kathy and I were going to do this craft with Ms. Priss' fourth grade class, and we needed to find the cheapest alternative!!  So we went to Home Depot...

and found Copper Cerrowire!  $12 for this 250 ft roll!!  It is not just one big wire, it is several strands wrapped together...sorta like embroidery floss.  So once the pumpkin was coiled and spread, we just separated the individual strands to give it the full effect!!  Cool, huh?  So anyway, the teacher got lots of chenille stems and the students ended up using those instead...but we had fun at Home Depot anyway!!! :)


Do you know you can get Drywall Tape in a variety of COLORS??  It looks just like BURLAP....see??

Doesn't it look like BURLAP??  And it is sticky...so you don't have to use any glue to get it on the wreath form, which by the way is another pool noodle spray painted black!!!  I was so tired from all of the cutting I did this weekend that by the time I got to finishing my wreath I was literally picking up scraps from my sewing room FLOOR!!!  See the VERY scrappy burlap flowers and bow...from the floor!!  And my ghost??  An old dryer sheet that somehow ended up in my sewing room...not sure how or when since I've been using the Downy Dryer Bar for like 8 months now!!!  So I am happy with it...I wanted it to me minimal since I plan on taking everything off and making it into a Fall Wreath as soon as Halloween is over!!

Now the one I did for my Momma....NOT minimal...

Lots of tulle and some ribbons!!  I think it looks like a big ol' piece of candy!! HA!

Well, still lots to do, so I will leave you now!!  Back later with completed costumes...hopefully!! :)  And LOTS of Nursery Rhyme Day things to show you!!  Until later...

Orders Filled!!

While my giveaway was going on...I was busy finishing up some orders.  And since then, I've managed to pick up a few more!  WHEW!!  I am so grateful for the extra income, but it sure makes me SUPER BUSY!!  This week has been one of the busiest by far!  And that is with NO SEWING projects involved!  Between TWO field trips, one Dr. appointment, preparing and having my first GS Daisy meeting, and preparing for my month to do a craft with my daughter's GS Junior Troop...I have been on-the-go EVERY day!!  So today I have vowed to stay home in my PJs ALL DAY!!!  Not that I am not still busy...finishing up the Junior Troop's craft preparations, a birthday hat order, a banner for my Kindergarten teacher's upcoming Nursery Rhyme day, some Nursery Rhyme character cut outs for my Symposium Tent...that my Kindergarten teacher will also use for props, and LAUNDRY!!  Lots and LOTS of LAUNDRY...GAH!!  I feel a few more gray hairs growing in as.I.type!!

Anyway, enough with all my yanh-yanhing!!  On with the orders I've manage to complete...

One of my Big Boy's best friends became a proud Poppa at the end of last month, and my son was named "Godfather".  He placed this order at the last minute...what? OF COURSE I made him pay me!!  My time is money...even for my children...HA!  But believe me, he got a HUGE discount! ;)

This is a 30" x 30" palette "quilt" with no batting, but a fleece backing.  The baby's name and birth date were quickly machine embroidered...when I got the information!  I really like how the paw prints from the fleece show through to the front!

I added a little initial applique burp cloth...for no charge!  The daddy was sooo excited about his new little baby's gift, that he called to thank me.  He told me he had never had anything personalized before and how much it meant to have his son's birth date on this keepsake.  So sweet, that boy!!  He will be a great dad!

Next up, my neighbor's friend was visiting when I was showing off the Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend pillow.  Her family is adopting a 2 yo girl and she was busy decorating her bedroom, but couldn't find pillows to match the bedding set she picked out.  She asked if I would make some...of course I would!!  She ran to the fabric store and came back with some satin and trim...

 The chocolate tulle was my contribution.

I know these pictures are horrible...I couldn't get the colors right!!  These are pillow covers with envelope closures that fit an 18" x 18" pillow.  I think they are sooooo fancy!!  Satin is such a tricky fabric...I've got to get better at sewing with it!!  Any suggestions?  Because my next order had a few oops moments...

This  little Flapper style dress is for one of Ms. Priss' friends.  She is in a Theater group, and a had mini production to put on.  I used a pre-made Halloween costume I picked up last year on clearance as a template, but raised the waist to make it shorter.  I want to do that to the costume also...if Ms. Priss would let me!!  It just looks cuter!  Anyway, I stitched and serged the side seams of this satin dress, but the seams pulled in some places and I had to do an emergency "fixya" a day before her show.  Is there something I missed with the seam?  Some special stitch?  You know I'd rather have someone tell me...then to look it up in one of my MANY sewing books...or the internet!!  Lazy, huh? :)  I had fun sewing on the fringe, believe it or not!!  AND I was so impressed with myself for actually getting them STRAIGHT!! HA!  The headband is some 1" sequined trim sewn on black 1" elastic.  I LOVE how the feather came out.  My friend Kathy spent about 20 minutes "curling" it so it would curve just above her head...like a hat!!  So cool!!  For those of you like me who might not know this...you "curl" a feather just like you "curl" a ribbon.  By gently using scissors and scraping down the quill, the feather will miraculously begin to curl!!  But you have to be EXTREMELY gentle, or else risk hacking the feather right off...that's why it took her 20 minutes!!

My last order was placed almost 2 months ago!!!  Gotta love customers who TRULY understand how CRAZY your life really is...thanks Jackie!!  She is one of my family's oldest friends and soooo supportive of me!!  Every time she sees me or calls me, she lifts me UP with her "Girl, you can do ANYthing!!" attitude!!  LOVE her!  So, when I made the ruffled aprons for her daughters, she immediately placed an order for one to give as a birthday gift.

She wanted a strawberry one similar to the one I made for her daughter, but I thought I would change it up a little.  I LOVE these colors!!

This is the fourth ruffled apron I've made, and yet again...used a different method.  I am trying to find one that works best, and has the most "completed" look on the reverse side.  This one by far is the best.  Maybe I'll take photos of the next one I make and attempt a little tutorial??  We'll see.  Well, I have to get to my LIST of things to do...until later...

My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software: Review and GIVEAWAY!!

Hello Everyone!! I am really excited about this post!! It is not very often that I get asked to review a product, so when I was contacted by My Memories it took me a couple of days to get over the SHOCK before I even responded!! I mean someone wanted to GIVE me something...for FREE...and then wanted my opinion about it...and then I get to GIVE one of you something...for FREE??!!! How CRAZY is that?? As you can tell, I am still a little in shock! HA!

So as not to disappoint...let's get to it!

My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software

I gotta tell ya...I really like this program!! It is very user friendly and so much fun! I've spent the last WEEK playing around with different papers, shapes, and embellishments! I tend to be a little conservative and have a hard time color coordinating, but with this program I found myself overcoming my fear of OVER embellishing! It is just THAT much fun to use!! And when I got confused or overwhelmed by just HOW MUCH stuff this software could do...I just headed to the My Memories Blog where there are a series of VIDEO tutorials that walk you through it step-by-step!! Don't like video tutorial...that's ok, because they also have PDF tutorials outlining the same thing!!

So, before I show you how much fun I had using the My Memories Suite software, I must explain to some of you who may be visiting for the first time...I don't put personal photos of my children on my blog. You may be asking yourself, "so how is she going to show us some examples of this digital scrapbooking software then?" EXCELLENT question...one that I wondered to myself when I was contacted to do this review!! Well, since my blog is all about my SEWING life...THAT is what my review must be about!

What if you were to use the My Memories Suite software to promote your BUSINESS? Flyers for upcoming Craft Fairs...

Something to hand out to local businesses so they can see what products you offer that they may be interested in selling...

Beautiful photo layouts of your handmade products that you can display on your Facebook page or to send out emails! I told you I had A LOT of fun with this software!! :D This one, I think is a stroke of GENIUS...maybe....

Simply print, and attach to a magnetic sheet to give to potential customers!! And lastly, I don't know about you, but when I ordered my business cards from Vista Print...the layouts were somewhat lacking!! Or, because there were only a limited amount of designs that deal with sewing and crafting you are sure to end up with the same as someone else. Now, I can upload my own design to their site and have a unique and original business card...

So what do you think? Too much FUN??!! Now, I'm not going to give you all of the specs and selling points for the software...you can read all about it HERE. But I will give you a quick run down of my pros and cons.

PROS: FUN!! to use, LOTS of papers, shapes, and embellishments already loaded on the program, LOTS of FREE downloads in the My Memories Shop, they are always adding new FREE kits or papers in the Shop also...if they are not FREE then there are always some on SALE for like 99 cents!! And just like in our FABULOUS sewing blogs community there are many generous givers in the Digital Scrapbooking blogs community! I visited a ton of them and got lots more FREE stuff and loads of inspiration! You can easily convert your pages and books to JPEGS, so you can print them ANYWHERE!! Home, Walmart, snapfish, Shutterfly, etc...or you can order Photobooks from My Memories! So EASY!! And you are given lots of choices as to how much resolution to save as, while also adjusting your print image quality.

CONS: There is not much photo editing capability within the software. You can lighten/darken, crop, or eliminate red eye, change to Black & White or Sepia but it is more for a "finished" look, if you know what I mean. For more of a professional look, it is better to use a photo editing program before adding your pictures in. THE biggest Con is that it is a computer disc space EATER!! I mean, we're talking hi-res photos, papers, embellishments...easily ONE page can be in the GBs!! So if you are doing a 15 page Photobook...CHOMP!!! I will be getting my own 2T external harddrive to store all of my Digital Scrapbooking needs!! :) But on the UPside of this, once you convert them to JPEGS the size goes down immensly!!

Ok...so sorry this is getting quite LONG...I'll get to the GIVEAWAY now!!

To Enter: (Sorry, but it's mandatory)

Go to My Memories , TRY to pick your favorite layout, or Digi Pack (I dare ya!)...come back here and comment!! Instant entry :)

*Edited* PLEASE include your email so I will know how to contact you!! Thanks

Now, if you like having options to enter a GAZILLION times...here they are:

Become a FOLLOWER or LIKE any of these

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

Now, I did like them on Facebook...because when they get to 10,000 SOMEONE will get an iPad2...it could be ME!! I could be 1 in 10,000...and so can you! But, I like the FB page it also has alot of inspiration!

Speaking of Facebook, if we are friends you can see some of the personal Digital Scrapbook pages I did of my kiddos :)

Oh...I almost forgot!!! The My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software is ONLY $39.97!!! If you don't win this giveaway, but are still interested in buying the program I have an AWESOME Promotion code to give you!! It will get you $10 off of the MMS software AND $10 to use in the Shop!!! Just go to the My Memories website...add the My Memories Suite to your cart and copy/paste this PROMO CODE: STMMMS99372 and you will get it for $29.97 AND have $10 to spend...aren't they AWESOME??!!

The giveaway will run through the week and end Sunday, October 9th 2011 in the evening hours...ya know when the kiddos are in bed and I get to it :D Thanks for participating...I hope my review was helpful!! Good Luck and until later....