Post Halloween

Happy Halloween!  Ok I meant to put this up yesterday, actually on Halloween, but didn't get around to it.  I hope everyone had a fun filled evening.  My kids had a blast, but my daughter is still tired today, so hopefully a nap will be in her near future! 


I had grand plans to make something super cute for my kids teachers for Halloween and ended up having to scale WAY back due to a 60 (not even kidding) or so item To Do List that needs to be completed before our vacation coming up!  So I went with some little Milk Carton containers with little bags of candy corn inside.  Nothing major, but it is the thought that counts right?!  


The stamp used is the Black Cat stamp from Hambo Stamps.  And now that I have pictures of my son in his costime, you see why I need to remember this stamp for whenever I make a Halloween 2011 scrapbook page...probably need to do Halloween 2008, 2009, and 2010 first though!  No time for specifics today, so just let me know if you are dying to know what I used.

My mother made the kids costumes and did an absolutely amazing job!  They were so stinkin' cute, I told my daughter when I dressed her up for her Halloween parade last week that I might die of cuteness on Halloween night when they are both dressed up.  So she proceeded to remind me that I was going to die on Halloween...always leaving off the "of cuteness" part!  Pretty funny but a little creepy at the same time! 

My only contribution to the kids costumes was to make kitty collars for them.  I love how they turned out...just decorated some chipboard and attached it to a d-ring I sewed onto a nylon strap.  Had to include a little bell too, because I just love when kitties had bells on their collars!  


Now onto November and all that comes with it...but first I need to get my To Do list done so I can enjoy our vacation!!  Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Trick-or-Treat Makeup Challenge

Well Happy early Halloween to all of you! I hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend filled with way too much candy! My kids are both dressing as birds...I de-feathered two boas and individually glued on each feather to their costumes that my Mom put together. It was a whole lot of feathers and a whole lotta time...don't worry I will share pics after the weekend! My husband and I will be dressing as Trees for our two little birdies. Our costumes are not nearly as cute as my kids, but they should work!

Well to celebrate in Halloween style, the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #48 this week has both a Trick and a Treat. The Trick is to include the color Chocolate into your creation and the Treat is to make a treat holder/box/bag. Well considering I like to give my son's teachers a little gift on Halloween, this was right up my alley. I don't have any true Halloween stamps from Paper Makeup Stamps, so I pulled out the newly released Moody for Chocolate...Halloween is about the candy right?! I stamped her on watercolor paper in Brilliance Graphite Black ink. The I watercolored (with an aquabrush and ink pads) her in Chocolate, Plum, and Orange to give it a Halloween feel...even made her hair purple...kinda diggin' it! Then I paper pieced her sweater with some orange patterned paper from SU's Halloween paper from last year. She was then cut out using the Labels 16 die and framed with some black patterned paper from the same collection. The "Treat Yourself" sentiment is the FREEbie that you get this month if you place an order at Paper Makeup Stamps.

The bag/box that I made was made-up on the spot based on the size I wanted it to be. It is 5" tall, 4" wide, and 1.25" deep. I filled a bag with some of the Hershey Bliss chocolates and tied a plum satin ribbon at the top. Hopefully the teachers like chocolate!

So now it is your turn! Join us in the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #48 and use PMS stamps and you will be entered to win a free single image stamp of your choice! How cool is that?! Have fun getting inky and have a fun and happy Halloween! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Moody for Chocolate, Treat Yourself sentiment - freebie (Paper Makeup Stamps); Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum, Pumpkin Pie (SU!); Paper - Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum, Cast-A-Spell DSP (SU!), watercolor paper; Accessories - Fire Circle Rhinestone Brads (SU!), Labels 14, Labels 16 Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Plum Satin Ribbon (Offray), dimensionals, aquabrush

Teacher Gift

My attempts at being productive have not been working out very well lately! See, the kids are visiting their Oma and Opa (my parents) for a few days so it is suppose to be a productive time for me...alone. Yesterday I did my shopping (except groceries which I still need to do)...new running shoes, lawn bags, and shoes for an upcoming wedding I am in. The last one proved to be the hard one and has made me hate shoe shopping! I was told a black pump/peep toe style shoe...doesn't sound that hard right? Wrong! I literally have gone to every store I could looking for something that 1) fit, 2) didn't make me feel in excuriating pain (seriously how do women wear some of these shoes?!), and 3) weren't too expensive! And you know what else I found out...stores that have multiple locations don't carry the exact same selection! Go figure. So now I have 3 pairs of shoes...1 pair that I like they way they look, but I am not sure I could make it 10 minutes in them (or maybe my toes will just go numb so I won't have to worry about it), 1 pair that are not quite as hurtful as the first pair and not quite as nice looking (and a little cheaper), and 1 last pair that look cool to me and are actually comfortable, but I am nervous they won't look right with the dress. They are more of a fun style...not a classic style. Ugh! SO three pairs later and I still am not sure what I am wearing. Anyway, that took literally ALL day yesterday and today I have been cleaning, but it is going slowly as I am not very motivated. Hoping this cup of coffee gets my butt in gear...hate to waste alone time!

Sorry for my lamenting there. I so needed my girlfriends with me on my shopping trip but they all had their kids with them...never quite sure I should trust what the sales people are telling me! So I made this little Post-It note holder for my son's end of the year teacher gift. We donated towards the class gift, but I always want to give something homemade too. Basically you decorate one of those cheap acrylic frames and put a pad of post-it notes on the outside. I started off with some random pattern paper that I had because it had some yellow in it to go with the yellow post-its...note to self to find where you can get cuter post-its if I ever make these again. So I will freely admit my color scheme is a little wonky, but i went with it. Basically just put a quote from the Teacher's Apple set from PaperTrey Ink and stamped and cut-out some apples. The turquoise apple is actually on the outside of the frame to give it a little interest. Finished off with some black grosgrain ribbon and I had a nice little teacher gift.

Exciting things are afoot, but I am not at liberty to discuss them yet....but soon! Until then (or sooner), thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Teacher's Apple (PaperTrey Ink); Paper - Tempting Turquoise, Ruby Red, Barely Banana (SU!), random pattern paper; Ink - Basic Black, Ruby Red, Tempting Turquoise (SU!); Accessories - black grosgrain ribbon (SU!), acrylic frame, post-it notes, scissors