My pumpkin got so scared, he took a little poop!

Oh the candy choices we had to make! What to give (and what to stash for later). My first plan was to just put 4 peanut butter kisses in each cello bag, because I thought it would look cute, balanced, whatever; but in the end I put in other candy also. Very few carmels made it into the cello bags ... yummmm. So much for having a stash.

Stamp set: Autumn Harvest

Inks: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: small cello bags, candy

The poem reads as follows:

I started to carve a pumpkin

with my carving knife and scoop

But the pumpkin got so scared

He took a little poop!

It looked so cute and funny

Just like a candy treat

So I'm sharing it with you now

Because you are so sweet!

My thoughts about what to do differently next year:
** Sadly it occured to me too late that there's a lot of people that have peanut allergies, so resolution number one is to have no peanut stuff next year.

** Next on my list is to plan Trick or Treat coupon to hand out to the moms (or whichever adult is with them) and have a date set and printed on each coupon, or a list of my upcoming classes.

Winter Post MDS certification card

I learned a lot making the card for my son. So here's the card I created for My Digital Studio certification.

Stamp set: Winter Post

Inks: Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue, Soft Suede

Accessories: My Digital Studio

Techniques: Layering, masking

MDS card for iTouch/iPhone programmer son

This card is inspired by their business name Howling Moon Software. Since I am intrigued with other demos punch art; I thought this was a perfect time to use MDS to do some  punch art. First I did a google search on images of howling wolves to use as a model.

WOW it was harder than I thought it would be using the shadows and layering. No matter what I tried - the wolf on the front reminded me of the singing mouse or reindeer head (that other demos have done) on a frogs body. So I used a different image and "punched" another wolf on the inside of the card.  

We're so proud of our son. Their first program was an iTunes "Staff favorite" and now his second program has made the What's Hot list. To find their game, Twilight Golf in iTunes you need to go to the Apps store, then games. They have a free trial version of this game.

I'd love to hear what you think of my first MDS card.

A little Treat

I love the colors of fall, well most falls anyway. I just had to share a pic of the little treat I made for my hostess and decided to include it with the orders that I am going to be delivering from my last workshop.

Stamp set: Lovely as a Tree

Inks: Old Olive, Really Rust, Ruby Red

Paper: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard

Accessories: Aqua Painter, Stylus, Hemp Twine, Sizzix Leaves#2

On a piece of 6"x 6" pumpkin pie, I stamped leaves in Old Olive and then water colored them. The leaves and letters were die cut out of More Mustard. I used a stylus to emboss the veins in the sizzix leaves, crumpled them and then used a sponge dauber colored them and the letters. And yes that is chocolate you see sticking out of the end; I thought you'd like to see what was inside.

I'm not sure where the last month has slipped away to. Is everyone ready for the Tricker Treaters that will soon be knocking at your door?

Fall decorating at church

First I need to thank Wendy A. for all the preliminary work she did for me. I would have been at church a lot longer if I would have had to do all the arranging by myself. She has a wonderful sense of design and layout. I'm hoping she'll help me put up the Thanksgiving eve decorations.

Yes you could say I was being a little OCD again. I took pictures of how she had everything arranged because I wanted to be able to put things back as close as to what she had already done. It sure saved me a lot of time and was so handy to place the gourds along the edge of the planter and then put them back in place. Thanks again Wendy!

So this is how it looked after I had added more mulch to the planter to raise everything up. All I really did was to add a large pumpkin and the mums for the upcoming wedding.

The first pumpkin was too small, so I was off to find another taller one for the middle. In the meantime, while I was on the pumpkin hunt I came across some gorgeous croton plants and just had to get them also. I put one on each side of the front doors along with my first pumpkin. Here's another view:

Since they were having live string music in the Narthex, I put together this centerpiece on the table that was going to be behind the musicians.

I really enjoy decorating, especially in the fall. If you're in the Fergus Falls, Minnesota area, stop by and visit First Lutheran Church. We're west across from the Court House.