Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Getting Crafty with punches

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I dug out one of my oldy but goody craft ideas after seeing some fun Halloween paper and a pumpkin punch on clearance at Michaels.  I did this same thing last Halloween with a skull punch and I've done it with snowflake punches and butterfly punches as well.  It's really simple but I love the look. It's also a great project to do with the kids because there is no wrong way to do it, though in art there really never is!


1.  Gather some fun papers, scrapbook papers, ephemera, photos, anything you can punch out.  You can Photo-10 stick with a certain color, theme or just completely mix it up. 


  Photo-9 2.  Purchase a fun shaped paper punch....there are countless shapes and cost between $5-$10...I bought mine at Michaels.  I rarely ever buy anything at Michaels without a 40% off coupon--save 'em up and use 'em!


3.  Purchase a frame....I reuse the same shadowbox frame throughout the year and just swap out the art for the season.  Any size frame will work, I prefer shadowbox frames for this project.


4.  Punch out your shapes and glue them down however you like.  For the pumpkin one in the shadowbox, Photo-12 I   also used pop-dots, which are raised pieces of foam sticker that gives a little dimension to the punch outs.  For the skeleton, the kids chose to just glue all the punch outs down randomly and then use one pop-dot for the black glitter skull.  Ella did the pumpkin one on the left and made a pattern, using alternating using pop-dots.  Anything goes here...it all looks fun!


5.  Hang on the wall or give as a gift! 


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Monday, October 25, 2010

Fright Night

Friday night was our very own adult fright night.  (Hey, does anyone remember that movie? Fright Night starring Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall and Amanda Bearse from Married with Children fame?  C-L-A-S-S-I-C! Loved it...it's currently on Netflix Watch Instantly-I totally recommend itPhoto-7.  That's the kind of horror movie I love...the horror movies of today?  Ick!  We watched the first 10 minutes of Saw VI the other day, also on Netflix Watch Instantly and O-M-G disgusting.  Horrifically disgusting.)  OK back to the story at hand....


Photo-8 So anyhow we had a date night Friday and after some yummy Thai food and a DQ peanut buster parfait, I have a weakness problem, we went to a local haunted house Friday night.  From many suggestions we hit up Nash Ranch-The Dreams of Darkness...why waste time/money?  Just hit up the best!  And boy was it...seriously rivalled a Disneyland attraction.  From the entertainment and decor of the waiting area to the professionalism of the creepy people employees to the details and layout of the entire attraction.  It was just so great! 


 


We were a little worried going in, as witnessed in the following video....


 


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But we managed to make it out alive! 


We weren't ready for fright night to end so we decided to hit up a scary movie next.  Gore is not our thing so we chose Paranormal Activity 2 instead.  The first one was entertaining, though I was hoping for more from it, and I guess that's how I would describe Part 2 as well.  I liked watching it in a packed theater as opposed to how we watched the first one, at home-alone...a scary movie in a packed theater adds just another level of fun.  Collectively screaming and gasping with a crowd, pure fun!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Costume Mission Accomplished

I'm not going to say what we are going to be this year, but I will give a sneak preview.  I will also say for the first time ever we are 'matching' as a family.  Best thing about our costumes this year?  We found them for a whopping $20 total...for 4 costumes that 'match'.  Any guesses?


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Kid's Activities....

The Cub Scout Pack we are involved in was honored to be involved in a flag lowering and raising ceremony at the big giant flag off I-5 last week.  They included involvement with the local fire, police and military personnel which was extra special.


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 We can't get enough of the pumpkin patch!  School field trip to the Hawes pumpkin patch this time....lots o fall fun and more pumpkins were collected up.


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And who doesn't love a nice soccer game in the pouring rain?


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Umm and while uploading my pics I found this....Aaron must have taken this last night after our family movie night.  Explains why I woke up confused where I was and with back pain early this morning. 


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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Cop Out Halloween Post

So my plan was to post a retrospective of past Halloween costumes we've done in the past, but I couldn't find the cable to my external hard-drive where all my photos are stored.  But I did want to keep up with my vow of posting daily until Halloween so here is my lame attempt at a post before midnight hits!


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Friday we intend to go out and find our Halloween costumes.  Normally we plan months in advance for just the right Halloween costume idea...brainstorming, researching, shopping....but this year we've left it until almost a week before...eek!  Hope we can pull it together in time.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

What I Wore Wednesday-My First!

So as I've mentioned before I'm a big blog reader, I read countless blogs...all kinds...crafty, fashion, inspirational, photography, mommy blogs, etc.  I'm bizarely obsessed with a regular feature some of them do called What I Wore Wednesday (WIWW)...I believe Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy started it up.  The idea being to actually get somewhat dressed each day--something other than sweats/pj's/workout clothes--to start the day off right.  Even though I work from home, I do know that for me, I do get more accomplished in a day if I actually wear something I wouldn't mind wearing in public, not to mention it's not as easy to just crawl back into bed!  I'm also doing this to hopefully mix up my wardrobe and wear more in my closet than the same 2 outfits.


So with that being said here is my own first attempt at WIWW!  (I didn't start taking pics until Sunday).


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Sunday - Trip to the Pumpkin Patch


Sweater - Target, Dress - Sundance Catalog, Jeans - Lucky Brand, Boots - Kohls  


I think I may need to start a "What Ella Wore Wednesday" post too...LOL...she's the creative one in the clothing department!


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So clearly I need assistance in the self-portrait department!  Old Navy flower top and ruffle tank.  Lucky Brand Jeans - I find a fave pair of jeans and I wear them until they die!


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Dress - Target. black capri lenght leggings-who knows?, gray felt mary jane shoes - Target

Halloween Decor

I have added new pieces to our Halloween decorations almost daily since Oct 1..here's a quick peek.  I'm noticing skulls and skeletons are an obvious theme for our home! 


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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Getting Crafty with skulls

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Screen shot 2010-10-18 at 9.11.12 PM As I said in my last post I love Halloween and I LOVE HALLOWEEN CRAFTS!  Each year I like to come up with a few new ones to do with the kids (or without).  Here's a simple one we just finished with the coolest paper mache skulls I found at Michaels.  I dug out a bunch of random magazines along with some Halloween catalogs (Grandin Road is my favorite!) and we went to town cutting out images we were drawn too. 


For mine I stuck to Halloween themed photos and words (threw in a IMG_3849 couple of flowers and sweet butterflies for contrast!) but love what the kids did...Ella put pop tarts around hers and Jacob filled in the mouth with a huge hot dog.  So funny! 


We then used Mod Podge and a paint brush to randomly stick the images to the skulls.  I covered mine completely and then sealed the whole thing up with an acrylic spray.  The kids wanted to add glitter to theirs...Ella got creative in her placement of glitter, Jacob used glitter to cover up the blank spots where he didn't add images. 


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Up next:  Views of our Halloween decor....

Monday, October 18, 2010

I love October!

I have decided that October is my favorite month and Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Fampump I'm going to attempt make a post every day between now and Halloween to share all my favorite things fall and related to the Halloween season. 


Sunday we had our annual "Lee Family Harvest Fest" and had a great time!  Ella even said multiple times, "This is my best day ever!!"  The basics of the day include each year a trip to a local pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving and harvesty food.  We had that all covered well!


This year we invited Grandma Jeanne and Uncle Jeff to join us, though Jeff ended up having to work at the last minute.



The Grampumpfamily pumpkin patch trip for this year was the Nash pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful, cooler, overcast day...perfect for a day at the pumpkin patch.  We all found our perfect pumpkin -- Jacob was quite intense on finding just the right one and even came prepared with gloves.  After wandering around the patch, snacking on kettle corn and fresh lemonade, and visiting the petting zoo we headed back home.  Grandma and I got crafty with some pumpkins using glitter and rhinestones while the kids and Aaron carved them more traditionally.  We then had a TASTY DELICIOUS dinner that consisted of pumpkin bisque, salad, green beans with bacon, and butternut squash with pesto.....MMMMM...... We finished the day off with pumpkin pie and whipped cream while watching haunted house shows on the Travel channel....so fun!


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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Happy anniversary to me!

I realized a few days ago that this month is the 5 month anniversary of my 'Pieces of Me' blog!  5 years!  Screen shot 2010-10-12 at 3.56.59 PM A lot has certainly changed in 5 years but yet some things feel like they've stayed the same.  What I find funny is that 5 years ago I had a 1 year old and a 3 year old and yet I still managed to post quite regularly to this blog, LOL!  Now that I have an 8 and 6 year old (Look at my babies up there!!)  there just is not enough hours in the day and this blog has certainly fallen down on the priority list.  Maybe it's also because I have added WAY TOO MUCH TO MY PLATE as of late.    These past couple of months have been completely freaking insane out of control a bit busy, but some of our activities are coming to a close and I'm refocusing priorities, so the schedule has been letting up and blessing me with more free time. 


I was recently reflecting on the happenings since school has started.  Just a basic rundown (for my own sake-you can skip it!) of the past couple months:



  • Soccer practices/games (Jacob)

  • Cross country practice/meets (Jacob & Ella)

  • Daisy's (Ella)

  • Cub Scouts (Jacob) & I am the Pack Committee Secretary which means extra meetings/time

  • Art Docent for Jacob's class - has been really fun-it's out of my comfort zone and I'm learning a lot myself

  • School volunteer (for both kids)

  • Sewing class (Ella) - she's a fashion designer in the works

  • Redding Handmade - I have somehow fallen into the role of co-leader of the team..Oops!

  • Began doing the P90X classic workout....love it and can honestly say it's one of the best workouts I've ever done and am currently on week 5 with only missing ONE yoga, cuz it sucks workout

  • Anniversary trip to Petaluma with Aaron (ahhh a glorious getaway that left us with a permanent reminder of the weekend and our children that will forever be with us.  And bonus, some of the best food we've ever eaten on a vacation-not one bad meal the whole weekend)

  • Political involvement with the Redding Fire Department -- do you need to know who to vote for?  OK, I'll tell ya!  Francie Sullivan, Sandra Speer and Ken Murray for Redding City Council and vote NO on advisory ballot measures A & B

  • Juella Designs - Business has been going great but I constantly wish for more creative time to work on new pieces...in addition to my online shop, I have been participating in local shows and getting my products into more local places.  I also have a special collaboration project that deserves it's own post shortly. 

  • Daily life - Oh yeah all the usual appts, chores, committments--Hey, what's up with the kids wanting to eat dinner? 


Commit me please.  Naw, not really...thankfully it is getting to be easier times.  Back to BALANCE is the name of the game.  The game being life. 




I do want to get back to regularly posting to my blog.  Why?  I actually find that I enjoy the writing.  When I'm exericising I find myself composing blog entries in my head, unfortunately most of them never see pen to paper keyboard to screen.  I do love it when people comment on my blog and new followers are always a bonus, but the real reason I started this blog was an online journal of our/my daily life.  I print the blog yearly and keep it in a binder, since about the time I started this blog I also stopp IMG_3609 ed scrapbooking with my thousands of dollars of scrapbooking tools, supplies, crap.  As my kids have gotten older however, I've focussed less on them because of their own privacy and more on me...egotistical?  I don't think so.  And if you think so, stop reading!  Anyhow I do love to write and share just like I love to read other people's blogs.  I have a list of blogs I read quite regularly that I will one day have to share.  It's like my own person reality TV channel and I love it -- I love to be inspired and they're always changing and always there for me.


So anyhow...long story short.....happy anniversary to me!


Photo above taken at Cub Scout Family Campout this past weekend