Welcome Back Autumn

So glad to see you again. Seriously. I just can't get enough of Autumn. Last night we took a drive up Kolob Mountain to gather leaves and just enjoy the Autumn light. Everything looks prettier in Autumn. On the way home we stopped at the Farmers Market and picked up pumpkins. The 10 cents per pound price tag meant that everyone got to choose their own. The girl has been giving her pumpkin some love today. I've been working on some projects. This here is my latest for Jessica Sprague.It's Photoshop Friday Episode 23: handmade photo collage. Some of you out there have asked me how to do this in the past. Here is a quick and easy to follow how-to. And because it just happens to be Friday, it's on sale! That's right! $1.00 until Sunday midnight EST [f.y.i: There is a great how-to up for a buck every Friday. This is a great + need I say cheap way to expand your Photoshop skills]. I can't even explain it for a buck! Plus with every episode you get all you need to complete the sample page as you walk through the how to with Jessica guiding you the entire way. It's awesome!

2.for.Tuesday

one: a heads up: Calling all superheroes, ghosts, witches, ninjas, grandma pumpkins, and fairies [naughty and nice]... Jessica Spragues template 1.07, is wicked cool and the JS Aroo! paper + elements pack... yeah. Nice. I worked a bit of an engorgement charm on the journal card and some shrinky dink magic on some paper for the ribbon. And now that that's taken care of... Butter beer anyone? Here's to my first time posting a layout as a CTM at Jessica Sprague. I still think it's crazy. Fun + exciting + overwhelming [though I'm sure that particular feeling will dissipate eventually] + crazy. Did I mention crazy? Here it is: This page is entirely made with products from Jessica herself. So not only is she the mastermind behind the "Spraground," but she makes awesome products as well [not to mention her brilliant ability to teach complicated things in an understandable way]. Seriously. I'll bet you didn't know that my first encounter with digital scrapbooking came from Jessica. It was a walkthrough template freebie like this one. And it was so simple. I was hooked. I've learned a lot from Jessica and I'm proud to be able to show off her products! FYI: The template is $1.00 tomorrow. That's right. It's One Buck Wednesday! And just so you know... that means there are lots of other great products for a buck too. So go check it out! two: a little sneak peek... this is a sampling of my super secret project. I am flip-flopping between excited and exhausted with the whole thing. I'm trying not to give up on my optimism. one more thing... go read this. It's awesome and hilarious and I promise you'll read it a couple of times and laugh every time. Really.

Notice the New Banner?

Little Man has a chair. I guess he's officially part of the family now. I'm only, what 2.75 months behind.

Needed:

vacation home for one very very rambunctious little girl. I promise that she will not leave a single surface free of one thing or another... including but not limited to paint, syrup, honey, pencil, pen, marker, poop, Vaseline, lipstick, etc. You get the point. It will only be for a couple of weeks... Anybody? I knew when I was refilling the honey bear that it was a bad idea to let her watch me. Bad idea. I'm sure you've guessed what happened next time I was confined to a space. Sadly, this story involves not the honey bear, but the refill bottle and unfortunately the couch was targeted again. And the toilet and bathroom counters [because she did try to clean her hands at one point] and random drops and drips on the carpet and floor in between. I think I'm far too distracted right now... Am I being overly ambitious with my super secret project? Argh.

Monday Monday

So, yesterday was 10.10.10 and I tried and tried to think of something fun to do to commemorate the occasion. The boys even wanted to play along. That's as far as that went. Today I decided to celebrate late with three lists of 10. Here you go: 10 things I did on 10.10.10

1. washed my hair
2. wore mascara
3. arrived late to church
4. looked up to see Elder Holland sitting on the stand
5. decided our family should just have a bench in the hallway so as not to be so disruptive in our comings and goings [late + girl to the potty + diaper changes + feeding + crying, etc]
6. gave assurance to a new mom
7. taught a lesson on repentance
8. cut out bats
9. supervised a bat painting session
10. took a picture of the little man so I can finally get thank you cards printed

10 surfaces with paint on them:

1. her hands
2. her feet
3. her legs
4. her hair
5. my hair
6. the wood floor
7. the carpet
8. the couch
9. the toilet
10. the bathroom counter + faucet + hand towel

10 things I'm thankful for:

1. little people
2. who want to do crafts
3. happy singing
4. good nights sleep
5. understanding husbands
6. PBS Kids
7. "gum bears"
8. clean panties
9. breezy windows
10. baby swings

I had considered doing a photo walk of 10 things I'm grateful for, but I'm to lazy busy to even put much thought into that [honestly, the only reason I even posted this is because I started it while nursing and now I'm typing without looking at the screen because the girl is sitting on the table right in front of me. I guess she needs some love]. Today I am way behind on my super secret project. Way behind

Off to make lunch.

Today I...

1. taste tested my first attempt at homemade yogurt. The girl declared it yummy. The mommy thinks it needs some work. I'll share more on that when I've got it figured out. Until then I've used this and this for guidance.
2. Have permission to drop the guilt over the messy house.
3. *B* and I came to an understanding that I've got a lot to do in the next nine days.
4. Am trying to work but it's not really working.
5. Have a lesson on repentance floating around in the back of my mind.
6. The littlest man is crying.
7. The girl is into everything you can imagine and more.
8. Today I was announced a member of the Creative Team at Jessica Sprague!
9. Am feeling a bit overwhelmed.
10. But excited all the same.

Mandi Makes

It's October nd that means Halloween parties for room moms. I had a request to re-share my Halloween Ghoulies game [aka cooties] to the box. You can get it here. Having played this game with kindergarten aged children I would either explain before starting play that there are only these features available and that it's okay if their pumpkin is a mix-and -match kind of pumpkin. In fact, it might be a good idea for you put together a very random sampler pumpkin. So they know it's okay. Because, honestly, it's either that or have enough of each feature that they could all make pirate pumpkins if they wanted to [the eye patch was very popular last year]. That was the only trouble we had with the game itself. If you're a little rusty on your cooties skills you can get the instructions from my original post here. There is also a link to a coffin from Martha if you're interested in that. Tomorrow I will try to share a post of what you can do with that if you want to make your life a little bit more complicated but at the same time save yourself some money. If you're in the room mom Halloween game business that is.