Big News for Crafting Ireland Magazine

As you may know, I have been on the Crafting Ireland magazine design team for almost a year and a half. And I have to say that I have loved being apart of their venture! Timi and Nicole have been fabulous to work for.
Last week though they announced that they will no longer be producing the magazine. :(
I totally get how time consuming it must be, and support there decision 100%.
But I will say that I am sad there won't be any more new issues after Issue 20 which comes out on November 1st.

On the brighter side, they are going to continue featuring tutorials on the blog. So I am thankful that they will still be around inspiring us from one of my favorite countries in the world!
You can see the announcement on their blog *Here.*
And the Facebook page is *here.*
So if you are on facebook, can you go give them a like? They really have some great projects featured frequently.

In other news, we had a pet burial recently.
I forgot to share that Mike and I finally gave in and allowed Evan and Erin to get a pet. Nothing to high maintenance - Hermit Crabs. Evan decided that he wanted a hermit crab. He had his heart set on it after seeing them at the mall. So of course Erin had to get one as well.

They named them Matthew and Flower.

Well unfortunately after only a few weeks, Erin's hermit crab Flower died. We buried her in the backyard and Evan made a little tombstone out of an old brick for her. Rainbow was his fish from back before Erin was born. And I made the mistake of flushing Rainbow and not burying him. (Won't do that again.)
Anyway, one of the reasons I have dragged my feet on getting a pet, is I know how much work they are. Especially for moms ;) But also, I tend to get attached and then when they die it is just so hard on me.
And darned if I wasn't getting attached to this little hermit crab. Who would have thought, right?
But I did. And now she is gone, and I am feeling just a little sad about it.
Erin, not so much. I think Evan was more upset at the loss of her hermit crab than she was.
Anyway, hopefully Matthew will last a lot longer.

Hope you have a great weekend.
I have a feeling we might be looking for a new hermit crab since ironically despite their name, they really don't like being alone. :)

And one last thing...

Happy Halloween!

Fallin' For You! at Paper Issues

It's time for a new issue over at the Paper Issues blog!
Come on over and link up your projects with a Fall/Autumn or a "Falling for You" theme.
The sponsor is Ruby Rock-it and the prize pack is their new "At Last" line.
Here are a few of the layouts I will be linking up for this issue. Some you may have seen already, but a few probably not:

This layout is from our anniversary trip to Canada a few years ago.

 

Here is an actual Fall layout with more photos from that trip to Canada.

Ok, so this one is not Fall, or about a relationship. But I truly did fall in love with Ireland when I was over there. I mean seriously, how could you not. :)

This one is from my brother in law's wedding. I don't do wedding layouts very often, but this is one of my favorites. I don't even have a layout of my own wedding! Might need to do something about that soon. :)

Definitely a "falling in love" story here :)
And I am finding I haven't scrapped many seasonal photos about Fall.
But I did do this mini...

about an apple picking trip. It was one of my favorite mini albums.

 

After making my mini, I decided to make a layout about the day as well.

So many possibilities with this theme!
And if you link up projects, there is a good chance you will find yourself featured in one of three places - Instagram, the Paper Issues blog or their Facebook page.
You can see the blog post and details *Here*.
Hope to see some familiar faces pop up over there! :)

And in the world of major league baseball - Let's Go CARDS!!!!

Five on Friday - Celebrating Halloween Pinterest Style!

Halloween is just around the corner.
And one of my favorite places to look for inspiration is of course...Pinterest!
I have several ideas for Halloween pinned on my Holidays board.

1. Ghost Cupcakes - Aren't those cute? They would be so simple and easy to make with chocolate cupcake mix, a whipped cream topping and chocolate chips. Unfortunately there is no good link via Pinterest. Just the pinned image.

2. Framed Halloween Home Decor - Another cute piece that would be simple to make with scrapbook supplies! And I do have a source for this one. This one was created by Izzy B and posted to the gallery at Two Peas in a Bucket. You can see it *Here*.

And another Great Home Decor Piece - This could be simple as well. Mine would probably say "BOO" though. :)  It would be a great use for mini frames and alterable chipboard or wood letters. Source and tutorial are *Here*.

3. Ghost Pancakes - I am so making these on Halloween morning! Or for dinner. Not sure which yet. My kids love pancakes and I know they would love these! The source and directions can be found *Here*.

 4. Cookie Monster Jack O'Lantern - How cute is that?! Especially for a mom who grew up loving Sesame Street. :) No good source link for this one. Just an outdated blog.

5. Fairy Pumpkin House - And this one is just magical to me. :) Source - Flickr photo

So those are some of my fun finds for Halloween via Pinterest.
Do you have any fun Halloween ideas to share?

Today...

I am over at the Craft Your Nest blog.
I have a few challenges and photos of my workspace.
Hope to see you there. :)

Halloween Mini Album

I had a Halloween mini album up on the Crafting Ireland blog last Tuesday!

It was the second of two projects I had completed for the last issue. The first project was the "Boo Crew" layout I shared a few posts back. And I mentioned in that post how I had to rip that entire layout apart and start over because of an error. Well, I was two for two this month.
This mini had a few issues of it's own...

If you look carefully on the right side of the right page, you can see where I had accidentally punched holes on the wrong side! So frustrating.
I have more photos and a little tutorial on their blog. You can see the entire post *Here*.

And I just want to say thank you for all of the Happy Anniversary wishes on my Friday post. I didn't get around to all the blogs I wanted to this weekend, but I definitely will today!
We had such a busy weekend!
On our actual anniversary, Mike came home with a rose for me and ingredients to cook me dinner.

And then he surprised me with tickets for Game Six at Busch Stadium in a suite where we saw them beat the Dodgers 9-0! On to the World Series :)
And another favorite part of the weekend was our annual trip out to Fright Fest at Six Flags...

my favorite characters were there :) Along with Evan, my niece Madi, and Erin.

And my sister and mom. A photo of the three of us. We haven't had one together in a while. My dad, Mike and sister's two boys were also there. It was a pretty fun night. Not too spooky or as cold as I feared.

How was your weekend?

Sixteen Years...

and counting!

I can't believe it has been sixteen years since our wedding day. :)

Right Now...

I am pretty busy.
I subbed in a first grade classroom at my childrens school yesterday.
I am finding myself spending more and more time there.
Slowly easing my way back into the world of teaching, but not ready to jump in full time yet.
Or even part time.
As long as Mike is traveling so much, I think I need to be available at home as much as possible.
It's just what works for our family right now.

The kids are actually feeling better although Evan's seasonal allergies are probably the worst they have ever been. We are trying to get him in to see an allergist as soon as possible to finally get him some relief!
But we did make some time to go to the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday.

First we picked apples...

and then we headed to the patch. The weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny and 70's!

Evan, my pumpkin perfectionist, just had to give Mike and Erin advice on how to pick the perfect pumpkin. You can see Erin tuning him out and Mike listening.
Then when we got home...

it was time to decorate. We are almost ready for Halloween. Just a few jack o lanterns to carve, a costume to buy for Erin, as well as the Halloween candy and we are good to go!

And that was our weekend for the most part. :)

These are all phone photos by the way. In the past I have brought the big DSLR along for pumpkin patch trips, but just really didn't feel like it this year. I think my phone did ok though!

In scrapbooking, I had posts on the Paper Issues blog here and here. yesterday. A post in the morning and then another one in the afternoon. As promised, I featured a layout by Evie who commented on my blog last week and linked up a Halloween layout for our current issue.

If you celebrate, how are your Halloween plans going? Have you created any projects for Halloween recently?

Halloween Door Hangers (as seen in Crafting Ireland magazine)

When going through my Halloween projects for the current Paper Issues "Halloween" issue, I realized I had never shared my Halloween door hangers from last year. I had shown a peek when that issue of the magazine came out last fall, but that's it.

Our family loves decorating for Halloween. But sometimes those decorations can get pretty expensive! In the past, I have enjoyed using recycled materials and my scrapbook supplies to make some inexpensive decorations for our house.

For this project, I am recycling some cardboard that came in one of my scrapbook packages. The cardboard made great bases for my door hangers.

I decided to make four different hangers, so I cut the cardboard into 4 6x6 squares. I thought we could keep one and then share the other four with our neighbors.

I covered each base with a piece of Halloween themed patterned paper. I believe I used a Pink Paislee line for these.

My next step was to embellish each square using all sorts product. This was the fun part! :) I like to do a lot of layering on pieces like this.

Here is a close up.

After each square was done, I grabbed some twine and my heavy duty hole punch. That is basically all I use my Cropadile for. Punching holes :)

To keep my holes even, I used a ruler to line them up. But you can always just eye ball it if you feel comfortable doing that.
Once I punched the holes, I threaded each end of a piece of twine through the front of each hole and tied large knots in the back. I recommend using a piece of tape to secure the knots so they won't slip through.

I would recommend putting mod podge over the patterned paper and flatter elements before adding the other items.

Nice and simple! Like little mini layouts :)
Blog friends - I will be making the rounds visiting blogs either today or sometime this weekend. Had quite a night last night. Erin has been sick off and on since Monday night and I think a trip in to the doctor may be on the agenda today. Plus, Evan had the mother of all nose bleeds last night. He gets them occasionally due to allergies, but this was the worst ever. It lasted at least a half hour! I came close to calling the doctor, but thankfully it stopped.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Two Things...

1. Posting for the FSOT board at 2p's, but open to anyone. I have a Priority Mail box for sale full of October Afternoon and Basic Grey scrapbook product. There is:

 from October Afternoon
 - 40 sheets of paper (new and older lines)
 - 5 alphabet sticker sheets
 - 1 set of rub ons
 - 1 package of trim
 - 2 word sticker sheets
 - 1 12x12 die cut sheet
 - 2 12x12 sticker sheets

From Basic Grey
 - 30 sheets of paper (old and new lines)
 - 3 packages of rub ons
 - 1 set of Carte Postale envelopes
 - 2 Chipboard alphabets
 - 1 tag sheet
 - 1 die cut paper
 - 3 Matchbook albums

I am accepting payment through Paypal only for $45 (shipping included) and will take the first full price offer from here in the continental US.
If you are interested please email me at mmrhoda@sbcglobal.net

2. I have a post up at Craft Your Nest with a layout inspired by Pinterest. I actually finished it! :)

Have a great Wednesday!

Halloween Hootenanny!

at Paper Issues!

 (projects by Paper Issue design team members)

The new issue is up over there and the prize is fabulous!

A full set of Heidi Swapp's new color shines!
The details on how to enter are in this post *Here*!
It's actually pretty simple though. Just link up any Halloween project new or old by October 20th on the Paper Issues blog post and you have a chance to win.
And please let me know here on my blog in the comments if you do link up.
I am choosing two projects to be featured on the Paper Issues blog next Monday and would love to choose one of my blog readers for one of the spots!

Here are a few of the projects I don't believe I have ever shared on my blog that I plan on linking up myself even though I am not eligible for the prize :)

This is an older page I did a few years ago when I took the "Design Your Life" class by Cathy Zielske at Big Picture Classes. I wanted to document Evan's love for Halloween and how one year he started setting up in August! Yes, we had a graveyard in our front yard for two months. (lol)

This is another older page I did a few years back that was actually my first pub ever. It was picked up by Scrapbooks Etc...magazine. I miss that magazine.
I will also be sharing a few other projects that can be found in these posts Here and Here.

I just realized that I never posted my Halloween door hangers I made last year for Crafting Ireland. I posted a peek and then a link to the magazine. So I will have to do a blog post on those in a future post!

One last thing! Blog friends, I will no longer be posting to the 2p's blog threads. Just needing to cut down places I visit for blogging. This is one of the reasons I added my blog rolls back in. So I can visit all of my regular friends. I will still be checking in when I can on blogs, but you won't see me on those threads.
And if any of you are on Facebook and want to be friends, just let me know. I think I am kind of hard to find on there from what I have heard for privacy reasons.
Thanks for stopping by today! :)

If You Are Popping in Today...

to see what I am up to, I am over at The Craft Your Nest blog.

I am sharing a peek at my challenge layout in progress and some fun sources of inspiration that I personally love.
Come on by and say "hi" if you have time. :)