Halloween (better late than never)

The kids had a great time dressing up this year and going trick-or-treating. I love the dressing up part but when your children come home with 20lbs. (literally) of candy I wonder why we do it! Why don't we call it, "Let's all give our children diabetes day!" Ugh! Oh well, it is only once a year.

Bryson was a ninja, Lacie a '50's girl and Carston an army guy. Brady opted to go climbing with Mark and a friend and I sat at the top of the cul-de-sac with neighbors and gave out candy. It was the nicest evening, almost hot, unlike today which is cold and rainy.

Mark's Birthday

Mark's birthday was a couple of days ago so Bryson, Lacie, Carston and I snuck into his office while he was out to lunch and decorated with balloons, a sign and a candy bar cake that I made. We all hid under his desk and surprised him when he came in. (Too bad he saw our car in the parking lot! He was a good sport though!) The candy bar cake is made with paper from a kit that Stampin Up had last year. Love, love, love the paper!

This card is made with the new Sizzix cake pop-up die. It will definitely take some practice putting it together but the WOW factor was worth it!

The kids made the poster and he loved it! That night we went rock climbing and had a great time. I'm so grateful for such an amazing husband!

Witches Hat

I'm so upset I didn't get this uploaded earlier! Such a great Halloween give away. Oh well, here it is anyway!

I got this idea from another demo. and I just love it!!! So easy to put together...

Start with a piece of cardstock 4x11, fold in half. Mark it at 2" on each of the 4" sides. Score from the mark to each side of the fold, you'll do this 4 times. Fold on the score lines. Fold it up and you have your triangle. Then cut a piece of cardstock 1x7. Mark it 2" in on each side and cut a diagonal line from the mark to the corner. Adhere to the bottom of the triangle. Cut a piece of patterned paper about 3/4"x5", lay it above the hat brim and stick it on. Trim. Punch a square with your 1 3/8" square punch. Add glitter. Add a small piece of patterned paper to the center and adhere over the strip of patterned paper on the hat. Punch holes in the top with a hole punch or the Crop-a-dile and thread ribbon through. Fill with candy and tie ribbon. So cute!

Savannah's gift

I made this box for a friend who just adopted a little girl. Gotta love little girls! BTW, guess what?!? We just found out that Mark's brother and his wife are having a baby girl!!! Yea!! Out of 9 grandchildren, that's only 2 girls! Lacie will be so happy! Gotta go make something for the mom to let her know how excited we are!

8 Weeks Until Christmas

I know! I know! I'm a few days off, but it's all for a good reason. My friend Julie and I spent all day Friday canning apple pie filling. Holy cow! It is sooooo good! I've never made it before but I'm afraid this will be a new tradition. We canned 32 quarts, half of which are mine, and we used about 1 1/2 bushels of apples. I got one bushel of Pink Lady apples and 1/2 a bushel of Granny Smith apples from the farmers market. Yummy! I just love the farmers market.

Today's card is made with the Little Leaves Sizzlit and a hole punch.

Supplies

Stamps: All Holidays

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kraft, Certainly Celery, Old Olive

Ink: Black

Accessories: Little Leaves Sizzlit, hole punch, pastels

Little Switzerland!

The fam at Linville Falls

Last week our family went to Little Switzerland, NC and had an amazing time! We hiked to four different waterfalls and all were so different and amazing!

On the river near Chimney Rock

The first day we went to Chimney Rock. We had a great time hiking and seeing the sights!

The Girls

The Boys

The Kids

Chimney Rock Falls

Lacie and Maddie at Chimney Rock Falls

Only some of us hiked to the waterfall at Chimney Rock. It's a huge drop off with a good amount of water.

That evening we went to Young's Mountain Music. It was a hoot! You get the best of North Carolina's Mountain music in a hall that changes bands about every 10 min. It also offers dancing to anyone who'd like to get up and strut their stuff. The average age of attendees is about 80. We had a ball!

Lacie and Me

Carston and Maddie

The next day we went to Linville Falls. We had a great time hiking above and down to the bottom of the falls.

Linville Falls

The kids @ Linville Falls

The Fam. @ Linville Falls

On Monday we went to an apple orchard, gem mining and we hiked to Roaring Fork Falls. This day I used my video camera to take pictures and I am still learning how to upload those so no pictures for that day.

On Tuesday we hiked Crabtree Falls, about a 3 mile hike with a beautiful waterfall in between.

Crabtree Falls

Bryson, Me, Carston and Lacie @ Crabtree Falls

I don't know if I could say which waterfall was the best, they were all so unique and beautiful! If you ever think of taking a waterfall trip, I highly recommend the book "North Carolina Waterfalls" by Kevin Adams. It's very detailed and was a great resource. Thanks to my friend Sarah for loaning it to us!

Laura's cake

A friend had a birthday a couple of days ago so I made her this candy bar cake. It's such a pain to cut the styrofoam in a circle that I stick the candy bars to, so I came up with a new idea. I stuck them to a can of chicken! It was the perfect size! I'm sure the recipient will think it's a little strange so next time I'll probably empty the can and remove the label, but it works either way!

Supplies

Stamps: Eat Cake, Ginormous Flowers, Looks Like Spring

Paper: Loves Me DSP, Choc. Chip, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose

Ink: Choc. Chip, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose

Accessories: Cupcake die, 5 petal flower punch