Friends forever!

How did these two messy boys get such a sophisticated scrap book page? I'm not sure. This was a special day spent with friends just before we moved. I guess the emotion of leaving our friends turned this adventurous play date into a simple, classy page. When looking at these photos I try to forget the fact that I had to yell at my misbehaving kid all day. Regardless, these photos captured two friends having a great time. I used two different shades of cream, white, and a fancy black title to dress these bad boys up. I think it works to remember such an important day.

That's a wrap.

Isn't that the cutest little box you ever did see? Recently, I've taking an interest in gift wrapping and present presentation. Don't worry when Christmas comes and I have 782 presents to wrap my interest will be long gone. One of my favorites is to use Baker's Twine. It looks great on every gift by simply matching your color of twine to your paper. I just got a variety of hand dyed doilies from Etsy.com to have on hand for scrap booking, but I think I like them better for present wrapping.
DON'T FORGET: when wrapping a special gift use your tape runner and forget that very noticeable Scotch Tape.

Catching up.

Which is directly related to the lack of blog post. I've never been this far behind in Eli's scrapbook and I am working to catch up to the present date. Earlier in the year a lot of my time was spent on Piper's scrapbook and it now shows. Thankfully, my sister isn't having anymore children. I prefer to scrap in the present. I've never scrapped something in the past or vintage pictures. I feel life is too busy and keeping up is the best method for me. Not to mention I have a horrible memory and can't do it any other way. When I am behind I feel like my pages don't always get the time they deserve. I won't say they lack quality, but sometimes they lack creativity. I am less likely to try something new and difficult. I also tend to resort to what I know works. Sometimes pages aren't thought out. Which is healthy for me the "planner". I am hopeful in the process of catching up something amazing, beautiful, and maybe even a little unplanned happens in this album.

Trick-or-Tractor

Introducing my favorite farmer! This costume was made entirely possible by my Silhouette Cameo. Without it I would of had a lot more leg work. The box was spray painted John Deere green, of course. The wheels & smoke stack were spray painted black. I used my Cameo to cut a pattern out for the wheels and then cut them by hand out of cardboard. The yellow making up the inside of the wheels is vinyl. Most of the yellow elements are. The grill and John Deere logo are cut out of cardstock. For both the logo and the slow moving sign I backed my designs with cardboard to give them more dimension. I added lights and reflectors to make it more realistic and super fun. We did have a few engineering problems, but I think some of that was due to the rain. Rain and cardboard don't mix! If I has to do it all over again, I would start with a smaller box. I would also work on a better harness or straps to keep it on. The farmers suspenders didn't really cut it with all the movement of my busy boy. The gas can was his trick-or-treat bucket which made the costume really come together. On Friday we had a small Halloween party for the kids. Eli was still able to be a farmer without his tractor for most of the night. Sometimes Mommy is pretty cool!