New project..moods

I started my first Shimelle class this week. I've never taken one of her classes, but have heard such great things about them. This one is called You Think You Know Me. It's working with ten different moods. My sister sent me the card above this past week and I just love it. It inspired my color scheme and general mood for this project. Thanks, Laura:)

The first mood we worked with is happiness!

Autumn brunch

I had my first fall gathering of the year today. A group of friends that I used to work with at the nature center get together several times a year. Each of us hosts and I, naturally, always do the fall gathering. I always do a potluck, since everyone brings the most amazing food! I got my table all dressed up with fun black and white decor. Don't you love these bat candles!?! Here you can see that my scrap supplies in the dresser really are right in the middle of my dining room:) After we ate and chatted each of us did an altered paint can. Here the ladies are all hard at work!
Each person did such a unique can. I love them all!!!!

Getting festive!

Here's a fun wall hanging I just made with pictures of myself from Halloween past. I used lots of fun papers from my Scrapologie Vintage Halloween kit. It now hangs above our sofa and makes me feel very festive and nostalgic. Love it!!

Chloe has also been practicing her witch moves in anticipation of Halloween:)

First snow!

Greetings from **snowy** Minnesota! Yes, we had snow today. Only a bit, and none stayed on the ground, but at times it looked like a winter wonderland out there! Summer is definitely over:) So, now I'm off to work on more Halloween stuff. The snow definitely got me in the mood for Silver Bella coming up in just a couple of weeks in Omaha. Can't wait!!! The sun did come out shortly after I took this pic and now it just looks like a cool, crisp fall day again. In Minnesota we get 80 degrees one week (like we did last week) and snow the next. Gotta love it!

More SHE book

I was so thrilled with getting my SHE book back from Cassondra with her work in it, that it motivated me to finish my work in her book. The scans don't really do this book justice, but here are Cassondra (first 10 pages) and my work (next 8 pages) in the book that she originated. You can pretty much tell where her style ends and mine begins. This was such a fun collaborative project! Can't wait to mail this back to her. Hope she's pleased:)

She book collaboration home

Here is the completed SHE book collaboration that Cassondra and I did together. I did the first 5 pages and she did the rest. This was so much fun. It's always such a treat to do projects with fellow artists and I'm overjoyed to now have some of Cassondra's art in my home:) Now I just need to get going on her book so I can send it home to her soon!

Fabulous Fall!

I hope you're all getting Ali Edwards new e-newsletter (if not, you can sign up on her blog). Her AEZine challenge for the past week was to create a mini book of your five fabulous favorites. Since I'm all about fall right now, I had a blast going through my stash of pictures and magazine clippings and came up with this!

This, I believe

I felt like I was getting behind on the many fun challenges I had been taking part in. Then, earlier this week, I was listening to National Public Radio and there was an essay called "This, I believe" that was read on the air. The phrase intrigued me. I went to the web site and did a search. I found THIS! What an amazing project. It began in 1951, Edward R. Murrow encouraged people to write an essay about the beliefs that guided their lives. This project is continuing on today and you can read or listen to the essays here. I found them extraordinarily inspiring and it got me thinking about the beliefs that guide my life today. This was a very fun exercise to do. I feel like where I am in my life right now, as a mother of two young children, I'm constantly re-evaluating my values and what's important to me. Since time is such a precious thing, I want to make sure that I spend it doing what matters most. I would encourage you to check out these web sites and think about your personal philosophies and values that guide your own daily life. I also realized that I printed on patterened paper, which was part of Annie's challenge and also played with lettering, as part of Rhonna's. I guess a girl can do it all! Hehe:)
Check out thisIbelieve.org for lots more inspiration! Go ahead, write your own:)

Haute Halloween

I just got my Vintage Halloween kit from Scrapologie in the mail. Whoohoo is it **gorgeous**, totally my style. Love all the details and fun, fun stuff:)
I picked up a copy of a new local magazine Called METRO today at the drug store. I've been feeling a little less-than-hip lately about not getting into all the fun local stuff that's going on. The Twin Cities is so vibrant. There's a lot of great theater, art, museums and clubs that I've been missing out on out here in the burbs with two young kids. I think hubby and I will have to make a point of having a sitter (grandma and grandpa) and getting out on the town a little more:) I was most facinated by the "Haunted Haute" article about all the wonderful things that local costume shops carry to make your Halloween costume a true fashion statement. Loved their ideas!
Finally, check this out on Teresa's blog. Now that's an altered book!!