October ACOT Reveal

I had the extreme pleasure of working with the new Parisian Anthology line from Pink Paislee this month. I haven't enjoyed scrappy supplies like this in a long time! Check out why they gave me a new sense of creative freedom in my article at ACherryOnTop.com.

These papers offer limitless options for adding your own colors and details! I've been really into orange and teal lately:


This mini was created using pages made from Prima flower packaging! I had been wanting to do this for a while after discovering just how many Prima packaging backgrounds I had collected and the colors were perfect for my little guy at the pumpkin patch. I love how this came out!

As if we needed another blanket

For whatever reason I decided I needed to procrastinate and make Owen *another* blanket. Can you see me rolling my eyes at myself?

This is a super simple no-sew, tied fleece blanket but I added the green monster applique made from a pattern out of Simply Handmade. Owen loves that little monster! When he sees it he grabs the blanket and squishes it all up in his face and squeals. If that isn't a mom's reward for her hard work I don't know what is!

No Sew Fleece Blanket
- cut two pieces of fleece to the same size, making sure you have neat edges. (I don't bother to measure. This makes a lap blanket for adults and is plenty big for a kiddo. Keep in mind that four inches on *each side* will get sucked up for fringe.)
- Sew your applique on one side if you are adding one. Remember to place it far enough up so that it doesn't interfere with the fringe.
- Lay the pieces one on top of the other. Cut every inch along the edge of the material, going up approximately four inches.
- You'll go along all four edges doing this. Cut both layers at the same time to ensure that your fringe lines up when you tie it. You'll notice you will need to cut 4" x 4" squares out of the four corners.
- When you are done cutting begin to tie each set of fringe, one lower piece and one upper piece. I find I get the most uniform look by sticking to "left over right, then right over left" when I tie. No need to tie super tight! You'll want it secure but not so tight that you stretch out the material.
- Done! It takes a little while to do all the cutting and tying but it is something you can do sort of mindlessly while you're watching TV. These make great gifts for kids and I love to make them for adults with their favorite teams' licensed fleece!

The Pick of the Patch!

Is it sick that I pretty much live for coordinating my son's outfits with our weekend activities?? I get so tickled to pick out clothes that will match the inevitable future scrapbook pages. It gets to the point that I actually give my husband color options for what HE can wear if I know we're going to be taking photos.

This weekend was simply gorgeous here in MA and we decided to hit the farm one last time for the season. Owen had a BLAST playing among the pumpkins! I managed to squeeze out only thirty shots before my camera battery died. I thought the spare had been charged but I must have forgotten... oops! So that was a bit of a bummer but nothing some cider and fresh donuts couldn't handle! Just for good measure, we grabbed some amazing popped-while-we-waited kettle corn to take home. Yum!



Cards November 2010

Woohoo! Today I was able to access the online edition of Cards for November and saw two of my creations published in this issue. I can't wait to see these in print!

"XO" using Pink Paislee

"Owl Our Thanks" using My Mind's Eye

Altered Halloween Frame

Every once in a while a project just flows together like buttah and this altered frame was IT for me! I love, love, love all things Halloween and have more decorations for the month of October than I do for the month of December... that should tell you something! I was inspired by The Crafting Chicks to create something with this old scrunched up book page technique. Here is what I came up with:And I think it's adorable! I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

I needed to cut about eleventy billion three inch circles from the pages of an old book. Normally I would consider cutting up books to be some kind of crime, but considering the book was under a dollar at Sal's Boutique (The Salvation Army) I made an exception and we'll call this "a second life" for the book.

It turns out cutting old book pages is a pain in the booty. My Slice machine didn't so much slice as shred and the Cricut didn't do much better. Ditto for my Martha Stewart circle cutter. Finally I just folded one into a 1/4 circle, folded pieces of paper, and cut the template onto those pieces. It was a bit of an annoyance but it was actually faster than I imagined it would be.

Then I crinkled them and grabbed my trusty hot glue gun to stick those puppies allllllll over the frame, which I had stripped of its glass and painted black.

$2.99 recycled frame + $.99 old book + supplies from my stash = AWESOME

Challenges Galore!

Well, I'm back up and running after an interesting vacation week. It was a week for the record books, that's for sure, but I am not getting into that long story at the moment. The good news is that my little guy is home from Grams' house and has been putting up with me loving on him even more than usual. He had a great week and my mom was a rock star... gotta love awesome grandparents!

Meanwhile, new challenges are up at Scrap That Baby and A Cherry On Top!

Check out my Theme Challenge at ACOT, where I ask you to scrap a costume this month. Here is little O in his King Richard's Faire garb (excuse the awful photo... this is what happens when you don't see sun for days):

See the rest of the ACOT challenges HERE!

Then hop on over to Scrap That Baby, where's there's still time to enter the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Challenge. I did a layout about Owen's sweet little caveman feet:

Coming soon: some fun Halloween projects and my new obsession with felt food!

My Old Stuff Kit #1 WINNER!

Wow, you guys gave me a ton of amazing recipes to try! Thanks for the inspiration... no thanks for the extra pounds. :-P

The winner of the My Old Stuff kit is: (drumroll, please!)

"Jennybean"!!! Jennybean posted a recipe that combines three of my favorites: apples, caramel, AND cheesecake. I'm in trouble.

Jennybean, please use the link over there on the right sidebar to email me your address so I can get the kit out to you!

There will be a new kit up soon, so keep checking back for a chance to win!