Halloween Banner

FMG's Grandmother recently sent me (completely out of the blue!) a Cricut and oh! how I've loved playing with it!!! (And wasting time with it...)

It's been to school multiple times and has inspired a few cute projects at home!

I was envious of a super crafty friend's Halloween banner she hung on her mantle... Not having her (Hi, EJH!) amazing sewing skillz I used the cricut to slice and dice myself a "trick or treat" banner.

Measure twice, cut once - right? Since I had limited paper I wanted to make sure I didn't cut my ovals too big!

The George and Basic Shapes cartridge has a basic oval and the option to make it "slotted". Perfect for stringing on ribbon! I cut 11  4.5" black and white polkadot slotted ovals and 11 4" orange not slotted ovals.

For "Trick or Treat" I cut 3"  true sized letters out of spider web paper for TRICK and TREAT and 1" for OR (the whole word will be on one oval).

I started with black and white ribbon...

and ended up with purple. I strung the black and white ovals to get a feel for how long it would be based on the size of the ovals. I guess it would have been nice to measure that before starting!

Attach the letters to the orange paper with a tiny line of glue. Enough to stick - not enough to ooze!

After all of the letters were attached, I decided that it needed lime green glitter.

Of course.

Martha Stewart skinny glue to the rescue!

It makes the most amazing skinny line EVER!!! I just keep refilling it over and over...

Mmmmm. Much better.

When all of the letters were glittered, I attached the orange ovals to the black ovals with the skinny glue taking care to avoid the half inch space where the ribbon was - I wanted the letters to be adjustable - not fixed. (Thanks, jojo for helping this step move along!)

Since I cut the slots in the ovals at the center I knew it wouldn't have any "hang" when the banner was hung.

 (Hang? sag? give? what!?)

So I trimmed the ribbon pretty short on the ends and attached it to my mantle with good 'ol push pins.

(don't judge)

I'm loving the different papers, the Halloween colors, the GLITTER!!!

For the life of me I can't get a great picture of the whole thing. (No perfect people allowed though, right!?)

Trick or Treat!!!

Dripping with Enthusiasm

Seriously. Not in a drama-queen-heavy-on-the-sarcasm way.

The most exciting thing that happened to me this weekend?

This:

We got a new faucet! And it's lovely, and beautiful, and fabulous.

But the very, very best part?

It

has

a

SPRAYER!

Didn't notice the old one was lacking in the sprayer department until we bought, closed on and started getting the house ready for move in. I can't tell you how much I took sprayers for granted. Have you ever tried rinsing the sink out without one? Or a giant stock pot? Or a punch bowl... or...

I know people have done it and it didn't kill me to live without it for a year.

Holy cow, how I've missed it.

But NO MORE!

We are now a house with a gorgeous new SPRAYER INCLUDED faucet.

(It sure is the little things, isn't it?)

(thanks for the install help, GWR!)

(And, no. Its not dripping.)

Smummy and Frankenspoon

How stinkin' cute are these?

A sweet friend got these for me and I LOVE THEM!

 I love Frankenspoon's little scar...

 And Smummy's cheesecloth wrap... adorable. They stir up my desire to get crafty and make a whole gaggle of Halloween spoons. (What WOULD a group of spoons be called? I know gaggle isn't right.... I just liked it.)

They are living in my utensil jar until Halloween... and I think that maybe that stirring was just temporary. I like the two of them. No other cast members needed.

Prayers for Louis

I know those of you with pets understand that they become part of your family. Louis V. lives at Jojo's house and is one of  the sweetest, most darling cats in the whole world. Louis V. is sick.

I know its silly. I know there are bigger problems out there. But if you find the words, please include our little Louis V. in your prayers. Prayers for a quick and painless recovery, for wisdom and guidance for the vets taking care of him in the Feline-ICU, and for whatever else you can think of.

I appreciate it.

And so does Louis.

Update: As of 10:00ish on 10/17 Louis V. is at home and doing better. He stabalized and was eating and drinking at the vet. His bloodwork comes back early this week and we'll all know more about what was/is wrong.

He spent the weekend in an oxygen rich kennel... with his poor little shaved side! If he wasn't so sick it would have been like a spa weekend!



Best Idea Ever!

I'm pretty much on board for throwing a party for just about any reason.

Christmas? done.

Valentine's Day? check.

Baby Shower? um, hello.

Finding out the gender of your baby? These people did it, so why the heck not!?

Best.Idea.Ever.

I'm totally, absolutely, no excuses, (justletmemakesureitsokwithFMGfirst), when the time has come, doing it.

Oh, yes. Yes. I. Am.

(Thank, CSF, for sharing it in the first place! xo!)

ten ten ten

I love "fun" dates. Today, though, instead of the world ending, or catastrophe happening, people all over the world are celebrating "One Day on Earth".

From their website: It's October 10, 2010 (10.10.10), across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and inspired citizens are recording the human experience over a 24-hour period and contributing their voice to the largest participatory media event in history. Founded in 2008, ONE DAY ON EARTH is creating an online community, shared archive, and film. Together, we will showcase the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occur in one day.


One Day on Earth Participant Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.


I can't wait to see what is uploaded and I'm really really looking forward to sharing the kid-appropriate content with my class. It's hard to talk global when they think the world ends at the edge of their neighborhood and I'm extremely excited to see where this takes us.

Personally, I just can't wait to see what 10.10.10 was like for bazillions of other people.

In my spot...

Babies!

It's baby season!  I love all the babies my friends are having - and I love that they get to stay with my friends! Molly Ann (formerly know as Poppy) arrived October 1, Anna is due to arrive next month and Baby Josh arrived September 22!! FMG and I got to meet LJ (Little Josh) tonight. He's a great snuggler!

I love precious baby toes!

Snuggling on FMG's A&M tee with Daddy's Aggie Ring. We've got to start them early, you know. Before you know it they will start brain washing him to be in the Corps of Cadets! If we did did math right (and there are NO guarantees!) LJ will be a proud member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2033.

What a precious little soul!

my name is arg...

And I have header ADD. Seriously.

I used to have background ADD. But then I made the background white. Now I have full on header ADD.

Happy Halloween! (Almost!)

Oktoberfest 2010

We missed Oktoberfest in Munich by thismuch... but Addison's version is just as nice and so much closer!

AWB and JB were there...

RMEH (Or is it REMH? I'm changing it to REH. Done.) was there...

MP with Baby P at his first Oktoberfest...

AP... being just a tiny bit inappropriate with Baby P. Where else but Oktoberfest? We saw stranger things...

Like this...

They say "The bigger the feather...."

Just kidding. A little. A man's feather represents his stature in his community. The bigger the feather the more important the guy. Or something like that.  I'd need a peacock feather. (ha ha)

This year, AWB graduated from a chicken hat to a real "German" hat. She was proud.

Be still my heart. Cheese Strudel. The whole reason I allow myself to be drug to this mess.

Perfection. Perfect flaky crust. Perfect. Perfect. I die.

There was music and dancing. And SHOPPING. And it was really, really hot! iPhone said it was 55 F in Munich that night. Sounds much more conducive to Oktoberfesting than the 98 we were in.

REH bought art. She teaches high school physics. Her students are obsessed with her class. Decorating her classroom with things like this is just one tiny reason why.

Patiently waiting while we shop some more.

And did I mention the Oktoberfest beer? Yum! And the bratwurst? More yum! But the cheese strudel stole my heart.