Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 14 years to get that many views.

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My girls are getting older, and cute, fun costumes are not desirable. Especially with Alizabeth obsessed with zombies. She thinks they are pretty cool, and often plays zombie hunting games on the game system. I think zombie makeup is cool too. I often wonder and think to myself, how much my life would be different if I had pursued makeup as a career. Not fashion makeup, horror makeup.   You might see some mistakes, but I have models who don’t like me getting too close to their eyes, and I definitely don’t have the ‘correct’ makeups for some use, but since we were just trick or treating,perfection wasn’t a big deal. When the girls were younger, I loved painting their faces, and they loved it too, until I was done, then they wanted to scratch and couldn’t, so less and less as they have gotten older have I been allowed to do it.

Annalise thought that going as a DOLL was pretty scary stuff. I mean, how many horror stories are focused on dolls. So here is my Doll Baby.

I love those big fake eyes, and the tiny little lips. She wore an old dress of Alizabeths, with dress shoes and crinoline at the bottom.  She looked great.

I have deliberately put Alizabeth second, so you can run away and chose NOT to look at her pic. I used a cheapie cheapie makeup kit and used the fake scar stuff to rough up her cheeks. I also used black paint mixed with the red blood to create a more realistic look. She has touches of green in the pale makeup, as well as two shades of red blood.

I WARN YOU< THIS IS SCARY!!!

OK.

Here she is…

once we went outside, I took the rest of a tube of blood and oozed it down her arms and neck and hair. She loved it. She was quite scary and frightened many of her teenage friends.

Happy Hooooooowwwwllllloween!

lots of filters here on this photo , let me snow you what I created.

First, the dollar store creepy (not!) plastic skull. and some NO longer colored bugs and spideys. Just take your items and place them in a box, take them and some  $.99 cheap black shiny spray paint outside, and spray away. I also glittered the skull with black glitter (Yudu glitter). Seriously good looking stuff, and for what- $2?  can’t beat that with a stick.

I added some dollar store netting and spider webs. Check out that creepy spider, 2/$1!   Doesn’t that skull look great. You should have seen the terrible paint job on him originally. Tip of the day- think about what else you could put a coat of paint on that would look like a much more expensive buy. Oh goodie, look at the pic I found, you can see the terrible skull, and how much nicer he looks now.

Look at my fun jars and tealights! Wanna see how those are made? Gonna be a long post today folks!

Let’s start with the tea lights.

You’ll need, two small fishbowls, two glass candlesticks, some alcohol inks, and some e6000 or craft goop ( silicone adhesive.

Originally I had planned on multiple colors, but I only ended up using Black, Red, and Purple.

Place some plastic down, so your inks don’t ruin your surface.

Using black, run droplets of ink at top of glass, then let them slide down into the bottom of the glass.

Do the same thing with the candle stick.

Now add purple, letting it drip and blend.

On the outside of the glass, you’ll want to put the red. You don’t want it to mix with the purple and black.

Now let them dry. Then you put the glass bowl on top of the candlestick with the Craft Goop. Let that dry, insert your tealight and enjoy your spooky candle tealights!

Like this idea? How about using some glass jars- spaghetti, salsa, cheesewhiz, etc.. You just need clean glass jars, some fun spooky stuff, craft goop, black paint, some black beads, and some more glass candleholders.

So basically, you are going to do a lot as the tealights steps. This time, paint only the candleholders and the jar lids, when those are dry, use the Craft Goop to glue the round bead to the jar lid, and the jar to the now black candle holders.

Insert your fun stuff into the jars. I used small skeletons I cut up from the dollar store, even the small brown ones were a banner. I added a couple dollops of hot glue to the inside of the spider jar, dropped in some webbing and then pulled it up and over the rim, twisting the lid in place to keep the webbing in place.

I tossed in a few spiders when I could. But the jars were too plain for me.

They needed labels. I googled free halloween printable labels and found some. You can find tons of them, just use what you like.
( and size them to your needs with a program like Word)

I decorated each jar differently, but the same. Using buttons, spiders, cheesecloth, netting, twine and plastic bugs.

I am so happy how my jars turned out. I might try to find a jar for one of those large spiders next year. I also hear that dried moss, spray painted beans, and hand sanitizer make creepy jar additions.

Happy Hallow- SCREAM everyone!

So, on to Almond Bark and what flavors can be created. I was buying on a whim, looking for pumpkin seeds and saw Heath Bits in the baking section. *lightbulb*

Toffee Chex Mix

You Need-

1 box Rice Chex Mix

1 1/2 packages of Almond Bark

2 cups slightly broken pretzels

1 bag of Heath Bits of Brickle Bits

1/2 bag ( or more) Heath Bits

1/2 cup mini Chocolate chips

Melt the 1 and 1/2 packages of Almond Bark, I do this in a microwave safe glass bowl. The biggest one I have, this makes a LOT. After the bark is melted, pour in your cereal and use a folding motion to start bringing the almond bark up and over the cereal. ( this helps prevent breakage of the squares)  Now add in your pretzel pieces ( broken ones blend into the mix better- it’s asthetical)  and your brickle bits. Lay your mix out on 2 large sheet pans covered with parchment paper ( nothing sticks) and immediately add in the mini chocolate chips and heath bits. Then let it cool/dry and simply break it up to put into platicware or ziplocs. It fills two gallon ziplocs.

enjoy!

Hello Friends! I have two fun Chex treats that are sure to please your little goblins.

This Chex mix is fun and perfect for Halloween treats- for class or friends/coworkers. I know my kids have taken this to school and gotten raves from friends and teachers.

You’ll need

1 box Rice Chex mix

1 1/2 blocks of Almond Bark- can find this at the Walmart. Yes, one whole and one half package, I like my chex well covered with the melted candy.

1 cup of yellow/orange/brown M&M’s. I sorted mine, didn’t take long- get the kids to sort while you heat up the bark.

I bag of Candy corn

1 container of halloween sprinkles

Melt the Almond bark in the microwave. I use a giant glass bowl- mine almost is to big for the micro. I heat it on high about 1 min. stir- go for another minute and stir. until it’s melted, I get it pretty hot, so be careful. Then I stir in the box of Chex, and I ‘fold’ the cereal over and over until it’s coating well. Add in the M&M’s, then get some parchment paper over a couple cookie sheets and spread the mix out until it fills the trays. I work fast and sprinkled on the Candy corn and sprinkles. Let it cool and store in ziplocs or plasticware to keep the moisture out. This makes enough to fill 2 gallon ziplocs.

This weekend we took Sat. and drove to a new park by Conowingo,MD. There was a lovely little pond and covered mini bridge, and the leaves are starting to get some really beautiful colors. We also found an historic home with a barn that had the most beautiful doors!

Here are some photos we took this weekend. I had a hard time choosing which ones were my favorites.

Annalise

Alizabeth

The girls had a lot of fun posing for me. My gorgeous fall scarf was a great prop for them to use, esp with all the colors and how well it matched their clothes.

A couple weeks ago was Homecoming, Alizabeth being a freshman, we weren’t exactly sure of what it would be like, so of course, we jumped in with both feet. Found her an amazing cute dress online, then found a second dress. Bought both, after trying them on, the second dress became her first choice. We found jewelry ( got to go on a road trip for it- score!) and new shoes with the highest heels she’s ever worn. I even found a little silver bag for her to hold her lipgloss, powder, phone etc..  And we decided that I could do her hair and makeup. So the weekend before, I did a trial run. Loved it.

However, when I set out on Saturday to do her hair, it wouldn’t stay to the side, so we gave up and left her bangs and gave her a smooth pulled back look. It was different for her, as usually she has some curls pulled loose.

Alizabeth originally planned on going solo to the dance, as she had 5 boys ask her to go and she couldn’t/didn’t want to chose between them all. However, one boy won her heart and she said yes to him.

This boy was a grand sport. Most kids don’t have photobug moms who take a thousand pics. I didn’t want them to have one of those cheesy black backdrop with school color balloons for their photos. We’re original here, something fun and just all over better needed to be done. The boy, D, came over early, forgetting his ticket and the flowers. nerves. and we headed to the local park to get some shots with a cool background.

Both kids were great about the pics, I suggested some fun and silly poses to keep them interested. And we walked out of the park with over 250 photos.

We finished just in time to get them to D’s house for the flowers and ticket, and some photos from his Dad. Then took them on to Homecoming. They had fun and the dance ended at 10pm. I know I’m looking forward to next years gathering and shopping for the next Homecoming! Alizabeth really enjoyed going with someone who is taller then her, as a lot of the guys asking her were her height, and she had 3 inch heels on.

WhooHoo you can YUDU!!

Hey, Circlet friends! Kristen here today with a YUDU post. I know, it’s been a while since I’ve shared something created with my Yudu, and I’m sad about that. I love Yudu-ing. I keep trying to get my children’s teachers at school to let me print them up some AWESOME screen printed T-Shirts. but so far no one has asked. Hopefully next year I can get ahead of them and see if one of the clubs will create some!

Today, I decided to show you a colorful and easy way to screen your favorite designs.

I decided to use a Pre-made screen , and I did mask off some of the screen. I simply used some clear packing tape, as that is what sticks really well. When you mask off your screen, you’ll want to make sure to mask the back side of the screen. This way you won’t be pulling against the tape and pulling it when you squeegie the paint.

Here is my screen in the Yudu and the three paints I used to create the fun little bag.

After putting your screen and bag into place, place your color on the screen, making sure you have a good amount.  Then lift your Yudu with the screen and flood fill your screen. This fills the empty holes with color, and prepares it to go onto your item.

Now pull your squeegie over the image with paint still on it, with a firm pressure. You can see that the colors barely blend and touch nicely. I try to put colors next to each other that would make a nice blend.

Here is what your print looks like.

Isn’t that neat! I decided to dress it up a bit with glitter, then added a couple gems for the crown and a black pearl eye with fabric glue

now, I did want to try to use the Yudu glitter and glue technique, so I created a T-Shirt as well, first with my multi color technique. ( when the technique didn’t work, I used fabric glue to glitter the bird) please read on..

And you can see how the screen turned out. ( even though I goofed and put purple and orange together- it did not blend to a yucky brown). shew!!

Not knowing if the glue would work, I tried it out on my T-Shirt. The glue works best through a 70 mesh screen, but I wasn’t sure what my screen was.

After I squeegied my glue through, I put on the pink foil ( foil, flock and glitter are all applied with the same Yudu Adhesive) I followed the directions and ironed it, but…

the mesh was too fine and didn’t hold some of the foil. Now you might think it’s ruined, but I say, it’s an artistic challenge, so I took my fabric glue and I swirled and painted with it around the foil and glittered. I think the shirt turned out great. My daughter loves it and it’s quite eye catching!

There you go. Hope you have enjoyed my little multi-color technique today!

Designed by: Kristen Swain
Cricut Machines Used: Yudu Machine
Yudu Supplies Used: Yudu Silver Gliitter, Yudu Pink Foil, Yudu Brights Ink, Yudu Secondary Ink, Yudu Preburned Symphony Screen, Yudu Preburned Butterfly Flutter Screen, Yudu Adhesive
Other Supplies: Fabric Glue, Gems, Pearl Gem

First, I cut out the bracket piece from the background off this Cosmo Cricket Pixie-licious paper, then trimmed one part off the side, keeping both pieces.  I  cut out the three borders, two scallop and one latticework using the Elegant Cakes Cartridge, I added them to my bracket piece and trimmed the edges.

Using the Cindy Loo cartridge, I cut out the mushrooms in purple dot and cardstocks matching the paper collection. I pieced them together, adding glitter to the spots  and allowed them to dry overnight. In the morning, I ran the mushrooms through my Cuttlebug with the Polka Dots embossing folder.

I cut my paper into a large green block, then added my photos to an orange block and added them to my layout. I cut the green dot paper with the Martha Stewart All Occasion cakes cartridge. First I popped the mushrooms up with foam tabs, then added them to my layout. I cut two pieces from the grass cut border, and adhered them to the mushrooms.

I cut out this phrase from the cutouts paper, making it into a banner, adding a large toothpick to the backside and sticking the end underneath my photo block, I also foam tabbed the banner to stick up.

I then cut my title out from Cindy Loo and adhered that to the top of the layout, typing and printing my journaling out on a scrap of cardstock and tucking it sideways along the edge of my photo block.

To finish, I added twine to matching buttons, and adhered them to the banner and two mushrooms, and I also added on a couple chipboard butterflies from the Cosmo Cricket chipboard sticker sheet.

I hope you noticed that I used my Cricut Cake Cartridges in 3 layers plus cut another with the grass border that I trimmed into my own sizes.

Cricut Elegant Cakes Cartridge

<LpBdr-2> phrase – ( fit to page)

<DsyBr2-s>phrase- (fit to page)

<RosBr2-s>- Champagne Toast- ( fit to page)

Cricut Expression

Cricut Cindy Loo Cartridge

<mushroom> 2 inches , 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches

<mshrom-s> 2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches

<mushroom> layer – 2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches

<Flrish2> font 3/4 inches, <Flrish8>font 3/4 inches, <Flrish5>font 3/4 inches, <Flrish2> font 3/4 inches

<Flrish6-s> font- 2 inches

<Vine1>font- 1 3/4 inches

<Flrish7>font 1 3/4 inches

<mshroom-s> layer- 2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches

Cricut Martha Stewart Crafts All Occasion Cake Art Cartridge

<GraBd> 7 3/4

Cuttlebug Machine

Polka Dots Emboss Folder

Other Supplies-

Cosmo Cricket Pixielicious kit

Buttons/twine/glitter- craft supplies

thanks for taking a look today! I hope you will join in on this challenge!

Weekly Challenge #19: Whatevah! Challenge

Each week join us for “Challenge Friday” where we will announce a new creative challenge. We want you to feel inspired to use your supplies in new ways. Have fun with it! Check back often to see the beautiful entries from your Circle Friends . . . you are sure to leave with a desire to get cutting!

Weekly Challenge #19: Whatevah! Challenge

“Whatevah!” is a phrase a lot of parents of teens hear around their house on daily basis. We thought we’d take that phrase to heart for this next challenge. What we’d like you to do is use WHATEVAH shape you would like, but be sure to repeat it three times on your project. Project must also include spray ink and must be newly created for this challenge.

This challenge is open to Cricut Circle Members only. Submit your entry using the InLinkz tool found at the bottom of this post. Please post your full name along with your entry. You must submit a project to be entered into the drawing. Entries are due by 11:59 pm MST on Thursday, February 10th, 2011. This week the winner will receive $25 added to their Cricut.com account OR their choice of ONE of the following cartridges: All Sports, Campin’ Critters, Groovy Times, Life’s A Party, Imagine Nursery Tails, or Imagine Elise. Prize will be shipped within 4 to 6 weeks of Winner announcement.

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Good morning Circlets! Kristen here and I hope you are having a fabulous week! I have the challenge this week, the Whatevah! Challenge to use three images of a single shape and spray misters on your project. I chose to do a layout of photos from last winter.

First, I printed out my cardstock colors and printed paper using Mr. Frosty and my Imagine.

Then I layered my teal pattern on top of some white cardstock, cutting off about 1/4 inch off one side of the top and bottom of the teal paper. I then layered on a piece of this light teal  in a block.

I then cut out my snowman, trees and border pieces in white. First I layered the white snowflakes over the white scallop border.  I used Sky Blue Tattered Angels mist to spritz over the snowflakes, coloring the snowflakes light blue, and also giving a pattern to my border.

I also sprayed my trees with Key Lime Pie and let them all dry. When dry, I spritz a little hairspray over all the pieces to keep the shimmer powder on the sprayed pieces.

After cutting out the green trees and border, I embossed the tree with the D’Vine Swirl Embossing folder.

I started attaching pieces to my layout, adding my photos, the two borders and the trees- popping up some of the trees with foam tape. I took the pieces I cut for the snowman, and instead of cutting them with colors, I cut them on white, and colored the pieces with my Sharpie Markers. I glued all the pieces together and double foam taped the snowman up.

I added some embellishments with buttons tied with twine bows, and then added my journaling. To finish the layout I placed some of those blue snowflakes on the top and bottom of the layout, adding glitter glue to them and a single lime pearl to their centers.

I cut my title using Gypsy and the Cake Basics font and adjusted the Kern to make the letters touch, then welded the letters together, cut them and glued them at the top.

To recap- our challenge this week is to use a shape 3 times on your layout ( did that with both snowflakes and trees) and to use spray mist ( blue and green used!) Hope you have lots of fun creating for this challenge!

***DOWNLOAD Kristen Swain’s Snowman Layout Gypsy File HERE***

Cricut Expression

Cuts-

Accent Essentials-

<snowflake> cut 2x – 1.39 inches

Winter Lace-

<snowflake7> 1.53 inches

<snowflake8> 1.64 inches

<snowflake9> 2.16 inches

Gypsy Wanderings

<pinetree-s>3.47, 5.0 (cut 2), 6.41 inches

Winter Frolic-

<snowman3> shift, layer, layer shift- 3.35 inches

Martha Stewart All Occasion Cake Art-

<scalopbdr> 1.36 inches

Imagine

Mr. Frosty Cartridge

papers- Teal print, lime green, light teal, dark teal

Cuttlebug

D’Vine Swirls

Gypsy

Other Supplies- Foam Tape- Glue Arts, buttons/twine-craft supply, Spray Mist- Tattered Angels, American Crafts - White cardstock, pearls- Kaisercraft, markers- sharpie, glitter glue- Studio G.