Happy Halloween

I have such fond childhood memories of Halloween night. I grew up in a large neighborhood with lots of children. It was great fun walking the neighborhood with my sister and my best friend, Heidi while our dads led the way from house to house. I loved walking up to each door and ringing the bell. "TRICK OR TREAT" We knew all the neighbors and loved for them to guess who was under each costume. Some of the neighbors would have special treat bags for us while others would hand out huge chocolate bars. I think my favorite treat was the homemade popcorn balls. As we walked up the sidewalk to the front door you could smell the popcorn popping. When you entered the front door the sweet smell of candied popcorn was there to greet us. YUM!!! As the evening came to a close and our legs were tired from walking, when we thought we couldn't take another step we would head home for a nice warm cup of hot chocolate. The evening would always end up by dumping all of our loot onto the floor, sorting it into piles, and trading each other for our favorites.

Yes that's me--I am the bunny and my sister the little leopard. My mom always made our costumes. When I became a mom, I couldn't wait to carry on the tradition of making Alex's Halloween costumes. My favorite was the year he was a robot.

Oh such fun memories.......

Before I close this Halloween post for tonight, I wanted to share a few little projects that I completed for my little shop at Sweet Peas.

Trick or Treat candy boxes and Halloween peek a boo notes.

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween making special memories that will last a life time. As for me, I am off to eat some leftover trick or treat candy---Butterfingers here I come.......

Leather and Lace

Did you ever feel so proud of your child that you thought you might just burst? That's how my husband and I are feeling lately about Alex. Of course we are always proud of him and the fine young man he has grown into but lately we just can't help ourselves from sounding his praises a little more. Alex has been playing football since he was just eight years old. First playing for Tiger Pride, an organization affiliated with our school district for young boys interested in football. He moved on to middle school football and then to JV. Last year, being a junior, he played a little varsity but this year with a lot of hard work and determination has worked his way to becoming an important member of the varsity squad. My husband and I sit in the stands, watching him play with so much intensity giving the team 110%. We watch as the other team members and coaches pat him on the helmet after a great play and as the camaraderie between he and the other players grow. We watch as he runs out of the locker room with the team while the school fight song is played by the band. It can almost bring tears to our eyes. (ok I must admit--it has brought a tear to my eye) This past Friday was so special as both sets of grandparents were able to attend to cheer Alex on.....

We were so excited to wake up this past Saturday to find that Alex had made the front page of the sports section of our local paper. It was such a shame that it was not a win for the team but Alex played a great game....

Thanks for letting a proud mom do a little bragging...now onto the lace portion of this post. My friend Bethanie recently went to an estate sale and boy did she hit the jackpot!!! The estate belonged to a lady who was a seamstress for many years. Bethanie was able to purchase yards and yards of vintage lace. Being such a good friend, she willing shared her treasure with me. I could hardly wait to make some soldered charms with this beautiful lace. Here are just a few that I took to SweetPeas.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. I am off to create----the craft shows will be here before you know it.

Happy Labor Day

What exactly is the Labor Day holiday all about? When I looked up the meaning of Labor Day on the Internet, it stated that it is a day created by the Labor movement to celebrate all the achievements made by the American workforce for the benefit and well-being of our country. To me, Labor Day is that but oh so much more. A day filled with rest, picnics, family, and parades. It's the symbolic marking of the end of Summer. Wow the end of Summer already. Time to close the swimming pools and get ready for the beauty of Autumn and all the fun activities this new season will bring. On this holiday weekend, I wish you a wonderful time of rest and special memories with your family. Before I close this post for tonight, I thought I would share a few projects that I recently completed for my shop at SweetPeas. I have been working on altering compositions notebooks. I love making these notebooks--a fun and simple project.

These first books were decorated using a delightful stamp set created by a wonderful company called Papertrey ink. The set is called Everyday Button Bits. Just stamp and add buttons---so much fun!!!

This last little book fits perfectly into this sweet bag that my mom created. We have been working on these together for an up and coming craft show. She creates the bags and I decorate the coordinating notebook to fit inside. What a team we are....

She has been busy sewing so look for more of these little cuties in a future post.... Until then Happy Labor Day and Happy creating :)

Are You Ready For Some Football??

One of my favorite things about Autumn is the start of football season. Living and growing up in Pittsburgh I could not help but to become a football fan. In fact my parents were such Steeler fans that my friends would never come to my house on Sundays because of all the loud cheering. When my son started to play football at the age of eight, I never dreamed he would continue until his senior year. I must admit I am really going to miss those Friday night high school games. There is something about sitting on those bleachers all bundled up in our hooded sweatshirts, surrounded by other parents all cheering for our sons. The band plays loudly while the cheerleaders encourage everyone to show their school spirit. At the far end of the bleachers is the student section. They come equipped with noise makers, painted faces and I love to see all the school spirit exhibited in their outfits. One of my favorite traditions at the start of the season is Media Day. A morning set aside for team and individual photos. Parents are encouraged to attend with cameras in hand to capture special memories. This year was extra special for me as it is our last Media Day. Alex usually hides from the camera but he must have felt the excitement of this day because he cooperated so nicely.




After Summer conditioning, three a day camp and playing in two scrimmages, our team is finally ready for the season to begin. All that is left to say is GO TIGERS!!!!

It's the most Wonderful time of the year........

Have any of you seen the back to school commercial from Staples? If you haven't take a look here it will definitely make you smile. This Summer has passed by so quickly I can hardly believe it is time for the kids to return to school. Kate and Emma (the little ones I babysit) are truly excited that tomorrow is the first day of school. Kate will be entering the fourth grade and Emma, preschool. Oh there are new shoes, backpacks, notebooks, pencils, lunchboxes, markers, and pencil cases. The excitement was high yesterday when we visited school to meet their teachers. Now Alex's first day is Thursday. I must admit the excitement expressed by the girls is not totally shared by Alex. He will be a Senior this year and has done this "first day of school" thing many times and takes it all in stride. I guess the wonder of it all has disappeared. His excitement lies in planning his future, choosing a career and becoming an adult. Even though he is not thrilled about another school year I think deep inside he is looking forward to all that his Senior year will bring.

In honor of the "Back to School" week I wanted to share with you a few projects I completed for my little shop at SweetPeas. I had such fun creating this vintage inspired scrapbook. I am drawn to this style of scrapbooking and was happy with the end result.

I was thrilled to find a large box of Anagram letters for only one dollar at the flea market. I knew just what I would use them for. The little ruler at the edge of the cover was another great find in a local "junk" store. I wish they would have had more of these little cuties. I scanned the school bus image from a vintage children's book I found buried in a box under a table at the flea market.

I also completed some Back to School themed peek a boo notes to slip into all those new lunchboxes. Whether you are celebrating this most wonderful time of the year with your little ones or your ones that are all grown up, I hope you create lots of special memories. HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Just for fun I am ending this post with a picture of Alex on his very first day of Kindergarden. What was his mother thinking with that outfit (LOL)---maybe it's not totally the outfit. Maybe it is the way I helped him tuck in his shirt into his shorts---just where does his waist begin.

When life gets in the way............

As I sit here at my desk, staring at my blank computer screen, I watch as the little cursor blinks on and off as if to say "Well aren't you going to write something" It has been so long since my last post and I don't really know why except to say sometimes life just gets so busy and overwhelming it is hard to put it into words. I have started to write this post on many occasion however the words were clumsy, awkward and just would not express how I was feeling. With the craziness of life it left me with very little time to spend in my studio creating and very few projects to share with you. Nothing left to do but cancel the post and wait until another day. It is not that I didn't think about my blog or the friends that I have made through my blog it is just that the right words would not come to me and the longer I waited the harder it became. So tonight, as both my husband and my son are out for the evening and the house is so quiet I thought we could catch up for a bit. I will not bore you with all the little details of the past two months just the highlights........

I guess the biggest event occurred at the end of June when my husband underwent gastric bypass surgery. We had been preparing for this event for such a long time and were both quite nervous as the time drew nearer. The fear of the unknown---wondering if this was indeed the right decision for Alex and our family

The morning of the surgery finally arrived and we took our "before" picture.......

The surgery was a difficult one and we did have some frightening moments. Alex's blood pressure became quite high and he remained in the ICU for several days. He was finally able to return home to continue his recovery process, which again was difficult for him. The next several weeks proved to be a very stressful time for our family. It is hard to watch someone you love go through something so difficult. It was a helpless feeling. Alex has been feeling much better these days. His blood pressure and blood sugar have stabilized and he has reached a weight loss of 60 lbs. We are now looking forward to continued success.

This picture was taken this past Friday at Alex's football media day. I will be sharing more pictures of this event in another post soon. It was such a wonderful, special day.

When our sweet and loyal friend, Maggie started to become ill after Lucy passed away we did our best to nurse her back to health but finally had to make the decision not to let her suffer any longer.

We miss her terribly but are so thankful for our little Sassy to bring smiles to our faces. It is fun to watch her grow and develop into a wonderful dog. She does live up to her name however but adds such joy to our family.

Well the last thing I want to do is to turn this post into the lyrics of a country western song. I have had many blessings in the past two months as well.........

Celebrating Father's Day with my husband and my dad. Reminding them just how special they are to me.

Celebrating the accomplishments of a very special young man. Jeremy and Alex grew up together and he spent quite a bit of time with our family . Jeremy joined the Army earlier this year and successfully graduated from boot camp. He came by for a visit before being deployed. We could not be prouder if he were our own son.

Now that things are slowing down a bit I have had time to work in my studio. I have been busy creating new merchandise for my space at SweetPeas. I am happy to report that things have been going well with that venture. I do have several projects that I am excited to share with you all. Perhaps now that I have broken the blog silence the words will come easier for me. I will be back soon to share some of my new creations. Thanks for being patient with me my friends and I look forward to catching up with all of you.

Fondly

Mimi~