Have A Boo-tiful Halloween

Happy October everyone!  

Elizabeth here with some Halloween décor eye candy. 

Mmm. Candy. The best part of Halloween if you don’t count the ability to dress up as a witch and behave the part without any complaints from your family.

Not that I have any experience with that.

Ahem.

Anywho ... here are some pix of what’s topping the horizontal spaces in my family room this month: lots of printables, more big paper mache letters and an entire patch of pumpkins.

First. The mantle.  Frames. Paper flower wreath. Thematic knick-knacks. Banner. Done.

Next.  The bookshelves. Big paper mache letters. Piles of pumpkins ... including my newest addition ... the large chevron. Hanging pattern paper letters. Twigs. Light-bulb lit jack-o-lantern. Which, I should remember to put on a timer ...

Lastly. The console table. Glittered pumpkin. Triangle banner made by my dear friend Kay. Flying bats in a frame. 10-minute bright orange table runner ... man, I wish I could run for 10 minutes without turning bright orange.

 

And finally last ... what Halloween post wouldn’t be complete without a picture of a black cat? Um, none. So here she is. 

 

Ahhh ... isn’t she sweet?  Ok. Indulge me.  My only child has left me for college.  I’ve got nothing else to lavish all this pent up mothering pride on.

Have a Boo-tiful Halloween everyone!  I’m off to find the bags of candy I hid from myself.  It might take a while ... I’m either getting really tricky or really forgetful in my old age : ).

And speaking of forgetting, before I do so ... here are the links to the printables I used: Trick-or-Treat Chalkboard; Halloween Subway Art; Witch with Cat; Batty Trick-or-Treat and Boo Signs; Chevron 31; Keep Calm.

The Crafting Journals Takes a Road Trip: The Martha Stewart American Made Event

Hello everyone!

Yesterday some of The Crafting Journals bloggers took a day trip into NYC to attend the American Made Event at Grand Central Terminal. We are had heard about the event from some of our friends at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and decided to take the afternoon off from our crafting to head into the Manhattan and check out the event.

The American Made event celebrates and recognizes some of the our countries best craftspeople and entrepreneurs. Here are some of my "favorite things" from the event:

I loved the use of everyday objects into the collaged logo - so cool!

On the other side of the logo, we were able to mark the state that we were from. If you look closely you can see stars on most of the states.

  

We got to see a live silk-screening demonstration which was really interesting. This is a craft I have been wanting to do. 

Everyone was given a  freshly silk-screened tote bag to take with them. Just make sure to keep it from smudging in the crowd while you wait for it to dry!  

There was also a Martha Stewart Crafts tools demo that we saw but didn't participate in - umm .... I think we are familiar with those tools since we use them every day at work. Lol!  Anyways, that is the fabulous and talented Jodi Levine from MSLO showing an attendee how to use the scoring board and make those colorful  accordion cards.  

Speaking of the fabulous and talented - there is our very own Tracey from The Crafting Journals making a friendship bracelet. Notice how she's got holding her freshly screen-printed tote bag away from the passing crowd so it doesn't get smudged? 

There also were lots of vendors with artisan foods and crafts for sale. I loved Julie Nolan's handcrafted jewelry and purchased a constellation necklace. So cool!  

Parcel was also on hand with lots of pretty vintage paper items. I love the little paper banners!

 This is just a small sampling of the hand crafted items. I was so busy shopping that I forgot to take more pictures for you all to see.

It was a great afternoon with good friends, laughs and inspiration. We are all planning to attend again next year if we can - Hope you can join us! 

It's All Relative...

Crafty Greetings!  I had been thinking for a while about what I wanted to post and was not coming up with anything that grabbed me.  Then, unfortunately, my wonderful Aunt Carol passed away... and the two days I spent with my amazing family celebrating her life helped me recall a family tree layout I did a while ago.  The light bulb lit up and voila… a blog post was born.  : )
 

I have a large family and at one of our annual family reunions I took a lot of great photos of everyone.  It inspired me to come up with a way to include the photos with a family tree in a two page scrapbook layout.  Here's how I did it:
 

I made a title page and unintentionally used a “symbolic” tree photo.  : )

The right side of the layout has multiple parts.  I cut two pieces of green cardstock to 7x12in and arranged my photos on them in a grid format.  Note:  Before laying out photos, score and fold a one inch "hinge" down the long side of each piece that you will adhere to the back of the base.

On the flip side of each hinged piece are the names of those in the photos.  I printed the names and punched them out with a square punch.

 

The center of the base is where I added our family tree.   I typed the names of each family and trimmed them out into strips.  Used embroidery floss for each family as the “branches” connecting them to my grandparents.

This layout is just one idea!  I hope that it provides a jumping off point for your own family tree project.  One thing to keep in mind when you make your family tree is to allow extra space for any future additions.  : )