Birthdays, and Craft Faires and Scrapping, Oh My!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head to my church for their second annual Craft Faire. Last year Chris and I shared a table, and this year we had planned on having 2 tables, but I never got my act together. So instead it was just Chris.
Here's a photo of his table setup, and if you want to see better pictures of his items (many of which are still available) go here.


Then in the evening we had our semi-regular game night- this time at Jason and Kelly's house. Last year they pretty much were all at our house, and this year we're rotating a bit. Totally makes sense- especially since Jason and Kelly live in NH and it's not fair for them to always come down to our place.
So in addition to celebrating my birthday (which was Sunday) we played Scene It and Life.
Next time- bowling.

Sunday was a fairly uneventful birthday. I had great plans of scrapping all day, but instead I watched Casper, putzed about the house, raked 7 bags of leaves by myself, and then in the evening finally started to get into a scrap groove.

And here are links to the latest LOs. Many of these were from a couple of weeks ago when I went to an all day crop.

• Glass Pumpkins: Cover Page, 2002, 2005, 2007
• Trip Stats
• Home Sweet Home
  
• Hawkeye Point
  
• Timms Hill
  
• Harney Peak
• Boy Chris' Birthday/ Game Night
  
• Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
  
• Corn Palace
  
• I-90
• Wall Drug
  
• Continental Divide
  
• Pioneer Auto Museum
  
• Carhenge

As you can see, there has been great progress on the vacation album. Unfortunately not quite enough. I was hoping to have it done to bring to Thanksgiving, but I still am a long way from that point.

Trying to get back in the blogging routine

Yay- it's almost my birthday. (Only 10 more days!) This is an interesting year since we started the celebrations so early. I also just got my gift from my mom the other day. I had been at my local camera store checking out something else and I noticed their used camera equipment. I had been wanting a larger zoom lens, so I looked at the couple that they had and also compared it to a new model that they had. I decided that I would be happy with one of the used lenses. Later that evening I called my mom and mentioned this gift idea and she said go for it! Yay. So, I think this is my lens. I say think because they all have different code letters and I was having a hard time keeping the names straight. Can't wait to play with it some more.

I also signed myself up for figure skating lessons. This will be a Christmas gift from my dad. All of this shopping for myself kind of takes the surprise away, but at least I'm getting things I enjoy. Skating starts up on December 1st at 9am. Ugh. I had a choice of 9 or 11 for class and thought 9 would be better so that I wouldn't feel like I was wasting my day. Unfortunately, this means I'll have to get up earlier on Saturdays than I do for work.

Lots of creativity going on since I last posted links, so here you go. I kind of wish I could post images, but there are just too many so I have to give it to you in list form. Yikes- in a little less than a month, that's 20 layouts/cards. Yet I still feel really behind!

• Old Sturbridge Village
  
• Happy the Hodag
  
• Mt. Arvon
  
• The Yang-Yang Lady
  
• Leadore, ID
  
• Birthday Card
  
• Birthday Layers
  
• Dunkin' Donuts
  
• Cambridge
  
• Welcome to Boston
  
• Tally Scrapper- Bringing Friends Together
  
• Ouch
• Batty For You card
  
• Help- Survivor week 6
  
• Glass Pumpkins- 2006
  
• Chris
• So Sophisticated
  
• Pinewood Derby
  
• Mount Rushmore
  
• Hilltop Restaurant

This weekend there's a big crop going on at TallyScrapper. So many challenges have been issued it's hard to keep them all straight! Plus I really want to get a lot of my vacation album done. I was hoping to have it done for Thanksgiving and I'm a long way from completion. However, next weekend is a craft faire that I was hoping to sell at and I've made 1 new thing so far. Better get cracking with that! I do have plenty of leftover stuff from previous years, but I was hoping to make some new things as well. Looks like I have a busy weekend ahead.

Happy Hallowe'en!

These pumpkins are outside. I had wanted to carve the letters on them, but life got in the way. The other side of the steps had some pumpkins that my neighbors had painted. I also put some spiderwebs on the metal of the entryway. I thought it turned out pretty well, especially since the metal was a bit on the rusty side.





After going through the main outer door, there is a small entryway. I had this wreath on our door and the rat down in the corner. It's been kind of funny listening to people's reactions for the past month as they see the rat. He's pretty gross looking, and if you're just looking quickly I think he looks fairly realistic.

As we move further into the building we come to our living room. I really enjoyed making this little ApotheSCARY shop. Thanks Rachel for the inspiration on this. Unfortunately I lost some creative steam so there are a few empty or nameless bottles. Maybe next year I'll get it finished? In the meantime, here are some more detailed shots of what I've got.

























Here we have my buffet in my dining room. On the left are the bat and luminary candles, the ghosts in the middle, and the pumpkins on the right. Now that Halloween is over I'll keep the pumpkins out but pack up the rest.


And finally, here's a picture of me. Kind of blurry, but I like how it turned out. I love my lashes. I think I need to wear fake lashes more often. The skeleton earrings were a bit heavy, but I think once a year they'll be fine.