We don't do a lot for Halloween around here, but keeping it simple seems to be the key to keeping it fun for us so we go with it. We carve pumpkins, we pass out candy to trick or treaters, we sit in the living room with laptops and read/work between rounds of kids ringing the doorbell (we don't get a ton of them), and that's about it.

The pumpkin carving is definitely a favorite of mine- from picking one to choosing (or making!) patterns to setting them out on the front porch and lighting candles inside, I just love doing it. And this year, as we have for the past several years, we waited until the day before Halloween to secure our pumpkins, which turned out to be great (again!) since the farmer's market we usually get them at had marked them down quite a bit. In fact, we got two giant, heavy white pumpkins for a mere $5 each!

Darren always starts off by cutting out the tops...

...while I get "pumpkin gut" duty. And, yeah, I wear geeky t-shirts constantly when not at work. :) I also made sure to scrape down the inside of the face that I'd be carving to thin it out a bit- I learned my lesson after last year's near-debacle with the really thick white pumpkins!!

This year I knew that October would be nuts, so I made the decision early on to go with pre-printed patterns instead of trying to design my own. Luckily Target had Star Wars carving kits this year that included a few great patterns like this Clone Trooper helmet.

Darren chose a decidedly more intricate Darth Maul design (overachiever!!), and then we both got to work punching holes around the pattern outlines.

Carving happens after the pattern is punched and removed, and about halfway through Darren commented that he almost went with a Dremel carving kit this year. Well, duh!! Of course that would make life easier, and I very nearly dropped everything right then and there to head to Home Depot to pick up a new tool set. The only thing that stopped me was the impending arrival of the first wave of trick-or-treaters in approximately an hour...no way I woud have have time to get to the store, get back, and finish my pumpkin. But next year? Oh, yeah!

Looking at Darren's pattern, it's no wonder he wanted the Dremel kit. He's definitely the master carver of the two- I always pick the super easy patterns.

We finished up the pumpkins and got them to the front porch just as the first wave of trick-or-treaters arrived. There was still quite a bit of daylight around, but later that night...

I slipped back out to take some proper photos.

Darren had to leave to teach lab at the university not long after that, so I spent the majority of Halloween alone, working on the Christmas Scrapbook Paper Roundup when I wasn't handing out candy.

All in all, it was another lovely, calm Halloween!

friday favorites | november 2, 2012

Happy Friday, peeps!

I don't know about all of you, but I'm standing here looking at the beginning of November and wondering where October went- it seems like I blinked and missed it completely! I was contemplating how quickly the month flew by the other night as Darren and I were carving our pumpkins, and something possessed me to say, "we should work on making November and December awesome!"

So, awesome is my motto for the next two months, and with that in mind I have a couple of extra awesome things to share with you before getting to the usual roundup of crafty picks (which are also, by the way, awesome).

First up is this lovely free downloadable calendar wallpaper from Oh Hello Friend. I always love the monthly backgrounds over there, but this one is something special- it just screams awesome to me! And, yes, I am in fact trying to use the word "awesome" as many times as possible during this post. :)

 

Second, I've been just a tad bit obsessed with this young lady's musical talents lately- my brother introduced me to violinist Lindsey Stirling's music last weekend, and I promptly came home and downloaded her new self-titled album on iTunes (she also has a fantastic YouTube channel) and have been listening to it nonstop all week. This song especially has been played on my iPod more times than is probably healthy- it's...you guessed it...awesome!


And now that I'm done with the awesome rambling, it's time for this week's awesome picks.

 

From the top left.

• Halloween has passed already, but with Thanksgiving coming up there's still plenty of time to display a fall-inspired bunting such as this lovely pumpkin one at Simple As That.
• In case you missed it, there's an election coming up here in the states, and Kinsey Wilson has designed a set of free cut files for Project Life to help you document your political choice this season.
• Check out this lovely set of fall table ideas at Such Pretty Things.
• Emily Falconbridge posted a tutorial showing how to make this adorable quilted scarf.
• Jennifer Johner shares a look at her updated craft space- so lovely!
• Need some art for your scrap space? How About Orange has free vintage camera images that you can download, print, and frame.
• Cindy Liebel shares a tutorial for making this itty bitty mini album on the Lily Bee blog.
• Looking for ways to use washi tape beyond your scrapbook pages? Tina Walker shared a fun idea for creating some art for your home and using up a bit of washi stash at the same time.
• Get a peek into Becky Novacek's layering process on the October Afternoon blog.

TTFN- and I hope your November is off to an awesome start!

2012 christmas + winter scrapbooking paper collections roundup

11/2/2012 Update: Thanks to Ruth for reminding me to include I {Lowe} Scrap in the mix! I've added their Christmas collection, which you'll find at Freckled Fawn and Sodalicious, to the list.

It's time for one of my all-time favorite posts to write each year- the annual roundup of all the new Christmas and Winter scrapbooking collections that have been introduced at or since the CHA Summer show! Like the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Fall roundup posted in September, this post shows a representative selection of papers and embellishments from each collection all in one spot, allowing you to scroll through (or search for your favorite company) and see everything at a glance. Everything from vintage to whimsical to modern to graphic is represented here, and I've updated the included links to online stores and added Simon Says Stamp in this time around!

A few things to note before getting started:

• Collections are listed under company headings, which are in alphabetical order. Some companies have several Christmas and Winter collections, so if, for example, you're looking for Echo Park's offerings, you'll find them all grouped together in the Echo Park section.
• As you can probably guess, not everything from every collection is shown. Sometimes I'm able to find a single graphic on a manufacturer blog that shows several items at once, but most of the time I just choose three or so as a representation. You can see the whole collection by clicking through the links (more on that in the next item).
• The Two Peas in a Bucket and Scrapbook.com links will take you straight to a page that shows everything that store carries in that specific collection. Simon Says Stamp's interface doesn't allow category linking, so I've linked to the largest paper pad I could find in the store for each collection. In many cases Simon Says Stamp will stock a 12x12 collection pack, but for a few lines they carry only the smaller paper pads, so that's what I've linked up.
• DCWV has not yet published images online of their Christmas and Winter stacks for JoAnn and Michaels stores, but I've embedded their videos showing all of these new stacks under the DCWV heading. DCWV has also shipped these collections to me, and I'll be taking a closer look at each of them starting next week, so stay tuned for that!

My brain is positively buzzing with Christmas fun after assembling this post, and I hope it does the same for you. Please chime in on the comments and let me know what your favorite is!

And now, on with the Christmas scrapping fun!

7Gypsies

Santa's Journey

 

 

 

American Crafts

Kringle & Co. (Simon Says Stamp)