Turkeys - Now & Then

So A~ came home from school last week with a turkey made from a paper plate. Being the artistic diva that she is, she wanted to add to her turkey by jazzing it up with some plastic beads from her craft stash. I wasn't sure about them sticking... especially to the crayon-covered plate, so I convinced her to make some decorative "plumes" to accent her turkey feathers. We pulled out some metallic chenille stems, bent them around pencils to get a good spring-like shape, and worked the beads into place. Once they were done, I stapled them on and here is her work of art:


Working on A~'s turkey reminded me of the turkey I made quite a few years ago. I'm not actually sure when I made it... but I wrote my own poem on it! I am sure that I created it at Grandma's house in Houston, but that's all that I can remember. Mom sent it to me recently and I've been meaning to get to work on trying to preserve it. I took a picture first... (of course!) ... and then carefully removed the turkey from the backing. It's amazing how sticky that tape still was! I thought that I would remove the "feathers" and put it back together with glue dots... but it was holding together really well. Besides there were a lot of pieces and it would have taken forever. I don't know what possessed me to make it so detailed, with tiny strips folded over for the belly-feathers and long strips curled for the tail. I even cut little feet out of yellow paper and taped them on top of the brown paper back. It was definitely a masterpiece! I decided to cut out out the title and my poem, and mount them on acid free cardstock. Once it was in place I sprayed it with Archival Mist several times. Hopefully it will last for years to come!


Happy Turkey Day Everyone!
erin

We are PUMPED UP!

Or at least A~ is pumped up!

Last weekend we went to a birthday party at Pump It Up. They have two rooms of giant inflatable slides, bouncers, and obstacle courses. The kids loved it and the parent's enjoyed it too! My favorite was the obstacle course... I felt like a Marine climbing up hills, diving through inflatable "fences" and rolling across the finish line! By the time we got to the pizza and cake everyone was all sweaty and worn out. A~ is dying to have her party there next year! :)

much love,

erin

Old Photos, New Layouts

I worked on a couple of layouts last weekend using older photos. First was this shot of me and Mamasan. As you can see, I haven't done the journaling... in part because I don't remember the photo being taken and I'm not sure how old I am in the picture. We are definitely at Mamasan's house... and maybe I'm one and a half or two years old? Anyone who can help, please chime in! :)

I also put together this layout using a photo that I took in 1982 with my little 110 camera. It's not a great shot... Grandpa frying fish back in the old shed, but it's one of the only pictures that I took of him. And the memory of that catfish is so special, I decided to immortalize it with a layout. We would always request a fish fry when we visited Texas. Grandpa would pull catfish out of the freezer from his fishing trips, get them ready, fry them up, and watch us enjoy every bite. There were never leftovers... we would eat every morsel! It was simple and wonderful!

enjoy!
erin

A quick hello...

I am so far behind here! Yikes! Fall is just full of things to do. It's a good thing that the rain we've had for the last couple of days knocked just about all the leaves right off the trees. Now I can get some raking done without worrying that I won't make any progress!

Here are a couple of shots of what we've been up to...

First - new a slightly new do... a little bit shorter and, supposedly, more trendy...at least according to Jennifer, my stylist. I am also sporting a very cool Miley Cyrus sticker courtesy of A~!

Then the annual pumpkin contest at work. We all pitched in and did a fantastic job on this incredible take on Cinderella's coach.

Finally, Dorothy (me) and my little princess on Halloween. We were already pretty frozen here and A~ said that her bucket was too full for any more... thank goodness!


More later!
erin

Fall Weekends and Hayrides

This weekend was the Fall Festival at the Reston Town Center. We went and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather. We got there right as it started, which was good in some ways... but then it seemed to take forever for the time for the store-to-store Trick or Treating to come. I don’t think it was as fun as last year... but it was still well worth the $5 donation to get in. Last year we looked at the line for face painting, but it was so long we didn’t dare attempt it. This time we arrived just after it began and jumped into the short line right away. The face painters are wonderful. Very talented and quick. It’s a good thing too as they were mobbed the entire event. Also last year we missed out on the hay rides because of the lines and we able to make it on easy peasy this year.... right after the face painting. The giant Belgium horses were going a pretty good clip... making me a little nervous sitting on that slippery hay! I’m such a chicken! Here is me and A~ before the horses took off. You can see the incredible face painting... really made my little princess stand out!

A~ made me a collage Saturday morning. She glued bits of ribbon on to make the flower petals. Turned out very cute. It is now adorning the guest room door.

Before I go... here’s a layout I made for the October wall over at Scrapbooks Plus. This is Sergio and A~ on the hayride at Cox’s Farm about a month ago. We just love hayrides!


much love,
erin

So Far Behind

It seems that I am always behind. Sometimes it's just a little bit... other times it's bunches and bunches! :) I took the Shimelle class about home months ago... it's in the blog history and I'm afraid to look to see exactly how long ago it was. I've downloaded all the class handouts and read some of them. However, not a single portion has been completed. How sad!

This month's Design Team papers from Scrapbooks Plus were warm and cozy... so I thought that I'd make myself a home mini-book to featured some of the things I like about our first home. It's semi-inspired by the Shimelle class... and one day I'll get around to reading the handouts and doing the assignments... I guess it's my take on the theme having read the class description! lol :)




















I still need to add the journaling... but, as you know, I'm a bit behind! ;-)

much love,
erin

The Color Purple

There's something to be said for a favorite color. Right now A~'s favorite color is purple. Well, actually, if you ask her what her favorite color is she will say, "purple, pink, orange, and red." Apparently one favorite is just not sufficient!

I recently tried a new recipe for a quick and easy version of Chicken Marsala. I didn't have any Marsala wine... so I used some red wine instead... it's only a little bit, so it won't make a different, right? Well, it smelled good and it tasted good... but it was totally purple. When A~ asked what we were having for dinner I told her, "We're having purple chicken." Luckily she bought it... and she ate it... and she actually asked for more! (Way to go, Mom!)


To continue on the theme.... last weekend we went to Disney on Ice and got this cute purple, flower hat with our cotton candy. (She also got a purple t-shirt with all the little fairys on it, but I don't have a picture yet. I thought the green Tinkerbell shirt was cuter, but she had to have the purple... and it was cheaper too! What luck!)


More later...

much love,
erin