Halloween Mini memories albums

Now that Halloween has passed what better way to keep the memories by making a quick and easy little mini album.  A keepsake for you or a gift to a friend or family member.  I realize that many and in fact most of you are digital with your pictures and yes I agree it’s an easy way to keep your pictures organized, but if you can’t display them and show them off then what’s the point?  Pictures are a makeup of your family and friends otherwise known as heirlooms to those who end up with them after you.

Your pictures and the albums you put together are the best way to keep and honor the people in your life for all to see.  These Halloween mini’s I made is a way for me to put a few of the pictures I took this Halloween and display them during Halloween as the years go by.

Below I have attached a few pages of three different mini albums I made.

In this first mini I used Graphic 45 “Wizard of Oz” collection….

The first page I fussy cut the images and then using a stencil brush I brush swept Tim Holtz Distress Ink “Scattered Straw, and Spiced Marmalade” over Cardstock color Very Vanilla from Stampin’ Up and then added a ribbon.

Graphic 45 “Wizard of Oz”

On this page I did the same effect on the lion staying more with the yellow of Scattered Straw.  On the page with the scarecrow I used Distress Stickles to give the blue a little vintage style glitter that also gave a little shaded shadowing.

Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow

On this page I used “Vintage Photo” to dirty it up a little as I did throughout.  I also used “Fired Brick” Distress Stickles to pop the hearts a little.  With the second page I used a little Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels giving it a little shimmer and then added a button for a little dimension.

The gang is all here….

The second book I made I used Authentique ”Enchanted” and the technique is the same as the first book in which I used Distressed Inks and a stencil brush.  I then added WOW Embossing Glitter to the edges stamped a Halloween image using a Stampin’ Up stamp and added a ribbon.

Cover

On the second page I used a glue pen to trace out the spider web and then added the embossing glitter …. I also dirtied the edges with Distress Ink “Black Soot.”  On the orange page I cut some images and popped them up and added a ribbon

This is the inside of the orange page in which I made a pocket and added some tags.

The third book I used Oct. 31 “Magic” I dirtied the edges cut a frame and popped it.

Cover

I dirtied the edges and used a Stampin’ Up stamp with Versa Mark and embossed it.

I hope you can see that my goal here was not to make a huge elaborate ornate book, but it was my goal to make sure that I made something nice that laid flat and displayed some of my pictures holding some great memories.

I hope this inspired you to put together a future heirloom which holds your treasured memories.

Thanks for stopping by….

Helen

Halloween Decor Part II

Hello Everyone!

This is a quick entry to show you a few added pictures to my “Halloween Decor Part I.”  I hope you enjoy them….

This is what we have to sort through before it all comes together….

Where to start????

Stuff

More stuff

More Stuff

The pictures below are how it looks when it’s put together…..

During the day

View during the day…. hand made from scratch by my brother

Another view during the day

In case you were wondering …..Yes, my brother made it from scratch.  This all started with one picture he saw on line.  He decided that he could make it and that it would be a really “cool” addition to our props for Halloween, this was done off the top of his head and no drawings.  It is a working hearst meaning the wheels work and the axle turns and maneuvers.

View at night

I apologize for the light…. I was hoping you could see how it looks when its all lit up at night

The Ghost are lit with a black light…. It’s not showing up very well with this camera, but it’s pretty cool

Don’t forget to read “Halloween Decor Part I to see other decorations we have made I hope you enjoy.  Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween…. Be safe!

What do you enjoy about Halloween, costumes, makeup, jokes, laughs, candy, trick-or-treat, or props?

Until next time….

Helen

Halloween Decor

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to “mi casa embrujada” aka my haunted house.  I love Halloween and all the fun tricks, costumes and of course the makeup.  My brother loves this day as well.  I think its our one time of year we can play like kids (not that we don’t do that on other occasions ).   It all started with wanting to have a costume party and I really liked the idea of dressing up and the fun makeup.  I wanted to do something that was similar to the “old school” masquerade ball, but my brother on the other hand wanted to just relive his “high school DJ party days” and of course bring in full size props, between the both of us we have quite a bit of stuff to work with.  Although we both like the gothic type of Halloween decor as oppose to the “cutsie” Halloween ultimately we have ended up with a mis-match of assorted props and fun items throughout the years.

The majority of the stuff we have are things we have managed to make.  My brother is amazing when it comes to building stuff.  He has this ability to look at a picture and then turn around and make it.

Example: the other day I was looking at some Halloween pictures and decorations and came across a picture of an old style carriage Hearst.  My brother took one look and decided he could make it, (hhhmmm!  I think he inherited the “I can make it syndrome” gene as well….haha!) and make it in a way that it would collapse and lay flat in order to store it…….It’s all about space when packing it away in the garage and OOOHHHH the joy I have when getting to do that little project : / .

In a matter of two hours he had what he needed and had the basic frame cut out, by the fifth day I had a Hearst in my backyard : / so with a little less than a week to go before Halloween we still need to get the drapes up, pillars out, mannequins put together and dressed, facade attached to the outer face of garage etc… These are just a few of the larger items off the top of my head.

Many of the decorations were made (head stones, almost all mannequins, larger props) some given to us and few things purchased on sale…AFTER HALLOWEEN.  These props have been accumulated over several years with our newest addition the Hearst.  We use candles, lighting, music/noise (things that go bump in the night) in the house and backyard area….

Example: when you walk in the house it’s as if you are walking in to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland when you enter in to the elevator and take the long ride down before it goes dark.

We both would like to change it up and maybe decorate with a little more “real” “authentic,” feel, but that takes a lot of time, so this is what we have for now.  Who knows maybe we will start in February next year giving us plenty of time to alter the look of our decorations.  Now that would be fun

I hope you enjoy the pictures and maybe get an idea or two.  The pictures are bright because they were taken in daylight as oppose to the way it looks when its evening.

Cheese cloth, draping, picture and creepy guy

Spiders on wall, picture and skull

more spiders… spider webs

A little lighting

Fireplace lighting

Bartender starting to set up…..

Facade which is built to set in front of garage… the window with the grey sheet at night has a fan with a red light and it looks like there is a fire inside. the larger door area has a little set up inside

Another view

Entrance to our cemetary… the lights are working lights and there are torches which are also lit on top. There are also lights in the cemetary and lights that are in the plants and trees which look like eyes watching you….

Yo-ho yo-ho a pirates life for me….

The three heads in the middle are lit and are “talking” like the heads in the “Haunted Mansion” at Disneyland.

Creepy crawly

The next few pictures are of the Hearst being worked on/built…. when I have it all set up and complete I will add to this post.

Hand made from scratch by my brother

Almost done… just need to add the wheels and fix the fabric

There are a few things which are not completely set up yet, but I really wanted to get this post to you.  I will either add pictures to this when its complete and ready or I will add another post as a “Part II”

Remember next time someone says “Trick or Treat” have fun with it.  Be safe and have a Happy Halloween!

I apologize for any rambling I might have done, it’s been a busy week with little sleep.

Thanks for reading…. Until next time.

Helen

The Quest for a Remodeled Teenage Girl’s Room Part II

The room was cleaned out and the furniture was primed and painted (note to self never do that again in extreme heat, hire a H.O.T. guy to sand and paint next time haha!).  I think I just had a Calgon take me away moment, not to mention dated myself.  I am not going to sugar coat it and tell you it was easy and/or this great experience I had because that would be a lie…. haha  The whole time while I was sanding and moving and cleaning I was seriously sweating my butt off, and I thought to myself… “hhhhmmm, If I am going to be sweating this much (which I have to say I am not a sweater so you know it was hot) I better darn well be losing some serious poundage to make it worth my while” LOL…. NOT!Seriously I tend to go into these projects with the “I can make that” attitude and jump into it only to realize I might be over my head or it was not quite as easy as I thought.  Nonetheless, I still and will continue to look and view things with the, “I am pretty sure I can figure out how to make that” mentality.

Ok! So, needless to say what I did get out of this was the excitement of my nieces face over  getting this room she has been thinking and thinking about.  Below are a few pictures of the before and after pictures of the wood/furniture.

Before

After paint

before

After paint

Before

After paint

My continued determination to finish my niece’s room is met with the next challenge of re-upholstering a mini bench seat and chair.  The little bench seat should be a piece of cake the chair might prove to be a little more challenging and I don’t mean in a good way.  ;)

Part III of this teenage girls room will be slightly delayed for a bit as I need to move on to Halloween decorating.  In previous posts I have mentioned I really like Halloween so I hope to be showing you some of that and then I promise to come back with my next project in the room.

I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you come back to see what we do next.

Thanks for stopping in.

Helen

The quest of a re-modeled teen girls bedroom – Part I

My niece has never had her own room. She has always had to share her room with her brother and at fourteen there really isn’t much worse than that!  I know just how that feels since I had to share a room with my brother till I was about nineteen (Yes, I said nineteen….lucky me!) Now that her older brother has moved out (as she would say “FINALLY”), she is able to have her own space , but currently it looks like a dirty, smelly, boys locker room with mis-matched furniture as only a teenage boy could accomplish.  When my nephew was younger the room was done to look like a really cool surfing/beach room with a surf board, surfing sign, tikis, and bamboo accessories.  We even found nice bedding made out of trunk shorts material and the room looked really cool.  However, years of wear and tear and the typical teenage boy changed that!

This is what the room looked like when we started…

Another angle of the room….

As time came closer to my nephew leaving the nest my niece started getting excited over the thought of getting her own room and she started gathering ideas of how she would like her room to look.  I started taking note and I would mention it to her parents, but I also knew that getting that really cool teenage girl room we all wanted growing up would be tough.  Let’s face it,  we are all living in a time that is more restrictive as to what we can or can’t do because of our economy, so I thought that I would help her out by being a little more creative with obtaining what would be needed to complete the room.

And in true do-it-yourself fashion, I came to the realization that I knew we were going to be making, fixing and re-doing about 80% of the room she wanted.  I started by clearing out the entire room, separating everything we would restore from the stuff she wanted to go back in her room and what she didn’t want and of course the keepsakes. I then started with her furniture.  She had four large pieces of furniture which were all different types of woods.  I knew that if we stained them we would not get them to look the same, so we decided to paint them.

The room once we cleared it out… As you can see the paint job in there was for when we fixed it with my nephew in mind and the theme was beach/surfing.

Painting the wood would prove to be much more than I expected.  I had never painted furniture, and really had no idea what to expect, but really how hard coud it be?  I started by going on-line to figure out how to do this.  Do I go with paint or spraypaint?  If I choose spray paint how much is this going to cost and how many cans would I have to go through not to mention would the aerosol/fumes of the spray paint be more harmful?  If I decide to use regular paint would I end up with tons of brush strokes?  Would the paint be less costly and could I get her dad to use his paint sprayer?  All these questions needed to be answered.  Once I was able to figure out which way I would go I made my list of things we would need.

My niece and I set off to Home Depot to purchase our supplies.  This included:  1 gallon of primer, 2 gallons of black semi-gloss paint, sand paper, drop cloths, painters tape, and masking paper. I did not buy any brushes because we decided to use the paint sprayer on the furniture….We moved all the furniture outside put down drop cloths, and a sanding away we went. We sanded and sanded and sanded. Once we finished, we took off the metal runners from the drawers and prepared to paint. We started off with priming everything. Once the primer was dried we painted two coats of paint over the furniture.

Below are close-ups of the wood so you can see how different they all are.

One of the items we refurbished

Small side table

Below are pictures of  the wood while we sanded and primed the furniture…. BTW – note to self …. never, never ever attempt to clear out a room, sand and mask and then paint when its aproximately 100 degrees and very humid.  I live in California where it is normally very dry.  I was actually dripping and sweating in places that, well is just not normal….  LOL!  Also, on a more serious note I do believe that the humidity made it more difficult for the paint to really dry…. so make sure the weather is not too muggy!

Primed and ready for paint

So that is how we began our project! Stay tuned and find out what we did next in part 2 to my quest for a re-modeled teen girls bedroom…Also, I plan to have better pictures for you as I go along since I was not expecting to blog about  this when I originally started. I did not take the best of pictures!

Thanks for reading

Helen

Reality

And now, just because I know there are some of you out there who don’t believe that my house can turn into a wreck in a matter of 2.5 seconds, here are some pictures just to prove you wrong! Ok, ok, so my mom and maybe one friend are the only ones who read my blog and they know better,  but nevertheless here is what my kitchen looks like about 20 minutes after I clean it. Every day. I’m just letting you all in on my little secret. Because in blog world, you can make anything look perfect and why would I want to do that?! And on top of it all, I have a really cheap camera that takes bad, blurry pictures, so what better way to make things look even less perfect?

So here is my little dose of reality… hope it makes you feel good about yours!

A Little Bit of History

For those of you who do not live in California or Los Angeles for that matter, we had an exciting piece of history fly by here yesterday that I couldn’t resist documenting here on the blog! You would have seriously thought it was a national holiday and I have to admit I sort of got caught up in the excitement. Yesterday we got to witness the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the back of a 747 fly over the many neighborhoods of Southern California, which was completely awesome! 

Most of you I am sure know when and why Endeavour was built, but in case you don’t it was built as a replacement to the Space Shuttle Challenger which sadly exploded moments after it took flight.  The Challenger was a big deal because the first woman was going to space, who happened to be a teacher. It happened when I was in grade school and it was so exciting to see a teacher going into space.  My school, as I am pretty sure most all schools in the United States did, rolled in the TVs for us to all view the launch. We waited with white knuckles as they counted down to blast-off, but instead of a peaceful flight into space, we witnessed a great tragedy.  With the Endeavour being built, it was a new beginning and it was very exciting to see it go into places unknown.

So, with low to mid 90 degree weather, the Endeavour made its slow moving fly-by throughout California. You could find people stopping their cars in the middle of the street to get out and watch it.  There were people on the roofs of their office buildings and homes (Yes, I was one of the people on the roof of my office).  Then there were the people who were at the specific designated areas of where we were informed  for sure it would fly over with a great view.  In Los Angeles, the Endeavour flew from Malibu to downtown, then over the famous Hollywood sign, Getty Museum, Universal Studios, Nasa’s JPL, over to Boeing, and then Disneyland and close to the Long Beach area.  My office is pretty much in the middle of all that and so I and some of my coworkers were able to get a few close-up pictures.  It also went by my home and my brother climbed the roof of my house and was able to capture the flight on video. It was a proud moment for all Americans and I’m so glad I was able to witness it!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and video (video pending).

No Picture is not good, but I kept it because downtown Los Ageles is in the background