And the winner of the blog hop prize is...

Here are your random numbers:

34

Timestamp: 2009-11-09 00:16:46 UTC


Congratulations to ZoiHoku (aka Renay A.)!!! Send me your e-mail address and the $10 gift certificate to Two Peas in a Bucket is yours! :)

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH to all who played along with the AAM Blog Hop this weekend! I really enjoyed seeing your challenge submissions and I'm excited about my new blogging friends!!!

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On another note...


It was a lovely although busy weekend for us here at my house. Our boys had soccer games on Saturday and Sunday (make-up games that were rained out.) They won them all and BOTH teams ended the season UNDEFEATED! Wow! My hubby coached my younger son's team (his first time, too) so we are extra-proud of that. We even celebrated with frozen custard at the local creamery. Yum!

The weather was amazing this weekend so we finally had a chance to do some yard work. I also was able to take more fall photos...

















I did a little shopping (new sweaters! yum!) and FINALLY got my layouts from the last few months into albums. (I made 2 trips to Michaels with coupons in hand to get a few more American Crafts D-rings.)

I even got a page scrapped this weekend for Diana's latest sketch at Sketchy Thursdays! I used a technique from Diana to make the flower at the top - a punched scalloped circle sprayed with water and scrunched up.






















The fun little kraft envelope was part of last month's Studio Calico kit. It holds my hidden journaling. I wrote about how I had actually forgotten about this field trip and sent my son to pre-K that day without a packed lunch. His teacher made sure he had a packed lunch from the cafeteria, but I really felt guilty about it. Then, a year later, my friend (who had gone on the trip as a chaperone with her little girl) handed me these photos, and I was so relieved to see that my son was actually having a good time in spite of my forgetfulness. :)

Hey! We're having a blog hop...

at ALL ABOUT ME. If you're looking for my post on the blog hop, it's HERE! Go check it out and leave me a comment to be eligible for a little prize from me! :)

circle journal pages...

Monica wanted us to choose one word to describe ourselves in her circle journal. I decided to use the phrase "i wonder" because I am constantly wondering, pondering, and contemplating. I focused on both the positives and the negatives of this personality trait. She asked us also to include photos of our family members and pets. I used Cosmo Cricket Earth Love papers for this and a lot of hand cutting. That's it. Simple!

AAM Blog Hop!

Welcome to the All About Me Blog Hop! If you're looking for the starting point of this blog hop, it's HERE!

So this is my first time to be part of a blog hop, and I'm pretty excited... and looking forward to meeting some new blogging friends!!!
If you're coming here from the hop, you've already seen several inspiring blogs from the creative ladies at AAM! They are amazing, aren't they?

Our theme for this blog hop is, Free to be Me! and this is all about wholeheartedly embracing our true selves. If you haven't yet played along with any of the AAM challenges, I hope you'll give them a try. It's so therapeutic and rewarding to take some time every couple of weeks to scrap something about yourself. I love learning more about all the other scrappers who play along. Sharing these bits and pieces of our lives makes us all more connected to something bigger than ourselves.

For the blog hop, our lovely AAM hostess, Melissa, has given us some prompts to answer so you'll know a bit more about us, the AAM Design Team and guests. So here goes...


1. My childhood ambition was to be a teacher, and that's exactly what I've done. I love my job.
2. My retreat is into my scrap room with my music playing, ink on my fingers, supplies spread all over my table, and a cold beverage.
3. The perfect day for me is one spent playing with my boys, preferably outdoors and involving water and sunshine.
4. My very first job was a cashier at a taco stand. For real!
5. My wildest dream is to become a writer. I have taken a couple of baby steps toward that dream by writing school articles and a scrapbooking column for the local paper.
6. If my life was a musical it would be called Sheriff Mama! (That's a little inside joke with my boys.)
7. My proudest moments have been when I first laid my eyes on each of my boys immediately after their births. I was completely awed by the life that I had created.
8. My favorite item of clothing = without a doubt, my Birkenstocks. They make my feet soooooo HAPPY!
9. I don't feel ready for the day until I have had a cup of coffee! or two!
10. I COULD live without television. I rarely watch it.

Our latest AAM Challenge, being revealed TODAY on the AAM blog, is "I Just Couldn't Live Without"...

What is it that you can not live without? I had so many ideas for this one at first. Music, coffee, my laptop, scrapbooking... These are all a big part of my everyday existence. But then I recalled a conversation that I had with my 8-year-old son a couple of weeks ago, and I remembered telling him that if I had never had his brother and him, there would be these two empty places in my heart that I wouldn't know how to fill. So I decided for this prompt to scrap my two sweeties at one of our favorite places in the whole world (besides home, that is...)



















I absolutely can't live without our family visits to the beach... it is time spent relaxing and playing together in the ocean and in the sand that is truly elixir for my soul. I chose these carefree pictures of my sweet boys to capture that feeling of pure joy that we share when we're together at the beach.

























I want to invite you to come play along with us this month at All About Me... you won't be disappointed, especially with the amazing November prize! Nikki Sivils is sponsoring! There's also a great sketch by Pencil Lines for you to use!


OH! Speaking of prizes! How could I forget to tell you about my blog hop prize?!?
You can win a prize from ME just by doing these things by 11:59 pm on Friday, November 6...

1. Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)

2. Become a follower of this blog (2 additional entries) - and if you're already a follower, just let me know that when you comment.

3. Create a layout based on the current AAM challenge... upload it to Mr. Linky on the AAM site... and link it up here as well. (5 additional entries)

What's my prize, you ask? Well, let's just say it involves you getting to do a little online scrap shopping. :) I'll be sending one lucky winner a $10 gift certificate to Two Peas in a Bucket!


Thanks so much for joining me here... your next stop on the blog hop is to visit the newest DT member at AAM - Donna Whalen!

easy. amazing.

Thank you, Theresa.




I can't even begin to tell you how divine this potato soup is... and the recipe is quick and easy. You gotta try it!!!



Theresa’s Potato Soup
(with my adjustments)


6-7 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup (*I used Cream of Potato due to the hubby's dislike of mushrooms)
1 can of Cream of Celery soup
1 medium finely chopped onion
1-1/2 cups of milk
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 eight ounce pkg of cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste (*lots and lots of pepper!)
top with shredded cheese, green onions and bacon bits if desired (*I didn't do this and it was delicious without!)

In a large saucepan or stockpot, cook potatoes and onion in just enough water to cover on medium heat until tender but not mushy.

Add cubes of cream cheese. Remove from heat and stir until cheese is melted.

Add soups mixed with milk; spices and butter and stir well.

Add the cheese, onions and/or bacon if desired and serve hot.

Enjoy!!!

Scrap That Poetry #3 - "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
and before the street begins.
and there the grass grows soft and white,
and there the sun burns crimson bright.
and there the moon-bird rests from his flight
to cool in the peppermind wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
and the dark street winds and bends.
past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
and watch where the chalk-white arrows go
to the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
and we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
for the children, they mark, and the children, they know
the place where the sidewalk ends



























This challenge was truly the most fun I've had scrapping in a very long time. I started with this spontaneous shot of my 5-year-old hiding in a box, taken back in early September. I love how he's peeking through the crack between the flaps, with just his fingertips and the top of his hair showing. I did manipulate the brightness and contrast some in photoshop because I took this without a flash.




















Then I started playing with some great whimsical patterned papers cutting out bits of this and that. The hopscotch paper from Studio Calico called out to me first, then I spied a couple different sheets of Sassafras Lass. I also spent some time digging through my scrap box where I found that wonderful old BasicGrey. Then I remembered seeing a layout in Scrapbooks, etc where the creator had used an embossing pen and white embossing powder on black cardstock to make a chalk-on-blackboard look, so I drew the "chalk-white arrow" using that technique to draw attention to the picture.
























Stop by the Scrap That Poetry blog to see all the other amazing DT layouts and play along with us! Starting this month (November) there is a RAK for the winner!!!

Also, a BIG congrats to the winner of the Phenomenal Woman challenge - Glory Girl aka Julie LaKose! Her altered book title page is beautiful! Check it out here in our Poetry Corner!

Happy Halloween!!

yummm.... the reason for the season :)












a little Halloween art by Mommy and G...











my cute lil' spider still in jammies this morning...
























getting crafty with our pumpkins...

















all dressed up...









































...and ready to go!!!



















TRICK OR TREAT!

Hope your Halloween was delightfully spooky :)