~Fun Fall Water Bottles..

Each year our local senior center hosts a craft faire to help welcome our northern winter visitors. One of my good friends asked me if I would help fill her table with some of my work so i got busy trying to come up with something colourful, unique, and fun. After I made a couple of these recycled from my hurricane disaster preparedness stash of water bottles I decided to forward the idea on to my niece who is always looking for cute and unusual handouts to her Senate friends. I AM expecting a photo of her handy work any day... *HINT HINT* The stamp sets and ink are from Stampin' Up!, the ribbon is from my ribbon stash, and the paper from my scrap drawer.

~Singing for our supper..

As a young child, my favorite holiday, with possibly the exception of Christmas was Halloween. My brother and I, and a few years later my little sister, would rush home from school in anticipation of that magical night when we would wiggle into our one-of-a-kind homemade Halloween costumes painstakingly hand sewn by our creative mother. We'd quickly down a steaming bowl of Mom's vegetable soup to help ward off the chill of the fall night, grab our empty candy bags fashioned from pillowcases, and wait for Dad to put his coat on and pick up the keys to the green and white Buick station wagon. Then once the sun had set and the moon was on the rise, off we'd go to gather our loot amongst the other goulies and goblins from our area neighbors. It didn't always come easy. Sometimes we would have to sing for our "supper" or trick for our treat. But when we'd finally return home, cheeks flushed, tired and happy, we would spill out our goodies onto the floor, the terror of having to perform on a split second's request dissolved into the spooky shadows of the night beyond our cozy and familiar family room. There we would sort, barter and trade our nights haul way past our usual bedtimes. To this day a vague memory of a bellyache or two still remains from the days following All Hallow's Eve.

Some of the cutest stamps I've had the pleasure of working with are the clear sets from Kim van der Sanden 's My Favorite Things. Kim's wise insight in teaming with Illustrator, Christy Beckwith has, in my opinion set this this stamp company apart from all others.