Halloween Inspiration!

It's that time of year when all the holiday decorations in the store get me itching to start some fun decorating projects! My hobbies have doubled since this time last year and so has my list of things I'd like to do!

For example, fellow CT member MJ sent me a bunch of her cute little scrapped circles. (I've recently gotten into basic card making.) This is a photo I snagged from her blog - I didn't make these:



Cute, right?!! I also love her photos - wish mine would come out as crisp! She was gracious enough to send me several samples so I could see how she had made them. (I'll be adding a smaller circle to my craft punch collection soon!)

And now that I'm in the mood for fall, I keep stumbling across inspiration everywhere! Take a look at this random mix of goodies I stumbled across on Etsy:



I love how the artist used eyelash yarn to give these tags a cobweb look! (the subtle photo border helps, too!) I'm a sucker for black gingham. :)



What is it about photographs of piles of embellishments that I love? (Brian would say it's the clutter. I seem to thrive in bead & scrap clutter!)



I did NOT know you could buy food on Etsy!!!!! Aren't these popcorn-balls-that-look-like-candy-apples adorable?!!



Okay, LOVE this halloween tree with it's scrapped paper ornaments!



The rusty jingle bell and tea stained tag caught my eye on this. I like how primitive and charming it is.

If you want to go looking for trouble, hop on Etsy and search for Halloween. (Or Halloween Sign or Halloween Decor or Halloween Cards) Then try to not buy all the fabulous home decor & craft items you find! LOL!

Give Love & Thanks

It's already September and today I started working on one of my big Halloween projects for Miss Mint. I'm brainstorming Thanksgiving crafts and I have a growing list of Christmas ideas but the one thing I keep coming back to is that I want to begin a tradition of giving and thankfulness this year. I want my children to grow up remembering the excitement of baking & decorating cookies then feeling that engulfing sense of love and joy when they gave them away. Or the adrenaline rush as they tip toed a surprise gift to a front door and rang the doorbell before sprinting away, giggling with anticipation and glowing with excitement!

Then there are the hard gifts to give. The ones you got so excited about making for a friend you love so much but for whatever reason, the moment they are complete - and are more gorgeous than you had envisioned - you feel shy about delivering them. What do you say when you give it to them? What if the gift gives the wrong impression? What if your intention is misread? What if you appear shallow for giving a temporal item and not your time or service? My fellow female readers will understand me when I say that our "girl rules" mean we have more to pay attention to than just the obvious codes of social etiquette. So why would I pause at delivering a thoughtful gift made with all the love I could pour into it?

Because the recipients are facing something I have never, and pray to not ever, experience in my life. And yet, when I know they would want to have their friends closest, I feel this sudden shyness about bothering them, interrupting their day and taking away from their time.

Good friends bring out the best in you and I am so grateful that I have a friend who has experienced things I have not and who can give the best advice for such situations: GO. E-mail, talk, visit, drop off cards, letters & gifts; give support and hugs, call & listen, offer to help with specifics - not just make vague, general promises that you can be called on at any time - but really look for where you can help out and then do it. You won't be stepping on anyone's toes, you'll be answering prayers. (And probably doing the only kind thing for that person all week.) You won't be wasting anyone's time, you'll be saving them hours. And you won't offend with a gift, no matter how small, because it will be a tangible reminder that they are surrounded by friends who will go to the end of the earth with them and then carry them back home. Just go and act. It's wanted, needed and appreciated.

To everyone reading this, let me share that the smallest gestures are more than wanted and that you wouldn't believe how heartbreaking it is when everyone shies away, afraid to say or do the wrong thing, and unkowingly do the absolute worst thing: ignore.

If you love them, step in (or break in if you have to!) and show that you will brave scary feelings and frightening situations with them, cry alongside them, bake double batches of cupcakes and pack three times as many school lunches to ensure your friends aren't left wanting and needing. Anything you can think of will be perfect and honestly, you simply cannot go wrong with whatever you lovingly give!

**********************************************

Kels, I'm so sorry that I lived minutes away from you in Kingwood in 2004 and didn't know you. We have been close since the moment we met and I wish that moment had been at a baby shower years earlier. But the things you have shared with me have really changed my character and although I wasn't there with you, I won't be hesitant about approaching those that need friends, comfort and companionship because of what I have learned from you. Perhaps one day I will get over my hesitation and shyness but thank you for giving me new perspective. For the rest of my life I'll never be able to be a quiet observer. I'll always go and do.

This world. *SIGH*

I was digging through the drawer in our kitchen where we keep tape, string and other miscellaneous items when I found an old pet fire rescue sticker. You know, the ones you put on your window to let firemen know there is an animal in the house you'd like saved if possible after all the family is out. I remembered that I had gotten it for free when we moved to Houston so I googled quickly this morning to see if they still made a child's fire rescue sticker like my parents had once put on my window when I was little. I shouldn't have been surprised to see Fire Departments urging parents on all the websites to NOT use such stickers. (For the same reasons we didn't decorate our house or yard in any way when Aiden was born.)

The first thing they said was that they too easily mark the rooms where children are sleeping for predators, which are more common in neighborhoods than housefires. Next firefighters are trained to enter and search, not wander around the property looking for stickers first. This is because children change rooms, grow up and move away. Precious time would be lost looking for stickers in the window and searching bedrooms while children may be trapped elsewhere in the house. Lastly there is some belief that the stickers might build a false sense of security for children who would wait to be rescued instead of trying to escape from a fire on their own. Most sites requested that you remove all of these types of stickers immediately, whether they are on a child's bedroom or not, so you don't attract unwanted people to your property.

Isn't it sad that the world has changed so much? Parents want to protect their children from everything but it seems more and more impossible to be their sole protectors, watching them 24/7. I thought it was insightful of Paul Holinger when he said in his book "What Babies Say Before They Can Talk" that children should be allowed to politely say "no" to a parent at any age and have that answer be respected. That way children learn that they can say no to adults and exercise their will to escape dangerous situations instead of being intimidated by strangers because they are used to submitting to adults (parents) who never allow a contradictory response at home. I know Brian probably thinks I'm a bit too passive with Aiden sometimes but so what if he "gets away" with telling me no, he doesn't want to pick his toys up right now. The toys on the playroom floor aren't that big of a deal but the fact that he got to say no and have me respect what HE asked is tremendous! Not only for his understanding that he can express any thought or feeling freely and have it aknowledged but it builds our relationship closer to the mutually respectful, parent-as-a-gentle-and-loving-guide role that I want.

Funny how one little sticker and one little google search can get me thinking so much about parenting!

Aiden, Nursery & Gravity

The title says it all, right? Today Brian took Aiden into the church nursery a few weeks early to start getting him used to it. (How can my baby already be coming up on 18 months?!!!) Any ways, after play time in nursery they sit the children down for a snack, have them fold their arms for a prayer and then pass out a treat with little paper dixie cups of water before they clean up for coloring time.

Aiden watched with obvious admiration as a few of the other boys whooped and hollered when it was time for snacks and even joined in with a bit of paper towel throwing. When snacks were passed out he politely ate his and picked up the new word "MINE" from his tablemates.

I should add that the rest of the afternoon he spent practicing the word, insisting that every book and toy was 'mine'. We didn't argue with him because it's true. They really are his. We're hoping this word won't stick but it seems to be a rite of toddlerhood passage and I'm sure it will soon be followed by shoves to playmates to prove his 90th percentile size MAKES the toys his. Oh, and that's not all he picked up in nursery today. Brian and I exchanged a look of horror when he followed one statement with "Why?"

Back to snack time. I watched in calm silence as Aiden was initiated into nursery by pouring the contents of his much-too-full dixie cup straight into his lap and I smiled politely when told that all the new kids do it. This cup was immediately replaced with another half as full and he actually seemed to get some of the water into his mouth before finishing the impromptu baptism with a splash down the front of his shirt. I'll skip the Gymboree outfit and send him to church in a swim suit next week for round two of the initiation. Maybe I'll pack a towel, too, so he doesn't have to drip-dry during coloring time.

I slipped back out of nursery and met up with Brian after church to find Aiden's best blue polo covered in red dribble stains. Brian informed me that he ate a red crayon in the one nanosecond he wasn't watching him and we have some things to practice at home. (Shame on me for buying the more expensive twistables crayons that are all plastic and difficult to eat...)

This afternoon I moved his little table from the playroom to the kitchen so we can practice sitting on a chair at a table, not throwing our paper towels (too much) and not insisting that our neighbor's snacks are "mine" no matter how insistent they are that your snacks are theirs. We also practiced folding our arms and trying to be quieter for prayers. We haven't really pushed Aiden do this before, we just insist he sit in our lap and try to keep him quiet as prayers are said. Tonight he quickly picked up on the "fun" arm-folding trick I was trying to show him. He beamed up at me, balled his little hands into fists and slammed his knuckels together in a move mildly reminiscent of something I've seen martial art fighters do before they bow to an opponent. He's such a comedian I couldn't help but laugh aloud! So long as he's not injuring his neighbors in nursery I'm sure no one will mind his Zen prayer posture.

Back to the table. Twice he fell off the chair and once he pulled the table over on top of himself AND fell out of his chair at the same time. (Those must be my genes at work.) Luckily Ikea children's furniture is nothing more than bolted-together dowel rods and painted white refrigerator box pieces so he wasn't injured, just frightened. He now approaches the table with caution, telling it "no no" as he sits down, as if it will tackle him to the ground at any minute.

I'm anxious to see how this week goes. I'm planning on practicing prayers at several random times (like fire drills) so we can work on his thai chi arm folding and reverence while digging through my parenting books for new ideas on how to handle this "mine" thing he's picked up. I'll admit I'm a little worried that nursery will turn my busy-but-sweet-hearted little boy into a non-stop-terror of a toddler but I know that he'll have fun. It will be a great way for me to learn how to be a playful parent and if nothing else, I'll learn to relax. I am the mother of a boy and I swear, they put you through so much that whether you like it or not, you learn to be cool!

Photoshop. Wow!

I've been working with photoshop since 2003 and I'm not ashamed to admit I learn something new almost every week. It's a powerful program that does so much more than I can grasp right now. Someday I hope to be able to utilize it's full potential.

Lately I have been trying (in vain) to get my camera to take close-up shots that rival nicer, more expensive SLR cameras. Miss Mint has been in on my attempt to get my point-and-shoot hybrid project images to look more professional and while it's probably not going to happen, I have learned some REALLY cool tricks along the way.

You probably know I only share my photoshop secrets with my closest friends, which is why they're rarely if ever posted here. And if you don't know, I *HATE* actions. I much prefer to do things by hand and customize the settings for every image. You get much better results that way, as opposed to fixing errors created when some action blew your photo coloring out of proportion. This week I stumbled across a trick for a very quick and easy way to "defog" photos that I think everyone with a digital camera can benefit from. I've come up with my own settings that I find enhance the outcome and shared them below. This may or may not work in Photoshop Elements and if you want any additional help, I charge $8 per hour for lessons, question answering or help with anything Photoshop related. This is for intermediate photoshop users. Here's the trick:

Tay's Quick & Dirty Defog

1. Open your picture in photoshop. Do NOT edit anything & immediately do step 2.
2. In Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3 go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask
3. The Unsharp Mask control box will open. Enter these values:
Amount: 20%
Radius: 25 pixels
Threshold: 0 levels
4. Click Ok and wait for the Unsharp Mask filter to run. You should notice some new clarity.
5. In the Layers window, select the background layer & hit Ctrl-J to duplicate the layer.
6. Click on the new layer (Layer 1) and set the Layer Blend mode to Luminoscity to keep the overall color balance as is OR set it to Screen to also enhance vibrancy. (Drop the layer opacity if it adds too much and blows out your photo.)
7. Hit Ctrl-E to merge the layers back into one and continue editing as usual.

Examples: I took these pictures of a hyrbid card I made outside in indirect sunlight on a mostly sunny day with my point-and-shoot set to digital macro (no flash possible with this setting) at an ISO of 100. The first is the disgusting, straight-out-of-the-camera original:



The image below is the same image with most of the fogginess removed using the steps above with the blend mode set to Screen (100% opacity):



The above image wasn't quite defogged enough so I re-ran the Unsharp Mask and increased the radius to 50 pixels. The next image is what I got after setting the duplicated layer blend mode to Screen (79% opacity):



I liked how the grayish fog had gone away but I was starting to notice some color wash-out on the pinks. Not to mention it lacked the overall "pop" I wanted it to have to show off Miss Mint's bracket mats & Hot Mama papers. After a few more tweaks (no, I'm not sharing!) I got a final image that represents the real life coloring of the card and printed digital elements:



Unfortunately this shot is a great example of what I mean when I say a point & shoot can't do an SLR's job. It's great for a gallery image but it's not ever going to make the cover of a scrap magazine. I'm also not a professional and will have to learn how to shoot across the surface of a satin print, reflective rhinestones and matte elements all at the same time without getting such glare. (What I really need to learn is to just take things over to Kelsey's house! LOL!)

For whatever reason, I like these funky, artistic angled shots of my work. Unfortunately Photoshop can't work too many miracles if your starting image is crap. I'm probably going to have to throw down for a nicer camera in the future.

Thank You TXU!

I got a very sudden and unexpected voice mail from a nice gentleman at TXU last week. After my PUC complaint, he had reviewed my account and found everything had previously been restored. My account showed I was on the 13.9¢ lock-in rate plan and my voice recording was there. There was no evidence there had ever been a problem except for a credit to my account from March to this month for being slightly over-billed at 14.2¢. He apologized for the confusion of whoever I had spoken with at customer service and admitted to his own confusion but assured me my account was as it should be. My bill reflected the right information and a MUCH more reasonable electriciy charge. (Well, reasonable for August any ways! LOL!)

Thank you to whoever took the initiative to check on my account, do the research and correct it long before it was reviewed by the complaint department. I know I have one or two readers with the power to do this and I want you to know I very sincerely appreciate it!

Aiden Stories

How difficult could a seventeen month-old be, right? Let me tell you about last Friday.

Everything was going well. I'd somehow managed to vacuum my house every single day last week and had just put the vacuum away and gotten Aiden a snack. I'd found the new Cheerios snack mix on sale at HEB and I had a coupon so we picked up a bag. Once we were home, he'd zeroed right in on the new treat and wanted it. I gave him a small serving in one of his little plastic bowls and he was munching happily in the living room while I put away the rest of the groceries.

I heard the familiar sound of snacks hitting the tile followed by a sweet little "uh-oh". Before I could groan about my freshly-vacuumed floors I heard Major coming down the hall from our bedroom to vacuum them up himself. Then several things happened at once. Aiden was holding his little plastic golf club and snack bowl when, in a moment of random bliss and glee, let out a series of whoops and shouts as he ran towards the playroom swinging the putter like a caveman. Major, who was standing between Aiden and his bee-line to the playroom, had been staring so intently at the dropped snack mix that he didn't see Aiden coming at him...

I'm standing in front of the pantry, frozen, seeing my precious son, the massive doberman and Major's fixed gaze on the food all around them. I could feel my muscles tense and the adrenaline rush hit about the same time as the snarl in my throat. (That's how we communicate "no" to Major without confusing or frightening Aiden. Heck, even Aiden growls now.) I'm scolding myself for not making sure Major was locked in our bedroom while Aiden was awake and now I'm worried Aiden will get knocked down when Major makes a move for his spilled food. I have no idea how dogs can move so much faster than we can...

Major looks up from the prized snack mix to see a club-waving, screaming banshee coming at him and panics. He turns to his right to escape but is standing too close to the wall to complete his turn. Instead he goes completely vertical, stands up with paws on the wall, pushes off to turn around and hits the ground running in the opposite direction. In the middle of this maneuver I hear the *CRUNCH* and CRASH of plastic and I see Aiden skid to a stunned stop. By this time I've reached him and scooped him up, still anticipating he would be knocked over by the hairy hoover, and then I see what broke:



Major had hit the wall outlet in the hall with his knee, knocking the HUGE childproof double outlet cover off, breaking the faceplate and jamming the outlet back into the wall. See the drywall damage? Luckily Brian is super-handy and had it fixed in no time after a trip to Ace Hardware to perfectly match up the plate for me. But back to our story. So I see this smashed in faceplate and plastic chips on the tile. I lock up the dog then grab the camera and the broom, thinking Brian is never going to believe this story. While I take a picture, Aiden is trying to touch the broken plastic. I tell him "No, no, it's sharp. Ow! That can cut!" and put my hand over it to block his poking. As I pull my hand away, I cut myself on the finger! I show Aiden the cut (to prove my point that plastic can cut) and then go to get a band-aid with him following me scolding "Nuh-nuh-no! OW! No, no!" I inspect the annoying shallow cut, dig around for a band-aid and then sweep up the plastic debris before I notice Aiden has silently disappeared. In fact the whole house has fallen silent. He must be in our bathroom....

I bolt into our room to see him running out of the bathroom shouting "Nuh-nuh-NO!" as he tries to get past me. (He's so self-incriminating! LOL!) I notice he has something pink and crumply in is hand as he weasels by. There on the floor he has dumped out an entire box of nursing pads I had stored in the back of a drawer in the bathroom and has made off with one, which he is now shoving into the driver's seat of his Fisher Price train.



Arg! I begin picking up the nursing pads when I wonder how he got these out of the back of the drawer with all the other stuff - like that black hair dryer attachment - in the way. Wait. I peer around the half wall and find the other stuff strewn about around the toilet and into our closet. HOW?!! It only took me about a minute and a half to get a band-aid on and sweep up the plastic!

It's not the worst afternoon ever. The grocery shopping AND vacuuming are done so I can't complain about the mangled breast pad riding in the battery-powered train down the hall. That night he brings a bottle of bubbles to the bathroom for us to blow while he's in the tub. Problem is, the once-clear bubble solution has now turned cloudy and has a slight green tint to it. I have no idea what he's added to it (Crystal Light?) but he's wailing for bubbles so I start blowing. Only problem is they're now indestructible mutant bubbles! The things won't pop! They pile up all over him and his bath toys. At one point he has a bubble-fro & Brian recovers from the hysteria first and runs for the camera before I can:



This isn't a lucky shot. The bubbles are staying in place, holding their shape and didn't budge until we rinsed them off. If I can figure out what he's mixed together to create this concoction of unpoppable bubbles we'll probably be made millionaires by our impossibly busy seventeen month-old! LOL!